After declining every year since 2004, vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) per capita in the U.S. ticked up by 0.9 percent in 2014 compared to 2013, according to figures released on Thursday, March 12, by FHWA. Accounting for the effect of population growth, total miles driven increased by 1.7 percent. Chris McCahill and Eric Sundquist examine the economic and social trends at work and analyze which factors are likely to most heavily influence VMT in the coming years.
Livability
Transit Value Capture Coordination: Case Studies, Best Practices, and Recommendations (Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 2015)
Nearby public transportation boosts property values, and increasingly cities are asking developers to help fund transit improvements that will benefit their projects. This report examines various value-capture methods used in four cities operating some of the largest and oldest transit systems in the nation, with the greatest backlogs of unfunded capital needs.
Close to Home: A Handbook for Transportation-Efficient Growth in Small Communities and Rural Areas (TRB, 2015)
While hundreds of studies have investigated how land use affects daily driving in urban and suburban areas, very few of those studies have looked at small communities and rural areas. This handbook is intended to help …
Co-monitoring for Transit Management (Rudin Center for Transportation, 2014)
Transit agencies often do rider surveys and in-person checks of equipment and infrastructure. But by monitoring social media, agencies may get a faster report of problems and rider concerns. This report suggests methods for “co-monitoring,” the monitoring of field conditions through a combination of staff reports, data analysis and public observations.
A Resident’s Guide for Creating Safer Communities for Walking and Biking (FHWA, 2015)
This new guide from FHWA will assist residents, parents, community association members, and other concerned citizens who want to make their communities safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Innovative DOT: A Handbook of Policy and Practice (SSTI & SGA, 2015)
SSTI and Smart Growth America continue working with state departments of transportation and tracking innovative strategies for meeting 21st century transportation needs. The 2015 edition of The Innovative DOT builds upon its predecessor with updated content and fresh new ideas from a growing number of states.
Accessibility in Cities: Transport and Urban Form (Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, 2014)
This paper focuses on one central aspect of urban development: transport and urban form and how the two shape the provision of access to people, goods and services, and information in cities. The more efficient this access, the greater the economic benefits through economies of scale, agglomeration effects and networking advantages.
Public Bikesharing in North America During a Period of Rapid Expansion: Understanding Business Models, Industry Trends, and User Impacts (Mineta Transportation Institute, 2014)
This study evaluates public bikesharing in North America, reviewing the change in travel behavior exhibited by members of different programs in the context of their business models and operational environment. This research, featuers interviews with IT-based bikesharing organizations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as both annual members and casual users of the bikesharing systems.
Access Across America: Transit 2014
Researchers at the University of Minnesota released a new report ranking major metropolitan areas in terms of their accessibility to jobs by transit. The report complements the group’s 2013 release, which measured job accessibility by automobile, and builds upon their ongoing efforts to develop tools for assessing transportation performance in terms other than mobility and congestion. Rankings were determined by a weighted average of accessibility, giving a higher weight to closer jobs. The calculations include all components of a transit journey, including “last mile” access and egress walking segments and transfers.
Who’s on Board: The 2014 Mobility Attitudes Survey (Transit Center and RSG, 2014)
This study reveals that Americans from regions across the country think about and use public transit in remarkably similar ways. The report is the first to compare rider and non-rider attitudes by age, income, education, family status and ethnicity, and to examine both cities and suburban areas across various regions of the U.S. The work documents the unmet need for reliable, quality transit. This preference is true across age groups and geographic regions.