[sustran] VTPI Newsletter - Summer 2005

[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 2005    Vol. 8, 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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ONLINE TDM ENCYCLOPEDIA
========================

The VTPI "Online TDM Encyclopedia" (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm ) 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 recently 
added the following two chapters, and updated many other chapters with new 
information.

'Light Rail Transit' (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm121.htm )
Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems provide convenient local public transit 
service on busy urban corridors, connecting major destinations such as 
central business districts, medical centers, campuses and entertainment 
centers. LRT vehicles tend to have relatively smooth and comfortable 
operation, easy boarding, attractive station areas, and easy-to-understand 
routes and schedules.

'Traffic Operations and Management' (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm111.htm )
Traffic Operations (also called Transportation Systems Management or just 
Traffic Management) refers to facility management strategies that improve 
roadway system performance. Transportation professional organizations and 
agencies increasingly recognize the importance of Operational strategies 
for solving transport problems.
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NEW DOCUMENTS
==============

"Terrorism, Transit and Public Safety: Evaluating The Risks" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/transitrisk.pdf ).
This paper evaluates the overall safety of public transit, taking into 
account all risks, including recent terrorist attacks. It indicates that 
transit is an extremely safe mode, with total per passenger-mile fatality 
rates approximately one-tenth that of automobile travel. It is important 
for individuals and public officials to avoid overreacting to terrorist 
threats in ways that increase overall danger. Transit terrorism would cause 
more total casualties and harm to society if individuals respond to attacks 
by shifting from public transit to less safe modes, or if decision-makers 
respond by reducing support for public transit.

Here is some of the media coverage it generated:

"Protect public transportation," Neil Peirce Column, 
(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002387305_peirce18.html ).

"Washington Cuts Security Funds for Public Transport," IPS News Agency 
(http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29575 ).

"Terrorism, transit and safety," Toronto Star 
(http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1122414613350&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795), 
July 27 2005.


"Evaluating Rail Transit Criticism" (http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf )
This study evaluates criticism of rail transit, including the recent 
report, "Rail Disasters 2005: The Impact Of Rail Transit On Transit 
Ridership." It examines claims that rail transit is ineffective at 
increasing public transit ridership and improving transportation system 
performance, that rail transit investments are not cost effective, and that 
transit is an outdated form of transportation. It finds that critics often 
misrepresent issues and use biased and inaccurate analysis. This is a 
companion to the report "Rail Transit in America: A Comprehensive 
Evaluation of Benefits" (http://www.vtpi.org/railben.pdf )


"Pay-As-You-Drive Vehicle Insurance Summary" 
(http://www.vtpi.org/paydsum.pdf ).
Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance (PAYD) means that a vehicle’s insurance premiums 
are based directly on how much it is driven during the policy term. This 
two-page paper describes the concept and its benefits.

The Vancouver City Council and the Greater Vancouver Regional District 
(http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/board/comagendas/PlanningEnvironment/june/4.4.pdf ) 
recently passed resolutions asking the Insurance Corporation of British 
Columbia (ICBC) to offer Pay-As-You-Drive pricing. This sparked debate in 
the region about PAYD. Unfortunately, much of the discussion presented the 
issue inaccurately, and failed to identify the full benefits of PAYD. 
ICBC's public relations representative argued against it on the grounds 
that other risk factors are more important than mileage (irrelevant because 
those other factors would be applied in addition to mileage, and ICBC's own 
research shows that this would significantly increase actuarial accuracy). 
Suburban politicians argue against it on the grounds that it would harm 
suburban and rural motorists, who must drive because they lack transit 
service (not true, because PAYD rates incorporate territory factors, so 
suburban and rural residents would only pay more if they drive more than 
average among other suburban and rural motorists). The PAYD Summary was 
written to help raise understanding about this concept.
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PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE
====================

Todd Litman, "Efficient Vehicles Versus Efficient Transportation: Comparing 
Transportation Energy Conservation Strategies," Transport Policy, Volume 
12, Issue 2, March 2005, Pages 121-129, 
(http://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0967070X04000575 ).
This paper (available free at http://www.vtpi.org/cafe.pdf ) compares four 
transportation energy conservation strategies using a comprehensive 
evaluation framework that takes into account how each strategy affects 
annual vehicle travel, and therefore mileage-related impacts such as 
congestion, roadway costs and crash risk.


Our report "Safe Travels: Evaluating Mobility Management Traffic Safety 
Impacts" (http://www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf ) has been translated into 
Swedish: "Säkert resande - utvärdering av effekter av mobility management 
på trafiksäkerhet" by the Swedish Road Administration 
(www.vv.se/templates/page3____12859.aspx ), translated by Per Schillander. 
This paper investigates the relationships between vehicle mileage and 
crashes, and the traffic safety impacts of mobility management strategies. 
This analysis indicates that mobility management can be a cost effective 
traffic safety strategy, and increased safety is one of the largest 
potential benefits of mobility management.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
================

Florida APA Annual Meeting, Florida Chapter of the American Planning 
Association, Sept. 7-10, St. Petersburg, FL (http://www.floridaplanning.org )
Todd Litman, VTPI Executive Director, will speak at the annual meeting, 
including a debate with Randal O’Toole, author of the report "Great Rail 
Disasters" (mentioned above) on the value of public transit and 
transit-oriented development.


Trails and Pathways 2005 National Symposium, October 12-15, Edmonton, 
Alberta, Canada (http://www.2005.arpaonline.ca/taps/brochure/index.html )
Over 1,200 professionals are expected to participate from recreation and 
parks, community planning, public health, special populations, social 
service, and education. Todd Litman will explore the implications of new 
personal mobility technologies on nonmotorized travel, and discuss 
appropriate management strategies for minimizing conflicts between 
different types of trail users (see http://www.vtpi.org/man_nmt_fac.pdf ).
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BEEN THERE  DONE THAT
=======================
The last few months have been an extremely busy time, with considerable 
travel to conferences and workshops. Below are some of the events we 
participated in.


"Communities In Motion" (http://www.communitiesinmotion.org ) workshop on 
nonmotorized transportation, May 5-6, Boise, Idaho. Plenary presentation 
and workshops on evaluating and planning nonmotorized transportation.


Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference (http://www.pnrec.org ), May 
19-20, Bellingham, Washington. Presentations on economic evaluation of 
transit and mobility management strategies.


"Colloquy On The Coming Transformation of Travel," June 1-3 in 
Rensselaerville, New York, June 1-3. This event, sponsored by the Federal 
Highway Administration, the New York State Metropolitan Planning 
Organization, and the US DOT Volpe National Transportation Center, brought 
a group of leading transportation professionals to discuss future transport 
trends and issues.


"Canadian Institute of Transportation Engineers 2005 Annual Conference," 
(http://www.cite7.org ), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, June 5-8. Todd Litman 
gave the keynote speech on future transportation trends and their 
implications for transport planning in Canada.


"Moving The City Conference" Malmo," (http://www.malmo.se/sustainablecity 
), Sweden, June 14-15. This was a major international conference on 
sustainable urban development. We shared information on mobility management 
and smart growth strategies.
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USEFUL RESOURCES
=================
Below are some outstanding information resources that you may find useful.

"The Role Of Demand-Side Strategies: Mitigating Traffic Congestion," 
Association for Commuter Transportation, for the Federal Highway 
Administration 
(http://tmi.cob.fsu.edu/act/FHWA_Cong_Mitigation_11%202%2004.pdf ), 2004. 
This 114-page study provides an overview of TDM strategies and programs, 
including how they are planned and implemented, their effectiveness at 
reducing traffic congestion, and providing other benefits. Includes 
numerous case studies. It emphasizes the broad range of TDM strategies 
available.


"Driving Urban Environments: Smart Growth Parking Best Practices," Maryland 
Governor’s Office of Smart Growth 
(http://www.smartgrowth.state.md.us/pdf/Final%20Parking%20Paper.pdf ), 
2005. This guide describes various ways of managing parking for efficiency 
in order to improve user convenience, reduce parking and traffic problems, 
save money and reduce sprawl.


The Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) has released four modules of 
its sourcebook available free through the Internet. These are module 1a 
("The role of transport in urban development policy" by Enrique Peñalosa), 
1b ("Urban transport institutions" by Richard Meakin), 1e ("Raising public 
awareness about sustainable urban transport" by Karl Fjellstrom) and 3c 
("Bus regulation and planning" by Richard Meakin). Also, the BRT module (by 
Lloyd Wright) has been updated. They can be accessed through the sourcebook 
download page (registration required, but there is no charge) at 
http://www.sutp.org/download/sourcebookhome.php . The SUTP "BRT Subpage," 
(http://www.sutp.org/newweb/brt/brtress.htm ), provides a variety of 
information and resources of BRT planning and operations.


"What Light Rail Can Do For Cities: A Review of the Evidence," 
(http://www.pteg.net/documents/WhatLightRailCanDoforCities-MainText_02-18.PDF 
), by the UK Passenger Transport Executive Committee, 2005. This report 
reviews evidence of the benefits of urban rail transit in the U.K. It 
concludes that rail transit tends to provide a better quality of service 
than bus transit, and so attracts more ridership, particularly people that 
would otherwise drive, providing a variety of benefits including congestion 
reduction, reduced air pollution, and urban redevelopment. It discusses 
equity impacts, and ways to improve service and increase benefits.


Jodi Browne, Eduardo Sanhueza, Erin Silsbe, Steve Winkleman and Chris 
Zegras, Getting on Track: Finding a Path for Transportation in the CDM 
(Clean Development Mechanism), International Institute for Sustainable 
Development (www.iisd.org/pdf/2005/climate_chile_getting_on_track.pdf ), 
2005. This report explains how a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) can 
encourage more efficient transportation policies in developing countries.


"Strategies and Tools to Implement Transportation-Efficient Development: A 
Reference Manual," (http://depts.washington.edu/trac/bulkdisk/pdf/574.1.pdf 
) by Anne Vernez Moudon, et al., for the Washington State Department of 
Transportation, 2003. This is a comprehensive and easy to understand manual 
for implementing smart growth planning.


"Livable Communities: An Evaluation Guide," 
(http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/d18311_communities.pdf ), by the 
American Association of Retired Persons. This guide emphasizes the value of 
walkability, transit service, mixed land use (public services within 
walking distance), and pedestrian security, particularly for seniors, which 
we all hope to be in the future (growing old is better than the 
alternative). It includes specific guidelines for evaluating these features.


The current edition of Shared Spaces (http://www.sharedspaces.nl ) , the 
online English-language quarterly from the Dutch Ministry of Housing, 
Spatial Planning and the Environment, explores the challenges of developing 
effective climate change policy and abatement measures. State Secretary 
Pieter van Geel talks about the current state of Dutch climate change 
policy and the urgent need for international action. Dutch policy 
negotiator, Henriëtte Bersee, discusses the relationship between policy and 
science with academics from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment 
Agency. Experts from the Small Island States, Australia, Nepal and 
Kazakhstan talk first hand about their experiences with the harmful effects 
of climate change.
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A PERSONAL NOTE
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It is with great sadness that we report the recent death of Marshall 
Litman, father of VTPI Executive Director Todd Litman, and an important 
inspiration for the Institute. A short tribute to him is posted at 
http://www.vtpi.org/litman/marshall.pdf.
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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 mailing 
list. And please pass this newsletter on to others who may find it useful.



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