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Smarter transportation case study #8: Bus Rapid Transit Priority in Salt Lake City, Utah

Rapid growth and a growing tourism industry prompted Salt Lake City officials to bring increased efficiency and connectivity to the area’s bus system.



A rapidly growing tourism industry, increasing diversity and economic growth in downtown prompted Salt Lake City officials to improve mobility options throughout the region. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area has a population of just over one million people, with roughly 200,000 living in the city proper.

Salt Lake City made infrastructure improvements to connect regional bus routes to existing transportation networks, like the regional light rail system. Designed to mimic the efficiency of light rail, the bus rapid transit system leveraged the city’s transportation network to provide convenient and reliable travel options. The MAX Bus Rapid Transit System began in 2008 by incorporating bus-only lanes and track signal priority for buses along the entirety of the system’s 10.8-mile bus route. Buses have the right-of-way at intersections and track signal detection helps turn lights green as buses arrive. Along the most congested portions of the route, buses run in both directions in a dedicated center lane, allowing them to bypass cars. These innovative technologies keep trip travel time to a minimum and hold fuel costs in check, while maintaining a high standard for safety.

The system utilizes payment centers located on the bus, including user-friendly credit card machines, to allow passengers to quickly board the bus through one of three available doors.

The Utah Transit Authority plans to connect all the cities within the region to the light rail network with up to 80 miles of corridor routes within 20 years; 4,200 riders currently pass through the line’s 29 stops every day.

“This has the potential to become a piece of a future transportation spine,” Provo Mayor Lewis Billings said.

The MAX bus rapid transit line has seen a one-third increase in ridership and a 15 percent reduction in average travel time since 2008. The MAX line achieved a 97 percent on-time reliability rating on its very first day of operation, and now saves riders an average of 20 minutes per trip compared to an equivalent conventional bus driving the same route.

The project was awarded a “Smart Solutions Spotlight” from ITS America in June 2010.

For More Information: Deseret News

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Smarter transportation case study #7: Bike sharing program in Pottstown, Pa.

A first-in-the-region bikesharing program has increased transportation options and improved public health in this town 40 miles outside Philadelphia.


Pottstown is a town of just over 20,000 people located about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The community has struggled to find a new identity and revitalize its economy since the decline of the iron and steel industries. They have found some success leveraging the area’s convenient access to the Schuylkill River Trail, a multi-use trail that connects Philadelphia to nearby communities.

The Bike Pottstown bike sharing program was launched in June of 2008 with 30 beach cruiser bikes all painted yellow and accompanied by a lock and a basket. Managed by Preservation Pottstown, a local non-profit organization within the borough, the program operates six days a week out of Tri-County Bicycles, a local independently owned bike shop. Anyone with a valid ID can rent the bikes and ride anywhere in the Pottstown until the end of the day. The bikes are free of charge and by December 2009 had been shared over 2,000 times.

“Bike Pottstown is a community bike-share program,” said Tom Carroll, president of Preservation Pottstown. “By having it operate out of this location, and eventually out of others as well, it brings the program to more people in the community, and, hopefully, will bring more community support to the program.”

The only free bike sharing program in the greater Philadelphia region, Bike Pottstown has been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines and television news segments. The media attention has been a win-win for the community, bringing needed tourism and renewing local enthusiasm for bicycling as a source of exercise and transportation. Bike Pottstown is removing cars from the road, promoting physical fitness and providing residents with more options for commuting to work, although most use the program recreationally.

Bike Pottstown was able to get off the ground because of a $30,000 grant from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation. The funding paid for the infrastructure study, bicycles and the first year of operating costs. Subsequent annual operating costs are paid for through promotional items, sponsorships and donations.

Bike Pottstown Facebook Page


Pottstown bike sharing bikes. Photo courtesy of Bike Pottstown.

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will award $100 million in grants for livable and sustainable communities

For the first time in the agency’s history, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $100 million in grants today to help communities become more livable and sustainable, by connecting housing to jobs and transportaiton options.

The 45 regional winners from communities small and large across the country embody precisely the kind of innovation and creativity federal policy should be supporting. All of the winning projects recognize the crucial link between economic and community development, and many have a strong transportation element as well.

The grants are some of the first tangible fruit of President Obama’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a partnership within that brings HUD together with the U.S. Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation around shared goals to transcend the usual bureaucratic silos — giving them the rare chance to work in concert to achieve a specific goal. The Partnership is already finding ways to make federal spending more efficient and promote local innovation.

“In awarding these grants, we were committed to using insight and innovation from our stakeholders and local partners to develop a ‘bottom-up’ approach to changing federal policy as opposed to ‘top-down,'” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan explained. “Rather than sticking to the old Washington playbook of dictating how communities can invest their grants, HUD’s application process encouraged creative, locally focused thinking.”

Among the grant winners are local agencies that have already received accolades for their path-breaking work on livable communities and transportation options. Two of them, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and Salt Lake County, have pioneered the idea of “blueprint planning” for transportation and land use.” The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation in North Carolina, Oregon’s Lane Council of Governments and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments were also awarded.

One of the most exciting winners is California State University Fresno, which received $4 million to implement a land use planning vision for 14 participating cities in the fertile San Joaquin Valley. The Valley has historically been agriculture-rich and auto-dependent, so a collaborative effort at planning that increases transit options and boosts the economy while protecting vital farmland is a major step. Smarter transportation could also go a long way toward relieving some of the pollution problems in San Joaquin.

Ashley Swearengin, the mayor of Fresno, said in a statement that her community is “excited about the promise of federal agencies working in such a focused, concentrated way with the city of Fresno. We hope this partnership will provide us with the technical expertise and resources to focus on one of the most challenging neighborhoods in the city.”

You can see a complete list of winners here.

This is a good opportunity to remind you to tell your Senator to support the Livable Communities Act, a program that would help equip local communities to do more of this kind of work.

Smarter transportation case study #6: Managed lanes with peak-period transit discounts in Minneapolis

In Minneapolis, priority lanes and differential pricing have cleared a key interstate during peak hours and allowed more com- muters to utilize public transit.





The Twin Cities Metropolitan Area is using innovative solutions to relieve congestion on major highways in the region, with a particular focus on Interstate 35. The effort, part of a Minnesota Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA), utilizes a suite of intelligent transportation approaches, sometimes known as the 4Ts: Tolling, Transit, Telecommuting/Travel Demand Management and Technology.

The Minnesota UPA involves ITS technologies like real-time traffic and transit information, transit signal priority, and guidance mechanisms for shoulder-running buses. These technologies will significantly reduce travel time for riders.

“Trip time will be about half an hour. We’ll offer six trips in the morning and six trips home in the afternoon,” Bob Gibbons, a spokesman for Metro Transit, told Minnesota Public Radio.

First, the city is converting existing bus-only shoulder lanes and High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes along portions of the Interstate into wider lanes with prices that vary based on occupancy. Cars with only one occupant will have to pay a toll to access the lanes during peak hours, with prices set to ensure free-flowing travel. City officials say this will enable bus speeds to increase to 50 mph from the current bus-only shoulder lane speeds of 35 mph or less.

Second, a portion of the toll revenues from the new lanes will fund significant fare discounts for transit riders taking trips using the new facilities during peak periods. In and around the I-35W corridor, transit services will increase and a bus rapid transit network will be created, utilizing at least 27 newly purchased transit vehicles. There are also plans for six new park-and-ride lots with more than 1,400 additional spaces.

Third, new dynamic message signs and some existing signs will inform travelers about the availability of the lanes for non-bus use, toll rates for when the lanes are available, travel speeds on priced lanes versus on general-purpose lanes and transit alternatives.

The final element of the Minnesota UPA is telecommuting. This locally funded effort will focus on expanding upon the successful Results-Only Work Environment program, in which employers agree to provide employees the flexibility to telecommute or shift their hours to avoid congested commutes. Approximately 75 percent of Best Buy’s 4,500 corporate office employees participate in ROWE. Officials are targeting large employers, including the 20 Fortune 500 companies in the region, for participation, with the goal of reducing 500 daily peak-period trips throughout the corridor.

For More Information: Minnesota Public Radio



The MnPASS or congestion pricing lane on the left will be available at no cost to buses, car pools and to single driver vehicles willing to pay as little as 25 cents or up to $8 a trip depending on traffic levels. Traffic managers adjust the price in order to keep the lane flowing at 50 miles per hour. Photo by Dan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Smarter transportation case study #5: Traffic signal optimization; Portland, Oregon

Portland officials improved the timing and coordination of traffic signals in 17 key intersections, resulting in lower auto emissions and less traffic.

In 2002, the Climate Trust, a Portland-based non-profit, contracted with the City of Port- land to buy offsets from a project aimed at improving traffic signals.

Naito at Night Originally uploaded by ahockley to Flickr.
Portland traffic flowing smoothly at night.

The traffic signal optimization project ensures maximum green light times for the heaviest traffic flows and allows signal cycle time to adjust based on changing demands during peak times, such as rush hour. Seventeen major arterials were identified for improved signal timing using studies on optimizing traffic flow and reducing gridlock.

“It’s like having the Internet for our transpor- tation system,” said Peter Koonce, Division Manager of Signals and Street Lighting for the City of Portland.

After the signal timing has been completed, the Climate Trust pays Portland based upon the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that will be avoided.

In the program’s first six years, more than 157,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions were prevented, the equivalent of the emissions generated from burning 17.7 million gallons of gasoline. As a result of this success, city officials extended the partnership contract through 2012 with a goal of reducing an additional 21,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

The project was awarded a ‘Smart Solutions Spotlight’ from ITS America in February 2010.

For More Information: Daily Journal of Commerce, Oregon

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Smarter transportation case study #4: Dynamic Parking Pricing, San Francisco

SFpark has reduced idle driving time and cut congestion by making it easier to track and locate parking in San Francisco.


In 2009, 30 percent of driving San Francisco consisted of drivers circling around the block looking for parking. Now, city officials are pursuing an intelligent parking-pricing model called “SFpark” to cut down on the wasted time and fuel that too often results from this elusive parking search. A two-year pilot phase began this past summer.

Under SFpark, parking spaces throughout the city will contain sensors that give real time digital information about whether the space is occupied and for how long. The sensors will be wired into a database that coordinates parking across San Francisco. Information is compiled at a block-by-block level and available via the web, smart phone applications, text messages and roadway signs.

In order to keep an optimum amount of parking available throughout the city, the hourly parking rates will be raised or lowered in response to demand. The changes in price will occur no more than once a month and be published in advance. The goal is to set a pricing level that will keep from 10 to 30 percent of spaces in a given area vacant.

“The idea is to give people more choice, more convenience and to reduce congestion,” Mayor Gavin Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle, earlier this year.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency received a $19.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Urban Partnership Program, which amounts to 80 percent of the SFpark project costs. The remaining 20 percent of the program comes from the agency’s budget.

For more information: San Francisco Chronicle

SFpark Overview from SFpark on Vimeo.

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Smarter transportation case study #3: Specialized Customer Information: Pittsburgh, Pa.

The ACCESS program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania integrates non-profit and for-profit transit providers to maximize service for older residents and the disabled.


Harnessing technology makes it easier for some our most vulnerable neighbors – older adults and persons with disabilities – to use public transportation. Pittsburgh’s ACCESS project demonstrates how low-cost technology improves service, alleviates the concerns of waiting customers and saves money.

ACCESS is a door-to-door, advance reservation, shared ride transportation service serving primarily older adults and the disabled in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. On-demand transportation services are provided from 6:00 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, with additional hours on selected routes. There are no restrictions on the purpose or number of trips, but riders are required to share the vehicle with others.

The ACCESS network integrates several non-profit, for-profit and public transportation providers from 10 locations.

“People ride for a bunch of different reasons, which is good,” Gerry Miller, operations manager for Town and Country Transit, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “To have people with disabilities be able to live independently because of the service is a great thing.”

The agency has installed a low-cost, real-time information system to support drivers’ schedules and improve on-time arrivals. The system allows ACCESS to more easily make trip-by-trip eligibility determinations and provide detailed information to customers seeking fixed routes. ACCESS also generates automated telephone calls that announce arrival times for waiting customers.

ACCESS conducted a series of surveys to track customer satisfaction with the new system. In 2009, the average weekday ridership for ACCESS was 5,832.

For more information: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

UPDATED: T4 America sends letter to New Jersey Governor Christie on ARC Tunnel

UPDATED: 10/8/2010 4:30 pm.  Gov. Christie has reversed course after meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, according to this release from Sen. Lautenberg

UPDATED: 2:20 p.m. Gov. Christie has formally killed the ARC project. Details here.

You may have heard the news that the ARC tunnel project in New Jersey is on fragile ground. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says his office has not made a final decision yet, but he is expected to make some kind of announcement at a 1:30pm press conference this afternoon. Transportation for America prepared a letter to the Governor’s office, touting the “critical importance this project has to the northeast and the nation in general.” The full text of the letter is below:

October 7, 2010

Governor Chris Christie
State of New Jersey
Office of the Governor
PO Box 001
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001

Dear Governor Christie,

As a broad transportation reform coalition with more than 500 partners, we write to convey the significant national benefits of the ARC tunnel project. We understand your office is in the process of weighing your options on this important project and want to make sure we express the critical importance this project has to the northeast and the nation in general.

Both the federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have already pledged billions of dollars to ARC, though we understand that a final review of these funds remains in progress. It is also our understanding that your office is concerned that the cost overruns associated with ARC will put a dent in the state budget. Fiscal responsibility is paramount to Transportation for America. It is the reason we want to reform our nation’s transportation policy through real benchmarks and accountability, so every dollar is spent wisely. However, short-term concerns aside, putting the brakes on the ARC tunnel would be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Today, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak carry 170,000 passengers a day through the existing tunnels, but planners predict that ridership on New Jersey Transit alone will double in the next 20 years. The Tri-State region is in desperate need of added tunnel capacity, especially during peak hours, just to keep up with the increasing demand. Without the ARC tunnel, New Jersey residents will be saddled with increasing traffic gridlock, more painful commutes and a lower quality of service for transit riders.

According to Port Authority estimates, this project would result in 6,000 construction jobs and would bring $4 billion in increased personal income to the area, along with increased housing values. You have also spoken passionately about economic growth and job creation. Pulling the plug on ARC would prevent new jobs and new growth.

Investing in reliable and affordable rail service is an integral part of America’s transportation future, and New Jersey cannot afford not to get on board. Putting the brakes on this project not only throws away billions of dollars, but it puts New Jersey on the sidelines when the state should be leading the way on America’s transportation future.

James Corless
Director, Transportation for America

Smarter transportation case study #2: SmartBus Project, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Chattanooga’s SmartBus project has produced significant savings and made buying tickets and finding buses easier than ever.



The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority’s SmartBus Project uses technology to make public transportation more user-friendly and reliable. The project involves an array of innovations that are being gradually rolled out over the course of several years.

Chattanooga, a city of about 170,000 people with about 500,000 in the metropolitan area, is served by 16 fixed route bus lines, curb-to-curb transit for people with disabilities, a free electric shuttle in the downtown area and an incline railway up historic Lookout Mountain. The regional transportation authority also owns and operates several parking garages and manages most on-street parking in downtown.

Since 2004, this moderate-sized transit agency has made the transition from an organization that made limited use of technology to one in which technology is an integral part of its operations.

“Having the data we need to support business decisions means we can effect necessary changes more quickly, making us more agile and efficient in an increasingly challenging budget environment,” Tom Dugan, executive director of the transit authority, told Mass Transit Magazine.

Some of the improvements currently underway or in the pipeline include;

  • Data warehousing and reporting software to better handle data on the operations of the transit system.
  • New operations management software to support fixed-route scheduling and demand response scheduling and dispatch.
  • Ticket vending machines for the Incline Railway.
  • Connections to CARTA vehicles via cell phone networks and wireless public
  • Internet access on CARTA buses.
  • A next stop automated announcement system that provides riders with a real-time estimate for the next bus arrival, as well as a website with real-time tracking.
  • Better revenue management systems.
  • Automatic Passenger Counters.
  • Bus security systems, such as a covert alarm and on-board video surveillance.

Implementation of the scheduling software has minimized operating costs while ensuring compliance with labor laws and transit agency policies. The agency has also saved at least 60 hours per week in operator labor as result of the new technologies.

For More Information: A Case Study on Applying the Systems Engineering Approach: Best Practices and Lessons Learned from the Chattanooga SmartBus Project. November 2009 http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/32000/32900/32928/ exec_sum.htm

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Smarter transportation case study #1: Yellowstone LINX Cooperative

The LINX program has integrated transportation providers in 27 counties for an easy-to-use and more seamless network for riders.



LINX is a member cooperative that connects transportation providers across 27 rural counties in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. LINX uses innovative technologies to market services efficiently via one integrated system. The Yellowstone Business Partnership, or YBP, led the charge for LINX, which was incorporated in January 2010.

Within the Greater Yellowstone region, there had been significant gaps in service and coordination between transportation providers and a general lack of knowledge about available service. Improving the marketing of existing services through a new website is central to the LINX project. This central ticketing and trip planning website allows riders to book and confirm online trips anywhere in the region, as well as print tickets at home.

YBP is also testing a system called “LINX-Comm” that would allow vehicles to communicate directly with the central server about location, availability and scheduling. The LINXComm system includes online ticketing and remote printing, onboard ticket validation, GPS location information for vehicles and Wi-Fi service for riders of participating Linx providers.

The pilot phase for LINX, which began in January, is now testing and developing the following mobility management components:

  • Trip planning and ticketing system with multiple customer touchpoints.
  • Improved marketing of existing and emerging services.
  • Coordination of route schedules and transfer points.
  • A centralized location for information on all modes of mobility

Facilitating convenient and affordable transportation in the Greater Yellowstone area will bolster economic viability, as well as reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions, while helping preserve what is special about the community’s ecosystem. With more than 3 million visitors each year, the region needs to offer viable alternatives to driving a private vehicle. The LINX program has made great strides toward filling that need.

For More Information: Yellowstone Business Partnership

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Smarter transportation case studies — innovation from around the world

When a resource is scarce, the first step is always to make sure that you’re using that resource to its fullest. A quick glance at a congested road, a street with no parking or a jam-packed rush hour train might tell you that there’s no excess capacity going unused, but is that really true? While we continue to push for a greater investment in transportation overall to expand options for all Americans, are there ways to better use the resources that we’ve already got?

Our new report on smarter mobility released today demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs.

Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses. You can read all of these examples immediately by downloading the full report, but for those of you who find a 38-page report a little intimidating, we’re going to publish the case studies as a series so you can get them in bite-sized chunks one day at a time. Check back each day for a new story.

These 14 examples are classified into five broad areas of innovation, which can be identified with the colored banners at the top of each page to help quickly see what kind of innovation this case study demonstrates.

1. Making transportation systems more efficient. Ensuring that the resources we’ve already invested in are fully utilized is the first step. Already, many regions use digital technologies to collect information about highway networks and manage the flow on and off of major road facilities. For example, by controlling “ramp meters” and synchronizing traffic lights, Minneapolis-St. Paul was able to increase freeway volume nine percent and increase peak period throughput 14 percent.

In Detroit, Michigan, advanced traveler information systems, highway advisory radio, ramp metering, and variable message signs increased average vehicle speeds by 5.4 mph, decreased trip times by 4.6 minutes, and reduced commuter delay by 22 percent. Technologies that pre-empt traffic signals can also improve travel times for bus rapid transit and light rail. More broadly, IT systems are beginning to integrate transportation networks and services.

2. Providing more travel options. Before the Internet, providing services to help people share cars or rides was cumbersome, if not impossible. Now, on-line databases can be used to match riders to van pools and car pools, and to support car-sharing and bicycle-sharing services that allow one person access to a variety of cars or bikes any time of the day or night.

These allow for on-demand reservation of the vehicle type needed, at just the moment they are needed. In the Denver metropolitan area, vanpools offer an alternative to driving for groups of commuters who live and work near each other, and who travel more than 15 miles to work. Vanpooling also allows an opportunity to save money by splitting a low monthly fare.



3. Providing travelers with better, more accurate, and more connected information. The more information people have, the more efficiently they can plan their travel and choose and connect the modes and services and routes that best suit their circumstances. Computerized vehicle tracking and information delivery can let public transportation riders know in real time — via electronic signs, smart phones or other means — exactly when to expect their bus or train.

Users of the Advanced Traveler Information Service in the Washington, DC region were able to reduce the frequency of early and late arrivals by 56 and 52 percent, respectively. Bicyclists too can use personal technology to find safe and efficient bike routes in unfamiliar places, and to connect up with a wider range of transportation options door-to-door.

4. Making pricing and payments more convenient and efficient. When resources are scarce or in high demand, pricing is one of the best ways to allocate their use. This is true of parking, where smart meters can vary prices by demand to always keep a minimum of spaces vacant, and collect fees using a wide variety of payment media. Variable tolls can help to regulate the flow on freeway lanes. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority reports that their EZ Pass system reduces toll station traffic delay by 85 percent.

Electronic benefit cards can be a convenient way for low-income people to pay for a variety of subsidized goods, including public transportation, with a single card or their phone.

5. Reducing trips and traffic. Sometimes the smartest trip is the one not taken. A growing number of Americans use technology to work from a variety of remote locations, allowing them to shift their commutes to times when there is less traffic or avoid traveling to an office altogether. Employers at the national retailer Best Buy famously increased company savings by letting employees set their own hours and decide when, where, and how to get their jobs done. An infinite variety of work arrangements are now available to many Americans, who may use more than one in any given week.

Eliminating trips is not only limited to work. You can now access banks, shopping, medicine, and education services online or over the phone, which can help us do things without going out the door. Smart technology helps users make wise choices about when, where, how and whether to travel.

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Read the full series here: Smart Transportation Case Studies

Two former secretaries of transportation stress renewed focus on infrastructure, better ways to pay for it

Former secretaries of transportation Norman Mineta and Samuel Skinner want less talk on infrastructure and more action.

The two have a working relationship that dates back to the early 1990s, when Mineta was a Democratic Congressman from San Jose serving as chair of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, and Skinner was DOT Secretary under President George H.W. Bush. Mineta went on to head USDOT under President George W. Bush.

In a briefing on Capitol Hill yesterday, the duo called for increased attention on the nation’s infrastructure and declared the existing gas tax an insufficient funding source for the future.

“Transportation policy is very important in this country,” Mineta said. “It is the basis of everything that happens.”

Added Skinner: “We have to find new and creative ways to invest in infrastructure and generate the revenue to do so.”

Ashley Halsey of the Washington Post summarized some of the report’s key findings:

If Congress were to do the report’s bidding, the task would be far broader in scope than simply coming up with trillions of dollars in long-term funding to rebuild a 50-year-old highway system.

The experts also advocated adoption of a distinct capital spending plan for transportation, empowering state and local governments with authority to make choices now dictated from the federal level, continued development of high-speed rail systems better integrated with freight rail transportation, and expansion of intermodal policies rather than reliance on highways alone to move goods and people.

Mineta and Skinner’s bipartisan report also cited “nurturing livable communities” as a smart, needed strategy for reducing congestion and improving quality of life. They wrote:

Creating communities conducive to walking and alternative modes of transportation, especially in dense metropolitan areas, should be an important goal of transportation policy at all levels of government.

That a bipartisan duo of transportation secretaries, both of whom worked in Republican administrations, would cite livability and walkable communities as key goals for a 21st century transportation system speaks volumes. It tells us that there’s nothing partisan about getting out of traffic and getting home in time for dinner.

Ezra Klein, a Post staff writer and domestic politics blogger, echoed a similar theme over the weekend, pointing out that the low interest rates and cheaper construction and labor costs resulting from the recession present a unique opportunity to make needed infrastructure investments today at a massively reduced cost. “Delaying a dollar of needed infrastructure repairs is no different than racking up a dollar of debt,” Klein wrote. He goes on to affirm what we already know about the transportation spending process: it’s too political, not accountable, and Americans think it’s broken.

The problem is that the way we choose our infrastructure projects is an embarrassment. About 10 percent of infrastructure spending comes from politicians securing earmarks. Most of the rest depends on a formula in which the government just hands money over to the states. There’s no requirement for cost-benefit analysis or rate-of-return calculations. The decisions are horribly politicized.

If taxpayers are going to make a huge investment in our nation’s infrastructure, then we’re owed an assurance that policymakers are choosing the best projects. That suggests a grand bargain, in which more infrastructure money is tied to reforms ensuring a better process for spending that money.

The report, titled “Well Within Reach: America’s New Transportation Agenda,” was sponsored by the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and can be downloaded in its entirely at the InfrastructureUSA website.

Debunking the congestion index used to justify the policies that keep us stuck in traffic

Interstate 24 Traffic Originally uploaded by Transportation for America to Flickr.

The cycle is familiar by now. A study tells us what we all know: our roads are congested. We pour billions into new roads and lanes to “reduce congestion.” Then the study comes out two years later and just as before, our roads are still congested. There’s a call for new roads, new roads open up, we drive further and further, congestion goes up. Rinse and repeat.

Every two years, nearly every major media outlet in the country reports on a “congestion index” study that ranks metro areas and cities by their relative amount of traffic congestion. But a significant new report from CEOs for Cities suggests that there’s a fundamental flaw in that study from the Texas Transportation Institute, and by failing to accurately measure congestion or pinpoint what is producing it in our cities, we’re failing to truly understand the problem.

And when you don’t understand the problem, how can you ever really fix it?

Noah Kazis at Streetsblog most succinctly describes how the TTI study fails to see the whole picture:

Imagine two drivers leaving downtown to head home. Each of them sits in traffic for the first ten miles of the commute but at that point, their paths diverge. The first one has reached home. The second has another twenty miles to drive, though luckily for her, the roads are clear and congestion doesn’t slow her down. Who’s got a better commute?

Shockingly, the standard method for measuring traffic congestion implies that the second driver has it better. The Texas Transportation Institute’s Urban Mobility Report (UMR) only studies how congestion slows down drivers from hypothetical maximum speeds, completely ignoring how long it takes to actually get where you’re going. The result is an incessant call for more highway lanes from newspapers across the country.

The reason why we find ourselves in this situation is because our current federal transportation policies virtually guarantee it. There’s no financial incentive for anyone to measure congestion accurately or improve it — states just get a big load of federal transportation money with few strings attached. Congestion doesn’t get better in large part because states and metro areas aren’t required to reduce congestion or try to shorten or reduce trips with their federal money.

If a state wants to spend some of their federal money on a new comprehensive metro transit system to provide drivers some relief by giving them an additional option as well as taking cars off the road, the process takes years longer and is far more complex. What state, given the choice, would choose to invest in projects that take 4 times longer to get approved and require more local money to build? (Transit projects have about 50% of the cost paid by the federal government, highways get around 80%.)

As this new study demonstrates, the lack of proper metrics to measure success (or mostly failure) is emblematic of the need for reform.

If the ultimate point is to make smart transportation policy, we need to look at a lot of different factors that affect people’s lives. Fixating solely on interstate throughput, while failing to offer other travel and living options, has led our state departments of transportation to invest billions to create a result that is choking the lives out of our regions and isn’t making life better for the vast majority of commuters.

The good news is that places that are attempting to reduce trips and congestion by investing in diverse transportation options are actually showing progress. Regions that have been aggressively investing in additional travel options, eliminating trips, reducing trip length, creating more places to live close to jobs or more effectively managing demand have seen their congestion numbers get better, according to the CEOs for Cities report.

All of this is just one more giant sign pointing to the need for a truly reformed transportation program that can more accurately measure the problems we face, prescribe solutions that will work, and get out of the way as we unleash those solutions on the traffic that is killing our productivity and choking our regions while we motor along at 10 mph with no other option.

Once a critic, now a supporter, Ohio Rep. helps make complete streets bill bipartisan

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH) probably learned the hard way earlier this year that safe, accessible streets for bikers, walkers and all users don’t tend to have any party affiliation, and he is to be commended for proving his support for complete streets by signing onto the House complete streets bill last week, becoming its first Republican cosponsor.

On behalf of our thousands of supporters from communities across the country who think that it’s important that our transportation network be safe and usable by everyone, we’d like to thank Rep. LaTourette for signing on to the Complete Streets Act of 2009, making the bill bipartisan in the House. He joins sixty other co-sponsors in supporting good transportation planning practices that ensure that the safety of everyone using the road will be taken into account – whether they are driving, bicycling, walking, or catching the train or bus.

For some strange reason at the federal level, complete streets have been unfortunately maligned as a partisan issue, with Republicans in Congress hesitant to formally support the principles in a bill, resulting in the strange dynamic of Congress being far behind the curve of their state and local counterparts where politicians and leaders of all stripes have supported complete streets from the state level on down to the big city, metro area, county and small town — no matter their party affiliation.

“With 23 states and more than 140 local governments adopting Complete Streets policies, it has become clear that this is not a partisan issue – and that this is a change in transportation priorities that Americans want to see nationwide,” said Barbara McCann, Executive Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition.

Charlotte Complete Streets-East Boulevard Originally uploaded by Complete Streets to Flickr.
Before its road diet, Charlotte’s East Boulevard was a four-lane, undivided road, that carried over 20,000 per day! Now, East Blvd–with its bike lanes, center turn lane, and curb ramps — is a complete street. Photo: Charmeck.org

We’d certainly like to hope that Rep. LaTourette’s signature on the bill — a product of responding to the voice of his local constituents — will open the floodgates for more House Republicans to support a bill and an idea that has broad support across the country in the local areas they represent. We’re sure there are dozens of House Republicans who are supportive of this idea but have been hesitant to be the only member of their party on the bill at such a polarized time in D.C.

When Rep. LaTourette made his comments back in April of this year about biking and walking to Secretary LaHood in a hearing, he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of comments from residents of his district who agreed with the Secretary that it was high time to treat biking and walking as legitimate and equal forms of transportation.

So local advocates from Walk and Roll Cleveland worked with Mr. LaTourette to bring him on board, sharing information with him about the economic benefits of building infrastructure to serve bicyclists and pedestrians and local bicycle shop owners also visited him. It certainly didn’t hurt that the Ohio Department of Transportation has been showing interest in developing a statewide policy, according to the folks at the National Complete Streets Coalition, or that Cleveland’s metropolitan planning organization adopted a policy 7 years ago.

Members of the National Complete Streets Coalition were pleased with the development.

“In signing on to the Complete Streets bill, Rep. LaTourette has started what could become a significant step toward safer more user-friendly streets for everyone, whether they walk, drive or ride,” said AARP Senior VP for Government Relations and Advocacy David Sloane. “Many Ohioans have seen the benefits of Complete Streets policies in their hometowns; AARP looks forward to the rest of the nation sharing that opportunity.”

Are you represented by someone who hasn’t yet signed onto the Complete Streets Act of 2009? Follow the lead of these Ohio advocates and start calling your representative and organizing meetings to help them see that this idea has broad support back home where their votes are.

Being able to use a street safely — no matter your age, ability or mode of transport — isn’t a partisan idea. Help get that message across in Washington.

Learn more from the National Complete Streets Coalition.

DOT poised to move on a long-term transportation bill in 2011?

When President Obama made his announcement on Labor Day about investing in infrastructure, most media outlets focused in directly on the $50 billion amount that would be spent up front to jumpstart infrastructure investment — something we already noted last week. But he also talked about the need for a reformed long-term transportation reauthorization, the full six-year bill that would provide certainty for job creation and the economy.

Here’s a quote from the release that accompanied the President’s speech:

The President proposes to pair this with a long-term framework to reform and expand our nation’s investment in transportation infrastructure. Since the end of last year, when the last long-term surface transportation legislation expired, these investments have been continued on a temporary basis, even as the trust fund to finance them has fallen into insolvency. If we are to enjoy the benefits that come from a world-class transportation system, Congress must enact a long-term reauthorization that expands and reforms our infrastructure investments and returns the transportation trust fund to solvency.

So the million dollar question has been, when will we see this bill? With Congress unlikely to pass anything of substance between now and the election and an already full docket for the likely lame duck session to follow, what is the administration or USDOT saying about moving a bill forward?

As much progress as has been made by the House transportation committee thus far, introducing a full bill proposal all the way back in July of 2009, both chambers have been waiting for the White House to declare the transportation bill a priority and to put their significant weight behind it. Now it sounds like that day could be just a few months away.

In a meeting with advocates this week, Secretary LaHood said that they have the go-ahead from the White House to move a six year bill in 2011, with a full proposal accompanying the President’s budget request for FY12 in February, according to USDOT sources.

The question remains as to whether or not that will be a full bill, or merely the administration’s principles for a bill, but in either case, this is at least a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for our long wait for a transformational transportation bill. Which, we remind you, expired one year ago in just a few days. (See the clock above on our web site.)

American Lung Association: smart growth saves lives, improves health

Photo courtesy of Compass Blueprint

There are many reasons smarter growth makes sense. By building more sustainably and closer to where people work and shop and plan, we reduce hours stuck in traffic and make it easier to reach life’s necessities.

But there is something even more important at stake: our health. According to new data from the American Lung Association in California, smart growth policies can prevent 140 premature deaths and 105,500 asthma attacks every year in that state. The figures resulted from looking at a proposed 2035 planning scenario for California that prioritized more compact and sustainable development with better transportation options.

Changing how we build and plan would also relieve our communities of $1.66 billion in public health costs. It would also prevent:

•    260 heart attacks
•    215 acute bronchitis incidents
•    95 cases of chronic bronchitis
•    2,370 asthma attacks
•    101,960 other respiratory symptoms
•    205 respiratory ER trips and hospitalizations
•    16,550 lost work days
•    132,190 tons of criteria pollutants

Chelsea Allinger discussed the link between smart growth and active living over at Smart Growth America:

Like many Americans, I grew up knowing only one type of community design — drivable suburbia. In my community, exercise wasn’t something that happened naturally over the course of the day. It required carving out designated time slots from a crowded schedule.

Frankly, that didn’t happen as often as it should.

Since that time, I’ve learned that cultivating a more active lifestyle doesn’t have to mean finding a 25th hour in the day. Moving to a walkable, mixed-use, smart growth community quite literally changed my life — with, as it turns out, more significant health benefits than I’d initially realized.

Here is Dr. Sonal Patel in Capitol Weekly, discussing why many of her colleagues in health care also see the connection:

Most California cities were designed to make it easy to drive and park cars. Homes were separated from stores, workplaces and other commercial activities. The unwitting result was sprawling cities that maximize the amount of miles we drive and the time we sit idling in traffic and that minimize healthier options like walking, biking or public transit.

In the past decade, California has been on the cutting-edge of efforts to build more sustainably and closer to transit. In 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 375, which required local communities to include greenhouse gas reduction targets in their land-use and transportation planning policies.

Don’t let transportation get lost in the political shuffle; send a letter to your local paper

Newspaper pile Originally uploaded by Valerie Everett to Flickr.

When President Obama announced his vision on Labor Day for investing in 21st century infrastructure, he put our country on the right path toward smart transportation reform — a path that could transform communities across America and create desperately needed jobs.

But his bold vision to invest in safer streets, road and bridge repair, and high speed rail immediately came under fire from many of the usual suspects who prefer the current system of earmarks and oil industry tax breaks.

We need to respond to these attacks on transportation reform – publicly and quickly – to show the country and our lawmakers that the plan’s supporters greatly outnumber its critics.

Take 5 or 10 minutes and write a letter to the editor of your local paper today

Letters published in local papers are read carefully by members of Congress and their staffs – they represent the pulse of their communities. Getting a flood of supportive letters published will go a long way in helping shore up support for a transformational change in our country’s approach to transportation.

Plenty of old guard transportation insiders in Washington, DC – from the highway lobby to the oil companies – would love to see us pour twice as much money into the same old broken system, but we stand with Americans who want accountability for how we invest in transportation, ensuring that we invest in things that can get us moving again and create the most jobs.

Write your letter of support now – we’ll give you talking points to make it fast and easy, and we can even send your letter for you! Use our tool to write and submit a letter to your local paper.

USA Today on infrastructure spending: what do Americans want?

USA Today had a timely graphic up yesterday, considering the continuing media coverage around President Obama’s recent proposal for infrastructure spending and a reformed long-term transportation bill.

First, the graphic:

Though we can’t see the rest of the questions or the context, it affirms a few things we already know about Americans’ attitudes about transportation — as evidenced in our own 2010 national poll — and how to fund what we need.

While Americans are actually voting in favor of taxing themselves to improve transportation in state and local ballot measures at a rate of about 70 percent, they often know exactly what they’re going to get in those cases: a new bridge, an expanded transit system, a system of repaired roads, or the like. But the federal program is much fuzzier in most people’s minds. The current system is broken and unaccountable, and putting more money into a broken system is like trying to bring more water up from a well using a bucket with a hole in it.

As James Corless wrote in an Infrastructurist guest post yesterday, “Some of the old guard transportation insiders in D.C. would be thrilled with doubling the overall size of our transportation program and pouring more money into the same broken system, but Americans know better. They want more accountability, safer streets, and more transportation options so seniors can maintain their independence and low wage workers can get to jobs.”

It’s also interesting that the sentence to the left of the poll summarizes it as “Americans would rather use tolls than taxes to build more roads,” when it could have just as easily been “Americans are OK with building no new roads if it means raising the gas tax or instituting tolls to pay for them.”

Maybe the poll asks the wrong question?

We’re not in favor of a moratorium on any new roads whatsoever, but this survey clearly reinforces the fact that Americans in urban and rural areas have moved beyond the idea that the solution to every transportation problem can and should be a new road.

We cooperated on a poll in 2009 with the National Association of Realtors, showing that Americans don’t think expanding roads and highways are the best use of scarce transportation dollars:

“As the federal government makes its plans for transportation funding in 2009, which ONE of the following should be the top priority?”

Maintaining and repairing roads, highways, freeways and bridges Expanding and improving bus, rail, and other public transportation Expanding and improving roads, highways, freeways and bridges Not sure
50% 31% 16% 3%

And as our 2010 poll showed, more than four-in-five voters (82 percent) say that “the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved transportation system, such as rail and buses” and a solid majority (56 percent) “strongly agree” with that statement. Fully 79 percent of rural voters agree as well, despite much lower use of public transportation compared to Americans in urban areas.

If you saw this graphic and your curiosity was piqued, perhaps it’s worth going back and poking through our national poll for a fuller picture.

National Geographic on Dangerous by Design

We mentioned this on Twitter when the issue came out back in July, but National Geographic had a nice one-page feature on Dangerous by Design, our study from 2009 ranking metro areas on their relative danger to those on foot and bike, focusing on Florida’s overall risk based on having 4 of the top 10 most dangerous metros. In the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community, and it’s high time that more attention was paid to this preventable loss of life that we far too often ignore or simple believe to be inevitable.

Click the image to download a PDF of the one-page article, and while you’re at it you could just go ahead and subscribe to one of our country’s best magazines for only 15 bucks.

Access denied: gaining a disabled person’s perspective

We’ve talked a bit here for nearly two years about the need to make our streets safe and accessible for all users — whether young, old, walkers, bikers, drivers, or wheelchair users. Almost every time we post pictures like this or this showing inaccessible conditions on our streets, it’s a reminder of how shocking it is that we build infrastructure in our communities that is almost impossible for certain citizens to use comfortably or at all.

Yesterday, we got an invite to add one of our photos to a Flickr group we’d not noticed before. Taking a few moments to scan through all 50 or so pictures can give you fresh eyes for looking at the streets and sidewalks around us.

Some of the problems in these photos are certainly systemic issues with how we build and design our streets or other public spaces. Some others, like having doors open outward, result from a lack of understanding or a failure of design. Until you’ve been in a wheelchair trying to get down the street to the movie theater or the drugstore, you probably don’t notice doors that are slightly too narrow, ramps that are too steep, or sidewalks without entry ramps.

They’re not all transportation-related, but this group’s photos are well worth a look.

Wildkat: Access Denied!