[sustran] VTPI News - Spring 2003

[Todd Alexander Litman]

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                                   VTPI NEWS
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                       Victoria Transport Policy Institute
                          "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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                            Spring 2003    Vol. 6, No. 2
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The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research 
organization dedicated to developing innovative solutions to transportation 
problems. The VTPI website (http://www.vtpi.org) has many resources 
addressing a wide range of transport planning and policy issues. VTPI also 
provides consulting services.

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TRANSPORTATION COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS GUIDEBOOK 
==================================================
VTPI continues to update the Online edition of "Transportation Cost And 
Benefit Analysis: Techniques, Estimates And Implications" 
(www.vtpi.org/tca). This free guidebook provides comprehensive information 
on transportation economic impacts for use in planning and policy analysis. 
Chapters on user, congestion, air pollution and water pollution/hydrologic 
costs have recently been updated. We also provide a Cost Analysis 
Spreadsheet (www.vtpi.org/tca/tca.xls) that automates costing calculations 
and allows values to be easily modified to reflect a particular situation 
or analysis perspective.



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VTPI ONLINE TDM ENCYCLOPEDIA
============================
The VTPI "Online TDM Encyclopedia" (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm) is the most 
comprehensive resource available anywhere to help identify and evaluate 
innovative solutions to transport problems. It has dozens of chapters with 
hundreds of pages of text and thousands of Internet links, providing 
convenient information for Transportation Demand Management (TDM) planning, 
evaluation and implementation. We continue to expand and update the 
Encyclopedia. Below are highlights:

* Public Transport Encouragement 
(http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm112.htm)  Describes various ways of encouraging 
public transit ridership, including marketing, service improvements and 
user incentives. Includes case studies.

* Prioritizing Transportation 
(http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm110.htm)  Discusses principles that can be used 
to prioritize transportation activities and investments, and how this can 
help achieve TDM objectives.

* Parking Management (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm28.htm) - Describes 
various methods of using existing parking facilities more efficiently, 
including shared parking, more accurate parking requirements, regulating 
parking, develop overflow parking plans, and much more.

* Road Pricing (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm35.htm)  Discusses various types 
of road pricing, including congestion pricing, road tolls, cordon pricing, 
mileage-based fees and HOT lanes. Discusses how these strategies are 
implemented. Describes case studies.


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NEW AND UPDATED REPORTS
=======================
The following new documents are posted at the VTPI website.


"London Congestion Pricing: Implications for Other Cities" 
(www.vtpi.org/london.pdf)
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Starting 17 February 2003 the city of London began charging a fee for 
driving private automobiles in its central area during weekdays as a way to 
reduce traffic congestion and raise revenues to fund transport 
improvements. This program has significantly reduced traffic congestion, 
improved bus and taxi service, and generates substantial revenues. Public 
acceptance has grown and there is now support to expand the program to 
other parts of London and other cities in the U.K. This is the first 
congestion pricing program in a major European city, and its success 
suggests that congestion pricing may become more politically feasible 
elsewhere.

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"Social Inclusion As A Transport Planning Issue in Canada" 
(www.vtpi.org/soc_ex.pdf)
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Social exclusion refers to constraints that prevent people from 
participating adequately in society, including education, employment, 
public services and activities. Inadequate transport sometimes contributes 
to social exclusion, particularly for people who live in an automobile 
dependent community and are physically disabled, low income or unable to 
own and drive a personal automobile. This paper discusses the concept of 
social exclusion as it relates to transport, how it is currently 
incorporated in Canadian transport planning, and the research needed to 
better address social exclusion. It was one of several papers that examine 
transport social exclusion issues in individual countries, presented at the 
"Transport and Social Exclusion G7 Comparison Seminar" held in London, 
April, 2003.

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"Active Transportation Policy Issues" (www.vtpi.org/act_tran.pdf)
-------------------------------------------------
Active transportation consists of human-powered forms of travel such as 
walking, cycling, skating, skiing, and manual wheelchairs. Active 
transportation supports public health objectives including increased 
fitness, reduced pollution and reduced crashes, and provides other 
economic, social and environmental benefits. This paper provides background 
information on active transportation to facilitate discussion of Canadian 
national active transportation policy at the Active Transportation 
Roundtable held April, 2003. Also see our paper "If Health Matters" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/health.pdf).

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Vancouver Region Mobility Management
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VTPI is providing support for an Environment Canada sponsored project to 
evaluate the role that mobility management strategies can play to help 
achieve sustainable transportation objectives. We have recently completed a 
draft report that identifies potential mobility management strategies, 
evaluates their potential impacts on regional sustainability, discusses 
their current status, and what can be done to help implement them in the 
region. These documents are available at the URLs below.

Summary Report: http://www.vtpi.org/mm_sum.pdf
Full Report: http://www.vtpi.org/mm_rpt.pdf


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UPCOMING EVENTS
===============

Environment in the Balance
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Urban Air Quality Forum - Energy, Economic and Global Challenges, 
International Air & Waste Management Association, June 25-27, 2003, 
Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA (www.awma.org/ace2003). This conference 
includes many sessions related to transportation emission reduction strategies.

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TRB Summer Meeting
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Transportation Research Board, Joint Summer Meeting of the Economics, 
Planning, Finance, Management, Ports, Waterways, Freight, and Trade 
Committees, July 13-18, 2003, Doubletree Hotel, Lloyd Center, Portland, 
Oregon (http://gulliver.trb.org/conferences/JM/default.htm). TRB summer 
meetings include a combination of sessions, committee working meetings and 
social events. VTPI Director Todd Litman will present a paper, "London's 
Congestion Pricing Program: Implications for Other Cities."

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Urban Street Symposium
----------------------
"Uptown, Downtown, or Small Town: Designing Urban Streets that Work" and 
Smart Growth Debate, July 28-30, 2003, Anaheim, California 
(http://gulliver.trb.org/conferences/USS2).
This 2nd Urban Street Symposium will provide a forum for evaluating 
alternative urban street design practices, including problems caused by 
current design practices and potential alternatives; reexamining long-held 
urban street design practices in light of the "new urbanism" movement; 
identifying better urban street design practices; sharing experience and 
innovations; with case studies and workshops on "how to do it". This 
symposium will close with a debate titled "Smart Growth Pro or Con" between 
Todd Litman, VTPI Executive Director, and Wendell Cox, a critic of smart 
growth and mobility management.

Symposium sponsors include the Transportation Research Board, Institute of 
Transportation Engineers, ITE Traffic Engineer Council, the American 
Society of Civil Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration and the US 
Access Board.

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USEFUL RESOURCES
================
Latest on Pay-As-You-Drive Vehicle Insurance
--------------------------------------------
Several organizations are now working to promote the introduction of PAYD 
automobile insurance. For more information see the NorthWest Environment 
Watch news release: "NEW Facts: Pay-As-You-Drive Car Insurance" 
(http://www.northwestwatch.org/press/payd_facts.html)


Smart Growth Policy Database
----------------------------
The USEPA Smart Growth Policy Database 
(http://cfpub.epa.gov/sgpdb/browse.cfm) provides information on dozens of 
policies that encourage more efficient transportation and land use 
patterns, with hundreds of case studies.


Walkability Planning Tools
--------------------------
Dan Burden, ""Level of Quality (LOQ) Guidelines," Thomas Jefferson Planning 
District Commission (www.tjpdc.org/transportation/walkability.asp), 2003. 
Illustrates roadway conditions that affect walking, bicycling, traffic 
calming, transit access and street crossing. Also see, Dan Burden's, "How 
Can I Find and Help Build a Walkable Community?," Walkable Communities 
(www.walkable.org/article1.htm), 2003.


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Please let us know if you have comments or questions about any information 
in this newsletter, or if you would like to be removed from our mailing 
list. And please pass this newsletter on to others who may find it useful.

NOTE: Please use our current email address (litman at vtpi.org or 
info at vtpi.org), rather than litman at islandnet.com, which will be 
discontinued in the future.




Sincerely,
Todd Litman, Director
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
1250 Rudlin Street
Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560
Email: litman at vtpi.org
Website: http://www.vtpi.org