Are the trains in Spain faster than the planes?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

If you’ve ever had a chance to travel around Europe, you’re probably familiar with its various high-speed rail networks. In France, the TGV and AGV lines whisk passengers between Paris and points beyond including Brussels and Lyon at speeds over 200 miles per hour. And in Spain, the AVE rail system connects Madrid to Seville and as of 2008, to Barcelona as well.

According to a recent post at Wired, the new high speed link between Spain’s two biggest cities has had a dramatic effect on the country’s transportation network. In 2007, the airline route between Madrid and Barcelona was the busiest in the world, carrying over 70 percent of the passengers traveling between the two. Yet upon the opening of the new Barcelona rail line last year, that percentage has already dropped to 60 percent, and experts predict the number of plane and train passengers on the route will be equal within the next 2 years.

Aside from the obvious environmental benefits of traveling by rail instead of air, there’s a significant convenience advantage as well. As heavy airplane traffic continues to choke airport runways worldwide, it’s likely many of us will be turning to the railways for trips shorter than three hours. And when you think about it, by the time you’ve made it through TSA clearance, located your gate and fought for an overhead bin spot, your quick two hour plane trip has often turned into four or five. Here’s hoping the U.S. continues to look into similar high-speed rail solutions like Acela. It’s no AVE yet, but certainly a good first step.

[Via PSFK]

Zombies invade Texas town

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Hackers delivered a warning to played a prank on Austin, TX commuters this morning, according to local television station KXAN. Near the intersection of Lamar Blvd. and Martin Luther King Blvd., an electronic traffic sign cautioned: “ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

To make matters worse, they are NAZI zombies, as you’ll see from the video below.

Local motorists appear to have taken it in the intended spirit. Jane Shin, a University of Texas sophomore, “thought it was pretty funny.” But, the authorities did not share her sense of humor. Sarah Hartley, spokesperson for the city, called the hack “really serious” and reminded us all that “it is a crime.” Breaking a padlock and bypassing the password to an electronic street sign is a class C misdemeanor in Texas.

And, I understand why. When zombies really are in the area, we need to be able to take the NAZI zombie threat seriously.

[Thanks, Christine. Photo by Wyscan, licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.]

Daily deal – Navigon 2200T car GPS unit with free lifetime traffic – $130

by Scott Carmichael on

My daily deal for today is for the Navigon 2200T traffic enabled GPS unit.

This device has a 3.5″ display and features text to speech, with street name pronunciation, the Navigon “reality view” highway direction system and auto day/night mode for adjusting the screen brightness.

Inside the Navigon 2200T is an FM traffic receiver, and you’ll receive free traffic updates for the life of the unit.

The package includes a windshield mount and a car charger cord.

The Navigon 2200T is on sale for $130 at Amazon.com, but the deal is part of their “lightning deals”, which means it’ll be over in about 3 hours (or if inventory runs out sooner). If Amazon sells out, you’ll also find it on sale at jr.com, who are actually the ones providing Amazon with their deal.

Mint offers New Yorkers cheap hourly car rentals

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I really don’t encourage anyone to try driving in New York. Aggressive cabbies, near-constant traffic jams and a variety of video game-worthy obstacles conspire to keep drivers in a near-constant state of anger and anxiety.

But for locals and visitors alike, there are times when nothing but a car will suffice. Conveniently enough, this week marked the launch of a new pay-as-you-go rental car service in New York called Mint. Like competitor Zipcar, the upstart company provides members with on-demand vehicles they can rent for periods as short as one hour up to several days. Mint has also upped the ante by offering to waive their $25 application fee for members of other car-sharing clubs and starting hourly rates as low as $2/hour from now through June 2009. Pretty sweet.

So what’s the real difference between Mint and Zipcar? Not all that much as it turns out. As a rule of thumb, Mint plans are generally cheaper than Zipcar plans in terms of hourly/daily rates, though it ultimately depends on which plan you have and the time of day you’ll be driving. It’s best to take a look at the options and see what works best for your particular needs. In any case, the extra car-sharing competition is sure to be welcomed by price conscious rental car drivers everywhere. Check out Mint the next time you’re in NYC and need some temporary wheels.

Is there hope for Dubai’s traffic problem?

by Abha Malpani on

Other than my occasional rant here at Gadling, we almost always talk about Dubai’s mind-blowing developments. As much as I think that Dubai’s growth, development, and all-round vision is extraordinary, I can’t help but wonder: how, in this extended planning phase, authorities forgot to include the development of public transport.

Other than a poor bus system, the 2.2 million residents of Dubai depend on their cars and taxis to get from one point to another. The result? Dreadful and excruciating traffic jams at peak hours.

Dubai has already begun constructing a fully-automated under-and-above ground metro system (which at the moment has worsened the traffic situation because of the dug-up roads), but until then, their solution to the horrendous traffic problem is the addition of automatic toll gates (called Salik) on main roads across the city, that charge $1.10 (Dhs.4) every time you drive through them. This system started last year, and this month, phase two of the Salik system has begun. The hope is that this will reduce the traffic on certain roads at certain times, but this picture shows what is happening instead.*New addition: Seems like this is actually Moscow, not Dubai, as pointed out by nzm in the comments. Oops. However, this could totally be Dubai, as also pointed out by nzm.)

Yes, yikes.

Along with the increased cost of living in Dubai, Salik will certainly be pinching many pockets, however, the long term plan makes sense. The way the system works, you can be charged up to $6.5 (Dhs.24) a day passing through these gates. This way, the Dubai RTA plans to generate about $11 billion over a 3 year period, with which 500km of roads will be constructed, and traffic will flow freely again. I really, really hope so, especially because I might be moving back there soon.

[Thanks to BuJassem at UAE Community blog for the picture]