Economics and Finance

Old Road, New Directions: Plan for Adeline Street in Berkeley, California

Julia Griswold
Aaron Malinoff
Karen Trapenberg Frick
Elizabeth Deakin
2011

This paper presents a plan for transforming a major arterial and a transit station that divide a low-income business and residential district into an economically healthy, context-sensitive, transit-oriented development. Adeline Street is a major point of entry into Berkeley, California, linking the city of Oakland on the south to the central districts of Berkeley. Formerly a major streetcar corridor, Adeline is now the location of a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station and a surface parking lot, for which housing and businesses were removed in the 1960s. The street's 180-ft right-of-way...

Analyzing Equity Impacts of Transit Fare Changes: Case Study of Alameda-Contra Costa Transit, California

Aaron Golub
Elizabeth Deakin
Cornelius Kofi Nuworsoo
2006

Many transit agencies, faced with budget shortfalls, must consider increasing fares. This paper analyzes the case of the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit). In March 2005, AC Transit put forth five alternative fare proposals for public discussion. The proposed fare structures included combinations of fare hikes, base fare reductions, eliminations of free transfers, and discontinuation of periodic passes. Using data from the agency’s 2002 on-board survey, the paper assessed the impacts of the various fare proposals on different subsets of riders and evaluated the equity of...

How is the COVID-19 Pandemic Shifting Retail Purchases and Related Travel in the Sacramento Region?

Teddy Forscher
Elizabeth Deakin
Joan Walker
Susan Shaheen
2021

A significant portion of the population stayed, and continue to stay, at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With more people staying home, online shopping increased along with trips related to pickups and deliveries. To gain a better understanding of the change in retail purchases and related travel, UC Berkeley researchers compared pre-pandemic shopping to pandemic-related shifts in consumer purchases in the greater Sacramento area for nine types of essential and non-essential commodities (e.g., groceries, meals, clothing, paper products, cleaning supplies). In May 2020, the research team...

Who Has Access to E-Commerce During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Sacramento Region? Implications for Future E-Commerce and Shopping Tripmaking

Teddy Forscher
Elizabeth Deakin
Joan Walker
Susan Shaheen
2021

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about dramatic shifts in travel, including shopping trips. We investigated changes in eshopping for food and non-food items by supplementing an April to May 2018 household travel survey (n=3,956 households) conducted by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) with a May 2020 follow-on panel survey (n=313 households) during one week early in the pandemic. Results demonstrate that impacts from added pickups and deliveries in the SACOG region during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic were limited and did not overwhelm curb management at...

Reviving public transit ridership to downtowns and employment centers: Case Studies of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, and Walnut Creek

Elizabeth Deakin
Egon Terplan
Maya Najjar
Kathryn Exon Smith
2024

This paper examines transit ridership and its role in downtowns in five San Francisco Bay Area cities pre- and post-COVID. We analyze transit ridership data from 2019 and 2022-24, review transit agency responses to COVID’s consequences, and examine the plans and proposals for downtowns adopted by the cities and those developed by business improvement districts (BIDs). We draw upon focus groups we held with transit users and interviews we conducted with key stakeholders to gain additional information and insights. We found that trips to, from and within our five case study downtowns account...

What Makes Public Transit a Success? Perspectives on Ridership in an Era of Uncertain Revenues and Climate Change

Elizabeth Deakin
Gil Tal
Karen Frick
2010

This paper examines the gap between the perspectives of public transit managers and elected officials and other opinion leaders on what makes transit a success, and the role of ridership levels in that assessment. The authors draw upon the literature, discussions with experts and elected officials, and interviews with transit managers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The authors identify the considerations that lead to policies that urge transit agencies to expand, and those that raise operator concerns about such growth. The researchers and policy makers interviewed saw transit’s prospects...

Transportation and Land Development

Elizabeth Deakin
Arthur C Nelson
Kristina Currans
David Lee
John Renne
2019

The Transportation and Land Development Committee (ADD30), a standing committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), was established in 1972 to improve the understanding of the interrelationships between transportation and patterns of urbanization, along with the economic, social, and environmental consequences of transportation and land development choices. Topics that fall within the committee’s purview include: the effect that transportation infrastructure has on urban form and development; the impact that urban form, development, and design has on travel behavior; the impact...

Examining the Potential for Uber and Lyft to be Included in Subsidized Mobility Programs Targeted to Seniors, Low Income Adults, and People with Disabilities

Elizabeth Deakin
Jeremy Halpern
Madeleine Parker
2020

Public agencies have subsidized taxi rides for people who have difficulty driving a car or using the regular transit system – targeting older residents and people with disabilities. There is interest among public agencies to add transportation network companies (TNCs), such as Uber and Lyft, to subsidized ride programs as a travel option due to the widespread availability of TNCs and high-quality service. Key issues include the need for wheelchair accessible vehicles, subsidy needs, and clients who lack or are uncomfortable using a smartphone and credit card. This research included a...

Bay Bridge Toll Evaluation: Final Report

Elizabeth Deakin
Karen Trapenberg Frick
Robert Cervero
Alexander Skabardonis
Ian Barnes
Karla Kingsley
James Rubin
Jin Murakami
Javier Amaro
Erik Jensen
2012

On July 1, 2010, the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) raised the tolls on the seven state‐ owned bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area. For six of the bridges, a flat $5 toll was implemented for passenger vehicles with a 50% discount ($2.50 toll) for peak‐period 3+ person carpools, which had previously crossed the bridges free of charge. On the San Francisco‐ Oakland Bay Bridge, a more complex toll structure was put into place. The toll was increased to $6 during weekday peak periods (5‐10 a.m. and 3‐7 p.m.), and the off‐peak weekday toll was left unchanged at $4; The peak period 3+ person...

California's Futures: Accommodating Growth in An Era of Climate Change and Rising Fuel Prices

Elizabeth Deakin
2008

Sometime between 2025 and 2030, California's population will reach 50 million. During this same period, the state (and indeed the entire world) must find effective ways to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in hopes of slowing and reversing climate change. California has committed to such reductions in SB 32 and Executive Order S-3-05; the state has pledged to reduce GHG to 2000 levels by 2010 (11 percent below business-as-usual), to 1990 levels by 2020 (25 percent below business-as-usual), and to eighty percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Accomplishing these reductions...