Intelligent Travel

Taxis Go From Yellow to Green

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Toyota Prius hybrids from Iowa City's Black and Gold Cab Company

Cities across the U.S. are making a fashion statement that seems to be catching on—green is the new yellow. Taxis in many major cities are becoming more environmentally friendly by switching to low-emission vehicles. By taking this leap, taxis, which are the ultimate offenders of continuous stop-and-go traffic, will vastly decrease their contribution of carbon emissions on the road.

After reading a post from our friends at Inhabitat about Boston taxis recently taking the initiative to go green, we decided to see what other cities were making the same effort to decrease their carbon tire track.  What we found was a spread of cities and individuals offering green transportation to those in need, including locals and travelers abroad. 

Arlington, VA - Introduced to the greater Washington area as  “the first carbon-neutral [taxi] fleet in the U.S.” earlier this year, EnviroCab offers only environmentally friendly vehicles to its customers. They even go the extra mile by offsetting their carbon emissions and then some in an effort to be the first carbon-negative taxi service in the world.

Boston - A major part of the overall plan to improve the city’s taxi system, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino calls for all taxis to be replaced by hybrids within seven years.  Along with these efforts to go green, the plan also requires drivers to install credit card machines and bars the wearing of sweatpants and T-shirts on the job (which isn't exactly green, but hey, it's something).

Chicago - Here, the transition to hybrids started with the help of a little green friend, Kermit the Frog. In an energy campaign launched by Ford Motor Company, a fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids, featuring the car's spokesfrog Kermit, are providing green taxi services in Chicago.

Denver - Metro Taxi, Denver’s largest taxi service, offers a number of Toyota Prius hybrids to its customers.  Taking the term quite literally, these taxis are identifiable by their green paint jobs. But you shouldn't take the green for granted, as more recently, the Yellow Cab Company of Denver also started to
offer hybrid cabs.

It’s an Uphill Battle for Luxury Trains in the U.S.

Traveling by train was once the epitome of class and decadence. I’m not talking about your standard, run-of-the-mill Amtrak here. I’m thinking old-fashioned luxury–sleeper cars, white tablecloths, and sweeping vistas rolling past your window–the works. I have always romanticized this type of travel (for some reason all of my fantasy train rides involved snow-covered peaks, filet mignon, and a roaring fire. Fire hazards don't exist in fantasy train rides, you know). But, like many Americans of my generation, I have never experienced it firsthand.    

In the United States, luxury trains seem to be a thing of the past, elbowed aside by airplanes, interstate highways, and cruise lines. The events of the past month only solidify that trend. As Jane Engle of the L.A. Times reported, GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, formerly American Orient Express, ceased operations due to financial difficulties late last month. The company, a standout in the U.S. market, offered high-end rail travel across scenic North America, complete with fine dining and private sleeper cars; all in fully restored vintage trains.

The events certainly caught many by surprise (including IT, as we blogged about GrandLuxe when it teamed up with Amtrak in '07) – most notably those customers who have already booked trips for the upcoming months. This past week, the company annouced plans to sell the 31 cars from their luxury locomotive, the GrandLuxe Express. (They presented it as a "unique opportunity for a sophisticated investor." While you're at it, why not snag a villa as well?) While they've effectively pulled the breaks, the rest of the rail industry is wondering what this all means.

So, what happened? After all, it wasn't long ago that GrandLuxe was ranked internationally and London’s Sunday Times was singing the railway’s praises.

A Bike Powered Bar? Brilliant

There are a few things that get us going here at IT, and bikes and beer happen to be two of them. So when we heard about the bike-powered bar now roaming the streets of Amsterdam from the good folks over at Treehugger, we were instantly intrigued. Here's the gist:

The Fietscafe is a mobile pub, for groups up to 17 people per bike, who can transport themselves by moving the pedals. Not all guests do have to cycle; the Fietscafe is provided with 10 free wheels, so you can change seats from time to time. You need a sober driver and of course, the best bartender looks after the beer and drinks.

No word yet on whether these mobile pubs are serving local, organic beer, but apparently they're sprouting up in London (where it's called the Pubcrawler, appropriately enough) and Minneapolis as well. All we know is that this brings a whole new meaning to designating a driver.

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Getting Lost in Nauset

Friend of IT Roger Hamilton sends us this dispatch from the mysterious marshes of Nauset, Cape Cod.

My paddling companion pulled his canoe out of Cape Cod’s Salt Pond and jokingly remarked, "Good paddle, lousy guide."

The canoeist was Jonathan Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations and international expert on authentic travel experiences.

He was right. It was indeed a good paddle. Elsewhere on the Cape, roads were jammed and the big sign on Route 6 flashed that all of the beach parking lots were full. Lines of weary people spilled out of fried clam shacks and ice cream parlors. Together with Jonathan's wife Sally, we had spent the morning in beautiful, serene Nauset Marsh, one of Cape Cod's hidden treasures. 

But lousy guide? After some digging, I think I now can explain how an experienced marsh-hound (me) could get tricked into taking a wrong turn up a dead end channel in these 800 acres of twisting waterways, grass, mudflats, sandbars and beach.

Our first stop that day was the nearby Eastham Aquaculture Center. I opened the door and called out, “hello,” and a building full of big plastic tanks gurgled back. Then out stepped Nat Goddard, deputy natural resources officer (“clam cop,” as he puts it).

“That tank next you contains ten million scallop larvae,” this former teacher told me. I tried to multiply that by all the other tubs and tanks in the building, containing oysters and soft shell clams and that at other times contain sea clams, razor clams, and quahogs. After spending their larval lives here then at the Eastham Salt Pond, most will end up in Nauset Marsh, where only a few will avoid a quick Darwinian demise. 

New York City's Summer Streets

Friend of IT Corrie Pikul is an avid runner, so when she got the chance to jog down Park Avenue in New York City without having to mess with cars, she took it eagerly, as did thousands of other city residents. Take part in the last Summer Streets event this Saturday, August 23.

While visiting France a few weeks ago for a friend's wedding, my travel companions and I ended up in Paris with a few hours to kill. Hot, sweaty, and exhausted from the weekend's celebrations, we decided to hit the plage—the Paris Plage, that is. For about a month every summer since 2002, the city has been transforming the Right Bank of the Seine into an ersatz beach, complete with sand, boardwalks, ball courts, snack bars, and palm trees. Cleared of cars and scooters, this temporary pedestrian paradise offers overheated Parisians a space to stretch out in the sun, and even chaises on which to stretch. "Isn't this wonderful?" we said to each other, smiling behind our sunglasses. "If only we had something like this back home in New York."

While Mayor Bloomberg may be six years behind his Parisian counterpart, Bertrand Delanoë, he's two steps ahead of my friends and me. Immediately after returning to New York, I learned about the city's inaugural Summer Streets program. For three consecutive Saturdays this August (9, 16, 23), Park Avenue and connecting streets from Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park are closed to motorized traffic. From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., the city's bikers, skateboarders, walkers, runners, baby strollers, and just plain strollers are encouraged to literally take back the streets without fear of being sideswiped by cars. This past Saturday, my boyfriend and I decided to forgo our usual weekend run in Prospect Park in favor of a 6.9-mile jog right up the middle of Park Ave, where, typically, only cars dare to tread.

We got a late start, so by the time we came off the Brooklyn Bridge and turned up Lafayette Ave, it was almost noon. So while we missed some of the activities like the bike-decorating party and impromptu parade, and many of the musical performances, the moving block party was still in full swing. Runners, were in the minority (we assumed the more serious athletes had finished hours ago), but the streets were still full of people on bikes, on foot, in groups, playing with their kids, walking, talking, hanging out. Not far from St. Bart's church on 51st St, we even spotted a white-uniformed trio practicing martial arts.

Whale-Watching by Kayak in British Columbia

Senior editor Norie Quintos edits Traveler's annual Tours of a Lifetime issue, which selects the 50 best guided tours of the year. So what did she do on her family vacation? She took two tours out West. This week she blogs about sea kayaking in British Columbia; next week, rafting on Idaho’s Salmon River. And the following week, she'll share tips on planning a great family trip.

It took three flights and an hour-long boat ride from northern Vancouver Island to get to Hurst Island, in the heart of one of British Columbia’s newest provincial parks, God’s Pocket. There, a charming seven-room lodge at the water’s edge served as our base for exploring the area by kayak.

I’ve kayaked before, but no way was I going to do it in unfamiliar (not to mention sea mammal-laden) waters, and with two kids in tow. This was a job for an expert outfitter and the one I called on was Sea Kayak Adventures, which has been guiding trips to this area since 1993. The Couer-d’Alene-based company also runs trips to Baja in winter.

The kids weren’t so keen on encountering Shamu up close, but I was fixated on seeing orcas. So it came as a bit of a shock that during the entire five-day trip, we saw not a one. Not. A. One. Apparently, wild orcas, unlike their unfortunate caged brethren at SeaWorld, don’t perform on a schedule, which is why all whale-watching tour operators in the region, including ours, never guarantee sightings.

But we did spot something else in the water. And that something else turned out to be just as awesome and thrilling. Huge humpback whales, hunted to near extinction and a rare sight in this former whaling area, have made a dramatic comeback in the last decade.

We spotted several humpbacks, including a mother and calf that entered the cove at the entrance to the lodge. However, the encounter that made chills run down my spine was kayaking on Browning Passage and hearing behind us the forceful exhalation of air through the blowhole of one of these otherwise silent creatures—like Darth Vader, but friendlier. Is there anyone who can listen to the breath of that gentle giant (which might have gone the way of the dodo) and not become an instant environmentalist?

Where are the D.C. Smartbikes?

NG Books Editorial Assistant Hunter Braithwaite likes bikes, and tells us a bit about his hopes for the D.C. SmartBike program.

On the first of July, aboard a very crowded Metro, I read this article in the Washington Post’s Express.  Seems that we’re going to have to wait a little longer for the SmartBike program to take off. You know, those cute little (empty) bike racks that are popping up around northwest D.C. I for one am very excited to think that Washington is attempting a bike sharing program, which is healthy, progressive, and sustainable. Who cares if it’s being done in typical D.C. fashion, that is, slowly and illogically? 

IT has done several stories on Paris’s Vélib program, the astonishingly popular initiative set up last summer by the City of Lights. Since then, there have been beaucoup de praise and a few criticisms; namely, that it’s giving access to bikes to people who shouldn’t have access to bikes (tourists, the uncoordinated). And to be fair, this isn’t far from the truth. Paris is a bicycle-friendly city, but it’s still a city. A big one. And most tourists are just that, touring. They don’t have a firm grasp on the nuances of Parisian geography, traffic patterns, or the relentless tide of teenagers on scooters. In short, they’re bad cyclists. But a few broken scraped knees and dented Peugeots shouldn’t be held against them, should it?

But with the three recent deaths of cyclists using the Vélib system since May, some frustrated Parisians are now talking of putting an end to the vélo-fun. Bertrand Delanoë, the city’s mayor, answers with a resounding “Non,” and points out that the accident rate has increased only 7 percent in the city, while the use of bikes has jumped up 24 percent. The city has had over 27 million rentals on the Velib system so far and the program continues growing with every passing week. The city started out with more than 10,000 bikes, and that number has doubled in the past year. And this isn’t just a Paris thing—other cities have their own versions: Barcelona, Lyon, Seville, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Munich.

The Snow’s Great in Bariloche, Argentina

Contributing writer Cathy Healy has spent time in Argentina, and while we're soaking up sun here in the States, she's dreaming of snow...

 

Ski slopes opened late this year in Bariloche, Argentina, and as of late June, the runs are ready for shredding. But after three spectacular snow years, Latin America’s largest ski resort has been plagued by a snow drought and an erupting volcano.

This has been a wild winter in southern Latin America. Patagonia’s fierce winds have blown ash from the eruption at Volcán Chaitén on the Chilean Pacific north to Bariloche, about 130 miles away. Ash has also swept across the continent to Argentina’s Península Valdés on the Atlantic, one of the world’s premier wildlife areas.

Because volcanic ash ruins jet engines, airlines are flying on-again, off-again schedules to Bariloche and Trelew (gateway to Valdés), said IT friend Juan Andres Kaczorkiewicz, an Argentine importer in Bariloche, who spends U.S. winters teaching snowboarding in Telluride.

“Bariloche has about 18 inches of snow on the top of the mountain,” Kaczorkiewicz said in a Skype call in late June. “This is a weird winter."

Adding to Argentina’s woes was the political showdown between the president and the farmers, with empty shelves in some supermarkets in Buenos Aires, and some people cashing in pesos for dollars. Bad move. Now, though, the strikes seem over and the dollar keeps dropping.

Sound crazy? Yeah. Should you go? I would in a heartbeat. Few things are more satisfying than walking through airport security with a parka in late July. You’re announcing to the world: It’s MY choice to skip this nasty heat wave. (Tip: You might think about taking enough cash in case banks and ATMs shut down suddenly.)

Why late July? Because that’s when the prices start to drop and the kids finish their winter vacation and go back to school. (July = Christmas week in Aspen.)

Tour Guide: Walking Rome

This month's issue of Traveler offers up some of the most authentic offerings found in Rome. And writer and Traveler reader Emilie C. Harting sends over her own favorite pick for exploring the city.

Walk this way in Rome. Do you know how to avoid the 2-3 hour lines for such treasures as Vatican City with its Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s, or the Colosseum with its adjacent Palatine Hill and Roman Forum? Or find quiet little alleyways that empty into such favorite, but ever so crowded sites as the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona? Answer: Rome’s Presto Tours expose the secrets to this remarkable city, which was begun over 2,000 years ago and keeps rebuilding itself with the same stones. 

I took four of Presto’s three-hour Rome tours recently and found the guides knowledgeable, personable, and entertaining. At Vatican City and on the Roman Forum and Colosseum walk, I saw literally ten times more than I had on a previous trip. On a tour of Trastevere, one of the most cosmopolitan of Rome’s neighborhoods, our guide recommended cafés on narrow streets leading out from a square with buildings dating back to A.D. 400. On the Rome City Tour we walked through the major squares at night—the lights shone on the facades of buildings and the sculptures in the fountains.

At the end I traced our steps on a city map. We’d had a geography lesson on central Rome: ever so useful for returning to spots we’d passed on the way. Most important, I explored the city while enjoying the camaraderie of others in a small group.

Photo: Bob Krist for National Geographic Traveler's Authentic Rome cover story.

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Scootin' Around Seattle

More than one Traveler staffer has succumbed to the scooter craze in recent months (pictured, above). And the need to scoot is spreading. Seattlest reported last week that Scoot About, a scooter rental program based in South Lake Union, is testing a scooter rental program similar to that of ZipCars. The scooters are available to business people to run errands in and around the city. Rates start at $5 per half hour and include gas for the first ten miles.

If you're just in town for the weekend, no need to worry. People not enrolled in the program can rent scooters by the hour (starting at $30 for the first hour) or the day ($75). Everyone is required to take a scooter safety course before renting but only need a regular drivers license (here in DC, scooterists must get a special license to legally scoot around the city). Scoot About owner Susan Richardson just added an all-electric scooter—which means zero emissions for up to 25 miles—to the fleet.

Photo: Noah Wiese