reducing fuel consumption

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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from today's DR1 news...

Economists call for reduced consumption
Economists Henri Hebrard and Pavel Isa Contreras are saying that if the President announces reductions in fuel prices in his special address to the nation tomorrow, this should not affect food for the poorest sectors. Hebrard said that he expects a reduction in fuel prices and other measures to protect the people affected by the crisis.

One of the main measures that President Leonel Fernandez is expected to announce tomorrow will involve reducing fuel consumption in the country. The other will address the high prices of foodstuffs. In January fuel consumption increased by 5 million gallons in relation to 2010.

Meanwhile, some raw materials like wheat and edible oils are on a par with 2008 prices, when the world crisis occurred on the international markets, and this is being felt in local markets. The economists told Diario Libre that the reasons for the increase in fuel consumption in the country are the traffic jams and a fleet of obsolete and poorly maintained vehicles. According to figures from the Tax Department (DGII), as of 31 December 2010, the vehicular fleet was 2.7 million units and 130,403 new vehicles were registered last year.

Of the 2.7 million vehicles, most are predominately obsolete. Pre-2006 units compose 93.8% of the total number of automobiles and 84.7% of the SUVs or all-terrain vehicles, which increases fuel consumption. Most of these vehicles are in the National District with 50.4%, Santo Domingo has 11.8% and Santiago 5.9% according to the DGII statistics. The study reveals that the fleet grew by 5% in 2010. Of the total number of vehicles registered, 49.5% are motorcycles and 24.2% are cars.


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Clearly there is no sort of annual inspection required here... I am not sure that just pre 2006 vehicles should be the test for obsolete.. it really depends on how well the car is maintained, no? (I am not a mechanic, nor do I play one on the message boards)

What is really horrible,, and gross and disgusting,,, is the many carros publicos that go around the Capital carrying 6 passageners stuffed into a five person car, body by Bondo, doors by duct tape, no handles on the inside, no AC, no lights, bumpers falling off.. REALLY makes the place look like a trash heap. Even some of the Apolo taxis run around with cracked windshields, doors not working etc, etc... Not that all these things affect fuel consumption... but they make the Capital look really bad. Very third world

WHY not some mini van type buses, why not some fixed route buses.. why this crowding? What is the power of FENETRO or whatever the teamsters union is here..

And to just subsidize gas is a terrible idea. Give discounts to food producers to get their produce to market and make it VERY expensive to drive a private car around the Capital.

I can sit down on Independencia at rush hour.. which is an oxymoron since it more like a rush crawl.. and it looks like a new car show. SUCH a huge number of late model SUVs.. all with a single driver in the them.
 

puryear270

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Aug 26, 2009
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I rode a public guagua into the capital today and found the lack of stress very much worth the extra time it took me to get to my destination. And the cost is such that it may very well have been less expensive than the fuel I would have burnt.

As luck would have it, both coming and going, I got to sit in the front and observe the traffic without having to worry about driving in it.

It is time to phase out the carros publicos. Appearance doesn't bother me, but their driving patterns do. The number of cars driving in the capital is too great for the capacity of the streets. Given what I have seen in other cities throughout the world, a good metro system (which seems to be in the works) and bus routes with fixed stops would work much better than what is currently in place. Some people might have to walk an extra block or two, but they would probably still get there sooner because the traffic would move more smoothly.

The biggest obstacle I see is political, and no one is going to want to take on the drivers' unions. Perhaps the idea would be embraced if the government established basic standards for cars used to carry passengers, as a means of ensuring public safety.

At any rate, I'm waiting to hear what the president announces tomorrow.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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I wish that I could figure out the routes of the guaguas....

I only know Bolivar and Independencia.. and then get completely lost when I have to go up or down.

Does one have to be born here to know them?

are they.. gasp.... PUBLISHED anywhere?
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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At any rate, I'm waiting to hear what the president announces tomorrow.

my prediction is that LF is going to announce how dominican government officials decided to sacrifice themselves in the name of lowering fuel consumpion by changing their whole fleet of obsolete 2010 SUV models for a set of super ecologically friendly, fuel saving porches cayenne.
 

Juan_J

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Mar 6, 2011
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are they.. gasp.... PUBLISHED anywhere?

Interesting, I've seen them several times, both printed and in digital CAD files (and those are pretty detailed maps they have)... but I work for the government on a mass transit system.

Out of curiosity I went to the AMET website, and yup.. they are nowhere to be found. :ermm:

The next best thing I could find, that is available for the general public, is this
Oficina Metropolitana de Servicios de Autobuses | OMSA > Servicios > Paradas

When you click on the city you live in, check the various corridors on top. Of course, this only show the routes that are served by OMSA, and those I would dare to say, aren't even 20% of the total routes.
 

Stuart Polkinghorne

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Nov 13, 2008
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Just a point I would like to add.. in the suburb I live in the amount of new high rise apartments grows every day and as I can see there is no upgrade of road planning to off set this. (more people living in a small area, more cars same roads) Plus business that need large trucks to bring in their goods still located inside residential suburbs with small streets making "rush hour" even more difficult.
Can I also ask why 1 government official needs to have 3 very big "out dated 2010 SUV's" follow them around every where???????
 

Juan_J

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Mar 6, 2011
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Just a point I would like to add.. in the suburb I live in the amount of new high rise apartments grows every day and as I can see there is no upgrade of road planning to off set this. (more people living in a small area, more cars same roads) Plus business that need large trucks to bring in their goods still located inside residential suburbs with small streets making "rush hour" even more difficult.

Can you name a few example cities where said road improvements are made preemptively?

Can I also ask why 1 government official needs to have 3 very big "out dated 2010 SUV's" follow them around every where???????

Repeat after me: STATUS SYMBOL & BOOSTED EGO.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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Interesting, I've seen them several times, both printed and in digital CAD files (and those are pretty detailed maps they have)... but I work for the government on a mass transit system.

Out of curiosity I went to the AMET website, and yup.. they are nowhere to be found. :ermm:

The next best thing I could find, that is available for the general public, is this
Oficina Metropolitana de Servicios de Autobuses | OMSA > Servicios > Paradas

When you click on the city you live in, check the various corridors on top. Of course, this only show the routes that are served by OMSA, and those I would dare to say, aren't even 20% of the total routes.

Well it would seem that the VERY best way to decrease the fuel consumption is to make mass transit more user friendly, right?

I am a NYer and grew up knowing the bus lines and subway lines.. BUT the routes are clearly printed and available.....

Certainly there are routes for the carros... and an interesting and complicated set of hand signals.. which remain a mystery to me..

How hard could it be to print these up? The routes are fixed, aren't they?

I mean, if you can build a Metro?!?!
 

granca

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Aug 20, 2007
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I'm a bit surprised that nobody else has advised you that there is a map of OMSA bus routes in the dr1 guide and its better than OMSA's one on the web.
 

yanandu

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Jan 23, 2011
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Reduce fuel consumption!
People need to trade in their cars for bikes. Maybe electric bikes. Or trikes.
rhino_adult_trike.jpg


Yanandu