[sustran] VTPI News - Winter 2009

Todd Alexander Litman litman at vtpi.org
Wed Jan 7 04:43:25 JST 2009


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                                   VTPI NEWS
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                       Victoria Transport Policy Institute
                          "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
                       -------------------------------------
                           Winter 2009    Vol. 12, No. 1
                        -----------------------------------

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

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

"Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis: Techniques, Estimates and 
Implications" [Second Edition] (http://www.vtpi.org/tca )
This fully-updated document is a comprehensive study of 
transportation benefits and costs, and a guidebook for applying this 
information for policy and planning analysis. It is unique in several 
important ways. It includes many impact categories that are often 
overlooked. It explains economic evaluation techniques and how to 
apply them. It provides extensive reference information, mostly 
available through the Internet. It provides costs values in a format 
designed to easily calculate costs and benefits in a particular situation.


"Climate Change Emission Valuation for Transportation Economic 
Analysis" (http://www.vtpi.org/ghg_valuation.pdf )
This paper describes climate change impacts and costs, presents 
methods for quantifying and monetizing (measuring in monetary units) 
these impacts, summarizes published unit cost estimates, and explains 
the values used in the 'Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis Guidebook.'


"Setting Up Superstores and Climate Change" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/superstores.pdf ) by Jean-Marie Beauvais.
This short paper describes the results of a study indicating that 
shopping at large, suburban 'superstores' consumes more than four 
times as much transportation energy and produces more than four times 
the carbon emissions as local grocery store shopping.


"Costs and Benefits of Varying Per-Mile Insurance Premiums Based Upon 
Measured Risks Specific to Each Mile Driven" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/AG_PAYD.pdf ) by Allen Greenberg.
This paper evaluates various price structures for Pay-As-You-Drive 
(PAYD) insurance based on actuarial accuracy and other public policy 
objectives such as reducing crashes and air pollution.


NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA CHAPTERS
========================
"Performance Evaluation" (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm131.htm)
"Transportation Demand" (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm132.htm
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PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE
===================
Planetizen Blogs (http://www.planetizen.com ):
"Troubles In Dubai" (http://www.planetizen.com/node/36456 )
"Smart Economic Stimulation" (http://www.planetizen.com/node/36303 )
"Rethinking Transportation Safety" (http://www.planetizen.com/node/36138 )
"A Very Good Example of Very Bad Transportation Performance 
Evaluation" (http://www.planetizen.com/node/35979 )


UPCOMING EVENTS
=================
Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting (http://www.trb.org ) 
takes place 11-15 January 2009 in Washington DC. The Victoria 
Transport Policy Institute will participate in the following TRB sessions:

Workshop 117, "Developing Transportation Data Quality Standards"
11 January 2009, 9:00am to noon, Hilton, Military
This workshop explores ways to improve transportation-related data 
quality, particularly a research program to develop international 
standards for data collection and distribution. For background see, 
"Sustainable Transportation Indicators: A Recommended Research 
Program For Developing Sustainable Transportation Indicators and 
Data" http://www.vtpi.org/sustain/sti.pdf ).

'Incorporating Social and Health Indicators into Transportation 
Policy and Project Evaluation'
Workshop 169, "Sustainability and Social Measures for Transportation" 
Sunday, January 11, 2009, 1:30pm- 4:30pm, Hilton, Lincoln East
This presentation will describe ways to incorporate social and health 
impacts into transportation policy and project evaluation. It will 
discuss how more comprehensive analysis of social impacts contributes 
to sustainable transportation planning.

Evaluating Carbon Taxes as an Energy Conservation and Emission 
Reduction Strategy (09-3433)
Session 314, "Taxing Our Way to a Greener Future?"
DATE: Monday, January 12, 2009, 1:30pm- 3:15pm, Hilton, International East
Carbon taxes are based on fossil fuel carbon content, and therefore 
tax carbon dioxide emissions. This paper evaluates this tax. 
(http://www.vtpi.org/carbontax.pdf )

'Win-Win Emission Reduction Strategies: Smart Transportation 
Strategies Can Achieve Emission Reduction Targets And Provide Other 
Important Economic, Social and Environmental Benefits'
Session 364, "Integration and Co-Benefits of Climate Change 
Mitigation Policies"
Monday, January 12, 2009, 3:45pm- 5:30pm, Hilton, Monroe West
Win-Win Transportation Solutions are cost-effective, technically 
feasible market reforms that solve transportation problems by 
improving mobility options and removing market distortions that cause 
excessive motor vehicle travel (http://www.vtpi.org/wwclimate.pdf ).

Sustainable Transportation Indicators Subcommittee, ADD40(1)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM, Hilton
Todd Alexander Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Canada, presiding
Agenda at http://www.trb.org/am/ip/assembly_detail.asp?id=14003&e=445&pre_ff=

'Sustainable Transportation Indicators: A Recommended Research 
Program For Developing Sustainable Transportation Indicators and 
Data' (http://www.vtpi.org/sustain/sti.pdf )
Session 713, "Sustainable Transportation"
DATE: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 10:15am-12:00pm, Hilton, International East
This paper, developed through a cooperative effort by the 
Transportation Research Board's Sustainable Transportation Indicators 
Subcommittee (ADD40 [1]), identifies indicators that can be used for 
sustainable transportation evaluation. This paper describes factors 
to consider when selecting indicators, exemplifies specific 
sustainable transportation indicators, discusses issues of data 
quality, and identifies research needs. We hope these recommendations 
will be endorsed by professional organizations, leading to the 
development of universal sustainable transportation indicator sets.
             *     *     *     *     *


UrbanRAIL (www.informa.com.au/urbanrail/spk )
17th-18th March 2009, Sydney, Australia
This conference will bring together government agencies, rail 
operators, track owners, transport consultancies and engineering 
companies to discuss key trends, major projects, and the future of 
Australasia's urban rail. VTPI Executive Director Todd Litman will 
speak about rail benefit evaluation.
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


IN THE NEWS
=================
"Transportation Study That Rated N.S. Highly Was Flawed - Expert," 
The Chronicle Herald (http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1092273.html ).


Todd Litman says thanks to Clark Williams-Derry of the Sightline 
Institute (http://www.sightline.org ) for raising his rank from 
'Sustainable Transportation Geek' to 'Sustainable Transportation Geek 
Overlord' in a blog concerning our critique of the Fraser Institute's 
transportation studies 
(<http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2008/11/06/dont-like-reality-ignore-it>http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2008/11/06/dont-like-reality-ignore-it 
)
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USEFUL RESOURCES
=================
The Happy Research Team invites people to participate the 10-minute 
Happiness in Transport Decision Making Survey 
(<http://www.civil.ist.utl.pt/~aduarte/>http://www.civil.ist.utl.pt/~aduarte )


"Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance: Resources for the Future Weekly 
Commentary," by Jason Bordoff and Pascal Noel 
(<http://www.rff.org/Publications/WPC/Pages/12_15_08_pay-as-you-drive_insurance.aspx>http://www.rff.org/Publications/WPC/Pages/12_15_08_pay-as-you-drive_insurance.aspx 
)
Automobile use in the United States is underpriced as motorists do 
not pay for the full costs of pollution, congestion, and traffic 
accidents when deciding how much to drive. However, there is intense 
opposition to gasoline taxes, peak-period congestion fees, and other 
policies that would reduce these externalities by raising the costs 
of driving. This week, Jason Bordoff and Pascal Noel discuss 
pay-as-you-drive insurance, which offers a novel approach for 
reducing automobile use, without raising the private costs of vehicle 
ownership and use for the majority of drivers.

In an important development, MileMeter (http://www.milemeter.com) now 
offers Pay-As-You-Drive insurance in Texas, and plans to expand to 
other jurisdictions. Instead of purchasing coverage for six months or 
a year, a Texas motorist may purchase between 1,000 and 6,000 miles 
of coverage, and make additional purchases as needed.


Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath (2008), Environmental Life-cycle 
Assessment of Passenger Transportation: A Detailed Methodology for 
Energy, Greenhouse Gas and Criteria Pollutant Inventories of 
Automobiles, Buses, Light Rail, Heavy Rail and Air v.2, UC Berkeley 
Center for Future Urban Transport, Paper vwp-2008-2; at 
<http://repositories.cdlib.org/its/future_urban_transport/vwp-2008-2>http://repositories.cdlib.org/its/future_urban_transport/vwp-2008-2. 



HUD (2008), Impact Fees & Housing Affordability: A Guide for 
Practitioners, Office of Policy Development and Research, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development 
(<http://www.huduser.org>www.huduser.org); at 
<http://www.nmhc.org/Content/ServeFile.cfm?FileID=6877>www.nmhc.org/Content/ServeFile.cfm?FileID=6877.


RAND (2008), "Moving Los Angeles: Short-Term Transportation Policy 
Options for Improving Transportation," Rand Corporation 
(<http://www.rand.org>www.rand.org); at 
www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG748.pdf . This paper 
describes practical ways to reduce traffic congestion in large urban 
areas. For an excellent summary of this paper see Clark Williams-Derry's blog
  http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2008/12/18/fighting-congestion-rand-style?searchterm=rand%20corporation 
.


BEAT (2008), BEAT The Path To Health, Built Environment and Active 
Transportation (BEAT), ActNow BC 
(<http://www.physicalactivitystrategy.ca>www.physicalactivitystrategy.ca); 
at 
<http://physicalactivitystrategy.ca/pdfs/BEAT_Publication.pdf>http://physicalactivitystrategy.ca/pdfs/BEAT_Publication.pdf 
.
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Sincerely,
Todd Alexander Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
litman at vtpi.org
Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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