Skiings dirty little secret

[SkiDork]

Cross posted from KZone:


I found out about this at Okemo:

The freaking buses stay idling ALL DAY LONG!!!

Typical example: At Okemo on Sunday there must have been between 20 and 30 buses, all idling all day long.

I actually knocked on the window of one of the buses and asked the driver why they had to be idling... After a lot of hemming and hawing, he came out with "the brake lines would freeze"

What a load of horse shit...

Has this ever been examined before?

Can we get this legislated????

How many carcinogenit particulates are being released into the atmosphere unnecessarily because of this????

Talk about being a green resert... NOT


Anyone have an opinion????

 

[dmc]

Hunter makes them turn them off...
So they go elsewhere..

 

[Briskies]

This is not a resort decided issue. Some bus companies require that the buses are kept idling throughout the day. At Stowe they have a no idol policy. But this is not always followed. I would not really say this causes a resort to not be green, since it is not always under there control. But i do feel this is something the state of Vermont could take care of, but there is nothing a ski resort can really do about it or enforce policy about it.

 

[wa-loaf]

Some ski towns have passed ordinances against it. There's an article in the latest Skiing by a guy who goes around an turns off cars people leave idling at stores and driveways. Def should be banned, or hire drivers who ski so they don't sit in the bus all day.

 

[SkiDork]

I'm really serious about mounting a campaing to put an end to this. No kidding. This is freaking bullshit.

I'll take it all the way to Al Gore if I have to...

 

[SkiDork]

Some ski towns have passed ordinances against it. There's an article in the latest Skiing by a guy who goes around an turns off cars people leave idling at stores and driveways. Def should be banned, or hire drivers who ski so they don't sit in the bus all day.

idling a car for 15 minutes is one thing...

Idling a 40 passenger bus for 8 hours is totally different...

 

[wa-loaf]

idling a car for 15 minutes is one thing...

Idling a 40 passenger bus for 8 hours is totally different...

True, but they say if the car is going to idle more than 30 secs you should turn it off. A least as far as preserving gas goes.

 

[SkiDork]

here's an easy one:

Can someone help me out - who are the politicans from the Ludlow area - US/VT/local?

I'm definitely sending letters out to them to start...

See where that gets me...

 

[severine]

This is not a resort decided issue. Some bus companies require that the buses are kept idling throughout the day.

This is true. And the busses that bring in the groups at Sundown also idle the entire time they're there.

 

[davidhowland14]

Ludlow is represented by
Senators:

* Senator Bill Carris
(D-RUTLAND DISTRICT)
* Senator Hull P. Maynard
(R-RUTLAND DISTRICT)
* Senator Kevin J. Mullin
(R-RUTLAND DISTRICT)

Representatives:

Representative Joseph Baker
(R-RUTLAND-1-2) Representative Dave Potter
(D-RUTLAND-1-2)

 

[Greg]

Sounds like a somewhat daunting crusade, but good luck with it.

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

It may be that leaving the engine running actually incurs less wear than a cold restart. I dont know, just guessing but it's really common to see parked trucks and busses idling. I have to believe there's a real reason for doing it because it can't be just to keep the person inside warm.

My father drove old-beater diesel Benzes when I was kid and I remember he was often running a blockheater on winter nights and making lunchtime trips to the parking lot to run the engine a bit on cold ski days. Old diesels dont start easily when it's cold. <shrug>

But I agree it sucks and I get pissed when I see it too.
Last thought - the amount of fuel burned idling all day is probably a small portion of the total used on the bus's entire trip.

 

[kcyanks1]

I think the problem is that the buses' engines/brakes/or something will freeze in cold temperatures if the bus is not kept idling. It's a bad solution, but I doubt you can just get the buses to turn off their engines. Maybe they are doing it at temperatures warm enough where it is not necessary and that could be addressed.

 

[SkiDork]

Ludlow is represented by
Senators:

* Senator Bill Carris
(D-RUTLAND DISTRICT)
* Senator Hull P. Maynard
(R-RUTLAND DISTRICT)
* Senator Kevin J. Mullin
(R-RUTLAND DISTRICT)

Representatives:

Representative Joseph Baker
(R-RUTLAND-1-2) Representative Dave Potter
(D-RUTLAND-1-2)

This is great info - any way to get an address to send snail mail to them?

 

[wa-loaf]

This is great info - any way to get an address to send snail mail to them?

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html

 

[SkiDork]

Sounds like a somewhat daunting crusade, but good luck with it.

It shouldn't be - with all the global warming publicity these days - if there were ever an unnecessary contributor to global warming, this has to come close to the top dog...

 

[jaywbigred]

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Go here http://skipressworld-us.v1.myvirtualpaper.com/US_2007_2008/2008020701/en/ and turn to page 34. Argues that, despite the ski industry having a pretty large relative stake in what happens with climate change, resorts have done remarkably little, as a whole, to affect that change. I don't think stopping the idling of the buses alone is going to improve much; the change would be mostly symbolic. If you are going to spend time working with politicians, you might be better to served to aim higher? the National Ski Areas Association set the Environmental Charter for Ski Areas in 2000. So far only 184 of the 486 member areas have signed on to the charter. Only 63 areas signed the NSAA's letter to congress lobbying for law regarding same. Read more in the article. Maybe a start would be states requiring non-adhering resorts to conform by a certain date with the goals of the charter?

And lastly, maybe querry whether its a good idea to attack buses in the first place, given that they enable large numbers of people to carpool, are a form of mass transit, and therefrom reduce the number of emitting vehicles on the road (not to mention traffic). At the least weigh whether
the emissions from One bus idling/driving for the duration of the trip are greater than the emissions from the 25 or so cars and SUVs that would otherwise be used to get those same 50-60 skiers to that same mountain.

http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/environment/sustainable_slopes/



Unfortunately Stowe is already on the charter, so it would seem idling buses aren't expressly addressed, though I haven't read it all.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

It's their bus, they can do what they want..you could sit in your car all day in a parking lot with it idleing..It's a free country..the ski areas should be grateful for the bus companies bringing the skiers and riders who don't have cars to the mountain..

 

[Euler]

You should find this site useful in your efforts:

http://www.idle-freevt.com/index.html

This has been a big issue in the state lately, particularly with regards to school busses idling in front of schools.

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

It's their bus, they can do what they want..you could sit in your car all day in a parking lot with it idleing..It's a free country..the ski areas should be grateful for the bus companies bringing the skiers and riders who don't have cars to the mountain..

It's the ski areas' parking lots. They can make whatever rules they want, including prohibiting idling busses.