Newest Resources

The Mobility-Productivity Paradox: Understanding the Negative Relationship Between Mobility and Economic Productivity.
This study explores a paradox: negative relationships between mobility and economic productivity. Contrary to popular perceptions, increased vehicle travel tends to reduce prosperity.This study indicates that productivity increases with more efficient transportation that reduces the vehicle travel and associated costs required for economic activities. It identifies ways that transportation agencies, business and individuals can better achieve economic goals.

Safer Than You Think! Revising the Transit Safety Narrative.
Public transportation is overall very safe (low crash risk) and secure (low crime risk). Transit travel has about a tenth the traffic casualty (death or injury) rate as automobile travel, and transit-oriented neighborhoods have about a fifth the per capita crash casualty rate as automobile-oriented areas. This report identifies practical ways to address fears and better communicate the overall safety and security of transit travel and address.

Evaluating Transportation Affordability
This article published in the ITE Journal describes why and how transportation agencies can better respond to user demands for more affordable travel options.

The New Traffic Safety Paradigm
This report examines our emerging understanding of traffic risks and new safety strategies, and the importance of more comprehensive safety analysis.

Planning for Quality of Life: Considering Community Cohesion and Related Social Goals.
Most people want their communities to be friendly, fair, affordable, healthy, comfortable and beautiful, and want these quality of life, social or livability goals to be considered in planning. Current transportation planning focuses on economic goals and sometimes environmental goals but tends to overlook and undervalue social goals such as community cohesion, equity, affordability, public fitness, personal security and public realm attractiveness. This report investigates these issues. It analyzes social goals, describes ways to evaluate them, and identifies strategies that can help achieve these goals and improve overall livability. This research indicates that better social impact analysis can help transportation agencies better respond to consumer preferences and community goals, providing more health and happiness.

Progressive Planning in Ideologically Conservative Communities.
Planners must work in ideologically diverse environments. This report discusses ways to be effective in conservative jurisdictions that are skeptical of new perspectives.

Comprehensive Parking Supply, Cost, and Price Analysis.
This article, published in Transportation Research Procedia, estimates the number of parking spaces per vehicle, their costs and prices. Recent surveys indicate that North American communities typically average three to eight parking spaces per vehicle, including many seldom-used government-mandated spaces. It indicates that for every dollar motorists spend on their vehicles somebody spends about a dollar on parking. This is economically inefficient and unfair since it increases total parking and traffic costs, and forces households that drive less than average to subsidize higher-mileage motorists.

Local Policies for Children's Health and Success. Better policies can create communities where children thrive.
U.S. children now have shorter lifespans and less economic mobility than in most peer countries. New research improves our understanding of these effects. It indicates that children tend to be healthier and more successful growing up in compact urban neighborhoods than in auto-dependent suburbs.

VMT as a Metric of Sustainability: Why and How to Implement Vehicle Travel Reduction Targets.
This ITE Journal (July 2024) article by Todd Litman, Ousama Shebeeb and Ronald T. Milam describes the shift from mobility-based to accessibility-based planning, which strives to minimize the amount of travel needed to access services and activities.

A Business Case for Improving Interregional Bus Services
Interregional bus service quality is poor and declining in North America. This is unfair and inefficient. Inadequate public transport deprives non-drivers of independent mobility and therefore economic opportunities and dignity, forces drivers to spend time and money chauffeuring non-drivers, reduces rural economic development, and increases traffic problems. This study examines the costs and benefits of improving interregional bus services. It concludes that there is a strong business case for providing basic service on major travel corridors and high-quality service on congested highways.