THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2014 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 28, NO 10 DE CEM BER 19, 2014 New Traf fic App Uses In cen tive Pro gram to Help Driv ers Avoid Con ges tion Metropia Mobile App Being Tested in Cit ies Known for Traf fic Con ges tion A new app is being billed as a crys tal ball to help driv ers avoid traf fic con ges tion before you re in it. The Metropia Mobile app (for merly known as Smartrek) was cre ated by Yi-Chang Chiu, an asso ci ate pro fes sor of civil engi neer ing at the Uni ver sity of Ari - zona, and is designed to help com mu ters rec og nize that they are a part of a city s traf fic con ges tion prob lems and can be a part of the solu tion. It offers incen tives for driv ers to travel dur ing cer tain times of the day and along routes that will help ease congestion. A driver can open the app and find a list of future depar ture times and route options, expected travel times, and the cred its to be earned for each time and route offered. The driver then makes a res er va - tion for their desired time and route, essen - tially book ing their spot on the high way. By know ing when and where driv ers will be, the app uses a pre dic tive algo rithm and draws on historical traffic patterns and real-time con ges tion data to encour age users to choose less-con gested times and routes. The app is now in an approx i mately three-month beta-test ing phase in Aus tin, Texas, that is slated to run through early Jan u ary. Metropia Mobile is then expected to be avail able in the Google Play Store, fol lowed by the itunes store. Chiu says Aus tin was a nat u ral choice for test ing because Aus tin is the fourth most con - gested city in the United States and is grow ing quickly. If we can make an improve ment in Aus tin, it bodes well for Metropia s suc cess in other met ro pol i tan areas. Metropia says it has already met its goal Glas gow Using Bus Gates to Ease Traf fic Congestion, Pollution Major Reduc tions in Local Traf fic Cred ited to Gate Restric tions The city of Glas gow, Scot land, is con sid - er ing add ing two more bus gates to its city cen ter to cut per sonal vehi cle travel in the down town area. Three such gates already in place are cred ited with reduc ing local - ized traf fic by 60 to 70 per cent and improv - ing air qual ity, reduc ing noise and improv ing the gen eral local envi ron ment for pedes tri ans and cyclists. of recruit ing 400 beta test ers, and more than half of them have taken more than one trip. In two months of test ing, the users Please turn to Page 5 Glas gow s bus gates are not phys i cal restric tions. Andrew Brown, the Glas gow City Coun cil s Pro jects Man ager for Land and Envi ron men tal Ser vices, says the gates are effec tively a full arte rial road access restric tion backed up by a Traf fic Reg u la - tion Order and the appro pri ate reg u la tory and direc tional sign age and road mark ings. Please turn to Page 5 Inside Sur veys....page 12 Requests for Pro pos als....page 21 Confer ences...page 22 A Glasgow bus gate indicated by red pavement markings and blue roundels. (Photo: Courtesy of Glasgow City Council)

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28, NO. 10 Page 2 Vir ginia Mak ing Changes in its Pub lic-pri vate Part ner ship Pro grams New Guide lines De signed to In crease Trans parency and Competition while Minimizing Risk Af ter months of pub lic out reach, Vir ginia has de cided to make some changes in its pub lic-pri vate part ner ship pro grams. The Com mon wealth Trans por ta tion Board (CTB) has ap proved re forms to in - crease transparency and competition and to better eval u ate the pub lic s risk for trans por ta tion pro jects de liv ered un der the Pub lic Pri vate Trans por ta tion Act (PPTA), also known as the P3 pro cess. New guide - lines were is sued last month fol low ing a six-month pub lic out reach ef fort that gar - nered sug ges tions for im prove ments from more than 100 pri vate cit i zens, pub lic of fi - cials, and ad vo cacy and in dus try groups. Many of the sug ges tions have been in - cluded in the Up dated 2014 Virginia PPTA Implementation Manual and Guidelines. Vir ginia Trans por ta tion Sec re tary Aubrey Lane calls the P3 pro cess a valu - able tool to de liver cer tain pro jects, but he says re forms were nec es sary to draw clear lines of ac count abil ity, strengthen com pe - ti tion, in crease trans par ency and pub lic en - gage ment and min i mize the risk to taxpayers. Re forms are grouped in three ba sic cat e - go ries and in clude: En gag ing de ci sion mak ers and in creas ing transparency - In volve CTB mem bers and law mak ers (chair men of the House and Sen ate Transportation Committees) as members of PPTA Steer ing Com mit tees, which in de pend ently re view po ten tial P3 pro jects. Provide reviews at critical project milestones with the CTB; the board will take a more ac tive role through out the life of a P3 pro ject. In form leg is la tors on the pro pos als early in the pro cess and dur ing crit i cal phases. En gage the pub lic at ev ery stage of the P3 pro cess. In creas ing com pe ti tion - Score P3 can di date pro jects un der House Bill 2 to de ter mine the value and need of trans por ta tion im prove ments. Move un so lic ited pro pos als into a stan - dard com pet i tive pro cess. Max i mize com pe ti tion; should only one pro posal be re ceived dur ing the Re quest for Pro pos als, the com mon - wealth will con duct a full value as - sess ment of the pro posal to de ter mine if best value for tax pay ers re mains. Minimizing risk - Iden tify pro ject risks early in the P3 pro cess; and con tinue as sess ing risk through out the P3 pro ject de vel op - ment and pro cure ment stages with brief ings to the CTB at crit i cal pro ject milestones. Es tab lish the P3 pro ject s scope and risk pro file; this in for ma tion - Find - ings of Pub lic In ter est - will be made pub lic at crit i cal stages in a P3 pro - ject s development. Re start the pro cure ment pro cess if there are sig nif i cant changes to pro ject scope, size or com plex ity. For more in for ma tion, visit: or con tact Tamara Rollison at tamara.rollison@vdot.virginia.gov. The I-495 Ex press Lanes (left two lanes in photo) were con structed through Vir ginia's Pub lic Pri vate Part ner ship Pro gram. (Photo: Cour tesy of TransUrban) 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 2014, 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: Carol Ochs

3 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 3 To ronto to Nar row Traf fic Lanes in Ef fort to In crease Safety New Guide lines could Trim Lane Widths and Give Added Room to Pe des tri ans and Bi cy clists The city of To ronto wants to im prove traf - fic safety by mak ing its streets a lit tle tougher for driv ers to nav i gate. It has adopted new guide lines aimed at mak ing traf fic lanes nar rower to slow driv ers down a bit in an ef fort to re duce ac ci dents. To ronto Trans por ta tion Ser vices will start ap ply ing the guide lines in 2015 as roads are sched uled to be re sur faced or re - con structed. The guide lines will ap ply only to ar te rial and col lec tor roads not ex press ways or lo cal roads. Ex tra space that is gained by nar row ing the lanes can be used for left-turn ing lanes, me di ans, ad di - tional park ing lanes, bike lanes or wider side walks, de pend ing on the iden ti fied goals of the street and network. Fiona Chapman, Manager Pedestrian Pro jects, says the move ment to ward nar - row lanes is based on safety con cerns for all road way us ers. There are ben e fits for the most vul ner a ble road us ers, namely pe - des tri ans, by re duc ing the por tion of road they have to cross. There are ben e fits for road us ers in terms of re duc ing col li sions and the se ver ity of col li sions. The city also says through put will not be ad versely af fected. Chap man points out that when you re duce cross ing times, it can give you more green time. Backgrounder in for ma tion pro duced by To ronto Trans por ta tion Ser vices notes that over the past five years, the city has had be tween 20 and 40 pe des trian fa tal i - ties, and two to four cy cling fa tal i ties each year, and se nior cit i zens were of ten the vic - tims. It says speed is of ten a fac tor in crashes and we know that the higher the speed, the greater the risk of mortality. The backgrounder cites nu mer ous stud - ies that sup port the view that overly gen er - ous lane widths con trib ute to speed ing, and by nar row ing lanes and slow ing traf fic, safety is in creased. While Chap man ac - knowl edges that some stud ies have in di - cated nar rower lanes can ac tu ally lead to more ac ci dents, she says those stud ies have fo cused on more ru ral, two-lane and un di - vided road ways, rather than the ur ban streets cov ered by To ronto s guide lines. Chap man says that where speeds are con - cerned, sign age and en force ment tend to have a lim ited ef fect, so the guide lines speak to the de sign el e ment that has been shown to have a greater effect on behavior. Un der the guide lines, tar get widths have been es tab lished for lanes, but ranges have been established to allow for flexibility in road way de sign. For in stance, Chap man says the tar get width for ma jor ar te ri als will be 3.2 me ters (10.5 feet) and the tar get for col lec tor or mi nor ar te ri als will be 3 me ters (9.8 feet). How ever, the guide lines are not hard and fast rules, they are sim ply guide - lines de signed to take many dif fer ent fac - tors into con sid er ation when it co mes time for re paint ing, re sur fac ing or reconstructing the city s streets. Chap man points out that in some older ar eas of the city, there s not much right of way to play with. In other ar eas, whether or not the tar get width can be reached might de pend on a num ber of fac tors, such as the pres ence of off-peak street park ing, 24-hour park ing lanes, bus or street car use, bi cy cling fa cil i ties, high truck us age or high pe des trian ac tiv ity. She says the guide lines also look at land use whether an area is pri mar ily in dus trial, in sti tu - tional, com mer cial, residential, etc. The guide lines were de vel oped through a lengthy con sul ta tive pro cess with nu mer ous stake holders in clud ing Emer gency Ser vices, Pub lic Health, City Plan ning, and En gi neer ing and Con struc - tion Ser vices. Still, Chap man says you don t want to lock your self in am ber. The city views this first set of guide lines as ver sion 1.0 and ex pects changes will be made over time as the lane widths are fur - ther eval u ated and feedback received. Dur ing the up com ing win ter months, when street main te nance nec es sar ily slows be cause of the weather in To ronto, trans por ta tion of fi cials will use the time to de velop train ing pro grams for staff to get fa mil iar with the guide lines. Chap man notes that some To ronto streets have al - ready suc cess fully em ployed the narrower lanes. For more in for ma tion, con tact Steve Johnston sjohnsto@to ronto.ca or visit: ronto.ca/wps/por - tal/contentonly?vgnextoid=e a7 c1410vgnvcm d60f89rcrd Narrow lanes in Toronto. (Photo: Cour tesy of Toronto Transportation Services)

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 4 May oral Speeches Through out the U.S. Used to Iden tify Most Fre quently Men tioned Trans por ta tion Issues New Re port Finds In fra struc ture and Multimodal Trans por ta tion are Key Is sues With 80 per cent of Amer i cans now liv ing in ur ban ar eas, the Na tional League of Cit - ies (NLC) finds that trans por ta tion is sues fig ure prom i nently in the minds of the na - tion s may ors. In its State of the Cit ies 2014 re port, NLC ex am ines a broad cross-sec tion of an nual ad dresses from may ors across the coun try to get a sense of where lo cal lead ers stand on a host of is - sues, in clud ing trans por ta tion. The NCL looked at 100 may oral speeches from around the coun try and found that the top is sues for the na tion s may ors are jobs and the econ omy, bud get and fi nance, and pub lic safety. How ever, 75 per cent of the speeches touched on trans por ta tion is sues, with 28 per cent in - clud ing sig nif i cant cov er age. Trans por ta - tion was an es pe cially im por tant is sue for may ors in the West and South. May ors in the South put more em pha sis on bridges and side walks while west ern may ors fo - cused more heavily on bi cy cles and trains. City size did not have a ma jor im pact on whether trans por ta tion is sues re ceived sig - nificant coverage. While much at ten tion has been paid in the past to State of the Un ion and State of the State ad dresses, the NCL says its new re port is the first of its kind to ex am ine is - sues at a more lo cal level. It will serve as the foun da tion for an nual benchmarking for years to come to help assess trends and strategies. In the state of the city ad dresses re - viewed by the NCL, 71 per cent of the may - ors talked about roads. Bi cy cle is sues were men tioned in 37 per cent of the speeches, and bridges and side walks were men tioned in 35 per cent. Trains came up 29 per cent of the time, and buses re ceived at ten tion in 27 per cent of the speeches. The NCL notes in its re port that trans - por ta tion pro jects suf fered in the wake of the eco nomic down turn. How ever, may - ors ex pressed a com mit ment to re stor ing trans por ta tion in vest ments, and trans por - ta tion in fra struc ture was a com mon theme. In Rhode Is land, Prov i dence Mayor An gel Taveras proudly noted that a $40 mil lion pro ject to fix 62 miles of roads in Prov i - dence would be completed by the end of the year. An other pop u lar topic was multimodal trans por ta tion. In his ad dress, Se at tle Mayor Ed Murray said, We can and must keep push ing to ward a goal where 75 per - cent of our com mu ters travel to work by walk ing, bik ing, tran sit or carpool. Ho - no lulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell em pha sized the role of multimodal trans por ta tion in creating social equity, calling public trans - por ta tion the great equal izer for the people of our community. Bi cy cles and bike lanes were of ten Bicycle priority measures in Seattle, WA. (Photo: Cour tesy of the City of Seattle) men tioned as a com po nent of a multimodal trans por ta tion sys tem. Mayor George Heartwell of Grand Rap ids, Mich i gan, noted his city had re cently in stalled 42 new miles of bike lanes to ward a 2015 goal of 100 miles. Caldwell, who de voted more than a third of his speech to trans por ta tion is sues, said that $1.4 mil lion of the up com - ing bud get was spe cif i cally de voted to a bike plan and bike lane improvements. In San Diego, Mayor Todd Glo ria said that in vest ing in bi cy cles makes sense for pub lic health, our en vi ron ment, re duc ing traf fic con ges tion and for greater in ter ac - tion in our neigh bor hoods. He also an - nounced a new bike-shar ing program. For more in for ma tion, visit: lu - tions/city-so lu tions-and-ap plied-re - search/state-of-the-cities

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 5 Con tin ued from Page 1 New Traf fic App Uses In cen tive Pro gram have taken more than 2,000 trips and trav - eled more than 23,000 miles. Us ers av er - age about 5.7 trips per week. The com pany says its app works best when us ers re serve their trip ahead of time be cause re served trips are in cluded in our pat ented, pre dic tive al go rithm. Through it, Metropia is able to pre dict which road way will be come con gested, and dynamically increase incentives for other less con gested de par ture time and routes. It notes that with out this fea ture, other nav i ga tion so lu tions di vert driv ers to the same clearer routes which even tu - ally in turn become congested. In Aus tin, 78 per cent of us ers are re - serv ing their trips within 15 min utes of their de par ture time, but 22 per cent are plan ning ahead and are re serv ing their trips min utes in ad vance or more. Over - all, 43 per cent of the beta test ers are sav ing time us ing Metropia routes com pared to their typ i cal routes, but among those who plan ahead, 73 per cent are ex pe ri enc ing travel time savings. The app is also be ing al pha tested in Los An geles, New York City, Phoe nix and Tuc son,and in the San Fran cisco Bay Area. There are plans to ini ti ate test ing in Hous - ton and Dal las in Chiu es ti mates about 10 per cent of driv - ers must be will ing to ad just their de par ture time and route to sig nif i cantly re duce con - ges tion, and greater in cen tives are as - signed to de par ture times and routes that will help com mu ters avoid traf fic and lessen their im pact on the road way sys tem. These in cen tive points can be cashed in with Metropia part ners for re wards such as free park ing, event passes or food and en - ter tain ment dis counts. They also may be donated to charity. The Aus tin test is be ing sup ported by the Cen tral Texas Re gional Mo bil ity Au - thor ity. Metropia says it also gets sup port from oth ers in the com mu nity that form each in di vid ual city s Metropia Eco sys - tem: other trans por ta tion agen cies and trans por ta tion stake holders, em ploy ers, and lo cal busi nesses. This Eco sys tem may in clude shared out reach, in cen tives, cross-pro mo tion, and traffic data. In ad di tion to eas ing con ges tion, Metropia hopes its app will help re duce harm ful CO2 emis sions. The com pany has part nered with Amer i can For ests to plant trees on be half of Metropia Mo bile us ers. For ev ery 100 pounds of CO2 emis sions us - ers save by mak ing smart travel choices, Metropia pledges to fund the plant ing of a tree in the do mes tic United States to aid na - tional re-for es ta tion ef forts. App us ers can mon i tor their per sonal CO2 sav ings on the My Metropia dashboard. Metropia re ports that in Aus tin, it has seen a cu mu la tive sav ings of 1,500 pounds of CO2 and 15 trees have been planted. For more in for ma tion, visit: Con tin ued from Page 1 Glas gow Us ing Bus Gates to Ease Traf fic Congestion, Pollution For ex am ple, he cites blue roun dels and road mark ings in di cat ing bus taxi and cy - cle only with al ter na tive routes iden ti fied for other traf fic and ad vance di rec tional sign age. The re stric tions are en forced by CCTV cam eras. The stan dard pen alty for a vi o la - tion of the bus gates is a 60 ($94) fixed fine, which is re duced to 30 ($47) if paid within 14 days. Rev e nues from the bus gates have cap - tured head lines in the United King dom. In Sep tem ber, the Daily Re cord and Sunday Mail re ported that in the first two months since cars were banned from Nel son Mandela Place, the city coun cil earned a whop ping 800,000 ($1,256,000) in pen - al ties, prompt ing ques tions about whether the gate was be ing viewed as a source of in - come. How ever, by Oc to ber, Glas gow s Eve ning Times re ported a 77 per cent drop in mo tor ists ig nor ing new bus gate and quoted a coun cil spokes man as say ing it is en cour ag ing that driv ers are modifying their behavior. Ac cord ing to Brown, the pri mary pur - pose of the bus gates is to pri or i tize route ad van tages for pub lic and sus tain able trans port means. In Glas gow, ac cess is lim ited to buses (in clud ing mini-buses), taxis (in clud ing li censed pri vate hire cars) and cy cles. He says the bus gates sig nif i - cantly re duce traf fic vol umes in af fected streets, improve public transport reliability and con trib ute to an enhanced local street environment. In ad di tion, Brown says the gates help to dis suade cars and trucks from us ing the city cen ter as a tran sit route, while still main - taining essential access for businesses, car parks, and mo bil ity im paired park ing and ser vic ing. As a re sult, there has been a re-rout ing of non-es sen tial traf fic away from key pub lic trans port streets dur ing hours of operation. Brown notes that pub lic trans port pro - viders, cyclists and pedestrians have been widely sup port ive of the gates, but there were ini tial ob jec tions from driv ers who were con cerned about the travel re - stric tions add ing time to their jour neys. He ac knowl edges that there was an in ev - i ta ble set tling in pe riod as lo cal traf fic tried to de ter mine the best al ter na tive routes, but he says no sig nif i cant ad di - tional con ges tion is now be ing found on al ter na tive routes. As those ini tial con - cerns generally failed to materialize, Brown says there has been a general acceptance of the measures. The coun cil is con sid er ing two more bus gates for the city cen ter, but these plans must still go through the for mal stat - u tory pub lic con sul ta tion pro cess for Traf fic Reg u la tion Or ders, and no im ple - men ta tion date has been set. The cost of in stall ing the gates can vary. Brown says costs are de pend ent on the com plex ity of the in stal la tion, such as sig nal work, cam eras and car riage way works, as well as any ad di tional sign ing and sig nal tim ing amend ments on al ter na - tive routes. Costs for the most re cent bus gate at Nel son Mandela Place were be - tween 50,000 ($79,000) and 60,000 ($94,000). The work in cluded a new en - forcement camera and associated signing and carriageway markings. Please turn to Page 6

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 6 Product and Industry News New Mono rail Sys tem Un der go ing Test ing in Brazil Bom bar dier Sys tem De signed to Ad dress Grow ing Pub lic Trans por ta tion Needs Bom bar dier Trans por ta tion is test ing a new mono rail sys tem in Brazil that is de - signed to help meet the grow ing need for ef fi cient pub lic trans por ta tion as the world becomes increasingly urbanized. Bom bar dier s INNOVIA Mono rail 300 is cur rently in its first test phase on Line 15 of Sno Paulo s Metro sys tem. The mono - rail, which be gan op er a tion in Au gust, pro - vides a 2.2 km link be tween the Vila Prudente and Oratório sta tions. When fully in stalled, the 24 km sys tem is ex - pected to serve more than a half-mil lion pas sen gers each day and re duce travel time be tween the ur ban cen ters of Vila Prudente and Cidade Tiradentes by more than half. The jour ney by car cur rently takes more than two hours. When fully im ple mented, a trip by mono rail is ex pected take approximately 50 minutes. The INNOVIA Mono rail 300 sys tem of fers full driverless au to ma tion and is equipped with Bom bar dier s CITYFLO 65 com mu ni ca tions-based train con trol tech - nol ogy, which al lows it to op er ate at a 75-sec ond head way. It can carry up to 48,000 pas sen gers per hour per di rec tion at a max i mum speed of 80 km/h. In ad di tion Con tin ued from Page 5 Glas gow Us ing Bus Gates Brown lists the ad van tages of the bus gates as im prove ments for pub lic trans port re li - abil ity, re duced traf fic lev els for cy clists and pe des tri ans, im proved lo cal en vi ron - ment and air qual ity. He says dis ad van - tages as sessed and ad dressed where pos si - ble dur ing the de sign stage in cluded: "nui - sance value for some lo cal stake holders in the im me di ate vi cin ity of the bus gate, mit - i gated by re duced op er a tional hours; changes to de liv ery routes for stores and of fices, mit i gated by op er a tional hours and spe cial ex emp tions; and po ten tially mov - ing con ges tion else where, which has not been borne out by ev i dence to date." Bombardier's INNOVIA Monorail 300 in Sao Paulo. (Photo: Cour tesy of Bombardier) to the sys tem be ing tested in Brazil, Bom - bar dier is de liv er ing a new INNOVIA Mono rail 300 sys tem in the King dom of Saudi Ara bia for the new King Abdullah Financial District. Bom bar dier spokes woman Emma Brett says that as more and more peo ple are mak ing cit ies their homes, Bom bar - dier is con fi dent that there is a global mar - ket for its new-gen er a tion INNOVIA Mono rail 300 system. Brett says the sys tem uses two- to eight-car trains and seat ing ar range ments are flex i ble. For ex am ple, a four-car train In mov ing for ward with ad di tional gates, Brown says the coun cil is cur rently re view ing all of its bus pri or ity mea sures and a likely rec om men da tion will be that all bus gates have the same op er at ing hours. The first bus gates op er ated 24 hours a day, but the most re cent gate at Nel son Mandela Place has only been op er - a tional from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more in for ma tion, visit: _Hlt aBM_1_BM_2 _spx?articleid=3196 or con tact land@glasgow.gov.uk. can be con fig ured to carry 64 seated pas - sen gers and 292 standees or 446 standees, de pend ing on the de sired pas sen ger den - sity. High-speed beam re place ment turn - out switches and multi-po si tion pivot switches al low the mono rail trains to be routed along the sys tem and in the de - pot/stor age yard. Brett ex plains that switch ver i fi ca tion is per formed through a fail-safe in ter lock with the au to matic train con trol sys tem as part of normal system operations. Among the sys tem s ad van tages, Bom - bardier lists: Quick and easy in stal la tion into ex ist ing ur ban en vi ron ments Fu tur is tic vi sual ap peal and un ob tru - sive guideway de sign Turn key so lu tion for fully in te grated sys tems Ef fi cient and en vi ron men tally friendly to op er ate Short head ways for su pe rior pas sen ger service Emer gency walk ways for safe egress with out com pro mis ing aes thet ics Cost effective implementation Brett says the INNOVIA Mono rail 300 sys tem also tries to ad dress two of the dis - ad van tages com monly cited with mono - rail sys tems. Con cerns about block ing light from the sky are ad dressed by slen - Please turn to Page 7

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 7 Con tin ued from Page 6 Product and Industry News (continued) der, un ob tru sive guideways, and any safety con cerns about dis em bark ing pas - sen gers in the event of an emer gency are ad dressed with the im ple men ta tion of an emer gency walk way along the en tire guideway. As an ad di tional ben e fit, the walk way also pro vides safe and eas ier ac - cess for main te nance crews. Since the INNOVIA Mono rail 300 sys - tem is sold as a com plete sys tem so lu tion, Brett says sys tem con fig u ra tion and cost is de pend ent upon ca pac ity and in fra struc - ture re quire ments. Past pro jects for Bom - bar dier s mono rail tech nol ogy in clude sys tems in Las Ve gas, Jacksonville and Newark. For more in for ma tion, visit: ation.html or con tact Maryanne Rob erts at maryanne.roberts@us.transport.bombardi er.com. A large Mono rail switch ing lo ca tion in Sao Paulo. (Photo, Cour tesy of Bom bar dier) An emer gency walk way is pro vided as part of the Bom bar dier Mono rail. (Photo: Cour tesy of Bom bar dier) Bat tery-elec tric Buses Roll ing in Chi cago and Win ni peg New Flyer Buses Get ting Pos i tive Feed back for Cleaner, Qui eter Ride Win ni peg has joined Chi cago in putt ing bat tery-elec tric buses on its city streets to help cut green house gases and make use of more cost-ef fi cient, re new able en ergy. Two of New Flyer s Xcelsior XE40 bat - tery-elec tric heavy-duty tran sit buses went into reg u lar ser vice with the Chi cago Transit Authority (CTA) in October, and last month, Win ni peg be gan daily ser vice with the first of four of the Xcelsior buses. The CTA says its bat tery-elec tric buses have per formed very well, have met our ex pec ta tions and cus tom ers ap pear to love them. In Win ni peg, Tony Dreolini, Tran - sit Man ager of Plant Equip ment, says re - ports from op er a tors have been very pos i - tive. They say it drives well and they ap pre ci ate the per for mance of the bus and its ac cel er a tion and brak ing. Peo ple out - side the buses are happy that it s quiet and less ob tru sive than a reg u lar die sel bus that is quite noisy and generates emissions. New Flyer In dus tries spokes man Jon Koffman says the zero-emis sion, bat - tery-electric propulsion transit buses are expected to significantly reduce greenhouse gas and smog-caus ing cri te ria air contaminant emissions. He declined to an swer ques tions about the costs of the ve - hi cles but noted that by re plac ing con ven - tional me chan i cal power train sys tems, such as en gines, trans mis sions fuel sys - tems and com plete ex haust af ter-treat - ment, with a high ef fi ciency elec tric drive, the XE40 re quires less maintenance throughout its life. CTA s bat tery-elec tric buses are equipped with 300 kwh of en ergy stor age Please turn to Page 8

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 8 Con tin ued from Page 7 Product and Industry News (continued) pro vid ing a range of up to 120 miles on a sin gle charge. They are be ing used on six dif fer ent routes through out Chi cago. Tran - sit spokes woman Catherine Hosinski says the buses do cost more ini tially but are cheaper to op er ate in the long term. She ex - plains, The es ti mated an nual net sav ings in fuel costs is roughly $25,000 per bus. We also an tic i pate a re duc tion in main te - nance and re pair costs as a re sult of the buses be ing equipped with elec tric com po - nents, such as the power steer ing and HVAC sys tems, which have better re li - abil ity than the tra di tional pul ley-based systems commonly used across the fleet. Win ni peg s four-year dem on stra tion pro ject be gan last month with one bus, and three more buses will be ar riv ing in the next few months. The bus runs on a 40-ki - lo me ter, two-hour route be tween the Win - ni peg Rich ard son In ter na tional Air port, down town Win ni peg and the res i den tial com mu nity of East Kildonan. Dreolini says it pulls out of the ga rage at 5:36 in the morn ing and runs through 1:14 the next morn ing a nearly 20-hour route. Paul Soubry, New Flyer s Pres i dent and Chief Ex ec u tive Of fi cer, says the com - pany did n t want an easy route. It en - cour aged Win ni peg Tran sit to se lect a route that would show case the tech nol - ogy ca pa bil ity of its bus across a wide range of weather and traf fic conditions. Bus driv ers in Win ni peg can re charge their ve hi cles at a charg ing sta tion at the air port while pas sen gers load or dis em - bark. Soubry ex plains that a roof-mounted pan to graph, sim i lar to those used by city trams around the world, con nects seamlessly with the over head charger in - ter face. Af ter about 10 min utes, the bus has fully re plen ished the charge used on the two-hour route. The bat tery ca pac ity al - lows the bus to op er ate for five hours with - out a re charge, and by charg ing while on route, the bus can main tain ser vice for more than 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Koffman ex plains that the lith ium ion bat tery packs on the Xcelsior buses have the abil ity to re ceive a par tial re charge us - ing a re gen er a tive brak ing sys tem, which New Flyer's Xcelsior XE40 bat tery-elec tric bus at a charg ing sta tion. (Photo: Cour tesy of New Flyer) he says is ide ally suited for the typ i cal start-and-stop duty cy cle of a tran sit bus. The range of the buses is de pend ent on the unique op er a tions and route struc ture of each cus tomer with the ca pa bil ity of scalable battery capacities between 100 and 300 kwh. New Flyer re ports the bat tery-elec tric buses should help re duce green house gas emis sions by an es ti mated 160 tons per bus, per year. In ad di tion, the test buses, which are be ing pro vided at no cost to Win ni peg, tap into ef forts to make more use of cheaper re new able en ergy. In the prov ince of Man i toba, which re lies heavily on hy dro-elec tric power, the elec - tri cal grid is highly re new able and nearly 100 per cent of elec tric ity is gen er ated without burning fuel. Hosinki says that when the new buses in Chi cago are com pared to the Nova 6400-se ries buses they re placed, the re - duc tion in par tic u late mat ter from just one elec tric bus is equiv a lent to re mov ing 23 cars from the road each year. This in turn also re duces in ci dents of ill nesses and re - spi ra tory dis eases, which is val ued at $55,000 an nu ally per bus ac cord ing to the EPA s Diesel Emissions Quantifier Health Benefits Methodology. Chi cago s Xcelsior pur chase was made pos si ble with funds pro vided through the De part ment of Trans por ta tion s Trans por - ta tion In vest ments for Green house Gas and En ergy Re duc tion (TIGGER) II and Clean Fu els grant pro grams and a Con ges - tion Mit i ga tion and Air Qual ity (CMAQ) grant from the Chi cago Met ro pol i tan Agency for Plan ning. Hosinski says that what the CTA learns from op er at ing these buses un der Chi cago s heavy pas sen ger loads and ex treme weather con di tions will not only help shape the fu ture of CTA s bus fleet but also the over all tran sit in dus - try in its on go ing ef forts to become more environmentally friendly. New Flyer is cur rently de vel op ing the first-ever North Amer i can de signed and built zero-emis sion 60-foot bat tery-elec - tric/fuel cell bus. Koffman says the com - pany has part nered with Ballard Power Sys tems and Siemens on a bus that will be op er ated by Con nect i cut Tran sit (CT Tran - sit) for 22 months of in-rev e nue-ser vice operations. Ac cord ing to Koffman, Ballard will sup ply a next-gen er a tion fuel cell power Please turn to Page 9

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 9 Con tin ued from Page 8 Product and Industry News (continued) plant that is smaller, lighter and lower in cost than ex ist ing mod els. He says a key step in the com mer cial iza tion will be to com plete a full Altoona du ra bil ity and per - for mance test as part of the US Fed eral Transit Administration (FTA) Bus Testing Pro gram. Upon the suc cess of this pro - gram, New Flyer will of fer this ve hi cle to cus tom ers through out the United States and Can ada. For more in for ma tion, visit: or Jon Koffman at investor@newflyer.com. New Elec tric Scooter De signed to Tackle Ur ban Traf fic Has sles BMW Group Of fers Con cept Ve hi cle to Ad dress Grow ing Ur ban Trans port Needs BMW Group s MINI brand has come up with a new emis sions-free con cept ve hi cle that s de signed to take peo ple that last mile to their ur ban des ti na tion. MINI s Citysurfer Con cept looks like a kick scooter but boasts an aux il iary elec tric drive that can power the ve hi cle up to 15 miles per hour. MINI says the Citysurfer closes the of - ten time-con sum ing gaps in the trans por ta - tion in fra struc ture of mod ern cit ies in a way which is con ve nient, emis sions-free and also lots of fun. Be cause the Citysurfer can be folded and tucked into a car trunk, driv ers can leave their cars on the out skirts of town where park ing might be eas ier to find and more af ford able and use the Citysurfer to get to their fi nal des ti - na tion within the city. The Citysurfer is de signed for day-to-day use over short dis tances. It has The Citysurfer in the trunk of a car. (Photo: Cour tesy of MINI) The BMW Group's MINI brand produced the Citysurfer. (Photo: Cour tesy of MINI) a max i mum speed of up to 15 mph and an elec tric range of 10 to 15 miles. It weighs just 40 pounds, and MINI says it can fit eas ily into the lug gage com part ment of its new MINI three-door ve hi cle. The con - cept ve hi cle is also por ta ble enough to be taken along on bus or train trips. BMW Group sees the new ve hi cle as one way to ad dress trans por ta tion needs and prob lems as the world be comes in - creas ingly ur ban. Its zero-emis sions drive sys tem pro vides a pol lu tion-free means of travel while its small size and por ta bil ity can help with is sues of traf fic con ges tion and lim ited park ing. The com pany says the Citysurfer is tai lored spe cif i cally to the kind of mo bil ity sit u a tion in which in di - vid ual travel by au to mo bile or lo cal pub lic transport reaches its limitations. The brushless hub mo tor that pow ers the Citysurfer is in te grated in the rear wheel and is pow ered by a high-per for - mance lith ium-ion bat tery. The bat tery is con tained in a rain and splash-proof hous - ing and in te grated per ma nently in the frame un der the foot board. When the bat - tery is com pletely dis charged, the elec tric mo tor is au to mat i cally turned off and dis - con nected from the free-wheel hub in the rear wheel, al low ing the rider to con tinue to travel by foot power with out roll ing re - sis tance from the mo tor. Elec tric power can be de ac ti vated at any time by throwing a switch in the brake lever. Spe cial ca bles al low the Citysurfer to be charged at a con ven tional house hold socket or through the 12-volt power sup ply in an au to mo bile. In ad di tion, it can re - charge its bat tery dur ing travel by means of brake en ergy re cu per a tion. Stop ping power is pro vided by three in de pend ently operated brakes. MINI says the ve hi cle s large pneu - matic tires of fer a sound grip and pro vide a safe and com fort able ride over as phalt, curbs, cob ble stone and un sur faced roads. A tele scopic shaft al lows the han dle bar height to be ad justed. Be cause rid ers op er - ate the ve hi cle in a stand ing po si tion, MINI says rid ers ben e fit from an ex cel lent range of vi sion and vis i bil ity to other road users is also ensured. The MINI Citysurfer Con cept is still in the con cept stage. There is no word yet from the com pany on when the ve hi cle might reach the mar ket or what its sell ing price may be. For more in for ma tion visit: 544SBM_1_BM_2_A.com or con tact Nathalie Bauters at nathalie.bauters@miniusa.com.

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 10 Transportation Tort Liability: Case in Review DOT At Fault in Ac ci dent in Non-pro tected Left Turn Lane The de sign of a left turn lane on a state high way was af firmed as be ing the cause in fact of the ac ci dent in ques tion. At is sue were whether the trial judge (1) erred in vis it ing the scene of the ac ci dent af ter the trial, (2) was cor rect in find ing fault for the DOT and then as sign ing 100 per cent of the fault to the DOT, and (3) prop erly as sessed dam ages to the plain tiff (this fi nal point is not dis cussed be low). The ac ci dent oc curred at the in ter sec - tion of two lane High way 171, run ning north south, and Main Street of the Vil lage of Fisher, LA, a turn off to the west. Just 400 feet south of the in ter sec tion, the road crests a hill, then be gins slop ing down hill. An other up hill slope be gins be yond the in - ter sec tion. Just south of the in ter sec tion, the north bound high way splits into two lanes, mak ing the left lane avail able for turns west onto Main St. The left lane is also used as a pass ing lane, par tic u larly on the up hill slope when there are trucks or other slowly mov ing traf fic in the right lane. The plain tiff in the case, Cox, was driv ing north bound on the state high way, moved into the left lane to turn onto Main St., and was po si tioned in the lane at the time of the ac ci dent. Mean while, the de - fen dant, Moore, was also trav el ing north - bound on High way 171. She changed lanes from the right to the left lane to pass a dump truck. When she saw Cox s car stopped to make a left turn, she at tempt to move back into the right lane, but, un able to do so, struck Cox s car. Be cause Cox s car al - ready had the wheels turned left in prep a ra - tion for the turn, when struck, the car was forced into the south bound lane and was then hit by a tour bus trav el ing south - bound. Cox s daugh ter, sit ting in the front seat, was killed, and Cox and her other daughter were seriously injured. In her sub se quent suit for neg li gence against the DOT, Cox pre sented the tes ti - mony of an ex pert who tes ti fied that the in - ter sec tion was a trap for a north bound driver turn ing left be cause all sign age en - cour aged pass ing in the area. The sign age on the high way ap proach ing the in ter sec - tion des ig nated the left lane as a pass ing zone by in struct ing slower traf fic to keep right. There was no warn ing that left turn - The location of the accident. The image shown here includes improvements to Highway 171 which were not in place at the time of the accident. (Photo: Cour tesy, Google, Inc.) ing traf fic also oc cu pied the same lane. Thus both pass ing and turn ing traf fic were chan neled into the same lane, ren der ing a left turn ve hi cle at risk for a col li sion with traf fic at tempt ing to travel a faster rate of speed in the left lane. The DOT s ex pert ar gued that the left lane was de signed to pro vide a safe pass ing lane for cars pass ing slower mov ing trucks and other ve hi cles on the up hill ap proach to the in ter sec tion, cars that might oth er wise ig nore the no pass ing zone when be hind a slower mov - ing ve hi cle. He also tes ti fied that he had counted the num ber of cars that turned left at this in ter sec tion and that in his opin ion, the count was too low to meet stan dards for a left turn lane at the in ter sec tion. The risk of an ac ci dent oc cur ring sub se quent to a driver cross ing a solid lane in an at tempt to pass a slower mov ing ve hi cle on the upslope with out a des ig nated passing lane was greater than that for a motorist attempting to make a left turn from that lane. In ad dress ing the le gal is sues, the ap - peals court ruled that the trial judge s visit to the ac ci dent site was per mis si ble. It re - marked that no new ev i dence re sulted from the visit. In stead, the site visit merely as sisted the judge to vi su al ize the ac ci dent scene al ready de picted through ex pert tes - ti mony and pic tures pre sented by both par - ties and to de cide be tween the di rectly con - flict ing opin ions of the expert witnesses. On the is sue of as sign ing fault to the DOT, the DOT ar gued that the sole cause of the ac ci dent was Moore neg li gence. The ap peals court dis agreed. First, it af - firmed that Cox had proven the state s li a - bil ity, by show ing that (1) the DOT owned or had cus tody of the thing that caused the dam age, (2) the thing was de fec tive in that it cre ated an un rea son able risk of harm to oth ers, and (3) the de fect was a cause in fact of the ac ci dent. How ever, the ap peals court did rule that the trial court had erred in re quir ing Cox to prove in ad di tion that the DOT had re ceived con struc tive no tice of the dan ger ous ness of the in ter sec tion be fore the ac ci dent and was there fore li a - ble for the con di tion of the in ter sec tion at the time of the ac ci dent. It was noted in the trial that sev eral years be fore the ac ci dent, the Vil lage of Fisher had rec og nized the in - ter sec tion in ques tion as be ing haz ard ous. Be cause of the pres ence of the Boise Cas - cade mill lo cated nearby, High way 171 was heavily trav eled by work ers and trucks, and many of the work ers lived in Fisher, thus ne ces si tat ing them to turn left onto Main St. This traf fic pat tern, plus the intersection s history of accidents, led the vil lage to re quest a cau tion light at the in - ter sec tion, which was in stalled sev eral Please turn to Page 11

11 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, DECEMBER 19, 2014, VOL. 28 NO. 10 Page 11 Con tin ued from Page 10 Transportation Tort Liability years be fore the ac ci dent. The ac ci dent oc - curred in 1989, but it was not un til 1995 that the Lou i si ana code was amended to ex empt the state from li a bil ity when con - struc tive no tice was deemed to have not been given. There fore, al though Cox was suc cess ful in prov ing the state had re - ceived prior con struc tive no tice of the dan - ger ous ness of the in ter sec tion, Cox should not have been re quired to prove such to es - tablish the state s liability. Sec ond, the ap peals court ruled that the trial court did not err in find ing the DOT at fault for this ac ci dent. The ev i dence pre - sented in the trial es tab lished that the high - way was de fec tive and cre ated an un rea son - able risk of harm to a left turn ing motorist. Third, the ap peals court did find that the trial judge erred in not as sess ing any fault to Moore for the ac ci dent, de spite the over - whelm ing ev i dence that she had failed to main tain con trol and al lowed her ve hi cle to col lide with the rear of the Cox ve hi cle. In the ac ci dent, Moore was faced with a sud - den emer gency, de fined as fol lows: she was faced with an im mi nent peril and lacked suf fi cient time to con sider and weigh the best means of avoid ing that peril. Un der that def i ni tion, Moore was not neg li gent if s/he failed to adopt what upon fur ther re - flec tion would have been a better means to avoid that peril. How ever, the ap peals court also noted a mo tor ist s duty to as cer - tain the safety of switch ing traf fic lanes be fore so do ing. The court found that Moore had failed to ad e quately es tab lish the safety of switch ing lanes at the time, and thus should be assigned 20 per cent of the blame. Stud ies Find Red Light Cam eras Show ing Re sults in Cut ting Crashes in Two Com mu ni ties Mean time, Crashes In crease in Com mu ni ties Where Cam eras are Re moved Two re cent stud ies added to pre vi ous find - ings that red light cam eras can be ef fec tive in re duc ing the num ber of col li sions at in - ter sec tions, though the red light cam era stud ies in Roch es ter, New York, and Orland Park, Il li nois of fer mixed re sults when it co mes to in jury pre ven tion. Mean - time, the Na tional Co ali tion for Safer Roads (NCSR) re ports that when red light cam eras are re moved, driv ers quickly re - turn to dan ger ous red-light run ning be hav - ior with in creased ac ci dents. Roch es ter s red light cam era pro gram be gan in Oc to ber of 2010, and 48 cam eras are now in use at 32 in ter sec tions. The city is con sid er ing ex pand ing the pro gram to in clude up to 50 in ter sec tions, so it asked the traf fic firm SRF As so ci ates to as sess the ef fec tive ness of the pro gram to date. It found a 26 per cent re duc tion in over all to - tal col li sions on the red light cam era ap - proaches, and col li sions in volv ing dis re - gard for a traf fic con trol de vice were cut by 61 per cent. In terms of in ju ries, the to tal num ber of in jury col li sions dropped by 30 per cent at those in ter sec tions with the red light cam eras, and the to tal num ber of in - jury col li sions in volv ing dis re gard of a traf fic con trol de vice fell 78 per cent. The number of right-angle collisions involving injury fell by 37 percent. Though SRF re ported that re sults var - ied from in ter sec tion to in ter sec tion, it con cluded that when re view ing the com - bined im pact of the red light cam eras on a city wide ba sis, the num ber and se ver ity of collisions are significantly reduced. Be - cause the cam eras were found to have re - duced the over all num ber of ac ci dents, the severity of accidents, and related accident costs, it rec om mended the city continue its red light camera program. The vil lage of Orland Park, with a pop u - la tion roughly a quar ter that of Roch es ter, started us ing red light cam eras years ago at the three in ter sec tions in the vil lage that his - tor i cally had the most ve hi cle crashes. Its Red Light En force ment pro gram be gan in 2009 in the hope that it would re duce the num ber of col li sions and the num ber of in - juries associated with those crashes. To as sess the ef fec tive ness of its pro - gram, Orland Park took a look at crash fig - ures for the three years be fore the pro gram be gan and the three years af ter im ple men ta - tion. It found that at one in ter sec tion, the num ber of col li sions was cut in half. At the other two red light cam era in ter sec tions, crash fig ures were down by 43 percent. Prop erty dam age went down by 58 to 59 per cent at each of the in ter sec tions, but per - sonal in jury rates were up by 60 per cent at two of the in ter sec tions. The third saw no change. In terms of num bers, there were two per sonal in ju ries at each of two of the in ter sec tions dur ing the 2007 to 2009 pe - riod. The num ber in creased to five at each of those in ter sec tions for the pe riod 2010 to All three in ter sec tions saw a drop in rear-end col li sions rang ing from 32 percent to 63 percent. When red-light cam eras are re moved from an in ter sec tion, crash rates can climb. The NCSR is draw ing at ten tion to new fig ures re leased by the Hous ton Po - lice De part ment. It found that to tal traf fic col li sions more than dou bled from 4,147 in when cam eras were in use to 8,984 in when cam eras were not in op er a tion. In ad di tion, Hous - ton po lice found that dur ing those same pe ri ods of time, fa tal crashes rose from 10 to 13 and ma jor crashes rose nearly 85 percent, from 1,391 to 2,568. The NCSR says Hous ton s ex pe ri ence did not come as a sur prise. It notes that in - de pend ent re search ers found a 64 per cent increase in total intersection crashes in Gar land, Texas, af ter red-light safety cam eras were re moved. Red-light run - ning events in creased by just over 11 per - cent in Vir ginia Beach a month af ter cam - eras were taken down. In ad di tion, NCSR re ports in creases in red-light run ning in - ci dents, speed ing vi o la tions and col li - sions also were re corded af ter the re - moval of cam eras in Kan sas City, Mis - souri; Pima County, Arizona; and Jersey Village, Texas. For more in for ma tion, visit: and and es-at-intersections-where-red-light-safet y-cameras-once-operated/.