Tuesday 17 May 2011

Idle Free Taipei

Today's Taipei Times contains a letter by one John Fleckenstein, who has apparently set up a website: Idle-Free Taipei. The gist of the letter is an argument for people to shut off their scooter engines whilst idling at red lights on account of the wasted fuel and air pollution thus generated. The proposition itself is as sensible as it is simple, and I often switch off my own engine at red lights (though it depends on the circumstances). However, some of the language used in the letter reveals exactly the wrong sort of perspective from which this argument is being made.
"I have recently started a campaign directed at those who use their scooters to commute and seemingly will do so forever, regardless of improvements and expansions made to public transportation."
Right from the off, I didn't like it; the language here is that of the military metaphor - and that's distinctly uncivil. I don't care that you think other people should use public transport rather than their scooters - what ought to be made salient to you Fleckenstein, is the impertinence of your criticism: you don't get to set other people's priorities for them. Only they get to do that.
"...the mission is for drivers to turn off their scooter engines at all of those seemingly endless red lights... With the help of a friend, I found that this idea has already been discussed, even with the prospect that it might one day become a law."
I imagine that with some imagination and application of effort, this could be a "mission actually possible", and thus the question of introducing yet another law is, at best, out of place. All a new law would succeed in doing is generating more income and paperwork for the traffic police.
"For the past two months I have been driving all around Taipei during the morning and evening rush hours with a watch and a camera trying to get a better idea of how much idling occurs. I found that at a single traffic light, the cumulative stoppage for scooters can be up to, and even more than 80 minutes."
Eh? The relevant data would surely be the ratios of stoppage times to distances per different parts of the city. In any case, the numbers aren't really necessary to surmise the point - people spend a fair bit of time stuck at red lights. Granted.
"In addition, the average time spent waiting at a traffic light is 63 seconds, which means that for every 1km driven, the typical scooter is idling for approximately 86 seconds (which averages to about 35 percent of the total commute time)."
So "total commute time" is about 4 mins - but total commute time for whom? Is this supposed to be an average for all of Taipei's scooter drivers?
"Once you take the number of scooters in Taipei and multiply it by the average commute distance, it is easy to see how much idling is really going on."
Well what is the average commuting distance for scooter drivers in Taipei? I don't actually know.
"...scooter commuters are burning an obscene amount of fuel every minute, let alone every day."
Obscene? Bit too strong; at least they're doing their bit to feed the plants with nutritious C02...
"If there is anything that can be done to help promote this cause, it would be greatly appreciated."
Yes - argue your case on its' own merits without the fallback to Statist "solutions" like passing a law and punishing the plebs with fines. I'm sympathetic to the argument, but not to the premises in which it is couched.

Update (Monday 23rd May): "Engelbert Altenburger" writes:
"Taiwan’s seemingly helpless Ministry of Transportation and Communications has never tackled the issue.... It’s the duty of everybody to raise these standards."
Put those two sentences together and the likely implication ought to be clear, which was why I made my criticisms of Fleckenstein.

19 comments:

  1. feed the plants with nutritious C02...

    I don't know if the same can be said of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.

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  2. That letter in the TT set me a little bit on edge, too, Mr. Fagan. If it weren't for my scooter, I wouldn't be able to get to work. I live in Hsinchu, there is no MRT, and even if there was...I was just in Taipei this past Sunday, and the ridiculous slowness at which Taiwanese, and especially Taipeiers walk kind of negates the efficaciousness of using the MRT for absolutely everything. I know, people should drive too fast, but I suspect it would be much faster to get from Zhongxiao Fuxing to Main Station by scooter than it is by MRT. Range, at range.wordpress.com, for example, commutes all the time. It would be prohibitive for him to take the MRT to all his jobs and his school. It makes sense to me that people commute on their scooters. What actually bugs me is the scooters that spew 20 feet of smoke behind them. Those things should be discarded, if they want people to respect them.

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  3. Thoth - I think it's slightly overblown: scooters with two stroke engines are the ones which burn oil and thus cause smoke; four stroke engines are much cleaner. The two strokes are in an overwhelming minority since scooter manufacturers no longer make them and haven't done for years.

    Fleckenstein is not calling for the abolition of scooters however, and as I said, I often turn my engine off at red lights anyway as I think it's common sense.

    While they're at it, they could try to promote better vehicle maintenance - especially among women. I always make sure I take good care of all my bikes: I recently just fitted new tires (Maxxis) before the "rainy season" starts.

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  4. I was always led to believe that starting an engine required a bit more fuel than just letting it idle. You'll also be wearing out your starter, battery and engine faster IIRC.

    Most Taiwanese aren't big on maintenance as most people who have lived and watched Taiwanese know. Scooters are driven to near death then taken to the mechanic who may or may not know how to fix it. They'd rather buy new. Go to a wet market in the morning to find the worst offenders.

    It's just another greenie's idea to eventually get rid of scooters. It's probably one of the greenest, fastest and most economical ways for 1-2 people to get around a city. Small engine, great gas mileage, and cheap to maintain; It's everything the people who brought us the 10-10 video hate.

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  5. "I was always led to believe that starting an engine required a bit more fuel than just letting it idle. You'll also be wearing out your starter, battery and engine faster IIRC."

    Re fuel - it depends on the length of time spent idling; Fleckenstein's letter was referring to rush hour in Taipei. Lights with a 90 second or 2 min wait are where the argument best applies.

    Re battery and starter motor - sure, but the difference is marginal. Some of the mechanics will re-charge your battery for you for free, but you'll eventually have to get a new one anyway.

    The maintenance issue applies to cars as much as to scooters - and it's usually women and teenagers who don't know what they're doing. Just last night I told a couple of young lads messing about with a bike in the basement to fork out for a new engine or get a new bike. It was burning oil (4 stroke) and the stink was awful. Woman I know of called her husband one day to tell him the car was broken. He said "what's wrong?" She said "it just stopped!"... turns out the engine was over heating and it hadn't occurred to her to check the temperature guage - that's why Toyota fit their engines with auto shut offs.

    "It's just another greenie's idea to eventually get rid of scooters."

    Yes this has been at the back of their minds for a long time - it's nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with image projection. It's the "toffs" pissing on the "proles". The argument about safety is a red herring.

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  6. I turn the engine off when I'm going to be stuck at a red light for more than 50 seconds (there are timers on almost all the lights in Taipei). I really wish others would do the same; there are intersections in Taipei where you wish you could hold your breath for the duration because breathing is so incredibly unpleasant. Everytime I'm forced to stop at the Minquan/Dunhua intersection I feel like I've taken a month off my life.

    As for the two-stroke/four-stroke point... when there are that many scooters it doesn't really matter what the engine type is, though you can pretty much be guaranteed that there'll be a few people running two-strokers that should have been taken off the road two decades ago.

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  7. "...there are intersections in Taipei where you wish you could hold your breath for the duration because breathing is so incredibly unpleasant."

    That's one of the many reasons why I've never wanted to live in Taipei. Your only solutions are the car (too much time) or the MRT (too much time).

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  8. Nah, the biggest problem with a car in Taipei is the parking. Once you get where you're going you need to find a place to park. A permanent space would cost 3000NT a month, easily. Parking spaces in this town sell for as much as a house in the rest of the country.

    The MRT's not slow actually, as long as you're travelling more than a couple of stops. It's also a hell of a lot safer than taking the scooter and it's quite pleasant: air-conditioning and generally little waiting time between trains.

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  9. Parking - sure. It's bad enough in Tainan and Kaohsiung, never mind Taipei. Even parking a scooter is nigh on impossible in some places.

    MRT is alright, but not at rush hour and you have to factor in the time to walk to and from the stops, plus the crowding aggro.

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  10. “That letter in the TT set me a little bit on edge, too, Mr. Fagan. If it weren't for my scooter, I wouldn't be able to get to work. I live in Hsinchu, there is no MRT… Range, at range.wordpress.com, for example, commutes all the time. It would be prohibitive for him to take the MRT to all his jobs and his school. It makes sense to me that people commute on their scooters. ,” Thoth Harris

    Unfortunately you only read Mr. Fagan’s post, and not anything that has to do with “Idle-Free Taipei.” I drive a scooter. I also don’t want to stop driving my scooter. I only want to turn it off at red lights to stop burning fuel when I don’t need to. Check out the website! www.Idle-FreeTaipei.com

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  11. “I was always led to believe that starting an engine required a bit more fuel than just letting it idle. You'll also be wearing out your starter, battery and engine faster IIRC…. It's just another greenie's idea to eventually get rid of scooters. “ - Okami

    The operative phrase in your comment is “led to believe,” and the goal of “Idle-Free Taipei” is to let you know that what you’ve been led to believe is wrong. Idling over 10-20 seconds (every scooter is different) is worse on your scooter than starting the engine. Also, I don’t mind you calling me a “greenie,” but I think you also forgot to click the Idle-Free Taipei link and see that I’m not trying to get rid of scooters. I love my scooter, but I don’t want to burn fuel when I don’t need to. Check out the website! www.Idle-FreeTaipei.com

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  12. “I turn the engine off when I'm going to be stuck at a red light for more than 50 seconds (there are timers on almost all the lights in Taipei). I really wish others would do the same; there are intersections in Taipei where you wish you could hold your breath for the duration because breathing is so incredibly unpleasant.” –Steve

    Steve, you’d be delighted to know that Idle-Free Taipei is trying to grant your wish that “others would do the same.” In fact, we advocate turning your scooter off if you are stopped for longer than 10-20 seconds. Every second counts!

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  13. Mr. Fagan, Idle-Free Taipei's response can be found at this URL:

    http://johnnyfleck.blogspot.com/2011/05/idling-scooters-are-nutritious.html

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  14. "Idle-Free": I generally agree. Moreover, if you read my response to Thoth above, you'll see that I acknowledged your campaign is not about the abolition of scooters.

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  15. I posted before I saw that link...

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  16. Idle-Free: it's not difficult to learn how to embed your links, really it isn't. The first two comments on that response are mine.

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  17. This is a link to Idle-free's blog

    would be accomplished by typing

    <a href="http://johnnyfleck.blogspot.com/2011/05/idling-scooters-are-nutritious.html" rel="nofollow">This is a link to Idle-free's blog</a>

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  18. Interesting Idle Free, sorry for assuming too much but once they start on one thing it often creeps into something very different through govt fiat. I'd suggest you listen to this podcast which is entertaining to get my meaning:
    http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/2011/05/11/andrew-breitbart-and-james-blunt/

    I forget where the smokers versus NRA is.

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