[sustran] VTPI News - Late Spring 2014

[Todd Litman]

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                 VTPI NEWS

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              Victoria Transport Policy Institute

              "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"

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              Late Spring 2014    Vol. 14, 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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NEW VTPI DOCUMENTS

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"The Mobility-Productivity Paradox: Exploring The Negative Relationships
Between Mobility and Economic Productivity"
(http://www.vtpi.org/ITED_paradox.pdf ).

This paper, presented at the International Transportation Economic
Development Conference, explores a paradox: negative correlations between
per capita motor vehicle travel and economic productivity, and positive
correlations between mobility constraints (higher road use prices or traffic
congestion) and productivity. These relationships contradict common
assumptions that policies and projects that increase vehicle travel (roadway
expansions and lower road user prices) support economic development. This
paper examines these issues, describes empirical evidence of these impacts,
and discusses their implications.  

 

"Economically Optimal Transport Prices and Markets: What Would Happen If
Rational Policies Prevailed?" (http://www.vtpi.org/ITED_optimal.pdf ). 

This paper, presented at the International Transportation Economic
Development Conference, investigates the amount and type of mobility
(physical travel) that is economically optimal overall. It asks, "How would
travel activity change if the transportation system reflected efficient
market principles including neutral and responsive planning, and cost-based
pricing." It discusses these principles, identifies existing transport
market distortions and reforms, estimates how such reforms would likely
affect travel activity, and investigates their economic impacts. This
analysis indicates that in a more optimal market, which reflects efficient
planning and pricing principles, consumers would drive less, use alternative
modes more, choose more accessible locations, and benefit overall as a
result. 

 

"Congestion Evaluation Best Practices"
(http://www.vtpi.org/ITED_congestion.pdf ).

Traffic congestion can be evaluated in various ways that result in very
different conclusions about the nature of the problem and optimal solutions.
This paper, presented at the International Transportation Economic
Development Conference, describes various factors that affect congestion
costing and the evaluation of potential congestion reduction strategies,
including the scope of analysis, baseline speeds, travel time unit costs,
the impacts of traffic speeds on accident and emission rates, consideration
of induced travel impacts, and consideration of co-benefits. It discusses
how these factors influence planning decisions, and describes best practices
for comprehensive evaluation of congestion impacts. It applies this
comprehensive framework to evaluate various congestion reduction strategies
including roadway expansion, alternative mode improvements, pricing reforms,
smart growth policies and demand management programs. 

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PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE

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"Multi-Modal School Transportation Planning: Part 1 and Part 2"
(http://www.acefacilities.org/interactivelessons ), by Todd Litman for the
American Clearinghouse on Educational Facilities (www.acefacilities.org ).
These lesson plans explore why and how to improve school walking and cycling
access, and how to evaluate these benefits and communicate them to school
decision-makers. 

 

"Evaluating Public Transportation Local Funding Options"
(www.nctr.usf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/JPT17.1.pdf ). 

This article, published in the Journal of Public Transportation, describes
and evaluates 18 potential local funding options suitable for financing
public transportation projects and services. They are evaluated according to
eight criteria, including potential revenue, predictability and
sustainability, hori-zontal and vertical equity, travel impacts, strategic
development objectives, public acceptance and ease of implementation. This
is a somewhat larger set of options and more detailed and systematic
evaluation than most previous studies. This study dis-covered no new options
that are particularly cost-effective and easy to implement; each has
disadvantages and constraints. As a result, its overall conclusion is that a
variety of funding options should be used to help finance the local share of
public transit improvements to ensure stability and distribute costs
broadly.

 

"Testing The Housing And Transportation Affordability Index In A Developing
World Context: A Sustainability Comparison Of Central And Suburban Districts
In Qom, Iran" (http://tinyurl.com/lf84oy9 ), by Ali A. Isalou, Todd Litman
and Behzad Shahmoradi.

Housing affordability is an important policy goal. However, housing is not
truly affordable if located in an inaccessible area with high transportation
costs. In recent years researchers have developed analysis methods for
measuring total housing and transportation costs for different locations
within cities, called a Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability
Index. This article, published in 'Transport Policy,' applies this type of
analysis in Qom City, Iran. The results indicate that suburban-area
households spend more than 57% of their monthly income on housing and
transport, significantly more than the 45% spent by households in the
central district. This is consistent with research results in other urban
areas. This illustrates the feasibility of applying housing and
transportation affordability analysis in developing country cities to help
identify truly affordable and sustainable development.

 

Recent Planetizen Blogs (http://www.planetizen.com/blog/2394 ):

"Evaluating Public Transport Funding Options"
(http://www.planetizen.com/node/68913 )

"A Critical Evaluation of the USDOT Conditions and Performance Report"
(http://www.planetizen.com/node/68704 )

"New Research On Smart Growth Benefits"
(http://www.planetizen.com/node/68408 )

"How Not To Measure Housing Affordability"
(http://www.planetizen.com/node/68305 )

"Old Thinking In New Traffic Safety Reports"
(http://www.planetizen.com/node/68200 )

 

Let's be friends. Todd Litman regularly posts on his Facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/todd.litman ). Befriend him now!

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BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

=======================

"International Transportation Economic Development Conference"
(https://tti.tamu.edu/conferences/ited2014 ), 9-11 April, Dallas, Texas. The
Conference website (http://tti.tamu.edu/conferences/ited2014/program.php ),
now includes links to presentations and posters, including mine.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

==================

Todd Litman will give a keynote speech on the role that public transit can
play in reducing traffic congestion at the "Transport Futures Solving
Gridlock Summit" (www.transportfutures.ca/gridlock ), 16 June in Toronto,
Canada. Other notable speakers will include Professor Joseph Berechman (The
City University of New York), Jane Hayse (Center for Livable Cities),
Professor Robin Lindsey (University of British Columbia), and Professor
Matthew Turner (University of Toronto). VTPI friends receive a special 10%
discount: use discount code VTPI5 when registering. 

 

Todd Litman will be giving two presentations at the "Improving Traffic Data
Collection, Analysis, and Use Conference"

(http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conferences/2014/NATMEC/Program.pdf ):
'Towards More Comprehensive and Multi-modal Transportation Performance
Evaluation' (based on http://www.vtpi.org/comp_evaluation.pdf ) and 'Valuing
and Improving Transportation-Related Data Programs: Report From 2013 TRB
Sessions' (based on http://www.vtpi.org/TRB_data.pdf ). 

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USEFUL RESOURCES

=================

 

"Access to Jobs" (http://fragile-success.rpa.org/maps/jobs.html ) is an
interactive mapping system which shows the number of employment
opportunities available within a given commute time by various travel modes
and job categories in the New York region. This is a terrific example of an
accessibility-based planning tool.

 

"UK 2050 Calculator" (http://2050-calculator-tool.decc.gov.uk ) is an
award-winning, user-friendly model that lets users see the energy and
emissions impacts of a wide range of policies and programs. However, it
undervalues transportation demand management by overlooking co-benefits,
such as infrastructure savings, consumer savings, traffic safety, health
benefits, and improved mobility for non-drivers provided by improvements to
alternative modes, transport pricing reforms and smart growth development
policies.

 

"Measuring Sprawl 2014" (http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/measuring-sprawl
) summarizes detailed analysis of the relationships between land use factors
(density, mix, centricity and roadway connectivity) and various economic and
health outcomes. The results provide further evidence that smart growth
policies tend to increase overall affordability, economic opportunity,
safety and health. 

 

"Transport Toolkit" ( <http://ledsgp.org/transport>
http://ledsgp.org/transport ) helps planners and decision-makers access
various information resources that can help identify the most effective
tools to build and implement low emission transportation strategies. 

 

"How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF's Housing Crisis
Explained)" (http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/sf-housing ), by
<http://techcrunch.com/author/kim-mai-cutler/> Kim-Mai Cutler provides a
detailed and balanced discussion of factors that lead to housing
unaffordability in the San Francisco region. 

 

"Urbanful" (http://urbanful.org ), a program established by Smart Growth
America, celebrates America's evolving cities and the people, organizations,
and businesses making them great places to live, work and play.

 

"Why Smart Growth: A Primer"
(http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/WhySmartGrowth_bk.pdf ) by the
International City/County Management Association describes the value of more
compact and multi-modal development patterns. 

 

"Smart Growth and Economic Success"
(http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/economic_success.htm ). This webpage by the
US Environmental Protection Agency describes various reports exploring the
economic advantages of smart growth for businesses, real estate developers,
investors, and local governments

 

"Fiscal & Economic Impact Analysis of Local Government Decisions"
(http://tinyurl.com/lekvp9a ).This report analyzes the fiscal and economic
impacts of different types of development on local government budgets. The
results indicate that higher-density, mixed-use, infill development in older
communities with excess infrastructure capacity tend to have more positive
impacts than urban-fringe residential development. 

 

"The Great Streets Movement: Identifying How To Make Our Streets Great"
(http://tinyurl.com/n3hjzqo ), by Zaki Mustafa and Michelle Birdsall,
"Providing Travel Choices for Vibrant Streets " (http://tinyurl.com/mx8uptg
), and "Changing the Paradigm of Traffic Impact Studies "
(http://tinyurl.com/pdksfcy ) by Michelle DeRobertis, John Eells, Joseph
Kott and Richard Lee are more examples of great ITE Journal articles
concerning practical ways to create more integrated and multi-modal urban
roadways.

 

"Main Street, California: A Guide for Improving Community and Transportation
Vitality" (http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LandArch/mainstreet ) is a newly revised
guidebook by the by California Department of Transportation which describes
how to plan and design highways and arterials that also serve as commercial
centers.

 

"Rethinking Streets" (http://www.rethinkingstreets.com ) provides detailed
information on 25 complete streets and streetscaping projects in North
America, including numerous illustrations, before-and-after analysis of
traffic volumes, speeds and accidents, plus discussions of impacts on active
transport (walking and cycling), business activity and community acceptance.

 

"A Performance-Based Approach to Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through
Transportation Planning" (http://tinyurl.com/ku7odw4 ) can help
transportation planners integrate greenhouse gas performance measures into
transportation decisionmaking. 

 

"A Safe City is a Just City" (http://tinyurl.com/q8ywdeu ) describes how
sustainable urban design is creating safer and more equitable communities in
cities around the world.

 

"Transport For Health: The Global Burden Of Disease From Motorized Road
Transport" (http://tinyurl.com/mfoxvt3 ). This World Bank study estimates
the burden of disease attributable to both road injury and vehicle air
pollution. This indicates that motorized road transport deaths exceed those
from diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, or malaria. 

 

"Saving Lives with Sustainable Transport"
(http://embarq.org/publication/saving-lives-sustainable-transport ) and
slideshow (http://embarq.org/media/saving-lives-sustainable-transport ). Our
previous newsletter had an incorrect link to this article, which
investigates the safety impacts of sustainable transport. 

 

"Transit Oriented Development: Regenerate Mexican Cities To Improve
Mobility" 

(http://tinyurl.com/prqsrkp ) and "ITDP Mexico Proposes 29 New BRT Routes
That Would Change The Lives Of Millions" (https://t.co/oKJNJh7DCP ) by the
Institute of Transportation and Development Policy provides describe why and
how Mexican cities could improve public transit service and create more
transit-oriented communities.

 

"Economic Impact of Public Transportation Investment"
(http://tinyurl.com/ma6sldu ) 

This new report by the American Public Transportation Association
investigates how investment in public transportation affects the economy in
terms of employment, wages and business income. 

 

"Planning And Designing Transport Systems To Ensure Safe Travel For Women"
(http://tinyurl.com/n46hvu3 ) uses detailed travel survey data concerning
how Indian women travel and the obstacles they face to develop
recommendations for improving women's travel safety, and to integrate these
objectives into sustainable transportation planning in developing countries.

 

"The Black Urbanist" (http://theblackurbanist.com ) by Kristen Jeffers is
one of my favorite new blogs; she has an original perspective and refreshing
voice. 

 

"Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2014 Benchmarking Report"
(http://bikewalkalliance.org/download-the-2014-benchmarking-report )
provides comprehensive information on bicycling and walking in the U.S. and
how they contribute to public health, safety, and social and economic
wellbeing.

 

"Active Travel Co-Benefits Of Travel Demand Management Policies That Reduce
Greenhouse Gas Emissions" (http://tinyurl.com/qe8wzuz ) by the Mineta
Transportation Institute estimates that a combination of public transit
improvements, efficient road pricing and transit-oriented development would
reduce regional VMT 19%, increase walking 13% and biking 19%, providing
substantial economic, health and safety benefits.

 

"Call For Evidence On The Benefits Of Sustainable Urban Mobility Measures"
(http://evidence-project.eu ) is asking for evidence on tangible benefits
from sustainable urban mobility measures.

 

Dan Burden, the co-founder of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
(http://www.walklive.org ) and a pioneer of the country's walkability
movement, has been selected as a 2014 White House Champions of Change
honoree (http://tinyurl.com/pr8fzmv ). Dan and 10 other honorees are being
recognized for "their exemplary leadership to ensure that transportation
facilities, services, and jobs help individuals and their communities
connect to 21st century opportunities." Congratulations Dan!

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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 email list.
And please pass this newsletter on to others who may find it useful.

 

 

Sincerely,

Todd Litman (litman at vtpi.org)

Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)

Office: 250-360-1560 | Mobile: 250-508-5150

1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA

     Efficiency - Equity - Clarity