Newest Resources (August 2010)

Evaluating Rail Transit Criticism
This fully revised report evaluates criticism of rail transit investments, including a recent paper by Wendell Cox, 'Washington’s War on Cars and the Suburbs.' It examines claims that rail transit is ineffective at increasing public transit ridership, that rail transit investments are not cost effective, and that transit is an outdated mode of transport. It finds that critics often misrepresent issues and use biased and inaccurate analysis.

Changing Vehicle Travel Price Sensitivities: The Rebounding Rebound Effect
This paper, submitted for presentation to the Transportation Research Board, summarizes recent findings concerning transportation price sensitivities. Some studies found the elasticities of fuel and vehicle travel declined significantly between 1960 and 2000, but recent research suggests that price sensitivities have returned to more normal levels, indicating that the rebound effect is rebounding. This suggests that mobility management strategies provide greater benefits than many current evaluation models indicate.

Sustainability and Livability: Summary of Definitions, Goals, Objectives and Performance Indicators
This short paper summarizes basic definitions and concepts for sustainable and livable transportation planning.

Evaluating Public Transportation Health Benefits
This report, written by VTPI for the American Public Transportation Association, investigates how public transit affects human health, and ways to incorporate these impacts into policy and planning decisions. This research indicates that public transit improvements and more transit oriented development significantly reduce per capita traffic crash rates, increase physical fitness, and improve access to medical care and healthy food.

Affordable-Accessible Housing In A Dynamic City: Why and How To Increase Affordable Housing Development In Accessible Locations
This draft report describes how to create more affordable-accessible housing, which refers to lower priced homes located in areas where common services and activities are easy to access by walking, cycling and public transit. This helps achieve numerous economic, social and environmental objectives. Demand for affordable-accessible housing is growing, but many current policies discourage such development, leading to a growing shortage in many communities. Various policy and planning reforms described in this report can support affordable-accessible housing development.