Coming Soon … Fall 2011 Issue

InTransition returns in November with our fall 2011 issue. If you’ve recently changed any of your contact information, please be sure to correct it by using our online form, emailing intransition@njtpa.org or calling (973) 639-8407.

The new issue will include a package of stories dealing with preparing for emergency/catastrophic incidents. Here’s a look at some of the top stories for the next issue:

The Evacuation of Tokyo: Our cover story relives the scene in Tokyo during the March 11 Great Tohuku Earthquake, when millions had to leave the city without the help of its transit system or many other technologies.
Catastrophic Preparedness Teams: Units have been formed in 10 major U.S. metro areas to help unify a wide range of stakeholders’ responses to emergency situations.
Guarding Transit Against Terror: Experts discuss some of the challenges and strategies involved with safeguarding the nation’s rail systems from terrorist plots.
Climate Change and Transportation: N.J. study aims to project how global warming will impact infrastructure by 2100.
DUI Technologies: Emerging technologies designed to stop drunken driving.
Transportation Takes Center Stage: A look at artists using public streets as outlets for creative expression.

For a free subscription (U.S. and Canada only), fill out the simple form on our website. International readers can contact intransition@njtpa.org for copies in PDF format.

Apps Made Easy

By David Schmetterer

There's no app for that?

Generally the advertisements and jokes seem to be right – there is an app for that. And that’s great news if you need something fairly common, like a chess tutor, an electronic compass, or a barcode scanner. But what if you are in possession of that rarest of post-modern commodities, where do you go with your Original Idea?

You're in luck. The major smartphone software developers -- Apple, Google, RIM (BlackBerry) and Microsoft -- have all released software development kits (SDK) for their products. That means that any programmer can develop a mobile app, much the same way that a programmer could create software for a traditional computer. And the current interest in mobile app development is no mystery -- combine a touch screen, a GPS unit, a powerful processor with an always-on-everywhere-you-go Internet connection, and creative sparks start to fly.

Even so, it is, as always, technological limits that push the creative process to new heights. Small screens and relatively slow data connections have driven many websites to recreate themselves in a mobile format or self-contained app, with fast-loading graphics and an easy to navigate interface, and GPS-enabled location awareness. So while you could always go to Yelp.com on your computer, you can now visit a streamlined and location-aware version of Yelp! on your mobile device.

So where do you go with the next idea for a killer app? According to Google, anyone can build an app using their App Inventor website, which takes actual coding out of the picture and replaces it with building blocks of code with variables to change. There are also books by the dozen for beginner programmers and plenty of information available online. If you are really serious about learning on your own, you could take a class on mobile development for the iPhone or Android, like the ones given at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

If you aren’t adventurous, or already a programmer, the only trick is find someone who is. Besides the obligatory Google query, you can contact the authors of programs and apps you think are well made, or talk to faculty at a local school. They may have a class that is looking for real world projects, or know of students looking for part-time work. And remember, in the repetitive marketplace of mobile applications, an Original Idea has value, and programmers who recognize this will want to help make it a reality.

David Schmetterer co-wrote “Whetting Your Travel App-etite,” which appeared in the Winter 2011 issue of InTransition. He is a senior planner at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and a man of many smartphones.

Electric Car Movement Gets a Jolt from White House

By Brian Donahue

The electric car movement has a good friend in President Barack Obama. After dedicating billions in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to electric drive components and battery manufacturing, the president is finding new ways to put electric cars on the street.

During his State of the Union address in January, Obama reiterated his goal of becoming the first country to have 1 million plug-ins on the road, a milestone he hopes to reach by 2015. He pledged more resources and incentives to help carmakers entice consumers to switch over from gasoline-powered cars, and said he would ask Congress to eliminate the billions in federal subsidies to oil companies, instead investing the money in alternative energy development.

The White House is expected to increase federal funding to $8 billion for green energy programs, with much of that channeled to the plug-in movement. White House National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling told the Detroit News that the president’s upcoming budget proposal will target funds to select communities to ramp up infrastructure such as charging stations in order to support the deployment of electric vehicles. Also, as a further incentive for consumers, the administration wants to convert the $7,500 income tax credit given to buyers of electric cars to a $7,500 direct purchase rebate.

Obama’s proposals are indeed good news for electric car advocates, and for the many carmakers getting into the plug-in game and trying to comply with stricter standards on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy.

The Detroit News story can be viewed here.

Brian Donahue’s article, “Trading the Pump for the Plug,” appeared in the winter 2011 issue.

Coming Soon ... Winter 2011 Issue

We’re putting the finishing touches on a new issue of InTransition, which will be mailed in February. If you’ve recently changed your address, please be sure to correct your contact information using our online form or contact us via email or phone.

Here’s a look at some of the top stories for the next issue:

Trading the Pump for the Plug: Experts say 2011 will mark the start of widespread adoption of the plug-in auto in the U.S.
E-Bikes: Popular as a commuter vehicle in parts of Asia and Europe, the electric-assist bike has made inroads in niche markets domestically.
Hybrid Ferries: A look at some of the vessels planned and already at sea worldwide.
The Tsukuba Express: Japanese rail line has been a boon for transit-oriented development in Tokyo’s suburbs.
On-Street Protected Bike Facilities: Transportation engineer Sam Schwartz details how to design successful urban bikeways.
Travel Apps: Profiles of useful transportation programs for smartphones.

Please note, not all of the content in the printed edition is available online. For a FREE subscription, fill out the simple form on our website.

Audio: Can TravelSmart Work in the U.S.?

Randy Salzman, author of the article “Changing the Car Culture Down Under” in the Spring/Summer issue of InTransition, discussed how Australia’s TravelSmart program has successfully boosted the use of transit, walking and biking, and may provide a model for America during a July 27 presentation at the NJTPA headquarters in Newark.

TravelSmart provides educational, individualized marketing to households about how residents can change from driving themselves to more sustainable travel methods. In one 1.6 million community, TravelSmart was credited with decreasing car starts by 30 million annually while increasing transit boardings by 4.2 million.

Salzman said skeptics often wonder if such an approach would be easier to implement in Australia than the U.S., when in reality, the opposite may be true. He said Australia almost totally dismantled its rail system during a post-World War II population boom, leaving the nation more dependent on the auto than America.

The soft travel demand consultant and former communications professor detailed the root of his strong feelings about America’s need to ween itself off petroleum for travel. Salzman once held a hazardous job drilling for oil in the fields of his native West Texas, and recently welcomed home a son who served the U.S. in the Iraqi war effort.

Audio and PowerPoint files of Salzman’s presentation can be viewed here.

Behavioral Economics: Much Promise But Still Far to Go

By Mark Solof

Insights from the new academic discipline of behavioral economics (BE) are finding their way into the work of experts in a host of fields who are searching for new approaches to age-old problems. New York Times columnists David Brooks and John Tierney have repeatedly used the insights as grist for their opinion mills. As highlighted in "Travelers Behaving Badly," experts in field of transportation are no exception.

Yet, in researching the article, what was surprising to me was the relative scarcity of practical, real world applications of the research findings. The website Nudges.org, launched as a follow-up to the bestselling Nudge book, is compiling many examples of behavioral nudges from readers around the world. But one really has to dig to find interventions that are making a difference – especially in the field of transportation. Mostly, it seems, research focuses on explaining behavior rather than on identifying measures to effectively change it.

This is perhaps understandable given the newness of the discipline. The field is rooted in so-called “prospect theory” developed by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman which was first published in 1979. (Kahneman received a Nobel Prize for this work in 2002.) The first academic appointments of “behavioral economists” took place in the early 1990s. So there has been little time to flesh out real-world applications.

It’s also the case that, as "Travelers Behaving Badly" points out, some interventions for improving travel behavior are unwitting and as-yet-unrecognized applications of BE. That is, they are crafted independently by transportation planners and engineers based on their own intuitions about human nature. Identifying these “intuitive” interventions and drawing connections to BE is a potentially valuable undertaking, promising to facilitate adapting the interventions to similar circumstances or other fields. Nudges.org is making an important contribution in this regard but more extensive and systematic efforts by the research community appear warranted.

There is little doubt that bolstering BE research can have payoffs in terms of improving real-world decisions. Perhaps the most dramatic – and tragic – example of bad decisions brought about by the kind of behavioral biases investigated by BE involves the world’s worst aircraft crash in 1977 on the Canary Islands which killed 583 people. The pilot, previously considered one of the world’s foremost air safety experts, was influenced to rush his takeoff by a “loss aversion” reaction towards further delays, according to Ori and Rom Brafman’s Sway.

Recently, the behavioral tendency to underestimate risks was seen as one of the root causes of the gulf oil disaster. But discouraging bad behavior and its potentially disastrous consequences is not the only payoff of BE. Dan Ariely in his new book, The Upside of Irrationality, suggests that BE research can help encourage altruism and the best of human nature.

Look for the field of BE to continue to spawn bestselling books -- adding to the current shelf-full already published -- given the relevance of many BE insights for day-to-day decisions we all make. In years to come we’re likely to see increasingly powerful, and possibly revolutionary, findings as BE research is extended to draw upon investigations into how thought processes actually occur in the brain, as seen through functional magnetic resonance imaging and other techniques. The new field of “neuroeconomics” is focused on doing just that. In the future, we’ll all still be a bit crazy but at least we’ll better know how to better guard ourselves and others from the consequences.

Mark Solof is the director of public affairs at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and the author of "Travelers Behaving Badly," which appears in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of InTransition.

InTransition Honored for Excellence in Journalism

For the second consecutive year, InTransition has been recognized by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for its quality reporting on transportation issues.

InTransition Managing Editor Karl Vilacoba took second-place in the Magazine Business Reporting category of the NJSPJ’s 2010 New Jersey Excellence in Journalism Awards. His story “Re-Inventing the Wheel,” which appeared in the Winter 2009 issue, examined some of the unique, non-gasoline powered alternative transportation modes under development around the world. Vilacoba previously won a first-place award in the same category in 2009.

The contest was open to any individual or news organization that published in New Jersey or wrote about topics in the state in 2009.

Coming Soon ... Summer 2010 Issue

Work is well underway on a new issue of InTransition, which should hit mailboxes in July. If you’ve recently changed your mailing address, please be sure to correct your contact information using our online form or contact us via email or phone.

Readers can expect a new-look InTransitionMag.org to be unveiled with the release of the new issue. The revamped site will take on a more modern feel and offer new user-friendly features. Stay tuned for more information.

Here’s a look at some of the top stories in the next issue:

Social Media & Transportation: Article explores how transportation agencies are using online tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to get their messages out.
Changing Car Culture Down Under: Through a combination of innovative educational outreach programs and non-highway investments, Australia is successfully luring commuters out of their cars.
Solar Infrastructure: From traffic signs to the roads themselves, businesses are finding new ways of incorporating solar technologies into transportation infrastructure.
Automated Parking: These systems, sometimes called “robotic parking,” accommodate high parking demand in tight spaces, allowing cities to preserve their urban fabric.
Nudging Transportation: A look at the science behind irrational road behavior and how subtle psychological prodding techniques can be used to control it.

Please note, not all of the content in the printed edition is available online. For a FREE subscription, fill out the simple form on our website.

You Can't Spell Subsidy Without B-U-S

By Josh Stephens

It's funny to consider the circumstances under which Americans are willing to accept government subsidy or programming. Education: good. Agriculture: Good. Fire and safety: sure. Health care: no comment. As for transportation, we seem to be OK with ambulances, whether they're transporting us to publically supported hospitals or not. But mass transit to someplace else -- be it work, recreation, or your Botox appointment -- is another, more complicated matter.

Public transportation seems like a business because the fare structure is so familiar. Paying for a bus ride feels no different than paying for a movie ticket, so it's natural to think that the marginal cost to the consumer covers the marginal cost to the provider and away we go. Except that hidden from every fare is the 50-70 percent of operating costs that are covered by the public. Since we don't get a receipt saying "70 of your ride has been brought to you by the taxpayers of your city and state," it's even easy to imagine that the people who use public transportation can, and do, just pay for it themselves.

These assumptions complement the fallacy that riders are the only beneficiaries of the system. But as we have seen during this recession, public transportation's benefits are more than vast enough to justify public intervention. Buses and trains rescue people who can no longer afford to drive, and they enable urban economies to function by matching employees with employers -- which is the whole (economic) purpose of cities. This is why a certain radical fringe contends that the benefits to free transit -- that is, transit with a 100 percent subsidy (a la schools) -- would pay for itself many times over.

That might sound a little nuts, except that it's hard to define a substantive difference between the argument in favor of fare-free transit and that in favor of toll-free roads. It's tempting to imagine that, through the magic of elasticity, if you divide the quantity demanded by a price of zero you get infinite demand and therefore an infinite reduction in traffic. The math doesn't work out quite like that, but without the burden of pulling out a wallet, a great many discretionary riders would have a few bucks left over for food and rent.

Which brings us to the recession: All the great ideas in the world matter little if transit agencies have no money to spend and more riders than they know what to do with, which is exactly the state of affairs today, as the nation's transit agencies face a collective deficit well into the billions. My article approached these deficits from a distant, abstract perspective, as if to assure everyone that, indeed, misery loves company. But let's not forget that the real misery is that which afflicts the riders, forced to abandon jobs, remain housebound, or suffer interminable waits while the bus plies its route.

Many agencies don't quite know what they're going to do to close their budget gaps, save raising fares and eliminating service. No matter what, one encouraging outgrowth of this crisis -- from a reporter's standpoint -- is the outpouring of candor from these agencies. While government bureaucracies are notorious for obfuscation and euphemism, my reporting uncovered very little sugar-coating, as if the global crisis has finally allowed public officials to let down their guard.

Their collective message is clear: Transit agencies are asking for patience, understanding, and even a little sympathy. Whether or not we're willing to give them any more of our money is, however, another matter.

Josh Stephens’ article, “Mass Transit’s Reversal of Fortune,” appeared in the fall 2009 issue. He is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

Technologies Must Connect Quickly With Public to Thrive

By Karl Vilacoba

Connected vehicle technologies have the potential to transform the driving experience in the century ahead. They may also have the potential to fizzle out before they really get started.

Inventions like these live or die by the enthusiasm of their earliest adopters. Their success depends on the quick spread of related technologies, and promoting early buy-in is tough work. Think of the first radio stations, broadcasting across miles of landscapes to populations that didn’t own radios. Likewise, a connected car can’t “talk” to a mute car. Generating an initial flow of information – enough to hook the first wave of users and influence them to spread the word to friends and family – will be crucial.

This is a dilemma explored in a 2008 study by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), which looked at some of the upsides, costs and obstacles to building a connected auto fleet and road system in the U.S. The report compared the situation to the advent of cell phones a decade ago, but noted an important difference – cell phones could at least call hard lines. Without other cars or infrastructure to interact with, connected vehicle technologies are useless.

Sources I spoke to for my article, “Car-Respondence,” stressed the importance of retrofitting older cars, at least to a point that they can transmit a basic level of information. Again, that will be difficult – people won’t shell out money for the equipment unless they’re convinced it’s worth it.

Perhaps the best way to accomplish a mass retrofit is to package the technology with gadgets that do other things – as a bonus feature of a satellite radio or an app in a BlackBerry, for instance. Once people get the taste for it, and the quantity of information transmitted begins to make a difference, they’ll be more likely to buy cars outfitted with the most cutting-edge capabilities of the day.

Some predict connectivity and hybridization/electrification are the two most profound changes the auto industry will see in the years ahead. This could be a big opportunity for Detroit -- oft-criticized as lagging a step behind the world’s automakers -- to take the lead and get back its Motor City mojo.

Coming Soon ... Fall 2009 Issue

Work is well underway on the fall issue of InTransition, which should be in the mail in November. If you’ve changed your address since the spring, be sure to update your contact information on our website or send us an e-mail letting us know what’s new.

Here’s a look at some of the top stories in our next issue:

Transit & the Economic Crisis: Even with ridership at record levels, transit agencies around the country are facing budgetary nightmares due to the economic downturn. A look at how they’re getting through it.

Connected Vehicles: Along with hybridization/electrification, some say connected vehicle technologies represent the greatest change the auto industry will see in the decades to come.

Cab-Sharing: Like matchmaking services for taxi riders, these new businesses are cropping up across the Web. Will they last?

Digital Billboards: With far more revenue potential than traditional static billboards, new digital signs are becoming more common along the nation's highways.

Please note, not all of the material in the printed edition will be available online. To sign up for a FREE subscription to InTransition, just fill out the simple form on our website.

NJ the Next to Debut Cutting-Edge Traffic Technologies

This article first appeared in Mobility Matters, a regional newsletter also published by the NJTPA.

By Karl Vilacoba

Gazing out the window of an English pub, a light bulb went on in Richard Nassi’s head—three actually, in an arrangement that would become one of the most statistically effective traffic signals in America.

Nassi was traveling with his wife, who was in the U.K. on business, but his mind was on a terrible crash that occurred back home in Tucson, Ariz. Five youths were struck by a vehicle while crossing a street in 1998, killing two of them. The driver fled the scene and, despite the best efforts of police, was never caught.

Nassi, Tucson’s traffic administrator at the time, caught a glimpse of an unconventional beacon the English call a “level crossing signal,” and began jotting down notes on how it might be adapted to prevent future tragedies in Tucson. “It started there on the back of a napkin and flew across the Atlantic with me to the U.S.,” he said.

The High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk (HAWK) debuted a year later in Tucson and has since spread to several other states, including an upcoming site in New Jersey. Although it is still considered an experimental technology, the HAWK will soon be listed in the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA)Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the standard for signs, signals and pavement markings in the U.S.

The HAWK consists of three lights that overhang traffic, typically at mid-block crosswalks and unsignalized intersections. The HAWK remains dark until activated by a bicyclist or pedestrian. The beacon initially flashes yellow, then shines solid yellow, warning drivers to prepare to stop. It then turns solid red while showing the pedestrian a “Walk” sign. Finally, alternating flashing red lights indicate that drivers can proceed if the pedestrian has safely crossed.

A study of HAWKs in Tucson showed crashes were reduced by 30 percent and the compliance rate by drivers was 97 percent, better than any other American traffic signal, Nassi said. The only apparent confusion by motorists—some remained stopped as the red lights flashed.

“If you’re worried about delays, it’s an issue,” Nassi said, “but if you’re worried about pedestrian safety, it doesn’t hurt one bit.”

Unfortunately, a fatal accident took place at what will be the first HAWK site in New Jersey. About three years ago, a mother and two children were struck by a motorist while crossing Route 27 in Roselle, killing one of the youths, according to the New Jersey Departmentof Transportation (NJDOT). A crosswalk and standard flashing beacon were installed at the site a few months later, but drivers still weren’t yielding to pedestrians on the busy four-lane highway. A HAWK is expected to be installed on the site soon, helping people walk and bike across safely.

Another new pedestrian crossing technology that will soon see action in New Jersey is the Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB), sometimes called the Enhancer. The RRFB was first piloted in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2004, and was approved for interim use at crossings by the FHWA last summer. “The RRFB’s very high compliance rates are previously unheard of for any device other than a full traffic signal and a ‘HAWK’ hybrid signal, both of which stop traffic with steady red signal indications,” the FHWA noted in a memo on the beacon’s approval.

The mid-block crossing beacons feature super bright LED lights that flash rapidly in a “stuttering” pattern that’s hard for motorists to miss. St. Petersburg reports a 17 percent drop in pedestrian crashes since they started using RRFBs, and in observations at 19 test locations in the city, 82 percent of drivers stopped once the system was activated.

In northern New Jersey, RRFBs will be installed near the Metropark train station in Edison and on Route 4 in Elmwood Park.

Photos: Top right, A High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk (HAWK) in Tucson, Ariz. (Photo courtesy Tucson DOT). Above left, Enhancer beacons feature bright, rapidly flashing LED lights that are hard for drivers to miss (Photo courtesy City of St. Petersburg).

InTransition Recognized by NJSPJ

InTransition Managing Editor Karl Vilacoba took first place in the Magazines -- Business Reporting category in the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2008 Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Vilacoba’s winning story, “The Devils in the Details,” discussed the transportation challenges involved with opening the new Prudential Center in downtown Newark. The piece appeared in the summer 2008 issue.

The feature was the lead article in a package of stories called “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which examined the planning, obstacles and investments needed to move huge crowds of people to sports stadiums in an orderly way. Other story topics included the transportation preparations behind the Indy 500 and the debate over what mass transit services should be available for the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

The contest was open to any magazine that published in New Jersey or wrote about a New Jersey topic in 2008. To view the full list of winners, visit http://www.njspj.org/contest_winners/08events.htm.

Shoup Shows Cities How to “Just Say No” to Parking

By Josh Stephens

Anyone who has ever eaten the exhaust of a Lamborghini understands the visceral charms of driving. Its appeal lies similarly in the curves of the Big Sur Highway, the preening queues on the Sunset Strip, and the anticipatory thunder of a NASCAR starting line.

The notion of a “love affair with cars” has gone from metaphor to cliché to hardened myth in the course of the past century, and even the dowdiest of America’s engineers, transportation planners and public officials have been seduced into serving the auto’s every need. Meanwhile, parking, which is the obvious, and necessary, corollary to driving, gets only whispered about, like condoms at the back of a drug store. Indeed, the most shocking claim in Professor Don Shoup’s magnum opus The High Cost of Free Parking is not that cities have implemented bad policies -- that happens all the time for all sorts of reasons -- but that almost no one has bothered to study those policies.

As it turns out, every car on the road equates to roughly seven patches of asphalt off the road. Cars get stored at home, at work, at the grocery store, and all about town. They take up valuable real estate, and, even then, any given space is more likely to be empty than not, whether they come in the form of flat expanses of asphalt or towering monoliths of concrete. They amount to the greatest, most pointless failure in American planning and design. Were parking not an aesthetic crime, it would, at the very least, be a sin against efficiency.

Yes, call me biased. But to say that a transportation writer shouldn’t descry parking lots is like saying a crime reporter shouldn’t be opposed to murder.

For all the effort that planners exert to create regulations and, on occasion, envision better cities, their approach to parking has been based on specious assumptions and utter irrationality. Why measure peak annual parking rather than averages? Why give away desirable spaces for free? Who knows what an abattoir is, much less how many parking spaces it needs? Arbitrary minimum parking requirements have not only stretched cities out physically -- so that buildings are enshrouded by surface parking lots and therefore separated from each other -- but also stretched them financially. The costs that parking imposes are in the price of every bag of Cheetos at K-Mart, every minute stuck in suburban traffic, and, indirectly, in lost revenue to cities.

It’s tempting to think that in the postmodern world that we’ve outgrown paradigm shifts, but Professor Shoup has done his best to give us one. He calls for a dramatic reinterpretation of the ills and possibilities of parking, and he’s kind enough to prescribe some compelling solutions: higher street parking rates, communal lots, maximums instead of minimums, parking benefit districts, and the rest. The ball is now in the public officials’ court. My article is but the latest (though perhaps longest) in a series of articles dedicated to Shoup’s studies, so no planner or city engineer has any excuse not to consider his prescriptions.

Shoup himself has taken enthusiastically to the lecture circuit, translating dense, statistics-laden work into a call to action. Refreshingly, he is the opposite of the proverbial bureaucratic planner: He is excited by his own work and believes that it can make the world a better place. And his tools offer cities the chance to rebuild themselves in unconventional, inexpensive ways by centering not on infrastructure or unproven technology, but rather on pricing signals and revision of outdated, inefficient regulations.

Cities that have no money for infrastructure investments, are crushed by byzantine planning codes, or are otherwise skittish about upsetting the status quo now have no excuse not to consider parking reform. What developers would not be happier to have their parking requirements cut in half? What merchant open in the daytime wouldn’t be thrilled to share parking with the dinner theater next door? What big box developer wouldn’t be perfectly content to cut down a few fewer trees -- if only the laws allowed them to?

Studies have shown that abstinence education has largely been a failure. The future for parking abstinence, is, however, far brighter. A city with less parking, less traffic, and more pleasant places to live, work, and stroll hand-in-hand would be sexier indeed.

As for what goes on in the backseat: you kids are on your own.

Josh Stephens is the author of "Putting Parking into Reverse," published in the winter 2009 issue of InTransition. He is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

About “Reinventing the Wheel”

By Karl Vilacoba

First, I’d like to thank Professor Jerry Schneider for his assistance with this story. His Innovative Transportation Technologies website is a great resource, and I would encourage anyone reading this blog to browse it when you have some free time.

Over 100 transportation systems are being tracked on Schneider’s website, and boiling them down to a list of only a dozen or so to profile was not easy. To be clear, this was not meant as one of those “10 Most Important” or “10 Technologies You Must Know About” kinds of features. My goal was simply to introduce a sample of these inventions to a broad audience who probably never heard of any of them.

I wanted to show a variety of systems – a little bit of everything, from PRTs to alternative cars to freight movers to pedestrian innovations. Each capsule was meant as a brief overview with links to sites where readers can learn more. I don’t endorse any of these systems, nor do I offer any predictions about whether they’ll succeed in the marketplace.

I started off by perusing all of the systems on the website’s matrix and choosing about a dozen that grabbed my attention. I asked Professor Schneider to recommend some systems I should consider, and to look over my list and advise me of any potential red flags. Our lists had some overlap, and I eliminated a few that were too similar to others. While the odds are that many of these innovations will never see the light of day, I sometimes gave a little extra weight to those that seemed feasible – far along in the development stages, financially well-backed or under serious consideration by legitimate clients (countries, cities, big corporations, etc.), for instance.

Finally, one or two never panned out because the companies’ contact people weren’t responsive (check your e-mails!), but those cases were the exception to the rule. When I reached out for more information, it wasn’t unusual to be called back by the CEO or the inventor themselves. Often they were one and the same.

I believe that’s a good indicator of how competitive this field is. These companies don’t get much media attention, so when an opportunity came, they put their top people in touch and were very accommodating (although some of these companies consist of staffs you can count on one hand). It was one of several factors that made this one of the most enjoyable stories I’ve worked on over the past few years.

Anyone have any favorites of the systems I profiled? Any thoughts on whether these systems could work in your city?

Transit Benefit to Double

By Karl Vilacoba

Some great news for commuters seems to have been lost in the considerable fine print of the federal stimulus package. The law authorizes the IRS to raise the tax-free amount allowed by employer-sponsored commuter benefit programs from $120 to $230 per month, or $1,440 to $2,760 annually.

Under the new formula, set to take effect March 1, mass transit riders and vanpoolers can save nearly $800 per year in federal income taxes, and possibly more than $1,000 once state and Social Security taxes are factored in. Employees whose monthly mass transit fees are less than $230 will be allowed to deduct the full amount from their paychecks.

Over the last few years, the government raised the cap in intervals you could chalk up as “better than nothing.” The last three years saw three consecutive $5 hikes meant to adjust for inflation. In reality, the hikes often didn’t -- the surge in gas costs placed enormous pressure on transit providers to raise fares, in many cases well more than $5.

But by doubling the cap, the government has created a real incentive for commuters to leave their cars home. According to surveys by the nonprofit TransitCenter, one-third of employers who don’t currently offer the benefit said they would if the monthly cap were increased significantly, and 53 percent of employees said they would take advantage of the benefit if it were offered. Employers save money from these programs by lowering their payroll taxes.

Also significant, the law brings the pre-tax allowance in line with the $230 benefit provided for commuters who pay to park at or near their workplaces or at park-and-rides. Transit advocates objected to the previous $230 to $120 disparity, which they argued encouraged commuters to drive rather than ride the rails or bus.

“Given the economic pressures our riders are under, this relief couldn’t have come at a better time,” Steve Schlickman, executive director of the Chicago Regional Transportation Authority, said in a press release. “A thousand dollars a year can make a real difference in the life of a family. This is a victory for Chicago’s commuters.”

Coming Soon ... Winter 2009 Issue

Happy New Year! Work is well underway on the winter issue of InTransition, which should be in the mail in late February/early March. If you’ve changed your address since the summer, be sure to update your contact information on our website or send us an e-mail letting us know what’s new.

Here’s a look at some of the top stories in our upcoming issue:

Putting Parking into Reverse: Four years after its release, cities are beginning to act on the recommendations of Donald Shoup’s influential book “The High Cost of Free Parking.”
The Economic Impacts of BRT: Often overlooked, bus rapid transit can serve as an engine of urban renewal and transit-oriented development.
Innovative Transportation: Inventors around the world have been hard at work on unconventional, gas-free modes of transportation.
Transportation & the Economic Meltdown: Victoria Transport Policy Institute Executive Director Todd Litman shares his views on the connections between the financial crisis and the transportation sector.
Green Pavements: Cities experiment with alternatives to standard pavement materials.

Please note, not all of the material in the printed edition will be available online. To sign up for a FREE subscription to InTransition, just fill out the simple form on our website.

Transportation Sector Bonded to Credit Crisis

By Karl Vilacoba

Jim Calpin is a successful public finance banker on Wall Street, but don’t ask him what’s next in this turbulent economic climate.

“We don’t know. The crystal ball at Merrill Lynch is broken,” Calpin told an audience of about 200 at “Beyond the Gas Tax: A Symposium on Funding Future Transportation Needs,” held Tuesday in Syracuse, N.Y. As he spoke, the Dow Jones was well on its way to a 508-point plunge for the day.

What Calpin can say for sure is that the credit crunch crisis is beginning to hamper transportation agencies’ ability to do business. If it continues, he said, it may cripple them.

Even agencies with AAA bond ratings are having trouble getting bond financing now, according to Calpin, who specializes in transportation infrastructure for Merrill Lynch. The funding they’ve been able to secure doesn’t stretch as far as it did a few months back. Calpin displayed a graph showing the dramatic rise in interest rates banks charge public agencies for bonds – the 5 or 6 percent charged in recent months is now closer to 9 or 10 percent in many cases. With their buying power sinking, agencies are going to have to do even less with their already tight budgets.

The indicators he’s seeing are not encouraging. Some of the financial sector’s largest bond insurers are going under fast. America’s financial fears are contagious and spreading globally. Not even tolling revenues are immune. In Orlando, collections are down about 15 percent, in part because unemployment is so bad, he said.

None of this is bound to make Congress’ job any easier drafting the next transportation funding bill.

“Something’s got to give,” Calpin said. “We’ve got to get a new playbook in Washington when we look at [SAFETEA-LU] re-authorization.”

Don't Vote and Drive

By Karl Vilacoba

Your odds of getting killed driving to the polls on Election Day are higher than New Year’s Eve or Super Bowl Sunday.

A new study of U.S. presidential election days from Jimmy Carter in 1976 to George W. Bush in 2004 found an across the board rise in fatal crashes during polling hours. The researchers compared the same hours on the Tuesdays immediately before and after the election days and found fatality rates were 18 percent higher.

Donald Redelmeier, a researcher form Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, Canada, and Stanford University statistician Robert Tibshirani hypothesized that the combination of the country’s reliance on auto travel and the mobilization of about 55 percent of the population to vote might lead to a rise in fatal motor vehicle crashes. Their investigation concluded that presidential election days averaged 24 fatalities and 800 serious injuries more than normal. The risk was reportedly bi-partisan, as crashes spiked regardless of whether a Democrat or a Republican was elected.

The study mentioned speed, distance, distraction, emotions, confusion over how to get to the polling station and unfit drivers taking to the roads as possible explanations. In a video interview on Sunnybrook’s website, Redelmeier also said rushing could play a part. “I think it’s more of a reflection of speeding to the polls, or away from the polls, or trying to jam one more thing into an already busy day,” said Redelmeier, also a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.

The researchers suggest that election organizers stress the importance of safety when encouraging people to get out and vote. Other interventions worth considering might include subsidized public transportation, setting up polling places within walking distances, remote voting or stronger traffic enforcement on election days.

The full study was published in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

HOV Lanes for Dummies

By Karl Vilacoba

Suffolk County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Howard saw right through this scheme.

According to CBS News, the officer was patrolling the Long Island Expressway Wednesday when he noticed an animated conversation going on between a driver in the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane and his perfectly still passenger. Howard pulled up for a closer look, and what he saw was enough to turn on the flashing lights.

“I asked him for license and registration and he said, ‘Officer is there something wrong?’ And I said, ‘Yes, in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, in the HOV lane, you are required to have two living passengers -- living!”

Police allege a 51-year-old Long Island man dressed up a transparent Plexiglas mannequin with shades, a jacket and baseball cap in an attempt to beat the traffic. New York law requires that vehicles must have two or more occupants to use these carpool lanes.

According to the report, the driver allegedly asked, “Can’t you give me an ‘E’ for effort?” The deputy said he responded, “No, I’m giving you an ‘S’ for summons.” The violation reportedly costs $90 and carries three points.

This isn’t the first scheme someone’s concocted to experience life in the fast lane by themselves. An Atlanta man was caught using the dummy trick in 2001, but in addition to dressing his passenger up, this one was holding a clever prop – an unfolded newspaper. In 2002, a Washington State woman was ticketed for riding with a dummy after reportedly cutting off a school bus and causing a pileup that sent about 20 people to the hospital. And a pregnant Arizona woman pulled over in 2005 for riding alone in the HOV lane contended that her fetus should count as a passenger. The court rejected her claim, contending the standard for riding in HOV lanes was how many seats were occupied.

In a way, all of this speaks well for HOV lanes. The fact that people are willing to go to such lengths to use them would seem to show their success and strong appeal to our highway system’s motorists and their passengers, living, dead or unborn.