Steve Eldridge, The Examiner
2007-10-17 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Maybe Metro could use this idea as part of its campaign to get information out to passengers: The subway system in Boston, also known as The T, is launching its own radio station. That system, one of the oldest in the country, although a little behind ours when it comes to technology, has just launched T-Radio, an experiment running in three stations. It will combine light news, weather, train and bus information as well as playoff updates for the Red Sox. It will also run from eight to ten minutes of commercials an hour.

The idea, according to the Boston Globe, came to the system from a man who used to own several radio stations in and around the city. The “station” will air a play list of top 40, Motown, Latin pop and oldies, so I guess you won’t be hearing any Godsmack there anytime soon. Maybe a little Rage Against the Machine might go over well here in Washington.

It is not known how much profit the operator of the transit system will or could make from the idea if it is expanded, but so far the feedback has been generally positive. Those not into the musical selections can always choose to listen to their i-Pods instead.

Highway Scooters

We’ve all heard about electric cars and hybrid cars, but what about an electric scooter? A company called Vectrix is marketing a fully electric scooter in California called the ZEV. It promotes itself as the only highway-legal, fully electric, zero-emissions vehicle in the United States.

The ZEV has no gears and no clutch, so it would be easy to operate for those who have issues with those sorts of things. It also goes from 0-50 MPH in just under seven seconds, so drivers won’t have trouble merging into traffic.

The ZEV charges on a standard 110-volt plug and gets 68 miles per charge or enough for a daily commute or two. That’s because the scooter uses a system that allows for some recharging of the battery during use.

It sounds to me like a pretty neat idea except that the sticker price is $11,000. The state of California may be offering a rebate as an anti-pollution incentive of $1,500.

Now, where do we get all that electricity without creating pollution somewhere else?