🚀 go-pugleaf

In <hatunenE869Lo.GC1@netcom.com> hatunen@netcom.com (DaveHatunen)
writes: 
>
>In article <5i4sif$1a9@sjx-ixn6.ix.netcom.com>,
>Bill Ward <bward*remove_this*@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>The station car experiment in the S. F. Bay area has ben running for
a
>>while now.  Are there any reports on how it's going?   Last year it
>>seemed like there was a lot more discussion on the subject than so
far
>>this year.  Did the projections work out as expected?

The project is on-going but behind schedule because of some electrical
problems with the cars.  Not a particular surprize since they are
prototypes.  BART has not released a report. There have been no walk
homes yet. They are used for both the work end and the home end of
cummutes but still are assigned to one driver.  They are at the BART
Ashby, Colma, Walnut Creek, and Lake Merritt stations.  If any reader
could use one of those stations in their commute, please return e-mail
me and we might be able to work out a lease. Also, if you want to know
more about the station car concept please visit 

http://www.stncar.com

>
>I took a look at the station cars at the Colma BART station. They look
>like one of those many odd European cars that were briefly seen in
>America in the late 1950s (anyone remember the Gogomobile?). Two
>seaters, more like a golf cart designed by Detroit. I don't think I'd
>feel comfortable on a freeway in one.
>
They are designed to be tall to be seen and the driver sits upright for
good visibility. Compare them to most other cars in the parking lot and
they are taller. They are nothing like the European cars of the 1950s,
given they are thermoplastic bodies and aluminum space frames. Also I
have never been in a golf cart that can go 65 mph. The spare that I am
testing has air conditioning. My intent is to see how much AC and heat
increases energy consumption.  I have been on the freeway with one (the
Demonstration participants are not allowed to use freeways because they
are prototypes} and felt safer than in a Ford Festiva (sp) I once
rented in L.A.

>They do take up several parking spaces for them with several charging
>stations installed at the parking stalls. 

Some day they will be in queues.

>I would be intersting to wait
>some morning for a user and ask a few questions, but my own job
schedule
>precludes it.

Make a excuse to be late once and see what the drivers think. Most must
be happy because they keep wanting to renew their leases.  The survey
done on the SyBase (a computer software firm in Emeryville, CA) drivers
certainly showed that.

Marty Bernard

Marty Bernard
-- 
Martin J. Bernard III, Ph.D.
Oakland, California

To find out about a new form of personal urban transportation
please visit the Information Pages of the National Station Car
Association at http://www.stncar.com which are updated periodically.