Congestion pricing provides opportunities for transit to become more self-reliant. Both the theory of congestion pricing and its use in congested US corridors are examined. A 5% increase in commuter demand for transit is estimated in suburban corridors. New opportunities for transit are required if transit is to remain competitive in the USA. Automobile commuting is faster and more convenient as well as generously cross-subsidized for most US urban commuters.

Private toll roads in Southern California demonstrate attempts to price highways realistically and to use high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes efficiently. Such routes are located in areas in which population and employment grew impressively during the 1970s and 1980s, peak-hour congestion is severe, air pollution exceeds health standards for ozone 180 days per year, and earlier attempts at congestion relief have had limited success. The objective in describing one of these toll roads is to suggest how obstacles to congestion pricing might be overcome by combining congestion pricing with expansion of HOV lanes and successful ride-sharing programs. The heavy hand of politics rests on all congestion pricing projects, and this case study is no different. It does illustrate, however, that congestion pricing can be made politically acceptable. If the private toll lanes are successful, a new opportunity for congestion relief will be available using regional HOV facilities.

Policy issues obstruct use of advanced traffic management technology in Southern California. Reliable equipment for electronic road pricing (ERP) is available that could establish a regionwide network of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities where single occupant users (SOV) buy access. Private toll roads plan to use automatic vehicle identification (AVI), automatic toll collection (ATC), and changeable message signs to guide traffic into high-occupancy, buy-in lanes. Public agencies oppose expansion o this technology to the regional HOV network. Some hypothesize that the high-occupancy, toll (HOT) lanes would not promote ridesharing and related air quality objectives. This paper tests this hypothesis by applying a multinomial logit model to potential travel in one freeway corridor where private, buy-in lames are under construction. The hypothesis is not supported; free HOV lanes can be converted to HOT lanes using advanced technology to achieve an increase in average vehicle occupancy (AVO). The effect on congestion is uncertain.

The Honorable Walter M. Ingalls, Chairman of the California State Assembly Committee on Transportation, requested that the Institute of Transportation Studies, Transit Management Program, complete an analysis of the enabling legislation of the 15 California Transit Districts. This report was prepared in response to this request. A comparison is provided between districts to provide data, and recommendations are made to assist the Transportation Committee when drafting transit legislation. 

The research validated the concept of separate enabling acts for each district based on the demographic, geographical and political factors peculiar to that district. Therefore, there is no recommendation for the development of a general law for all California transit districts. The difference between the various districts is such that it appears prudent to rely on site-specific legislation drafted with knowledge of provisions applying to established districts. One of the goals of this study was to facilitate the between-district comparisons in existing law. 

Twenty major issues are highlighted in the report as being worthy of special consideration by the Assembly Transportation Committee. These issues extend over the complete range of subject matter in the enabling acts and represent potential troublesome areas that may have to be modified and amended. In addition to the 20 major issues, numerous other differences are delineated.

Comparison of performance of transit systems and discussion of changes in the transit industry across years is facilitated by comparison of systems which are similar in their operating characteristics. Analysts and policy makers can be misled by comparing performance of systems which are essentially unlike one another. Construction of peer groups of transit systems which are similar in their operating characteristics allows individual systems to be compared to others which are similar, the relationship between operating characteristics and performance to be examined by focusing on differences between groups and to detect changes across years in the performance of systems with certain operating characteristics. 

This report focuses on fixed route motor bus transit syst~ms which reported data for Section 15 for FY1980 and FY1981. Peer groups of these systems were constructed on the basis of variables reflecting inherent differences in operations and operating environments. Ideally one would use demographic variables to determine operating environment for each system. However, since these are not available in a form compatible with the level of reporting in the Section 15 data, four variables, tapping different aspects of the operating characteristics, of transit systems were selected as the basis for measuring the similarity among transit systems.