ITS Berkeley

In the context of implementation of SB 743 (Steinberg, 2013), staff at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) have been developing guidance documents on how to calculate induced travel, working with their counterparts at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR). OPR’s technical advisory discusses two methods for estimating induced travel: an approach based on the application of travel models and an approach using elasticities drawn from the peer-reviewed literature (such as the National Center for Sustainable...

This report explores how working families in seven major metropolitan regions (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas–Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Baltimore–Washington) tradeoff housing and commuting costs, and how their tradeoffs differ from those of wealthier families. It is organized into five sections. Beyond this brief introduction, the report consists of five parts. Section 2 introduces the PUMS (Public Use Microdata Sample) database, upon which this analysis is based, and presents the procedures used to identify the seven case study metropolitan regions....

The rapid electrification of the transportation fleet in California raises important questions about the reliability, cost, and environmental implications for the electric grid. A crucial first element to understanding these implications is an accurate picture of the extent and timing of residential electricity use devoted to EVs. Although California is now home to over 650,000 electric vehicles (EVs), less than 5% of these vehicles are charged at home using a meter dedicated to EV use. This means that state policy has had to rely upon very incomplete data on residential charging use. This...

In August 2002, AC Transit began offering free bus passes to low-income middle and high school students. At the same time, the agency reduced the cost of its monthly youth pass from $27 to $15. This dramatic reduction in costs for student riders resulted from a grassroots advocacy campaign that successfully focused local political attention on school transportation in an area where school busing had largely been eliminated for middle school and high school students. The creation of the program drew together state and local elected officials, youth advocates, schools, and transportation...