[sustran] VTPI News - Summer 2003

[Todd Alexander Litman]

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                                   VTPI NEWS
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                       Victoria Transport Policy Institute
                          "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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                            Summer 2003    Vol. 6, No. 3
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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 (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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PARKING MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES
=================================
Our latest major project is to coordinate development of a parking 
management technical report for the Institute of Transportation Engineers 
Parking Council (www.ite.org), and to write a "Parking Management Best 
Practices" book oriented toward a more general audience to be published by 
Planners Press. A 125-page draft is now available for review, please 
contact us if you would like to receive a copy. We appreciate feedback, and 
are particularly interested in finding good case studies and practioners’ 
experience.

This report provides guidance on nearly two dozen parking management 
strategies. It describes each strategy, discusses its impacts on parking 
and travel demand, identifies benefits and costs, describes suitable 
applications, offers recommendations on how it can be implemented, and 
includes resources for more information. The report discusses how to 
evaluate parking management strategies, and how to develop an integrated 
parking management plan that includes the most appropriate combination of 
strategies for implementation in a particular situation. It also describes 
examples of successful parking management programs.
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NEW AND UPDATED DOCUMENTS
=========================
The following documents are posted at the VTPI website.


"Evaluating Criticism of Smart Growth" (www.vtpi.org/sgcritics.pdf)
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This paper evaluates criticisms of Smart Growth land use policies. It 
defines the concept of Smart Growth, contrasts it with sprawl, and 
describes common Smart Growth strategies. It examines various criticisms of 
Smart Growth, including the claim that it does not reflect consumer 
preferences, infringes on freedom, increases traffic congestion and air 
pollution, reduces housing affordability, results in socially undesirable 
levels of density, increases public service costs, requires wasteful 
transit subsidies and is unjustified. This analysis indicates that many 
claims by critics reflect an incomplete understanding of Smart Growth, and 
inaccurate analysis.

This paper was written to provide technical background for the "Smart 
Growth Pro or Con" debate between VTPI Executive Director Todd Litman and 
Wendell Cox at the 2nd Urban Street Symposium held in Anaheim, California, 
July 30, 2003.
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"Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS" 
(www.vtpi.org/TQNHTS.pdf)
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By John Pucher and John Renne
This article analyzes the 2001 National Household Travel Survey and 
compares its results with previous personal transportation surveys to 
identify trends and differences in travel behavior among various 
socioeconomic groups in the U.S. during the last four decades. This 
analysis investigates variations in vehicle ownership, mobility trends, 
travel mode (driving, walking, cycling and public transit), trip purpose 
and travel schedule. The authors discuss the implications of this analysis 
for public policies, particularly efforts to address equity objectives. 
Posted with author’s permission.
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"Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling to Improve Public Health: Lessons from 
The Netherlands and Germany," (www.vtpi.org/AJPHpucher.pdf)
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by John Pucher and Lewis Dijkstra, originally published in the American 
Journal of Public Health, Vol. 93, No. 9.
This article examines the public health consequences of unsafe and 
inconvenient walking and cycling conditions in American cities and suggests 
improvements based on successful policies in The Netherlands and Germany. 
Whereas walking and cycling account for less than a tenth of all urban 
trips in U.S. cities, they account for a third of trips in Germany and half 
of trips in The Netherlands. American pedestrians and cyclists are more 
likely to be killed or injured in traffic than in the Netherlands or 
Germany, both on a per-trip and per-km basis. The authors propose various 
strategies to improve walking and cycling safety in the U.S. in order to 
reduce risks and encourage more walking and cycling.
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"Does Public Transit Raise Site Values Around Its Stops Enough To Pay For 
Itself (Were The Value Captured)?" (www.vtpi.org/smith.htm)
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by Jeffery J. Smith. This report has been significantly updated. We believe 
that this is the most comprehensive summary currently available of studies 
on the impacts of public transit accessibility on nearby property values. 
It has been significantly expanded, now including references to 85 existing 
studies.
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VTPI Online TDM Encyclopedia (www.vtpi.org/tdm)
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The VTPI "Online TDM Encyclopedia" is the most comprehensive resource 
available anywhere to help identify and evaluate innovative solutions to 
transport problems. It has dozens of chapters with hundreds of pages of 
text and thousands of Internet links, providing convenient information for 
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) planning, evaluation and 
implementation. We continue to expand and update the Encyclopedia.
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Transportation Cost And Benefit Analysis (www.vtpi.org/tca)
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The "Transportation Cost And Benefit Analysis Guidebook" is the most 
comprehensive and up-to-date resource available on the Internet to help 
define and quantify the full costs and benefits from transportation 
facilities and activities. It includes chapters on 16 cost categories, with 
extensive references and default cost values for 11 travel modes under 
three travel conditions. Several chapters have been recently updated, 
including the Congestion, Roadway Costs and Water Pollution chapters.
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PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE
===================

"Sustainable Transport: A Sourcebook for Policy-makers in Developing Cities,"
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Published by the Sustainable Urban Transport Project  Asia 
(www.sutp-asia.org) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit 
(www.gtz.de), 2003. This set of 20 modules (including one written by VTPI 
Director Todd Litman) provides comprehensive information on sustainable 
transportation policy and planning for developing country cities. The 
Sourcebook is intended for policy-makers and their advisors, and as a 
curriculum for planning courses and professional development workshops. The 
Sourcebook provides:
·       A practical orientation, focusing on best practices.
·       Where possible, successful examples from developing countries.
·       An attractive, easy-to-read color layout.
·       Information for a general audience, with technical terms explained.
·       Updates via internet.


Modules:
1. Institutional and Policy Orientation
1a. The role of Transport in Urban Development Policy (Enrique Penalosa)
1b. Urban Transportation Institutions (Richard Meakin)
1c. Private Sector Participation in Transport Infrastructure Provision 
(Christopher Zegras, MIT)
1d. Economic Instruments (Manfred Breithaupt, GTZ)
1e. Raising Public Awareness About Sustainable Urban Transportation (Karl 
Fjellstrom, GTZ)

2. Land Use Planning and Demand Management
2a. Land Use Planning and Urban Transport (Rudolf Petersen, Weppernal 
Institute)
2b. Mobility Management (Todd Litman, VTPI)

3. Transit, Walking and Cycling
3a. Mass Transit Options (Lloyd Wright, ITDP; Karl Fjellstrom, GTZ)
3b. Bus Rapid Transit (Lloyd Wright, ITDP)
3c. Bus Regulation & Planning (Richard Meakin)
3d. Preserving and Expanding the Role of Nonmotorized Transportation 
(Walter Hook, ITDP)

4. Vehicles and Fuels
4a. Cleaner Fuels and Vehicle Technologies (Michael Walsh; Reinhard Kolke, 
Umweltbundesamt  UBA)
4b. Inspection, Maintenance and Roadworthiness (Reinhard Kolke, UBA)
4c. Two- and Three-Wheelers (Jitendra Shah, World Bank; N.V. Iyer, Bajaj Auto)
4d. Natural Gas Vehicles (MVV InnoTech)

5. Environmental and Health Impacts
5a. Air Quality Management (Dietrich Schwela, World Health Organization)
5b. Urban Road Safety (Jacqueline Lacroix, DVR; Daivd Silcock, GRSP)
5c. Noise and its Abatement (Civic Exchange Hong Kong; GTZ, UBA)

6.  Resources of Policy Makers

The sourcebook can be ordered by emailing transport at gtz.de
Prices:
OECD countries: EUR 50, + mailing expenses
Non-OECD countries: EUR 25, + mailing expenses
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"American Journal of Public Health," (www.ajph.org/future/93.9.shtml) and 
the "American Journal of Health Promotion" (www.healthpromotionjournal.com) 
are publishing special issues on Smart Growth community design and health, 
including Todd Litman’s editorial "Integrating Public Health Objectives in 
Transportation Decision-Making" (www.vtpi.org/AJHP.pdf).
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Todd Litman, "The Online TDM Encyclopedia: Mobility Management Information 
Gateway," Transport Policy, Vol. 10, 2903, pp. 245-249. 
(http://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0967070X03000258)
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John Whitelegg and Gary Haq (eds), "Earthscan Reader on World Transport 
Policy & Practice," Earthscan 
(www.earthscan.co.uk/asp/bookdetails.asp?key=3890), 2003. This book 
includes chapters on a diverse range of transportation policy and planning 
issues throughout the world, including "Regional Transport Issues in North 
America" by VTPI Director Todd Litman.
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BEEN THERE - DONE THAT
======================

* TRB
We presented our paper "London Congestion Pricing: Implications for Other 
Cities" (www.vtpi.org/london.pdf) at the Transportation Research Board 
Summer Session, held July 15-18 in Portland, Oregon. Because of the 
interest in this issue, we are now organizing a full session on this 
subject for the 2004 TRB Annual Meeting, January 12, in Washington DC.


* Kingston, Jamaica
In July, VTPI Director Todd Litman visited Kingston, Jamaica to help 
develop policy recommendations to create more sustainable transportation 
and land use patterns in the region, drawing on world-wide experiences in 
sustainable transportation planning.


* Complex Systems Approach To Sustainable Mobility
VTPI participated in an interesting and unique conference, "Mobility in a 
Sustainable World: A Complex Systems Approach", sponsored by the Center for 
the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
(www.cscs.umich.edu). Complex systems are composed of many, diverse 
components that interact in nonlinear ways. Scientists are now developing 
new techniques for modeling complex systems that may have applications to 
transport planning, particularly for creating more sustainable 
transportation systems.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
===============
CONNECTING CYCLING CONFERENCE
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Thursday 20th and Friday 21st November 2003, Canberra, Australia, sponsored 
by the Bicycle Federation of Australia 
(www.bfa.asn.au/conference/index.htm). This conference will expose policy 
makers, practitioners, cycling groups and enthusiasts to current thinking 
and best practice in travel behaviour change, and provide information & 
resources on how to develop cost/effective programs to increase cycling and 
public transport usage

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

Latest on Pay-As-You-Drive Vehicle Insurance
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Oregon State House Bill 2043, recently signed into law, will encourage auto 
insurance companies to "test drive" cents-per-mile premiums. The new law 
provides a limited tax credit to companies that offer per-mile insurance 
premiums to customers in Oregon. Auto insurers are interested in providing 
"pay-as-you-drive" insurance (PAYD) premiums, but face the costs of setting 
up a new system and tracking mileage. This tax credit will provide 
additional incentive to create the necessary infrastructure.

A few of the many organizations that endorsed HB 2043 are the Oregon 
Environmental Council, the American Lung Association of Oregon, Better 
World Club, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Community Action Directors of 
Oregon, City of Portland, Commute Options Central Oregon, Lane Transit 
District, Oregon Business Association, Oregon Consumer League, Oregon 
Interfaith Global Warming Campaign, Rogue Valley Transit District, United 
Seniors of Oregon, and the Women's Rights Coalition.

For more information see the "Pay-As-You-Drive" information on the Oregon 
Environmental Council’s website (www.orcouncil.org/Pollution/PAYD.htm) or 
our Online TDM Encyclopedia chapter (www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm79.htm).
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in this newsletter, or if you would like to be removed from our mailing 
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NOTE: Please use our current email address (litman at vtpi.org or 
info at vtpi.org), rather than litman at islandnet.com, which will be 
discontinued in the future.




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