Do More Roads Have Less Traffic?

Edward Glaeser’s Triumph of the City (Grush Hour, Apr. 11, 2012) Also discussed here: Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier [Paperback]  (352 pages, Edward Glaeser, Penguin, 2012) Today, we review a book by Edward Glaeser (with a nod of appreciation to Bern Grush’s blog) on [...]

Intelligent Parking Rates and Pricing

The Future of Intelligent Parking (Nate Berg, The Atlantic Cities, Mar. 23, 2012) Also discussed here: San Francisco Pilot Parking Program Watched By Other Cities (Irwin Dawid, Planetizen, Mar.21, 2012) Today we review another article on the expanded use of smart parking meters and parking systems which began in San Francisco and now is being [...]

The Next Congestion Charge System for New York City?

New York congestion pricing 2012 version  (Road pricing, Mar. 12, 2012) Also discussed here: Details of Sam Schwartz’s “Fair Plan” and Other Orcutt+Komanoff Highlights  (Ben Fried, Streetsblog, Mar. 7,2012) And here: The mother of all traffic plans hits NYC (Daniel Massey, Crain’s New York Business, Mar. 21, 2012) Today we review an interesting proposal to [...]

How Does San Francisco Price On-Street Parking?

A Meter So Expensive, It Creates Parking Spots (Michael Cooper and Jo Craven McGinty, New York Times, Mar. 15, 2012) San Francisco is a leader among cities which want to reduce the number of drivers circling the block for an open space and adding to the traffic congestion found in many downtown areas. It is [...]

What are the Economics of Road Pricing and Congestion?

Does Traffic Congestion Reduce Employment Growth? (33 page pdf, Kent Hymely, Journal of Urban Economics, Sept. 17, 2008) Also discussed here: Congestion’s Impact on Urban Economies (Surface Transportation Innovations #101, Reason Foundation, March 2012) Today, we review a paper that examines what economic benefits result from the application of road tolls or congestion charges on [...]

Road Pricing in the USA

Road Pricing Can Help Reduce Congestion, but Equity Concerns May Grow (60 page pdf, United States Government Accountability Office, Jan 12, 2012 Also discussed here: Traffic Congestion- Road Pricing Can Help Reduce Congestion, but Equity Concerns May Grow (GAO-12-119, Jan 12, 2012) And here: GAO Highlights (United States Government Accountability Office, Jan. 2012) Today, the [...]

Onstreet Parking- a Public or Private Good?

A rethinking of what parking is in the first place (Reinventing Parking,  Jan. 16, 2012) Also discussed here: The case for the $6 parking meter (Ideas, Leon Neyfakh, Boston Globe, Jan. 15, 2012) And here: Minimum parking requirements are like restroom requirements (Reinventing Parking, Aug. 23, 2010) Today, we look at onstreet parking that could [...]

What is the Basis for Transit Policy in the USA?

Policy and Planning as Public Choice Mass Transit in the United States  (300 page pdf, David Lewis and Fred Laurence Williams, United States Department of Transportation, 1999) Today’s focus is a comprehensive policy report from the Department of Transportation of the USA which builds the case for subsidizing transit by looking at its benefit/cost ratio [...]

The Environmental Impact of Parking Spaces and Structures

Parking Infrastructure and the Environment  (Mikhail Chester, Arpad Horvath, and Samer Madanat, ACCESS, Fall 2011) Also discussed here: Paved, but Still Alive (Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, Jan. 6, 2012) The article reviewed today looks at the overall economic and environmental life-cycle costs, both direct and indirect, for the provision of parking facilities and associated [...]

Better Ways to Handle Traffic and Parking

Traffic, Parking, and Our Green Future: Segment 1 (Parking) (28 min video, Donald Shoup, Yale University, Feb. 17, 2010) Traffic, Parking, and Our Green Future: Segment 2 (Traffic) (33 min video, Tom Vanderbilt, Yale University, Feb. 17, 2010) Traffic, Parking, and Our Green Future: Segment 3 (Questions) (27 min video, Professor Doug Rae, Feb. 17, [...]

Free Parking and Planning Sustainable Cities

Between the Lines (Dave Gardetta, Los Angeles Magazine, Dec. 1, 2011) The focus today, as it has been in past reviews, is the craziness involved in cities which give away free parking or set parking rates at the same low rate regardless of the demand- with a prominent example from Los Angeles compared with the [...]

Privitized, Dynamically Priced Parking- a good deal for cash strapped cities?

Chicago Cashing In on Privatized Parking; Could LA be Next?  (Steven Dornfeld, City Watch, Dec. 19, 2011) Also discussed here: CPM-Chicago Parking Meters A key example of the value of applying the pricing concept to parking rates is described in the article reviewed today about Chicago where the investment in the new technology needed for [...]

Air pollution and congestion charges in London, England

Pay as you go: managing traffic impacts in a world-class city (55 page pdf, John Whitelegg, Eco-Logica Ltd, Lancaster, Dec. 2, 2011)     The report reviewed today looks back at almost a decade of experience with London’s congestion charge system and analyses the reasons for its success as well as its weaknesses. Several interesting [...]

Lessons Learned from Stockholm’s Congestion Charges

The Stockholm congestion charges – lessons after 5 years  (18 page pdf, Börjesson, M; Eliasson, J; Beser Hugosson, M; Brundell-Freij, K., Centre for Transport Studies, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Dec. 2011) An excellent analysis of the social, economic and political aspects of the Stockholm congestion charges is the focus of today’s review. The report [...]

Tolls, Congestion and HOT Lanes in Canadian Cities

Congestive Traffic Failure: The Case for High-Occupancy and Express Toll Lanes in Canadian Cities (9  page pdf, Benjamin Dachis, C.D. Howe Institute, Aug. 31, 2011) The difficulty on introducing tolls as urban cities become more and more clogged with traffic is addressed in the report reviewed today which suggests high-occupancy toll ( HOT) lanes for [...]

Pricing Parking Policies and Principles in Delhi, India

Parking Policy for Delhi(126 slides PowerPoint file, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Dec, 2011) Today’s review article comes from Delhi, the 100 year old Capital of India (as of today), where the need for an improved policy toward congestion and parking is proposed to relieve congestion and the amount of space used for parking of the [...]

Does Canada’s Largest City Want Congestion Charges?

Torontonians Open to Congestion Charge to Fund Transportation System  (8 page pdf, Angus Reid Public Opinion, Nov. 6, 2011) The answer to the question posed today seems to be yes, judging from a poll taken recently in Toronto which interestingly also found a dislike for tolls or taxes aimed at drivers. The time to travel [...]

Traffic Accidents and Optimum Congestion Charges

Traffic Congestion and Accidents(26 page pdf, Andrea Schrage, University of Regensburg Working Papers in Business, Economics and Management Information Systems, Nov.9, 2006) The report reviewed today looks at the calculation of optimum congestion charging with the cost of accidents included in that calculation. To do that the author considered the timing of the accident (earlier [...]

How to Cure Congestion: more roads, more public transit, or congestion pricing?

The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities  ( Abstract, Gilles Duranton and Matthew A. Turner, American Economic Review, Oct. 2011) Yet another paper is reviewed today from an economic viewpoint, concluding that congestion pricing is the only way to reduce congestion. Not even more public transit offers relief. Where pricing has been [...]

Danish Plans for Road Pricing and Congestion Charging

Congestion Charging in The Greater Copenhagen Area  (18 page pdf, The Municipal Forum, June 2008) Copenhagen appears to be on the road to implement congestion charges (or road pricing beyond the city) after the publication of a report (reviewed below) by their Municipal Forum which attempts to build on the successes of London and Stockholm. [...]

Why are City Politicians Nervous when Congestion Charging Comes Up?

The political calculus of congestion pricing: credible commitments, hostages and opportunities for implementation (33 page pdf, David A. King, Transport Futures Mobility Pricing Conference, Feb, 2011) The reason why congestion charging is seen as political suicide is the focus for today’s post based on a survey of municipal politicians and urban planners in Los Angeles.  [...]

Economic Response to Cordon Congestion Pricing

The Economics of Cordon Tolling: General Equilibrium and Welfare Analysis (50 page, pdf, Alex Anas and Tomoru Hiramatsu, State University of New York at Buffalo, Oct.8. 2011) The focus today is one an analysis of the toll-avoidance reactions of commuters who live within or outside a cardon in a large city in the USA (Chicago). [...]

The opposite of congestion pricing – and it works

Unclogging roads by offering a reward (Road Pricing, Oct. 3, 2011) Also discussed here: Spitscoren (English translation – how it works) The carrot works more than the stick, so the saying goes. Today’s review article comes from Rotterdam in Holland where a system based on rewarding off peak use, instead of a congestion charge, has achieved [...]

Why Do Cities Require So Many Offstreet Parking Spaces?

Glut of parking spaces in city (Jeremy Smerd, Crains New York, Oct. 2, 2011) The article reviewed today from New York City makes an excellent point- why do cities require developers to build  so many parking spaces for occupants of their buildings.  Many times the private parking spaces go unused, especially in large cities with [...]

Searching for a Parking Spot and Needless Pollution

IBM Global Parking Survey: Drivers Share Worldwide Parking Woes (IBM Press Release, Sep. 28, 2011) Today we review another “pain” survey facing drivers, the challenges in finding an open parking spot downtown in over 20 cities worldwide- and the shared pain residents of those cities experience in terms of emissions from these vehicles who on [...]

Putting a Value on Sustainable Transportation

The power and value of green in promoting sustainable transport behavior ( 11 page pdf, David Gaker, David Vautin1, Akshay Vij and Joan L Walker, Environ. Res. Lett., Jul. 26, 2011) The article reviewed today looks at what value is put on positive actions or decisions taken concerning sustainable transportation  options such as in buying [...]

Congestion Pricing and Land-Use Planning

Congestion Pricing Works Best When Partnered With Land-Use Planning (ScienceDaily, Sep. 23, 2011) Today, an interesting paper is reviewed that concludes that congestion pricing is more effective in discouraging car trips when combined with land use planning that makes it easier for people to take transit. The road to improved air quality, as a result [...]

Estimating Revenue from New Toll Roads

Toll Avoidance and Transportation Funding (9 page pdf, Clark Williams-Derry, Sightline Institute, September 2011) Today we return to a review of a paper on experiences with tolling in many different places in the U.S.A. and, in this case, the tendency of this advocating tolls to overestimate revenue by 20-30%. Although this does not mean that [...]

Introducing Congestion Charging in China

What should a Beijing congestion charge system look like? (Road Pricing, Sep. 8, 2011) Today, the focus is on plans to introduce congestion pricing to the capital of the country which now has the world’s largest market for cars and trucks, China. The review article describes the options available given recent advances in technology and [...]

The Costs of Using Roads

The price of transport – Overview of the social costs of transport (187 page pdf, J.P.L. (Joost) Vermeulen, B.H. (Bart) Boon, H.P. (Huib) van Essen, L.C. (Eelco) den Boer, J.M.W. (Jos) Dings, F.R. (Frank) Bruinsma, M.J. (Mark) Koetse , CE Transform, Delft, commissioned by Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Dec. 2004) [...]

Treat Roads as Utilities?

Commercializing Highways (2 page pdf, Robert W. Poole, Jr, Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) Review, Dec. 2000) The paper reviewed today is more than a decade old but has many quotes that lay the basis for road pricing, starting with the concept of highways managed as arms length utilities instead of top-down politically managed, as [...]

Getting People out of Cars- What does it Take?

Public attitudes to transport: Knowledge review of existing evidence (171 page pdf, Glenn Lyons, Phil Goodwin, Mark Hanly, Geoff Dudley, Kiron Chatterjee, Jillian Anable, Peter Wiltshire, and Yusak Susilo, Final report to the Department for Transport , Centre for Transport and Society, Bristol University, June 2008) The report reviewed today looks at the ways that [...]

What does Traffic Congestion Cost us?

Smart Traffic Congestion Reductions – Comprehensive Analysis Of Congestion Costs and Congestion Reduction Benefits (39 page pdf, Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Aug.22, 2011) Today’s focus is on Todd Litman’s analysis of congestion costs and how this analysis can be used to select the most effective way of reducing congestion. The traditional way of [...]

Peformance Prices for Parking

Progress in immobility – How optimization of stationary traffic can improve traffic flow (8 page pdf, Donald Shoup, ITS magazine- The Magazine for Intelligent Traffic Systems I 2/2011, Siemens, July 2011) The patron saint of parking, Donald Shop, is the focus of today’s review. He points out the many issues caused by free parking and [...]

On-Street Parking

The importance of on-street parking (Steve Mouzon, New Urban Network, Aug. 10, 2011 Today’s focus is on the need for on-street parking and why the alternatives are unsafe, bad for business and generally bad for the urban environment. To see Key Quotes and Links to key reports about this post, click HERE

Investing in Toll Roads Internationally

For Whom the Road Tolls: Reviewing Listed Toll Roads, Bridges and Tunnels (Seeking Alpha, May 3, 2011) Today’s review article contains an investment analysis of 23 toll roads in 8 countries which differ significantly both in national financial policies and in the amounts invested and the returns and dividends. While Italy has the largest market [...]

Deciding on When and How to Toll Roads

Big Numbers Win Prizes (Robert Bain, Apr. 8, 2009) Making the decision to begin tolling and then choosing which way to toll is a challenge that many municipalities and countries face today. Today’s review article looks at 21 ways that toll revenue and traffic are exaggerated or incorrectly estimated- and suggests ways to approach the [...]

Australian Tax and Environmental Price Reform

Tax Reform: Next Steps for Australia (42 page pdf, Commonwealth of Australia 2011) Australia, Germany and the UK and a few other countries have governments whose policies are influenced by a party that promotes environmental and economic sustainabilility and keeps in power the party leading government, as long as its policies reflect the political reality. [...]

The Future of National Highways

Inventing the Interstate (Tom Vanderbilt. New York Times, Jul. 15, 2011) Highways are the focus of today’s review- in particular the national highway system in the USA which compares to the TransCanada Highway system in its larger neighbor to the north. Having reached a zenith in the late 1900s, as we start to see a [...]

What Determines Parking Rates Globally

Parking Rates Broadly Up – Worldwide (4 page pdf, Ross J. Moore Chief Economist | USA, Colliers, CBD Parking Rates, 2011) The focus of today’s review is an update on a comparison of central business district (CBD) parking rates around the world. While one expects them to correlate well with real estate prices, one finds [...]

When does driving slowly become congestion?

Through his World Streets blog, Eric Britton provided the focus for today’s review which is about the need for vehicles to slow down and the added risks to life and limb from speeding which is accentuated with the You-Tube video above. A useful collection of links to earlier posts on Word Streets is given HERE To [...]

The Impacts of “Free” Parking

Free Parking or Free Markets (13 page pdf, Donald Shoup, Access Vol. 38, University of California, Spring 2011) Today’s review article looks at the benefits of having parking rates vary by demand, with some very interesting statistics from New York City on the amount of wasted driving while searching for empty spaces that are not [...]

The Politics of Congestion Pricing

  Political and Public Acceptability of Congestion Pricing: Ideology and Self-Interest in Sweden (7 page pdf, Björn Hårsman and John M. Quigley, Access Vol. 38, University of California, Spring 2011) Stockholm is famous in road pricing circles for having the world’s first congestion charging system approved through a plebiscite. Why this is so is the [...]

Managing Traffic Congestion in Melbourne, Australia

Final Report, Making the Right Choices: Options for Managing Transport Congestion (568 page pdf, Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission, Sept. 14, 2006) Today’s focus is on the comprehensive studies of the need for congestion pricing in Melbourne Australia and the difficulty in getting public support for that. Trends indicate that the already multi-billion dollar economic [...]

Seattle’s Road Pricing Pilot Project

Traffic Choices Study: Summary Report – A Global Positioning System Based Pricing Pilot Project: Evaluating Traveler Response to Variable Road Tolling Through a Sample of Volunteer Participants (40 page pdf, Puget Sound Regional Council, Seattle, 2008) Today’s focus is a summary report of a study completed 3 years ago aimed at assessing the feasibility of [...]

Does Building More Roads Cure or Cause More Congestion?

The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities (Forthcoming, Duranton, Gilles and Turner, Matthew A., American Economic Review, Feb. 2011) The article under review today confirms (with extensive evidence and analysis) what many of those who study traffic and road use already believed: that building roads does not relieve congestion, it adds to [...]

Managing Traffic Congestion with Rewards

A choice model of participation in a reward-based congestion management scheme (27 page pdf, Eran Ben-Elia, Dick Ettema, International Choice Modelling Conference, 2009) Reducing congestion by imposing tolls is rejected by many motorists. Today’s review article looks at the other side of the coin- rewards instead of tolls- and found that, in Holland at least, [...]

Road Pricing Demonstration Project in UK

Road Pricing Demonstrations Project – Key Learnings (25 page pdf, Department for Transport (DfT), March 2011) Today’s focus is on a final report of a road pricing demonstration project in the UK which examined VMT Charging Systems (or Time-Distance – Place as termed there) from 34 companies in 10 countries. The main interest was in [...]

Tolling the Future

Toll interoperability could set pattern for national road pricing (Ed Regan, TollRoadNews, May 22, 2011) Today’s review article points out the need for standards and compatibility between tolling systems using advanced GPS/RFID technology, as they become implemented at urban centres and on the highway network connecting those centres. To see Key Quotes and Links to [...]

Review of Road Pricing Around the World

Acceptability of road pricing (152 page pdf, John Walker, Royal Automobile Association Foundation , May 2011) The report reviewed today comes from the UK with the world’s first successful congestion pricing program in 2002, but after voters rejected road pricing in two cities more recently. It analyses what the public are looking for- essentially fair [...]