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• 141. [Article] Factors Affecting Behavioral Changes in Response to Road Fees: Some Analyses of the Effect of Attitudes, Transit Access, and Fuel Efficiency on Changes in Miles Driven

  Objective The Oregon Department of Transportation conducted a test of an innovative technology to replace fuel taxes with mileage fees. In the test, some vehicles were charged a flat fee per mile and others ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Factors Affecting Behavioral Changes in Response to Road Fees: Some Analyses of the Effect of Attitudes, Transit Access, and Fuel Efficiency on Changes in Miles Driven Author: Rufolo, Anthony M. Year: 2009 Objective The Oregon Department of Transportation conducted a test of an innovative technology to replace fuel taxes with mileage fees. In the test, some vehicles were charged a flat fee per mile and others were charged differential fees that were higher for travel in the Portland metropolitan area during weekday peak hours and lower for other travel. I was charged with developing the database for the project and analyzing the behavioral responses of the participants. The database is quite extensive, including responses to three surveys as well as information on mileage in various categories. The experiment ended on April 1, 2007 and the final report on the project is due June 30, 2007. This is also the time when funding for the project will end. The final report will include information on key behavioral changes, such as the reduction in miles traveled per day during the peak for the congestion charge group. However, the database has the potential for much more extensive analysis. In addition, a different type of congestion charging experiment was conducted by the Puget Sound Regional Council, and a public use dataset from that experiment is expected to become available within the next six months. The objective of this proposal is to extend the analysis of changes in behavior by subjects in the ODOT Road User Fee Pilot Project, and to draw on other sources, such as the Puget Sound project, to compare the behavioral changes observed in this experiment with those found in other contexts. Scope A substantial amount of data was collected on participants in the Oregon Road User Fee Pilot Project. Basic analysis of the data is being conducted as part of the project. However, there is potential to gain further information on characteristics that caused or prevented changes in participants’ driving patterns. For example, participants were asked the distance from their home to the nearest transit stop, but that was the only information on transit service that was available for analysis. It would be possible to use the participant’s address to generate much more comprehensive measures of transit service availability to determine whether these other dimensions of transit service affected the response to road pricing. In addition, information on day of week and morning versus evening peak travel is being aggregated for the existing study, but this data holds the potential for further information on the nature of the responses. Methodology A variety of statistical analyses will be conducted to evaluate both the extent of response to a vehicle mileage fee and the interaction with both demographic and attitudinal characteristics of the participants. A GIS analysis will be used to link household location with better measures of transit service. Results Results would include a better understanding of how pricing interacts with other factors in affecting driving patterns and in particular in affecting driving during peak periods. It would also provide a better understanding of the revenue potential from such charges. Title: Factors Affecting Behavioral Changes in Response to Road Fees: Some Analyses of the Effect of Attitudes, Transit Access, and Fuel Efficiency on Changes in Miles Driven Author: Rufolo, Anthony M. Year: 2009 Objective The Oregon Department of Transportation conducted a test of an innovative technology to replace fuel taxes with mileage fees. In the test, some vehicles were charged a flat fee per mile and others were charged differential fees that were higher for travel in the Portland metropolitan area during weekday peak hours and lower for other travel. I was charged with developing the database for the project and analyzing the behavioral responses of the participants. The database is quite extensive, including responses to three surveys as well as information on mileage in various categories. The experiment ended on April 1, 2007 and the final report on the project is due June 30, 2007. This is also the time when funding for the project will end. The final report will include information on key behavioral changes, such as the reduction in miles traveled per day during the peak for the congestion charge group. However, the database has the potential for much more extensive analysis. In addition, a different type of congestion charging experiment was conducted by the Puget Sound Regional Council, and a public use dataset from that experiment is expected to become available within the next six months. The objective of this proposal is to extend the analysis of changes in behavior by subjects in the ODOT Road User Fee Pilot Project, and to draw on other sources, such as the Puget Sound project, to compare the behavioral changes observed in this experiment with those found in other contexts. Scope A substantial amount of data was collected on participants in the Oregon Road User Fee Pilot Project. Basic analysis of the data is being conducted as part of the project. However, there is potential to gain further information on characteristics that caused or prevented changes in participants’ driving patterns. For example, participants were asked the distance from their home to the nearest transit stop, but that was the only information on transit service that was available for analysis. It would be possible to use the participant’s address to generate much more comprehensive measures of transit service availability to determine whether these other dimensions of transit service affected the response to road pricing. In addition, information on day of week and morning versus evening peak travel is being aggregated for the existing study, but this data holds the potential for further information on the nature of the responses. Methodology A variety of statistical analyses will be conducted to evaluate both the extent of response to a vehicle mileage fee and the interaction with both demographic and attitudinal characteristics of the participants. A GIS analysis will be used to link household location with better measures of transit service. Results Results would include a better understanding of how pricing interacts with other factors in affecting driving patterns and in particular in affecting driving during peak periods. It would also provide a better understanding of the revenue potential from such charges. Close

• 142. [Article] Freight Distribution Problems in Congested Urban Areas: Fast and Effective Solution Procedures to Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problems

  Congestion is a common phenomenon in all medium to large cities of the world. Reliability of freight movement in urban areas is an important issue to manufacturing or service companies whose operation ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Freight Distribution Problems in Congested Urban Areas: Fast and Effective Solution Procedures to Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problems Author: Figliozzi, Miguel A. Year: 2011 Congestion is a common phenomenon in all medium to large cities of the world. Reliability of freight movement in urban areas is an important issue to manufacturing or service companies whose operation is based in just-in-time approaches. These companies tend to provide high value or time sensitive products/services. As congestion increases, carriers face increasing challenges to satisfy their time sensitive customers in an economical way. Route designs or schedules which require long computation times or ignore travel time variations will result in inefficient and suboptimal solutions. Poorly designed routes that lead freight vehicles into congested arteries and streets not only increases supply chain and logistics costs but also exacerbate externalities associated with freight traffic in urban areas such as greenhouse gases, air pollution, noise, and accidents. Whilst it is rarely possible to entirely avoid the impacts of congestion, it is feasible to schedule operations so that the effects of congestion are minimized. Better scheduling can be effectively supported by the advent of inexpensive and ubiquitous Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The use of mobile phone technology and on-board routing devices allows fluid communication between truck drivers and fleet operators in real-time. In such a real time operation it becomes possible to dynamically reassign vehicles, including modifying the order in which customers are served and diverting a vehicle already en-route to service another customer. However, without fast routing methods that can take advantage of real time congestion information carriers cannot reap the benefits of real-time information. From the operational point of view, congestion creates a substantial variation in travel times during peak morning and evening hours. This is problematic for all vehicle routing models which rely on a constant value to represent vehicle speeds. And while the ubiquitous availability of real time traffic information allows drivers to reactively alter routes and customer service sequences to better cope with congestion, static routing models are unable to take advantage of these advances in real-time information provision in order to proactively find adequate routing solutions. In addition, changes in travel time caused by congestion cannot be accurately represented in static models. Research in time-dependent vehicle routing problem is comparatively meager and current solution methods are inadequate for practical carrier operations which need to provide fast solutions for medium to large instances. Even faster solution methods are essential to take advantage of real time information. The major aim of this proposal is to develop and evaluate new methods for vehicle routing in congested urban areas. The emphasis will be placed on improving the running time of the existing methods. Title: Freight Distribution Problems in Congested Urban Areas: Fast and Effective Solution Procedures to Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problems Author: Figliozzi, Miguel A. Year: 2011 Congestion is a common phenomenon in all medium to large cities of the world. Reliability of freight movement in urban areas is an important issue to manufacturing or service companies whose operation is based in just-in-time approaches. These companies tend to provide high value or time sensitive products/services. As congestion increases, carriers face increasing challenges to satisfy their time sensitive customers in an economical way. Route designs or schedules which require long computation times or ignore travel time variations will result in inefficient and suboptimal solutions. Poorly designed routes that lead freight vehicles into congested arteries and streets not only increases supply chain and logistics costs but also exacerbate externalities associated with freight traffic in urban areas such as greenhouse gases, air pollution, noise, and accidents. Whilst it is rarely possible to entirely avoid the impacts of congestion, it is feasible to schedule operations so that the effects of congestion are minimized. Better scheduling can be effectively supported by the advent of inexpensive and ubiquitous Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The use of mobile phone technology and on-board routing devices allows fluid communication between truck drivers and fleet operators in real-time. In such a real time operation it becomes possible to dynamically reassign vehicles, including modifying the order in which customers are served and diverting a vehicle already en-route to service another customer. However, without fast routing methods that can take advantage of real time congestion information carriers cannot reap the benefits of real-time information. From the operational point of view, congestion creates a substantial variation in travel times during peak morning and evening hours. This is problematic for all vehicle routing models which rely on a constant value to represent vehicle speeds. And while the ubiquitous availability of real time traffic information allows drivers to reactively alter routes and customer service sequences to better cope with congestion, static routing models are unable to take advantage of these advances in real-time information provision in order to proactively find adequate routing solutions. In addition, changes in travel time caused by congestion cannot be accurately represented in static models. Research in time-dependent vehicle routing problem is comparatively meager and current solution methods are inadequate for practical carrier operations which need to provide fast solutions for medium to large instances. Even faster solution methods are essential to take advantage of real time information. The major aim of this proposal is to develop and evaluate new methods for vehicle routing in congested urban areas. The emphasis will be placed on improving the running time of the existing methods. Close

• 143. [Article] Assessing Transit Fare Equity in Utah Using a Geographic Information System

  The goal of this study is to develop and apply a new method for assessing social equity impacts of distance-based public transit fares. Shifting to a distance-based fare structure can disproportionately ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Assessing Transit Fare Equity in Utah Using a Geographic Information System Author: Farber, Steven, Batholomew, Keith, Li, Xiao, Paez, Antonio, Nurul Habib, Khandker M. Year: 2014 The goal of this study is to develop and apply a new method for assessing social equity impacts of distance-based public transit fares. Shifting to a distance-based fare structure can disproportionately favor or penalize different subgroups of a population based on variations in settlement patterns, travel needs, and most importantly, transit use. According to federal law, such disparities must be evaluated by the transit agency, but the area-based techniques identified by the Federal Transit Authority for assessing discrimination fail to account for disparities in distances travelled by transit users. This means that transit agencies currently lack guidelines for assessing the social equity impacts of replacing flat fare with distance-based fare structures. Our solution is to incorporate a joint ordinal-continuous model of trip generation and distance travelled into a GIS Decision Support System. The system enables a transit planner to visualize and compare estimated distances travelled and transit-cost maps for different population profiles and fare structures. We apply the method to a case study in the Wasatch Front, Utah, where the Utah Transit Authority is exploring a switch to a distance-based fare structure. The analysis reveals that overall distance-based fares benefit low-income, elderly, and non-white populations. However, the effect is geographically uneven, and may be negative for members of these groups living on the urban fringe. The research discusses a potential conflict between policies designed to promote equity and those intended to increase discretionary ridership. For example, increasing fares for longdistance discretionary riders travelling from suburban light-rail stations to the central business district may have a negative impact on ridership, despite being economically more efficient through cost-recapturing. At the same time, reducing fares for short-distance trips that are currently too expensive compared to private automobile travel may attract new riders. A full cost-benefit analysis sensitive to heterogeneous price elasticity is recommended for future research. It is also noted that the research findings are dependent on the current spatial distributions of population segments and travel patterns. The equity benefits of distance-based fares are primarily derived from residential clustering of low-income and minority groups in more compact urban areas near the center of the city. Demographic trends, such as inner-city gentrification and suburban aging-in-place, may impose increased travel demands on low income and elderly riders, nullifying future equity gains made by a transition to distance-based fares. Title: Assessing Transit Fare Equity in Utah Using a Geographic Information System Author: Farber, Steven, Batholomew, Keith, Li, Xiao, Paez, Antonio, Nurul Habib, Khandker M. Year: 2014 The goal of this study is to develop and apply a new method for assessing social equity impacts of distance-based public transit fares. Shifting to a distance-based fare structure can disproportionately favor or penalize different subgroups of a population based on variations in settlement patterns, travel needs, and most importantly, transit use. According to federal law, such disparities must be evaluated by the transit agency, but the area-based techniques identified by the Federal Transit Authority for assessing discrimination fail to account for disparities in distances travelled by transit users. This means that transit agencies currently lack guidelines for assessing the social equity impacts of replacing flat fare with distance-based fare structures. Our solution is to incorporate a joint ordinal-continuous model of trip generation and distance travelled into a GIS Decision Support System. The system enables a transit planner to visualize and compare estimated distances travelled and transit-cost maps for different population profiles and fare structures. We apply the method to a case study in the Wasatch Front, Utah, where the Utah Transit Authority is exploring a switch to a distance-based fare structure. The analysis reveals that overall distance-based fares benefit low-income, elderly, and non-white populations. However, the effect is geographically uneven, and may be negative for members of these groups living on the urban fringe. The research discusses a potential conflict between policies designed to promote equity and those intended to increase discretionary ridership. For example, increasing fares for longdistance discretionary riders travelling from suburban light-rail stations to the central business district may have a negative impact on ridership, despite being economically more efficient through cost-recapturing. At the same time, reducing fares for short-distance trips that are currently too expensive compared to private automobile travel may attract new riders. A full cost-benefit analysis sensitive to heterogeneous price elasticity is recommended for future research. It is also noted that the research findings are dependent on the current spatial distributions of population segments and travel patterns. The equity benefits of distance-based fares are primarily derived from residential clustering of low-income and minority groups in more compact urban areas near the center of the city. Demographic trends, such as inner-city gentrification and suburban aging-in-place, may impose increased travel demands on low income and elderly riders, nullifying future equity gains made by a transition to distance-based fares. Close

• 144. [Article] Peer-To-Peer Carsharing: Short-Term Effects on Travel Behavior in Portland, OR

  Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a relatively new concept in the U.S. Enabled by recent internet and mobile technology development, P2P carsharing generally involves a facilitating company connecting private ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Peer-To-Peer Carsharing: Short-Term Effects on Travel Behavior in Portland, OR Author: Dill, Jennifer, McNeil, Nathan, Howland, Steven Year: 2017 Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a relatively new concept in the U.S. Enabled by recent internet and mobile technology development, P2P carsharing generally involves a facilitating company connecting private vehicle owners to people who are interested in renting a vehicle. P2P carsharing has many things in common with business-to-consumer (B2C) carsharing services. Consumers join the service to rent vehicles on a short-term basis from locations dispersed throughout a certain area. Both services may allow households to reduce their private car ownership. However, P2P carsharing differs substantially from other models in that there are two distinct sets of consumers: those who rent the vehicles (renters) and those who put their vehicles up for rent (owners). The members of the service are providing the supply as well as the demand. Not only does the car owner provide the vehicle and determine where it is parked, they determine what hours it is available for rent and at what price (though with some influence from the facilitating company). This report presents findings from a multiyear study of P2P carsharing that began in early 2012 and targeted members of Getaround, which launched in February 2012 in Portland, OR. The goal of this study, which collected information from both owners and renters, is to evaluate the impact of peer-to-peer carsharing relative to other models of car use, including ownership, rental, and conventional (corporate) carsharing. The two primary research questions are whether P2P carsharing can reduce overall and peak- period vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by marginalizing the cost of driving, and whether P2P carsharing increases access to jobs and other activities for those without cars. Compared with conventional carsharing, P2P carsharing has the potential to influence VMT for both the renter and the owner. P2P owners may reduce their driving so that the vehicle is available for rent. Renters, as with other forms of carsharing, may decide to forgo or reduce vehicle ownership and drive less because the marginal costs of driving are more apparent. This report also examines motivations and factors associated with greater or lesser participation (in terms of rental activity), the influence of P2P carsharing on travel behavior and attitudes toward car ownership, and general experiences with P2P carsharing Title: Peer-To-Peer Carsharing: Short-Term Effects on Travel Behavior in Portland, OR Author: Dill, Jennifer, McNeil, Nathan, Howland, Steven Year: 2017 Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a relatively new concept in the U.S. Enabled by recent internet and mobile technology development, P2P carsharing generally involves a facilitating company connecting private vehicle owners to people who are interested in renting a vehicle. P2P carsharing has many things in common with business-to-consumer (B2C) carsharing services. Consumers join the service to rent vehicles on a short-term basis from locations dispersed throughout a certain area. Both services may allow households to reduce their private car ownership. However, P2P carsharing differs substantially from other models in that there are two distinct sets of consumers: those who rent the vehicles (renters) and those who put their vehicles up for rent (owners). The members of the service are providing the supply as well as the demand. Not only does the car owner provide the vehicle and determine where it is parked, they determine what hours it is available for rent and at what price (though with some influence from the facilitating company). This report presents findings from a multiyear study of P2P carsharing that began in early 2012 and targeted members of Getaround, which launched in February 2012 in Portland, OR. The goal of this study, which collected information from both owners and renters, is to evaluate the impact of peer-to-peer carsharing relative to other models of car use, including ownership, rental, and conventional (corporate) carsharing. The two primary research questions are whether P2P carsharing can reduce overall and peak- period vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by marginalizing the cost of driving, and whether P2P carsharing increases access to jobs and other activities for those without cars. Compared with conventional carsharing, P2P carsharing has the potential to influence VMT for both the renter and the owner. P2P owners may reduce their driving so that the vehicle is available for rent. Renters, as with other forms of carsharing, may decide to forgo or reduce vehicle ownership and drive less because the marginal costs of driving are more apparent. This report also examines motivations and factors associated with greater or lesser participation (in terms of rental activity), the influence of P2P carsharing on travel behavior and attitudes toward car ownership, and general experiences with P2P carsharing Close

• 145. [Article] Do TODs Make a Difference?

  In this report, we present research that measures the outcomes of TOD areas in relation to their metropolitan area controls with respect to (1) jobs by sector; (2) housing choice for household types based ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Do TODs Make a Difference? Author: Nelson, Arthur C., Miller, Matt, Eskic, Dejan, Kim, Keuntae, Ewing, Reid, Liu, Jenny H., Berggren, Matt, Mumuni, Zakari Year: 2015 In this report, we present research that measures the outcomes of TOD areas in relation to their metropolitan area controls with respect to (1) jobs by sector; (2) housing choice for household types based on key demographic characteristics; (3) housing affordability based on transportation costs; and (4) job-worker balance as a measure of accessibility. Prior literature has not systematically evaluated TOD outcomes in these respects with respect to light rail transit (LRT), commuter rail transit (CRT), bus rapid transit (BRT), and streetcar transit (SCT) systems. Our analysis helps close some of these gaps. We apply our analysis to 23 fixed-guideway transit systems operating in 17 metropolitan areas in the South and West that have one or more of those systems. We find: (1) Most TOD areas gained jobs in the office, knowledge, education, health care and entertainment sectors, adding more than $100 billion in wages capitalized over time; (2) In assessing economic resilience associated with LRT systems, jobs continued to shift away from TOD areas before the Great Recession, the pace slowed during the recession but reversed during recovery, leading us to speculate that LRT TOD areas may have transformed metropolitan economies served by LRT systems; (3) Rents for offices, retail stores and apartments were higher when closer to SCT systems, had mixed results with respect LRT systems, but were mostly lower with respect to CRT systems (our BRT sample was too small to evaluate); (4) SCT systems performed best in terms of increasing their TOD-area shares of metropolitan population, households and householders by age, housing units, and renters with BRT systems performing less well while LRT and CRT systems experienced a much smaller shift in the share of growth; (5) Household transportation costs as a share of budgets increase with respect to distance from LRT transit stations to seven miles, suggesting the proximity to LRT stations reduces total household transportation costs; (6) Emerging trends that may favor higher-wage jobs locating in TOD areas over time than lower- or middle-wage jobs, perhaps because TOD areas attract more investment which requires more productive, higher-paid labor to justify the investment; and (7) The share of workers who commute 10 minutes or less to work increases nearly one-half of 1 percent for each half-mile their resident block group is to an LRT transit station, capping at a gain of 1.3 percent, which is not a trivial gain. Our report summarizes case studies of 23 transit systems and three journal articles based on our research. Title: Do TODs Make a Difference? Author: Nelson, Arthur C., Miller, Matt, Eskic, Dejan, Kim, Keuntae, Ewing, Reid, Liu, Jenny H., Berggren, Matt, Mumuni, Zakari Year: 2015 In this report, we present research that measures the outcomes of TOD areas in relation to their metropolitan area controls with respect to (1) jobs by sector; (2) housing choice for household types based on key demographic characteristics; (3) housing affordability based on transportation costs; and (4) job-worker balance as a measure of accessibility. Prior literature has not systematically evaluated TOD outcomes in these respects with respect to light rail transit (LRT), commuter rail transit (CRT), bus rapid transit (BRT), and streetcar transit (SCT) systems. Our analysis helps close some of these gaps. We apply our analysis to 23 fixed-guideway transit systems operating in 17 metropolitan areas in the South and West that have one or more of those systems. We find: (1) Most TOD areas gained jobs in the office, knowledge, education, health care and entertainment sectors, adding more than $100 billion in wages capitalized over time; (2) In assessing economic resilience associated with LRT systems, jobs continued to shift away from TOD areas before the Great Recession, the pace slowed during the recession but reversed during recovery, leading us to speculate that LRT TOD areas may have transformed metropolitan economies served by LRT systems; (3) Rents for offices, retail stores and apartments were higher when closer to SCT systems, had mixed results with respect LRT systems, but were mostly lower with respect to CRT systems (our BRT sample was too small to evaluate); (4) SCT systems performed best in terms of increasing their TOD-area shares of metropolitan population, households and householders by age, housing units, and renters with BRT systems performing less well while LRT and CRT systems experienced a much smaller shift in the share of growth; (5) Household transportation costs as a share of budgets increase with respect to distance from LRT transit stations to seven miles, suggesting the proximity to LRT stations reduces total household transportation costs; (6) Emerging trends that may favor higher-wage jobs locating in TOD areas over time than lower- or middle-wage jobs, perhaps because TOD areas attract more investment which requires more productive, higher-paid labor to justify the investment; and (7) The share of workers who commute 10 minutes or less to work increases nearly one-half of 1 percent for each half-mile their resident block group is to an LRT transit station, capping at a gain of 1.3 percent, which is not a trivial gain. Our report summarizes case studies of 23 transit systems and three journal articles based on our research. Close