THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2011 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL. 25, NO. 6 AU GUST 29, 2011 New Com mu ter Rail Line Com pleted With No Fed eral Funds Sub ur ban County May Set New Pre ce dent for Pub lic Trans por ta tion The Denton County Trans por ta tion Author ity (DCTA) has marked a mile stone that it says could set a new pre ce dent in U.S. pub lic trans por ta tion. In June, the DCTA s 21.5 mile A-train com mu ter rail line made its debut with no fed eral funds. Dee Leggett, vice pres i dent for com mu - ni ca tions and plan ning for DCTA, says the DCTA Board of Direc tors wanted to expe dite deliv ery of this pro ject in advance of the expan sion of Inter state 35 which is adja cent to the rail cor ri dor. This would allow the A-train to ser vice as mit i - ga tion to con struc tion-related con ges tion. It also wanted to con nect with Dal las Area Rapid Tran sit, which was build ing its Green Line north to Carrollton. Leggett says, DCTA quickly saw that the fed eral pro cess was going to be lengthy. Board Chair man Charles Emery noted, With the planned I-35 expan sion and the com mu ter con ges tion that nat u rally comes with con struc tion, we just could n t wait for the fed eral fund ing. So, in 2007, the Board opted to pur sue local funds. The fol - low ing year, the Board locally approved its envi ron men tal doc u ment and sought fund - ing through the Regional Toll Revenue Initiative. The ini tia tive stems from the Texas Leg is la ture, which enables the Texas Depart ment of Trans por ta tion to con sider pub lic- and pri vate-sec tor part ner ships to finance road ways. Com pleted pro jects have a toll com po nent and rev e nue for other non-toll trans por ta tion projects. Ulti mately, the North Texas Tollway Author ity paid the region $3.2 bil lion in Inside Sur veys....page 9 Requests for Pro pos als....page 20 Confer ences...page 21 The downtown Denton station along the A-train commuter line in the Dallas, TX metropolitan area. (Photo: Courtesy of the DCTA) future excess toll rev e nues for the rights to oper ate State High way 121, which is now the Sam Rayburn Tollway. Leggett explains that money was divided among Solar Pow ered Bluetooth Data Col lec tor Simplifies Traffic Analysis Acyclica, a Boul der, CO, based com pany of traf fic pro fes sion als, has launched its BlueCompass Bluetooth data col lec tor solar pow ered kits to sim plify traf fic anal - y sis, includ ing: Origin - Destination studies (real-time or post pro cess) Real-time travel times on any road ways Mon i tor ing traf fic con di tions in con gested regions Map ping traf fic flows across a neigh bor hood, city or region the coun ties in the region with Denton and Collin Coun ties receiv ing the lion s share. The region solic ited cit ies, coun ties and Please turn to Page 4 Iden ti fy ing traf fic pat terns around sport ing events, amuse ment parks, etc. Track ing queue delays at inter sec tions Mon i tor ing wait times at air ports Rang ing in price from $350 - $495, the solar kit includes every thing needed to deploy BlueCompass remotely, includ - ing solar pan els, sealed lead acid bat ter ies and charge con trol ler. The man u fac tur ers claim the kits will meet the need for more trans par ent O-D and travel time data at a Please turn to Page 4

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25, NO. 6 Page 2 Rec om men da tions Made on Addressing Dis tracted Driving Most Peo ple Guilty of Dis tracted Driv ing; GHSA says More Re search Needed into Driver Dis trac tion The Gov er nors High way Safety As so ci a - tion (GHSA) has com pleted a pro ject to help state gov ern ments deal with the prob - lem of dis tracted driv ing. GHSA Ex ec u tive Di rec tor Barbara Harsha, who over saw the re port, says there s a lot of in for ma tion and re search out there on the na ture of dis trac tion but not a lot on what can be done about it. We wanted to pro vide in for ma tion to states and leg is la tures grap pling with the problem. The GHSA hired a re searcher, a for mer associate administrator with the National High way Traf fic Safety Ad min is tra tion, who re viewed more than 350 sci en tific pa - pers on dis tracted driv ing that were pub - lished be tween 2000 and Harsha says the find ings were an af fir ma tion of what we al ready knew or sus pected. She says, The thing that s miss ing is that we don t know what coun ter mea sures or strategies work. GHSA s re port de fined dis trac tion as any time a driver vol un tarily di verts at - ten tion to some thing not re lated to driv ing that uses the driver s eyes, ears or hands. The re search in di cated that most driv ers in sur veys re ported that they some times en gaged in dis tract ing ac tiv i ties. About two-thirds of all driv ers re ported us ing a cell phone while driv ing, with one-third call ing their use rou tine. About one-eighth of those sur veyed re ported texting while driving. It was found that 15% to 30% of all crashes in volved a dis tracted driver. How - ever, this per cent age may be greater since all in ves ti gat ing of fi cers did not re cord in - for ma tion about distraction. Lim ited re search in di cates that cell phone use does in crease crash risk, but there s no con sen sus on the de gree of risk. There s also no con clu sive ev i dence on whether us ing hands-free cell phones are less risky. The re search does in di cate that texting is prob a bly risk ier than cell phone use. Harsha says there s clearly a need for more re search on dis trac tion. For in stance, re search ers have not looked at is sues such as whether dis tracted driv ers are re duc ing the capacity of signalized intersections by be ing slower off the mark when a traf fic sig nal turns green. Dis tracted driv ing is clearly a ma jor leg - is la tive con cern. The re port found that as of June 2011, 30 states and the Dis trict of Co - lum bia have pro hib ited the use of all cell phones by nov ice driv ers. Forty-one states and the Dis trict of Co lum bia have pro hib - ited texting by novice drivers. Harsha notes that while more re search is needed on what works to stem dis tracted An ex am ple of dis tracted driv ing. (Photo: Cour tesy of the GHSA) driv ing, the GHSA re port makes sev eral rec om men da tions to states, such as: En act cell phone and texting bans for nov ice driv ers, who are the high est risk driv ers. En act texting bans for all driv ers, since texting is more ob vi ously dis tract ing than cell phone use. En force ex ist ing cell phone and texting laws. Im ple ment pro grams to widely pub li - cize cell phone and texting laws. Help em ploy ers de velop and im ple - ment dis tracted driv ing pol i cies. Con tinue the use of out side edge line and cen ter line rum ble strips to alert driv ers when they leave traf fic lanes. Re cord dis tracted driv ing in crash re - ports. Harsha ac knowl edges that dis tracted driv - ing laws can be hard to en force. She spec - u lates that even tu ally, the prob lem of dis - tracted driv ing will be solved by tech nol - ogy it self. For more in for ma tion on the re port, go to ghsa.org/html/publications/sfdist.html. 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 2011, 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, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 3 Eu ro pean Road Fatalities Fall by 43% Since 2001 U.S. Road Fatalities Fall by 27% Over Same Period In July the Eu ro pean Com mis sion re leased new sta tis tics show ing that EU road fa tal i - ties de creased by 11% in Most coun - tries achieved dou ble-digit re duc tions in the num ber of road deaths over the past year, the best be ing Lux em bourg (33%), Malta (29%), Swe den (26%) and Slovakia (26%). How ever, coun try-by-coun try sta - tis tics show that the num ber of deaths still var ies greatly across the EU, with fa tal i ties per mil lion in hab it ants rang ing from 28 (Sweden) to 116 (Greece). Ac cord ing to the Eu ro pean Com mis - sion Vice Pres i dent for Trans port, nearly all mem ber states man aged to sig nif i cantly re duce their num ber of road deaths, re sult - ing in an es ti mated sav ing of nearly 100,000 lives since How ever, 100 peo ple still die on Eu - rope s roads ev ery day. Given this, in July the Com mis sion adopted chal leng ing plans to re duce the num ber of road deaths on Eu rope s roads by half by The Road Safety ac tion programme in - cludes seven stra te gic ar eas and a mix of ini tia tives fo cused on mak ing im prove - ments to ve hi cles, in fra struc ture and road us ers be hav ior. The strategic areas are: Improved safety mea sures for trucks and cars Build ing safer roads De vel op ing in tel li gent ve hi cles Strength en ing li cens ing and train ing Better enforcement Tar get ing in ju ries A new fo cus on mo tor cy clists For more in for ma tion, go to on.do?reference=ip/11/830 Change in Traf fic Fa tal i ties Since 2001, Selected EU Coun tries, U.S. Se lected EU Coun tries Fatalities per Million Population Change in Fatalities Lux em bourg % France % Deutschland % United King dom % Nederland % Belgique/België % Italia % Eu ro pean Union % U.S.A * -27% * Pre lim i nary es ti mate by NHTSA Park ing Rates Hold ing Steady at Park ing Ga rages in the U.S. Rates Much Lower When Com pared to Some For eign Cit ies: Me dian Monthly Rate is $541 in New York City Com pared to $1,084 in Lon don Com mu ters may be feel ing the pinch of higher gas prices this year, but most are not shell ing out much more for park ing. A sur - vey by Col liers In ter na tional finds the ma - jor ity of park ing ga rage own ers and op er a - tors are hold ing prices fairly steady as com pared to last sum mer. Some com mu - ters have even seen park ing rates drop. Col liers sur veyed rates in June 2011 at cov ered and un der ground ga rages in 61 cen tral busi ness dis tricts across North Amer ica, with 49 in the U.S. and 12 in Can - ada. Col lier s USA Chief Econ o mist Ross Moore, says daily rates were up 0.8 per cent in 2011, re vers ing a 1.4 per cent de crease last year. He notes that monthly rates were down 0.2 per cent, re vers ing a 1.1 per cent in crease in Driv ers in mid town New York paid the high est daily rates at a range of $12 to $72. That was a 2.5 per cent in crease. Round ing out the top ten most ex pen sive cit ies were Ho no lulu, Boston, Chi cago, Los An geles, down town New York, Phil a del phia, San Diego, San Fran cisco and Calgary. In the U.S., dou ble-digit in creases in daily park ing rates were found at ga rages in Belle vue, Wash ing ton, Hous ton, Texas, Port land, Or e gon, and Wash ing ton, D.C. On the flip side, dou ble-digit de creases in rates were found in Phoe nix, Ar i zona, Sac - ra mento, Cal i for nia, and Tampa, Florida. Moore says daily rates tend to track the gen eral econ omy and con sumer spend ing. The mod est in crease in the daily rates may re flect a re turn to more nor mal driv ing pat - terns and the need and de sire to be down - town. He re ports that monthly rates did not increase despite modest improvements in of fice leas ing ac tiv ity and a gen eral im - prove ment in the business economy. When the re port was re leased in June, Moore noted that de mand for park ing ap - pears to be slowly re turn ing to pre-re ces - sion lev els, so the rates that have held fairly steady the past two years may be gin to rise again if the econ omy con tin ues to re cover. He an tic i pated in creases of at least high sin - gle dig its. Since that time, the mar ket has gone on a wild ride, but Moore says, De - spite the con sid er able change in the out - look for the econ omy, our view on park - ing rates is more or less the same as when we pub lished the re port. While the de - mand for of fice space will be off from our pre vi ous pro jec tions, park ing rates are unlikely to be affected. U.S. com mu ters can find some thing pos i tive in the re port. Though the me dian monthly un re served park ing price is $541 in New York City, and the U.S. na tional av er age me dian price for monthly park ing is $155, it could be a lot worse. In Lon don, the global leader in park ing prices, the me dian monthly rate is $1,084. Com mu - ters in Zu rich pay $822 a month, those in Hong Kong pay $745, driv ers in To kyo pay $744 and those in Rome pay $719. For more in for ma tion, visit: eport=1518.pdf or con tact Ross Moore at ross.moore@colliers.com.

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 4 Con tin ued from Page 1 Com mu ter Rail Line Com pleted With No Fed eral Funds tran sit agen cies for el i gi ble pro jects. County task forces were formed to re view the pro jects. DCTA was awarded $250 mil lion for con struc tion and rail ve hi cle acquisition. The A-train is a com mu ter rail sys tem, and the DCTA ben e fits from a bal anced com mute. Ac cord ing to Leggett, work ers go south in the a.m. into the ur ban area, and uni ver sity stu dents, fac ulty and staff go north in the a.m. to Denton s two large uni - versities. The service is primarily focused on week day, peak-pe riod op er a tions to serve these two pop u la tions. There is some Sat ur day ser vice and ex tended Fri day night ser vice for dis cre tion ary us ers. DCTA es ti mates daily ridership at 2,900 dur ing the first five years, but it an tic i pates ridership growing to 6,900 in The rail line serves ur ban Dal las, with a transfer to its public transportation system (Dal las Area Rapid Tran sit DART), and Lewisville and Denton with a uni ver sity pop u la tion of 50,000 plus. Down town Denton also has gov ern ment of fices and a grow ing re tail en vi ron ment. In ad di tion, rid ers can reach ma jor med i cal cen ters in Dal las, Lewisville and Denton with A-train and Green Line connections. The A-train arrives at a station in Dentor, TX. (Photo: Courtesy of the DCTA) Op er a tional costs for the new sys tem are es ti mated at $8 mil lion a year to be fi - nanced through sales tax rev e nue and the fare box. The DCTA has a lo cal sys tem fare of $3 one-way and a re gional fare of $5 one-way. The re gional fare in cludes ac - cess to DCTA, DART, The T and the Trin - ity Rail way Ex press. The es ti mated fare rev e nue for the A-train is $1.26 million. For more in for ma tion, visit or con - tact Claire Boxom, PR Spe cial ist, Con cus - sion, LLP, at , ext. 322 or clairebloxom@con cus sion.net. Con tin ued from Page 1 Solar Powered Bluetooth Data Collector Simplifies Traffic Analysis low cost. Spe cially de signed to with stand harsh en vi ron men tal con di tions, the com pact and ro bust kits are Nema-housed and con form to the TS-2 spec i fi ca tion. The kits in - cludes: Integrated cellular modem for remote The BlueCompass TM Bluetooth data collector. (Photo: Courtesy, Acyclica) de ploy ment (op tional) In te grated GPS for lo ca tion and time syn chro ni za tion (op tional) Sim ple and open XML in ter face for fast integration Ethernet stan dard for easy net work con - nectivity So lar-power op tion: fully op er a tional at un der 4 Watts (op tional) Up to 32GB of stor age for post pro cess - ing. To date, a num ber of DOTs and pri vate en - gi neer ing firms have pur chased units to have on hand for pro jects and stud ies. The units work by col lect ing Bluetooth in for - ma tion from trav el lers pass ing within range that are us ing Bluetooth-en abled de - vices. When a Bluetooth de vice is en abled, it emits a sig nal within a unique MAC ad - dress. The BlueCompass, when it re ceives the MAC ad dress, timestamps the data. Enough units through out a study area al - low the col lec tion of data to show where driv ers with a Bluetooth en abled de vice be gan and fin ished their trips (and where they trav elled in be tween). This tech nol - ogy can also be uti lized in main ar te ri als to gain travel time in for ma tion at any time through out the day. An other fea ture of the prod uct is that it has a very open data for mat, which al lows us ers to in ter face with it through the soft - ware pro vided or self-de vel oped. For more in for ma tion, con tact Adam Hicks at (720) or ah@acyclica.com.

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 5 World s Lon gest Guided Busway Opens New Tran sit Sys tem Aimed at Re duc ing Travel Times The world s lon gest guided bus sys tem is now car ry ing pas sen gers along a 16-mile route from the city of Cam bridge to the more ru ral mar ket towns of St. Ives and Huntingdon in the United King dom. The tran sit sys tem, dubbed The Busway, went into op er a tion ear lier this month and car - ries pas sen gers at speeds up to 60 mph. The Cam bridge shire County Coun cil pi o neered the sys tem in an ef fort to give trav el ers a break from fre quent traf fic con - ges tion along the A14 high way. The coun - cil s Gareth Bell de scribes the A14 as a no to ri ously busy motor way in Cam - bridge shire. He says the ad van tage of a guided busway is that buses can use the seg re gated track but seamlessly move onto ex ist ing roads to take peo ple into towns and the city of Cambridge. Bell ex plains that the guided sec tions were laid along a dis used rail way track be - tween Cam bridge and St. Ives. A con crete chan nel was built just wide enough to ac - com mo date buses fit ted with two small guide wheels. Stan dard buses that will travel along The Busway have been fit ted with guide wheels at the front that hug the curbs along the side of the con crete track. The en tire route is 25 miles long, with 16 miles of guided track. Even though the buses travel on reg u lar roads for nine miles, they can use bus pri or ity mea sures, such as bus lanes and bus pri or ity traf fic sig nals to help speed their progress. If fund ing al lows, the sys tem may be ex panded in the fu ture. Bell says, Cam - bridge shire has pro pos als to build a trans - fer sta tion at a rail way sta tion on the north - ern side of Cam bridge. If fund ing is se - cured for this, The Busway route will be ex tended to the rail way station. Al ready, the Busway is eas ily the lon - gest guided bus sys tem in the world. Bell notes that other guided busways do ex ist, but the next lon gest is only about 7.5 miles. It s the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Aus tra lia. The sys tem was launched two years late and well over bud get. The Busway had been ex pected to open in spring of 2009, but there were de lays and fi nan cial dis - putes be tween the Cam bridge shire County Coun cil and the orig i nal con trac tor, BAM Nuttall Ltd. The fi nal price tag for the pro - ject was $191 million. The Busway pro ject was pro posed in 2001 to cope with over crowd ing on the Cam bridge shire road net work that was caus ing bumper-to-bumper tie-ups around the an cient Uni ver sity City. Fre quent de - lays and un cer tain travel times were hurt ing the en vi ron ment and the local economy. The Cam bridge shire County Coun cil re - ports that most guided buses will run on bio-fuel, which is greener than die sel. It notes The Busway will save en ergy while en cour ag ing more peo ple to get out and en - joy the coun try side. Buses run to the Fen Drayton Lakes and into the heart of the his - toric mar ket towns of St. Ives and Huntingdon. Some busi ness own ers are hope ful the eas ier ac cess will trans late into new cus - tom ers, and the sys tem will serve the planned 10,000 homes in the new town of Northstowe. But ev ery one is n t happy about The Busway. CAST.IRON, the Cam - bridge and St. Ives Rail way Or ga ni za tion, wanted the rail way line re - opened in stead. The group says it re mains ut terly un - con vinced the tran sit sys - tem will make any no tice - able dif fer ence to traf fic lev els on the A14 and there is no doubt it will in crease con ges tion in the city s streets. Two free park and ride sites were built along the route as part of the pro ject, and The Busway can be ac - cessed from a park-and-ride lot just south of Cam bridge. Bus fares range from 3 to 5.40 (about $5 to $9). Buses run along the route seven days a week from 6 a.m. to mid night. At peak times, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the buses run at least ev ery 10 min utes. Two bus com pa - nies, Stage coach and Whip - pet, share the sys tem. There are more than 100 stops along the en tire route, with 14 stops on the guided sec - tions. Bell re ports a 12-mile jour ney on the guideway takes 20 min utes, in clud ing stops. Stops along the guided track have raised plat forms that can be ac - cessed by ramps to make travel eas ier for wheel chair us ers. New bus shel ters along the route of fer real-time in for ma tion to let pas sen gers know when the next bus is ex - pected to ar rive. The buses them selves fea ture air-con di tion ing, leather seats, free WiFi and power hook-ups, and they are fully accessible. A paved path is be ing built along side The Busway track to give walk ers, cy - clists and horse-rid ers an al ter na tive means of get ting around. The traf fic-free route will be come part of the Na tional Cy - cle Net work and pro vide ac cess to work, school and shop ping, as well as a means to get some exercise. For more in for ma tion, visit: bridge - shire.gov.uk/trans - port/around/thebusway/ or The Busway, a guided busway on an ex clu sive right of way, lo cated in the Cam bridge area of Eng land. (Photo: Cour tesy of Cam bridge shire County Coun cil)

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 6 Application of Activity Based Models Compared to Trip-Based Models Spon sored by the As so ci a tion of Met ro pol i tan Planning Organizations The Fi nal Re port of the As so ci a tion of Met ro pol i tan Plan ning Or ga ni za tions (AMPO) spon sored Ad vanced Travel Mod el ing Study Phase 1, pres ents the con - clu sions from the first phase of the as sess - ment of ad vanced travel model (ATM) per for mance by Met ro pol i tan Plan ning Or ga ni za tions (MPOs). It also makes rec - om men da tions for the sec ond phase of the study. The goal of the re search was to pro vide tech ni cal guid ance to the met ro pol i tan plan ning com mu nity on the rel a tive costs and ben e fits of com mit ting re sources to the de vel op ment and im ple men ta tion of ac tiv - ity-based mod els (ABMs) as a re place - ment for trip-based models (TBMs). The first phase con sisted of four dis - crete tasks: Iden tify MPOs hav ing ex pe ri ences with ABMs of in ter est to other prac ti tio ners and iden tify MPOs ap pro pri ate for fur - ther study As sess the sta tus of the doc u men ta tion of and in for ma tion avail able from se - lected MPO ex pe ri ences with ABMs Identify performance and cost criteria for as sess ing ABMs De sign a study to carry out a com par i son be tween TBMs and ABMs in the same geographic area. Twenty-one MPOs and one county trans - portation agency were initially identified. Nine of these were sur veyed for Task 2, four (three MPOs and one county trans por - ta tion agency) fully meet ing the cri te ria, and five par tially meet ing them, based on the following criteria: Is the ABM the MPO s pro duc tion model? Has it been ap plied to spe cific pro jects? Is suf fi cient in for ma tion (doc u men ta - tion) avail able to de ter mine the rel a tive costs? The over all sta tus of doc u men ta tion on ABM de vel op ment and ap pli ca tion from the nine MPOs was mixed but gen er ally not suf fi cient to per mit the en vis aged as - sess ment. The study found that better doc - u men ta tion and mea sure ment of spe cific cost and per for mance met rics for both sets of mod els is needed in or der to eval u ate the rel a tive mer its of TBMs and ABMs. Three out comes were achieved re gard - ing iden ti fy ing per for mance and cost cri te - ria for as sess ing ABMs. The team: Summarized available cost information on ABMs Pre pared a po ten tial cost track ing tem - plate for use with MPOs dur ing fu ture investigations Iden ti fied pol i cies that would re quire test ing with a travel de mand fore cast ing model, and or ga nized them into eight categories: High way ca pac ity im prove ments and op er a tional strat e gies Tran sit ca pac ity im prove ments and op er a tional strat e gies Man aged (HOT) lane anal y sis and pricing Land use changes Policies to modify diurnal distribution of travel Six tran sit agen cies from around the coun - try have been cho sen to take part in a U.S. De part ment of Trans por ta tion pro gram aimed at im prov ing man age ment of tran sit The maintenance of buses is an important part of asset management. (Photo: Cour tesy of the VDRPT) Policies to reduce trips De mo graphic changes En vi ron men tal pol i cies. It de ter mined that a side-by-side com par i - son would be the best way to test the costs and per for mance of both sets of mod els rel a tive to each other. Fi nally, the re port iden ti fied three po - ten tial ap proaches for Phase 2 of this re - search: Aligned Model Com par i son Case Study Com par i son Con cep tual Com par i son The Case Study Com par i son was se lected, with At lanta and Se at tle as test sites for the Phase 2 study. For more in for ma tion, please go to AMPO s website ( Participants Selected for Transit Asset Management Pilot Program Six Agen cies to Share $4 mil lion equip ment. The U.S. De part ment of Trans por ta - tion s Federal Transit Administration has selected Massachusetts Bay Transporta - tion Au thor ity, Pen in su lar Cor ri dor Joint Pow ers Board in the San Fran cisco Bay area, Re gional Trans por ta tion Au thor ity in the Chi cago and North east Il li nois area, Utah Transit Authority, Valley Regional Tran sit in Me rid ian, Idaho, and Vir ginia De part ment of Rail and Pub lic Trans por ta - tion to par tic i pate in the Tran sit As set Man age ment (TAM) Pi lot Program. The six will share $4 million in program funds. The goal of the pi lot pro gram is to help im prove the con di tion of Amer ica s tran sit sys tems and the safety of op er a tions. Par - tic i pants are be ing en cour aged to find new cost-ef fec tive ways of man ag ing and main tain ing the con di tion of their sys tems by de ter min ing and an tic i pat ing when equip ment will need main te nance, re pair or replacement. TAM covers everything from rail road tracks and train sta tions to bus facilities and electrical equipment. The 15 ap pli cants for the pro gram re - quested a to tal of about $13 mil lion dol lars, which indicated there is significant de - Please turn to Page 7

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 7 Re port Re leased on Stan dards Needed to Sup port Elec tric Ve hi cles in the United States The Amer i can Na tional Stan dards In sti tute (ANSI), co or di na tor of the U.S. vol un tary stan dard iza tion sys tem, has sub mit ted to the U.S. De part ment of En ergy (DOE) a re - port out lin ing pri or ity ar eas where stan - dards and con for mance ac tiv i ties are needed to fa cil i tate the safe, ef fec tive and large-scale de ploy ment of elec tric drive ve hi cles (EDV) in the United States. The re port de tails find ings from the April 5-6 ANSI Work shop, Stan dards and Codes for Elec tric Drive Ve hi cles, which ANSI con vened on be half of DOE and the Idaho Na tional Lab o ra tory. Nearly 120 stake holders and an other 30 webinar at ten - dees ex am ined the stan dards, codes, con - for mance pro grams and ed u ca tion ini tia - tives needed to drive the wide spread deployment of EDVs. Ac cord ing to the ANSI Work shop Re - port, Stan dards and Codes for Elec tric Drive Ve hi cles, the is sues of safety and con sumer con fi dence and the con for - mance and train ing pro grams needed to sup port them are key pri or i ties for the wide spread ac cep tance of EDVs and the con tin ued growth of the mar ket. The over - arch ing con clu sion of the April work shop was a call for better co or di na tion and har - mo ni za tion of stan dard iza tion ef forts and for a pub lic-pri vate part ner ship to move this work for ward quickly and ef fec tively. Participants agreed that a standardization roadmap for North Amer ica would help to es tab lish pri or i ties for the work that needs to be done. A ma trix of the var i ous co or di - nat ing bod ies and stan dards ac tiv i ties would also help stake holders nav i gate the various activities taking place and facilitate global harmonization. To of fer a neu tral fo rum where pub lic and pri vate sec tor stake holders can work co op er a tively to ward so lu tions that will help build the mar ket for EDVs, ANSI formed the Elec tric Ve hi cles Stan dards Panel (EVSP) in March The goal of the EVSP is to pro duce a stra te gic roadmap by year s end that will de fine the stan dards and con for mity as sess ment pro grams that are needed to sup port this ma jor shift in the na tional au to mo tive land scape. The EVSP be gan the ground work for the stan dard iza - tion roadmap at its ple nary meet ing on June in De troit. The ANSI Work - shop Re port, Stan dards and Codes for Elec tric Drive Ve hi cles, will serve as a key in put document to the continued efforts of the EVSP. The full work shop re port, as well as the speaker pre sen ta tions and webinar re - cord ings of the April 5-6 work shop, are avail able at The TH!NK city elec tric ve hi cle. (Photo: Cour tesy, Think Global) Continued from Page 6 Participants Selected for Transit Asset Management Pilot Program mand for fund ing. The pro pos als were eval - u ated on cri te ria de tailed in the No vem ber 19, 2010 No tice of Fund ing Avail abil ity. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Au thor ity will get the big gest chunk of the fund ing. It was al lo cated $950,000. Chi - cago s Re gional Trans por ta tion Au thor ity is re ceiv ing $800,000. Pen in sula Cor ri dor Joint Pow ers Board (CALTRAIN) is get - ting $750,000 and the Vir ginia De part ment of Rail and Pub lic Trans por ta tion was awarded $700,000. The Utah Tran sit Au - thor ity gets $500,000 and Idaho s Val ley Re gional Transit is receiving $300,000. Fed eral trans por ta tion of fi cials hope oth ers will be able to rep li cate ef fec tive TAM sys tems and best prac tices to im - prove trans por ta tion as set man age ment at rail and bus pub lic trans por ta tion agen cies across the coun try. Grant ees must use the funds only for pro jects de tailed in the proposals they submitted. Courtney W. Moyer, Man ager of Pol icy and Com mu ni ca tion for the Vir ginia De - part ment of Rail and Pub lic Trans por ta - tion, says Vir ginia is cur rently one of only a few states with an as set man age ment sys tem. Moyer says the state s ex ist ing sys tem al lows DRPT to fore cast cap i tal needs for state of good re pair for our ex ist - ing grant ees (tran sit op er a tors in Vir ginia) over a 20-year ho ri zon based on the use ful life of tran sit as sets. The grant money will be used to im prove the sys tem and add a way to es ti mate cap i tal needs for ex - pan sion of ser vice as well. The state hopes to move the sys tem to an open source so other states can benefit from it. For more in for ma tion con tact Do ris Ly ons, Of fice of Pro gram Man age ment at or Doris.Lyons@dot.gov, or Aaron C. James, Sr., Of fice of Pro gram Man age ment at or Aaron.James@dot.gov.

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 8 Transportation Tort Liability: Case in Review Su preme Court of Rhode Is land Re states Ex cep tions To The Pub lic-duty Doc trine In a re cent ap peal against a rul ing by the Su pe rior Court of Prov i dence, a mo tor ist al leged the court wrong fully ap plied the pub lic-duty doc trine in grant ing sum mary judg ment, in light of what he con tended were clear stat u tory guide lines for traf fic de sign. The case arose from a mo tor ve hi - cle ac ci dent that plain tiff al leged was caused by the city of Prov i dence through negligently installing and maintaining an un safe, dan ger ous road at the ac ci dent site. Specifically, plaintiff contended: the posted speed limit was too fast for the area the intersection was unsafe because it had only two stop signs speed limit signs were hid den by veg e ta - tive growth trees blocked the view of the Road Nar - rows signs In re ply to a com plaint filed by plain tiff, the city s Traf fic En gi neer ing Di vi sion of the De part ment of Pub lic Works in ves ti - gated and re ported that all traf fic con trol de vices were in place, noth ing was miss ing or ob structed, the in ter sec tion did n t war - rant the in stal la tion of a 4 WAY STOP sign and the posted speed limit was both rea son able and pru dent for the area. The city there fore de nied plain tiff s claim, hence an ap peal to the Su pe rior Court where the city moved for sum mary judg ment, as sert ing that based upon the pub lic-duty doc trine, its de ci sions with re - spect to the traf fic de sign of the in ter sec - tion were dis cre tion ary and not ac tion able. The Court ruled plain tiff had not shown any gen u ine is sues of ma te rial fact that would ex empt this case from that doc trine and found in fa vor of the city. This re sulted to the appeal in the Supreme Court. Here, plain tiff cited G.L , which pro vides that a mu nic i pal - ity, subject to certain limitations, is liable in all ac tions of tort in the same man ner as a pri vate in di vid ual or cor po ra tion, which he claimed ab ro gates the doc trine of sov er - eign im mu nity with re spect to the municipality. He fur ther ar gued that in terms of This ae rial image show the intersection of Adelaide Ave. and Melrose Street, where pedestrian-related safety was questioned. (Image, Google, Inc.) , the city lacked dis cre tion in its place ment of traf fic-con trol de vices be - cause it is ob li gated to com ply with clear stat u tory guide lines es tab lished by the state traf fic com mis sion. Given this, he al - leged that the pub lic-duty doc trine did not apply in this case. City re sponded by claim ing the state traf fic com mis sion had not es tab lished man dates for the place ment or num ber of stop signs re quired at any par tic u lar lo ca - tion. It ar gued that the word ing of e.g. the city may place traf - fic-con trol de vices as it may deem nec es - sary was per mis sive, and there fore discretionary. The court found plain tiff had failed to cite any par tic u lar state man date with which the city did not com ply. It de clared the place ment of traf fic-con trol signs by a mu nic i pal ity to be a quint es sen tial gov ern - men tal func tion and pre cisely the type of discretionary governmental activity that is shielded from tort li a bil ity under the public-duty doctrine. It then re-enu mer ated the three ex cep - tions to the pub lic-duty doc trine which oc - cur when: the allegedly negligent activities are nor - mally per formed by pri vate cit i zens plain tiff es tab lishes a breach of a spe - cial duty, owed to the plain tiff as a spe - cific, iden ti fi able in di vid ual and not merely a breach an ob li ga tion owed to the gen eral pub lic state has knowl edge that it has cre ated a cir cum stance that forces an in di vid ual into a po si tion of peril and sub se quently chooses not to rem edy the sit u a tion. In terms of these ex cep tions it found that the place ment and main te nance of traf - fic-con trol de vices are purely gov ern men - tal func tions not nor mally per formed by pri vate cit i zens. Sec ond, it found that plain tiff had not al leged a breach of a spe - cial duty owed to him in his in di vid ual ca - pac ity. The third ex cep tion arises when the state en gages in egre gious con duct. How ever, since it found no ev i dence in di - cat ing the city s al leged neg li gence amounted to egre gious con duct, there was no ba sis for ap ply ing this ex cep tion. Given that it found all the is sues in the case were con trolled by the pub lic-duty doc trine, there was no ba sis for mu nic i pal li a bil ity, and it af firmed the rul ing of the Su pe rior Court.

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 9 This Month s Sur vey Re sults (Sur vey 1) Bi cy cle and Pe des trian Issues Ear lier this month, The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor con ducted a na tion wide sur vey on bi cy cle and pe des trian is sues. Sur veys were sent to 300 dif fer ent ju ris dic tions in the U.S. A to tal of 34 com pleted sur veys were re ceived, which represents a return rate of 11%. The re spon dents are from cit ies of all sizes. The me dian pop u la tion of the re spon dents cit ies is 254,000. Do your street de sign stan dards re quire the pro vi sion of pe des trian and/or bi cy cle fa cil i ties as part of the con struc tion of new highways? Percentage of Respondents Yes 100% No 0% If yes, can you briefly explain what the requirements are? Answers are listed in the order of frequency of responses. Bicycle facilities Our thor ough fare plan dic tates which road ways will have bike fa cil i ties and what type. Cur rent traf fic sig nal pol icy re quires bi cy cle de tec tion (BPB or loop) for through move ments with bike min green tim ing. Des ig - nated bike routes re quire signs, leg ends, and strip ing. Cal i for nia re cently man dated bike de tec tion all lanes at traf fic sig nals with bike min green tim ing. Pedestrian facilities 5' wide side walks. Sidewalk is constructed adjacent to developed parcels only. One side of street at least 5' wide con tin u ous side walk. Side walk is re quired on at least one but pref er a ble both sides of a street. 5' min con crete side walk. Side walk with min i mum width of 4' on lo cal streets in sin gle-fam ily res i den tial dis tricts and min i mum of 5' else where. Shared use path plan ning/in te grated plan ning Zoning regulations require subdivisions to install sidewalk and/or multi-use paths. Side walks are re quired on both sides of all new streets. Dur ing staff re view, we are rec om mend ing on-street bike lanes or off-road paths where ap pro pri ate. We in tend to pre pare a com plete streets pol icy but have not done so at this time. 4-5 foot bike lanes or paved shoul ders on ar te rial streets. Side walks on ar te rial and col lec tor streets. Side walks on com mer - cial/industrial streets. Paved shoul der for bi cy cle use where the bi cy cle plan spec i fies, and side walks for ur ban and ru ral roads as needed. Town adopted VDOT's Com plete Streets Pol icy. We accommodate ped/bike facilities where feasible, but not mandated. The city is built up - no new high way con struc tion, but retro-fit ting is done where pos si ble and ap pro pri ate. All roadway maintenance and construction activities must consider the need for pedestrians and bicyclists. Five foot bike lanes on all col lec tors and on ar te ri als des ig nated on our Mas ter Plan. Side walks on all thor ough fares and lo cal roads on both sides of the road way. Eight foot if on back of curb or six foot with three foot sep a ra tion from back of curb. Bikelanes and de tached side walks for all col lec tor and ar te rial street stan dards. City code and re lated rules and regulations re quire that road way pro jects (pub lic or pri vate) in clude side walks and bike fa cil i ties un less an ex emp tion is granted. Cur rently, side walks are re quired on all streets on both sides. We are up dat ing to re quire bike lanes on cer tain streets as well. Some streets have also been iden ti fied for re quir ing hiker/biker trails to con nect to the city's shared use path plan. Port land's street clas si fi ca tion sys tem, and 2030 bi cy cle plan up date, des ig nate which streets have City Walk way, or City Bike - way des ig na tions and the widths or types of fu ture fa cil i ties planned on those routes.

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 10 ` Bi cy cle and Pe des trian Is sues (con tin ued) Does your city have a plan or reg u la tions in place that re quire the pro vi sion of pe des trian and/or bi cy cle fa cil i ties (on or off-road) at new de vel op ments? Percentage of Respondents Yes 95% No 5% If yes, can you briefly ex plain what the re quire ments are? Sidewalks Side walks be hind the curb on all paved streets. 4-ft min i mum width side walk will be con structed one foot off of the right-of-way line along all street front ages. Side walks are re quired on both sides of all new streets. Dur ing staff re view, we are rec om mend ing on-street bike lanes or off-road paths where ap pro pri ate. We in tend to pre pare a com plete streets pol icy but have not done so at this time. Side walks on col lec tor streets in the de vel op ment. Side walks are to be built along ex ist ing streets to con nect the new de vel op - ment to the near est ar te rial street. New sub di vi sions re quire 5' side walks and 10' multi-use paths around per im e ter. Con nec tions are made where avail able. If bike fa cil i ties are re quired on a new road way per our thor ough fare plan, 4 to 6 foot shoul ders are con structed or a sep a rate path is con - structed de pend ing on ve hic u lar vol umes and speed zone. Side walks both sides of the street. Side walks are re quired along both sides of all new streets ex cept lo cal streets in a sin gle-fam ily res i den tial sub di vi sion where all lots are 1 acre or greater. Integrated/complete streets/comprehensive plan/multi use Stan dards per ap proved Hike & Bike Trail Masterplan. Widths vary from 5 to 12 feet. In adopted com pre hen sive plan. As the plan is re vised this year, it will in clude ref er ence/re quire ments for the pro vi sion of com - plete streets. Provisions in the Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Ordinance, and Road Ordinance. As per VDOT's Com plete Streets Pol icy. Side walk is re quired on at least one but pref er a ble both sides of a street. Part of our Com pre hen sive Trans por ta tion Plan. Street De sign Man ual- New York City Dept. of Trans pro vides guid ance. We re quire side walks with all de vel op ment, bike racks at com mer cial de vel op ments and trail con struc tion when a part of our Master Plan. Our sub di vi sion reg u la tions and our de sign guide lines spell out those pro vi sions. Multimodal LOS stan dards. City code and re lated Rules and Reg u la tions re quire that any new de vel op ment or 50% re de vel op ment must in stall side walks along their front age as well as bike fa cil ity re quired in the Bi cen ten nial Bike ways Plan. If valid rea sons ex ist that do not al low con - struc tion, then the de vel oper pays a fee in lieu of to cover the cost of con struc tion. Side walk stan dards and multi-use trail stan dards. The City's Com pre hen sive Plan iden ti fies the shared use path sys tem which in cludes hiker/biker fa cil i ties, rails-to-trails, etc. Has your city adopted stan dards/spec i fi ca tions for the plan ning and de sign of pe des trian and/or bi cy cle fa cil i ties? Percentage of Respondents Yes 76% No 24% Developed in-house De vel oped in-house per ac cess man age ment reg u la tions with guid ance from a com mit tee and AASHTO. We have, for Bike Racks and Bike Lock ers. Developed in house. De vel oped in house us ing va ri ety of sources bike plan via 2-3 year pub lic pro cess. Trans por ta tion Sys tem Plan is up dated ev ery 5-10 years via pub lic in put.

11 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 11 Bi cy cle and Pe des trian Is sues (con tin ued) Adapted/reference existing material Our 2008 Bi cy cle and Pe des trian Plan ref er ences AASHTO stan dards and the WisDOT Bi cy cle Fa cil ity Hand book. Use State standards and specifications. FDOT stan dards. We fol low AASHTO and Fl PPM stan dards at all times. Pri mar ily based on VDOT which is based on AASHTO. Both Side walks - de vel oped in-house and sub ject to ADA re quire ments. Bi cy cle trails - AASHTO guide lines. We have side walk stan dards. Use na tional stan dards where bi cy cle fa cil i ties are con sid ered. A com bi na tion of in-house, AASHTO, zon ing reg u la tions and the Build ing De part ment codes. In house, CA MUTCD. AASHTO man ual with in put from staff and con sul tant. Con sul tant de vel oped de sign stan dards that are in cor po rated into the Hike & Bike Trail Masterplan. Our de sign stan dards were de vel oped in house to re flect rec om mended prac tices from AASHTO, ITE and TxDOT. In-house, AASHTO and Ohio DOT stan dards. Work ing on up dat ing the City's stan dards which will in clude in put from pro fes sional or ga ni za tions, AASHTO, in dus try stan dards, etc. Are you sat is fied with the avail able tech ni cal re sources (doc u ments, train ing) for the plan ning and de sign of pe des trian and/or bi cy cle fa cil i ties? Percentage of Respondents Yes 86% No 14% If "yes", please in di cate what you con sider to be the best re source(s)aashto de sign guide Soon to be up dated AASHTO bike de sign guide, re cent NATCO bike de sign guide and MUTCD CA MUTCD CDOT Bike and Ped work shops Colleagues FDOT pub li ca tions. Also use AASHTO guide ITE ITE and AASHTO. Port land Pe des trian De sign Guide; Port land 2030 Bike Plan; NACTO bike de sign guide; NCHRP 562 and TTI spread sheet. Many dif fer ent good sources There are so many it is im pos si ble to say which is the best If "no", please ex plain briefly what are the main de fi cien cies are in the ex ist ing body of doc u mented knowl edge. We just went through an ex er cise to de velop a Bike Mod ule for our re cently adopted Smartcode Zon ing Dis trict. There are so many unique and ex cel lent ways to in te grate bi cy cle traf fic into our ex ist ing in fra struc ture - but these are new ideas and con cepts that are not widely ac cepted in the en gi neer ing in dus try. More train ing and ed u ca tion is needed to ex pose more peo ple to these con cepts and al low for more flex i bil ity to in cor po rate them where needed. The AASHTO Pe des trian/bi cy cle Guide and NACTO in for ma tion is good but there is a lot of guid ance lack ing with re spect to in - tersection treatments, particularly at signalized intersections Technical understanding on the part of CA regulatory bodies of the limitations imposed by technology for bicycle detection. Lack of aware ness on the part of reg u la tory bod ies of the fi nan cial im pact of un funded bi cy cle reg u la tions. Al though very good I be lieve there is not ad e quate in for ma tion on ur ban de sign stan dards.

12 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, AUGUST 29, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 6 Page 12 Bi cy cle and Pe des trian Is sues (con tin ued) Do you have an ac tive cit i zen's com mit tee(s) or other ad vi sory com mit tee(s) that make rec om men da tions about the pro vi - sion, en hance ment, and use of pe des trian and/or bi cy cle facilities? Percentage of Respondents Yes 76% No 24% Who constitutes the committee(s) (e.g. citizens, elected officials, etc.) All are cit i zens Appointed citizens and elected officials Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Bike rid ers Both cit i zens and elected of fi cials Citizens Cit i zens and city staff Citizens and elected officials Cit i zens ap pointed by City Coun cil Cit i zens ap pointed by the City and County Cit i zens, City staff, Elected Of fi cials, busi ness own ers, etc Citizens, community groups and elected officials City health staff, bike facility designer, bike facility planner, bicycle advocate, citizen Lay people, planning/engineering professionals and elected officials PBOT staff and vol un teer cit i zens Does your city have a des ig nated bi cy cle/pe des trian co or di na tor? Percentage of Respondents Yes 62% No 38% Has your city em barked in the past (or is it pres ently em bark ing) on pro grams/tech niques to en cour age walk ing and bi cy - cling? Percentage of Respondents Yes 82% No 18% If yes, can you briefly out line these pro grams/tech niques and in di cate if they were/are suc cess ful in your opin ion? A va ri ety of out reach and ed u ca tion pro grams tar get ing schools and se niors. Li ai son to the Bike/ped Ad vi sory Board. Ac tively sup port and pro mote "Bike to Work Day." Con struct ing 4 mile seg ment of main hike & bike trail through north ern third of the city. Im proved cross walks, new side walks, new bike lanes, new shared lane mark ings and new multi-use paths. In stall ing bike lanes to en cour age cy cling, NYC is walkable in neigh bor hoods - it's dif fi cult to es ti mate spe cific de mand. Many dif fer ent pro grams in clud ing Bikes and Safe Routes to School. Safe Routes to School Pro gram in clud ing en gi neer ing anal y sis and pro jects. This pro cess has successfully in creased walk ing and bik ing and the en gi neer ing anal y sis has achieved over $2M in Fed eral SR2S fund ing for en gi neer ing im prove ments. The 2030 Bike Plan pro cess and ded i cated fund ing are in creas ing low-stress Neigh bor hood Green ways by 15 miles per year for at least 5 years (cur rently be gin ning 3rd year) with goal of 80% of house holds within 1/2 mile of Greenway upon completion. Neigh bor hood Green ways are a shared use space where the road is marked with sharrows, stop signs are turned at mi nor cross - ings to fa vor the bike route, ma jor cross ings are up graded per NCHRP 562 to serve a min i mum of 50 cross ings per hour. Share the Road Cam paign is an ed u ca tional and en cour age ment ef fort aimed at cre at ing a safer bi cy cling con di tion and in creas - ing bike travel. Too early to tell if suc cess ful, al though we have no ticed an in crease in bike travel.