THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2015 Lawley Publications. All Rights Reserved. VOL 29, NO 7 SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 Better Signs Could Ease Friction Between Motorists, Bicyclists Survey Verifies Bicycles May Use Full Lane Is Clearer Than Share The Road If you re a motorist or a bicyclist, what does it mean to Share the Road? Instead, the rules of the road may be clearer for everyone if the sign was changed to Bicycles May Use Full Lane, according to new research from North Carolina State University. Share the Road signs are common but that doesn t mean people know what they re supposed to do, said George Hess, a professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources who co-authored the study in PLOS One, an open-access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science. Bicyclists complain that motorists consider them to be in the way, while motorists complain about bicyclists tying up traffic. But in fact, traffic regulations in all 50 states treat bicycles as vehicles with essentially the same rights to the road as cars, allowing them pretty much everywhere except interstate highways, said Hess. Hess and co-author Nils Peterson, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, both regularly commute to work by bicycle and believe bicycling as a form of transportation can help reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. But concern about the safety of bicycling on roadways is often cited as a major concern and deterrent to increasing bicycle use. Hess and Peterson wanted to know if the use of effective signage along roadways could help alleviate those concerns by improving knowledge about the rights and responsibilities of bicyclist and motorists. Ideally, that would lead to fewer crashes, as misunderstandings on the road can be deadly. Chicago Works Better With dotmaps Mapping application allows city agencies to share information on When Rahm Emanuel became mayor of Chicago in 2011, he took over a city in serious need of infrastructure repair, and set out to build a New Chicago. Streets were re-paved, sewer and gas lines were replaced and new water pipes were installed across the city. But as can be the case with so many projects, there was little or no coordination between the 26 different utilities and agencies doing the work, and so it wasn t uncommon for pavement and streets to be dug up and restored twice, according to officials with the Chicago The researchers conducted a Web-based survey, using Twitter to find 1,800 people who participated in their Please turn to Page 10 Department of (CDOT). To better manage the many overlapping projects, CDOT created the Project Coordination Office (PCO). The City contracted with Collins Engineers to provide project management oversight services for the PCO. But Collins needed an easy way for city departments and utilities to share information and reduce construction conflicts. CDOT and Collins sought new geographic information system software that could be used by everyone to manage all of Please turn to Page 9 Inside Surveys.... Page 11 Requests for Proposals....Page 23 Conferences...Page 24 An image from the Chicago Department of dotmaps used for coordination among projects. (Image: Courtesy of CDOT)
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29, NO. 7 Page 2 Americans Waste More Time in Traffic Than Ever Traffic Related Delays Increase by 7 Billion Hours Per Year The 2008 recession is over at least as far as traffic is concerned. The 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard, produced by the Texas A&M Institute (TTI) and INRIX finds that as the U.S. economy has regained nearly all of the nine million jobs lost during the financial crisis, traffic congestion in America s big cities has returned to pre-recession levels. According to the report produced by INRIX and the Texas A&M Institute (TTI), travel delays due to congestion caused drivers to waste more than three billion gallons of fuel and kept travelers stuck in their cars for nearly seven billion extra hours 42 hours per rush-hour commuter. The total nationwide price tag for all that wasted time last year was $160 billion, or $960 per commuter. Washington, D.C., tops the list of gridlock-plagued cities, with 82 hours of delay per commuter, followed by Los Angeles (80 hours), San Francisco (78 hours), New York (74 hours) and San Jose, Calif. (67 hours.) Even though Los Angeles and New York account for eight of the Top 10 worst roads for delays, the problem isn t confined to big cities, according to the scorecard. Cities of all sizes are experiencing increased traffic congestion. Of America s Top 10 Worst Traffic cities, seven saw population growth that outpaced the national average of 0.7 percent last year. Some also enjoyed the largest decrease in fuel prices. All that adds up to an average travel delay per commuter of more than double what it was in 1982, and for cities of fewer than 500,000 people, the problem is four times worse than in 1982. Recent data from the U.S. Department of shows that Americans have driven more than three trillion miles in the last 12 months. That s a new record, surpassing the last record set in 2007, just before the global economic downturn. The authors of the Urban Mobility Scorecard say the United States need more roads and investment in transit to meet the demands of population growth and economic expansion, but added capacity alone isn t enough. Solutions must include a mix involving new construction, better operations, more transportation options and flexible work schedules. Connectedness, big data and automation will have an immense impact over the next decade on how we travel and how The 15 Most Congested Urban Areas in the U.S. in 2015 Yearly Delay per Auto Commuter Hours Rank Washington DC-VA-MD 82 1 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA 80 2 San Francisco-Oakland CA 78 3 New York-Newark NY-NJ-CT 74 4 San Jose CA 67 5 Boston MA-NH-RI 64 6 Seattle WA 63 7 Chicago IL-IN 61 8 Houston TX 61 8 Riverside-San Bernardino CA 59 10 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 53 11 Atlanta GA 52 12 Detroit MI 52 12 Miami FL 52 12 Austin TX 52 12 Source: 2015 URBAN MOBILITY SCORECARD Published jointly by The Texas A&M Institute and INRIX. governments efficiently manage the flow of people and commerce across our transportation network, said Jim Bak, one of the report s authors and a director at INRIX. This report is a great example of how data and analytics are evolving to provide transportation agencies with the insight needed to not only make our existing transportation systems work smarter but more quickly pinpoint where investment can have a lasting impact. The report calls for a three-pronged approach to improvements project, program and policy. And without substantial commitment, looking ahead to 2020 and continued economic health, the annual delay per commuter is expected to grow from 42 to 47 hours, with the total cost of congestion jumping to $192 billion. The findings in the Urban Mobility Scorecard are drawn from traffic speed data collected by INRIX on 1.3 million miles of urban streets and highways, along with highway performance data from the Federal Highway Administration. For more information visit http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/. The Urban Monitor, ISSN 10404880, is published monthly, except during January and August (10 issues per year), by Lawley Publications, 6813 Jeremiah Ct., Fairfax Station, VA 22039, Tel: (703)764-0512, Fax: (703)764-0516, e-mail: editors@lawleypub lications.com. Subscriptions $295 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Fairfax, VA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Urban Monitor, P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA 22009-2300. The Urban Monitor publishes current news on all modes and aspects related to urban transportation. Lawley Publications is an independent and privately owned organization. Copyright 2015, Lawley Publications. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, including photocopying and facsimile or electronic transmission, in whole or in part without written permission from the Editor is expressly prohibited. Lawley Publications assumes no responsibility or liability of any kind for the accuracy or completeness of the information herein, or for additional or changed information subsequent to the date the material was received and/or published. Publisher/Editor: Daniel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E. Managing Editor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Senior Editor/Writer: Lori Weinraub
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 3 Traf fic Calm ing Mea sures Im ple mented Along Scajaquada Ex press way State Seeks Com ment on Con vert ing Road from Ur ban Ex press way to Ur ban Bou le vard The tragic death of a 3-year-old boy on New York Route 198, the Scajaquada Ex - press way, ear lier this year has spurred safety and traf fic calm ing im prove ments along the cor ri dor. The changes come as New York State De part ment of Trans por - ta tion (NYSDOT) of fi cials con tinue to dis - cuss pro pos als to trans form the road from an ur ban ex press way to an ur ban bou le - vard that is in har mony with the sur - round ing com mu nity in the city of Buf falo. New York Gov. An drew Cuomo or - dered NYSDOT to re duce the speed limit along the Scajaquada Cor ri dor from 50 mph to 30 mph on May 31, one day af ter the boy was killed and his 5-year-old sis ter was se ri ously in jured when a car jumped the curb and struck them in side Del a ware Park. The chil dren were walk ing be hind their mother; the driver told po lice he fell asleep be hind the wheel. The ac ci dent re newed calls by com mu - nity ac tiv ists to con vert the ex press way into a more pe des trian-friendly parkway. Ad di tional safety im prove ments are be - ing im ple mented and should be com pleted this year. A guide rail was in stalled in June to sep - arate vehicle and pedestrian traffic. In ad - di tion, a per ma nent guide rail sys tem is be - ing de signed that will be more in keep ing with the aes thet ics of Del a ware Park, which was de signed by Fred er ick Law Olmsted, the founder of Amer i can land - scape ar chi tec ture. The 350-acre Del a - ware Park is the cen ter piece of Buf falo s Olmsted parks and parkways system. In Au gust, the road way was restriped to cre ate nar rower lanes and work ers added hatched strip ing on wide ar eas of the shoul ders to pro vide ad di tional vi sual cues to mo tor ists. In ad di tion, stop signs were in stalled to re place merge signs at ramps. The width of the ex ist ing pave ment var ies from 26 feet to 35 feet at dif fer ent stretches along the ex press way, and the width of the ex ist ing travel lanes differ in size as well. Per ma nent Re duced Speed Ahead signs are be ing in stalled to pro vide ad - vanced warn ing of the low ered speed limit. The Scajaquada Ex press way, Buffalo, NY. (Photo: Cour tesy of Google, Inc.) Tem po rary flash ing speed no ti fi ca tion speeds were put up in June. Also be ing in stalled this fall are sig nal con trolled pe des trian cross ings with raised, high visibility crosswalks. New pathways will be con structed con nect ing these sig - nal ized cross ings to ex ist ing pe des trian and bicycle paths. NYSDOT also has ini ti ated the pro cess to change the func tional clas si fi ca tion of the road way as a prin ci pal ur ban ar te rial expressway. The new classification will be de ter mined through study and dis cus - sions with elected of fi cials, the pub lic and other stake holders. The clas si fi ca tion helps de ter mine the role of the road way, its de - sign, speed lim its and fu ture de vel op ment and is in tended to help bring the road way into har mony with Del a ware Park and other adjacent properties. The traf fic calm ing mea sures were un - der taken as NYSDOT con tin ues to seek pub lic com ment on a $115 mil lion pro posal to reconfigure the Scajaquada Expressway Cor ri dor. NYSDOT pre sented its find ings at a pub lic meet ing in April 2014. At that meet ing, state and lo cal elected of fi cials and com mu nity rep re sen ta tives asked that NYSDOT consider two additional alternatives. The new al ter na tives would re duce the Scajaquada Cor ri dor to one lane in each di rec tion with a 30 mile per hour speed limit or com pletely re move the Scajaquada Cor ri dor be tween Elmwood and Park side Av e nues. NYSDOT has com pleted its eval u a tion of those pro pos als and was sched uled to pres ent its find ings at a pub lic meeting in September 2015. Ac cord ing to NYSDOT, the changes in volve pro vid ing im proved vi sual and func tional con nec tiv ity be tween the var i - ous fea tures and re sources through out the adjacent area. Vehicular, bicycle, pedes - trian and pub lic trans por ta tion would be better con nected to pro vide ad di tional op - por tu ni ties for pub lic ac cess. As sem bly - man Sean Ryan, D-Buf falo, who sup ports turn ing the ex press way into a park way, praised the steps taken since the ac ci dent to make the road safer. Our goal is to see the Scajaquada Ex press way down graded to a park way. Our first step is to im ple - ment in terim traf fic calm ing mea sures to ad just traf fic to the new 30 mph speed limit." For more information, visit: www.dot.ny.gov.
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 4 Could Video Game De vel op ers Hold Key to Fu ture Mobility? Ford Chal lenges Gamers to Im prove Ur ban Com mutes The stress of ur ban com mut ing is n t fun, but Ford Mo tor Co. hopes video game de - vel op ers could change that. Ford is chal - leng ing gamers to cre ate so lu tions for global mo bil ity is sues in the Ford Smart Mobility Game Challenge. The competi - tion was an nounced in Au gust at Gamescom 2015, the larg est in ter ac tive games trade fair in Eu rope, held an nu ally in Co logne, Ger many. The chal lenge, which was de vel oped with Co logne Game Lab, en cour ages gamers to turn the chal lenge of in te grat ing dif fer ent trans port modes within a city into fun and en gag ing on line games. Gam ing al ready has solved some real-life prob lems in med i cine and sci ence. So Ford be lieves the Smart Mo bil ity Game Chal lenge could lead to in no va tive so lu - tions and new ap proaches to in te grat ing ur - ban trans port. For ex am ple, games could re ward par tic i pat ing com mu ters for suc - cess ful jour neys, based on cri te ria such as how long a com mute takes, cost, com fort and con ve nience. Per sonal data and tech - nol ogy gleaned from smart phones and watches could also be used. Walk ing or bi - cy cling in good weather or car-shar ing could earn re wards, for ex am ple, or com - mu ters could be made aware of routes that are under-used. The Smart Mo bil ity Game Chal lenge is de signed to har ness the cre ativ ity of the game com mu nity and em power gamers to take a fresh ap proach to tack ling to day s global mo bil ity is sues, said Ken Wash - ing ton, vice pres i dent of Ford Re search and Ad vanced En gi neer ing. Ap ply ing the fun, en gag ing and re ward ing as pects of games to jour ney plan ning can al low peo - ple to im prove their com mutes, track their suc cess and be come aware of how their be - hav ior im pacts the transport infrastructure as a whole. The chal lenge is part of Ford Smart Mo bil ity, Ford s ef fort to help change the way the world moves by us ing in no va tion in con nec tiv ity, mo bil ity, au ton o mous ve - hicles, customer experience and big data. The chal lenge fol lows a re cent Ford-com - mis sioned sur vey of 5,500 com mu ters in ma jor Eu ro pean cit ies that showed a ma - jor ity of peo ple con sider their com mutes more stress ful than their jobs. The fi nal ists are asked to in cor po rate key findings from the survey into their plans. The con test runs through Oct. 15, with five fi nal ists cho sen dur ing an event in No - vem ber in Co logne. The win ner will be an - nounced dur ing the Mo bile World Con - gress, to be held in Bar ce lona, Spain, in Feb ru ary 2016. The win ner will re ceive 10,000 ($11,300) and a chance to show their work at MWC. The fi nal ists will be cho sen by a panel of gam ing and mo bil ity ex perts in clud ing: Bjoern Bartholdy, pro fes sor for me dia and de sign and co-di rec tor, Co logne Game Lab Will Farrelly, User Experience Innova - tion, Ford Smart Mo bil ity, Ford of Eu - rope Tracy Fullerton, di rec tor of the USC Games Pro gram and chair of the In ter ac - tive Me dia & Games Di vi sion, Uni ver - sity of South ern Cal i for nia Dan Greenawalt, cre ative di rec tor at Turn 10 Stu dios, Redmond, Wash. Paolo Tumminelli, De sign Con cepts, Köln In ter na tional School of De sign Ford has em braced gamification to speed up the de vel op ment of au ton o mous tech - nol o gies and to en hance the Ford own er - ship ex pe ri ence. Ford s SmartGauge tech - nol ogy re wards driv ers for fuel- and en - ergy-ef fi cient driv ing, and the MyFord Mo bile app en ables driv ers to re motely man age the charg ing of their elec tric ve hi - cles. Ford also is us ing gam ing el e ments in de vel op ing MoDe:Link, the pro to type jour ney-plan ning app that is part of the Handle on Mobility electric bike experi - ment. Games are de signed to en ter tain, but for the de vel op ers it s a se ri ous busi ness that re quires as tute prob lem-solv ing abil i - ties as well as cre ativ ity ex actly the qual i - ties needed to tackle the chal lenge of in te - grat ing ex ist ing trans port sys tems, Bartholdy said. We re ex cited to part ner with Ford in putt ing their tal ents and know-how of the gam ing com mu nity to great use with Ford Smart Mobility Game Challenge. For more in for ma tion, visit: https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia /fna/us/en/news/2015/08/06/could-gamer s-hold-key-to-future-mobility.html A graphic about the Ford Smart mobility challenge. (Photo: Cour tesy of the Ford Motor Company)
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 5 In ci dent Screens Re duce Rub ber neck ing Eng lish Of fi cials Say They Work But Sur vey Finds Lim ited Use It s nat u ral to want to look at the scene of an ac ci dent, but slow ing down to take a peek can re sult in ev ery thing from con ges - tion to mi nor fender bend ers to even fa tal col li sions. So High ways Eng land de cided to do some thing to try to pre vent rub ber - neck ing on its road ways. In 2009 the agency bought in ci dent screens to be set up at ac ci dents to block them from view by other mo tor ists. The screens were pur chased af ter a test found them ef fec tive in pre vent ing con ges tion. Even with an in ter mit tent im prove ment in traf fic speeds ma jor sav ings may be achieved, said a 2008 re port. The free-standing incident screens appear to de liver a mea sur able de crease in sec ond - ary con ges tion due to rub ber neck ing, with nor mal traf fic flow main tained and even sta tis ti cally better than nor mal at some points, the re port said. Now six years af ter the screens were pur chased, Con fused.com, a Brit ish in sur - ance com par i son website, ob tained data through the United King dom Free dom of In for ma tion Act that shows how the screens have been used and whether they have been ef fec tive. The 2015 re port re - vealed that the screens have been used 77 times since 2012. High ways Eng land bought 105 sets of in ci dent screens, which con tain a to tal of 3,000 in di vid ual screens, at a cost of 2.2 mil lion ($3.4 mil lion). An in ci dent screen unit con sists of 30 green-col ored pan els mea sur ing 2.1 me ters (6.9 feet) high by 2.5 me ters (8.25 feet) long, which fit into metal sup port bases. Each in ci dent screen unit has enough pan els to block 75 me ters (247.5 feet). The screens are flex i ble and don t need to be at tached to any thing, so they can be laid out in dif fer ent ways. The green pan els have holes that are cov ered by flaps to al low wind to pass through, and can with stand wind speeds up to 20 miles per hour. High ways Eng land s Georgina Law - rence says traffic officers are responsible for bring ing the screens to the scene of an ac ci dent. It usu ally takes about 15 to 20 min utes to in stall 10 pan els. It s a sim ple pro cess, in volv ing set ting out the bases, Application of an incident screen in England. (Photo: Cour tesy, Highways England) mea sur ing be tween the two and then plac - ing the pan els in the base, Lawrence said. The com mander at the scene, in con sul - ta tion with the con trol room, de cides whether the screens will be sent to an ac ci - dent scene. Cer tain con di tions must be met, in clud ing whether the use of the screens will re sult in a re duc tion in con ges tion caused by po ten tial rub ber neck ing, if there is enough space to in stall the screens with adequate separation between the accident, the screens and live traf fic, and whether there are of fi cers on scene who are trained in their use, Lawrence said. When an in ci dent oc curs on one side of the car riage way, it can di rectly im pact driver be hav iour on the op po site car riage - way which will of ten af fect both the speed of ve hi cles and their rate of flow. As a re - sult, rub ber neck ing has now be come one of the pri mary causes of in ci dent-re lated con - ges tion, Law rence said. Seek ing to over - come the is sue of rub ber neck ing, in ci dent screens were tri aled and de vel oped by our - selves to pre vent road us ers from ob serv ing the incident and post-incident activities on the ef fected car riage way. The aim is that if the scene is not vis i ble to pass ing traffic, it will deter drivers from rubbernecking. The 2015 Con fused.com re port also con - tained a sur vey on the is sue of rub ber neck - ing that il lus trates why the screens would be use ful. Nearly three-quar ters of those sur - veyed ad mit ted to glanc ing at ac ci dents as they drive past, with al most half say ing it s nor mal to be cu ri ous at the scene of an ac ci - dent. And one in 10 said they would slow down if it meant get ting a better look. De spite the prob lems that rub ber neck - ing causes, only 27 per cent of those sur - veyed be lieve the screens should al ways be used. And only 12 per cent of mo tor ists say they have seen the screens. Law rence with High ways Eng land said the screens are def i nitely ef fec tive. There has been feed back sug gest ing that once the in ci dent screens have been in stalled, there is a vis i ble in crease in the rate of the traf fic flow, sug gest ing that driv ers know that there is noth ing to be seen and don t bother try ing to get a glimpse, she said. Law rence cited an ac ci dent that oc - curred in the north bound lanes of a motor - way. Due to the na ture of the in ci dent, both the north bound and the south bound car riage way had to be closed. In ci dent screens were de ployed to wall off the in ci - dent, which al lowed po lice to re open the south bound car riage way. Had the in ci - dent screens not been avail able, both car - riage ways would have had to remain closed, Lawrence said. The head of in sur ance at Con - fused.com urges more use of the screens. It s con cern ing to see that so many mo tor ists are dis tracted by road traf fic ac - ci dents and are slow ing down to take a look even if it s just a cur sory glance, said Gemma Stanbury. We would hope that the use of these in ci dent screens could re duce the like li hood of fur ther col li sions due to rub ber neck ing and re duce dis rup - tion to traf fic fol low ing an in ci dent. How - ever, as few peo ple seem to have ever driven past one, it is dif fi cult to judge what driver reactions will be. For more in for ma tion, visit: www.highways.gov.uk or con tact Georgina Law rence at Georgina.Lawrence@highwaysengland. co.uk.
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 6 One Click Park ing Tested in Cen tral Lon don AppyParking s Pay ment Sys tem Saves Time, Money in Test Find ing and pay ing for park ing is as easy as one click with AppyParking s new One Click Park ing pay ment sys tem, which is sched uled to launch across Brit ain af ter a suc cess ful test in con gested cen tral Lon - don. The month-long test of the AppyParking app and Vodaphone s drivexone de vice was con ducted by the West min ster City Coun cil and Pim li co Plumb ers, Lon don s big gest pro vider of plumb ing ser vices with 170 vans driv ing to more than 100,000 jobs a year. West min - ster is an area within cen tral London. Us ing data from sen sors in West min ster park ing bays, AppyParking s smartphone app showed the driv ers where they could find empty spaces, in real time. Af ter they parked, the driv ers sim ply con firmed their lo ca tion with one click on their smartphone. When their job was fin ished, they sim ply drove away. The driv ers re - ceived an email re ceipt to con firm the time and charges, so they were only charged for the ac tual time parked, thanks to the drivexone device. Vodaphone is a world wide pro vider of mo bile tele com mu ni ca tions. Its xone in no - va tion lab de vel oped drivexone, a car dongle that plugs into a ve hi cle s on board di ag nos tics port and links back to Vodaphone s Global Ser vice Data Plat - form Server. AppyParking uses a data feed from drivexone to pro vide the one click parking service. In es sence, drivexone turns any car into a sen sor and will pro vide driv ers with a range of di ag nos tic data about their jour - neys as well as en abling in no va tive ap pli - ca tions like this one, said Americo Lenza, head of xone. The AppyParking app also en abled the driv ers to see if they were in Lon don s con - ges tion zone, de ter mine the hours of re - stric tion and see the hourly rate. Pim li co Plumb ers had noth ing but praise for the One Click Park ing pay - ment sys tem. This app has the po ten tial to save Pim - li co Plumb ers 100,000 a year. It will also im prove ef fi ciency and save time, all of which will ben e fit the ser vice we pro vide to our cus tom ers, said Char lie Mul lins, the com pany s founder and chief executive. Pe ter Hill ier is an en gi neer at Pim li co Plumb ers who took part in the test. He said it s not un com mon for the com pany s driv - ers to get sev eral tick ets per month. I found AppyParking very sim ple to use al - low ing me to quickly park up and fo cus on my job. Westminster touts its pioneering work with bay sen sors that city lead ers say has changed the way park ing op er ates in the city. With the AppyParking app, the city ex pects to see less con ges tion and less pol - lu tion, as driv ers won t have to cir cle around look ing for parking. The One Click Park ing pay ment sys - tem is sched uled to launch across Brit ain in Sep tem ber 2015, and AppyParking founder Dan Hubert said there is no rea son why it would n t work in the United States. We can lit er ally make park ing feel as if it never hap pened and ev ery one can get on with the more im por tant things in life, Hubert said. For more in for ma tion visit www.appyparking.com or con tact Dan Hubert at dan@yellowlineparking.com. Photo: Cour tesy of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore. An AppyParking screen. (Photo: Cour tesy of Appy Parking) Sin ga pore Tests Wear able Band to Pay Transit Fares Sony SG50 Smart Band Also Can Be Used At Re tail Out lets In the fu ture, pay ing for a bus or train ride in Sin ga pore could be as easy as flick ing your wrist. The Land Trans port Au thor ity (LTA) of Sin ga pore is con duct ing a six-month trial with 200 com mu ters who are test ing a wear able Sony SG50 SmartBand with Near Field Communication (NFC) tech - nol ogy. Par tic i pants need only hold up their wrists to the fare card reader on buses and at MRT/LRT sta tions to pay for their rides. NFC is a short range wire less con - nectivity standard that enables devices to com mu ni cate with each other within a few centimeters of each other. LTA is part ner ing with Singtel, Sony, EZ-Link, NETS and TransitLink in the test, which be gan Aug. 31. 2015, and will end Feb. 29, 2016. The smart bands are en coded with a dig - i tal CEPAS card that LTA says is de signed for fast, con ve nient and re li able contactless pay ments on pub lic tran sit. The com bi na tion of wear able tech nol - Please turn to Page 7
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 7 Product and Industry News PTV Visum 15 Em pha sizes Multimodality; New Ver sion of the Trans port Plan ning Soft ware is Now Avail able The new re lease of Visum is avail able. PTV Visum 15 in creases multimodality ca pa bil ity and al lows even more sus tain - able trans port plan ning. De ci sion-mak ers in many places make it their duty to im prove the ac ces si bil ity of pub lic trans port. The sup ply of Park & Ride (P+R) lo ca tions has a role to play in this. To al low us ers to ac cu rately an a lyze the de mand, quan tity and place ment of P+R sites, there are new func tions avail - able in PTV Visum 15. Thanks to these, it is pos si ble to eval u ate the ex ist ing and fu - ture ca pac i ties of the P+R sites, says Dr.-Ing. Johannes Schlaich, Di rec tor Traf - fic Soft ware Prod uct Man age ment & Ser - vices at PTV Group. Broader range of modes of trans port Some trans port just works dif fer ently - whereas car driv ers tend to pre fer di rect, more cost-ef fec tive routes, cy clists en joy cir cum nav i gat ing overly stren u ous or dan - ger ous routes: re search re sults sug gest that e.g. the max i mum slope along the whole path has a sig nif i cant in flu ence on cy clists path choice. To al low our us ers to model these events re al is ti cally, we have en - hanced the sto chas tic as sign ment so that path-level im ped ance el e ments can now be re flected in the path choice, ex plains Schlaich. An other no ta ble use case: freight traf fic in which cer tain com po nents of the cost func tions de pend on the travel dis - tance. New de mand model for com mer cial trans - port The new tour-based freight mod ule now closes the gap be tween pri vate and com - mer cial trans port. This is a new de mand model, spe cially tai lored to lo gis ti cal needs in an ur ban con text. Thanks to the new mod ule, us ers can now in te grate rel e - vant lo gis tics con cepts into their stra te gic traf fic mod els. The new mod ule is based on the Sav ings Al go rithm ap plied in the lo - gis tics sec tor, in which po ten tial cost sav - ings are eval u ated by cre at ing tours and de fin ing their in ter nal or der. In PTV Visum, the Sav ings Al go rithm en sures that the or der ma tri ces cal cu lated by the gen er - a tion and dis tri bu tion step are con verted into trip ma tri ces, which take into ac count con nec tion trips with dif fer ent lev els of tour op ti mi za tion in ad di tion to out go ing and in com ing trips, says Schlaich. Share, like, rec om mend Fur ther more, the sce nario man age ment has been re fined to en able teams to col lab - o rate even more closely. It is now eas ier for plan ners to ex change pro jects with one an other and to use pass word ver i fi ca tion. They can also make their work vis i ble ex - ter nally. Us ing the new Gen eral Tran sit Feed Ex port (GTFS), plan ners can share their data with the gen eral pub lic via Google Maps or with other plan ning sys - tems us ing the GTFS as ex change for mat, ex plains Schlaich. How much they wish to pub lish is up to them. In this way, plan - ners can share cer tain parts of their pub lic trans port net work with out los ing the own er ship of their data. Further information: More details about the new fea tures and functionalities of PTV Visum 15 are avail able at http://vi sion-traf fic.ptvgroup.com/visum. Fur ther more, PTV Group s Prod uct Man - age ment pres ents the new ver sion in a webinar on 24 Sep tem ber. In ter ested peo - ple can reg is ter for free at http://ptv.to/webinar8visum15. Con tact Sonja Koesling, PR & Mar ket ing Traf fic Soft ware at PTV Group, Tel.: 49-721-9651-7361, Fax: 49-721-9651-684, E-Mail: sonja.koesling@ptvgroup.com. Con tin ued from Page 6 Sin ga pore Tests Wear able Band to Pay Transit Fares logy that en ables faster, eas ier and more con ve nient tran sit trans ac tions, with mo - bile re tail pay ment ser vices and life - style/wellness track ing, is an ex cit ing de - vel op ment for com mu ters, said LTA Chief Ex ec u tive Chew Men Leong. In - sights pro vided by the trial will help LTA as sess the per for mance of fare trans ac tions us ing the smart band and gather feed back in as sess ing the po ten tial use of wear able tech nol ogy in pub lic tran sit. When com mu ters need to add value to their band, they merely have to place the band on the card reader of a gen eral tick et - ing ma chine, top-up ma chine or add value ma chine at MRT, LRT and bus in ter - changes, just as they would a tran sit card. Participants also can register with automatic top-up ser vices to add value to their cards. For greater mobility, participants can es tab lish a Bluetooth con nec tion with the Singtel mwallet app. This al lows them to check their band s bal ance and trans ac - tions while on the move. Some day com mu - ters may be able to add value to their bands through the Singtel mwallet app as well. In ad di tion to us ing their bands to pay for tran sit fares, par tic i pants in the trial can use their SG50 SmartBand at a va ri ety of re tail ers and other busi nesses, such as res - tau rants and li brar ies. There are thou sands of such ac cep tance points through out Sin - ga pore. Fur ther more, wear ers can use the bands to track their daily ac tiv i ties and sleep pat terns and syn chro nize the read - ings into their smartphones via Bluetooth for vi sual track ing and display, according to LTA. For more in for ma tion, visit: http://mis-asia.com/tech/mobile-and-wire less/lta-rolls-out-wearable-tech-trial-for-b us-and-train-fare-payments/#sthash.s5sk qetw.dpuf
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 8 Tort Liability: Case in Review California Court Of Appeal Clarifies Limits Of the Municipal Code for Conferring Design Immunity In 2012 a woman and four chil dren, all un - der six-years-of age, one in a stroller, suf - fered in ju ries af ter be ing struck while cross ing a marked cross walk at the in ter - sec tion of Live Oak Street and Thou sand Oaks Bou le vard in the City of Thou sand Oaks, CA. Ve hi cle traf fic on Live Oak Street was con trolled only by a stop sign where it in - ter sected at a T-junc tion with Thou sand Oaks Bou le vard, a four lane street with two east bound lanes, two west bound lanes, and a cen ter turn lane. Plaintiffs/appellants ev i dence showed that the cross walk was 80 feet wide, in a com mer cial area with traf fic vol ume over 24,000 ve hi cles a day, and av er age ve hi cle speed of 37 miles per hour. Ap pel lants traf fic ex pert cal cu lated it would take the av er age pe des trian 20 sec onds to cross the street and re quire the pe des trian to look for ve hi cles far down the street. The ac ci dent site had re cently, over 2010 2011, been sub ject to a va ri ety of safety im prove ments, as part of a City-ap - proved Street Rehabilitation Project. As early as 1992 the City had no ticed that the cross walk posed a risk to pe des tri ans, and in a two-year pe riod be fore the col li sion had con ducted seven traf fic en force ment sting op er a tions which re sulted in the is su - ing of 97 ci ta tions for fail - ure-to-yield-to-a-pe des trian-in-a-cross - walk. In ad di tion, lo cal res i dents and busi - ness own ers tes ti fied to wit ness ing near miss pe des trian col li sions; a pe des trian was se ri ously in jured in the cross walk in 2004; and sev eral auto col li sions on Thousand Oaks Boulevard had occurred near the intersection. In 2008 City com mis sioned a pe des - trian safety as sess ment re port by the Uni - versity of California Berkeley Institute of Trans por ta tion Stud ies Tech nol ogy. Re - gard ing the in ter sec tion in ques tion, the re - port recommended that City re lo cate the cross walk to the north ern side of the in ter sec tion, con struct bulbouts on the north ern cor - ners of the in ter sec tion, The cor ner of Live Oak Street and Thou sand Oaks Blvd., where pe des tri ans were struck by a ve hi cle. (Photo: Cour tesy of Google, Inc.) add a me dian is land with a pe des trian ref uge, pro vide flash ing over head bea cons for mo tor ists ap proach ing from both di rec - tions, con sider in stall ing a stut ter flash cross - walk bea con rather than a stan dard over head flash ing bea con, and pro vide ad vance yield limit lines. How ever, City im ple mented only the last of these rec om men da tions. Its own, ap proved, pro ject plan re sulted in the fol - low ing im prove ments: plac ing pe des trian ahead warn ing sign age on side walks posts in ad vance of the cross walk; paint ing a PED XING leg end on the pavement; paint ing tri an gu lar yield lines on the street pave ment, with yield here sign - age in front of a painted triple four crosswalk design with reflective mark - ers; and plac ing a yel low pe des trian sign with down ward ar row at the cross walk. Af ter com ple tion of the im prove ment pro - ject in 2011 the City En gi neer au tho rized the Traf fic En gi neer ing Di vi sion Man ager to pur chase and in stall a pe des trian warn - ing bea con. This bea con had been listed in the orig i nal pro ject plans but was not in - cluded in the plans sub mit ted to the City Coun cil for ap proval. Thus, it was not for - mally ap proved by the Coun cil. The City ar gued that the City En gi neer had dis cre tion ary au thor ity to ap prove the ad di tion of the warn ing bea con in terms of the Mu nic i pal Code, but plain tiffs main - tained that the City En gi neer s dis cre tion - ary au thor ity to place and main tain traf fic con trol de vices did not in clude the au thor - ity to ap prove a traffic control plan. Fur ther, they al leged that the in ter sec - tion and cross walk were a dan ger ous con - di tion due to the vol ume of ve hic u lar and pe des trian traf fic, high traf fic speed, road width and park ing lanes, ad ja cent com mer - cial drive ways, road way vi sual dis trac - tions, an ob scured cross walk warn ing sign, the length of the cross walk, and the sub-op ti mal bea con warn ing. Fi nally, plain tiff claimed the cross walk de sign cre - ated a false sense of security for pedestrians using it. The trial court ruled that the warn ing beacon represented an additional safety fea ture for the cross walk, which in creased Please turn to Page 9
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 9 Con tin ued from Page 8 Tort Liability the safety of the in ter sec tion de sign. It ar - gued that mak ing the City li a ble for add ing ex tra safety fea tures de fies logic and rea - son able ap pli ca tion of the de sign im mu - nity. It granted sum mary judg ment to the City. The Ap peal Court re versed this judg - ment, find ing that ap proval of an ac tual plan or de sign was re quired for gov ern - ment de sign im mu nity and that add-ons, which were not part of the ap proved plan and ap proved pub lic works pro ject, did not fall un der the um brella of design immunity. It held that ac cept ing City s re li ance on its mu nic i pal code for de sign im mu nity would erase years of Cal i for nia ju ris pru - dence. Fur ther, that the City En gi neer s au - thor ity to pur chase and in stall traf fic con - trol devices because the expenditure was within the de part ment s financial discre - tion, and was be low the limit for Coun cil ap proval, were le gal is sues not pub lic works is sues; and that de sign im mu nity was not con ferred sim ply be cause a pro - posed construction was below a certain dollar limit. The Court of Ap peal also ad dressed the ques tion of implied immunity : it held that the discretional au thor ity to ap prove a plan or de sign was fixed by law and can not be im plied; the in stal la tion of an un ap - proved ad di tional safety fea ture did not cre ate an im plied design immunity. On the ques tion of whether ma te rial tri - able facts ex isted re gard ing the al leged dan ger ous con di tion, the Ap peal Court agreed with the trial court s sentiment that driv ers are re quired to yield to pe des tri ans in marked cross walks, no mat ter what. Nev er the less, it found that appellants the - ory (that the warn ing bea con, even though in tended to make the cross walk safer, did the op po site and lulled pe des tri ans into think ing it was safe to cross) was a question for a jury to decide. It also ac cepted ap pel lants ar gu ments for re gard ing the cross walk as a dan ger ous con di tion. It held that given the to tal ity of the cir - cum stances rea son able minds could dif fer on whether the in ter sec tion/cross walk posed a sub stan tial risk of in jury to a pe - des trian ex er cis ing due care. It noted that sum mary judg ment may not be granted where there were con flict ing in fer ences as to ma te rial facts. Con tin ued from Page 1 Chi cago Works Better With dotmaps the pro jects and meet the op er a tional de - mands of the Di vi sion of In fra struc ture Man age ment and Of fice of Un der ground Co or di na tion. To that end, PCO con tracted with SADA Sys tems, a Google for Work Pre - mier Part ner, and the re sult was dotmaps, an in ter ac tive web map ping ser vice built on Google Maps and Google Cloud Plat form. dotmaps al lows peo ple to man age, cre ate, edit and re solve over lap ping pro jects us ing geolocation, all in real time, all in one place. dotmaps helps the city man age the work, cut down on con flicts, save tax payer money, and im prove qual ity of life by re - duc ing un nec es sary roadwork and eas ing traf fic con ges tion, in di cated Law rence Olszak, di rec tor of Tech nol ogy Ser vices, and Wil liam Cheaks Jr., dep uty com mis - sioner of In fra struc ture Man age ment. They said it solves a be dev il ing prob lem for city of fi cials and plan ners: co or di nat ing pub lic and pri vate con struc tion pro jects to avoid du pli cate work. Be fore dotmaps, work ers spent a lot of time jump ing around be tween dif fer ent ap - plications in order to validate the accuracy of the data pro vided. Now, the pro cesses for overseeing projects are streamlined, permit and pro ject data is ac ces si ble in one cen tral lo ca tion and it s all view able on a live in - teractive map, they wrote. City em ploy ees can find in for ma tion per tain ing to about 30,000 cur rent pro jects, for such things as type of pro ject and agency in volved, which in the past would have re quired sev eral phone calls or help from other staff ers. The city also has plans to in clude in for ma tion about pro jects done by pri vate com pa nies such as Verizon, AT&T, Peo ples Gas and ComEd, to make sure pri vate in fra struc ture work is be ing co - or di nated with public work. Not only is all the data now in one place, we are able to im prove our interand intra-agency com mu ni ca tions. Em - ploy ees used to share in for ma tion about new pro jects and up dates in weekly three-hour meet ings where doz ens of peo ple would pro vide in put. To day, peo - ple share that in for ma tion in real-time di - rectly in the dotmaps, wrote Olszak and Cheaks. They pro vide up dates, ask ques tions and com mu ni cate via a pop up chat win dow that is dis played just by click ing on a pro ject lo ca tion marked on a map. Email no ti fi ca tions are sent out to peo ple who need to see the up dates. The Google Maps in ter face was a big sell ing point for dotmaps because city work ers al ready knew how to use Google Maps, the city officials said. The city has seen big ben e fits from dotmaps, ac cord ing to city of fi cials, who es ti mate that it saved tax pay ers $24 mil - lion in 2014. It also has im proved qual ity of life for Chi cago res i dents by cut ting down on un nec es sary roadwork and traf - fic snarls. And com plaints from cit i zens about works pro jects have been reduced dramatically. The city has plans to use Google sat el - lite im ag ery, traf fic and tran sit data to make the map ping even more use ful. Thanks to a part ner ship with Google, the City of Chi cago is show ing peo ple that gov ern ment can em brace in no va tive so lu tions, make their money go fur ther and im prove their lives, wrote Olszak and Cheaks. For more in for ma tion, visit http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.co m/2015/07/chicago-department-of-trans portation.html or con tact Mi chael Claffey at Michael.claffey@cityofchicago.org.
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 10 Con tin ued from Page 1 Better Signs Could Ease Fric tion Be tween Mo tor ists, Bi cy clists sur vey. They com pared the two signs Share the Road and Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane and shared lane mark ings of bi cy cle im ages painted on the pave ment. The re search ers wanted to know how well those signs and mark ings com mu ni - cated the mes sage that bi cy clists are per - mit ted in the cen ter of the travel lane with - out hav ing to get out of the way to al low mo tor ists to pass with out changing lanes. Ac cord ing to the sur vey, peo ple who saw a Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane sign better un der stood bi cy clists right to use the road, com pared to peo ple who did n t see any sign. The sign was par tic u larly ef - fec tive among mo tor ists and peo ple who bi cy cle 10 or fewer miles per week. By con trast, there was no sig nif i cant dif fer ence in un der stand ing among those peo ple who saw a Share the Road sign with a bi cy cle im age com pared to those who did n t see any sign. Lane mark ings helped in crease un der - stand ing of bi cy clists rights as well, but not as con sis tently as the Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane, ac cord ing to the re search ers. `Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane is a pretty clear win ner, Hess said, not ing that bi cy clists like it be cause it is clearer in terms of its mean ing. How ever, the North Carolina State sur - vey found that while 92 per cent of re spon - dents who saw the Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane sign ac knowl edge that it was le gal for a bi cy clist to use the cen ter of the lane, only 70 per cent said it was safe for them to do so. The re search ers sug gest that de part - ments of trans por ta tion con sider re plac ing Share the Road signs with Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane signs, pos si bly in com bi na tion with share lane mark ings, par tic u larly in places where law fully pass - ing within the same lane is not possible. Hess noted that mo tor ists and bi cy clists can find them selves in very stress ful sit u a - tions and that at least it helps to know what peo ple s rights are. A few states have erected Bi cy cles May Use Full Lane signs, in clud ing Cal i - for nia, Florida, Mary land and Texas. A study in Aus tin, Texas, found that driv ers moved fur ther left as they passed bi cy clists af ter the signs were in stalled, and that the per cent age of mo tor ists who passed within A sign that can ease fric tion be tween mo tor ists and bi cy clists. (Photo courtesy of Mar tin Pion, Ferguson, MO) 3 feet of the bi cy clist dropped from 44 percent to zero. Del a ware has gone so far as to stop us - ing Share the Road signs af ter find ing it was con trib ut ing to con flict and con fu sion. For more in for ma tion visit: go.ncsu.edu/georgehess Directory of Officials and Engineers Available Up-to-date con tact in for ma tion for more than 6,000 fed eral, state and lo cal trans - portation officials is now available. The Amer i can Road & Trans por ta tion Build ers As so ci a tion s (ARTBA) 2015 Trans por ta tion Of fi cials and En gi neers (TO&E) Da ta base is one of the most com pre hen sive list ings of pub lic trans por - ta tion officials available. It was com piled based on in for ma tion pro vided to ARTBA by the agen cies and or ga ni za tions them selves. It also in cludes list ings for the key con gres sio nal com mit - tees that are in volved in trans por ta tion policy issues. The guide in cludes ad - dresses, phone num bers and email ad - dresses, when avail able. The da ta base is of fered as an Ex cel spread sheet and costs $395 for ARTBA mem bers and $495 for non-mem bers. It can be pur chased on line at www.artbastore.org or by con tact ing the as so ci a tion s di rec tor of sales, Pe ter Embrey, at pembrey@artba.org or (202) 289-4434.
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 7 Page 11 ` This Month s Sur vey Re sults (Sur vey 1) Ur ban Trans por ta tion Con sult ing: Pres ent Conditions Ear lier this month, The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor sent sur vey ques tion naires to trans por ta tion con sul tants to ob tain in for ma tion and opin ions on pres ent con di tions re lated to ur ban trans por ta tion con sult ing in the U.S. Sur veys were sent to 500 con sult ing firms in the U.S. Al to gether 55 con sult ing firms re plied, for a re sponse rate of 11%. The re sults of the sur vey are pub lished here. How would you de scribe the amount of con sult ing work pres ently be ing con ducted by your firm at your lo ca tion? Percentage of Respondents We have more than enough work 24% We have an adequate amount of work 56% We have less than the desirable amount of work 0% We have a severe shortage of work 0% In your opin ion, how have con sult ing op por tu ni ties in your met ro pol i tan area and state changed over the past year? Percentage of Respondents Increased 42% Remained the same 58% Decreased 0% How do you ex pect con sult ing op por tu ni ties in your met ro pol i tan area and state to change over the com ing year com pared to pres ent conditions? Percentage of Respondents Increase 35% Remaine the same 54% Decrease 11% In your opin ion, which ar eas of ur ban trans por ta tion con sult ing holds the most prom ise for ex panded con sult ing op por tu ni ties in the next few years? Percentage of Respondents Intelligent transportation systems 38% Traffic engineering 42% Highway design 19% planning 46% Transit operations 42% Transit design 23% Other 15%