Last year the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) released the findings from its decennial household travel survey. The 2012 survey shows that the average California household made about 25 percent fewer trips by automobile than it did in 2001, and 65 to 75 percent more trips by walking, biking, and public transit. Those changes mean the shares of the three non-auto modes doubled. While the new survey better accounted for non-auto trips that may contribute to the increase in those modes, the major factor in the mode shift seems to be a decline in driving, a mode that was measured with GPS in both surveys.
California
California launches major transportation-reform effort
California’s State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and Department of Transportation (Caltrans) have launched a thorough-going reform to modernize practice at Caltrans. The move follows the release of a CalSTA-sponsored report by SSTI. The report calls for an update of the department’s mission, vision, and goals; realignment of departmental resources to address those new goals; and a stronger performance-based approach to manage change and ongoing work.
Pacific Coast Sun Trail may lessen California EV range anxiety
A planned network of electric vehicle charging stations along the California coast, from Eureka to Malibu, will make trips to scenic coastal areas more feasible for EV owners. As reported by the Press Democrat, Richard Sachen, the entrepreneur behind the plan, refers to it as the “Pacific Coast Sun Trail” and so far has raised most of his capital for the stations through crowdfunding websites such as Gust and Indiegogo.