VTPI NEWS
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Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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Spring 2023 Vol. 23, No. 2
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New Publications
Cool Walkability Planning
This report investigates why and how to improve urban walkability in hot climate cities. Shadeways (covered sidewalks) and pedways (enclosed, climate controlled walkways) can can significantly improve pedestrian thermal comfort. Although these are more costly than basic sidewalks, they can greatly increase walkability and are far cheaper than motor vehicle costs. Analysis in this report indicates that pedway and shadeway networks can often repay their costs through economic savings and increased property values. The Cool Walkshed Index can help plan these facilities.
Racism and Colonialism in Geography Textbooks, 1820s to 1950s
Geography textbooks introduce children to foreign lands and people. They are considered scientific and authoritative, and leave a durable legacy on our world views. This study analyzes descriptions of race and culture from typical British and North American grade school geography textbooks published between 1827 and 1955. It reprints selected texts and images, analyzes how their narratives changed over time, and discusses their impacts. Early books identified various races (European [White], Asiatic [Yellow], African [Black], Malayan [Brown] and American Indian [Red]), which were categorized according to “stages of society” (savage, barbarous, half-civilized, civilized and enlightened). They were overtly racist (they claimed that White races are superior) and colonialist (they claimed that European imperialism was benevolent and beneficial). Racist and colonialist narratives declined over time and later books promoted racial inclusivity and multiculturalism. Presented at the 2023 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Slideshow.
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Published Elsewhere
“A Friendly Wager in Favour of Bikeways. I Wager $100 that the Results of an Upcoming CRD Survey Will Show that Victoria’s Bicycle Mode Share Increased During the Past Five Years,” Times Colonist Newspaper. There have been noisy complaints against Victoria’s bikeways. Critics call them unnecessary, ineffective, and a "vanity project." This is inaccurate and unfair. Abundant research shows that bikeways improve safety, increase walking and bicycling, reduce traffic problems, and save money overall.
Navid Nadimi, Aliakbar Zamzam and Todd Litman (2023), "University Bus Services: Responding to Students’ Travel Demands?" Sustainability. University bus services (UBSs) provide fixed-route transport for students to and from large universities. Many students, particularly those with lower incomes, depend on them. This paper examines how UBS can help achieve social equity and sustainability goals, based on a survey of 303 students at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in Iran. Grounded theory and structural equation modeling is used to analyze the daily commute preferences of university students influenced by their characteristics, fleet condition, fares, station condition, and time factors. This study identifies various ways to make UBS more efficient and attractive, such as updating the bus fleet, improving stations, increasing security, and improving pedestrian access to stations.
Stefan Gössling, Jessica Kees, Todd Litman and Andreas Humpe (2023), “The Economic Cost of a 130 kph Speed Limit in Germany,” Ecological Economics. Germany remains the only large country without a general speed limit on highways. This study uses benefit-cost analysis to evaluate a national speed limit by comparing the value of travel time savings with increased infrastructure, crashes, fuel and emission costs. Results suggests that a 130 kph speed limit will generate net welfare gains. This study was descried in the news magazine Der Spiegel. It is based on research described in the VTPI report, "Not So Fast: Better Speed Valuation for Transportation Planning," which evaluates trade-offs between speed and other planning goals.
Navid Nadimi, Mohammad Ali Zayandehroodi, Fatemeh Rahmani, Morteza Asadamraji and Todd Litman (2023), “Evaluation of the Impact of Covid-19 on Transport Sustainability in Iran,” Engineering Sustainability.
The Covid-19 outbreak changed travel behaviour in many ways. This paper evaluates these changes in Tehran, Iran, from a transportation sustainability perspective. It uses data from travel surveys before and during the pandemic to evaluate changes in travel activity and their impacts on public transportation (PT) system costs and revenues, air quality and traffic crashes. The pandemic caused reductions in public transit ridership and increased private car use, which threaten the long-term sustainability of public transit services. Overall crash fatalities declined but motorcycle fatalities increased, apparently due to increased traffic speeds. The government did not use the pandemic as an opportunity to promote sustainable and low-contagion modes. This analysis infers that the Covid-19 outbreak reduced the overall transportation sustainability in Tehran.
What is it Costing You to Sit in Traffic?. An interview with Honolulu's KITV news in which Todd Litman discusses traffic congestion costs. Of course, motorists complain loudly about traffic congestion, but in practice most are unwilling to pay for either roadway expansions, road tolls, or public transit service improvements that could reduce this problem, indicating that the costs are actually low. For more information see, "Smart Congestion Relief."
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Cool Walkability Planning. Shadeways (covered sidewalks) and pedways (enclosed, climate controlled walkways) can provide comfortable walkability in hot climates. The Cool Walkshed Index can help plan these facilities.
Transportation Agencies: Improve Your Models or Hire More Lawyers. Transportation models are biased in ways that result in inefficient, unfair and environmentally harmful planning decisions. Improve your analysis or prepare to be sued.
The Pseudoscientific Foundations of Racist Planning Practices. Racist and colonialist narratives in old geography textbooks help explain the prevalence of segregationist and discriminatory policies and other nasty planning practices. It's time to understand and reconcile.
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Upcoming Events
World Congress for Transportation Research, July 17-21, Montreal, Canada. Todd Litman will present two papers:
Fair Share Transportation Planning: Estimating Non-Auto Travel Demands and Optimal Infrastructure Investments
Most communities have two transportation systems: an automobile-oriented system that includes higher-speed roads and parking facilities, plus a non-auto system that includes sidewalks, paths, lower-speed roads, and public transit services. This presentation examines how to determine the optimal balance of investments in these two systems.
Comprehensive Parking Supply, Cost and Price Analysis
This presentation describes how to estimate the number of parking spaces that exist in an area, their total costs, and optimal pricing for fairness and efficiency.
2023 Joint ITE International Annual Meeting and Exhibition, August 13-16, Portland, OR.
VMT Policy and Implementation (C120-122), Tuesday, August 15, 2:00-3:30 pm
Several states and agencies have implemented or are currently implementing VMT-based policy. This session will help practitioners prepare for existing and future policy changes, including engaging with decision-makers and elected officials, developing policy and implementation methodologies, conducting analyses, and communicating these measures.
Speakers:
Chris Ganson, Founder and Principal, NextMove, Sacramento, CA
Zachary Horowitz, P.E., Transportation Analysis Engineer, Oregon DOT, Salem, OR
Todd Litman, Policy Analyst, Victoria Transportation Polict Institute, Victoria, BC
Cody Meyer, Planner, Department of Land Conservation and Development, Salem, OR
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Useful Resources
Less Cars, More Money: My Visit to the City of the Future, by Mr. Money Mustache. This wonderful column describes many good reasons to create more compact, multimodal neighborhoods where it is easy to get around without driving. It includes estimates of the vehicle, road, parking, and health savings that result, plus examples of such communities.
"How to Quit Cars," Adam Gopnik, New York Times. They crowd streets, belch carbon, bifurcate communities, and destroy the urban fabric. Will we ever overcome our addiction?
Parking Reform Network Newsletter, by the Parking Reform Network, provides updates on efforts for more efficient and equitable parking policies, plus maps showing where parking reforms are being implemented.
Lifting Parking Mandates, Open Plans. This article concludes that parking mandates are an outdated and costly policy that requires new buildings to dedicate valuable space to storing private vehicles.
“Parking, Parking, Everywhere, but Not a Spot for Me. Society has reshaped itself for cars. So why can’t you find a space to park one?,” by Henry Grabar, Slate. Summarizes Garbar’s new book, Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.
America is addicted to parking lots. It's not just an immense waste of space — it's killing the economy, Jeral Poskey, Business Insider. This article describes the excessive costs of parking, from a business perspective.
An Assessment of the Expected Impacts of City-Level Parking Cash-Out and Commuter Benefits Ordinances, by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, evaluated the effects of parking cash‑out (non-drivers receive cash equivalent to parking subsidies provided to motorists). It concludes that cash out can typically reduce affected vehicle travel and associated costs by 10-30%.
Create Travel Time Maps, by TravelTime.com. This website allows users to produce isochrone maps which show the area that can be reached within a given time period by walking, bicycling, public transport and driving.
“Socioeconomics of Urban Travel in the U.S.: Evidence from the 2017 NHTS,” by Xize Wang and John L. Renne, Transportation Research Part D. Study finds that automobile mode share has slightly and steadily decreased since its peak in 2001, while active modes, public transit, and taxi (including ride-hailing) trips have steadily increased.
“COVID-19 and cycling: a review of the literature on changes in cycling levels and government policies from 2019 to 2022,” by Ralph Buehler and John Pucher, Transport Reviews. Comprehensive review indicates that during the COVID pandemic many communities expanded their bicycling networks and bicycling increased, particularly for exercise and stress relief. Many studies recommended further expansion of low-stress, safer facilities in order to attract a broader cross-section of the population to bicycling.
Tracking the Revolution in Housing Policy, by Matthew Maltman, One Final Effort. This webpage tracks upzoning case studies. It finds that upzoning significantly increased multifamily housing supply and reduced prices in Auckland, New Zealand and several North American cities.
“Land-Use Reforms and Housing Costs: Does Allowing for Increased Density Lead to Greater Affordability?,” Urban Studies. Detailed study finds that reducing development restrictions are associated with statistically significant increases in total (new and existing) housing supply and are associated with increased affordability. Also see, “Zoning Change: Upzonings, Downzonings, and Their Impacts on Residential Construction, Housing Costs, and Neighborhood Demographics,” by Yonah Freemark, Journal of Planning Literature.
More Flexible Zoning Helps Contain Rising Rents, by Alex Horowitz and Ryan Canavan, Pew Charitable Trust. Data from four U.S. cities indicates that allowing more housing sharply reduces rent growth.
ITF Transport Outlook 2023, International Transport Forum. This comprehensive report examines the impacts of different policy measures on global transport demand and carbon dioxide emissions to 2050. It identifies a High Ambition scenario that could accelerate transport decarbonisation in ways that also help achieve other strategic goals.
National Public Health Assessment Model (N-PHAM), by Urban Design 4 Health This new planning tool uses evidence-based statistical models to analyze the relationships between community design, physical activity and chronic disease prevalence. It can help planners integrate public health considerations into transportation, land use, and community design decisions.
Washington State Injury Minimization and Speed Management Policy Elements and Implementation Recommendations, by the Washington State Department of Transportation. This technical report describes why and how communities can reduce traffic speeds to increase safety.
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