<html> <body> <x-tab>         </x-tab><x-tab>         </x-tab><x-tab>         </x-tab><x-tab>         </x-tab>                                  -----------                                   VTPI NEWS                                  -----------                       Victoria Transport Policy Institute                          "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"                       ------------------------------------                             Winter 2006    Vol. 9, No. 1                        ----------------------------------       The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative solutions to transportation problems. The VTPI website (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org" eudora="autourl">http://www.vtpi.org</a> ) has many resources addressing a wide range of transport planning and policy issues. VTPI also provides consulting services.                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     ONLINE TDM ENCYCLOPEDIA ========================   The VTPI "Online TDM Encyclopedia" (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/tdm">http://www.vtpi.org/tdm</a> ) is a comprehensive information resource to help identify and evaluate innovative management solutions to transport problems, available for free on our website. We continually update and expand the Encyclopedia. We have recently updated the following chapters:   "Contingency-Based Planning" (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm123.htm"> http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm123.htm</a> ) "Road Space Reallocation" (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm56.htm"> http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm56.htm</a> ) "Campus Transport Management" (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm5.htm"> http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm5.htm</a> )     As always, we appreciate feedback. Please let us know if you have suggestions for improving any of these documents. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     NEW DOCUMENTS ==============   Important New Book By VTPI Director Todd Litman "Parking Management Best Practices" by Planners Press (<a href="http://www.planning.org">www.planning.org</a>) will be released later this month. See the flyer at <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/PMBP_Flyer.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/PMBP_Flyer.pdf</a> for more information and a substantial discount available for orders made before February 28, 2006. The typical automobile is parked 23 hours a day. Where and how it is parked can make a big difference to economic development, traffic reduction, smart growth, historic preservation, and many other planning efforts. "Parking Management Best Practices" describes more than two-dozen practical strategies for increasing parking facility efficiency and reducing excessive parking demand. These strategies expand the range of solutions available for addressing parking problems, providing an alternative to traditional predict and provide parking planning.                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     UPDATED DOCUMENTS ============== We recently updated the following documents:   <a name="_Toc84749695"></a>"Evaluating Rail Transit Criticism" (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf</a><a name="_Toc84749695"></a> ) This report as been updated to respond to Randal O'Toole's latest criticism of rail transit investments.   "Safe Travels: "Evaluating Rail Transit Criticism" <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf</a>). This report by Todd Litman and Steven Fitzroy investigates the safety benefits that can result from various mobility management strategies.                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE Below are VTPI articles recently published in professional journals.     "Transportation Solutions," Moving the Movement: Race, Poverty, and the Environment, Urban Habitat (<a href="http://urbanhabitat.rpejournal.org/moving" eudora="autourl"> http://urbanhabitat.rpejournal.org/moving</a>), Winter 2005. This journal includes a variety of articles dealing with transportation equity issues, available free on the website.     "Sustainable Transportation and Equity” ("Igualdad y Transporte Sostenible"), in 'The Right to Mobility (El Derecho a la Movilidad), ' published by the Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad de Valladolid (<a href="http://www.uva.es/arquitec">www.uva.es/arquitec</a>), 2005; available at <a href="http://www.ciudad-derechos.org/eindex.html"> www.ciudad-derechos.org/eindex.html</a>. This report includes a variety of papers that examine transportation equity issues throughout the world.     "Lessons From Katrina and Rita: What Major Disasters Can Teach Transportation Planners," Journal of Transportation Engineering (<a href="http://scitation.aip.org/teo">http://scitation.aip.org/teo</a> ), Vol. 132, January 2006, pp. 11-18.                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   UPCOMING EVENTS ================   VTPI Executive Directly Todd Litman will give the keynote speech at the School of Planning Annual Conference (<a href="http://planningconference.dal.ca" eudora="autourl"> http://planningconference.dal.ca</a>), at Delhousie University, Halifax, Canada this week, February 9-10-11, 2006 The conference theme is, "Bringing Transit Home: Transforming Daily Life, Community, Attitudes & Opportunities." The conference is open to both professionals and the public and provides an excellent forum to explore and debate planning issues. Admission is free. Todd Litman will also give a series of presentations in New York, including a seminar titled, "Well-Measured Transportation Planning," Thursday, February 23, 2006, 2:30 – 4:00 pm, Room 914, Kimmel Center New York University, sponsored by Transportation Alternatives (<a href="http://www.transalt.org/">http://www.transalt.org</a>) and the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management (<a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/news/293.html" eudora="autourl"> http://wagner.nyu.edu/news/293.html</a> ). This seminar will explore how the techniques used to measure transportation system performance affect planning decisions, and the role of new methods suitable for multi-modal evaluation (for background see <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/measure.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/measure.pdf</a> ).                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     BEEN THERE – DONE THAT ======================= We had a very busy but fun time at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting this year. Not only did we have one workshop presentation, five paper presentations, two poster presentations, and three committee meetings to attend, the entire Litman family came along to explore Washington DC, including wife Suzanne Litman and sons Graham (16) and Raviv (13). A wonderful time was had by all.   There was considerable interest in our research on the future transportation trends (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/future.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/future.pdf</a> ), lessons for transportation planners from hurricanes Katrina and Rita  (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/katrina.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/katrina.pdf</a> ), transit terrorism risks (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/transitrisk.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/transitrisk.pdf</a> ) and mobility management safety benefits (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf"> http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf</a> ).   Todd Litman chairs the TRB Sustainable Transportation Indicators subcommittee, which is developing practical techniques for evaluating transportation systems' economic, social and environmental sustainability. To find out more and be kept informed about this subcommittee's activities contact Todd at litman@vtpi.org.                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     Urgent Issue: NPTS Not Funded ===============================   The new federal transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, does not provide sufficient specific funding for the National Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS, previously called the National Household Transportation Survey).  Without additional funding, user support (at <a href="http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/index.shtml"> http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/index.shtml</a> ) will end in about two months, and the next NPTS, scheduled for 2008, will be cancelled. Without NPTS we lose comprehensive and accurate travel demand data in a format that allows geographic and time series analysis.   NPTS project management is in the FHWA Office of Policy, whose research budget was significantly reduced in the bill. FHWA is now investigating what can be done to support the program, but there are no easy answers. Funding can also come from NHTSA, FTA, RITA/BTS and possibly OST, but all have limited research budgets. The 2008 survey requires $7-8 million (less than the $11.5 million spent on the 2001 NHTS) and support functions for analysis and publications, website development and maintenance and user support costs another $850,000 per year. In a six-year cycle, the NPTS project totals about $12.6 million (averaging $2.1 million per year.)   The most effective action to take at this point is to make sure that U.S. DOT knows of the many users would be adversely impacted by not continuing this crucial data series.  Letters of support should be sent to:   Norman Y. Mineta Secretary of Transportation U. S. Department of Transportation (S-1) 400- 7TH Street, S.W. Washington DC 20590   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     USEFUL RESOURCES ================= Below are some new information resources that you may find useful.   Marie Demers's new book "Walk For Your Life! Restoring Neighborhood Walkways To Enhance Community Life, Improve Street Safety and Reduce Obesity," (Vital Health Publishing, http://www.vitalhealthbooks.com/book/2414947630.html, 2006) is easy to read and provides an excellent introduction to issues related to why and how to increase nonmotorized transportation. It can help planners and policy makers understand the importance of increased walking and cycling, help health professionals understand how this can be done, and encourage individuals to take more steps each day. The book discusses various reasons that individuals and communities should improve walking conditions and encourage walking activity, and describes various ways of doing this. It emphasizes public health (particularly reduced obesity and increased physical fitness), community livability (including community cohesion) and personal enjoyment benefits, as well environmental and equity benefits. It describes policy and planning reforms to help create more walkable communities.     CTOD and CNT, The Affordability Index: A New Tool for Measuring the True Affordability of a Housing Choice, Center for Transit-Oriented Development and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Brookings Institute (<a href="http://www.brookings.edu/metro/umi/20060127_affindex.pdf"> www.brookings.edu/metro/umi/20060127_affindex.pdf</a>), 2006.     USEPA, Parking Spaces / Community Places: Finding the Balance Through Smart Growth Solutions, Development, Community, and Environment Division (DCED); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/parking.htm"> www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/parking.htm</a>), 2006.     Norman King, Patrick Morency and Lucie Lapierre, Impacts Of Transportation On Public Health, Montréal Public Health Department (<a href="http://www.santepub-mtl.qc.ca/Publication/synthese/rapv8n3_eng.pdf"> http://www.santepub-mtl.qc.ca/Publication/synthese/rapv8n3_eng.pdf</a>), 2006.     Pay as You Drive Insurance Pilot King County Metro, the Washington State Department of Transportation and other partners has $2,2 million to develop a Pay As You Drive (PAYD) Insurance Pilot project for Washington State over a 4-year period to evaluate the impacts of a pilot including at least 5000 participants. They are in the process of recruiting an insurance carrier to join in the project. The deadline for expressions of interest is February 15, 2006. For more information contact Bill Roach (<a href="mailto:bill.roach@metrokc.gov">bill.roach@metrokc.gov</a>) or Bob Flor (<a href="mailto:bob.flor@metrokc.gov">bob.flor@metrokc.gov</a>).                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     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.   <x-sigsep></x-sigsep> Sincerely, Todd Alexander Litman Victoria Transport Policy Institute (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org" eudora="autourl">www.vtpi.org</a>) litman@vtpi.org Phone & Fax 250-360-1560 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA “Efficiency - Equity - Clarity”   </body> </html>