[sustran] VTPI Newsletter - Winter 2011

Todd Alexander Litman litman at vtpi.org
Fri Mar 11 14:48:17 JST 2011


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             VTPI NEWS
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        Victoria Transport Policy Institute
           "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
        -------------------------------------
            Winter 2011    Vol. 11, 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 <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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NEW VTPI DOCUMENTS
====================
 
"The First Casualty of a Non-Existent War: Evaluating Claims of Unjustified
Restrictions on Automobile Use, and a Critique of 'Washingtons War On Cars
And The Suburbs'" (http://www.vtpi.org/carwars.pdf
<http://www.vtpi.org/carwars.pdf> )
This report evaluates claims of a war on cars, that is, a coordinated effort
to unjustifiably restrict automobile use. Objective analysis indicates that
no such war exists. Evidence of a war consists of exaggerated objections to
policies such as traffic calming (which increases traffic safety), busways
and bike lanes (justified to improve transport options, which helps reduce
traffic and parking congestion), and more efficient road and parking pricing
(justified to reduce traffic and parking problems, and finance facilities).
These policies benefit motorists as well as non-drivers. Truth is often the
first victim of war. Policy reform opponents use inaccurate information to
exaggerate the costs and underestimate the benefits of these changes, and
create unnecessary conflict. An example, critiqued in detail in this report,
is Wendell Coxs Washingtons War on Cars and the Suburbs, which contains
numerous inaccuracies and misrepresentations.
 
"Pricing For Traffic Safety: How Efficient Transport Pricing Can Reduce
Roadway Crash Risk" (http://www.vtpi.org/price_safe.pdf )
This report evaluates the traffic safety impacts of transport pricing
reforms including efficient road, parking, fuel and insurance pricing, and
public transit fare reductions. This analysis indicates that such reforms
can provide significant safety benefits. Crash reductions vary depending on
the type of price change, the portion of vehicle travel affected, and the
quality of transport options available. If implemented to the degree
justified on economic efficiency grounds (for example, cost recovery road
and parking pricing), these reforms are predicted to reduce traffic
casualties by 40-60%. Yet, these benefits are often overlooked. Pricing
reform advocates seldom highlight crash reduction benefits, and traffic
safety experts seldom advocate these pricing reforms. Critics claim that
pricing reforms are regressive, but this is not necessarily true. 
 
"Introducing Spitsmijden: Experiments With Peak Avoidance Incentives In The
Netherlands" (http://www.vtpi.org/spitsmijden.pdf
<http://www.vtpi.org/spitsmijden.pdf> )
This paper by Stuart Donovan reviews Dutch experiments with peak-hour
avoidance incentives, which are collectively referred to as the spitsmijden.
This research indicates how travelers respond to positive price signals.
 
"Changing Vehicle Travel Price Sensitivities: The Rebounding Rebound Effect"
(www.vtpi.org/VMT_Elasticities.pdf
<http://www.vtpi.org/VMT_Elasticities.pdf> )
There is growing interest in the use of transportation pricing reforms (more
efficient road, parking, insurance and fuel pricing) to achieve various
planning objectives, including congestion reduction, road and parking
facility cost savings, accident reductions, energy conservation and
pollution emission reductions. An important factor in the analysis of these
strategies is the sensitivity of vehicle travel with regard to vehicle
operating costs. Some studies found that U.S. transport price elasticities
declined toward the end of the Twentieth Century, but recent research
indicates that price sensitivity has started to increase. This indicates
that the rebound effect is rebounding. This supports implementation of
pricing reforms over strategies such as fuel efficiency mandates. 
 
"Contrasting Visions of Urban Transport: Critique of Fixing Transit: The
Case For Privatization" (http://www.vtpi.org/cont_vis.pdf
<http://www.vtpi.org/cont_vis.pdf> )
This report critiques the Cato Foundation paper, Fixing Transit: The Case
For Privatization, which recommends that all transit services be privatized
and self-financed. It claims this would improve efficiency and service
quality, but all the private transit examples it describes are inferior
quality or high price; none offer the level of integration, quality and
affordability provided by public transit systems in most communities. Fixing
Transit argues that public transit provides little economic, social or
environmental benefit, but the analysis is incomplete, biased, and
inaccurate. Note: this report has been significantly expanded from the
version described in our previous newsletter.
 
Evaluating Seattle Parking Tax Options
(http://www.vtpi.org/seattle_parking_tax.pdf
<http://www.vtpi.org/seattle_parking_tax.pdf> ) 
This report by Todd Litman, Daniel Carlson, Aaron Blumenthal and John Lee
describes and evaluates parking tax options for possible implementation by
the City of Seattle. It concludes that taxes on non-residential parking
facilities are most consistent with the citys strategic planning objectives.
 
Parking Costs, Pricing and Revenue Calculator - Developing Country Edition
(http://www.vtpi.org/Parking_DC.xls  <http://www.vtpi.org/Parking_DC.xls> ) 
This spreadsheet by Yash Saxena calculates parking facility costs, cost
recovery pricing, and revenue generation. Users can adjust inputs to
represent various conditions and assumptions. This version includes default
cost values based on developing country conditions.
 
            *     *     *     *     *

 
UPDATED DOCUMENTS
=================
Below are a few of many recently updated VTPI documents:
 
"Affordable-Accessible Housing In A Dynamic City: Why and How To Increase
Affordable Housing Development In Accessible Locations"
(www.vtpi.org/aff_acc_hou.pdf  <http://www.vtpi.org/aff_acc_hou.pdf> )
 
"Safe Travels: Evaluating Mobility Management Traffic Safety Impacts"
(www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf  <http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf> )
 
"Guide to Calculating Mobility Management Benefits" (www.vtpi.org/tdmben.pdf
<http://www.vtpi.org/tdmben.pdf> )
 
            *     *     *     *     *

 
PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE
=================== 
Recent Planetizen Blogs (http://www.planetizen.com/blog/2394
<http://www.planetizen.com/blog/2394> ):
"Threats Of Gridlock Are Greatly Exaggerated"
(http://www.planetizen.com/node/48451 )
"Highways And Labor Markets II" (http://www.planetizen.com/node/47212 ).
 
            *     *     *     *     *

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

Growing Wealthier: Smart Growth, Climate Change and Prosperity
(http://www.growingwealthier.info  <http://www.growingwealthier.info/> ) 
This report by Chuck Kooshian and Steve Winkelman of the Center for Clean
Air Policy investigates ways that land use planning policies affect economic
development and various principles that can help guide new development in
ways that respond to emerging market demand and bolster the economy. The
analysis indicates that smart growth development can help communities,
businesses and individuals make money, save money and improve quality of
life.
 
Driven Apart: How Sprawl is Lengthening Our Commutes and Why Misleading
Mobility Measures are Making Things Worse
(http://www.ceosforcities.org/work/driven-apart )
This study by Joe Cortright of CEOs for Cities critically evaluates the
Texas Transportation Institutes "Urban Mobility Report." It concludes that
it is technically flawed and provides misleading guidance as to the nature
of congestion problems and optimal solutions. Video at
http://echo360.pdx.edu/ess/echo/presentation/0b84f6d1-b8eb-4e1f-b759-f6373ba
ab019/mediacontent.mp3 .

Integrated Transport Assessment Guidelines
(www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/research/reports/422 )
This Land Transport New Zealand report provides national guidelines for
integrated transport assessment (ITA) of traffic and local environmental and
social impacts, based on an extensive review of international best
practices. It recommends that local and regional transport authorities adopt
an ITA approach when assessing transportation policies and projects. It
includes guidelines on site trip generation analysis, impact analysis and
community consultation.
 
Transit-Oriented Development Planning Tool
(www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/stories/2501 ) 
This guidebook by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development is a
user-friendly tool for evaluating conditions around transit stations and
determining how they influence factors such as per capita vehicle ownership
and travel, consumer transportation costs, public transit ridership, energy
consumption and pollution emissions. It uses real performance outcomes
measured at more than 3,700 existing transit station areas in 39 regions
around the United States. This information gives stakeholders the ability to
evaluate the performance of the transit zones in their neighborhoods. 
  
Modernizing Public Transportation: Lessons Learned From Major Bus
Improvements In Latin America And Asia
(www.embarq.org/sites/default/files/EMB2010_BRTREPORT.pdf )
This report by Dario Hidalgo and Aileen Carrigan summarizes information on
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, based on research and interviews with
planners and public officials in cities and transport agencies around the
world. It reviews and synthesizes information regarding challenges
experienced by transport system decision makers in three key areas:
planning, implementation and operations. 

Urban Bus Toolkit: Tools and Options for Reforming Urban Bus Systems
(www.ppiaf.org/ppiaf/sites/ppiaf.org/files/documents/toolkits/UrbanBusToolki
t/assets/home.html )
This toolkit produced by the World Bank supported Public-Private
Infrastructure Advisory Facility is designed to help government officials
and policy makers evaluate existing and alternative urban bus systems in
developing and transitional countries. It offers practical advice to enact
fundamental system reforms.
 
Europes Parking U-Turn: From Accommodation to Regulation
(www.itdp.org/documents/European_Parking_U-Turn.pdf )
This report by Michael Kodransky and Gabrielle Hermann for the Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy reviews successful parking practices
in European cities. In the last few decades a growing number of European
cities have led the world in changing the direction of parking policy. These
policies have helped achieve revitalized and thriving town centers, more
efficient transport systems, reductions in air pollution; and generally
improved quality of life.  

Do Roads Pay for Themselves? Setting the Record Straight on Transportation
Funding,
(www.uspirg.org/news-releases/transportation-news/transportation-news/washin
gton-d.c.-myth-busted-road-costs-not-covered-by-gas-taxes )
A new report by Tony Dutzik, Benjamin Davis and Phineas Baxandall indicates
that user fees cover barely half the costs of building and maintaining
roads.

Oil Vulnerability in Melbourne
(www.sensibletransport.org.au/sites/sensibletransport.org.au/files/Oil%20Vul
nerability%20in%20Melbourne%20Feb%202010.pdf )
This study by the Institute for Sensible Transport assesses the household
financial risks of oil price increases. An Oil Vulnerability Index is
created using transport and income data for various areas of Victoria,
Australia. The analysis indicates that fast-growing outer suburbs are
particularly vulnerable to oil price rises due to a combination of high
levels of automobile travel and relatively low incomes. 
 
Eradicating Fossil Fuel Subsidies (http://www.iea.org/weo/index.asp)
The International Energy Agency recommends eradicating fossil fuel subsidies
to enhance energy security, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air
pollution, and bring economic benefits in its annual World Energy Outlook
report.

G20 Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Phase Out: A review of current gaps and needed
changes to achieve success
(http://www.earthtrack.net/documents/g20-fossil-fuel-subsidy-phase-out-revie
w-current-gaps-and-needed-changes-achieve-success ) 
This brief investigates policy and planning reforms needed to phase out
existing subsidies to fossil fuel production and consumption. 
 
Impacts Of VMT Reduction Strategies On Selected Areas and Groups
(www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/751.1.pdf ).
This report, sponsored by the Washington State Department of Transportation,
investigates the equity impacts of the states vehicle miles travelled (VMT)
reduction targets (18% reduction by 2020, 30% reduction by 2035, and 50%
reduction by 2050) and ways to minimize negative impacts on disadvantaged
populations. It identified various VMT reduction strategies and evaluated
their impacts on various groups and areas. It identified ways to implement
VMT reduction programs with the most positive or least negative impacts on
disadvantaged groups. 
 
Commuting by Public Transit and Physical Activity: Where You Live, Where You
Work, and How You Get There
(http://journals.humankinetics.com/JPAH-supplements-special-issues/jpah-volu
me-8-supplement-january )
This study by a leading team of researchers, published in a special issue of
the 'Journal of Physical Activity and Health' found that public transit
commuters average 5 to 10 more minutes of moderate-intensity physical
activity, and walked more to services and destinations near home and near
the workplace, than transit nonusers, regardless of neighborhood
walkability.
 
Examining Walkability And Social Capital As Indicators Of Quality Of Life At
The Municipal And Neighborhood Scales
(www.springerlink.com/content/xtq06270p27r1v0h
<http://www.springerlink.com/content/xtq06270p27r1v0h/>  )
This article published in 'Applied Research In Quality of Life' examines how
walkability enhances social capital, which refers to an individuals or
groups networks, personal connections, and involvement. Residents living in
neighborhoods of varying walkability in three New Hampshire communities were
surveyed about their levels of social capital and travel behaviors. The
analysis indicates higher levels of social capital in more walkable
neighborhoods.
 
Delhi Pedestrian Design Guidelines
(www.uttipec.nic.in/PedestrianGuidelines-30Nov09-UTTPEC-DDA.pdf) 
The City of Delhi, India published this detailed guidebook that describes
the role of non-motorized modes in an efficient and equitable transport
system; defines minimum requirements for the design, size and maintenance of
sidewalks, crosswalks and other pedestrian facilities; and describes
international best practices for enhancing the pedestrian environment. 
 
Street Smart Walk Score Beta Test
(http://blog.walkscore.com/2011/01/preview-street-smart-walk-score
<http://blog.walkscore.com/2011/01/preview-street-smart-walk-score/>  )
Street Smart Walk Score is an enhanced version of Walk Score that uses
walking distances rather than crow-flies distances to calculate your score.
It also looks at the underlying road network to compute the number of
intersections per square mile and average block length. These two measures
are great indicators of walkability
 
Urban Road Transportation Externalities: Costs and Choice of Policy
Instruments
(http://www.wbro.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/06/02/wbro.lkq005.ful
l.pdf+html
<http://www.wbro.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/06/02/wbro.lkq005.ful
l.pdf+html> ). 
This article by Govinda R. Timilsina and Hari B. Dulal estimates the
magnitudes of various external costs resulting from urban road transport and
discusses potential policy responses, particularly in developing countries. 
 
Getting Around When Youre Just Getting By: The Travel Behavior and
Transportation Expenditures of Low-Income Adults
(http://www.transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/documents/2806
_10-02.pdf ). 
This study by the Mineta Transportation Institute examines how rising
transportation costs affect low-income families. It investigated four
general areas of interest: travel behavior and transportation spending
patterns, the costs and benefits of alternative modes of travel; cost
management strategies, and opinions about the effects of changing
transportation prices on travel behavior.
 
Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty
Eradication
(www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_synthesis_en.pdf ).
This report by the United Nations Environment Programme advocates economic
development policies that increase resource efficiency and reduce pollution
emissions. This will require a fundamental shift in investment patterns. The
avoid-shift-improve principles include reducing trips through integrated
transport and land use planning, shifting to more efficient modes of
transport like public and non-motorized modes, and improving vehicles and
fuels to reduce urban air pollution and emissions. Investment in public
transit and greener vehicles generates significant economic returns. 
 
Location Efficiency and Housing TypeBoiling it Down to BTUs
(www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/location_efficiency_BTU.pdf ). 
This report by the Jonathan Rose Companies for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency illustrates the relationship between household energy
consumption and residential development patterns. It concludes that a homes
location has a large impact on energy consumption.  People who live in a
more compact, transit-accessible area have more housing and transportation
choices compared to those who live in spread-out developments where few or
no transportation options exist besides driving.  
 
Urban Bikeway Design Guide (http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/design-guide
)
This new guide by the National Association of City Transportation Officials
provides state-of-the-practice solutions for creating complete streets that
are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists. It is based on the experience of the
best cycling cities in the world. It includes a summary of bicycle planning
and design guidelines based on real-life experience from cities around the
world.
 
Costs and Benefits of Bicycling Investments in Portland, Oregon,
(http://journals.humankinetics.com/jpah-supplements-special-issues/jpah-volu
me-8-supplement-january/costs-and-benefits-of-bicycling-investments-in-portl
and-oregon )
This study by Thomas Gotschi, published in the 'Journal of Physical Activity
and Health,' indicates that bicycle facility investments provide net
benefits considering just health care service and fuel cost savings, and far
greater economic returns when total benefits to users and society are
considered.

Manual for Calculating Greenhouse Gas Benefits of Global Environmental
Facility Transportation Projects
(http://www.thegef.org/gef/GEF_C39_Inf.16_Manual_Greenhouse_Gas_Benefits
<http://www.thegef.org/gef/GEF_C39_Inf.16_Manual_Greenhouse_Gas_Benefits> ).

This manual, developed by the Institute for Transportation and Development
Policy, for the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global
Environment Facility provides a step-by-step guide for the development of
baseline, impact estimation and calibration of transport projects across a
wide range of interventions including transport efficiency improvement,
public transport, non-motorized transport, transport demand management, and
comprehensive transport strategies.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Transportation
(http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/Reducing_GHG_from_transportation.pdf
). 
This report by David Greene and Steven E. Plotkin identifies cost effective
ways to reduce U.S. transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The
report provides three plausible scenarios of technology, policy, and public
attitudes. The High Mitigation Scenario can reduce transport GHG emissions
by as much as 65% by 2050.
 
Livability in Transportation Guidebook
(http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/livability/case_studies/guidebook
<http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/livability/case_studies/guidebook> )
This Federal Highway Administration guidebook illustrates how livability
principles have been incorporated into transportation planning, programming,
and project design, using examples from State, regional, and local sponsors.

 
200 countries, 200 years, 4 minutes (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cgkfk) 
Hans Roslings lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with a
sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present
and future development. In this spectacular section of 'The Joy of Stats' he
illustrates dynamically two hundred years of development with a plot of life
expectancy against income for 200 countries from 1810 to the present. 



Sincerely,
Todd Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute ( <http://www.vtpi.org/> 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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