I took the Airporter shuttle from the Halifax International Airport to my downtown home early last Thursday morning (June 12th).
I bought my ticket and was told the next shuttle would be leaving in fifteen minutes, so I went outside to wait. I realized as I approached the vehicle that the driver was not there and that the vehicle was idling. I waited for a few minutes, jumped in the unlocked shuttle and turned it off. When the driver showed up at departure time, he didn’t say a word about it – the FIRST thing he did was jump in the vehicle and start the ignition, and THEN came around to the back to load everyone’s bags.
Why would this vehicle be idling anyway? It’s the middle of June, and had I not shut it off myself, the shuttle would have idled for fifteen minutes for no apparent reason! This is such a blatant and obvious waste of precious resources, not to mention unneeded emission creation, that I am completely disgusted.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2008.
Worried about emissions? You obviously don’t understand that newer diesels have a particulate filter that needs to “burn off” the residue it collects and its set up to do so when fast idling. Never mind the fact that you and your fellow passengers would have been screwed had the vehicle not started after you turned it off since Airporter’s maintenance facility isn’t at the airport. Next time don’t touch stuff in the drivers compartment as the NS Motor Carrier Act clearly states that tampering with controls in the drivers compartment of a public passenger vehicle is illegal.You screwed up. If you feel the need to play with buses then I suggest you submit an application to become a driver or mechanic.
I agree with Ex. Next time, walk the 10 feet back to the kiosk in the airport and voice your concern to the people in there. While we all need to ‘take action’ to help the environment, you should think about what would be best for the situation. According to Ex, this would have potentially gotten you into a lot more trouble. As well, if he didn’t notice that someone had turned it off, he may have thought he did. End of the day, he didn’t learn anything about what you are trying to preach.
actually, it is illegal in the HRM to idle for more than three minutes (i do believe that emergency vehicles, like police, ambulance, and fire are exempt). i personally have taken this up with agencies that violate that rule (security at one of HFX’s universities), and pointed it out to some drivers as well.im not sure i would turn the engine off myself, but i would bring it up with the management.
Seriously? That’s illegal? This city is out of control with bylaws.Maybe I should put out some form of citizens petition to form a bylaw against government interference with petty bylaws.
yeah, go for it Pete. fight one the few truely green initiatives that our ‘oh so green’ city actually pushed through.good luck to you! i hope youll enjoy your the-day-after-tomorrow-esque scenario. seriously, besides the speed and the vortexes, the movie is quite in tune with the predictions of what the melting ice caps will lead to.once the fresh water from the ice caps changes the salinity levels of the oceans enough, it will screw up the currents (difference in water’s salinity is one of the main driving forces of all ocean currents), and this will drastically change the climate, in particular in the north atlantic, because currents that affect weather now (including the gulf stream) will dissappear, and the polar caps will start expanding further south (in our hemisphere) and further north (in the southern hemisphere), until the Earth will become a gian snowball (it will keep growing past the ‘balanced’ salinity stage, because everything in nature has great inertia).and the worst part is, no one knows just how much the salinity nas to change before it WILL happen. we very well might be past the point of no return, and are just riding on the inertia now, until the winter comes.
And all because Pete doesn’t want to turn off his engine….tsk tsk Pete, shame on you… :PThe one thing I take some consolation with, with the whole environment thing, is that we managed to screw up an entire planet in about 80years, WITHOUT EVEN TRYING….think of the good we can do if we actually put our minds and money into cleaning up our mess….I’m talking terraforming people…terra-fucking-forming!!! Next stop Mars, bitches! M-A-R-S!Got a little crazy there, but I really do think if we get organized about it…we can fix this environmental mess we are in. As soon as saving the planet becomes profitable we will all be OK.
It’s not that I mind the bylaw per se, just the fact that it exists. I think there is a bylaw covering just about every aspect of life here. And that whole stupid cat thing is still ongoing, making Halifax look like a bunch of clowns.I’m just saying, that maybe the local council should spend more time running the city than creating bylaws that are never enforced (see panhandling)
Grindcore = Al Gore
I have my doubts about the theory of evolution Qwertz… How can you explain something like Coyotex having evolved from amoebae millions of years ago…?? I suppose if you consider things like mutation and devolution its plausible…Its either very improbable,,, or just VERY unfortunate…
You don’t hear much about being green anymroe. Seems like my theory in previous threads about it being a fad is true!
are you fucking serious coyotex??? I can’t open the paper, a book, a magazine, turn on the television or radio or have a conversation with another person without it turning to the green movement. you could not be more wrong.
Well I suppose anybody might have guessed that we’d be getting back to killing the planet, after a long couple months of Al Bore… Right Coyo..??So you obviously have a real firm grasp on the zeitgeist as it were… Please enlighten us with some of your other great theories… I’ll just sit back here and wait to read ’em… Go for it…
oh frannie,,,, you blew my cover…
I guess evolution it a theory too, right?