The historical impacts of transportation planning and investment have adversely impacted communities of color and low-income communities. In response, state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and local and county governments have begun to address these injustices through plans, policies, and deeper engagement with communities, though work in this area is still nascent. There are a variety of data, tools, and metrics from research and practice that measure the distributional equity of transportation planning and projects to inform equitable solutions.
Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are central to California’s strategy to reduce transportation-related emissions; however, low-income households face significant structural barriers to adoption. These barriers include the high upfront purchase costs of new BEVs, limited supply of used BEVs, limited access to home charging, and low awareness of BEVs. To better understand these obstacles and identify effective policy responses, our research team analyzed survey data collected from 2,051 priority population households throughout California between December 2023 and June 2024. The survey asked households about their vehicle purchasing behavior, ownership costs, and socio-demographics.
This project reviews and summarizes empirical evidence for a selection of transportation and land usepolicies, infrastructure investments, demand management programs, and pricing policies for reducingvehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project explicitly considers socialequity (fairness that accounts for differences in opportunity) and justice (equity of social systems) forthe strategies and their outcomes. Each brief identifies the best available evidence in the peer-reviewedacademic literature and has detailed discussions of study selection and methodological issues.
VMT and GHG emissions reduction is shown by effect size, defined as the amount of change in VMT (orother measures of travel behavior) per unit of the strategy, e.g., a unit increase in density. Effect sizescan be used to predict the outcome of a proposed policy or strategy. They can be in absolute terms (e.g.,VMT reduced), but are more commonly in relative terms (e.g., percent VMT reduced). Relative effectsizes are often reported as the percent change in the outcome divided by the percent change in thestrategy, also called an elasticity.
This project reviews and summarizes empirical evidence for a selection of transportation and land use policies, infrastructure investments, demand management programs, and pricing policies for reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project explicitly considers social equity (fairness that accounts for differences in opportunity) and justice (equity of social systems) for the strategies and their outcomes. Each brief identifies the best available evidence in the peer-reviewed academic literature and has detailed discussions of study selection and methodological issues.
VMT and GHG emissions reduction is shown by effect size, defined as the amount of change in VMT (or other measures of travel behavior) per unit of the strategy, e.g., a unit increase in density. Effect sizes can be used to predict the outcome of a proposed policy or strategy. They can be in absolute terms (e.g., VMT reduced), but are more commonly in relative terms (e.g., percent VMT reduced). Relative effect sizes are often reported as the percent change in the outcome divided by the percent change in the strategy, also called an elasticity.
In California, local option sales taxes (LOSTs) are adopted by voters to increase the retail sales tax. Revenues are used to fund specific transportation projects. Meanwhile, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are required by Senate Bill 375 to develop long-range plans to achieve reductions in vehicle miles traveled and emissions. But MPOs do not directly control the sponsorship or funding of most transportation projects in these plans. LOSTs are not bound by requirements of SB 375, even though MPOs must still account for impacts of LOST spending. In this context, an important question is whether and how LOST measures influence transportation planning priorities. To explore this question, researchers from the University of California, Davis, examined county LOST measures and regional transportation plans in California’s “big four” MPO regions—the San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento metropolitan areas. This policy brief summarizes the findings from that research and provides policy implications.
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As cities invest in bicycle lanes to encourage active transportation, it may also be important to ensure safe bicycle parking and other measures of theft prevention. The magnitude of the problem is largely unknown, but it may be substantial given the ease of breaking bike locks, the potential for resale, and the challenges for law enforcement. Also, studies have shown that bike theft can deter a person from bicycling more in the future due to the difficulty replacing the bike or because they are concerned about another theft.
To better understand the impact of theft on cycling behavior and assist cities to determine where and how to invest in bike infrastructure and other strategies to ensure that all Californians have access to bicycling, we conducted a survey of bicycle thefts and recoveries. The study producedsuggestions for the State’s Active Transportation Program, and other funding programs for bicycling.
