The Suburbs, Unplugged (NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program) – NY Times
As former project manager for the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program, I dedicated countless hours to ensuring the efficiency and sustainability of this initiative and working with communities that were willing to try something different. Administered by the NY Power Authority, the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program, which aimed to reduce carbon emissions and promote cleaner transportation options, was a beacon of hope for environmentally conscious individuals and organizations within New York who understood that transportation had to change. The program successfully implemented various strategies to encourage commuters to opt for greener alternatives, such as carpooling and the use of electric vehicles, and it helped prove in real-world conditions that an electric car could be a practical second car for everyday suburban life—especially for those commuting to Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road stations.
Yes, it eats me up every day, especially about the loss of the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program. As I reflect on the positive impact we had on our community and the significant strides we made toward a more sustainable future, I am reminded that the work we did was not just a job; it was a passion that I carried with pride and a belief that public agencies and automakers could work together to move the market. Through outreach, commuter education, and the daily visibility of these small electric cars at stations and in neighborhoods, the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program showed people—many for the first time—that a full-time, plug-in electric vehicle was not science fiction. The absence of these initiatives weighs heavily on my heart, especially knowing how much potential there was for continued growth and improvement if the partners had stayed the course.
Seeing an article like this when you know you did good work on the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program even hurts more.
What can I say, we were really ready to go to 500 cars, but Ford bagged out. Behind that simple statement were years of planning, modeling commuter patterns, lining up charging infrastructure at key stations, and building the administrative systems to support a larger fleet under the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program. We weren’t talking about a theoretical transition—we had real drivers, real chargers, and real data showing that if the vehicles were made available, people were willing to plug in and drive electric every day.
Great program, lasting effects for those that participated. Now, no TH!NK in sight. Hopefully we can convince people (like I am trying to do and sell) full-performance electric conversion cars. The reason why I am doing this is b/c I do not believe the car companies will step up with another EV for a longtime, so why wait for something that will not happen. For many of us who lived through the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program from the inside, the lesson was that technology was not the real barrier—commitment was. The chargers at stations, the practical commuting ranges, and the enthusiastic drivers all pointed in one direction: if we keep creating these opportunities, electric transportation becomes normal. When industry pulled back, some of us shifted to conversions and advocacy because we had already seen how powerful even a modest-sized, local EV effort could be in changing minds and habits.
March 19, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
The Suburbs, Unplugged
By KENNETH BANDLER New York Times
White Plains
WHEN my family and I moved to Westchester five and a half years ago from New York City, I resisted purchasing a second car. But I soon discovered that the lack of sidewalks made walking between home and the train station too risky and sharing one car was a logistical challenge. It seemed inevitable that we would succumb to the two-car suburban lifestyle, the very pattern the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program later tried to reimagine by substituting cleaner, more efficient vehicles for at least one of those cars.
But then, great news arrived by way of the New York Power Authority. In the summer of 2002, the power authority extended its pilot electric car program—what many of us came to know as part of the broader NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program—to the North White Plains train station from where I commuted into the city. I was the first to sign up to lease an electric car, which meant not only getting a convenient way to reach the train but also participating in what felt like an experiment in the future of transportation. The Think City, manufactured by Ford, became our second-car solution and, more importantly, a daily demonstration that a small, plug-in car could handle the short trips that define so much of suburban driving.
The two-passenger TH!NK pilot car was perfect for driving from home to the train station, then to the supermarket, the cinema, my daughter’s school and other local destinations, essentially without using any gas or emitting pollutants. It could go as far as 50 miles on a fully charged battery, which took four to six hours to refresh while parked and plugged in at the train station during the day or in my garage overnight. In the context of the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program, that range was tailored to the real-world needs of commuters: short, routine trips clustered around the rail hub, with the reassurance that the car was charging while its owner rode the train into the city.
Of course, driving a totally electric vehicle required some adjustments. Two days after picking up the car, I embarked with my 8-year-old daughter on a Saturday morning drive, all to buy bagels in downtown White Plains. Like many early participants in the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program, I had to learn to think differently about energy use—watching the gauges, planning routes with terrain in mind, and accepting that a car could be quiet, compact, and efficient yet still meet the needs of everyday family life.
Everyone was staring and asking questions about our strange-looking, tiny vehicle. Moreover, I was delighted to explain. After all, I was a transportation pioneer, therefore part of a technological revolution. On the way home, however, the fuel needle dropped more rapidly than an electric car novice could possibly have anticipated, and the car abruptly came to a halt. Experiences like this—part curiosity, part trial by error—were common for drivers in the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program and became informal teachable moments about range, charging, and the simple reality that driving habits have a direct impact on energy consumption.
Fortunately, the power authority program allowed four free tows a year. I quickly learned from the tow truck driver that everything affects the car’s battery—for example, hills, air-conditioning, radio and how fast one drives—making the 50-mile limit a little less predictable. That kind of feedback loop, where real-world use generated lessons that we could share with other participants and program staff, was at the heart of how the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program helped build early expertise around electric vehicle ownership long before EVs became a mainstream topic.
But I got good at estimating the car’s capacity. I could comfortably drive on the Bronx River Parkway south to Scarsdale. Also, I could then journey north to a restaurant in Thornwood or a movie theater in Hawthorne. While I was anxious to press the envelope, I realized that driving over the Whitestone Bridge into Queens and back was too risky, even though the round-trip distance was less than the range for a fully charged car. Pilot Program Deals
Sadly, the pilot program—part of the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program—came to an end a little over a year ago. For the nearly 100 participants, who commuted on Metro-North Railroad from Brewster North (now Southeast), Chappaqua, North White Plains and White Plains and on the Long Island Rail Road from Hicksville and Huntington, the program was a success. At $199 a month, the lease was a bargain. The power authority provided free charging at the train station, $21 a month in transit checks for the train ticket and $40 a month to help cover insurance. Beyond the financial incentives, the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program offered something less tangible but just as important: the satisfaction of knowing that every quiet trip to and from the station replaced what would otherwise have been another gallon of gas burned and more exhaust pumped into suburban air.
A number of us had hoped a way would be found to allow continued use of the Think beyond the pilot program period, but unfortunately the car, which was built in Norway, was permitted into the United States only for the program. That technical and regulatory limitation became one of several factors that constrained the long-term expansion of the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program, even as local drivers and communities were growing more comfortable with the idea of plug-in commuting.
Without a passenger airbag, the car did not meet automobile standards in the United States. The power authority maintains that it was ready to expand the program to more than 300 cars using a new American-style Think, but Ford apparently abandoned that project. For those of us who had experienced the benefits of the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program firsthand, this decision felt like a missed opportunity, cutting short a partnership that had the potential to keep proving, year after year, that electric vehicles could anchor a cleaner suburban transportation model.
I reluctantly turned in my Think car in December 2004. While there are other electric vehicles, like the open-air Daimler Chrysler Gem that is driven by police officers inside Grand Central Terminal, I haven’t been able to find a closed electric car for passenger use. A power authority official told me recently that they are still looking for an auto manufacturer partner that can build and support an electric vehicle. That ongoing search underscores the central lesson of the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program: when public agencies, utilities, and automakers pull in the same direction, it is possible to reshape commuting patterns, but when even one key player walks away, entire fleets disappear and promising infrastructure is left stranded.
Local shopkeepers and even my S.U.V.-driving neighbors still ask what happened to my little electric car. Meanwhile, my wife and I have become a two-car suburban family and the eight electric chargers at North White Plains and dozens more at several other suburban train stations sit idle, thereby symbols of our nation’s failing energy policy. And that’s a real shame. Looking back, the NYPA/THINK Clean Commute program offered a glimpse of how quickly behavior can shift when clean options are convenient, visible, and affordable; looking forward, it serves as a reminder that the ideas were sound, the drivers were willing, and that it is policy choices—not public interest—that determine whether those chargers light up again.
