Recent ucla_its_reports items

Automated Vehicle Safety: Heavy Duty Safety Drivers and Remote Operators – Safety Metric Foundations

Thu, 6 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This research presents a risk-informed framework to derive metrics characterizing and tracking the safety performance of heavy-duty automated vehicles (HD-AVs) operations. A combination of traditional and novel hazard identification methods are leveraged to study potential human-system interactions in HD-AVs operations, ranging from safety drivers to remote operators.

What Are the Best Ways to Organize, Coordinate, and Deliver Public Transit Service in Large Metropolitan Areas? A Research Synthesis

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report analyzes the optimal organization of public transit service in large U.S. metropolitan areas—like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area—where multiple operators serve overlapping markets. We synthesize over 50 international and U.S. studies of: (1) regional transit governance and coordination, (2) economies of scale and scope in transit operations, and (3) service contracting. We find that regions gain the most from coordinating front-end, customer-facing functions such as marketing, fares, information, and service planning through a regional association or authority, while leaving back-end service-production and delivery decentralized among sub-regional operators. This approach enhances riders’ travel experience, increases ridership, and improves cost efficiency. Conversely, large-scale transit agency mergers rarely save money and often introduce diseconomies of scale due to increased organizational complexity and higher labor costs. For some large agencies,...

Policies to Improve Transportation Sustainability, Accessibility, and Housing Affordability in the State of California

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report presents analytical review of empirical research on the interactions between housing availability and production, and travel behavior, accessibility, land use policies, and transportation policies. It identifies lessons from this review for California state legislative efforts to improve housing and transportation linkages, and to increase both transportation sustainability and housing affordability. Relevant California state efforts include legislation to influence parking standards; to require up-zoning near transit stations; to influence regional housing and transportation planning goals; and to change environmental review to focus on reducing vehicle miles traveled instead of accommodating road traffic.

Multi-dimensional Prioritization Tool for Capital Improvement of Hillside Streets in Los Angeles

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report presents a comprehensive framework for prioritizing capital investment in urban road infrastructure, with a focus on resilience, safety, and equity. The framework addresses the growing challenges of aging road networks, increased traffic demand, and the risks posed by natural hazards such as landslides and wildfires. Using a multi-dimensional tool, the report evaluates road segments in Los Angeles hillside regions based on their importance within the transportation network, physical condition, and hazard exposure. Additionally, it incorporates demographics to ensure that infrastructure investments prioritize underserved communities. The results are further enhanced through a probabilistic framework designed to assess landslide risks in earthquake-prone regions. By combining structural importance with demographic data and hyperlocal assessments, cities can make more informed and equitable infrastructure investment decisions. Recommendations include prioritizing investments...

Capturing Transit Rider Perspectives on Safety and Harassment: Lessons from San Francisco

Thu, 5 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Personal safety concerns continue to be one of the most critical issues among transit riders and women and gender minorities in particular. These safety concerns stem from the experience of sexual harassment that people who identify as women face frequently. While harassment can be a common occurrence, the vast majority of these experiences go unreported to transit agencies, leaving agencies without information about the magnitude of this problem on their system. This report details work with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in their efforts to understand and address this problem. The SFMTA, working with two UCLA graduate students, designed a survey that drew from previous survey efforts and was tailored to address their interests and needs. This report documents the process of developing and deploying the questionnaire, in an effort to help other agencies take the first steps to better understanding rider safety and harassment. Through breaking down SFMTA’s...

Professional Drivers: Automobile Debt and Financial Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thu, 5 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report synthesizes three primary data sources—credit data, unemployment claims data, and small business loan and grant data—to explore the financial conditions of those who drive for a living before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in California. Automobile debt was high among groups likely to contain professional drivers. The occupational categories in which many drivers fall had high absolute and relative levels of automobile debt compared to other workers. After the onset of the pandemic, unemployment rose dramatically in the transportation industry and in transportation occupations, peaking at rates higher than the national average. However, state unemployment claims data, among transportation employee claimants only, show less of a spike. Contractor drivers lived in areas with more Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims, a special program for self-employed workers like gig drivers. Finally, contractor drivers received unprecedented but uneven federal small business...

Mapping the Potential of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles Across Transportation Sectors in California

Tue, 3 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report develops a transportation hydrogen roadmap for California projected to 2045, building on previous UC ITS work, in part for the ARCHES hydrogen hub for trucks and ports. This study adds modes such as airports, aircraft, rail systems, and fuel-cell light-duty vehicles. Based on a scenario of high adoption of hydrogen-fueled transport, these modes and sectors would use 1000 tonnes/day of hydrogen by 2035 and 5000 tonnes/day by 2045. To 2035, about 40% of the expected growth occurs in heavy-duty trucking. Another 20% is used by other truck types, about 20% by light-duty vehicles, and 20% by other modes, notably shipping and aviation. These shares remain similar to 2045. Trucking remains the dominant driver of demand. Shipping, aviation, and rail are not anticipated to account for an increasing share of demand in the scenarios in this study. This hydrogen fuel system would support around 6,000 jobs per year. Hydrogen vehicle adoption will depend on strong policy support,...

The Impacts of Minimum Parking Requirements: A Research Synthesis

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report synthesizes research on the impacts of parking infrastructure, the effects of minimum parking requirements, and the outcomes in cities that have repealed them. Parking infrastructure has negative impacts on urban design, environmental sustainability, and walkability, while increasing car ownership and driving. Minimum parking requirements contribute to parking oversupply and constrain new development. Research finds that eliminating minimums not only slows the expansion of new parking but also encourages adaptive reuse, supports more housing development in areas where minimums are removed, and expands housing options by enabling smaller units. Ultimately, the evidence indicates that repealing mandates facilitates more affordable, sustainable, and economically vibrant cities.

No Such Thing as Free Parking: Construction Costs in 17 U.S. Cities

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Across the United States, zoning codes require new developments to provide a minimum number of parking spaces, which carry substantial construction costs. In this report, we use 2025 construction cost estimates from Rider Levett Bucknall to calculate the cost per space in 17 U.S. cities and combine these data with local minimum parking requirements to estimate how parking mandates increase total construction costs across building types. We find that parking construction costs have risen substantially faster than inflation since 2012 and that required parking can account for a large share of total project costs—adding tens of thousands of dollars per housing unit and, in some cases, increasing total construction costs by more than 50%. These findings can help inform evaluations of the economic and development impacts of maintaining minimum parking requirements.

Reconnecting Communities: Recommendations for Caltrans Excess Land

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What changes to policies and procedures at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) would increase transfers of agency-owned excess land to California Native American Tribes and groups negatively impacted by freeway development? Using case studies on LandBack and reparations and qualitative research with Caltrans staff and community advisory groups, the research team developed recommendations for Caltrans’ excess land process, community performance measures, an overview of relevant policies, and examples of land return around the state.

A Path Forward for Transit Rider Experience and Safety: Lessons from the LA Metro Ambassador Pilot Program

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A growing number of U.S. transit agencies are adding transit ambassadors to their systems to improve the customer service and safety experience for passengers. These personnel can play a variety of different roles, including providing wayfinding, system navigation, fare payment support, and other passenger support roles that enhance the customer experience. This research examines the Los Angeles Metro’s transit ambassador program, which began as a pilot in 2022 and is moving in-house in 2025 as a permanent program. Ambassadors provide key customer service functions that are not filled elsewhere. Ambassadors spend most of their time with vital, basic tasks of orienting and aiding riders; they also assist with the first level of homelessness response, with crisis de-escalation, and by administering Narcan to prevent overdoses. Broadly, they provide more eyes on the system and offer a highly visible presence to riders. Training during the pilot period was customer-service oriented...

Equity in Transportation Payments: A Study for the California Department of Transportation

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study identifies equity challenges in current transportation payment systems, specifically for transit, parking,and vehicle tolls. The methodology included comprehensive literature reviews, an inventory of 49 global transitsystems, seven case studies, and expert interviews to assess payment accessibility, technical rules,interoperability, and user privacy.The study found that current systems disproportionately burden low-income, unbanked, and disabled usersthrough high complexity and lack of cash-equivalent options. To mitigate this, the report recommends designingand deploying a California Mobility Card (CMC). The CMC would be a reloadable, prepaid transportation cardoperating on an existing, widespread payment network, offering cash-equivalent anonymity, seamless crosssystemtravel, and automatic access to discounts like fare capping.

The Equity and Policy Implications of Long-Distance Commuting in the Greater Los Angeles Region

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The phenomenon of very long commutes, or “super-commutes,” has long interested the public, planners, elected officials, and researchers. US researchers define super-commuting as one-way commutes over 50 miles or 90 minutes. We draw on multiple data sources to examine the prevalence, characteristics, and location of super-commuters in the greater Los Angeles region. We then use individual and household data to examine super-commuting and housing and transportation (H+T) expenditure burdens in California. We find that super-commuters are a relatively small, albeit growing, share of workers in the greater Los Angeles region who are more likely to be higher-income than other workers. Low-income super-commuters are about six times as likely as higherincome super-commuters to travel by bus. Across all income groups, super-commuter households have slightly higher H+T burdens than non-super-commuter households. However, the contribution of super-commuting to the H+T expenditure burden...

Advancing Procedural Equity in Environmental Benefit Programs: Insights from California’s Electric Vehicle Purchase Programs

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) offers several benefit programs that support residents with the transition to electric vehicles. The Clean Vehicle Assistance Program (CVAP) provided grants and financing to help low-income households purchase or lease electric vehicles from 2018–2024. The Access Clean California (ACC) program streamlines access to clean transportation incentives through a network of community outreach partners. This study examines procedural equity in these two programs through interviews with CARB staff, program administrators, community partners, and program participants. We conclude CVAP fell short in several ways, including insufficient community engagement and a lack of targeted outreach, funding instability resulting in frequent program closures, and challenges insuccessfully distributing low-interest loans, while the ACC program has not fully simplified incentive access. We recommend improved transparency in program reporting, regular third-party...

Connecting the First and Last Mile: A Systematic Review of StudentUse of E-scooters for First/Last-mile Connections to PublicTransit

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

"Students on university campuses have several available options for travel, including cars, buses, and micromobility, the latter of which encompasses bicycles and more recently, shared e-scooters (e-scooters). E-scooters are lightweight, electric vehicles which can be rented or purchased easily. They offer an ideal option to close the first/last-mile gap between a public transit stop or station and someone’s origin or destination, a niche use for students that has not been well studied. To address this gap in the literature, this paper offers a systematic review of literature from 2017 to 2025, focusing on the characteristics of students who rent e-scooters specifically for first/last-mile transportation. It also examines how these students differ from the broader population of e-scooter users. Limited yet growing evidence suggests that although students are not at present a key user base for e-scooters for first/last-mile connections, those currently using micromobility express...

Who’s to Blame for E-scooter Collisions?: An Analysis of the Language Used in E-scooter Collision Reporting

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The growing popularity of electric scooters (e-scooters) in urban environments has led to increased media coverage on their perceived danger both to the rider and to other users of the roadway. Media surrounding traffic collisions has long been criticized by safety researchers and activists for implicitly assigning blame to more vulnerable road users through the passive voice, and through framing roadway deaths as tragic accidents, rather than a systemic public health issue. In this paper, I analyzed recent news articles on e-scooter collisions in the United States to determine how e-scooters, a relatively new form of mobility, are described in collision narratives. Most articles discussing e-scooter collisions with vehicle drivers used the passive voice to remove explicit blame, but used the active voice when describing a collision between an e-scooter and a pedestrian. This pattern indicates a continued motor vehicle bias in social conceptions of traffic collisions and a potential...

Headed Out Less: Analyzing Teen and Young Adult Travel Trends in the 21st Century

Mon, 4 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since the turn of the millennium, daily travel per person in the U.S. has been declining. Leading up to the pandemic, travel by older teens and young adults declined even more steeply than among older adults. After collapsing early in the pandemic, per capita travel by all ages has rebounded, but remains below pre-pandemic levels. To explore changes in personal travel, particularly among younger travelers, we examine National Household Travel Survey data from 2001, 2009, 2017, and 2022 to compare measures of everyday travel by youth (aged 15 to 29) with middle-aged adults (aged 30 to 59). The data presented in this report point to even lower levels of youth travel compared to pre-pandemic levels. Trips for all purposes have declined in absolute terms, especially for shopping/errands and, for youth in particular, social/recreational purposes. In relative terms, private vehicle use has increased, and travel by public transit and active modes has decreased. These shifts in personal...

Racial Segregation in Pasadena: The Role of Freeway Development and Institutional Mechanisms

Thu, 8 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study documents the historical and current patterns of racial/ethnic residential segregation in Pasadena, examining the role of freeways and other mechanisms in shaping these outcomes. Using quantitative data, this project compares racial segregation in Pasadena with that in the rest of Los Angeles County and analyzes demographic changes in the neighborhoods containing Interstate 210 and State Route 710 before and after their construction. Additionally, the study investigates other institutional policies, practices, and projects that contributed to segregation. The findings offer insights to support Pasadena’s efforts to redress the historical impacts of freeway development. Pasadena and the wider Los Angeles County have become more racially diverse over time. Despite these broader changes, neighborhoods along the built and unbuilt freeway corridor have grown increasingly segregated and economically polarized. From 1960 to 1970, tracts affected by freeway construction lost...

Enhanced Perception with Cooperation Between Connected Automated Vehicles and Smart Infrastructure

Mon, 5 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This project showcased how advanced infrastructure data supports connected automated driving systems in perceivingtheir surroundings cooperatively. The UCLA Mobility Lab established a smart intersection on the UCLA main campus, collecting infrastructure LiDAR data and combining it with sensor and global navigation satellite system data for research on cooperative perception. We also examined the system's resilience to data spoofing attacks via the V2X channel from a compromised onboard unit (OBU), evaluating different attack scenarios to understand emerging security risks in V2X-based cooperative perception technologies.

Road Capacity as a Fundamental Determinant of Vehicle Travel

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is a central plank of climate policy in California. VMT, however, has proved stubbornly resistant to policies to reduce it. While urban growth has become more compact and public transit service levels have been maintained or increased, these positive trends have not translated into less driving. This report argues that substantial reductions in vehicle travel in congested urban regions can only be achieved through reducing road capacity. It may be difficult to achieve substantial reductions in vehicle travel by relying solely on public transit, walking and cycling, and land use planning for compact, mixed-use development without an equal emphasis on limiting road capacity expansions, and even reducing current capacity.

The Spatial Dilemma of Sustainable Transportation and Just Affordable Housing: Part II, Low-income Housing Tax Credits

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the spatial distribution of Low-income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) units to understand whether geographic patterns and trends are consistent with climate change and equity goals. The analysis compares the location of LIHTC units in 2012 and net changes from 2012 to 2019 with a number of transportation, environmental, and racial and economic equity metrics. Unit locations are, at best, somewhat more sustainable than the state overall, with slightly lower-skewing vehicle miles traveled and better walkability, though low transit accessibility. What environmental gains there were, though, come at the cost of higher exposure to pollution. LIHTC units are also concentrated in disproportionately low-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color, with worse access to economic opportunity. The findings reveal an inherent structural dilemma in whether the LIHTC program is able to simultaneously achieve climate and equity goals.

Evaluating the Seismic Vulnerability and Resilience of BART’s Berkeley Hills Tunnel

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Critical nodes in transportation networks, such as major transit tunnels and interchange stations, are vital for maintaining system functionality following a disruptive event such as a large earthquake. This project focuses on evaluating the seismic resilience of BART’s Berkeley Hills Tunnel that intersects the Hayward Fault, one of California's most active seismic zones. The Hayward Fault poses a significant risk, with the potential for a magnitude 7+ earthquake that could severely impact the tunnel, potentially disrupting BART service and affecting the broader transit network. This study employs the latest fault displacement hazard data and models to estimate the probability of fault rupture displacements and assesses the resulting damage. It then evaluates the likelihood of service interruptions caused by potential Hayward Fault events. Theresults suggest that the tunnels may experience minor to significant damage depending on the amplitude of the faultdisplacement, which can...

Further Implications of Freeway Siting in California: Freeway Development and Communities of Color in Colton, Fresno, and San Diego

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the consequences of freeway construction on neighborhoods of color across California, with a focus on socioeconomic changes, route selection, community reactions and resistance, and the disruptions to residents, businesses, and other assets. Expanding on three prior case studies conducted by the research team, this study incorporates three additional case studies: South Colton, West Fresno, and City Heights in San Diego. The construction of freeways was a contributing mechanism to the perpetuation of racial inequality, weakening social institutions, disrupting local economies, and physically dividing neighborhoods. However, the outcomes varied across locations. In South Colton, a freeway was ultimately not built through its community of color, though largely for reasons of construction costs. City Heights, initially a predominantly non-Hispanic white neighborhood, underwent a demographic transformation driven by white flight during a decades-long pause in freeway...

Sidewalking: A toolkit for engaging youth in planning and designing urban mobility futures

Tue, 8 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Sidewalking toolkit supports youth mobility and youth agency by sharing effective, design-based strategies for engaging young people in envisioning their own mobility futures. We created this guide to help planners, designers, policymakers, and advocates who are already invested in supporting safe, social mobility options for youth, and who are looking for effective strategies to involve young people directly in planning and design decisions regarding their urban mobility.

Moving Beyond the Colors: The Full Life-Cycle Emissions of Hydrogen Production Pathways for California

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There is growing interest in the use of hydrogen as a transportation fuel but the environmental benefits of using hydrogen depend critically on how it is produced and distributed. Leading alternatives to using fossil natural gas to make hydrogen through the conventional method of steam methane reforming include using electrolyzers to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the use of biogas as an alternative feedstock to fossil natural gas. This report examines the latest carbon intensity (CI) estimates for these and various other hydrogen production processes, adding important nuances to the general “colors of hydrogen” scheme that has been used in recent years. CI values for hydrogen production can vary widely both within and across hydrogen production pathways. The lowest CI pathways use biomass or biogas as a feedstock, and solar or wind power. The report also analyses jobs creation from new hydrogen production facilities and shows that these benefits can be significant...

The Equity Challenges and Outcomes of California County Transportation Sales Taxes

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Equity Challenges and Outcomes of California County Transportation Sales Taxes

Induced Travel Estimation Revisited

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Induced Travel Estimation Revisited

Fuel-Cell Vehicle and Hydrogen Transitions in California: Scenarios, Cost Analysis, and Workforce Implications

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

To achieve California’s ambitious climate goals, a shift to hydrogen fuel for some transportation sectors may be essential.In this report, we explore the build-out of a hydrogen fuel distribution system including uptake of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles. Our analysis of Base and High Case scenarios includes costs of building and operating a hydrogen vehicle and fuel system and estimates workforce impacts. We consider scenarios with about 125,000 vehicles by 2030 in the Base Case and 250,000 in the high case. This increases by an order of magnitude to 2045. Vehicle and station investment costs associated with the Base Case reach anywhere from $4 to 12 billion USD by 2030 and increase by a factor of eight by 2045. Costs per kg of hydrogen, including fuel transmission to stations and station costs delivered to vehicles, could be in the range of $4 to 8 per kg. This becomes $6 to 10/kg as a final delivered cost, if production of hydrogen were to cost $2/kg....

Parking, Working from Home, and Travel Behavior

Tue, 9 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Drawing on the California Household Travel Survey, we demonstrate strong associations between choosing to drive and having free parking at work or home. We find that the median household vehicle in California spends 22 hours a day parked, and that households with parking included in the rent or purchase price of their homes are more likely to drive,and less likely to use transit. We further find that employees with free parking at work are more likely to drive for their commutes. We estimate regressions that analyze the decision to work from home. Largely for data reasons, these regressions are less conclusive.

Risk Assessment for Remotely Operation of Level 4 Automated Driving Systems in Mobility as a Service Transport

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The recent technological advances in Automated Driving Systems (ADS) have fueled interest in the use and impact of vehicle fleetsinvolved in driverless passenger transport services. This research identifies key safety risks associated Level 4 ADS-equipped vehicleoperation for fleets employed for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) applications. The study goes beyond assessing the functional safety ofthe ADS-equipped vehicles to explore the role of fleet operators in ensuring the operational safety of the vehicle fleets through remote driving assistance functions. This work identifies key responsibilities of the fleet operators in implementing risk reductionmeasures related to organizational management of change, training remote supervisors, ensuring suitable working conditions, enforcing vehicle connectivity and dispatching requirements, and coordinating incident mitigation procedures, training, tools, and work conditions. The study employs a hazard identification methodology that combines...

Lessons Learned from Abroad: Potential Influence of California High-Speed Rail on Economic Development, Land Use Patterns, and Future Growth of Cities

Fri, 17 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study discusses the potential economic and development impacts that high-speed rail (HSR) may bring to California. The research reviews the reported impacts of HSR implementation in various countries, particularly in Europe, and case studies of selected HSR station-cities in France, Spain, and Italy. The analysis suggests that HSR could bring economic development to the state and stimulate population growth but might eventually lead to gentrification in certainlocations. Not all station-cities experience the same impacts, and certain conditions may foster greater economic development. Station location and connectivity to downtown areas would be particularly important in influencing these impacts, while peripheral stations would be less able to attract land use development and relocation of activities. The availability of rail service to larger cities (and connections to other major markets) and the coordination with urban planning and policy are key to determining the development...

Evaluating Place-Based Transportation Plans

Fri, 10 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We ask how place-based transportation plans are being evaluated, and what insights from the broader policy and plan evaluation research literature might inform evaluation design. We complement a review of the evaluation literature with six expert interviews with 15 people. We find that California agencies and their community partners have high expectations for evaluations of place-based transportation plans. So far, however, those evaluations have been less successful in providing detailed information on outcomes and the causal impact of interventions. This does not reflect the shortcomings of the evaluation teams, but rather the inherent challenges in holistically assessing a diverse set of projects on different implementation timelines in a project area with porous boundaries. There is also a fundamental difficulty with the evaluation scale. California’s place-based transportation plans have often been evaluated individually. But in general, evaluations, particularly quantitative...

Mobility, Accessibility and Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: Assessing Diversity in Transportation-Related Needs and Opportunities

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This project examines commonalities and differences among disadvantaged neighborhoods in mobility and access to opportunities. Our approach is based on the concept of spatial-transportation mismatch (STM), which asserts that spatial distance and poor transportation are potential barriers to opportunities beyond one’s immediate location. The project analyzes variations in transportation resources and accessibility to employment, quality elementary schools, and health care. The study compares two regions in California, one highly urbanized (Los Angeles County) and one more agriculture based (San Joaquin County). This allows us to compare disadvantaged neighborhoods with non-disadvantaged neighborhoods within each region, and to compare disadvantaged neighborhoods in one county versus another. The project uses policy-based definitions of disadvantaged neighborhoods and bivariate tabulations. The project’s empirical findings are partially consistent with the existing literature: residents...

TRACtion: A Research Agenda for Just and Sustainable Transportation

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

TRACtion: A Research Agenda for Just and Sustainable Transportation

Transit, Belabored: Issues and Futures for California’s Frontline Transit Workforce

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Frontline transit work can be satisfying and secure—but also stressful or unsafe. Many agencies across the state lacked transit operators in the wake of the pandemic, delaying service restoration. Interviews, wage data, and other sources demonstrate that these shortages were due to both compensation issues and longstanding issues of workforce safety, culture, and practices. Wages have stagnated over the past decade, though California operators earn more than their area’s median incomes, trucking employees, and comparable transit jobs in other states. Workers have made notable gains in recent contract negotiations. Nonetheless, working conditions, which worsened during the pandemic, have driven away existing workers and potential recruits. While health and retirement benefits represent a significant perk of the job, operators face slow wage and seniority progression, two-tiered pensions, high housing costs, grueling schedules andovertime, and security and discipline concerns, atop...

Roads, Prices, and Shortages: A Gasoline Parable

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Can pricing roads really help reduce congestion? One way to answer this question is to ask if not pricing roads causes congestion. This essay makes that case, and does so by demonstrating the general principle that when goods are underpriced, shortages result, and congestion is essentially a shortage of road space. People react and adjust in many ways to shortages, but accurate pricing is the only reliable way to end a shortage caused by mispricing. I illustrate this concept with oil and gasoline price controls. In the 1970s, the United States inadvertently created a gasoline shortage by mispricing gasoline, and in response to that shortage made a series of increasingly complicated and largely ineffective adjustments. While today most people agree that these gasoline price controls were unwise, an analogous situation persists on our roads, which most people tacitly accept.

The Future of Transportation and Urban Planning: A California 100 Report on Policies and Future Scenarios

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Nearly every aspect of social, economic, and political life in California is linked by its transportation systems. These systems can be seamless and somewhat transparent when they work well, but their failings can be glaring and deeply problematic when they leave people, goods, or places behind. Debates over how to address the state’s long-standing focus on serving automobile travel continue to rage. Should California invest in new public transit systems to lure drivers out of their cars and onto gleaming, new rail lines and low- or no-emission buses? Or should it mandate plenty of free parking at every new development to make it easy for drivers to reach their destinations without traffic-snarling searches for parking? Should we increasingly rely on the emerging mobility service providers to ease parking hassles and improve access to public transit? Or should we discourage these disruptive new services in favor of more traditional means of travel? The answers to the questions...

What's Driving California? The Past, Present, and Future(s) of Transportation in the Golden State: An In-Depth Analysis of the Facts, Origins and Trends of Transportation and Urban Planning in California

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Pathways to Autonomy: Supporting Youth Independent Mobility in Westlake, Los Angeles

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In this study, we use the concept of “sidewalk ecologies” to highlight the complex interaction between spatially situated social and material features of sidewalks that influence youth mobility. We use a range of interdisciplinary strategies, emphasizing youth-centered research methods and mapping to capture a rich portrait of the independent travel experiences, perceptions, and ideas of youth, in their own voices. This research was conducted in partnership with Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), a communitybased organization in Westlake that provides after-school programming to thousands of neighborhood youths, and yielded important findings.

Surveying the Financial Conditions of California’s Public Transit Operators: An Early to Mid-Pandemic Comparison

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to inflict severe and lasting damage to public. transit in California. However, thanks to federal financial relief from three stimulus bills and stronger-than-expected bounce-back of tax revenues from state and local sources, transit agencies in 2022 have avoided that abyss—bu still face an uncertain financial future. To explore the financial effects of the pandemic on California transit and agencies’ responses to it, we conducted a survey of transit agency staff in late fall 2021 and early winter 2022. While nearly all of the systems surveyed reported moderate to substantial increases in federal funding during the pandemic, nearly three-quarters said that they expect some financial shortfalls once federal pandemic relief funding expires. Despite the loss of fare revenues, most respondents told us that fiscal shortfalls were not affecting their service presently, though neither are most systems contemplating moving to blanket fare-free...

Stockton’s Crosstown Freeway, Urban Renewal, and Asian Americans: Systemic Causes and Impacts

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This project uses mixed methods to examine the systemic causes and consequences of the construction of Stockton, California’s Crosstown Freeway and of urban redevelopment for Asian Americans communities. Stockton underwent spatial restructuring in the decades after the Second World War, and state and local government contributed and responded to these changes by implementing connected freeway and urban renewal programs. Historical and contemporaneous xenophobia and racism placed Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Manila in their path, with these enclaves deemed blighted and subject to “slum clearance.” The choice of freeway route was racially biased. The neighborhood surrounding an unchosen route was predominantly white, whereas that of the chosen route was predominantly home to people of color. Freeway construction during the 1960s and 1970s directly displaced hundreds of people and housing units downtown— mainly people of color, particularly Asians. The communities most harmed...

The Implications of Freeway Siting in California: Four Case Studies on the Effects of Freeways on Neighborhoods of Color

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

California's freeways have come under increasing scrutiny for their disproportionately adverse impacts on lowincome populations and populations of color. This study uses empirical research to not only understand but also quantify and describe in detail the historical impacts of freeways on communities of color in four California cities and areas: Pasadena, Pacoima, Sacramento, and San José. In these neighborhoods, freeways displaced many residents, significantly harmed those that remained, and left communities divided and depleted. The four cases differ in notable ways, but they share a disproportionate impact of freeway construction on communities of color. In Pasadena and Pacoima, decision-makers chose routes that displaced a greater share of households of color than proposed alternatives.

Demolition and displacement were the most visible and immediate effects of the freeways, but toxic pollution, noise, economic decline, and stigmatization remained long after. In suburban...

Financing the Future: Examining the Fiscal Landscape of California Public Transit in the Wake of the Pandemic

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

California and its regional and local governments have invested heavily in public transit over the past half-century to provide an alternative to driving, ease traffic congestion, reduce emissions, slow climate change, steer new development, and provide mobility for those without. As a result, bus service has improved and expanded, and many parts of the state’s metropolitan areas are now served by rail transit.Yet today, many of the state’s transit systems are struggling operationally and financially. Ridership began eroding in the half-decade leading up to 2020 and plummeted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three federal pandemic relief bills provided a critical lifeline to keep struggling transit systems afloat early on, but these funds are running out. Meanwhile, operating costs have risen, ridership and fare revenues have only partially returned, and some transit systems face “fiscal cliffs,” where they will need substantial new infusions of funding, substantial cuts...

Examining US Transit Vehicle Passenger Loads during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Transit ridership plummeted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what constituted passenger crowding contracted dramatically as well. We examine trends in average passenger loads and their correlates in a national sample of U.S. transit operators during the first year of the pandemic and find that passenger loads in high-transit-ridership areas and on the largest systems fell the most early on. Passenger loads were actually somewhat more likely to increase in places where COVID-19 rates were higher during the first year of the pandemic, which suggests that pandemic transit riders had fewer options to travel by other means.

Considering Fare-Free Transit in The Context of Research on Transit Service and Pricing: A Research Synthesis

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In this report, we examine both the substantial research literature on transit pricing and use and literature on free- and reduced fare (FAR) programs. In general, we find that FAR programs can take many forms, and the idea of “fare-free” transit is far from a one-size-fits-all proposition. Second, while reducing or eliminating fares does indeed increase ridership, all else equal, transit research has consistently found that riders tend to be more service elastic than fare elastic. In other words, they tend to respond more to service improvements than price reductions, which means that, at the margin, money “spent” on fare-free programs (in the form of foregone revenues) may attract fewer riders than if that money were put toward improving service. And third, the social equity dimensions of fare-free transit are many, ranging from considering the share of fare-free benefits that flow to higher-income riders to the potential racial equity benefits of reduced fare enforcement policing...

The Future of Working Away from Work and Daily Travel: A Research Synthesis

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This research synthesizes literature on the relationship between working from home and travel. This relationship is a pertinent one because transportation planners and policymakers have long hoped that increased remote work, sometimes called telecommuting or telework, will reduce driving, traffic congestion, and vehicle emissions. This question is especially pertinent today because working from home increased dramatically early in the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained at substantially elevated levels since then. To examine this issue, we review nearly 100 research articles, reports, and some popular accounts of telecommuting and travel prior to and during the pandemic. In conducting this review, we arrive at five principal findings. First, remote work increased dramatically with the onset of the pandemic and appears likely to remain elevated for many years to come. Second, while not everyone can work remotely, for those who have the option to do so, at least part-time, this hybrid...

California Statewide Transit Strategic Plan: Stakeholder Engagement Report

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

California Statewide Transit Strategic Plan: Stakeholder Engagement Report

California Statewide Transit Strategic Plan: Baselines Report

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

California Statewide Transit Strategic Plan: Baselines Report

Employing a Modified Delphi Approach to Explore Scenarios for California’s Transportation and Land Use Future

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There are many methods for engaging experts in interactive groups to explore, clarify, and/or decide on various issues. In an investigation of possible future transportation and land use scenarios for California, we used techniques common to several methods and developed our own variation, a “hybrid policy Delphi,” for use with a panel of 18 experts. We applied it to explore the policies that would lead to these scenarios and the consequences that would result from them. Through our process, panel members discussed and reported on the future scenarios they considered most desirable and also the scenarios they considered most likely to materialize by 2050. Panelists reported that the scenario they considered the most desirable was also least likely to occur, and that the likely trajectory of California transportation and land use policies and practices will lead to the scenario panelists considered less desirable. This report reflects on the processes behind reaching these panel...

Homelessness on the Road: Reviewing Challenges of and Responses to Homelessness in State Transportation Environments

Wed, 1 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In recent decades, homelessness has become an increasingly major challenge in the U.S. Of the half million unhoused people in the U.S., many seek shelter in settings under the auspices of state departments of transportation (DOTs), such as freeways, underpasses, and rest areas. DOTs are responsible for the health and safety of these settings and of their occupants, housed and unhoused.This study synthesizes existing literature and findings from interviews with staff from 13 state DOTs and eight service providers and organizations responding to homelessness. Homelessness represents a recognized and common challenge for DOTs, but the numbers and location of unhoused individuals in state transportation settings vary and fluctuate. As DOTs face jurisdictional, financial, and legal hurdles in responding, DOT staff employ both “push” and “pull” strategies, the most common of which is encampment removals. However, the effectiveness of such removals is limited. Other strategies include...

Understanding Transportation Programs and Services at California Community Colleges

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

High transportation costs and access barriers can make it difficult for community college students to manage employment, household responsibilities, and education, negatively affecting their academic success. Understanding the state of existing transportation services and programs at California community colleges is a first step to addressing these barriers. We inventoried the transportation services, programs, and costs at 115 of the 116 California community colleges as advertised on each campus’ website. We found that most community colleges offer some form of parking or public transit student subsidies but little else. Due to the state education code, parking costs were similar across campuses. In contrast, transit pass costs varied from $0 to more than $100 per semester. On average, students paid more for transit passes than for parking permits. Throughout the search process, information on the campus’ transportation programs and services was difficult to locate since each...

Dividing Highways: Barrier Effects and Environmental Justice in California

Tue, 8 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We examine the barrier effects of freeways in California. We analyze the association between freeways and three measures of nearby street connectivity: the composite Street Network Disconnectedness index (SNDi), circuity, and the distance between crossings – underpasses or bridges that enable people to cross the freeway. We also assess the quality of a sample of these crossings for pedestrians and cyclists. We find that barrier effects are most pronounced in communities of color. We also find that even where crossings exist, they are unpleasant or even hazardous for pedestrians and cyclists because of high-speed traffic on on- and off-ramps, and because large volumes of traffic are funneled through a small number of crossings rather than being distributed over a wider network.

The Spatial Dilemma of Sustainable Transportation and Just Affordable Housing: Part I, Housing Choice Vouchers

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the spatial distribution of tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) units to understand whether geographic patterns and trends are consistent with climate change and equity goals. The analysis compares the location of HCV units in 2012 and net changes from 2012 to 2019 with a number of transportation, environmental, and racial and economic equity metrics. While the change in units from 2012 to 2019 shows promising trends for reducing vehicle miles traveled and increasing walkability and transit accessibility, there is a cost: higher exposure to pollution and a higher rate of vehicle collisions. HCV units are further concentrated in disproportionately low income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color, with worsened access to economic opportunity. The findings reveal an inherent structural dilemma in whether the HCV program is able to simultaneously achieve climate and equity goals.

Steering California’s Transportation Future: A Report on Possible Scenarios and Recommendations

Tue, 2 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

To investigate possible future transportation and land use scenarios for California as well as their likely precipitating policies and potential consequences, we convened a panel of 18 experts and used a novel variation of the Delphi method to systematically explore four specific scenarios and probe the desirability and likelihood of each. The scenario that panel members collectively thought most desirable for California (one with diverse transportation options and higher-density development) was also the one they thought least likely to materialize by 2050. This report describes the findings of the three surveys and two meetings that our method entailed and summarizes some of the discussion among panelists. We include reflections on the salient but unexpected finding that panelists viewed trust in government as both critical to effecting the scenario they considered most desirable and also lacking to such an extent that pursuing that desirable outcome could cause unintended consequences...

Needed Skills in the Transportation Workforce, in the Context of New and Emerging Technologies and Approaches

Thu, 2 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The United States’ transportation workforce is currently at a skills deficit in key areas. New and innovative transportation technologies and approaches threaten to exacerbate this situation. Yet, transportation workers need more than skills to implement new technologies: they need the skills to critically determine which technologies are likely to support a thriving nation and under what conditions. Additionally, transportation workers need the skills to support non-technology-focused solutions to the nation’s transportation challenges, including cultural, political, and social change.

Guardrails on Priced Lanes: Protecting Equity While Promoting Efficiency

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Can congestion pricing be implemented in a way that protects vulnerable residents of California? This report examines that question from two perspectives. First, we empirically estimate the size of the vulnerable population likely to be impacted if congestion pricing were introduced on California’s urban freeways. Our estimates suggest that 13% of households, as a result of their low incomes and current travel habits, might be unduly burdened by a freeway tolling program in California. Second, we consider ways to mitigate these burdens. In particular, we compare freeway use to use of other metered network infrastructure, like electricity grids or water systems. We suggest that assistance programs from these utilities provide a useful model for protecting low-income drivers from road prices, and further note that policymakers would be less constrained in progressively redistributing congestion toll revenue than they would be in redistributing utility revenue.

Transit(ory) Finance: The Past, Present, and Future Fiscal Effects of COVID-19 on Public Transit in Southern California

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This study reports on the recent past, present, and immediate future public transit finance in Southern California in light of the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, we draw on transit agency budgets, interviews, preliminary survey results, and other datasets and reports. Initially, the financial situation of transit operators in the region appeared dire, with plummeting ridership and fares and rising subsidies and operating costs. However, the three enormous federal pandemic relief bills brought $4.4 billion to Southern California transit agencies and helped the region weather the fiscal storm, until many of the state and local tax revenue sources on which the region’s transit agencies rely bounced back—and more quickly than most forecasters initially predicted. This is, in other words, the story of successful public policy intervention to the benefit of both the region’s transit riders and workers, though most operators nonetheless cut service and their workforces...

Brace for Impact: The Environmental and Economic Effects of Shifting Passenger Travel from Airplanes to High-Speed Rail

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This research synthesis surveys recent literature from 2011 to 2020 on the environmental and economic effects of high-speed rail (HSR) projects from across the globe, with relevant lessons for implementation of the California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) project. Recent literature shows that—under the right conditions—HSR can lead to both environmental and economic gains across a variety of metrics. To maximize environmental gains, HSR ridership needs to be high, energy propulsion must be powered largely by renewables, and displaced demand for intrastate air travel must not be replaced by longer-haul flights. For there to be economic gains, cities connected by HSR must play complementary roles, rather than competitive ones, within the economy. Otherwise, economic benefits will be consolidated in core cities along HSR routes at the expense of intermediate cities, and efficiencies from agglomeration may lead to an overall decline in employment and economic value added. This synthesis...

Assessing the Incorporation of Racial Equity into Analytical and Modeling Practices in Transportation Planning

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This report examines if and to what extent state-level transportation departments in four states incorporate race and equity considerations into transportation planning technical analyses and modeling practices, particularly for long-range transportation plans, and how such equity-infused practices can be improved. The research team examined relevant literature, reviewed statewide long-range transportation plans for California and three other states, consulted with other experts, and conducted interviews with scholars and knowledgeable agency staff and practitioners. The findings indicate widespread acknowledgement that racial disparities in transportation exist, and state agencies have expressed a strong commitment to redressing the inequalities. However, while there has been progress in creating analytical equity tools to assess transportation projects and programs, they lack standardization. There have also been few noticeable revisions to existing regional transportation planning...

Making Transit Safe to Ride During a Pandemic: What Are The Risks and What Can Be Done in Response?

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically curtailed travel in the spring of 2020 and more moderately in the months that followed. Travel on public transport declined more and remains lower than on other travel modes, such as driving, biking, and walking. Although public transit operators have implemented various measures to reduce the risk of infection for both riders and employees, fear that public transport poses a high risk for transmission of the infectious disease is widespread. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, debates have raged in the popular and academic literatures regarding the safety of public transit systems and the role they may play in spreading the disease. To inform this debate, we review the public health literature on the spread of communicable diseases on public transport and conclude that current debates over public transit safety with regard to infection risk have tended to simplify a complex question that depends on numerous factors, many of which are well...

How and Why Would Congestion Pricing Work?

Thu, 7 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Transportation scholars regularly argue that congestion pricing is the only reliable way to reduce road traffic congestion. The public often resists this advice, often out of confusion about how pricing would work, concern about whether it would be fair, and a belief that some other, less politically-explosive approach might work just as well. This explanatory essay addresses some of those common concerns.

Homelessness in Transit Environments Volume I: Findings from a Survey of Public Transit Operators

Thu, 7 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

More than half a million individuals experience homelessness every night in the U.S. With the scale of the crisis often surpassing the capacities of existing safety nets—all the more so since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—many turn to transit vehicles, stops, and stations for shelter. Many also use transit to reach destinations such as workplaces, shelters, and community service centers. This report investigates the intersections of the pandemic, transit, and homelessness, presenting the results of a survey of 115 transit operators on issues of homelessness on their systems. We find that homelessness is broadly present across transit systems, though concentrated on larger operators and central hotspots, and has reportedly worsened on transit during the pandemic. The perceived challenges of homelessness are deepening, and data, dedicated funding, and staff are rare. However, a number of responses, including external partnerships and outreach and service provision, are growing,...

What’s Behind Recent Transit Ridership Trends in the Bay Area? Volume II: Trends among Major Transit Operators

Wed, 6 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Transit ridership in the San Francisco Bay Area is falling. Yet some operators, areas, times, directions, routes, modes, and services have fared better than others. These differences help reveal the causes of the Bay Area’s overall ridership slump and inform policy and service decisions that aim to restore Bay Area transit use. To investigate these temporal and spatial trends, we analyze ridership on the eight largest Bay Area transit operators in considerable detail in Volume II of our report. Overall, we find a significant level of “peaking.” Ridership losses at off-peak hours, on weekends, on outlying routes, in non-commute directions, and on smaller operators account for a large and disproportionate share of the whole region’s patronage decline. Downtown San Francisco and commute-oriented rail lines like Caltrain have gained ridership as less central, lower-service routes have lost patronage. These patterns match our statistical modeling of BART ridership, on which station-area...

What’s Behind Recent Transit Ridership Trends in the Bay Area? Volume I: Overview and Analysis of Underlying Factors

Wed, 6 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Public transit ridership has been falling nationally and in California since 2014. The San Francisco Bay Area, with the state’s highest rates of transit use, had until recently resisted those trends, especially compared to Greater Los Angeles. However, in 2017 and 2018 the region lost over five percent (27 million) of its annual riders, despite a booming economy and service increases. This report examines Bay Area transit ridership to understand the dimensions of changing transit use, its possible causes, and potential solutions. We find that: 1) the steepest ridership losses have come on buses, at off-peak times, on weekends, in non-commute directions, on outlying lines, and on operators that do not serve the region’s core employment clusters; 2) transit trips in the region are increasingly commute-focused, particularly into and out of downtown San Francisco; 3) transit commuters are increasingly non-traditional transit users, such as those with higher incomes and automobile...

All Is Not LOST: Tracking California’s Local Option Sales Tax Revenues for Transportation During the Pandemic

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected transportation systems, including the ability of localities to pay for them. We explore the effects of the pandemic and the associated economic turbulence on local option sales taxes (LOSTs), an increasingly common revenue source for transportation in California and across the U.S. LOSTs have many advantages over alternative finance instruments, and they can raise prodigious amounts of revenue. However, LOST funding relies on consumer spending. During times of economic weakness, spending and therefore LOST revenues will lag. This is precisely the pattern we observe in California counties during the initial months of the pandemic. Fortunately for local transportation budgets, LOST revenues recovered after the initial economic shock of COVID-19, albeit at a lower level than they likely would have otherwise. LOST revenue trends during the pandemic were affected by national and regional economic conditions and government policy as well....

Falling Transit Ridership: California and Southern California

Fri, 9 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In the last ten years transit use in Southern California has fallen significantly. This report investigates that falling transit use. We define Southern California as the six counties that participate in the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) – Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Imperial. We examine patterns of transit service and patronage over time and across the region, and consider an array of explanations for falling transit use: declining transit service levels, eroding transit service quality, rising fares, falling fuel prices, the growth of Lyft and Uber, the migration of frequent transit users to outlying neighborhoods with less transit service, and rising vehicle ownership. While all of these factors probably play some role, we conclude that the most significant factor is increased motor vehicle access, particularly among low-income households that have traditionally supplied the region with its most frequent and reliable transit...

Homelessness in Transit Environments Volume II: Transit Agency Strategies and Responses

Mon, 10 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Transit settings represent sites of visible homelessness, especially since the advent of COVID-19, for many of the over 500,000 Americans unhoused each night. This report seeks to understand the scale of homelessness on transit and how transit agencies are responding to the problem. Part I describes the extent of homelessness on transit in several areas by using count data and synthesizing prior research. We find that transit serves as shelter for a high, though quite variable, share of unsheltered individuals, who are more likely than their unhoused peers elsewhere to be chronically unhoused and structurally disadvantaged. Part II provides detailed case studies of strategies taken by transit agencies around the country: hub of services, mobile outreach, discounted fares, and transportation to shelters. We summarize each strategy’s scope, implementation, impact, challenges, and lessons learned. Reviewing these strategies, we find value in collecting data more systematically, fostering...

Delayed Mobility and Retirement: Final Report

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This report examines whether being more mobile is associated with decisions by older people to remain in the active work force after normal retirement age. Mobility includes having access to and the capacity to drive cars and being transit accessible or being able to walk to work or work at home. The report presents findings in three sections and concludes, based on research conducted thus far, that there are indications of causal associations between mobility and delayed retirement. The report includes a review of the literature linking mobility, travel by the elderly, and retirement decision making. Following the review of the literature is quantitative analysis of data from the California Household Travel Survey, including mathematical models of relationships between mobility and the propensity of older Californians to remain in the active work force. The final component of the research findings is a summary of the results of qualitative research consisting of focus groups...

Automatic Generation of School Bus Routes in Los Angeles

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The goal of our project is to automatically generate school bus routes for the Los Angeles Unified School District(LAUSD). We examined four algorithms, including two from the existing literature and two new ones that we developed. A major focus of our work was the construction of “mixed-load routes,” which transport students from multiple schools. Based on our measurements (whose imperfections we discuss), three of the four algorithms perform at least as well as the existing route plan, and one of those three performs better than the existing route plan. We also delivered a user-friendly routing program to LAUSD that uses one of these algorithms, and we have made our software publicly available. Our insights and results are also applicable to other school districts that permit mixed-load routing.

An Assessment of Performance Measures in the Transportation Development Act

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

"This report examines the performance measures requirements in California’s Transportation Development Act (TDA) of 1971. The TDA is an important source of funding for the state’s public transit agencies, representing approximately 18 percent of their total (2018) revenue between the TDA’s two funds (LTF and STA). Since the TDA’s passage in 1971, the transit operating environment in California has changed, in some cases dramatically. The state has nearly doubled in population (20.4 million in 1971 to 39.8 million in 2019), traffic has worsened considerably, climate change is now a central public policy focus, and many places around the state are investing heavily in making public transit a viable alternative to driving. Our research examined the TDA’s performance requirements and their effects on the state’s transit operators. We also considered alternative approaches to both transit finance and performance requirements, by studying transit funding programs in 13 other states...

Transportation Sales Taxes in Los Angeles: Lessons from Forty Years of Experience

Tue, 6 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is the second study of voter-approved transportation sales taxes in Los Angeles County performed by the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies with support from the Haynes Foundation. The earlier study examined the history of the four half cent sales taxes enacted by voters in Los Angeles County between 1980 and 2016. The current study looked in depth at four issues raised but not addressed in the first one. We report on the extent to which the “local return” provisions of the four measures fund transportation programs and projects in the cities and unincorporated areas of the county. We also explored tradeoffs between accountability to the voters through audits and taxpayer advisory committees in comparison with the county’s flexibility to change program elements through amendments when conditions change. Accountability to the voters was enhanced in the later sales tax measures but amendment procedures have been used to respond to changing needs in the county. We examined...

Transportation, Quality of Life, and Older Adults

Tue, 6 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Driving rates decline with age as vision, health, and cognitive ability cause some older adults to give up driving. Many older adults first gradually limit their driving as they age and later cease driving. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which surveys 22,000 older Americans every two years, we modeled the extent to which older drivers limit and stop driving. The data are longitudinal, allowing analysis of changes in driving and residential location as well as cohort effects that could not be studied using standard, cross-sectional survey data that only allow comparisons of different people at one point in time. The analysis shows that decisions to limit and eventually stop driving vary in statistically significant ways with sex, age, and health conditions. These relationships also differ by birth cohort. More recent cohorts are less likely to stop and limit driving than older ones. To analyze the relationship between residential location and driving behavior,...

Balancing Accountability and Flexibility in California’s Local Option Sales Taxes

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Voter-approved Local Option Transportation Sales Taxes (LOSTs) are a major source of revenue for transportation programs in California. LOSTs list projects and programs for voter approval that are to be implemented over long periods of time, often twenty or more years. To respond to changing conditions, agencies often need to amend voter-approved plans. Implementing agencies must be accountable to voters, balancing the need to fulfill commitments made against needs that change over time. Using the text of ballot measures, public utility codes, periodic agency reports, and case studies that included interviews of public officials, this study examines, provisions regarding accountability in California LOSTs, and procedures for amending proposed expenditures. It also reviews lawsuits brought in relation to accountability and plan amendments. It analyzes the ways in which California counties achieve needed flexibility within a framework that demands accountability to the voters. Requirements...

Best Practices in Implementing Tactical Transit Lanes

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Best Practices in Implementing Tactical Transit Lanes

Access to Opportunities Primer

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Access to Opportunities Primer

Sources of and Gaps in Data for Understanding Public Transit Ridership

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This report presents and reviews the available sources of data on public transit riders and ridership. We intend it to be a resource for those who manage or simply wish to understand U.S. transit. In conducting this review, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of publicly available data on transit from a variety of public and private sources. We consider as well the relatively scarcer and less available sources of data on other providers of shared mobility, like ride-hail services, that compete with and complement public transit, as well as pieces we see as missing from the transit analytics pie. We conclude by discussing how data gaps both align with existing inequities and enable them to continue, unmeasured, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has made closing these gaps all the more important.

The Opportunity Cost of Parking Requirements: Would Silicon Valley be Richer if its Parking Requirements were Lower?

Wed, 2 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We estimated the off-street parking supply of the seven most economically productive cities in Santa Clara County, California, better known as Silicon Valley. Using assessor data, municipal zoning data, and visual inspection with aerial imagery, we estimated that about 14 percent of the land area in these cities is devoted to parking, and that over half the average commercial parcel are parking spaces. This latter fact suggested that minimum parking requirements, if binding, could depress Silicon Valley’s commercial and industrial densities, and; thus, its productivity. In an exploratory empirical exercise, we simulated a reduction in parking requirements from the year 2000 forward, and showed that under conservative assumptions, the region could have added space for an additional 12,886 jobs, which is 43 percent of the actual job growth that occurred during that time. These additional jobs would be disproportionately located in the region’s highest-wage zip codes, further implying...

A Taxing Proposition: A Century of Ballot Box Transportation Planning in Los Angeles

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

A Taxing Proposition: A Century of Ballot Box Transportation Planning in Los Angeles

Vulnerability of California Roadways to Post-Wildfire Debris Flow

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

A vulnerability assessment of California roadways to post-wildfire debris flows is developed. The work examines current and future conditions, considering climate change scenarios and how they affect fire risk and precipitation. Results show how post-fire debris flow risks change from today into the future. A discussion is presented on how to prioritize investments considering the criticality of roadways within the broader network.

Transportation Access to Health Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Trends and Implications for Significant Patient Populations and Health Care Needs

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Since March 2020, COVID-19 transportation system disruptions have altered how Americans access routine health care. This report examines current knowledge about disparities in transportation and access to health care for people with various health conditions and health care needs. We highlight evidence related to end-stage kidney disease, pregnancy, cancer, mental health and substance use, disabilities, multiple chronic conditions, and preventive care to discuss population-specific transportation needs and challenges, COVID-19 health risks, and impacts of transportation system disruption on health outcomes during the pandemic. The report concludes with policy recommendations for how leaders in transportation, public health, and health care can improve transportation access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transit Blues in the Golden State: Analyzing Recent California Ridership Trends

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Transit patronage plunged staggeringly, from 50 to as much as 94 percent, during the first half of 2020 amidst the worst global pandemic in a century. But transit’s troubles in California date much earlier. From 2014 to 2018, California lost over 165 million annual boardings, a drop of over 11 percent. This report examines public transit in California in the 2010s and the factors behind its falling ridership. We find that ridership gains and losses have been asymmetric with respect to location, operators, modes, and transit users. Transit ridership has been on a longer-term decline in regions like Greater Los Angeles and on buses, while ridership losses in the Bay Area are more recent. While overall transit boardings across the state are down since 2014, worrisome underlying trends date back earlier as patronage failed to keep up with population growth. But reduced transit service is not responsible for ridership losses, as falling transit ridership occurred at the same time as...

Research Synthesis for the California Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force

Thu, 14 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This research synthesis consists of a set of white papers that jointly provide a review of research on the current practicefor setting speed limits and future opportunities to improve roadway safety. This synthesis was developed to inform thework of the Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force, which was formed in 2019 by the California State Transportation Agencyin response to California Assembly Bill 2363 (Friedman). The statutory goal of the Task Force is to develop a structured,coordinated process for early engagement of all parties to develop policies to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. Thisreport addresses the following critical issues related to the work of the Task Force: (i) the relationship between trafficspeed and safety; (ii) lack of empirical justification for continuing to use the 85th percentile rule; (iii) why we need toreconsider current speed limit setting practices; (iv) promising alternatives to current methods of setting speed limits;and (v) improving road designs...

California Statewide Transit Strategic Plan: Recommendations Report

Fri, 2 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

California Statewide Transit Strategic Plan: Recommendations Report