For each dollar motorists spend on their vehicles somebody spends more than a dollar to park it. To reduce these costs many jurisdictions are eliminating or reducing parking requirements and encouraging more efficient parking management. You can too!
The Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute annual conference is the region's premier gathering of planning professionals. This year's conference explored strategies for building inclusive cities in which everyone can thrive.
Many people assume incorrectly that road tolls and parking fees harm poor people. In fact, they are usually less regressive than other funding options, and benefit poor people overall, particularly if some revenues are invested in alternative modes.
New tools are becoming available to help people evaluate the quality of walking, cycling, public transit and automobile accessibility when making home location decisions. This information can help create more efficient and sustainable communities.
Transportation system performance is often evaluated using congestion intensity indicators, which favor automobile-dependency and sprawl. Strategic planning requires more comprehensive and multi-modal indicators which measure congestion costs.
The best solution to many transportation problems is to improve transport system diversity so travelers can choose the best option for each trip. This requires more comprehensive and multi-modal planning. Not everybody is ready.
A new study claims that public transit does not reduce traffic congestion. It is a good example of how not to evaluate this impact. When measured correctly, high quality transit is found to reduce congestion and increase transport system efficiency.
Submitted by Todd Litman on December 29, 2013 - 11:06pm
It is time to find better solutions to congestion problems. This requires more comprehensive evaluation in order to identify win-win solutions: the congestion reduction strategies that help achieve other planning objectives.
Critics claim that public transit projects consistently exceed their budget projections and fail to meet ridership targets, based on old research. New analysis indicates that recent transit services generally perform better than predicted.
This column expands on issues raised in a previous Planetizen blog, "Mythbusting: Exposing Half-Truths That Support Automobile Dependency," which examined criticisms of cycling facility investments and justifications for automobile-oriented planning.