Fast track Sydney transport with web enhanced planning

A Leichardt Council Transport Forum was held at the Leichardt Town Hall, 22 November 2008. This proposed a fast planning process for public transport in Leichardt and Sydney's inner west using experts and the community. I suggest that the Internet could be used to gain wider public and expert input into the process. Also the political realities of NSW suggest that upgrading the bus system should be included as a sub-optimal but politically feasable option.

The Meeting

Speakers were: Dr Gary Glazebrook from UTS, Dr. Michelle Zeibots, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS and Councillor Jamie Parker, Mayor of Leichardt Council. As well as the listed speakers, there were people from EcoTransit Sydney present.

The forum discussed issues including the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication (also known as the Victoria Road upgrade). However, rather than proposing to deal with transport projects piecemeal, the planning experts proposed that the local councils get together with the community and planners to produce an overall plan. Such a plan could include public transport options which the NSW state Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) is unwilling to consider.

Proceedings were delayed for 20 minutes while we waited for the Mayor to arrive. Given that the expert transport speakers were present, this was an unnecessary waste of the time for the forty or so people present. The Mayor is obviously a busy person and I suggest he issue instructions that events not be held up waiting for him to arrive.

The Mayor opened the event by mentioning what was discussed at the local government summit recently in Canberra. He noted that NSW local government people were concerned about the lack of public transport planning in NSW. He claimed to have raised this with the PM and others at the event. He then expressed concern at the proposed and then cancelled Sydney metro and the new proposal a few weeks later. There was also a proposal for a $250m coordinated bike route in NSW.

Unfortunately this was all presented very rapidly by the Mayor, like a political campaign speech. There were no details provided to back up the claims made, nor any written text provided. While the Mayor sounded sincere, given the poor history of transport planning in NSW, much more is needed for a credible presentation. Leichardt Council needs to cite evidence when presenting proposals, for those proposals to have credibility.

Inquiry by design

Dr. Zeibots provided an excellent "Big picture" overview of transport planning for Sydney. Dr. Glazebrook went into more detail on light rail proposals for the inner west. Both were able to back up their proposals with credible evidence.

Dr. Zeibots advocated better planning using a process called "Inquiry by design". With this the usual years of planning and public consultations are compressed into about five days. The planners, experts and community representatives meet at the site to be planned, talk to locals and draw up options.

Some notes on the talk:

• The County of Cumberland scheme 1951 planned radial motorways for Sydney. This has been largely followed with Sydney's tollways. Unfortunately Sydney's 21 century transport is being planned using a 50 year old last century plan. Due to the cancellation of the Johnston creek extension to the motorways, Marrickiville and iron cove motorway tunnels are being considered by the RTA internally without adequate public consultation.
• Analysis of the traffic of the M4 shows that it did not greatly reduce the traffic on the existing great western highway and the total traffic of the two combined was much higher.

Enhance with the Internet and Political Realism

The meeting was useful and the inquiry by design process appears feasable. However, I suggest that the planners could usefully incorporate the Internet in their process and also inject some political realism.

Use the Internt for public and expert input to planning

The planners propose a process over a few days where the experts and community come together. However, not everyone concerned is able or willing to give up five days of their time. Only about forty of the many thousands of residents gave up a few hours for this meeting.

Therefore I suggested after the meeting to Dr. Zeibots that Internet and web tools could be used to enhance the meeting process. Experts and residents could be provided with the materials which were to be provided at the meetings and invited to provide input. As the process progressed, what the meeting came up with could be put online and the community invited to have input. This would allow wider input with minimal extra effort.

Between 1996 and 1998 I provided some web pages about planning for the Dickson p precinct of Canberra. Normally the Draft Master Plan would be displayed at the local library and perhaps an item about it placed in the local newspaper. By placing a copy online many more people could see it.

As part of the Federal Government's 2020 Summitt process I orgnaised a day long local summitt on open source with Senator Lundy. This made use of the Austrlaian developed Moodle free open source Learning Management System. Moodle was used to prepare the program for the day, solicit input and to report on the day. UTS has the Moodle system installed. This could be used to provide an online forum for a planning process. I have also used Moodle live in a classroom and it could be simiarly used to organise and present materials to people at a live forum as well as online.

Take account of political realities

The planners seemed to be curiously naive of the political process. A transport plan for Sydney may increase the chances of better public transport, it would seem more likely to be adopted if it took into account political realities.

The NSW state government has produced a number of transport proposals, such as the North West Metro, which make little sense in planning terms. These are only understandable in political terms as a way to attract votes. After the cancellation of the North West Metro and the quick creation of another metro proposal, there can be few who believe such proposals are being created through any rational planning process. Clearly these proposals are being up up in order to meet short term political aims, not the long term public interest.

Therefore any proposal put up by others needs to take into account the political issues and meet short term political needs of the government. As an example, projects which can be started quickly at low cost and employ people in NSW are more likely to receive political support, than those taking decades and using imported equipment. An example of such a project would be expanding the MetroBus recently introduced in the Inner West. The buses can be made in NSW, the bus lanes they need to run on can be built by NSW workers. The NSW government can apply for federal funding to create hybrid, large, fuel efficient buses.

Buses are not as good a long term transport option as trams and metros. However, buses which are actually purchased are a better option than trams which may not be approved and metros which are never built.

Leichhardt Transport Forum, 13 November 2008

A Leichhardt Council Transport Forum will be held at the Leichhardt Town Hall, 22 Nov 2008. Issues include the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication (also known as the Victoria Road upgrade).

Start: 22 Nov 2008 - 1:30am
End: 22 Nov 2008 - 3:30pm

Planning and implementing transport in the inner west will be addressed by transport experts, Dr. Garry Glazebrook and Dr. Michelle Zeibots, and local transport groups. Topics for discussion will include the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication.

Venue: Leichhardt Town Hall
Norton St. Leichhardt

From: Leichhardt Council Transport Forum, EcoTransit Sydney, 2008

The RTA propose to build a new three lane bridge to the west of the existing four lane Iron Cove Bridge. My view is that a better option would be to not build a new bridge and instead devote two of the lanes of the existing bridge to buses. The funds saved on the new bridge could be spent on purchasing additional buses. This would have advantages:

• Provides for far larger capacity at peak times than an additional bridge.
• Less noise and vibration impacts on the local residents.
• Does not require relocation of underwater utilities.
• Does not require acquisition of private property.
• No impact on Birkenhead Wharf that has heritage characteristics.
• Safer, simpler alignment with the existing road.

An additional bridge would not be a good long term investment, as individual passenger cars do not have a future for peak hour city transport. An additional bridge will simply clog with additional cars at peak time. Buses can carry many times the number of passengers per unit of road space as cars. The new Sydney MetroBus has shown how a well resourced bus service can be popular.

Rail transport would be preferable, but the NSW government has been unable to prepare a credible rail transport plan, with unworkable schemes such as the North West Metro. The city will therefore have to make do with buses for the foreseeable future.

Smart Cars Stacked in Sydney Again

In 2006 a company stacked six Mercedes "Smart Cars" about 12 m high in Sydney to promote their carsharing scheme. These schemes are becoming popular for people in the inner city who want occasional use of a car for short periods.

By the way the company doesn't normally park their cars in a stack in squares, they arrange to have reserved parking spots at locations around the city.

I was reminded of this recently, as the company sent me a note to say their web address has changed and on the web site I noticed they were going to do the car stacking stunt again. Has anyone see it in Taylor Square?

Istanbul Kadiköy to Kartal Metro

International Railway Journal's October edition features "Building Istanbul’s Kadiköy - Kartal Metro" as an online supplement. In May I saw the work under way from the window of the Thessaloniki to Istanbul Train. At the time I assumed this was some of the work for the Marmary Rail Tunnel, but it is work to link up other parts of Istanbul's public transport.

The IRJ's articale is also interesting for the way it is provided as an online suppliment to the print jounal. The article is listed in the table of contents of the print edition, with a note saying "online edition". Presiumbly this is desinged to encourage people to read the online version. The online version is provided using Nxtbook Media, with Adobe Flash. This provides a facsimilie of the print edition, which is hard to use compared to ordinary web pages and which takes a long time to load on a slow Internet connection.

Bushmaster six wheeled armoured vehicle

The Australian-built Bushmaster four wheeled armoured vehicle has proved popular with the Australian, Dutch and British military. Perhaps the makers, Thales Australia, in Bendigo, should stretch it by adding an extra set of wheels to make a six wheel drive vehicle.

The current Bushmaster is 7.18 m long, weighs 12.4 tonne and can carry 9 passengers. Adding two extra wheels would make it about 1.5 m longer and allow for four more passengers. This would also allow for more cargo, or for the vehicle to operate on softer surfaces with lower pressure per tyre.

There have been concerns about the off road performance of some of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and their susceptibility to roll-over. As the Bushmaster has been designed as an armoured vehicle, it should be less susceptible to this problem than trucks with armour bolted on.

Normally a larger vehicle would require a larger engine, but the Bushmaster 6 x 6 could have a small electric motor and CSIRO UltraBattery added to make it a hybrid. As well as reducing fuel use, this woulda allow the vehicle to operate in stealth mode when stationary and at low speed, with the main engine off.

Oshkosh offer a Bushmaster 6 x 6 variant in the USA, but it is not clear if one has been built or tested. The image of a six wheeled Bushmaster on this page is a montage created from the Wikipedia photo of the Bushmaster.

Data Centre in a Military Shipping Container

Sun, IBM and HP now offer data centres packaged in an ISO shipping container. This has advantages for large computing requirements, but the same technique could be applied on a smaller scale, using small containers. A container 1.3 m long, could hold a computer system with 8 processors and 192 TB of storage, costing about $1M. This would be enough computer capacity for a reasonable size company or government agency. A very large data centre could be built by stacking such containers in a low cost warehouse building.

As well as being available for smaller applications, smaller containers would also allow for easier transport, particularly by air and in small trucks. One suitable size container is the US military Joint Modular Intermodal Container (JMIC). The standard JMIC has dimensions of about 1.3 x 1.1 x 1 m. This could hold two standard 19 inch racks, each 16 units high, with space around the racks for cooling, power supplies, shock mounting and cables.

As an example one container could hold 2 Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 Servers, with 8 UltraSPARC T2 Plus processors, plus 4 Sun Fire X4540 Servers with 192 TB of storage on 192 disks and 8 rack units of networking and peripherals. The unit would weigh about 900 kg, which is within the JMIC maximum gross weight. It would cost about $1M and require about 6 Kw of power. One such containerised computer would be sufficient for running a business or government agency.

The Gershon Report on Australian Government ICT identified 10,484 m² of capacty in large government data centres in Canberra. This represents approximately 100,000 rack units, which would require 3,500 JMIC containers. For high density applications, the containers could be stacked six high using a fork lift truck in the pallet racks of a low cost industrial warehouse. One building 100 x 100 m (15 m high) could hold the computing requirements for all the major government agencies in Canberra. However, for operational reasons the equipment would likely be placed in several smaller buildings.

Qantas Airbus Accident Caused by Computer Fault

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau in "Qantas Airbus A330 accident Media Conference" has reported that the aircraft's computers causing the aircraft to pitch down violently, injuring passengers on 7 October 2008. While the accident appears due to a faulty a Air Data Inertial Reference Unit feeding incorrect data to the computers, perhaps the computers should have been programmed to detect and reject the erronious data.

... The ATSB has scheduled the media conference this evening to coincide with the release of an Operators Information Telex/Flight Operations Telex, which is being sent by Airbus to operators of all Airbus aircraft. The aim of that telex is to:

• update operators on the factors identified to date that led to the accident involving QF72,
• provide operational recommendations to mitigate risk in the event of a reoccurrence of the situation which occurred on QF72.

... The aircraft was flying at FL 370 or 37, 000 feet with Autopilot and Auto-thrust system engaged, when an Inertial Reference System fault occurred within the Number-1 Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU 1), which resulted in the Autopilot automatically disconnecting. ...

The faulty Air Data Inertial Reference Unit continued to feed erroneous and spike values for various aircraft parameters to the aircrafts Flight Control Primary Computers which led to several consequences including:

• false stall and overspeed warnings
• loss of attitude information on the Captain's Primary Flight Display
• several Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitoring system warnings.

About 2 minutes after the initial fault, ADIRU 1 generated very high, random and incorrect values for the aircrafts angle of attack.

These very high, random and incorrect values of the angle attack led to:

• the flight control computers commanding a nose-down aircraft movement, which resulted in the aircraft pitching down to a maximum of about 8.5 degrees,
• the triggering of a Flight Control Primary Computer pitch fault.

The crew's timely response led to the recovery of the aircraft trajectory within seconds. During the recovery the maximum altitude loss was 650 ft.

The Digital Flight Data Recorder data show that ADIRU 1 continued to generate random spikes and a second nose-down aircraft movement was encountered later on, but with less significant values in terms of aircraft's trajectory.

At this stage of the investigation, the analysis of available data indicates that the ADIRU 1 abnormal behaviour is likely as the origin of the event. ...

Related Documents: | Audio file of media conference, 14 October 2008 (18 MB)

From: "Qantas Airbus A330 accident Media Conference", Media Release, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2008/43, 14 October 2008

Big Red Metrobus in Sydney

Yesterday I was in a hurry to get from Norton Street (Sydney's Little Italy) to the Sunday concert by The Song Company in the 2008 Spring Festival of Music Concert Series. In answer to my prayer, along came a big red new Metrobus. This is a new service which commenced operation yesterday and is being trialled for 12 months. As the name implies the service operates like a metro: there is no timetable, with buses instead arriving at set frequent intervals (every 10 minutes in peak hours, 15 minutes off peak, 20 minutes on weekends).

As the service had just been introduced there were two extra staff on board to hand out pamphlets and explain the service. The buses are claimed to carry more people that a standard bus, but looked the same to me. They are fitted with an electronic display showing the next stop and an automatic voice announcement. The bus I was on is a single unit, but articulated ones are also being used.

The pamphlet and the bus stop signs are an improvement on previous STA bus information. The metro style maps are easy to understand and to work out where to change to other transport. The roadside signs lack a countdown timer to tell you when the next bus is leaving, but the on-board staff explained that these signs are planned.

The buses do not accept cash and all tickets must be purchased before boarding. This will cause some inconvenience but greatly reduces bus loading time. It is also safer than the arrangement in Melbourne with trams (and buses in Thessaloniki), where patrons have to attempt to buy a ticket from a machine on-board a moving vehicle. There are newsagents and other vendors selling tickets near most bus stops.

The Metrobus is a cost effective and realistic answer to some of Sydney's transport problems, unlike the unworkable "North West Metro". However, there is a danger the Metrobus trial will fail due to a lack of investment. Some areas where it could be improved are:

1. Usable Web Site: Sydney Buses provide a minimum of information about the service on the web in a difficult to read format. Instead of large, slow to download and hard to read PDF documents, the Brochure, Route Map, Download the TravelTen calculator should be provided in the form of web pages accessible by the disabled and usable on a mobile phone. The Wikipedia entry for the service provides better information than the official government web site.
   
2. Next bus electronic sign: Each stop needs an electronic sign counting down to when the next bus leaves. These signs need to provide an accurate estimate. When I tried the Perth "Cat" system, the signs were so inaccurate as to be useless and discouraged patronage, rather than helping it. STA should invest in a reliable system which uses real time displays with wireless links to a GPS reporting bus. The signs could be solar powered in most cases.
3. Next Bus Cafe: Electronic signs could be installed in cafes near the stops and the the staff encouraged to help patrons with bus information.
   
4. Better road access: While the Metrobuses are new and have a good ride, the service suffers from the poor Sydney roads. The NSW government should repair the road surface along the bus lane for the Metrobus route to improve the ride and speed up the service. Bus priority traffic lights would further improve the service. Also the buses could be equipped with with traffic cameras, linked to the RTA Transport Management Centre, with a button for the driver to report a traffic problem. The RTA central controllers could then see and act on problems effecting the buses. An additional option would be to fit the buses out with mobile traffic infringement cameras, so that vehicles parked in bus stops and otherwise impeding the service could be issued with fines immediately.
5. Electronic tickets: Sydney needs a workable electronic ticketing system, such as the Akbil system used by Istanbul Public Transport. Sydney has abandoned one electronic ticket system (Tcard) and is planning to install another system which will not work. Sydney needs to rationalise its fare structure before an electronic ticketing system will be workable. One option would be to propose the Australian Government fund a national standardised system and have it piloted on the Sydney Metrobus.

Name of station	Stop number	Locations served	Connections
Market Place Leichhardt	22W	Leichhardt Market Place
Elswick Street	21W	Leichhardt
Cromwell Street (Eastbound only)	20/21W	Leichhardt
Leichhardt Town Hall	20W	Leichhardt, Norton Street Palace Cinema
Norton Plaza	19W	Norton Street Plaza
Norton Street	18W	Norton Street Italian Forum
Catherine Street	17W	Sydney Institute of TAFE - Petersham College
Percival Road	16W	Annandale, Stanmore
Johnston Street	15W	Annandale
Bridge Road	14W	Annandale
Denison Street (Westbound only)	13/14W	Camperdown, Annandale
Mallett Street	13W	Camperdown
Missenden Road	12W	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Larkin Street	11W	University of Sydney
Ross Street	10W	University of Sydney
Sydney Uni (Footbridge)	9W	University of Sydney
Sydney Uni (Main Gate) (Westbound only)	8/9W	University of Sydney
Victoria Park	8W	University of Sydney, Victoria Park, Broadway Shopping Centre
Broadway	7W	Broadway, Broadway Shopping Centre	Bus: Newtown, Glebe Point Road
Abercrombie Street	6W	Broadway, Ultimo
Unversity of Technology (UTS)	5W	UTS, Broadway, Ultimo, Haymarket
Railway Square	4W	Railway Square, Sydney Institute of TAFE, Ultimo, Haymarket	Train: Central Station Bus: Northern Beaches
Rawson Place	3W	Chinatown, Paddy's Markets, Haymarket
Chinatown (Westbound only)	2/3W	Chinatown, Paddy's Markets, Haymarket
World Square	2W	Chinatown, World Square, Town Hall
Sydney Town Hall	1W	Town Hall, Queen Victoria Building, St. Andrew's Cathedral, George St Cinemas	Train: Town Hall Station
Park Street City	1E	Town Hall, The Galeries Victoria, Pitt Street Mall	Monorail: Galeries Victoria
Hyde Park	2E	Hyde Park
Museum	3E	Hyde Park, Downing Centre	Train: Museum Station Bus: Bondi Beach, Paddington, Bondi Junction, Bronte
Brisbane Street	4E	Whitlam Square
Riley Street	5E	Oxford Square
Taylor Square	6E	Taylor Square, St Vincent's Hospital, University of Notre Dame Australia
Albion Street	7E	Surry Hills, UNSW College of Fine Arts
South Dowling Street (Eastbound only)	7/8E	Surry Hills
Moore Park	8E	Moore Park, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Football Stadium
Cleveland Street	9E	Moore Park, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter	Bus: Randwick, Coogee
Robertson Street	10E	Moore Park, Centennial Park
Alison Road (Eastbound only)	10/11E	Moore Park Supa Centa
Carlton Street	11E	Randwick Racecourse
Ascot Street	12E	Randwick Racecourse
Todman Ave	13E	Kensington
Addison Street	14E	Kensington
Doncaster Avenue	15E	Kensington
UNSW	16E	University of New South Wales
Barker Street	17E	University of New South Wales
Middle Street	18E	Kingsford
Kingsford Nine Ways	19E	Kingsford	Bus: Maroubra, La Perouse

From: Metrobus, Wikipedia, 2008

High speed Australian designed trimaran warship for US Navy

The Australian designed USS Independence (LCS-2) was launched on Saturday. This is one of two competing prototype littoral combat ships for the US Navy. These are relatively small (127-meter), fast (90 km/h) ships with small crews (40) and flexible weapons mix. Perhaps the Australian Government should acquire some of these ships, as they can be made in Australia.

The Independence is more radical looking, than its rival, USS Freedom (LCS-1). Independence has a trimaran hull, looking like one of Austral's car ferries at the back with half a warship welded onto the front. In contrast Freedom is a conventional single hull warship. The Independence design provides advantages with more deck space for helicopters and more storage, but creates a large shape which will be easier to detect, than the Freedom. Austral is also one of the two Australian makers of high speed transport ships for the US military.

The project has been controversial. Some argue that more conventional, cheaper proven designs for the US Coast Guard would be better, such as the USCGC Bertholf. The practicality of the flexible weapons mix has also been questioned.

The Navy will christen littoral combat ship (LCS) Independence at 10:00 a.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 4, during a ceremony at Austal USA Shipyard, Mobile, Ala. ...

Independence is one of two LCS seaframes being produced. LCS 1, Freedom, completed its acceptance trials and was delivered to the Navy on Sept. 18, 2008. Freedom is scheduled for commissioning on Nov. 8, 2008.

The LCS is an innovative combatant designed to operate quickly in shallow water environments to counter challenging threats in coastal regions, specifically mines, submarines and fast surface craft. It is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots and can operate in water less than 20 feet deep.

Independence will address a critical capabilities gap in the littorals. It will serve to enhance maritime security and it is capable of performing the core capabilities that define the Navy. It will deter hostility in troubled waters, maintain a forward presence, and it is capable of projecting power and
maintaining sea control.

Under the current shipbuilding plan, the Navy is programmed to purchase 55 Littoral Combat Ships. These 55 ships will improve the Navy’s capacity to respond to more globally distributed threats and will help the Navy reach its ultimate fleet
goal of at least 313 ships.

The advanced design of Independence will allow it to launch and recover manned and unmanned vehicles. It will support interchangeable mission packages, allowing the ship to be reconfigured for antisubmarine warfare, mine warfare, or
surface warfare missions on an as-needed basis. The LCS will be able to swap out mission packages pierside in a matter of a day, adapting as the tactical situation demands. These ships will also feature advanced networking capability to share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships, submarines and
joint units.

Independence will be manned by one of two rotational crews, blue and gold, similar to the rotational crews assigned to Trident submarines. The crews will be augmented by one of three mission package crews during focused mission assignments. ...

In May 2004, the Department of Defense awarded both Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics separate contract options for final-system design with options for detail design and construction of up to two LCS ships. The future USS Independence (LCS 2) is the General Dynamics’ lead hull in that ship design.

In October 2005, the Department of Navy awarded General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works, a contract for detail design and construction of their first LCS. General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works teammates include Austal USA of Mobile, Ala. and General Dynamics – AIS of Pittsfield, Mass. A keel laying ceremony was held Jan. 19, 2006, at Austal USA Shipyard in Mobile, Ala., where the ships is being built.

More information on the LCS can be found at: http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/lcs/

From: Navy Christens Littoral Combat Ship Independence, US DoD, 2008

Battery electric hybrid tram

The Japan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) has developed a battery/electric "hi-tram". This is described as a contact wire/battery hybrid Light Rapid Transit (LRT) vehicle in Railway Technology Avalanche (19 September 2008). There is no internal combustion engine (as in a hybrid car); instead the battery is recharged from the overhead wires. The tram can then lower the pantograph and run on battery power for a few km. This allows trams to be used in places where overhead wires cannot be installed for cost, safety or aesthetic reasons. There is a video of the tram in operation.

The vehicle is also referred to as a "Contactwire-less Tramcar" and uses Lithium Ion batteries. Obviously it would be feasable to create a hybrid trolleybus, using similar batteries and motors to the tram. This would be able to drive on unmodified roads on battery power and then recharge when on main routes equipped with overhead wires.

Are CB Radios Safer to Use While Driving?

Last night's premier of Top Gear Australia (derived from the BBC's "Top Gear" TV car show), had the three presenters Warren Brown, Charlie Cox and Steve Pizzati, driving in the Snowy Mountains while operating hand held CB radios. While this is not necessarily illegal, it is hard to see how talking on a two way radio would be less distracting that a phone. Perhaps this is an area for research.

According to the Roads and Traffic Authority (NSW), CB and two-way radios are not banned for drivers:

300 Use of hand-held mobile phones

(1) The driver of a vehicle (except an emergency vehicle or police vehicle) must not use a hand-held mobile phone while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked, unless the driver is exempt from this rule under another law of this jurisdiction.

Offence provision.

Note Emergency vehicle, park and police vehicle are defined in the dictionary.

(2) In this rule:
mobile phone does not include a CB radio or any other
two-way radio.

From: Australian Road Rules, RTA, NSW

Research has shown that talking on a phone impairs driving ability. It is not holding the phone in hand that is the problem, but having a conversation. Hands free phones cause similar impairment to hand held telephones. However, having a conversation with someone in the car may cause less impairment and conversing with someone in an adjacent car, as was the case in Top Gear, may be less of a problem.

One area which appears to have not been researched is the impairment from two way radios. Most two way radios are "simplex", that is the radio can only transmit or receive, it cannot do both at once. As a result the two parties have to take turns speaking and there are usually pauses in the conversation between. This makes for a stilted and unnatural conversation, but perhaps this reduces driver distraction.

Hands free kits for mobile phones in cars try to reproduce the free flowing two way conversation of a hand held phone. In practice this is limited by the noise level in the car and positioning of speakers. Less sophisticated kits, and those not well fitted, effectively operate as automatically switched simplex radios, cutting off the audio of the remote party while the driver is speaking. This is normally seen as a problem, but perhaps it increases safety.

Some CB Radios have the option of a tone at the end of a transmission to indicate the other party can now speak (commonly called "Roger Beep"). It may be useful to include this in hands free car kits to indicate to the remote party that the driver has finished speaking.

While the research is not clear on this point, some indicate that conversations with passengers in cars are less impairing as the passenger can see the traffic situation and so know when not to distract the driver. It may therefore be that a videophone showing the traffic, or a phone which detects the driver is busy and sends a synthetic voice or tone to say "driver busy" might help. Such a system might use a tone to indicate to the driver that it is not a good time to talk, or even switch off the microphone to stop them. The phone could detect when there is frequent breaking and use of turn signals, to indicate a high driver workload. Some hand held telephones, such as the iPhone, have accelerometers built in which could be used to to detect when the car is manoeuvring and so it is less safe to talk.

A simpler alternative might be to place a "Push to Talk" button on the car steering wheel. As with a two way radio, this button would need to be held down while the driver was speaking on the telephone. This would have the advantage that the driver would be only able to hold the button down and speak, when the car was proceeding in a uniform heading. As soon as the moved their hands on the wheel to change direction, the button would be released. This should have the effect of training the driver to not talk when manoeuvring.

Nomad Aircraft for Australian Defence Force

One relatively inexpensive item the Australian Defence Force could add to its shopping list is 50 of the Nomad short take off and landing (STOL) aircraft. The Nomad was used by the Australian, Indonesian, Papua New Guinea, Philippine and Thai military, but production ceased in 1985. In July 2008, Gippsland Aeronautics announced it had purchased rights to make the aircraft.

When fitted with new generation turboprop engines the Nomad will have about three quarters the carrying capacity, in terms of passengers and volume of cargo, as the ADF's new NHI NH90 helicopters, at considerably less cost. The STOL fixed wing aircraft could be used where the vertical and heavy lift capability of a helicopter is not required, resulting in lower purchase and operating cost and lower crew training requirements. The Nomad will use about half the fuel of a helicopter, reducing the logistics burden on larger transport aircraft needed to bring in supplies. The Nomad will also require considerably less maintenance and less sophisticated support.

The Nomad cargo cabin internal dimensions are 6.2 x 1.22 x 1.6 m (l x w x h) this 3 m³ smaller than the the NH90 capacity of 4.8 x 2.00 x 1.58 m (l x w x h). The NH90 has a wider cabin and a rear ramp for easier loading. However, the Nomad's door is 1.32 x 1.2 m, so should be able to (just) fit a standard US DoD Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (JMIC). The JMIC containers, such as those made by Garrett, are 1.31 x 1.1 x 1.1 m, allowing five to fit in a Nomad, whereas only four would fit in the NH90. Australian pallets and ISO pallets should also (just) fit.

There was criticism by the RAAF of the STOL handling of the Nomad, poor single engine performance and critical centre of gravity for loading, but these problems may be corrected to some extent for the newly manufactured aircraft.

Metro in Sydney Transport Plan

The formation of a new NSW Government provides the opportunity to rethink Sydney's transport planning. The "North West Metro" proposed as a "European" style metro was not viablee. Sydney is not a European style city and needs a different transport system. The government should look to cities such as Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane to see how to use heavy and light rail and express bus ways for public transport.

European style metros service densely populated cities using closely spaced stations and short lines. The Sydney metro was to be a single 38km rail line with 17 stations (one for every 2 km) to cost $12B. A few months ago I visited the Greek city of Thessaloniki and saw a real European metro under construction This will have 13 stations, almost as many as the Sydney plan, but is only 9.6 km long, one third the spacing of the Sydney system. This smaller system will cost only 800 million euros, but even so has taken thirty years to build.

Instead of one long rail line, Sydney could consider some shorter genuine metro lines to service densely populated parts of the city in the next few decades. However, this should be a supplement to improved heavy rail, as Perth has done. There are also measures which can be introduced relatively quickly and cheaply, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and taking years, rather than billions taking decades. These include extending the existing light rail in the inner west of Sydney and providing priority bus lanes.

Another relatively easy problem to solve is the ticketing system for Sydney transport. The previous smart card project failed due to a complex pricing system for Sydney's diverse transport system. Istanbul has an integrated electronic ticketing system (Akbil) for the city's trams, trains, buses, ferries and even two Funicular railways. This works because the fare structure of the transport system has been simplified.

Given that transport systems take decades to implement, Sydney could look at some emerging technologies, such as hybrid buses, Guided buses (used in Adelaide), and rubber-tyred trams. The have the potential of providing the low cost and flexibility of conventional buses with the capacities of metro and light rail, using some of Sydney's existing road infrastructure. As an example some of the lanes of existing toll roads and toll tunnels could be converted to guided bus-ways. The buses would collect passengers on ordinary roads and the enter the guided way for a high speed trip to the city center.

The buses could be electrically powered from renewable sources while on the bus way. Computer control of the buses would provide a similar level of safety, ride comfort and speed to an advanced light rail system. Buses which primarily use the guided ways could be powered by rechargable batteries when away from the guide way and would not require internal combustion engines. Express buses which only used the guide way could be driver-less.

Investigation Reports Needed into Major Public Incidents

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released a final report on the grounding of the ship Pasha Bulker at Newcastle on 8 June 2007. This is a clearly written technical report into what happened and what to do to stop it happening again. Fortunately there was no loss of life. Perhaps similar independent reports should be prepared where there is any major incident which risks public safety, or large financial loss.

Bodies, such as the coroner's court only have jurisdiction where there is an actual death. Also physical injury may only play a small part in many incidents which could have a large and detrimental impact on the public. At present it is necessary to rely on an uncoordinated array of overlapping investigative agencies and ad-hoc inquiries. Major incidents may require a special public inquiry, but a government may be reluctant to launch an inquiry which may find them at fault. Something like a more general version of the ATSB, can carry out an independent investigation, would be useful.

ps: Perhaps some time could be saved by calling the public inquiry into the Sydney Nort West Metro Project now. This project is quite clearly a disaster in the making. ;-)

Marine Safety Investigation Report - Final Independent investigation into the grounding of the Panamanian registered bulk carrier Pasha Bulker on Nobbys Beach, Newcastle, New South Wales on 8 June 2007

Occurrence Details

Occurrence Number:	243	Location:	Nobbys Beach, Newcastle
Occurrence Date:	08 June 2007	State:	NSW
Occurrence Time:	0951 (UTC +10)	Highest Injury Level:	None
Occurrence Category:	Incident	Investigation Type:	Occurrence Investigation
Occurrence Class:		Investigation Status:	Completed
Occurrence Type:	Grounding	Release Date:	23 May 2008

Vessel Details

Vessel:	Pasha Bulker		Flag:	Panam
IMO:	9317729
Type of Operation:	Bulk carrier
Damage to Vessel:	Substantial
Departure Point:	Newcastle anchorage		Departure Time:	0748 local time
Destination:	To sea

• Abstract

On 23 May 2007, the Panamanian registered bulk carrier Pasha Bulker anchored 2.4 miles off the coast near Newcastle, New South Wales. The ship had sufficient water ballast on board for the good weather at the time, and was not expected to load its coal cargo for about three weeks.

At midday on 7 June, Pasha Bulker's master veered more anchor cable after a gale warning was issued. The weather deteriorated and shortly after midnight, the wind had reached gale force.

At 0500 on 8 June, the wind had increased to strong gale force and the weather was severe. At 0625, Pasha Bulker started to drag its anchor. The master decided to put to sea and at 0748, the anchor was aweigh. The ship was now 1.2 miles from the shore and, with the southeast wind fine on the starboard bow, it made good a north-easterly course. At 0906, the master altered the ship’s course to starboard to put the wind on the port bow in an attempt to make good a southerly course on a south-southeasterly heading. However, its heading became south-westerly and, with the wind on the port beam, the ship started to rapidly approach the coast.

At 0931, with Nobbys Beach 0.8 of a mile away, the master attempted a starboard turn. The manoeuvre did not succeed and at 0946, with grounding imminent, he requested assistance from authorities ashore. At 0951, Pasha Bulker grounded on Nobbys Beach and the ship's momentum carried it further onto the beach. The crew were evacuated by helicopter during the afternoon.

On 2 July, Pasha Bulker was successfully refloated. The ship was temporarily repaired in Newcastle and on 26 July, taken in tow to Vietnam to undergo permanent repairs.

The report identifies a number of safety issues and issues recommendations or safety advisory notices to address them.

Download complete report [4.6 MB PDF]

Marine Safety Recommendations

[MR20080009] [MR20080010] [MR20080011] [MR20080012] [MR20080013] [MR20080014] [MR20080015] [MR20080016] [MR20080017] [MR20080018] [MR20080019]

Safety Advisory Notices

[MS20080015] [MS20080016] [MS20080017] [MS20080018]

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Related Links: | Media release | Media conference audio file .avi 55 MB |

Smarter Than Smart Car

In 2005 I suggested Diahatsu cut the back seat out of a Cuore to make a two seater car about the same length as the Smart Car. Toyota, who own Diahatsu, went one better by making the Toyota iQ which still has a back seat.

At 2980 mm the iQ is it 845 mm shorter than a Toyota Yaris , 120 mm shorter than the Tata Nano and 290 mm longer than the Smart. The iQ has a conventional front mounted engine like the Yaris, unlike the Smart and Nano's rear mounted ones. The iQ is made shorter by making the engine, dashboard and seat backs thinner. It also compromises on rear legroom.

The car is described as seating thee adults and one child. When I first read this I thought of a small bucket seat sideways in the back, next to a full size one. In fact there is a conventional bench seat. It is just that there is not enough leg room behind the driver for an adult's legs. The rear adult passenger is accommodated by the front passenger pushing their seat forward.

The underside of the dashboard is higher on the passenger side to accommodate their legs, so they can sit further forward than the driver. This asymmetrical design is not a new idea: it was used on the second prototype (Type 62 "Der Stuka") of the VW Kübelwagen military adaptation of the Volkswagen Beetle in January 1938 (mentioned on page 222 of "Birth of the Beetle"). The extra room was to operate a machine gun.

Reducing rear leg room in a small car makes sense, as most of the time the rear seat is not used. It seems likely that if the iQ is popular, other makers will adopt similar techniques to give more interior room. Modifying the engine to make it slimmer would be difficult, but thinner the dashboards and seat backs could be retrofitted to existing car designs.

Less than lethal active protection systems for vehicles

"Seizing the initiative: tanks take active protection system advances on board" (by RM Ogorkiewicz, Janes International Defence Review, August 2008), discusses option for protecting military vehicles from attack. It mentions "collateral damage" where the protection system injures people, but none of the systems mentioned seem to place enough emphasis on this for urban warfare. Also they seem to be single use systems only suited to mounting on large and expensive tanks. Perhaps a cleverer, lower cost, and less than lethal system is needed for peacekeepers.

Active protection system (APS) are mounted on a vehicle to protect it typically from rocket propelled grenades (RPGs). The APS could use jamming or decoys to defeat smart missiles, but an unguided RPG needs a hard kill system exploding next to it or hitting it. The problem is to hit the RPG but not harm those around it.

Systems typically use small missiles which explode near the target, such as TROPHY and Drozd. All such systems have the problem of collateral damage, some try to limit this by attacking from above and others by using very precise and focused explosives or showers of particles.

Another problem with such weapons is that they can only be used on large armoured vehicles. The vehicle needs to be large enough to carry the APS and needed to be armoured protection from the effects of the APS. This precludes use in small light vehicles.

Less Lethal Ammunition

The APS currently about to be fielded all use either high explosive or projectiles to intercept an RPG. It would be feasible to use a less than lethal warhead, such as a flexible baton round or high strength net to intercept the RPG. This would cause less injury to bystanders. Currently produced less than lethal rounds might be able to be used, fired from standard weapons, removing the need for new development, testing and manufacture. This would provide a dual use device which could be used as an APS and for riot control.

Lightweight fast RWS for APS

Another problem with such weapons is that they are single use. The 1980s UK Marconi TAMS system was to use 7.62 mm machine guns, much as naval Close-in weapon systems (CIWS) do, but this was not further developed. With the availability of low cost sensors, computer control and need for urban combat, relatively lightweight remote weapon stations (RWS) are now widely used. These might be adapted for an APS. This would provide a dual use system which could be for offence and well as defence.

A machine gun or automatic mortar on a lightweight RWS could be automatically targeted on RPGs. Special ammunition could be used which would be effective over a limited range, to reduce collateral damage and increase the probability of interception. A smaller calibre weapon could be used, reducing the weight and increasing the rate at which it could be aimed. RWS commonly allow for dual feed weapons so the weapon could be switched automatically from offensive to defensive ammunition.

The RWS' electronic sight would be supplemented by an additional 360 degree optical and/or radar surveillance system. When an incoming RPG was detected, the RWS would be slewed in the correct direction and then its own sights would automatically track the target and fire.

Such a system could be made small and light enough to be mounted on a Land Rover sized vehicle. As well as being used for defence the sensors and weapons could be used for surveillance and attack. A version having only less than lethal ammunition could be used by peacekeepers.

Cooperating APS

All the APS in development appear to be single vehicle systems. A more effective and safer system would network several vehicles. The sensors of all vehicles in a vicinity could share the surveillance and the most appropriate weapon used. This could greatly reduce the risk of collateral damage and increase the effectiveness of the system. The system could also track people, assuming them to be either friendly forces or non-combatants and so minimise causalities.

Tactical containers for strategic miltiary logistics

In "Sustainment from the Deep Sea" (US Navy Institute Magazine, July 2008 Vol. 34/7/1,265 ) Lieutenant Colonel James C. Bates advocates "tactical containers" for military strategic sea lift. Eight of these smaller containers would fit in one ISO standard 20 foot container.

The US military is already developing "Joint Modular Intermodal Containers" (JMIC) which are part of the Joint Modular Intermodal Distribution System (JMIDS):

JMIDS JMIC Features - Container
Outside dimensions – 51.75”L X 43.75”W X 43”H
Stacking Height – 40.75”
Inside dimension – 48.75”L X 40.75”W X 33.18”H Collapsed Height – 15.18”
Collapsed Stacking Height – 13.56”
Tare Weight – 317 - 329 lbs
Cover weight – 36.75 lbs
Two removable side panels (26.5 lb ea)
Assemble w/o tools
Collapsed and secured w/o banding
3000 lb max gross weight ...

But as Bates points out the JMIC is designed to be collapsible and so will be less able to be stacked and less weatherproof. Essentially the JMIC is intended to be transported inside something else, such as an ISO container or an aircraft, not left outside on its own. His solution is to make a sturdier, bigger, weatherproof box about 96 x 60 x 48 inches.

Garrett Container Systems, Inc. offer JMICs:

JMIC
Part# 7516510
NSN: 8145-01-551-5311 (Aluminum finish)
NSN: 8145-01-564-5795 (Tan color)
NSN: 8145-01-564-5802 (Green color)

Joint Modular Intermodal Container (JMIC) is the near future solution to the standardization of shipping containers functional for all branches of the US Military

JMIC is manufactured in four styles for mission-based shipping requirements.

• JMIC
• JMIC Light
• JMIC Rack
• JMIC Double ...

While pointing out the benefits of using commercial standards for military transporting of containerised goods, Bates fails to mention that there are civilian standards for small containers. These are designed to fit in ISO containers, trucks and aircraft. In selecting a size for a small military container, it would be a good idea to first look at these standards.

If the JMIC is widely adopted by the military, it might be sensible to take up Bates idea, but in a smaller form: a non collapsible, weatherproof, stack able version of the JMIC. Such a Tactical JMIC (TJMIC) container would have the advantage of being compatible with the handling systems of the JMIDS. The TJMIC could be carried in a truck, ship or aircraft as easily as a JMIC, but would weigh more and could not be collapsed for transport empty.

The TJMIC would be simpler and therefore much cheaper to make than JMIC and could be considered semi-disposable, as is the case for many ISO containers in military use. The cost of shipping back empty containers, even when they can be collapsed, is not worth the effort in may situations. Instead the containers could be used as building blocks for fortifications, when filled with sand, and for storage either indoors or outdoors. In addition very large buildings could be built by stacking TJMICs. This would be useful for the construction of semi-permanent bases, where the containers the supplies and equipment were delivered in would be used to build the base. This would exploit the techniques developed for "shipping container architecture".

There is a detailed thesis on "The joint modular intermodal container : is this the future of naval logistics?" by Mark Johnson, at MIT. He discusses the benefits of various containerisation systems and compatibility with ISO. He concludes such systems do offer benefits, but will require inter-branch compatibility. That is it is not so much achieving compatibility with commercial systems which is the problem, but between the US Army, Navy and Air Force.

Holden Commodore save the planet?

Strange as it may seem the Holden Commodore might help reduce fuel use and save the planet. The Australian produced Holden VE Commodore is exported to the USA as the Pontiac G8. This is a large passenger car in the Australian context, but in the USA the Holden Ute version ("Pontiac G8 sport truck,") , is small compared to North American full-size pickups. The Commodore Sportwagon station wagon is small compared to full size SUVs.

Perhaps the Sportswagon could be made to look even sportier by adding a barrier behind the rear seat, removing the rear and side glass behind the seat. The read window surrounds could then be painted to appear to be roll bars over a small pick up truck tray. The tray would not be a lot of use, but SUVs are not sold based on any practical consideration. Most SUVs are used as regular passenger cars. So a small one which uses less fuel and is based on a safer car platform would be better than a large one based on a truck.

There may be no need to do any bodywork to Sportswagons, just some black and silver paint around the rear windows. From a distance and in photos, the rear bodywork would not be visible and the car would appear to have an open tray with a roll bar. That might not genuine enough for the average consumer, but generations of car buyers have purchased vehicles with imitation wood cladding and stick on adornments.

Perth transport spatial data available for download

Public Transport Authority, Transperth, is now offering spatial data for download. The data is available in Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) and ESRI Shapefile formats. Perhaps someone can use this to build a usable transit map for Perth CAT busses. Last time I visited, the supposedly real time reporting system did not match where the buses were.