THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2010 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 24, NO 7 SEPTEMBER 6, 2010 San Fran cisco SFpark Pi lot Aims to Improve Parking Availability Uses Sen sors to Mon i tor Demand, Adjust Meter Rates In 2011, the San Fran cisco Munic i pal Trans por ta tion Agency (SFMTA) will launch SFpark, a new approach to park ing man age ment. It will use sen sors, new park ing meters, and real-time park ing data to take the guess work out of find ing a park - ing spot. Cir cling for park ing cur rently accounts for approx i mately 30% of city driv ing, accord ing to the SFMTA. Reduc ing traf fic through more park ing avail abil ity will yield ben e fits for driv ers, tran sit rid ers, bicyclists, pedestrians and merchants. On San Fran cisco s nar row streets, cars that dou ble-park or make right or left turns while cir cling cause traf fic con ges tion. Less cir cling means less traf fic, which means fewer car, bicy cle and pedes trian col li sions. Tran sit ser vice will be more able to stay on sched ule. Meters that accept credit cards will reduce frus tra tion and, along with lon ger time lim its for park ing, will reduce the need to issue park ing tick - ets. Reduced cir cling will mean less wasted fuel and better air quality. Three main com po nents com prise the SFpark pro ject new meters to make it eas ier to pay, sen sors to record park ing avail abil ity, and a data feed to pro cess and dis trib ute infor ma tion about where park - ing is avail able. Fund ing for 80% of the SFpark pro ject is pro vided by a $19.8 mil - lion grant from the U.S. Depart ment of Trans por ta tion s Urban Part ner ship Pro - gram with the remain ing 20% coming from the SFMTA. Asked if SFpark is a way for the city to raise rev e nue, the SFMTA said that Inside Sur veys....page 16 Requests for Pro pos als....page 28 Confer ences...page 29 mak ing it eas ier to park by improv ing avail abil ity is the pri mary goal. Hourly park ing rates may increase in high-demand areas and at high-demand times, but rates will also decrease where and when demand is low. On bal ance, park ing meter rev e nues are likely to increase some what, but park ing ticket rev - e nue will decrease because lon ger time lim its and new meters that make it easy to pay. The SFpark pilot, which started in July 2010, will run for two years. It includes Hayes Val ley, Civic Cen ter, the Finan cial Dis trict, SOMA, the Mis sion, Fish er man s Warf, the Marina and the Fill more Dis - trict. Approx i mately 5,100 metered park - ing spaces and 12,250 SFMTA-man aged garage spaces are included in the pilot. Through Octo ber 2010, the SFMTA will replace exist ing park ing meters with new state-of-the-art meters that allow driv ers to pay with coins, credit/debit cards, and soon with SFMTA park ing cards. In early Please turn to Page 6 Hoboken Launches Own Car Shar ing Pro gram Aimed at Reduc ing Car Own er ship Esti mated to Remove 750 Cars from Streets In June, the city of Hoboken, New Jer sey launched a new car shar ing pro gram aimed at reduc ing vehi cle own er ship and park ing demand in a city that has been plagued by a lack of park ing avail abil ity. At the same time, the city says it can save res i dents who par tic i pate in the new pro gram, called Cor - ner Cars, thou sands of dol lars by elim i nat - ing the need to own and main tain a little-used personal vehicle. Ian Sacs, the head of Hoboken s trans - por ta tion and park ing bureau, says that A public coin and card parking meter installed in San Francisco (Photo by David Gartner, courtesy of the SFMTA) Cor ner Cars is a unique pro gram since it spreads car shar ing vehi cles through out the city rather than plac ing them in spe cific neigh bor hood or garages. Sacs told UTM that the Cor ner Cars pro gram cur rently has 42 cars dis trib uted at 21 on-the-street loca - tions such that approx i mately 95% of Hoboken s res i dents are within a five min - ute walk to a car. More over, the cars have exclu sive, reserved park ing spaces designed to make these vehi cles more Please turn to Page 6

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24, NO. 7 Page 2 EC Out lines Pro gram to Halve Traffic Fatalities by 2020 In U.S., Group Urges Am bi tious Tar get Be In cluded in High way Reauthorization Bill U.S. Lags Behind European Union in Fatality Reduction The Eu ro pean Com mis sion (EC) has an - nounced an am bi tious Road Safety Pro - gram that aims to cut road deaths in Eu rope in half in the next de cade. The pro gram sets out ini tia tives at the Eu ro pean and na tional levels, fo cus ing on im prov ing ve hi cle safety, in fra struc ture safety, and road us - ers be hav ior. More than 34,000 peo ple died in 2009 on the roads of the Eu ro pean Un ion the equiv a lent of a me dium town, the EC said in a July 20 press re lease. No fewer than 1,500,000 per sons were in jured. The es ti - mated eco nomic cost to so ci ety is huge 130 bil lion euro a year. The pro posed pol i cies build on the re - sults of the Third Road Safety Ac tion Pro gram. The pro gram s tar get of halv ing fa tal i ties by 2010 has not been com pletely met, but sig nif i cant prog ress has been made. For ex am ple, the num ber of EU fa tal i ties is ex pected to fall by more than 40% (com pared to a 25% drop in the pre ced ing de cade). Also, the av er age level of road deaths per one mil lion in hab it ants fell from 113 in 2001 to 69 in 2009 for all cur rent 27 Mem ber States. The Road Safety Ac tion Plan was a strong cat a lyst for EU and na tional ef forts to im prove road safety, the EC said. But more remains to be done. By com par i son, high way deaths in the United States dropped about 19% from 2001 to 2009, ac cord ing to pre lim i nary sta tis tics re leased by the Na tional High - way Traf fic Safety Ad min is tra tion (NHTSA) in March If the same per - centage of fatality reduction was achieved in the United States as was achieved in the EU, there now would be over 7,000 less lives lost an nu ally. A group of high way safety of fi cials and ad vo cates are urg ing Con gress to adopt am bi tious tar gets for cut ting high way deaths as part of the next sur face trans por ta tion au tho ri za tion bill. In March 2010, the mem bers of the State High way Safety Al li ance the Amer i can Association of Motor Vehicle Administra - tors, the American Association of State High way and Trans por ta tion Of fi cials (AASHTO), the Com mer cial Ve hi cle Safety Al li ance, the Gov er nors High way Re duction in Traffic Fatalities: European Union Compared to the U.S. European Union United States Traf fic Fa tal i ties, ,000 42,000 Traf fic Fa tal i ties, ,500 34,000 Per cent age Change -36% -19% Fa tal i ties per 1,000,000 Population, Fa tal i ties per 1,000,000 Population, Per cent age Change -39% -25% Sources: 1. "Towards a Euro pean Road Safety Area: Pol icy Ori en ta tions on Road Safety, ", Com mu ni ca tions from the Euro pean Com mis sion, July 20, 2010, Brussels. 2. National High way Traf fic Safety Admin is tra tion. Safety As so ci a tion (GHSA), and the Na - tional Association of State EMS Officials along with the In ter na tional As so ci a tion of Chiefs of Po lice, wrote to key House and Sen ate com mit tees urg ing that the new U.S. trans por ta tion reauthorization bill in - clude a na tional strat egy for cut ting high - ways deaths in half over the next two de - cades as well as in creased fund ing for safety pro grams to en able states to reach that goal. But ac tion on the bill has been stalled. The EC set out de tailed mea sures aimed at meet ing the Road Safety Pro gram s seven strategic objectives: Im proved Safety Mea sures for Ve hi - cles: In , the fo cus was on pas - sive" safety de vices such as seatbelts and airbags. In , new ac tive safety mea sures will come into force in clud ing mandatory electronic stability control for vehicles, mandatory lane departure warning sys tems and man da tory au to matic emer gency brak ing sys tems for trucks and buses, and man da tory seat belt re mind ers for cars and trucks. The EC will ad vance measures setting technical standards for safety in elec tric ve hi cles, and ex am ine the pos si bil ity of ex tend ing the im ple men ta - tion of ad vanced Driver As sis tance Sys - tems, such as anti- col li sion warn ings, by retro fit ting them to ve hi cles. The Com mis - sion will strengthen EU leg is la tion on road worthi ness tests to gain mu tual rec og - ni tion of in spec tions among Mem ber States, and ex am ine the need for further legislation to reduce injury risk for pedestrians and cyclists. Build ing Safer Road In fra struc ture: Eu ro pean funds will only be granted to in - fra struc ture com pli ant with road safety and tun nel safety di rec tives. The EC will ex am ine ex tend ing EU leg is la tion on in - frastructure safety management to rural roads of Mem ber States. This leg is la tion re quires that safety re quire ments be con - sid ered in the plan ning, pre-de sign and Please turn to Page 10 The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, ISSN , is pub lished monthly, except dur ing Jan u ary and August (10 issues per year), by Law - ley Pub li ca tions, 6813 Jer e miah Ct., Fairfax Sta - tion, VA 22039, Tel: (703) , Fax: (703) , edi tors@lawleypub lications.com. Sub scrip tions $295 per year. Peri - od i cals post age paid at Fairfax, VA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor pub lishes cur rent news on all modes and aspects related to urban trans por ta tion. Law ley Pub li ca tions is an inde pend ent and pri vately owned orga ni za tion. Copy right 2009, Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Reserved. Repro duc tion, includ ing pho - to copy ing and fac sim ile or elec tronic trans mis - sion, in whole or in part with out writ ten per mis sion from the Edi tor is expressly pro hib ited. Law ley Pub li ca tions assumes no respon si bil ity or lia bil ity of any kind for the accu racy or com - plete ness of the infor ma tion herein, or for addi - tional or changed infor ma tion sub se quent to the date the mate rial was received and/or pub lished. Publisher/Editor: Dan iel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E. Man ag ing Edi tor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Senior Edi tor/writer: Jeanne Holden

3 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 3 MnDOT Uses a Multimodal Ap proach and Tech nol ogy to Com bat Con ges tion in Min ne ap o lis Goal is to Re duce Con ges tion by 20% Trans por ta tion plan ners in Min ne sota are com bat ing traf fic con ges tion in the Min ne - ap o lis area with a four-pronged as sault uti - liz ing the Four Ts : tran sit, toll ing, telecommuting, and tech nol ogy. This ini tia tive, which uses fed eral and lo cal funds in a multi-year ap proach, has made Minneapolis a recognized leader in the ef fort to ease ur ban traf fic con ges tion. Ac cord ing to Nick Thomp son, di rec tor for pol icy anal y sis, re search and in no va tion at the Min ne sota De part ment of Trans por ta - tion (MnDOT), this ap proach re lies on em - ploy ing the lat est tech nol ogy to uti lize the ex ist ing trans por ta tion sys tem better so that commuters have more transportation choices. Our goal is a 20% re duc tion over all [in con ges tion] and, most im por tantly, that in - di vid ual us ers have the choice to avoid it when ever they want via tran sit, tolled dy - nam i cally priced ex press lanes and telework, Thomp son said. Per for mance will be mea sured in an eval u a tion that will be completed in Most of the ap prox i mately 25 pro jects in cluded in this ini tia tive were started in 2007 and com pleted by De cem ber A few will be com pleted later this year. In Sep tem ber 2007, Min ne sota was awarded $133.3 mil lion through the U.S. De part - ment of Trans por ta tion s Ur ban Part ner - ship Agree ment (UPA) pro gram for a com - pre hen sive ini tia tive to im prove traf fic flow by re duc ing con ges tion on In ter state 35W, High way 77/Ce dar Av e nue and in down town Min ne ap o lis. The state was re - quired to pro vide a lo cal match of $50.2 mil lion. Thomp son said that the pro jects are val ued at about $288 mil lion. The $288 mil lion is a mix of fed eral and state funds in clud ing the UPA grant and a 2008 state trans por ta tion fund ing pack age, which pro vided the lo cal match ing funds and is ex pected to gen er ate more than $6 billion dollars over 10 years for transportation projects. Thomp son told UTM that tran sit im - prove ments have in cluded in vest ments in cus tomer in for ma tion sys tems, new buses, ex panded ser vice (in clud ing ex press bus ser vice), and the re build of down town streets to ex pand ca pac ity. The first pro - High oc cu pancy toll lane on I-35W in Min ne ap o lis with vari able toll and travel time sign ing is one of the strategies for reducing traffic congestion. (Photo: Cour tesy of the Min ne sota De part ment of Trans por ta tion) ject com pleted pro vided buses with a spe - cial bus-only turn lane and sig nal pri or ity to help im prove tran sit time and main tain tran sit sched ule. The bus-only lane and sig - nal are used only dur ing peak pe ri ods, but ac cord ing to MnDOT, al low tran sit rid ers to save 5-10 min utes dur ing peak times. Sin gle bus lanes were ex panded to two bus lanes on Marquette Av e nue and 2 nd Av e nue in down town Min ne ap o lis to nearly tri ple the ca pac ity for buses while re duc ing travel time through a 16-mile down town area. Nearly 2,900 new park ing spaces were constructed at six new or expanded park and ride facilities. In terms of toll ing, MnDOT con verted high oc cu pancy ve hi cle lanes on busy I-35 W from Burnesville Park way to I-494 into high oc cu pancy toll lanes. Solo mo tor ists with a MnPASS ac count can pay a toll to ac cess the ex press lanes while carpools with two or more oc cu pants, mo tor cy cles and tran sit buses can still use the ex press lanes free of charge dur ing toll ing hours. On north bound I-35 W from 46th Street to down town Min ne ap o lis, bus-only shoul der lanes were re placed with priced dy namic shoul der lanes (PDSLs) that are used dur - ing peak pe ri ods by buses, carpoolers and sin gle-oc cu pant ve hi cles will ing to pay the toll. PDSLs en able bus speeds to in crease to 50 mph from bus-only shoul der lane speeds of 35 mph or less. The plan is for the PDSLs to link up with the I-35W MnPASS Ex press Lanes and also to ex - tend these HOT lanes be tween I-494 and 46 th Street, with the ex ten sion sched uled to open in fall The end re sult will be a new 15-mile, dy nam i cally-priced man - aged-lane cor ri dor, pro vid ing mo tor ists a new op tion to ex pe ri ence a fast and reliable trip. In terms of telecommuting, MNDOT started a pro gram called eworkplace aimed at in creas ing the num ber of telecommuters, par tic u larly those that use the tar get free way (I-35W) to get to their work place. The eworkplace pro gram is a col lab o ra tion be tween the Min ne sota De - part ment of Trans por ta tion (MnDOT) and Hubert H. Humphrey In sti tute of Pub lic Af fairs, Uni ver sity of Min ne sota and is funded by a state ap pro pri a tion of $3.2 Please turn to Page 14

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010, VOL 24 NO. 7 Page 4 Intelligence HNTB s Amer ica THINKS Sur vey Finds Amer i cans Pre fer Tolls Over Taxes; They Also Pre fer a Fo cus on Fix ing Ex ist ing In fra struc ture Over Build ing New Fa cil i ties Kan sas City, MO De spite a grow ing aware ness that Amer - ica s ag ing net work of high ways, bridges and tun nels is in fail ing health, con gres - sio nal ac tion on a new na tional trans por - ta tion bill has been sty mied by a lack of ad e quate fund ing sources and dis agree - ments about how to plan, pri or i tize and pay for U.S. in fra struc ture. A new Amer - ica THINKS sur vey from HNTB Cor po - ra tion sug gests the an swer may lie in a so - lu tion that fi nanced U.S. roads and bridges prior to the na tional gas tax: toll - ing. Toll ing is a proven source of al ter na - tive fund ing, al ready used in a va ri ety of lo ca tions across the coun try. Its pri mary ap peal as a user fee means those who use the road pay for the road, said Jack Finn, HNTB na tional di rec tor of toll ser - vices, in a July 22 press re lease. Many states without legislation to support toll - ing have a keen in ter est in ad vanc ing such ini tia tives and un der stand ing the ben e fits. The Amer ica THINKS sur vey will help trans por ta tion pro fes sion als and elected of fi cials better un der stand pub lic per cep tions and the potential acceptance of increased tolling. Amer ica THINKS is a se ries of sur - veys from HNTB Cor po ra tion that ex - plores how the United States can plan, prioritize, and pay for its infrastructure. As part of that de bate, the na tion needs to de ter mine a vi sion that will guide fed - eral sur face trans por ta tion pol icy and fund ing, said HNTB spokes man John O Connell. It co mes at a time of eco - nomic tur moil, calls for po lit i cal change and an in creas ing aware ness that the gas tax is no lon ger suf fi cient to pay for the roads, bridges and rails this coun try needs. O Connell told UTM that HNTB is try ing to en cour age a di a logue among in dus try pro fes sion als, elected and appointed officials and the general public. Ac cord ing to the new sur vey, in which a ran dom na tion wide sam ple of 1,005 adults were polled be tween June 25 and July 1, 2010, most Amer i cans sup port tolls on roads and bridges to gen er ate trans por - ta tion rev e nue, es pe cially on roads that save mo tor ists drive time. More over, they pre fer a fo cus on fix ing ex ist ing in fra struc - ture over building new facilities. Given a choice be tween new roads funded by an in creased gas tax, by new tolls or no new roads at all, Amer i cans pre - fer tolls (41 per cent) or no new roads at all (41 per cent) over in creased gas taxes (18 per cent). Eighty-four per cent of those sur - veyed says tolls should be con sid ered pro - ject-by-pro ject or as a pri mary source of trans por ta tion rev e nue. Only 16 per cent say tolls should never be used. Asked where they would be will ing to spend more money to sup port long-term trans por ta tion im prove ments, Amer i cans ranked toll ing ahead of other op tions. Thirty-nine per cent chose ad di tional road and bridge tolls, 29 per cent - pub lic trans - por ta tion fees, 23 per cent - ve hi cle reg is - tra tion fees, 20 per cent - sales taxes, 18 per cent - gas taxes, 11 per cent - in come taxes, and 9 per cent chose property taxes. Forty-seven per cent be lieve the most im por tant func tion of a toll fa cil ity is to gen er ate trans por ta tion rev e nue, ver sus re - duc ing con ges tion (25 per cent) or pro vid - ing a higher level of cus tomer ser vice (13 per cent). Most sur veyed would sup port tolls that fund im prove ments for ei ther the road on which it s paid (53 per cent) or other ex ist ing road ways (45 per cent); only 18 per cent would want toll rev e nues to be devoted to new construction. Sixty-eight per cent don t think about tolls with out con sid er ing con ve nience they would be will ing to pay a higher toll fare if it saved them time on the road. A slight ma jor ity (52 per cent) think it is ac - cept able to be charged a toll to use a high oc cu pancy toll lane. In fact, HOT lanes are the most pop u lar form of toll ing, with about half (51 per cent) of Amer i cans be - liev ing they are worth while more than road and bridge tolls man aged by lo cal or Please turn to Page 5 state gov ern ments (37 per cent), those man aged by pri vate com pa nies (21 per - cent) or even congestion pricing (20 percent). Sev enty-six per cent of Amer i cans who drive on roads and bridges with tolls say they are sat is fied with most toll ing sys tems they use. But 61 per cent of driv - ers ad mit they have pur posely avoided a road or bridge with tolls at least once. Forty-three per cent feel that tolls are gen er ally too costly, and 24 per cent view most toll pla zas as high-traf fic ar eas. Fifty-seven per cent say the ideal fu ture of toll ing would be a com bi na tion of cash and elec tronic col lec tion on local roads and bridges. Tech nol ogy now al lows us to use video cam eras and tran spond ers to con - duct trans ac tions at high way speeds, Finn said. We re gen er at ing rev e nue, re duc ing con ges tion and saving time. HNTB s Amer ica THINKS sur vey was con ducted by Kelton Re search, which used an in vi ta tion and on - line sur vey. Quo tas were set to en sure re - liable and accurate representation of the to tal U.S. pop u la tion ages 18 and over. The mar gin of er ror is +/- 3.1 per cent. HNTB Cor po ra tion is an em - ployee-owned in fra struc ture firm serv - ing fed eral, state, mu nic i pal, military and private clients. For more in for ma tion, visit or con tact John O Connell at (816) or joconnell@hntb.com Sur vey Finds Park ing Rates Hold Steady De spite Down ward Pres sure on Prices Seattle, WA Park ing rates in North Amer i can cen tral busi ness dis tricts (CBDs) held firm over the past 12 months de spite over all down - ward pres sure on sale prices and leas ing rates in other seg ments of the com mer - cial real es tate mar ket, ac cord ing to Col - liers In ter na tional 10th An nual Parking Rate Survey.

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 5 Intelligence (continued) Colliers Survey indicates that, even in the face of eco nomic hard ship, park ing ga rage own ers and op er a tor have held rates steady, pro vid ing lit tle re lief to busi nesses or con sum ers. U.S and Ca na - dian park ing rates reg is tered lit tle change, high light ing the high de gree of sta bil ity in this of ten over looked sec tor. De spite a loss of eight mil lion jobs and a chal leng ing busi ness en vi ron ment, only a few U.S. cit ies saw a sig nif i cant pull back in park ing rates dur ing the June 2009-June 2010 pe riod. Daily and monthly park ing rates in the U.S. largely held steady in the 44 CBDs sur veyed, with the me dian daily park ing charge drop ping only 1.4% to $ This small de crease re verses a 1.2 % in crease last year. In con trast, the me dian monthly park ing rate for the 44 U.S. CBDs sur - veyed crept up by 1.1%, reach ing $ and re vers ing a 0.9% drop in rates last year. In Can ada, the me dian daily rate in the 12 CBDs sur veyed climbed by 2 % in the past year to $14.83 CAD af ter in creas ing 9.9% in Monthly park ing rates in Can ada in creased to a me dian park ing rate of $ CAD. This rep - re sents a 2.0% gain over the past year, com pared with a 9.9% increase in With the eco nomic re cov ery un fold - ing slowly, park ing rates are ex pected to show lit tle change over the next 12 months, re ports Col liers. Rates are ex - pected to trend up ward be gin ning in the sec ond half of This year s sur vey found that New York City s two CBDs were the most ex - pen sive U.S. cit ies for park ing, with Mid - town Manhattan s monthly me dian price tag at $538 and Down town Manhattan s at $529. Both were more than three times the na tional av er age. Af ter these CBDs were Boston at $425, San Fran cisco at $375, and Chi cago at $320. The five most ex pen sive park ing dis tricts in Can - ada (as rep re sented by monthly me dian rate in Ca na dian dol lars) were Cal gary ($453), To ronto ($336), Mon treal ($280), Ed mon ton ($275) and Van cou - ver ($267). All of these park ing rates seem like a bar gain when com pared to those of cit ies in Eu rope, Asia and even Aus tra lia. Lon don City was the most ex - pen sive place in the world to park, with $933 me dian price for a monthly spot, fol - lowed by Lon don s West End at $874 per month. In Asia, Hong Kong and To kyo both topped New York s me dian monthly park ing cost at $745 and $654, re spec - tively. Syd ney, Aus tra lia also topped New York with a median monthly parking cost of $591. The five cit ies in the U.S. with the least ex pen sive me dian monthly park ing rates were Phoe nix, Ar i zona at $40; Reno, Ne - vada at $45; Wal nut Creek/East Bay, Cal i - for nia at $48; Ft. Laud er dale, Florida at $53 and Bak ers field, Cal i for nia at $55. Can ada s least ex pen sive monthly park ing spots in clude Kitchener-Waterloo, On - tario at $117 CAD and Saskatoon, Sas - katch e wan at $147 CAD. The con tin ued tight bal ance be tween sup ply and de mand for park ing even with the econ omy still far from op er at ing at ca - pac ity helps sta bi lize the park ing rates. Park ing avail abil ity in only four of the 56 Central Business Districts surveyed were de scribed as abun dant with the re main - der be ing fair or lim ited, said Ross J. Moore, Ex ec u tive Vice Pres i dent and Chief Economist for Colliers International in the U.S. That sit u a tion is not ex pected to change much, with only six new ga rages con tain ing less than 4,000 spaces to be added in the next two years in the U.S. and 10 new ga rages with 1,800 spots to be added in Canada. Other key find ings of the sur vey for the United States in clude: Ex tremes in monthly park ing rates range from a high of $1,200 in Mid town Manhattan to a low of $20 in Mem phis, TN. Con tin u ing a trend seen last year, 11.6% of park ing ga rages had a wait ing list with an av er age wait of 6.2 months, com pared with 12 months ago when 13.6% had a wait ing list with an av er age wait of 3.7 months. Two years ago 20.9% had a wait ing list. Un der three quar ters (70%) of cit ies sur - veyed de scribed the sup ply of park ing as fair (park ing ga rages are 60-80% full Mon-Fri and on week ends dur ing Monthly parking rates. (Cour tesy of Colliers International) spe cial events), while 20% in di cated park ing was lim ited (park ing ga - rages are usu ally full Mon-Fri and on week ends dur ing spe cial events) and 10.0% said abun dant (park ing ga - rages are con sis tently less than 60% full). By these mea sures, park ing pres - sures have in creased mod estly. Just 15% of cit ies sur vey in di cated new ga rages will be con structed in the next 24 months. Data for the 2010 Park ing Rate Sur vey was col lected dur ing the month of June Sur vey data in cludes only cov ered or un der ground park ing ga rages in prime CBDs. The sur vey re port is avail able at dstates/content/colliersparkingratesurve y2010.pdf For more in for ma tion, con tact Parke Chap man, The Ma rino Or ga ni za tion, at (212) or by at parke@themarino.org.

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 6 Con tin ued from Page 1 San Fran cisco SFpark Pi lot Aims to Im prove Park ing Avail abil ity 2011, the time lim its on many me ters will be ex tended. SFpark will periodically adjust meter pric ing up and down to match de mand. De mand-re spon sive pric ing en cour ages driv ers to park in underused ar eas and ga - rages, re duc ing de mand in over used ar eas. Cur rently, city me ters charge from $1.00 to $3.50 an hour. But park ing on high-de - mand blocks costs the same as park ing on low-de mand blocks, and park ing in ga - rages usu ally costs more. SFpark will track via sen sor how of ten each space is used and ad just hourly rates ac cord ingly to even out park ing avail abil ity to about 20%. Rates can fluc tu ate by time of day and day of week, but prices will be ad justed by in - cre ments of no more than 50 cents an hour, no more fre quently than once a month. In pi lot ar eas, me ter pric ing will range from 25 cents to a max i mum of $6.00 an hour. Rate changes will also af fect city-owned ga rages and, since many of these are underutilized, the prices are likely to de - crease. The SFpark me ters will com mu ni - cate wirelessly with the SFpark data feed. When pric ing changes, new rate in for ma - tion will be sent di rectly to the me ters. Dur ing the pi lot, 8,300 park ing sen sors will be in stalled; the vast ma jor ity of these will be at me tered park ing spaces. Sen sors will also be placed in unmetered park ing to sup ply sup ple men tal data and in three con - trol neigh bor hoods to pro vide base line data. As the SFpark data hub col lects in - for ma tion from the sen sors, park ing man - ag ers can see where and when park ing tends to be avail able. This in for ma tion, com bined with data sup plied by new SFpark me ters, will power the en tire pro - ject. The SFpark data feed will al low real-time in for ma tion to reach driv ers di - rectly. In ad di tion to park ing avail abil ity maps accessible at SFpark.org, in for ma - tion will be dis persed via the 511 sys tem, mo bile de vices, text messaging, and through new elec tronic dis play signs at high-traf fic lo ca tions in the city. Static wayfinding sign age will also help guide driv ers to city ga rages. The SFpark data feed will help the pub - lic find avail able park ing. Park ing man ag - ers can reg u larly view and as sess this data to dis cover where and when they need to help make park ing more avail able through the ad just ment of me ter rates. Over the pi - lot phase of SFpark, the SFpark data feed will track how park ing in the pi lot ar eas evens out in terms of avail abil ity. This is a key element in determining the success of SFpark, SFMTA said. The SFMTA, a de part ment of the city and county of San Fran cisco, over sees the Municipal Railway (Muni), parking, traffic and taxis. Over 35,000 ex tra ve hi cles en ter San Fran cisco on any given busi ness day, and rely on the SFMTA to keep the flow of traf fic mov ing smoothly. For more in for ma tion, visit, or con tact the SFMTA s Jay Pri mus at jay.primus@sfmta.com. Con tin ued from Page 1 Hoboken Launches Own Car Shar ing Pro gram ac ces si ble and con ve nient than any per - son ally owned car. Many peo ple in Hoboken use tran sit to get to work, but still own a ve hi cle for buy - ing gro cer ies or go ing vis it ing or to the beach, Sacs said. In some two-car fam i - lies, one per son owns a car for com mut ing while an other owns a car for do ing er rands. Al though these cars are used in fre quently, the own ers have the costs of car own er ship and the need to move the car dur ing street clean ing or pay high rates for ga rage park - ing. Cor ner Cars is aimed at mo ti vat ing Hoboken res i dents to give up these rarely used cars and in stead use shared ve hi cles. Res i dents who sign up with Cor ner Cars can have a con ve nient car avail able when - ever they need it, for an hour or a week, and only pay for the time that they use it. Asked why the city of Hoboken was play ing a role in car shar ing rather than let - ting the pri vate sec tor do it, Sacs said that it was be cause Cor ner Car ve hi cles are kept on pub lic streets. A pri vate com pany could n t park cars on a pub lic street and rent them with out the pro gram be ing hosted by the city it self, he said. ZipCar has an op er a tion in Hoboken that is do ing fine, with 23 of its cars lo cated in mu nic i - pal ga rages, Sacs added. How ever, all four mu nic i pal ga rages with ZipCar op er a tions are in the south ern part of the city and there fore not con ve niently located for all Hoboken residents. Sacs said that the city stud ied car-shar - ing bid spec i fi ca tions for other mu nic i pal i - ties including Baltimore, MD; Philadel - phia, PA; Port land, OR; Se at tle, WA; and Wash ing ton, D.C., and then cus tom ized its spec i fi ca tions to ac count for a pro gram in which cars would be spread through out the city. The city ad ver tised a com pet i tive bid pro cess, he said. ZipCar sub mit ted a bid but Hertz had the high est com pet i tive bid and the city was bound to take it. How does Cor ner Cars work? A res i - dent signs up for the pro gram on line and en ters his li cense, bill ing and con tact in for - ma tion. Ap pli cants must have a good driv - ing re cord to qual ify for mem ber ship. Res - i dents pay one-time only fee of $25 to join and get a $75 credit that can be ap plied to re serv ing cars on an hourly ba sis. Dur ing the week, rates start from $5 an hour for a Smart Car to $14 an hour for higher tier ve - hi cles. Week end rates are slightly higher, with a maximum of $16 an hour. After receiving a membership card, an individual can check car availability and re serve cars on line or by phone. Then the mem ber can walk to the car s park ing space on the street to ac cess the res er va - tion. The in di vid ual waves the mem ber - ship card over the wind shield to un lock the doors, and the keys are al ready in side. When the res er va tion is over, the car has to be re turned to the same lo ca tion. Then the individual is billed automatically. Hertz owns, maintains and insures the cars. Sacs said that the first phase of the car shar ing pro gram is ex pected to re move 750 cars from the city's streets, hav ing the same ef fect on Hoboken s park ing sit u a - tion as build ing mil lions of dol lars of struc tured park ing but at no cost to taxpayers. For more in for ma tion, visit ransportation-parking/corner-cars/ or con - tact Ian Sacs at i.sacs@hobokennj.org.

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 7 Illinois DOT May Implement Diverging Diamond Interchange Potential Solution to Alleviate Existing Safety and Capacity Problems The Il li nois De part ment of Trans por ta tion (IDOT) is con sid er ing con struct ing a di - verg ing di a mond in ter change in an ef fort to cut traf fic con ges tion at Il li nois 59 and In ter state 88 at Naperville. If im ple - mented, it will be the first lo ca tion in Il li - nois for this in no va tive de sign. Ja son Salley, the head of the Il li nois De - part ment of Trans por ta tion s Geometrics Stud ies Unit, told UTM that a di verg ing di - a mond in ter change (DDI) is be ing con sid - ered as a potential solution to alleviate the safety and ca pac ity prob lems that ex ist and will get worse at the sub ject lo ca tion. Com pared to the con ven tional in ter change de sign, the DDI of fers many ben e fits, in - clud ing fewer con flict points, re duced ve - hi cle delays, and reduced environmental impacts. Ac cord ing to the Fed eral High way Ad - ministration, the main difference between a DDI in ter change and a con ven tional di a - mond in ter change is the way in which left and through move ments nav i gate be tween the cross street in ter sec tions with ramps. The DDI ac com mo dates left-turn ing move - ments at signalized, grade-separated inter - changes of ar te ri als and lim ited-ac cess high ways while elim i nat ing the need for left-turn phas ing. On the ar te rial, traf fic crosses over to the left side of the road way be tween the nodes of the in ter change. Two-phase traf fic sig nals are in stalled at the cross overs. Once on the left side of the ar te rial, ve hi cles can turn left onto lim - ited-ac cess ramps without stopping and without conflicting with through traffic. Un til a few years ago, the only known di verg ing di a mond in ter changes were in France. In the United States, the first di - verg ing diamond in ter change was com - pleted in July 2009 in Spring field, Mis - souri, at the in ter sec tion of Route 13 and I-44. Spring field s sec ond di verg ing di a - mond in ter change opened in July The DDI has been shown to be less costly than other in ter change de signs, Salley told UTM. More over, the DDI has been shown to re duce crashes. The first DDI that opened in Spring field, Mis souri showed ap prox i mately a 35% re duc tion in crashes when com pared to stan dard/con - ven tional di a mond in ter change that was in place be fore the DDI, he said. Ac cord ing to IDOT, the ben e fits of the DDI in clude that it does not have left turns that pass in front of op pos ing traf fic and that it im proves traf fic move ment with more green time. A DDI is rec om mended when an in ter sec tion has a heavy left turn move ment, a bridge skew an gle, an over-ca pac ity in ter sec tion, [or] a tight con struc tion time frame. IDOT is ex pected to fi nal ize its eval u a - tion of the DDI for this in ter change be fore the end of For more in for ma tion, visit pansion.aspx or con tact Ja son Salley at (847) or by at Jason.Salley@illinois.gov. Pre lim i nary ge om e try of the DDI be ing eval u ated for im ple men ta tion in Naperville, IL. (Photo: Cour tesy of IDOT)

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 8 Product and Industry News IBM Study Mea sures Emo tional and Eco nomic Toll of Traf fic Con ges tion in Key In ter na tional Cities; Need Iden ti fied to Look Be yond Tra di tional Rem e dies The daily com mute in some of the world s most economically important international cit ies is lon ger and more gru el ing than be - fore imag ined re flect ing the fail ure of trans por ta tion in fra struc ture to keep pace with eco nomic ac tiv ity, ac cord ing to IBM s first global Com mu ter Pain study. IBM sur veyed 8,192 mo tor ists in 20 cit - ies on six con ti nents. A ma jor ity of the mo - tor ists sur veyed be lieve that traf fic has got - ten worse in the last three years, with 49 % of driv ers say ing that it has got ten worse and 18% say ing it has got ten a lot worse. The com pany com piled the sur vey re - sults into an in dex that ranks the emo tional and eco nomic toll of com mut ing in each city on a scale of one to 100, with 100 be - ing the most oner ous. The in dex is com - prised of: 1) com mut ing time, 2) time stuck in traf fic, agree ment that: 3) price of gas is al ready too high, 4) traf fic has got ten worse, 5) start-stop traf fic is a prob lem, 6) driv ing causes stress, 7) driv ing causes an - ger, 8) traf fic af fects work, 9) traf fic so bad driv ing stopped, and 10) de cided not to make trip due to traf fic. The re sults vary widely from city to city. Stock holm had the least pain ful com mute of the cit ies stud ied, fol lowed by Mel bourne and Houston (tied) and New York City. The 20 cit ies and their scores are: Beijing: 99, Mex ico City: 99, Jo han nes - burg: 97, Mos cow: 84, New Delhi: 81, Sao Paolo: 75, Mi lan: 52, Bue nos Ai res: 50, Ma drid: 48, Lon don: 36, Paris: 36, To - ronto: 32, Am ster dam: 25, Los An geles: 25, Berlin: 24, Mon treal: 23, New York: 19, Hous ton: 17, Mel bourne: 17, Stockholm: 15. Over all, the re sults paint a pic ture of metropolitan-area commuters in many cities strug gling to get to and from work each day. For ex am ple, 57% of all re spon dents say that road way traf fic has neg a tively af - fected their health, but that per cent age is up to 96% in New Delhi and 95% in Beijing. Sim i larly, 29% over all say that road way traf fic has neg a tively af fected work or school per for mance, but that rises to 84% in Beijing, 62% in New Delhi, and 56% in Mexico City. IBM con ducted the Com mu ter Pain sur vey to better un der stand con sumer think ing to ward traf fic con ges tion as the is sue reaches cri sis pro por tions na tion - wide and higher lev els of auto emis sions stir en vi ron men tal con cerns. These events are af fect ing com mu ni ties around the world, with gov ern ments, cit i zens and pri - vate sec tor or ga ni za tions look ing be yond traditional remedies to reverse the nega - tive impacts of increased road congestion. Tra di tional so lu tions build ing more roads will not be enough to over come the growth of traf fic in these rap idly de vel - op ing cit ies, so mul ti ple so lu tions need to be de ployed si mul ta neously to avoid a fail - ure of the trans por ta tion net works, said Naveen Lamba, IBM s global in dus try lead for intelligent transportation. New tech niques are re quired that em power trans por ta tion of fi cials to better un der - stand and proactively manage the flow of traffic. The con ges tion in many of to day s de - veloping cities is a relatively recent phe - nom e non, hav ing par al leled their rapid eco nomic growth dur ing the past de cade or two, IBM said. By con trast, traf fic in places like New York, Los An geles or Lon don has de vel oped grad u ally over many de cades, giv ing of fi cials more time and re sources to address the problem. For ex am ple, IBM pointed out that the mid dle class in China is grow ing rap idly, with the num ber of new cars reg is tered in Beijing in the first four months of 2010 ris - ing 23.8% to 248,000, ac cord ing to the Beijing municipal taxation office. The study did of fer a num ber of bright spots, how ever. Forty-eight per cent of driv ers sur veyed in Beijing re ported that traf fic has im proved in the past three years the high for the sur vey re flect ing sub stan tial initiatives to improve the transportation net work in that city. In ad di tion, the com - mute for driv ers in Stock holm seems to be largely pain-free. Only 14% of Stock holm driv ers sur veyed said that road way traf fic neg a tively affected work or school performance. Mos cow was no ta ble for the du ra tion of its traf fic jams. Driv ers there re ported an av er age de lay of two-and-a-half hours when asked to re port the length of the worst traf fic jam they ex pe ri enced in the past three years. Other key find ings in clude: Five per cent say traf fic has im proved sub stan tially, with only Beijing (16%) and New Delhi (17%) reach ing dou ble digit scores. There are seven trou ble spots based on the bot tom two box scores (rank ing traf fic as some what or a lot worse ): Jo han nes burg (80%), Mos cow (64%), To ronto (64%), Mex ico City (62%), Sao Paulo (61%), Mi lan (59%) and Bue nos Ai res (57%). 87% have been stuck in road way traf fic in the last three years. The av er age de lay is one hour. The best cit ies for com mut ing are Mel bourne, Stock holm and Bue nos Ai - res, where 25% or more say they have never been stuck in traf fic. 31% over all said that dur ing the past three years traf fic has been so bad that they turned around and went home, with a high of 69% in Beijing and a low of 15% in Berlin. IBM con ducted the Com mu ter Pain sur vey in the United States only in 2008 and The com pany is ac tively work ing in the area of Smarter Trans por ta tion to re search, test and de ploy new traf fic in for ma tion management capabilities in cities around the world. Find ings from the Com mu ter Pain sur vey will be used to as sess cit i zen con cerns about traf fic and com mu ter is - sues; ex pand so lu tions like au to mated toll - ing, real-time traf fic pre dic tion, con ges - tion charg ing, and in tel li gent route plan - ning; and serve as a ba sis for pi o neer ing in - no va tive new ap proaches to traf fic mit i ga - tion. For more in for ma tion, con tact IBM spokes man John Buscemi at or by at jbuscemi@us.ibm.com Please turn to Page 9

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 6 Page 9 Product and Industry News (continued) Il li nois DOT De ploys BlueTOAD by TrafficCast to Mon i tor Road Speeds; Tech nol ogy Pro vides Travel Time In for ma tion Dur ing High way Re sur fac ing Mad i son, Wis con sin The Il li nois De part ment of Trans por ta tion (IDOT) has de ployed BlueTOAD by TrafficCast to mon i tor travel times and road speeds dur ing the re sur fac ing of In ter - state the Ei sen hower Ex press way through fall Delcan Cor po ra tion, which ad min is ters the IDOT Traf fic Sys tem Cen ter, has in te - grated BlueTOAD Travel Times into the cen ter s op er a tions, TrafficCast said in a July press re lease. IDOT uses the cen ter to com mu ni cate di rectly to driv ers through over head signs and the re gional trav eler in - for ma tion website ( for the Gary-Chi cago-mil wau kee Cor ri - dor. The IDOT Cen ter also sup ports road net work man age ment and congestion mitigation. The Ei sen hower re sur fac ing pro ject was a high pri or ity, and we needed to help driv ers deal with the ex pected con ges - tion, said Jeff Ga las, man ager of the IDOT Cen ter. This BlueTOAD tech nol - ogy plan came to gether quickly, and it works. I ve driven the route of ten, and the travel times are correct. Nor mally, Chi cago-area road speeds and travel times are de rived from in duc tive loop sen sors em bed ded in ex press ways. These are dis abled for the du ra tion of the Ei sen hower re sur fac ing pro ject. With its in de pend ent op er a tion on the cel lu lar net - work and flex i bil ity in in stal la tion, BlueTOAD en ables IDOT to main tain the com mu ni ca tion of vi tal driver in for ma tion through out the pro ject. It is an tic i pated that the units will be re de ployed on other projects when the Eisenhower is completed. BlueTOAD com bines ad vanced wire - less tech nol ogy with so phis ti cated data pro cess ing to di rectly mea sure travel times and route be hav iors. It de tects anon y mous Bluetooth sig nals broad cast by mo bile de - Blue Toad is attached to the rear of an exit sign on I-90/I-94, north of Madison, WI. (Photo: Cour tesy of TrafficCast) vices and in-ve hi cle elec tron ics. Travel times and rout ing de ci sions are de ter mined through a real-time data fil ter ing and pro - cess ing plat form which matches sig nal de - tec tions of sub se quent BlueTOAD re ceiv - ers along the road. The BlueTOAD name is an ac ro nym for Bluetooth Travel-time Origination and Destination. Bluetooth-en abled de vices, such as cell phones, head sets, mu sic play ers and nav i - ga tion sys tems, con nect with each other by con nect ing their MAC (Me dia Ac cess Con - trol) ad dresses. These MAC ad dresses are unique and there fore ideal as iden ti fi ers. Bluetooth iden ti fi ers are not tracked through the pro duc tion and sales cy cles, so the MAC ad dresses are not as so ci ated with any spe cific user ac count (as is the case with cell phones) or any spe cific ve hi cle (as with au to mated toll tags or li cense plate rec og ni - tion sys tems). Pri vacy con cerns typ i cally associated with alternative probe systems are minimized, if not eliminated. In prac tice, BlueTOAD only de tects the unique IDs that pass the sen sor in a 75-foot ra dius. The de tected MAC ad dresses are then up loaded to a server (through a cel lu lar mo dem or an avail able Ethernet in ter con - nec tion), fil tered for us abil ity and pro - cessed to match de tec tions of unique IDs along with their time stamps. Since the road dis tance be tween de vices is known, travel time can be cal cu lated di rectly. Av er age road speeds are de rived from travel time in con trast to speed sen sors, which cal cu late spot speeds, and then derive travel times. MAC ad dresses re ceived by a se - quence of two or more BlueTOAD re - ceiv ers can be matched and used to de - velop a sam ple of travel time across mul - ti ple seg ments of the road way, as well as across al ter nate route op tions, based on the relative detection times recorded by the var i ous units. While only a 1% sam - pling of ve hi cle flow is nec es sary to ac cu - rately re port travel times, up to 20% of all vehicles are currently estimated to emit Bluetooth sig nals. Ac cord ing to TrafficCast, BlueTOAD is more cost ef - fec tive as a probe data sys tem to de ter - mine travel times than more spe cial ized Please turn to Page 10

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 10 Con tin ued from Page 2 EC Out lines Pro gram to Halve Road Deaths by 2020 de sign stage when in fra struc ture is be ing de vel oped. Boost Smart Tech nol ogy: The EC will pro pose new tech ni cal spec i fi ca tions, un - der the Intelligent Transport Systems Di - rec tive, so that data and in for ma tion can be easily exchanged between vehicles and be - tween ve hi cles and in fra struc ture. The EC will accelerate the deployment of e-call and ex am ine its ex ten sion to mo tor cy clists, heavy duty trucks and buses. Strengthen Road User Ed u ca tion and Training: The EC will work with Mem ber States to de velop a com mon ed u ca tion and train ing road safety strat egy. This will in - clude strength en ing the li cens ing and train ing sys tem by wid en ing the EU Driv - ing Li cense Di rec tive to establish: Minimum criteria for driving instruc - tors, In te gra tion of ac com pa nied driv ing/ap - pren tice ship in the pre-li cens ing pe riod, The pos si bil ity of in tro duc ing pro ba tion pe ri ods af ter the driv ing test, The pos si bil ity of in tro duc ing eco-driv - ing into theoretical and practical tests for safer, clean driv ing. Better en force ment: Mea sures to strengthen EU-wide and na tional en force - ment con trols for speed ing, drink driv - ing and fail ure to wear a seatbelt will in - clude the de vel op ment of na tional im ple - men ta tion plans and EU-wide aware ness cam paigns. The EC will con sider pen al - ties to be ac com pa nied by pre ven ta tive mea sures for drink driv ing, such as leg is la - tive mea sures re quir ing man da tory use of alco-locks for spe cific pro fes sional cases af ter drink-driv ing of fences. The EC will pri or i tize the adop tion of le gally bind ing mea sures on the cross bor der ex change of information to allow for the identification and sanc tion ing of for eign of fend ers for seatbelts, speed, alcohol and traffic light offences. Es tab lish ing a Road In ju ries Tar get: The EC will de velop the el e ments of a com pre hen sive strat egy of ac tion con cern - ing road in ju ries and first aid, including: Es tab lish ing com mon def i ni tions of se - ri ous and mi nor in ju ries with a view to es tab lish ing com mon EU-wide in ju ries target. Pro mot ing ex change of best prac tices be tween Mem ber States on emer gency ser vice re sponse to ac ci dents, and es tab - lish ing EU-wide data col lec tion and anal y sis on in ju ries. Ex am in ing the added value of de vel op - ing and in stall ing event data re cord ers, par tic u larly on pro fes sional ve hi cles, to im prove ac ci dent in ves ti ga tions and analysis. A New Fo cus on Mo tor cy clists: While other ve hi cle trans port modes have shown significant decreases in fatalities and seri - ous in ju ries, those for pow ered two-wheeler (PTW) rid ers have not. At the EU level, mea sures for PTW will be pro - posed in clud ing in tro duc ing func tional ve - hi cle safety mea sures such as man da tory fit ting of ad vanced brake sys tems and up - dated anti-tam per ing mea sures (so speed con trols can not be re moved); de vel op ing tech ni cal stan dards on pro tec tive equip - ment such as cloth ing, and to study ing the fea si bil ity of equip ping mo tor cy cles or pro tec tive cloth ing with an airbag; ex tend - ing EU leg is la tion on road wor thi ness testing/inspections to motorbikes and other powered two wheelers. For more in for ma tion, visit events-archive/2010_07_20_road_safety _2011_2020_en.htm. Continued from Page 9 Product and Industry News (continued) rec og ni tion sys tems. BlueTOAD implementation offers: Gran u lar speed data on road sec tions where traditional sensors are impracti - cal, such as en trance ramps, tun nels and bridges; Real-time and forecast comparisons of travel times between designated origin & des ti na tions, to build travel pat terns for road plan ning; Com pre hen sive data sam pling of driver ac tions, which can be col lected over time pe ri ods far be yond that which is eco nom i cally fea si ble through tra di - tional meth ods like car counts and rub - ber strips. Per ma nent or tem po rary in stal la tion of BlueToad also can mon i tor ex press way exit/entrance patterns, destinations after exit, backup queues and other con di - tions to more ef fec tively sup port plan - ning and op er a tions of the road net work. BlueTOAD has shown to de liver ac - cu rate travel times in dif fi cult travel con di - tions, with out the com pli ca tions of cost, pri vacy and in fra struc ture im pact in volved with other tech nol o gies, said Neal Camp - bell, CEO of TrafficCast. The Ei sen hower pro ject con sists of re - sur fac ing 27 miles along I-290 from Thorndale to the Cir cle In ter change (90-94) near down town Chi cago, and from I-355 from Army Trail Road to I-290, within Cook and DuPage coun ties. It in - cludes re pairs to 37 bridge struc tures. The pro ject will be com pleted in weather per - mit ting in fall For more in for ma tion, visit or con tact Nick Kiernan at n.kiernan@trafficcast.com.

11 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 11 Co pen ha gen Launches Global Call to Pi lot Fu ture Bi cy cle Technologies Summit on Service Innovation in Cities to Be Held in Copenhagen in November 2010 The city of Co pen ha gen and Liv ing Labs Global have is sued a world wide call for in - novative mobility solutions aimed at inte - grating bicycles fully into an intelligent and in te grated trans port sys tem for the city. Liv ing Labs Global is an in ter na tional non-profit as so ci a tion based in Co pen ha - gen aimed at pro mot ing in no va tion in ser - vices and mo bil ity in cit ies. Al ready, more than 55% of Co pen ha - gen s res i dents use the bi cy cle each day. Co pen ha gen seeks to eval u ate new ap pli - ca tions of in tel li gent tech nol ogy not only in en ter tain ment and safety, but also to ad - dress the bar ri ers that con tinue to ex ist be - tween the pub lic trans port sys tem and bi - cy cle uses. Three so lu tions will be se lected and pi loted in Co pen ha gen in au tumn The se lec tion will co in cide with the Co pen ha gen Bar ce lona Kaohsiung Sum mit on Ser vice In no va tion in Cit ies to be held at the Co pen ha gen City Hall on No vem ber 24-25, The cit ies of Co - pen ha gen, Bar ce lona and Kaohsiung, Tai - wan and Liv ing Labs Global will co-host the sum mit which is ex pected to be at - tended by 30 global cit ies and more than 100 com pa nies. The pi lot pro jects and a show case of the lat est in no va tions from around the world will spur discussions among cities, companies and experts. Liv ing Labs Global s Gen eral Di rec tor Sascha Haselmayer said that the goal of the call to pilot future bicycle technologies is three fold. It seeks to en sure that: Co pen ha gen con tin ues to be one of the best cit ies for bi cy clists in the world; The best so lu tions are taken into con sid - er ation - in de pend ently from where they are in vented, International and domestic SMEs (small and me dium en ter prises) meet and build stron ger co op er a tion at the Co pen ha - gen Bar ce lona Sum mit on Ser vice In - novation in Cities. Haselmayer told UTM that sub mis sion for the pi lot pro gram is free. (There is a small registration fee for participation in the Co pen ha gen Bar ce lona Kaohsiung Sum mit on Ser vice In no va tion in Cit ies, how ever.) The dead line to sub mit a so lu - tion for the pi lot was ini tially Au gust 31, 2010, but it was ex tended to Sep tem ber 30, The city of Co pen ha gen and Liv ing Labs Global will no tify the win ners on Oc - to ber 31and an nounce the re sults pub licly at the Co pen ha gen Bar ce lona Kaohsiung Sum mit on Ser vice In no va tion in No vem - ber. Suc cess ful in di vid u als and/or com pa - nies will en ter dis cus sions with the city on implementation of the pilot immediately af - ter se lec tion and get the op por tu nity to pres - ent and ex hibit their so lu tions at the sum - mit. Pi lots should be run ning by or be fore Jan u ary 31, 2011 and run for around one to six months. Sub mis sions for the pi lot should meet any of the fol low ing chal lenges: Smarter bike paths that in di cate dan gers (such as frost) or con ges tion, or in cor po - rate sensors to monitor activities and re - spond to us age needs and link to traf fic light sys tems of fer ing green waves for cyclists. Tech nol o gies in bi cy cles such as health sen sors, lo ca tion in for ma tion, theft pro - tec tion, or en ter tain ment and fit ness mon i tors that can be ap plied for en ter - tain ment, wellbeing, se cu rity and other pur poses. Mo bile ser vices that link bi cy cles and rid ers to so cial net works, pro vide news and up dates, to pre-book bikes or re serve park ing, to plan routes and other ac tiv i - ties. In te gra tion of bi cy cle rides with other modes of pub lic trans port to give more inter-modal op tions for com mu ters. Im proved bi cy cle park ing around key in - ter sec tions and meet ing points. Im proved health and well-be ing mon i - tor ing and im pact of bi cy cles in the city. Im proved se cu rity and safety in re la tion to bicycles. Bicycles that replace service vehicles for crafts men in the in ner city. Ser vices to sup port bi cy cle tour ism. Haselmayer said that the sub mis sions will be judged by the city of Co pen ha gen with tech ni cal sup port from Liv ing Labs Global. Dif fer ent city de part ments will re - view the sub mis sions de pend ing on whether they re late, for ex am ple, to health, cli mate, trans port, ur ban planning or tourism. Criteria for evaluating the submissions will fo cus on the rel e vance of so lu tion to the chal lenges of Co pen ha gen, in no va tion in tech nol ogy in a ser vice or busi ness model, sustainability of a ser vice/busi - ness/in vest ment model, ben e fits of the pro ject for res i dents, ben e fits of the pro - ject for the city, ben e fits of the pro ject for the lo cal busi ness fab ric, and the scalability of the solution to other cities. The city of Co pen ha gen, has one of the world s most am bi tious lo cal cli mate pol i - cies, striv ing to be come a zero-emis sion com mu nity by the year Liv ing Labs Global is work ing with more than 35 global cit ies and 290 com pa nies pro vid ing so lu tions to meet the ser vice and tech nol - ogy chal lenges of cit ies. The Liv ing Labs Global Show case pres ents more than 350 ser vice in no va tions from 140 cit ies around the world as a free re source to im - prove de ci sion-mak ing, pro cure ment and give visibility to innovative businesses. For more in for ma tion about this call for sub mis sions, please visit sp, or con tact Sascha Haselmayer at or by at s.haselmayer@interlace-invent.com.

12 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 12 FHWA An nounces $9.7 Mil lion in Grants to Fund In no va tive Ap proaches to Relieve Con ges tion Funds Will Help Seven States Im prove Liv abil ity for Res i dents Seven states will re ceive more than $9.7 mil lion as part of a na tional pro gram to en - cour age in no va tive strat e gies to re lieve con ges tion. Cal i for nia, Florida, North Carolina, Min ne sota, Texas, Vir ginia and Wash ing ton re ceived grants for 10 pro - jects un der the Fed eral High way Ad min is - tra tion s Value Pric ing Pi lot Pro gram (VPPP), the Fed eral High way Ad min is tra - tion an nounced last month. Value pric - ing re fers to vary ing price lev els by time of day or traf fic vol ume in or der to man age con ges tion. It can sig nif i cantly im prove traf fic flow by en cour ag ing peo ple to choose to drive at dif fer ent times of the day, thereby spread ing out de mand and re - duc ing con ges tion at peak hours. These pro jects show that states are de - vel op ing new ways of think ing about how to man age con ges tion, U.S. Trans por ta - tion Sec re tary Ray LaHood said. Money from this pro gram con tin ues to sup port in - no va tive so lu tions that will pro vide better re sults for the Amer i can peo ple. Ul ti - mately, peo ple will be able to spend more time do ing what they like and less time stuck in traf fic, Fed eral High way Ad min - is tra tor Victor Mendez added. The grants in clude: $1.9 mil lion for the Texas De part ment of Trans por ta tion to test a pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) in sur ance plan that al lows driv ers to buy in sur ance by the mile; $1.8 mil lion for the Cal i for nia De part - ment of Trans por ta tion and the city of Berke ley to im ple ment a park ing pric ing plan that in cludes real-time in for ma tion on avail able spaces; $900,000 for south Florida to de velop a priced-lanes net work in the Mi ami-ft. Laud er dale area that will im prove the travel reliability for commuters, includ - ing tran sit and carpool us ers. The VPPP was ini tially au tho rized in the Intermodal Sur face Trans por ta tion Ef fi - ciency Act (ISTEA) as the Con ges tion Pric ing Pi lot Pro gram and re newed with the pas sage of the Safe, Ac count able, Flex - ible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Leg acy for Us ers (SAFETEA-LU). For more than a de cade, the pro gram has sup - State Agency Project Grant Amount Description CA Caltrans / Santa Clara County Stan ford U Park ing Pric - ing w/ Off-Peak Com - muting Incentives $2.4 mil lion Strat e gies to man age traf fic and park ing. CA CA Caltrans / City of Berke ley Caltrans / Santa Barbara County Berke ley Park ing Pric ing and Real-time Guid ance for City & Uni ver sity Dy namic Ridesharing with Pricing Incentives FL Florida DOT Net work of Priced Man - aged Lanes in S. Florida FL NC Tampa-Hillsboro Expressway Au - thority NCDOT and Charlotte MPO Re gional Bus Toll Lanes Study Re gional Priced Lanes Study MN MnDOT Parking Pricing Alterna - tives to Monthly Park ing Passes TX Texas DOT MileMeter/NuRide Pay-Per-Mile Insurance & Incentives VA WA Source: FHWA Virginia DOT and Washington Coun cil of Gov - ern ments Washington DOT and King County Value Pric ing Pi lot Pro gram Awards 2009/2010 Pub lic Ac cep tance Study of Re gional Pric ing in DC In cen tives to Re duce Amount of Park ing ported over 70 pro jects in 15 states to im - prove travel through pric ing. Ac cord ing to the FHWA, value pric ing con cepts that have be come main stream un der tak ings and are now com mon prac - tice, such as high oc cu pancy ve hi cle (HOV) con ver sions to high oc cu pancy toll (HOT) lanes will not be funded. But VPPP pro jects do in clude road-use tolls that vary by de mand. Charges may vary on a pre-sched uled ba sis or dy nam i cally in re - sponse to real-time changes in de mand. Unlike rates on conventional toll facilities that are set pri mar ily to achieve cer tain rev e nue tar gets, con ges tion-priced toll rates are set to achieve a spe cific re duc tion in de mand or to main tain spe cific lev els of $1.8 mil lion Strat e gies to man age on-street park ing and re duce congestion from circling ve - hicles. $158,400 Test ing of carpooling sys tem that uses participation incen - tives. $900,000 Ini tia tive for a re gional priced man aged lane net - work that can serve as a model for other re gions. $800,000 Ad vance ment of first re - gional net work of bus toll lanes in the Tampa area. $400,000 Ad vance ment of first re - gional net work of priced lanes in the Char lotte area. $24,800 Ex pan sion of pro ject to test incentive alternatives to monthly park ing passes and discourage daily driving. $2.0 mil lion Us age-based in sur ance pric - ing and additional incentives for ef fi cient travel choices. $320,000 Advancement of regional pric ing in DC in clud ing pric - ing existing facilities. $1.0 mil lion Implementation of incen - tives as al ter na tives to park - ing. per for mance on the priced fa cil ity. Con - ges tion-pric ing projects involving tolls include: Priced lanes, in which pric ing is ap plied on a lim ited num ber of lanes of a road way; Priced roadways, in which pric ing is ap - plied on all lanes of a road way fa cil ity; Zone-based pricing, in which pric ing is ap plied within a lim ited zone in volv ing several roadway facilities; System-wide pricing, in which pric ing is applied within an entire metropolitan re - gion, state, or coun try. Other types of VPPP pro jects that are funded in clude in no va tive park ing pric ing Please turn to Page 13

13 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, VOL. 24 NO. 7 Page 13 Con tin ued from Page 12 FHWA An nounces $9.7 Mil lion in Grants to Fund In no va tive Ap proaches to Relieve Con ges tion strat e gies, such as sur charges for en ter ing or ex it ing a park ing fa cil ity dur ing or near peak pe ri ods and park ing cash-out pol i - cies. Ex am ples of park ing cash-out pol i - cies are pol i cies in which em ploy ees are of fered cash in lieu of sub si dized park ing, park ing op er a tors re im burse monthly pa - trons for un used park ing days, or rent ers or pur chas ers in multi-fam ily hous ing de vel - op ments are pro vided di rect fi nan cial sav - ing for not avail ing of car park ing spaces. Funded VPPP pro jects also in clude pro jects that make auto use costs vari able. Fixed costs of auto own er ship, such as in - sur ance costs, auto lease costs or reg is tra - tion fees gen er ally do not de pend di rectly on the amount the auto is driven. Pro jects in this cat e gory are de signed to con vert those fixed costs into costs that vary ac - cord ing to the miles the auto is driven, thus giv ing the driver the in cen tive to rec og nize these costs when mak ing the de ci sion to drive. Pro jects in clude mile age-based in - sur ance, lease charges, taxes and fees. The FHWA pro vided the fol low ing ad - di tional in for ma tion in re sponse to ques - tions pro vided by the UTM: What are some of the most suc cess ful pro jects funded un der the Value Pric ing Pi lot Pro gram? The first Value Pric ing Pro ject was im ple - mented in 1995 Or ange County, Cal i for nia on State Route 91 (SR-91). Since that time seven HOT lane pro jects have been im ple - mented un der the VPPP and are op er at ing suc cess fully in six states. They in clude I-15 in San Diego, I-25 in Den ver, I-95 in Mi ami, I-394 in Min ne sota, I-10 and US 290 in Hous ton, and SR 167 in Se at tle. The pur pose of the VPPP is to dem on strate to what ex tent road way con ges tion may be re duced through ap pli ca tion of con ges tion pricing strategies. What dis tin guishes these pro jects? Pric ing-re lated Tran sit Im prove ments Sup port Liv able and Sus tain able Com mu - nities: Con ges tion pric ing re duces travel times for buses that cur rently op er ate on con - gested road ways. While the San Diego I-15 pro ject sup ports op er a tion of a com - A toll price sign on the Mi ami I-95 Ex press Lanes (HOT lanes) which re ceived fund ing from the VPPP. (Photo: Cour tesy, FHWA and the Florida DOT) The Mi ami I-95 Ex press Lanes ac com mo date ex press buses. (Photo: Cour tesy, FHWA and the Florida DOT) mu ter bus route, the fi nan cial in vest ment in tran sit for the Mi ami pro ject was sig nif i - cant. The 95 Ex press pro ject sup ported the de vel op ment and op er a tion of pre mium express transit facilities and services. Improv ing ac cess to tran sit also helps limit the ex tent to which newly priced trav el ers de - cide to di vert their trips to other toll-free routes. A high-quality transit alternative also ad dresses eq uity con cerns by pro vid - ing mo bil ity to low-in come trav el ers and by re duc ing the toll lev els that would be nec - es sary to re duce high way use by a cer tain amount. The use of the pub lic trans por ta - tion sys tem was made more at trac tive through im prove ments in travel time, fre - quency of ser vice (which re duces wait time), improved parking availability at park-and-ride lots, and more comfortable rides. Please turn to Page 14