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VTPI NEWS
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Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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Winter 1999-2000 Vol. 2, No. 4
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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 has numerous documents addressing a wide range
of transport planning and policy issues. VTPI also provides consulting
services.
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NEW URL AND EMAIL ADDRESS
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We now have our own Internet domain. Our new website address is
www.vtpi.org. Our website is reorganized and expanded, with new features
and materials, including a growing humor collection, bibliographies, and
important reports by other researchers. Some documents are now available in
a choice of formats (PDF, Word, HTML) to better meet your needs.
Todd Litman's new email address is [log in to unmask]
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NEW REPORTS
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The following reports are posted at http://www.vtpi.org.
"The Trouble With Minimum Parking Requirements"
By Donald Shoup
Minimum parking requirements are often arbitrary and excessive. They are a
market distortion that imposes significant economic and environmental costs
and encourages increased driving. Subsidized parking is one of the largest
external costs of automobile use. A more efficient and equitable approach
is to use pricing to match parking supply and demand. Posted with permission.
"Estimating Important Transportation-Related Regional Economic
Relationships in Bexar County, Texas"
By Jon R. Miller, Ph.D., M. Henry Robison, Ph.D. and Michael L. Lahr, Ph.D.
This study finds significant regional economic benefits from reduced
consumer expenditures on automobile travel. Each 1% of personal trips
shifted from automobile to public transit is estimated to add 226 regional
jobs and $2.9 million in regional value added. Each million dollars shifted
from automobile to public transit expenditures generates nearly $900,000 in
regional income and 53.8 jobs. This reflects the fact that automobile
expenditures provide less economic development and employment than most
other consumer expenditures. Posted with permission.
"Leonine Features to Enhance Bridge Capacity"
By Walter Kulash, Sandy Curran, and Jay Hood.
This paper helps answer the question, "Is 'traffic engineer humor' an
oxymoron?" It outlines the historic role of bridge lions, summarizes
current research in the field, and offers a state-of-the-art method for
computing their impacts on traffic capacity. Three illustrations, a
"Ferocity Factors" table, one case study. Posted with permission.
"Local Politician's Guide to Urban Transportation"
By Gordon Price, Councillor, City of Vancouver
Pity the politician who promises to fix urban transportation problems.
Traffic congestion may be one of their constituents' greatest frustrations,
but there is often little they can do with available resources and
conventional solutions. This guide, written by an experienced municipal
politician, discusses the transportation challenges facing local officials,
and offers innovative solutions. Posted with permission.
"The Asphalt Attack"
By Jane Holtz Kay, Architecture and Planning Critic
This includes four recent articles on sprawl and automobile dependency:
"Overheated Car Culture," "All Sprawl Down," "Time to Depave the Landscape"
and "Dreaming of a Clean Car?" Posted with permission.
"Issues in Sustainable Transportation"
By Todd Litman & David Burwell
This paper explores various issues related to how sustainable
transportation is defined, evaluated and implemented. It suggests that
sustainable transportation planning requires a broad scope that takes into
account economic, social equity and local environmental impacts, as well as
long-term ecological risks.
"Transportation Market Distortions"
By Todd Litman
This report examines how transportation markets violate market principles.
Although individual market distortions may appear modest and justified,
their cumulative effects are significant, exacerbating virtually all
transportation problems. In a less distorted market consumers would drive
less and be better off overall as a result. Market reforms that reduce
distortions can provide significant economic, social and environmental
benefits.
Please let us know if you have transport policy papers that you would like
to have posted at our website.
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REVISED REPORTS
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The following reports have been substantially revised.
"Automobile Dependency and Economic Development"
By Todd Litman and Felix Laube
This paper describes theoretical and empirical evidence indicating that
excessive automobile dependence can reduce economic productivity and
development. Automobile dependence requires significant economic resources
for vehicles, fuel, roads and parking facilities, and increases traffic
congestion, accidents and environmental damages. It reduces the viability
of other travel modes and leads to more dispersed land use, resulting in
reduced access and increased transport costs.
"Win-Win Transportation Solutions;
Cooperation for Economic, Social and Environmental Benefits"
Win-Win strategies help solve transportation problems by increasing
consumer choice and removing market distortions. They are cost effective,
technically feasible reforms based on market principles. Win-Win strategies
can help achieve a variety of goals including traffic congestion reduction,
road and parking facility cost savings, road safety, economic development,
consumer savings, increased travel choice, environmental protection,
community livability, and equity. These multiple benefits create
opportunities for cooperation and coordination among a wide range of
organizations and political interests. This paper discusses the Win-Win
concept and describes more than a dozen Win-Win strategies.
WEB LINKS
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We continue to add links to other useful websites. Please add a link to us
from your organization's website and we will reciprocate.
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APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS
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* Transportation Research Editorial Advisory Board
VTPI Director Todd Litman has been appointed to the Editorial Advisory
Board for Transportation Research A & B, two leading transportation
research journals.
* Lincoln Institute Fellowship
VTPI Director Todd Litman has been awarded a David C. Lincoln Fellowship to
fund research on the relationships between transportation, land use and
taxation. This three-year project will investigate how current tax and
regulatory practices affect the amount of land devoted to roads and parking
facilities, and how this impacts transport patterns. The study will develop
ways to measure the amount of land devoted to transport facilities, examine
how this varies under different circumstances, estimate the value of this
resource, evaluate how tax policies and regulations treat this land, and
analyze whether current practices are optimal in terms of various economic
and social objectives.
* 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.
Todd will present two papers at TRB:
"Evaluating Carsharing Benefits" Paper #0521
Session 161, Social and Economic Factors and Personal Mobility, Monday,
January 10, 7:30-9:30 p.m., first presentation, Hilton, Jefferson West.
"Transportation Market Reforms for Sustainability" Paper #0523
Session 298, Symposium on Transportation and Sustainability, Tuesday,
January 11, 3:45-5:30, first presentation, Hilton, Jefferson West.
* National Economics Club Presentation, "Win-Win Transportation Solutions:
Cooperation for Economic, Social and Environmental Benefits".
While in Washington DC for the Transportation Research Board Annual
Meeting, VTPI Director Todd Litman will give a presentation at the National
Economists Club during their luncheon meeting on Thursday, January 13, from
noon until 1:30 p.m., at the Hudson Institute, 1015 18th St., NW, 3rd
floor, one block from the Farragut North or West Metro stations. The
presentation is open to the public, so feel free to attend if you are in
town. For more information visit http://www.national-economists.org.
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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.
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.vtpi.org
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