Economics and Finance

Toll Pricing “Futures” Market Could Reduce Congestion and Increase Revenue

Fournier, Nicholas, PhD
Patire, Anthony, PhD
Skabardonis, Alexander
2024

Transportation agencies are increasingly relying on tolls to raise revenue and to mitigate congestion, but conventional fixed tolls do not necessarily encourage offpeak use of infrastructure, and high tolls can dampen economic productivity. Dynamically adjusting pricing based on demand can incentivize travelers to avoid peak traffic periods and shift it to other modes, but given the unpredictable nature of traffic, travelers lack the information necessary to accurately predict congestion, so dynamic pricing has minimal effect on demand. Dynamic toll pricing also poses equity concerns for...

Dashboard Cameras Combined with AI Provide an Affordable Method for Identifying Curb Usage

Arcak, Murat
Kurzhanskiy, Alexander
2024

The increasing reliance on transportation network companies (TNCs) and delivery services has transformed the use of curb space. The curb space is also an important interface for bikeways, bus lanes, street vendors, and paratransit stops for passengers with disabilities. These various demands are contributing to a lack of parking, resulting in illegal and double-parking and excessive cruising for spaces and causing traffic disturbance, congestion, and hazardous situations. How cities manage this public asset to support safety and the local economy relies on first understanding the usage...

Policy Brief: Social Equity Impacts of Congestion Management Strategies

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Stocker, Adam
Meza, Ruth
2019

To better understand the equity implications of a variety of congestion management strategies, researchers at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at University of California, Berkeley analyzed existing literature on congestion management strategies and findings from 12 expert interviews. The literature review applies the Spatial – Temporal – Economic – Physiological – Social (STEPS) Equity Framework1 to identify impacts and classify whether social equity barriers are reduced, exacerbated, or both by a particular strategy. The congestion management strategies of...

Congestion Pricing Can Be Equitable If a Portion of the Revenue is Returned to Drivers

Sallee, James, PhD
Tarduno, Matthew, PhD
2003

Economists have long argued in favor of congestion pricing, under which drivers pay a fee or toll to enter roadways during peak times. An increasing number of global cities have adopted or are considering pricing programs. Even so, these regimes remain relatively rare and controversial. One key concern with congestion pricing is fairness. Road pricing can pose a substantial burden for low-income drivers, many of whom have little option to avoid travel during peak times and limited opportunity to choose other modes of travel. Prior research has shown that congestion pricing regimes tend to...

Considerations for Mitigating VehicleMiles Traveled under SB 743

Elkind, Ethan
Lamm, Ted
2018

Pursuant to Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg, 2013), which reformed the process for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of transportation impacts to align with greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research identified vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as the key metric to measure transportation impacts of new developments under CEQA.As a result, project developers will now have to reduce VMT to mitigate significant transportation impacts. While methods for reducing VMT impacts are well understood, implementing VMT reduction measures thatare...

Upzoning Under SB 50: The Influence of Local Conditions on the Potential for New Supply

Nolan, Jared
2019

In this brief, we explore what might happen were SB 50 to pass by taking a detailed look at local market conditions in four case study neighborhoods. Local context shapes financial and physical feasibility. When SB 827, the predecessor to SB 50, was under consideration, estimates of its impact on new housing supply were optimistic. Yet, most of these estimates focused on aggregate development potential and did not consider the on-the-ground reality of other zoning provisions that may influence development, what types of projects might pencil out, or what the existing stock looks like.

Economies of Density, Network Size and Spatial Scope in the European Airline Industry

Romero-Hernandez, Manuel
Salgado, Hugo
2005

In this article we use four different indices to measure cost performance of the European Airline Industry. By using the number of routes as an indicator of Network Size, we are able to estimate indicators of Economies of Density, Network Size and Spatial Scope. By estimating total and variable cost functions we are also able to calculate an index of the excess capacity of the firms. For this purpose, we use data from the years 1984 to 1998, a period during which several deregulation measures were imposed on the European airline industry. Some of the implications of this deregulation...

Simulation Techniques to Obtain Confidence Intervals for Willingness to Pay Measures

Espino, Raquel
Ortuzar, Juan de Dios
Roman, Concepcion
2004

We obtain confidence intervals for willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures derived from a mode choice model estimated to analyse travel demand for suburban trips in the two main interurban corridors in Gran Canaria island, using a mixed RP/SP data base. We considered a specification of the systematic utility that incorporates income effect and interactions among socioeconomic variables and level-of-service attributes, as well as between travel cost and frequency. As our model provides rather complex expressions of the marginal utilities, we simulated the distribution of the WTP (in general,...

Flexibility in California Transportation Funding Programs and Implications for More Climate-Aligned Spending

Segal, Katie
Elkind, Ethan
Lamm, Ted
2021

Flexibility in California Transportation Funding Programs and Implications for More Climate-Aligned Spending examines key features of the legislative authority for transportation planning and finance in California, including local option sales taxes for transportation, and assesses the amount of flexibility that current laws and practices allow for reprioritizing projects as problems and priorities change.

SimUAM: A Comprehensive Microsimulation Toolchain to Evaluate the Impact of Urban Air Mobility in Metropolitan Areas

Yedavalli, Pavan
Burak Onat, Emin
Peng, Xin
Sengupta, Raja
Waddell, Paul
Bulusu, Vishwanath
Xue, Min
2021

Over the past several years, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has galvanized enthusiasm from investors and researchers, marrying expertise in aircraft design, transportation, logistics, artificial intelligence, battery chemistry, and broader policymaking. However, two significant questions remain unexplored: (1) What is the value of UAM in a region’s transportation network?, and (2) How can UAM be effectively deployed to realize and maximize this value to all stakeholders, including riders and local economies? To adequately understand the value proposition of UAM for metropolitan areas, we develop...