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VTPI NEWS
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Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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Autumn 1999 Vol. 2, No. 3
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The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research
organization developing innovative solutions to transportation problems.
The VTPI website has numerous free reports addressing a wide range of
transport planning and policy issues. VTPI also provides consulting services.
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NEW REPORTS
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Available free at http://www.islandnet.com/~litman
* First Resort; Resort Community Transportation Demand Management
This paper shows how transportation demand management can protect the
amenities that make resort communities attractive. It describes TDM
strategies suitable for application in resort communities, and how to
tailor a TDM program to a specific community's needs.
Quote: "Venice, Italy is famous for its canals. Although the millions of
tourists who visit that city could get around more quickly if the canals
were filled, paved, and turned into modern roadways, doing so would destroy
the very features that attract them in the first place."
* Using Road Pricing Revenue; Economic Efficiency & Equity Considerations
This paper, previously published in Transportation Research Record 1558,
discusses issues to consider in determining how road pricing revenue should
be used.
Quote: "Road pricing increases efficiency by rationing road capacity with
less waste than queuing. From an overall economic efficiency perspective,
the revenue must be used to benefit society and the greater the benefit the
more economically efficient the program."
* Evaluating Carsharing Benefits
"Carsharing" describes vehicle rental services intended to substitute for
private car ownership. This paper describes carsharing and discusses
various benefits it provides, including mobility benefits for people who
don't own a car, and efficiency benefits when households carshare instead
of owning a private vehicle.
Quote: "Carsharing allows drivers who cannot own a car access to a vehicle
for occasional use, and it allows other households to reduce their vehicle
ownership. Per capita vehicle travel tends to decline when drivers shift
from owning a car to carsharing because unlike private ownership, most
costs are variable."
* UBC TREK Program Evaluation; Costs, Benefits and Equity Impacts of a
University TDM Program
The University of British Columbia is implementing a transportation demand
management program to encourage more efficient transport patterns to its
campus. This report examines the feasibility and cost effectiveness of this
program.
Quote: "Experience with other TDM programs, and particularly with similar
university campus transportation management programs, indicates that TREK's
stated objective of a 20% reduction in SOV trips can be achieved, although
it is difficult to predict whether the program as it is currently proposed
will be adequate. If not, there are other strategies that could be employed
by UBC or regional transportation agencies to increase the program's
effectiveness."
REVISED REPORTS
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Available free at http://www.islandnet.com/~litman
* Comparing Transportation Emission Reduction Strategies
This paper shows that some emission reduction strategies exacerbate other
transportation problems by increasing automobile travel, while demand
management strategies help solve a variety of problems by reducing total
vehicle traffic. This emphasizes the importance of using comprehensive
analysis when evaluating solutions to transport problems.
* Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs
(Formerly, "Defining and Quantifying Public Transit Benefits")
This paper describes various benefits and costs of public transit, and
discusses how these impacts can be incorporated into transportation
decision making.
* Evaluating Criticism of Transportation Costing
(Formerly, "Reply to Critics of Transportation Costing")
Several reports criticize transportation cost studies, claiming that
various costs 1) do not exist at all; 2) may exist but are overstated and
not significant; 3) are not externalities; 4) cannot be priced effectively;
or 5) are offset by benefits. This paper examines the legitimacy of these
arguments.
* Generated Traffic; Implications for Transport Planning
This paper discusses how generated (or "induced") traffic can be
incorporated into transport planning. It describes various types of
generated traffic, how to measure and predict their impacts, and the
implications for transport investment and policy decisions.
* Pavement Busters Guide
This guidebook describes why current parking and road capacity standards
may be excessive, the economic, social and environmental costs that result,
and specific ways to achieve more efficient road and parking capacity.
* Potential TDM Strategies
This paper describes more than three dozen transportation demand management
strategies, and provides information and resources for TDM planning and
program development. This can help expand the scope of solutions considered
for transportation problems.
* Quantifying the Benefits of Non-Motorized Transport for Achieving TDM
Objectives
This paper discusses the benefits provided by walking and cycling, and how
these benefits can be considered transport planning. It provides resources
for non-motorized planning and program development.
* Reinventing Transportation; Exploring the Paradigm Shift Needed to
Reconcile Transportation and Sustainability Objectives
Sustainability requires comprehensive decision-making that takes into
account indirect and long-term impacts. Sustainable transportation requires
a "paradigm shift," changes in the way we think about transportation, and
how we identify and evaluate solutions to transport problems. This paper
discusses these changes and their implications for transportation decision
making.
* Win-Win Transportation Solutions
Win-Win strategies help solve transportation problems by increasing
consumer choice and removing market distortions that encourage inefficient
travel behavior. They are cost effective, technically feasible reforms
based on market principles. They are "no regrets" measures that are
justified regardless of uncertainties about global warming or other
environmental and social impacts. They could meet Kyoto emission reduction
targets while increasing consumer benefits and economic development. They
are essential for sustainable transportation. This paper discusses the
Win-Win concept and describes more than a dozen Win-Win strategies.
* Web Links
There are numerous links to other useful websites.
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PROJECT UPDATES
* Employer Provided Tax-Exempt Transit Benefits (Canada)
Employee transit benefits (i.e., a free or discounted transit pass) are
fully taxable in Canada, unlike most other industrialized countries. This
encourages automobile commuting and is unfair since most employees who
drive receive free, untaxed parking. Last April the Canadian Parliament
overwhelmingly passed a motion asking Revenue Canada to change this policy,
but the agency has yet to act.
A study commissioned for the National Climate Change Process (IBI, "Tax
Exempt Status for Employer Provided Transit Benefits", Natural Resources
Canada, 1999) found that tax-exempt transit benefits would achieve both
economic and environmental objectives, providing significant net benefits
(estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually). This
report confirms the findings of our 1996 study for the Transit Advocacy
Project, "Employer-Provided Transit Passes; Benefit/Cost Analysis".
Canadians who support this proposal can ask their Member of Parliament to
include it in the 2000 budget. For more information contact the National
Task Force to Promote Employer Provided Tax-Exempt Transit Passes, by phone
at 613-738-3177 or fax at 613-526-1696.
* Mile-Based Vehicle Insurance
Mileage-based vehicle pricing is technically feasible and could provide
significant benefits, including a 12-15% reduction in automobile crashes,
10%+ reductions in congestion delays and pollution emissions, increased
fairness, and consumer savings. This concept is described in
"Distance-Based Vehicle Insurance" and "Distance-Based Charges; A Practical
Strategy for More Optimal Vehicle Pricing" (presented at the 1999 TRB
Annual Meeting), available at our website.
US federal Value Pricing Program funding is available to insurance
companies and regional/state agencies for pilot projects or other
appropriate research of this concept. For more information contact Value
Pricing Program staff Allen Greenberg ([log in to unmask]). In
Canada Transport Canada's Moving On Sustainable Transportation (MOST)
program (http://www.tc.gc.ca/envaffairs/most) provides funding for
innovative projects that achieve sustainability objectives. Contact VTPI if
you are interested in partnering on such projects, or for more information
on mileage-based pricing.
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TRB Sustainability Task Force
VTPI Director, Todd Litman has been appointed to the Transportation
Research Board Task Force A5T57 on Transportation and Sustainability. This
Task Force will have several sessions on January 11, 2000 at the TRB Annual
Meeting, held in Washington DC.
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BEEN THERE; DONE THAT
Austin, Texas
VTPI Director Todd Litman presented two papers concerning transportation
equity at the "Just Transportation" symposium held August 9, 1999 in
Austin, TX. He also spoke to the Downtown Austin Alliance (a business
organization) about zoning reforms and other strategies to achieve better
urban development. Thanks to the Trans Texas Alliance who sponsored this
event and the many people who provided generous Texan hospitality.
New Zealand
VTPI Director Todd Litman gave the keynote address at three seminars on
"Improving Health and Energy Efficiency Through Active Transport," held in
Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, September 13-15. There
were six presentations in three days in three different cities (thank
goodness somebody else handled logistics!), followed by a week as a
tourist, including tramping through the forest and overnighting on an
organic sheep farm. Thanks to the NZ Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Authority for sponsorship, and the many people who provided warm "down
under" hospitality.
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CONSULTING
Please contact VTPI for transportation research and policy analysis
projects. We are currently working on the following consulting projects:
· A study of distance-based insurance pricing.
· An NCHRP study of ways to more accurately incorporate economic and social
impacts into transportation planning.
· Assistance to the Way to Go! School Program, which promotes alternative
transportation for school trips.
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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. Feel free to pass this newsletter and other VTPI information to
others who may find it useful.
Todd Litman, Director
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
1250 Rudlin Street
Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.islandnet.com/~litman
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