[sustran] VTPI News - Fall 2004

[Todd Alexander Litman]

                                  -----------
                                   VTPI NEWS
                                  -----------
                       Victoria Transport Policy Institute
                          "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
                       ------------------------------------
                             Fall 2004    Vol. 7, No. 3
                        ----------------------------------

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.
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


VTPI WEBSITE UPDATE
====================
We have updated our website (http://www.vtpi.org). The new format is easier 
to read and navigate, and contains a search feature. Thanks to our Web 
Wizards Nathan Kelerstein and Christopher Stevenson for their excellent work!
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


PAY-AS-YOU-DRIVE IMPLEMENTATION
================================
Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) means that fixed vehicle charges are converted into 
distance-based charges, giving motorists a new opportunity to save money 
when they reduce their mileage. Recently, Polis Direct, a major Dutch 
insurance company, introduced their "Kilometre Policy" 
(http://www.kilometerpolis.nl), the first PAYD insurance based on simple 
odometer readings.

With this policy, per-kilometer premiums are calculated by dividing current 
premiums by the current policy's maximum annual kilometer value. A motorist 
who currently pays €500 (Euro) with a 20,000 maximum annual kilometer 
policy will pay €0.025 per kilometer, and one who pays €1,000 with a 25,000 
maximum annual kilometer policy pays €0.04 per kilometer. Participants pay 
an "advance premium," which is 90% of their current premium, so a motorist 
who currently pays €500 pays an advance premium of €450. At the end of the 
policy term the motorist receives a rebate or pays extra based on how much 
they drive, up to 50% of their premium.

EXAMPLE
Current Policy: €500 premium with 20,000 maximum annual kilometers.

Per-Kilometer Fee: €500/20,000 is €0.025
First Year Advance Premium: €500 x 90% = €450
Year End Adjustments:

If the motorist drives 14,000 kms they receive a €100 rebate, for a total 
annual premium of €350, a €150 savings. If the motorist drives 18,000 kms 
they have no end-of-year adjustment, for a total annual premium of €450, a 
€50 savings. If the motorist drives 20,000 kms they pay an additional €50, 
for a total annual premium of €500, the same as they previously paid. If 
the motorist drives 22,000 kms they pay an additional €100, for a total 
annual premium of €550, a €50 increase.

Mileage data are collected during annual vehicle inspections and recorded 
in the national vehicle registration database. Odometer readings can also 
be obtained through service stations, for example, if a vehicle is 
transferred to a new owner.

This policy is available to any motorist in the Netherlands who is at least 
24 years of age, has a car worth less than €42,000 new, and drives less 
than 40,000 kms annually.

It is the result of three years of research and development by the TNO INRO 
research organization, with help from government agencies, private 
insurance companies, and the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (see 
http://www.ce.nl/eng/pdf/03_4224_35_summary.pdf). The Dutch government is 
promoting PAYD pricing (what they call vehicle fee "variabilization") to 
help reduce congestion, accident and pollution emission problems. VTPI 
helped plant the seed for this program when Todd Litman visited the 
Netherlands a couple years ago as a guest of TNO, to share information on 
transportation pricing reforms such as PAYD insurance.

Dutch research on PAYD insurance included a market survey (N=906, October 
2004) which found that:
. 71% of motorists want PAYD (woman 74% and men 69%).
. 54% say that car insurance price is the most important reason to choose 
an insurance company.
. 39% wants to be able to influence directly how much they pay for insurance.
. 33% would be more considerate about using the car if they had PAYD insurance.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the Dutch insurance market. 
We expect the Kilometre Policy to attract many new customers, since this is 
a unique new product that offers many motorists significant savings. Other 
insurance companies will need to offer comparable products or lose market 
share.

For more information on PAYD insurance see:

"Pay-As-You-Drive Vehicle Insurance," Online TDM Encyclopedia 
(http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm79.htm).

"Distance-Based Vehicle Insurance as a TDM Strategy" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/dbvi.pdf)

"Pay-As-You-Drive Pricing for Insurance Affordability" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/payd_aff.pdf)
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


NEW DOCUMENTS
=============

"Safe Travels: Evaluating Mobility Management Safety Benefits," 
(http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf).
This paper investigates the traffic safety impacts of mobility management 
strategies. Mileage reductions resulting from pricing and land use reforms 
tend to cause proportionate or larger reductions in crashes, and mode 
shifts also tend to provide significant safety benefits. Because most 
crashes involve multiple vehicles, reducing vehicle mileage reduces risk 
both to motorists who drive less and to other road users. This analysis 
indicates that mobility management can be a cost effective traffic safety 
strategy, and increased safety is one of the largest potential benefits of 
mobility management, but these benefits are often overlooked in 
conventional transport planning.


"Rail Transit In America: Comprehensive Evaluation of Benefits" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/railben.pdf).
This report evaluates the benefits of rail transit based on a comprehensive 
analysis of transportation system performance in major U.S. cities. It 
finds that cities with larger, well-established rail systems have 
significantly higher per capita transit ridership, lower average per capita 
vehicle ownership and mileage, less traffic congestion, lower traffic death 
rates and lower consumer transportation expenditures than otherwise 
comparable cities.


"Evaluating Rail Transit Criticism" (http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf)
This report evaluates criticism of rail transit. It examines claims that 
rail transit is ineffective at improving transportation system performance, 
that rail transit investments are not cost effective, and that transit is 
an outdated form of transportation. It finds that critics often 
misrepresent issues and use biased and inaccurate analysis. This is a 
companion to the report "Rail Transit in America: A Comprehensive 
Evaluation of Benefits."


"Financing Transit Systems Through Value Capture: An Annotated 
Bibliography" (http://www.vtpi.org/smith.htm), by Jeffery J. Smith and 
Thomas A. Gihring
This paper summarizes the findings of nearly 100 studies concerning the 
impacts of transit service on nearby property values, and the feasibility 
of capturing this additional value to finance transit improvements. The 
results indicate that proximity to transit often increases property values 
enough to offset much or all of transit system capital costs.
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


UPDATED DOCUMENTS
=================
We had such a wonderful time at the ProWalk/Bike conference earlier this 
fall that we updated ournonmotorized transportation documents. These are 
now available on our website.


"Quantifying the Benefits of Nonmotorized Transportation For Achieving 
Mobility Management Objectives" (http://www.vtpi.org/nmt-tdm.pdf)
This paper investigates the ability of nonmotorized travel (walking and 
cycling, and their variants) to help achieve transportation planning 
objectives such as congestion reduction, road and parking facility cost 
savings, consumer cost savings, and various environmental and social 
benefits. This analysis indicates that nonmotorized travel provides 
significant benefits, and that these benefits can increase with cost 
effective incentives. Conventional transportation evaluation practices tend 
to overlook many of these benefits and so undervalue nonmotorized 
transportation improvements and incentives.


Whose Roads: Defining Bicyclists’ and Pedestrians’ Right to Use Public 
Roadways " (http://www.vtpi.org/whoserd.pdf)
The paper investigates assumptions that nonmotorized modes are less 
important to society than motorized modes, and that roads are funded by 
motorists. It finds that nonmotorized modes play a critical role in an 
efficient transportation system, and that local roads, the roads used most 
for walking and cycling, are funded primarily by general taxes, which 
residents pay regardless of how they travel. Since non-drivers impose lower 
roadway costs they tend to overpay their fair share of roadway expenses.


"Economic Value of Walkability" (http://www.vtpi.org/walkability.pdf).
This paper describes ways to evaluate the value of walking (the activity) 
and walkability (the quality of walking conditions, including safety, 
comfort and convenience). Walking and walkability provide a variety of 
economic, social and environmental benefits. More comprehensive analysis 
tends to justify increased support for walking and other nonmotorized modes 
of travel.


"Understanding Smart Growth Savings: What We Know About Public 
Infrastructure and Service Cost Savings, And How They are Misrepresented By 
Critics" (http://www.vtpi.org/sg_save.pdf)
Various studies show that Smart Growth can save hundreds of dollars 
annually per capita compared with providing comparable public services to 
sprawled destinations. Most current development charges, utility fees and 
taxes fail to accurately reflect these location-related cost differences, 
representing a subsidy of sprawl. This paper summarizes estimates of Smart 
Growth savings, and critiques claims that such savings are insignificant.


ONLINE TDM ENCYCLOPEDIA (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm)
The VTPI "Online TDM Encyclopedia" is the most comprehensive resource 
available anywhere to help identify and evaluate innovative management 
solutions to transport problems. We continually update and expand the 
Encyclopedia.
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE
====================

Todd Litman, "Transit Price Elasticities and Cross-Elasticities," Journal 
of Public Transportation, Vol. 7, No. 2, (www.nctr.usf.edu/jpt/pdf/JPT 7-2 
Litman.pdf), 2004, pp. 37-58.


WBCSM, "Mobility 2030: Meeting the Challenges to Sustainability," The 
Sustainable Mobility Project, World Business Council for Sustainable 
Mobility (http://www.wbcsd.org), 2004. This major international report 
describes various ways to create more sustainable transportation systems. 
It cites VTPI as a leading source of information on demand management 
issues and strategies.


"Evaluating Public Transit Benefits in St. Louis: Critique of 'Light Rail 
Boon or Boondoggle'", Citizens for Modern Transit 
(http://www.cmt-stl.org/images/litman.pdf), 2004.
This paper, written by Todd Litman for Citizens for Modern Transit, 
evaluates an article critical of rail transit investments.
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

2005 TRB Annual Meeting
The 2005 Transportation Research Board 84th Annual Meeting takes place 
January 9-13, 2005 in Washington DC. VTPI Director Todd Litman will chair 
the TRB Sustainable Transportation Evaluation and Indicators Subcommittee. 
This subcommittee explores practical ways of evaluating progress toward 
sustainable transportation. Please contact him if you have questions or 
suggestions concerning this subcommittee.

Transit and Economic Development: Current Thinking (P05-0706)
SESSION #220: Public Transportation and Economic Development
Monday, January 10, 2005, 8:00am- 9:45am, Hilton, International East

Comprehensive Evaluation of Transportation Costs (05-1130)
SESSION #304: Cost Estimation for Planning and Policy: What is a Cost? 
Monday, January 10, 2005, 1:30pm- 3:15pm, Hilton, International West.

Practical Indicators for Sustainable Transportation Planning (05-1700)
SESSION #462: Sustainable Transportation Planning Indicators
Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 10:15am-12:00pm, Hilton, International West
TITLE: SPONSORED BY: Task Force on Transportation and Sustainability
PRESIDING OFFICER: Todd Alexander Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

Rail Transit Impacts on Transportation System Performance (05-0810)
SESSION #524: Rail Transit Systems Performance
Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 2:30pm- 5:00pm, Hilton, International Center.

Racial Justice in Transportation: A Metropolitan Policy Agenda, a special 
workshop sponsored by the Harvard University Civil Rights Project 
(www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu) and the Brookings Institute 
Metropolitan Policy Program (http://www.brookings.edu/metro/metro.htm).
Thursday, January 13, Washington DC.


"Community Challenges," Transportation Planning Workshop
Friday, January 28, Orlando, Florida.


IMPACT: Implementation Paths for ACTion towards sustainable mobility.
Workshop, February 10-11, at Lund University, Sweden. Please contact Todd 
Litman (litman at vtpi.org) if there are other speaking or consulting 
opportunities for him in Northern Europe around that time.
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


USEFUL RESOURCES
=================

TFN Employment Connections
The Transportation Futures Network (TFN) "Employment Connections" is a 
periodic compilation of job positions working on innovative transportation 
programs across North America, distributed by email.Employment Connections 
is a free service of the Transportation Futures Network (TFN). TFN believes 
that sensible transportation decisions are an essential ingredient of 
viable communities and therefore should support environmental quality, 
social equity, community development and economic efficiency. To that end, 
TFN works to cultivate progressive leadership in the transportation field 
by matching the right people with the right jobs in areas broadly related 
to the transportation field. If you would like to receive TFN Employment 
Connections, or if you would like to submit an employment posting, please 
send an email to mernst at tstc.org


"Smart Bylaws Guide," by the West Coast Environmental Law Foundation 
(http://www.wcel.org/issues/urban/sbg), 2004.
This comprehensive guide is designed to help local governments implement 
smart growth strategies through policy and bylaw changes. It describes 
smart growth concepts and implementation practices, and backs up the theory 
with case studies, technical standards and bylaws that can be tailored to 
specific municipal circumstances. The Guide brings together the best 
practices throughout North America. It complements the "Smart Growth Policy 
Reforms" chapter of our Online TDM Encyclopedia 
(http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm95.htm).


"The New Transit Town: Best Practices In Transit-Oriented Development," by 
Hank Dittmar and Gloria Ohland, Island Press" (www.islandpress.org), 2004. 
This new book defines and describes transit oriented development, and 
discusses in detail how it can be implemented, including sections on 
planning and design, financing, regulations and zoning codes, parking and 
traffic management, and several detailed case studies.


"Reconnecting America, Hidden In Plain Sight: Capturing The Demand For 
Housing Near Transit," 
(http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/html/TOD/newReport.htm), by 
Reconnecting America, for the Federal Transit Administration, 2004. This 
market study indicates that a growing portion of households value living in 
walkable communities near quality transit service, due to current 
demographic and real estate trends.


"Smarter Choices - Changing the Way We Travel"
UK Department for Transport 
(http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/contentservertemplate/dft_index.hcst?n=10689&l=1), 
July 2004.
This remarkable report draws on research on the effectiveness of mobility 
management programs and their potential for improving transportation system 
performance. It analyzes various strategies, including commute trip 
reduction programs, school transport management, mobility management 
marketing, carsharing and improved transit service information. It assesses 
their combined potential impacts and costs. It evaluates two different 
policy scenarios: a 'high intensity' scenario is projected to reduce peak 
period urban traffic by about 21% (off-peak 13%), and provide a nationwide 
reduction in all traffic of about 11%. The 'low intensity' scenario, which 
essentially reflects current levels of effort, is projected to reduce 
national vehicle traffic by just 2-3%.


"Licenses Take A Back Seat: As High Schools Cut Driver's Education, Fewer 
Teens Are Getting Behind The Wheel," Los Angeles Times, By Shawn Hubler, 
December 2, 2004, front page; available at 
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-teens2dec02,0,5974103.story?coll=la-home-headlines. 
This fascinating article indicates that a declining portion of U.S. 
teenagers are licensed to drive (from 52% of teens in 1992 to 43% in 2002), 
and that automobiles are becoming less important to young people.
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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.





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