THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2012 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 26, NO 3 APRIL 30, 2012 Stan dard & Poor s Re port: U.S. s Ail ing Transportation In fra struc ture Suf fer ing From Flat Gas Tax Rev e nues, In ac tion by Con gress, and a Weak Econ omy Stan dard & Poor s has released a report on the almost per fect storm that is build ing over the nation s roads, rail net works, bridges, tun nels, air ports and sea ports. In the spe cial report, titled U.S. Infra struc - ture: How To Break The Log jam For Fund ing, the rat ings ser vice takes a look at the plight of the nation s infra struc ture and the fight for fund ing to fix and main - tain it. Jodi Hecht, credit ana lyst for Stan dard & Poor s Infra struc ture & Renew able Energy Group, says the U.S. is fac ing an almost per fect storm because of flat gas tax rev e nues at the state and fed eral lev els, grid lock in Con gress over long-term trans - por ta tion fund ing, a still evolv ing pub - lic-pri vate part ner ship model, a weak ened econ omy still rebound ing from reces sion and the grow ing need for infra struc ture repair and main te nance because of a grow - ing pop u la tion. She points out that the U.S. is now ranked 24 th in the world in the over - all qual ity of its infra struc ture, and that has a sig nif i cant impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. In fact, the Amer i can Soci ety of Civil Engi neers (ASCE) has put the cost of fail - ing to suf fi ciently fund the coun try s road and bridges at $3.1 tril lion in lost GDP growth by The fig ure includes the ASCE s projection that traffic congestion alone could jump ten-fold by 2020, lead ing to $276 bil lion a year in lost productivity. After stat ing the prob lem, the Stan dard & Poor s report goes on to look at means for fund ing needed repairs and upgrades. It points out that when the fed eral gas tax was Inside Sur veys....page 11 Requests for Pro pos als....page 18 Confer ences...page 19 imple mented in 1956, it was set at three cents per gal lon. By 1993, the tax rate had climbed to 18.4 cents per gal lon with col - lec tions going to the Fed eral High way San Fran cisco See ing Ben e fits to New Park ing Meter Sys tem Deci sion on Expan sion To Be Made in 2013 An exten sive eval u a tion is planned for later this year to assess whether San Fran - cisco s vari able pric ing sys tem at meters and garages is improv ing park ing in the city. Pre lim i nary reports on the SFpark exper i ment are show ing signs of prog ress, but any deci sions about expand ing the pro - gram won t be made until next year. Back in 2010, San Fran cisco began Single space parking meters in San Francisco. (Photo: Courtesy of the SFMTA) Trust Fund, but the rate has held steady since then. Most states add their own fuel taxes, at an aver age of 27.2 cents per Please turn to Page 9 install ing new, credit-card enabled meters at about 7,000 of the city s 26,800 metered park ing spaces. The San Fran cisco Munic - i pal Trans por ta tion Agency (SFMTA) extended time lim its at SFpark meters to four hours and elim i nated time lim its alto - gether at some meters. Last sum mer, it unveiled a vari able pric ing sys tem with the goal of mak ing sure there would be at least one park ing space avail able on each block most of the time. In an effort to achieve its goal, SFpark raises rates incrementally in areas where park ing is in short sup ply and decreases rates at meters where park ing is plen ti ful. In the pilot areas, prices can range from 25 cents an hour to as much as $6 per hour. Rates also are being adjusted in city-owned garages and lots in the pilot areas. At the garages, entrance and exit gates are used to track the num ber of cars using the facil i ties. Park ing sen sors installed in 8,200 spaces and three con trol neigh bor hoods fur ther help to paint a pic - ture of park ing demand. Jay Pri mus, SFMTA pro ject man ager, says it s too soon to draw many con clu - sions about the effect of the vari able pric - ing sys tem, but the pub lic reac tion to the pilot pro gram has been very pos i tive so far. He says both driv ers and store own ers really like lon ger time lim its, meters that Please turn to Page 7

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26, NO. 3 Page 2 BikeMobile Pi lot Pro gram to En cour age Bik ing to School Bike Ex perts to Of fer Free Re pairs to Get Bro ken Bikes on the Road Again A new BikeMobile pro gram is be ing launched in Cal i for nia s Alameda County to en cour age more chil dren to ride their bikes to school. It s part of an ef fort to pro - mote chil dren s health while eas ing traf fic con ges tion around ed u ca tional fa cil i ties. The Alameda County Trans por ta tion Com mis sion (Alamada CTC) and the Met - ro pol i tan Trans por ta tion Com mis sion (MTC) have part nered with the non-profit Cy cles of Change to of fer the bi cy cle fix-it pro gram and a newly de signed BikeMobile. The ve hi cle was in tro duced at an in au gu ral cer e mony at Rosa Parks El - e men tary School in Berke ley as part of an April Fix-a-Thon event. Schools or com mu nity groups can book a BikeMobile Fix-a-Thon through an on line sign-up form at Stu dents can bring their ail ing bi cy cles to the brightly dec o rated BikeMobile and get ex pert help with re pairs. BikeMobile staff pro - vide the parts. Locks, lights and bike hel - mets also are avail able in an ef fort to pro - mote bi cy cle safety and en cour age kids to con sider rid ing their bi cy cles to school. The pi lot pro gram will run through No - vem ber It s be ing man aged un der the Alameda CTC s Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) pro gram, which be gan in 2007 as a way to re duce traf fic con ges tion and pro mote healthy hab its by work ing with kids, par ents and teach ers to en cour - age walk ing, bik ing and carpooling to school. Cy cles of Change runs the BikeMobile pro gram, with over sight by the Alameda CTC. Cy cles of Change has been around since 1998, pro mot ing cy cling as a safe, enjoyable, accessible, inexpensive, healthy and sus tain able mode of trans por ta tion. Since the pro gram s in cep tion, the Cy cles of Change staff has found many chil dren who aren t rid ing their bikes be cause the bikes need main te nance or re pairs. Many of the kids don t live near bi cy cle shops or have the means to get their bikes fixed. Organizers anticipate the BikeMobile will make up to 275 site vis its dur ing the pi - lot pro gram. It will ap pear at many schools tak ing part in the SR2S pro gram, as well as some that are not. The re pair ve hi cle can also be booked for ap pear ances at com mu - nity cen ters, parks or lo cal events through - out the county. Some of the fund ing for the BikeMobile and the SR2S pro grams co mes from Mea - A child's bi cy cle be ing fixed through the BikeMobile pro gram. (Photo: Cour tesy of Alameda CTC) sure B, which is Alameda County s half-cent trans por ta tion sales tax. It was ini tially passed by vot ers in 1986 and again in The ma jor ity of the fund ing for the BikeMobile pi lot is com ing from the MTC s Cli mate Ini tia tives Pro gram. Cy cles of Change ap proached Alameda CTC in 2010 about mak ing a joint ap pli - ca tion for a grant from the MTC. Later that year, the MTC awarded $500,000 to the BikeMobile pro gram. Un der terms of the grant, Alameda CTC is kick ing in ad - di tional match ing funds to bring the grant total to $565,000. The MTC s $80 mil lion Cli mate Ini tia - tives Pro gram was ap proved in 2009 with the goal of re duc ing trans por ta tion-re - lated green house gas emis sions. The BikeMobile pro gram is one of four pi lots the MTC is sup port ing to en cour age chil - dren and their fam i lies to use al ter na tive means of trans por ta tion to lighten their carbon footprint. For more in for ma tion, visit: view/7624 or The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, ISSN , is pub lished monthly, except dur ing Jan u ary and August (10 issues per year), by Law - ley Pub li ca tions, 6813 Jer e miah Ct., Fairfax Sta - tion, VA 22039, Tel: (703) , Fax: (703) , edi tors@lawleypub lications.com. Sub scrip tions $295 per year. Peri - od i cals post age paid at Fairfax, VA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor pub lishes cur rent news on all modes and aspects related to urban trans por ta tion. Law ley Pub li ca tions is an inde pend ent and pri vately owned orga ni za tion. Copy right 2012, Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Reserved. Repro duc tion, includ ing pho - to copy ing and fac sim ile or elec tronic trans mis - sion, in whole or in part with out writ ten per mis sion from the Edi tor is expressly pro hib ited. Law ley Pub li ca tions assumes no respon si bil ity or lia bil ity of any kind for the accu racy or com - plete ness of the infor ma tion herein, or for addi - tional or changed infor ma tion sub se quent to the date the mate rial was received and/or pub lished. Publisher/Editor: Dan iel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E. Man ag ing Edi tor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Senior Edi tor/writer: Carol Ochs

3 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 2 Page 3 Per sonal Air and Land Ve hi cle Com pletes Suc cess ful Flights in Eu rope Op er ates as Three-Wheeled Ve hi cle on Roads The Dutch com pany PAL-V Eu rope NV is seek ing in ves tors to turn its pro to type Per - sonal Air and Land Ve hi cle, the PAL-V ONE, into a com mer cial re al ity. The PAL-V ONE made a suc cess ful maiden flight this year at Gilze Rijen Air port in the Neth er lands, and Rob ert Dingemanse, CEO and co-founder of PAL-V, is now in vit ing in ves tors to cre ate the fu ture with us. On the ground, the two-seat ve hi cle moves like a sports car. It runs on gas o line, but there will also be ver sions that use biodiesel or bio-eth a nol. In about ten min - utes, it can be con verted for flight and reach speeds of up to 112 miles per hour on land and in the air. It flies like a gy ro cop ter. Lift is gen er ated by an auto-ro tat ing ro tor. For ward speed is pro duced by a foldable push pro pel ler on the back. Once the flight is over, in about ten min utes the pro pel ler and ro tor can be folded and se cured back into the driving position En gi neers have been work ing on the first pro to types since the de sign con cept was fi nal ized in The driv ing pro to - type was fully tested in Dingemanse hopes to put the first com mer cial model of the PAL-V ONE on the mar ket in 2014 at a start ing price of around $300,000. Fund ing for the pro ject has come from pri vate in - ves tors and a loan from the Dutch government. Dingemanse says PAL-V plans to mar - ket the ve hi cle not only to pri vate air en thu - si asts but also to pro fes sion als, such as fly - ing doc tors or cou ri ers, or or ga ni za tions, such as the po lice or mil i tary. Com pany spokes man Mike Stekelenburg says the PAL-V ONE can be used when ever The PAL-V ONE in its road way con fig u ra tion. (Photo: Cour tesy of PAL-Europe NV) The PAL-V ONE ready to take off to fly. (Photo: Cour tesy of PAL-Eu rope NV) door-to-door mo bil ity is an ad van tage any where in the world. He an tic i pates the price of the fly ing car will go down as quan ti ties go up and experience is gained. PAL-V says the slim, aero dy namic, three-wheeled ve hi cle com bines the com - fort of a car with the agil ity of a mo tor cy cle, thanks to its pat ented, cut ting-edge tilt ing sys tem. In the air, it moves like a stan dard gy ro cop ter but is qui eter than a he li cop ter be cause the main ro tor ro tates more slowly. The com pany says it takes off and lands with low speed, can not stall and is very easy to control. The PAL-V ONE can use ex ist ing roads and small air strips. Ac cord ing to the com - pany spec i fi ca tions, it has a take-off roll of 540 feet and a land ing roll of 100 feet with a range of 220 to 315 miles, de pend ing on the PAL-V type. Stekelenburg says it s ex - pected that in Eu rope and the U.S., the PAL-V ONE will ini tially mainly use ex ist - ing air fields for take offs and land ings. Its range, once back on the road, is about 750 miles with an es ti mated fuel econ omy of 28 miles per gallon. To drive or fly the PAL-V ONE, proper li censes are re quired. On land, a stan dard pri vate driver s li cense is nec es sary. To take flight, driver/pi lots must ob tain a Sports Pi lot Li cense in the U.S. or a Rec re - ational Pi lot Li cense or Pri vate Pi lot Li - cense in Eu rope. The com pany says it takes about 20 to 40 hours of stu dent-pi lot les sons to learn to fly the PAL-V ONE. It says driv ers can get the hang of driv ing it on land in about 30 minutes. Pi lots won t need to file a flight plan if they stay out of con trolled air space. The PAL-V ONE is ex pected to fly mostly be - low 4,000 feet, which is the air space avail - able for un con trolled Vi sual Flight Rules. The com pany says the gyroplane tech nol - ogy the PAL-V ONE uses en sures the ve - hi cle can be steered and landed safely even if the en gine fails in flight, be cause the ro tor keeps auto rotating. Will the U.S. al low the PAL-V ONE to take to the road and skies? Stekelenburg says the ve hi cle was de signed within ex - ist ing Eu ro pean Un ion and U.S. stan dards for road and air use. The cur rent pro to - type is cer ti fied as a sin gle item, us ing these stan dards, in the Neth er lands. The next steps are Eu ro pean type ap proval fol lowed by USA (FAA) approval. For more in for ma tion, visit: or con tact Mike Stekelenburg at stekelenburg@pal-v.com.

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 3 Page 4 Britain Considering New Ways of Financing Roads Prime Min is ter Dis cusses Pri vate In vest ment and Toll ing Op tions Brit ish Prime Min is ter Da vid Cameron is set ting out a vi sion for his coun try s in fra - struc ture that calls for new ways of fi nanc - ing high ways. In a speech to the In sti tute of Civil En gi neers, Cameron sug gested that pri vate fi nanc ing and new tolls may be a way of im prov ing his na tion s lag ging in - fra struc ture. Cameron told the group that to pre pare Brit ain for long-term suc cess, it is vi tal to ad dress in fra struc ture prob lems. The truth is we are fall ing be hind; we are fall ing be hind our com pet i tors and we are fall ing be hind the great world-beat ing, pi o neer ing tra di tion set by those who came be fore us, he said. In the speech, Cameron called in - frastructure the magic ingredient in so much of mod ern life that gets work ers to their jobs and food to shops, as well as en - abling factories, offices, warehouses and work shops to function, to trade and to grow. How ever, Cameron said there has been a fail ure of vi sion and fi nanc ing that has hurt his coun try s in fra struc ture. He ac - knowl edged that in fra struc ture is ex pen - sive, with one ac a demic as sess ment putting the bill at 500 bil lion to meet cur - rent com mit ments, but he said the coun try can t hide from the need to fund its in fra - struc ture through the gov ern ment, by us ers or by some com bi na tion of the two. He said Brit ain loses 7 bil lion a year be cause of road way con ges tion and called the na - tion s rail ways crowded and ex pen sive. He also faulted the cur rent sys tem for costing too much and tak ing too long to de - velop new high ways and fa cil i ties, such as Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. Cameron is seek ing to re verse what he called a fail ure of vi sion, fail ure of fi nanc - ing and fail ure of nerve when it co mes to Britain s infrastructure. His administration has drawn up a Na tional In fra struc ture Plan to au dit what the na tion has, what needs to change and what the timescale should be, and he told the en gi neers, we should not look to the state to make all the plans and pay all the bills. In his words, If we wait for the state to fund the in fra - struc ture chal lenge, we ll be wait ing for - ever. But equally, it s wrong to think that this job should fall en tirely on the shoul - ders of the private sector. The prime min is ter is call ing on in ves - tors at home and abroad to in vest in Brit - ain s in fra struc ture and take ad van tage of the coun try s sta bil ity and our open mar - kets. He said the na tion s rail ways are mak ing real prog ress, but there is not enough ca pac ity in key ar eas when it comes to roads. Cameron men tioned road toll ing as one op tion for im prov ing the na - tion s roads, but he stressed that tolls would only be con sid ered for new, not ex ist ing ca pac ity. He said this is not about mass toll ing but about get ting more out of the money that motorists already pay. Cameron went on to ques tion why some in fra struc ture, such as wa ter, is funded by the pri vate sec tor through pri - vately owned, in de pend ently reg u lated util i ties, while Brit ain still de pends on pub lic fi nances for roads. He said the na - tion needs to take an ur gent look at op tions for get ting large-scale pri vate in vest ment into the na tional roads net work and sug - gested fund ing could come from sov er eign wealth funds, pen sion funds and other investors. The De part ment of Trans port and Trea - sury will be con duct ing a fea si bil ity study of new own er ship and fi nanc ing mod els Tran sit Plan ner Prime Minister David Cameron speaking to the Institute of Civil Engineers. (Photo: Cour tesy of the ICE) and re port back to the prime min is ter in the fall. For more in for ma tion, visit: peech-on-infrastructure/. The Pi o neer Val ley Plan ning Com mis sion, a proactive Re gional Plan ning Agency (RPA) serv ing Mas sa chu setts s 2 nd larg est met ro pol i tan area, seeks a highly qual i fied pro fes sional to fill the po si tion of Tran sit Plan ner. This po si tion pro vides ex ten sive tech ni cal sup port ser vices to the re gion s tran sit au thor ity. Can di dates must be tech ni - cally sound and able to han dle mul ti ple pro jects. Re quires ex pe ri ence in emerg ing trends in transit, multi-modal service planning, Environmental Justice/Title VI planning ac tiv i ties, and co or di nat ing tran sit ridership sur veys. Re quires a min i mum of a Bach e lor s de gree in trans por ta tion plan ning or re lated field and 3 or more years rel e - vant experience. Candidates must possess excellent analytical, communication, lead - er ship, and com puter skills and be fa mil iar with fed eral tran sit pro grams and plan ning re quire ments. Start ing sal ary of $42,000 to $65,000 de pend ing upon qual i fi ca tions and ex pe ri ence. Ex cep tional can di dates will be con sid ered for a se nior level po si tion. Sub mit re sume with cover let ter, writ ing sam ple and your sal ary ex pec ta tion by May 14, 2012 tar get date to: Tim o thy W. Brennan, Ex ec u tive Di rec tor, Pi o neer Val ley Plan ning Com mis sion, 60 Con gress Street, Spring field, MA An AA/EOE Em - ployer. Po si tion will re main open un til filled.

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 3 Page 5 Cal i for nia Mov ing Ahead with High-Speed Rail Sys tem Travelers Will Travel from L.A. to San Francisco at up to 220 mph California s High-Speed Rail Authority is mov ing ahead with its mas sive rail pro ject un der a newly re vised busi ness plan. The re cently ap proved plan in cludes better in - tegration with existing regional systems, faster im prove ments to in fra struc ture and cheaper con struc tion costs. Un der the re vi sions, the price tag for Phase 1 of the pro ject drops from $98 bil - lion to $68.4 bil lion. The au thor ity re ports that costs of the ini tial phase of the 800-mile sys tem have gone down be cause of blended in fra struc ture and re vised in fla - tion projections. The High-Speed Rail Au thor ity says that un til the en vi ron men tal re view pro - cess is com plete, the ex act route of the high-speed train won t be known. How - ever, the ini tial op er at ing sec tion will run from Merced to San Fernando Val ley and will in volve about 130 miles of track and struc tures in the Cen tral Val ley. The sec - tion con nects with re gional and lo cal rail for blended op er a tions. There are ten ta - tive sta tion lo ca tions un der con sid er ation for Merced, Fresno, Kings/Tulare, Bak ers - field, Palmdale and the San Fernando Valley. Be fore high-speed rail of fi cially kicks off, Caltrans will op er ate ex panded San Joaquin service between Bakersfield and Merced on the first Ini tial Op er at ing Sec - tion be ing built. The au thor ity notes, This won t be high-speed rail proper but will al - low trains to travel at speeds up to 125 mph or more in the Cen tral Val ley, which would re duce travel times on the San Joaquin ser - vice be tween North ern and South ern Cal i - for nia by at least 45 min utes. When the pro ject is com plete, no more than 24 sta tions will dot the 800-mile track from Sac ra mento to San Diego. Trav el ers will be able to make the trip from San Fran - cisco to Los An geles in just two hours and 40 min utes. The Phase I Blended Sys tem is ex - pected to be com pleted in 2028 at a cost of $68.4 bil lion in year-of-com ple tion dol - lars. By the year 2030, the rev e nue from ridership is ex pected to range be tween $889 mil lion and $1.2 bil lion per year. Revenues are expected to cover operating and main te nance costs, so no tax payer sub - si dies are required. Fund ing for the pro ject is com ing from a mix of fed eral, state and pri vate sources. Cal i for nia vot ers ap proved Prop o si tion 1A in 2008 to in vest $9 bil lion in de vel op ment of a state wide high-speed rail sys tem. An - other $3.3 bil lion in fed eral fund ing has been iden ti fied for con struc tion of the first 130-mile seg ment of the ini tial op er a tion sec tion that will run from Merced to the San Fernando Val ley. In ad di tion, the au thor ity says pri vate in ves tors have in di cated an in ter est in help ing to fund the pro ject. This is ex pected to oc cur af ter the ini tial op er at - ing sec tion is de vel oped and the sys tem will be op er at ing at break-even or better based on ridership and revenue. Much of the pro ject is still in the pre lim i - nary de sign stage. High-Speed Rail says right of way is sues are mov ing for ward ac - cord ing to law, and all the sta tions will be prime can di dates for tran sit ori ented de - vel op ment. In fact, the au thor ity adds that high-speed rail de pends on tran sit ori ented de vel op ments to sup ply ridership. What hap pens out side the sta tions is up to the cit - ies where they are lo cated; we are en cour - ag ing cit ies to plan and or ga nize ur ban infill such as offices, residential, museums. High-speed rail is not in tended to be a commuter rail system. It s de signed to take the place of re gional and state wide trans - por ta tion, and the au thor ity says it is go ing to work hard to make sure there is con nec - tiv ity to other tran sit sys tems at each sta - tion. We are try ing to con nect tran sit up so we be come tran sit hubs. The au thor ity says high-speed rail pro - vides three ma jor ben e fits: eco nomic, en - vi ron men tal and com mu nity. From an eco nomic stand point, the sys - tem is ex pected to gen er ate hun dreds of thou sands of jobs dur ing the con struc tion phase and from the eco nomic growth that high-speed rail is ex pected to gen er ate. It says the sys tem will im prove the move - ment of peo ple, goods and ser vices on the ground be tween ma jor met ro pol i tan ar eas as well as re liev ing con ges tion on freeways and at airports. The en vi ron ment is ex pected to ben e fit be cause the elec tric power used by the trains will be gen er ated from sus tain able and re new able power sources, such as wind and so lar. That helps to lower green - house gas emis sions, im prove air qual ity and de crease de pend ence on foreign oil. Mem bers of the com mu nity will ben e - fit, ac cord ing to the au thor ity, be cause they ll have a cheaper, faster, safer and more con ve nient way to travel. Res i dents can also ex pect to ben e fit from re vi tal ized com mu ni ties and the eco nomic de vel op - ment around the new high-speed train terminals. For more in for ma tion, visit: ct_vision.aspx or con tact Janis Mara at (510) or janismara@hotmail.com. A ren der ing of a fu ture sta tion along the Cal i for nia High Speed Rail Au thor ity's planned ser vice, which will even tu ally pro vide ser vice be tween Sac ra mento and San Diego. (Photo: Cour tesy of the Cal i for nia High Speed Rail Au thor ity)

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 3 Page 6 Product and Industry News Cal gary Tran sit Turns to Com puter-aided Dis patch and Au to matic Vehicle Location System to Improve Service The city of Cal gary is among the lat est to put a Xerox com puter-aided dis patch and au to matic ve hi cle lo ca tion (CAD/AVL) sys tem to work in an ef fort to im prove pub - lic tran sit. Un der a $14.5 mil lion dol lar con tract, Xerox will in stall a new sys tem for Cal gary Tran sit to track and dis patch all 986 of its buses and re port on 100 mil - lion an nual pas sen ger trips. Tran sit spokes man Ron Col lins says the new system will create computerized maps for dis patch ers to pin point the ex act lo ca - tion of ve hi cles. They will then be able to make real-time ad just ments, such as add - ing ad di tional bus ser vice and cre ate de - tours when nec es sary by click ing on maps and no ti fy ing driv ers. All ve hi cles will also be able to com mu ni cate and share information in real time. Xerox re ports that ap prox i mately 30 tran sit sys tems are now us ing its CAD/AVL sys tems in the U.S. and sev eral in ter na tional lo ca tions. Ian Newberg, Xerox s man ag ing di rec tor for Pub lic Trans port, Trans por ta tion, Cen tral and Lo - cal Gov ern ment, says the OrbCAD sys tem Cal gary will be us ing is al ready be ing em - ployed by some of the larg est tran sit sys - tems in the U.S. He says it pro vides tran sit employees with capabilities to greatly improve sit u a tional awareness of the entire fleet of vehicles. Cal gary hopes the new hard ware and software will generate exact operational data to re place the man ual pro cesses that had been in use. By do ing so, Col lins says the tran sit agency hopes to im prove fleet man age ment and on-time ar riv als to give pas sen gers con fi dence that bus sched ules will be accurate. The Cal gary sys tem will al low dis patch - ers and su per vi sors to mon i tor route and sched ule ad her ence, tak ing ac tion where nec es sary. Xerox notes the tran sit work ers will be able to man age and re port on a range of in ci dents and better com mu ni cate with ve hi cle op er a tors through voice and mes - sages and emergency alarm monitoring. How ever, Newberg says one of the big - gest ben e fits of the Xerox sys tem is its abil - ity to in te grate with other sys tems, such as traf fic sig nal pri or ity sys tems for Bus Rapid Tran sit ap pli ca tions, new or ex ist ing on-board video cam era sys tems for en - hanced safety, and ve hi cle main te nance mon i tor ing sys tems for re duced road calls and improved system reliability. In Cal gary, pas sen gers may quickly no tice some of the changes. The sys tem will in clude au to mated next-stop pas sen - ger an nounce ments for rid ers on buses, and real-time passenger information can be posted on signs at bus stops and tran sit cen ters or on the Web or mobile phones. Newberg says other changes may be less ob vi ous. He notes the OrbCAD sys - tem im proves on-time per for mance and en hances sys tem safety through im - proved com mu ni ca tion and emer gency alarms. It also al lows for more data col - lec tion to im prove op er a tions plan ning and system reliability. The cost of in stall ing these com put er - ized sys tems de pends on the mod ules cus tom ers want to in te grate with the base OrbCAD sys tem, the type of com mu ni ca - tions sys tem to be in te grated with OrbCAD and the num ber of cus - tomer-spe cific fea tures a tran sit sys tem re quests. De pend ing on the level of sys - tem integration, and specific customer re - quests, Newberg says a typ i cal project may take 24 to 30 months. For more in for ma tion, con tact: Ron Col lins, Cal gary Tran sit, at (403) or ron.b.collins@calgary.ca or Xerox s Sa rah De Camp at (212) or sa rah.de - camp@text100.com. Travel Times are Back on Google Maps; New Sys tem Pro vides More Ac cu rate Travel Info Google Maps is once again post ing travel times when you search for di rec tions us - ing Google. Google Maps dropped the travel time fea ture last sum mer. A com pany spokes - per son says the old sys tem was ditched A Calgary Transit dispatcher using the Xerox CAD/AVL system. be cause it pro vided worst case traf fic (Photo: Cour tesy of Xerox) Please turn to Page 7

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 3 Page 7 Product and Industry News (continued) sce nario times based on his toric traf fic data, for ex am ple, up to 50 min utes in traf fic. Google wanted to make the data fresher, so it has in tro duced a new sys tem that works dif fer ently and serves a dif fer - ent pur pose. Google says the new time-in-traf fic fea ture pro vides us ers with the abil ity to check cur rent traf fic con di tions and es ti - mates the length of travel time based on con stantly re freshed data. It lets com mu - ters know whether it s faster to take lo cal roads or jump on the high way. In some ar - eas, such as New York City, Google Maps also lets us ers know whether pub lic tran sit is a faster op tion. It can help vis i tors de cide whether it s best to take the taxi or sub way to the air port, or in some cases, whether it s faster to get somewhere on foot. The new sys tem strives for more ac cu - racy by us ing in for ma tion from a va ri ety of sources. Some are third party sources, such as traf fic cam eras and news he li cop ters, but much of the data co mes from Google us ers them selves. An droid us ers who en able the My Lo ca tion fea ture on Google Maps are pro vid ing the com pany with a wealth of travel information. Google tries to en cour age par tic i pa - tion in My Lo ca tion by mak ing Google Maps easy to in stall and use, with no ex tra de vice to plug in or ex tra soft ware to buy. Google says the fea ture works with most cell phones, and some come with Google Maps and traf fic crowdsourcing pre-in - stalled. The travel time fea ture is al ready op er - at ing in many lo ca tions, but the com pany could not pro vide a list of spe cific cov er - age ar eas. For more in for ma tion, con - tact:deanna Yick at dyick@google.com. Con tin ued from Page 1 San Fran cisco See ing Ben e fits to New Park ing Me ter Sys tem fi nally make it easy to pay, real-time in for - ma tion and hav ing it be eas ier to find a park ing space and avoid park ing tick ets. A free down load able app in tro duced by SFpark lets peo ple use their iphones and An droid smartphones to check park ing availability and pricing. The information is also avail able on line. A pre lim i nary re port re leased at the end of last year finds that the switch to new me - ters and lon ger park ing times alone is al - ready pay ing re wards for the city. An eval - u a tion con ducted dur ing the first half of last year, before the demand-responsive meter rate ad just ments be gan, found that park ing me ter-re lated ci ta tions were down by 35 per cent at the new me ters, com pared to a 21 per cent de cline at me ters that had not been up graded. The net me ter rev e nue, not count - ing park ing ci ta tions, in creased by 20 per - cent at the new me ters, while the older meters had a seven percent drop in revenue. Sim ply ex tend ing the time lim its last April paid off in rev e nues. SFMTA re ports A multi-space parking meter operating as part of the SFpark project in San Francisco. (Photo: Cour tesy of SFMTA) that rev e nues at the new me ters in creased 11 per cent in Jan u ary through March and jumped to 37 per cent in May and June, af - ter driv ers were al lowed to stay in their spots longer. Com bin ing me ter rev e nue and me - ter-re lated ci ta tions, the new me ters still come out ahead. Com bined rev e nue at the new me ters de creased by about three per - cent dur ing the study pe riod, but com - bined rev e nue at the old me ters was down 14 per cent. One of the agency s goals in mak ing pay ing for park ing more con ve - nient is to shift rev e nue away from park - ing tick ets and to ward me ter pay ments. SFMTA says com pli ance rates are rel a - tively low and ci ta tions are com mon at the older me ters that ac cept only coins and SFMTA parking cards. San Fran cisco is aware that other com - mu ni ties are keep ing an eye on the pro - gram to see what kind of im pact the park - ing changes will have. Pri mus points out that on the website, there is a 130-page re port that was pro - duced last fall that sum ma rizes what had been done and what les sons had been learned up to that point. He says it s in - tended to be a re source for other cit ies to make it eas ier for them to im ple ment more so phis ti cated park ing man age ment and, hope fully, im prove what we have done in San Francisco. For more in for ma tion, visit or con tact the SFMTA at (415) or info@sfpark.org.

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 3 Page 8 En ergy Cri sis Set tle ment to Fund Elec tric Ve hi cle In fra struc ture Cal i for nia s Gov er nor Sets New Goals for EVs and ZEVs California is using a settlement stemming from its de cade-old en ergy cri sis to fund a way to get more en ergy ef fi cient cars on the road. Gov er nor Edmund G. Brown Jr. has an nounced that he will use money from a $120 mil lion set tle ment with NRG En - ergy, Inc. to cre ate a net work of more than 10,000 car charg ing sta tions for elec tric vehicles. The elec tric ve hi cle (EV) charg ing net - work will in clude at least 200 pub lic fast-charg ing sta tions along with an ad di - tional 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 lo ca - tions across Cal i for nia. Funds from the set - tle ment will be used for charg ing sta tions in the San Fran cisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Val ley, the Los An geles Ba sin and San Diego County. A state ment from the gov er nor s of fice calls the new in fra struc - ture net work a break through in en cour ag - ing con sumer adop tion of elec tric ve hi - cles and says it will con trib ute sig nif i - cantly to achieving California s clean car goals. In Jan u ary, the Cal i for nia Air Re - sources Board voted to re quire the larg est automakers to step up their sales of EVs, zero emis sions ve hi cles (ZEVs) or near-zero emis sions ve hi cles by 2025 with a tar get of 15 per cent, or about 1.4 mil lion of their an nual Cal i for nia sales. In an - nounc ing the NRG set tle ment last month, the gov er nor is sued an ex ec u tive order with these targets: By 2015, all ma jor cit ies in Cal i for nia will have ad e quate in fra struc ture and be zero-emission vehicle ready. By 2020, the state will have es tab lished ad e quate in fra struc ture to sup port one million zero-emission vehicles in Cali - for nia. By 2025, there will be 1.5 mil lion zero-emis sion ve hi cles on the road in California. By 2050, vir tu ally all per sonal trans por - ta tion in the state will be based on zero-emis sion ve hi cles, and green house gas emis sions from the trans por ta tion sec tor will be re duced by 80 per cent be - low 1990 lev els. Adrienne Alvord, Cal i for nia and West ern States Di rec tor for the Un ion of Con cerned Sci en tists (UCS), hails the set tle ment as a cre ative way of turn ing a dark chap ter in the state s re cent past into a fan tas tic op - por tu nity to build our fu ture. Alvord says an in crease in the num ber of elec tric ve hi - cles and charg ing sta tions will lead to more jobs in Cal i for nia while clean ing our air, tack ling global warm ing and pro tect ing con sum ers from pain at the pump. She notes that pro vid ing more charg ing sta - tions should help con sum ers feel more con fi dent about choos ing an EV when they re look ing for a new car, and the ZEV pro gram will en cour age automakers to of - fer more plug-in elec tric ve hi cles. UCS Se nior En gi neer Don Anair adds that nu mer ous automakers are al ready sell - ing EVs or plan ning to in tro duce mod els this year and in the years ahead. The Chevy Volt plug-in and Nissan Leaf debuted last year, and Anair says sev eral ma jor man u - fac tur ers, in clud ing Ford, Toy ota, Mitsubishi and Honda, are re leas ing models this year. For more in for ma tion, visit: or con tact the Cal i for nia Pub lic Util i ties Com mis sion at (415) or Eric Bontrager, UCS, at (202) Commuters Earning Incentives for Carpooling Dur ing Florida High way Construction Project In cen tives Be gin at $25 per Per son Each Month Some com mu ters in Florida are be ing paid to get their ve hi cles off the high way and out of the way dur ing a re con struc tion pro - ject on a Mi ami-dade ex press way. Un der the 826/836 In cen tive Pro gram, South Florida Com mu ter Ser vices (SFCS) is of fer ing money to re ward and mo ti vate com mu ters to use al ter na tive modes of trans por ta tion if their reg u lar com mute takes them through the con struc tion zone. Com mu ters who qual ify for the pro gram can earn cash in cen tives for tak ing a The I-826/I-836 con struc tion site. (Photo: Cour tesy of the SFCS) carpool, a vanpool or public transit to work. Jim Udvardy, Pro ject Di rec tor for SFCS, says $200,000 is avail able through the pro gram. It be gan in March, and the ini - tial phase will run for a year. Af ter the first year, an as sess ment will be made to de ter - mine whether ad di tional funds should be made avail able. Udvardy says that by late April, there were 50 reg is tered carpools. He ex pects the num ber to grow to 200 within the first year. Qual i fied in di vid u als with two or more carpoolers can earn $25 a month per per son un der the in cen tive plan. Carpoolers rid ing with three or more re ceive $50 a month, and those with four or more carpoolers re - ceive $75 a month per carpooler. There s also an in cen tive pro gram for those who want to join a vanpool. Un der the plan, a vanpool is con sid ered a group of five to 15 peo ple who com mute to gether in a pas sen ger van pro vided by South Florida Vanpools (SFVP). The Mi ami-dade Please turn to Page 9

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO.3 Page 9 Con tin ued from Page 1 Stan dard & Poor s Re port gal lon, bring ing the to tal tax to 45.6 cents per gal lon. Die sel fuel is taxed slightly higher. Un for tu nately for the Trust Fund, which helps pay for in fra struc ture re pair and con struc tion, it s suf fer ing be cause Amer i cans are driv ing fewer miles these days and rid ing around in more fuel ef fi - cient ve hi cles. With gas o line prices climb - ing, the U.S. gas tax is now rel a tively low at only 10 to 15 per cent of what many Eu - ro pe ans are paying in fuel tax. In 2009, the lat est year for which fig - ures are avail able, about half the al most $196 bil lion spent on high way con struc - tion and main te nance came from fed eral funds. States con trib uted about 27 per cent, and the rest came from lo cal gov ern ment sources. De spite the money be ing spent, the re - port notes that about half the roads in the U.S. are in bad con di tion, and ur ban ar eas are suf fer ing the most. As gov ern ments feel the fund ing pinch, the Stan dard & Poor s re port says there may be a rise in pub lic-pri vate part ner ships (PPPs) as the per cep tion grows that the pri - vate sec tor may be able to work more quickly and more cost-ef fec tively than gov ern ment en ti ties. On ex am ple is the Con tin ued from Page 8 Commuters Earning Incentives Met ro pol i tan Plan ning Or ga ni za tion gives SFVP groups a $400 sub sidy to ward the monthly lease rate for the van. Mi ami-dade Tran sit Metrorail rid ers can earn in cen tives, too. To qual ify for the monthly $25 in cen tive, they must carpool to the Pal metto Metrorail sta tion. They also get the use of pref er en tial park ing, avail - able on a first come, first serve ba sis. Ad di - tional in cen tives are avail able for com mu - ters who use the WeCar Pro gram, which is a mem ber ship-based car sharing program. As an other bo nus, com mu ters reg is - tered in the 826/836 in cen tive pro gram are automatically enrolled in the Emergency Ride Home Pro gram. This pro gram pro - vides free taxi ser vice in the event of an un - expected emergency. To qual ify for any of these in cen tives, com mu ters must travel through the pro ject area. They must carpool 16 days or more Chi cago Sky way. In 2005, the city of Chi - cago con tracted with the Sky way Con ces - sion Co. LLC to run the Chi cago Sky way Bridge. The con tract cov er ing the 7.8-mile road is be lieved to be the first pri vat iza tion of a toll road in the U.S. Stan dard & Poor s points out that the U.S. is not only fail ing to in crease its in fra - struc ture fund ing, it s now spend ing less on a per cent age ba sis. It cites an Ur ban Land In sti tute re port that found fund ing peaked in the 1960s at 3.1 per cent of GDP. By 2007, the rate had fallen to 2.4 percent of GDP. With lim ited fund ing for new con struc - tion, some lo cal gov ern ments are get ting cre ative and turn ing to man aged lanes, of - ten repurposed high-oc cu pancy ve hi cle lanes, as a means of re liev ing con ges tion and rais ing rev e nue. They re sim i lar to tra - di tional toll roads, but Stan dard & Poor s says they pose some ad di tional credit risks, de pend ing on the level of high way con ges - tion. If traf fic flow lags, so can rev e nue, which is es pe cially crit i cal in the early days of pay ing for the man aged lane con struc - tion. The re port finds a ma jor con sid er ation is how con gested the traf fic cor ri dor is dur - ing peak rush-hour pe ri ods, when the lanes gen er ate most of their rev e nue. Eco nomic each month, can not com mute with oth ers in the same house hold and can not have an or i - gin and des ti na tion within the in cen tive zone. The SFCS website can help com mu - ters find oth ers to make up a carpool or vanpool. Udvardy says sim i lar in cen tive pro - grams have worked suc cess fully in the past in states such as Col o rado, Cal i for nia and Texas. In par tic u lar, he points to the I-25 and I-225 Re con struc tion pro ject that be - gan in Den ver a de cade ago. That $3 mil - lion TransOptions pro gram of fered tran sit and vanpool sub si dies to re duce daily ve hi - cle miles trav elled by 74,800. For more in for ma tion, visit: 836_Reconstruction_ProjectIncentive_Pr ogram/223/ or con tact Jim Udvardy at (954) or udvardy@pbworld.com. cy cles can also im pact use of the lanes. The ini tial start-up pe riod and long-term ex pected growth in traf fic are other major considerations for communities considering managed lanes. The re port points out that all man aged lanes are not alike, and what works in some ar eas may not work in oth ers. Some man aged lanes are de signed pri mar ily to re lieve con ges tion, while oth ers are geared to ward gen er at ing rev e nue. The 95 Ex press Pro ject in Florida uses dy namic toll ing to max i mize traf fic flow be tween Fort Laud er dale and Mi ami. Some pub - lic-pri vate part ner ship con ces sions are designed more for raising funds. The re port con cludes by tak ing a stroll through the his tory of man aged lanes and pub lic-pri vate part ner ships and tak ing a look at what lies ahead. It notes that U.S. high way traf fic vol ume de clined by two per cent year-over-year af ter the 2008 re - ces sion. That con trasts with a con sis tent one to two per cent an nual growth in the de cade prior to Traf fic miles trav - eled in 2010 were down 1.5 percent from Toll roads in cluded in the study also suf fered de clines in vol ume, but most planned toll in creases were im ple mented dur ing the re ces sion pe riod and helped mit i gate any losses from the lower vol - ume. Over all, the re port found that toll rates have con sis tently in creased at all lo - ca tions with an in crease in fre quency and the size of in creases since the mid 2000s. Stan dard & Poor s found it did n t re - ally mat ter if the toll roads were pub lic or pri vate en ti ties. It says pub lic toll rates have in creased al most as fast as rates on pri vate roads. Both have climbed faster than the con sumer price in dex, and Stan - dard & Poor s ex pects the trend to continue. Some pri vate roads have been shown to have higher elas tic ity, in di cat ing a higher sen si tiv ity to toll in creases. On the other hand, some pub lic roads were found to be un der priced his tor i cally. The re port pre dicts a nar row ing of the gap be tween pub lic and pri vate tolls as both op er a tors come un der pres sure to cover debt ser vice costs and other cap i tal or private motives. For more in for ma tion, con tact: Mimi Barker at (212) or mimi_barker@standardandpoor s.com.

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, APRIL 30, 2012, VOL. 26 NO. 3 Page 10 Transportation Tort Liability: Case in Review Fall-Down Ac ci dent Case Pro duces Dis sent ing Judgment Back ground In March, the Ap pel late Court of Il li nois pro duced a dis sent ing re sult, on the ap peal of a pe des trian who was in jured when she fell in mid-step over the metal bases of a street bar ri cade over a side walk. She claimed she had been dis tracted by the noise of a jackhammer from a con struc tion site about 12 to 15 feet away. She brought a neg li gence suit against the City of Chi - cago, in which the Cir cuit Court of Cook County granted the City sum mary judg - ment. Pe des trian ap pealed, ar gu ing the Cir cuit Court had erred, be cause ques tions of fact, for a trier of fact to an swer, re - mained; namely, whether the con di tion was open and ob vi ous and whether a dis - trac tion ex cep tion ap plied. The Ap pel late Court re jected these ar - gu ments but nev er the less found the grant - ing of sum mary judg ment im proper and that the City did owe a duty of care to the pe des trian. It there fore re versed the judg - ment and re manded the case. How ever, a dis sent ing opin ion held that dis trac tion ex cep tion did not ap ply in this case. It also took is sue with the ma jor ity s de ci sion be cause it ap peared to re quire the City to take ev ery case to judg ment where a plain tiff claims that a big-city-life noise, such as the sound of a jackhammer, trig - gers the dis trac tion ex cep tion to an open and obvious danger. Arguments The ma jor ity opin ion noted the Su preme Court has held that once a court finds that a dan ger is open and ob vi ous there are four tra di tional fac tors it must con sider in de - ter min ing whether a de fen dant owes a plain tiff a duty of care. These are the foreseeability of the in jury; like li hood of the in jury; mag ni tude of the bur den on the de fen - dant of guard ing against the in jury; and con se quences of plac ing the bur den on the de fen dant. It also noted that un der Il li nois law, own ers of land are not or di narily re quired to fore - see and pro tect against in ju ries from po ten - tially dan ger ous con di tions that are open and ob vi ous but that one of the ex cep tions to this rule is the dis trac tion ex cep tion, which states that not with stand ing the known or ob vi ous dan ger, the owner may not be re lieved of the duty of care. It cited in stances of dis tracted at ten tion which in cluded that the invitee may not dis - cover what is ob vi ous, or for gets what he/she has dis cov ered, or fails to pro tect him/her against the dan ger, or, in deed, cre - ates the dis trac tion. In each case, the invitee was distracted because circumstances re - quired him or her to fo cus on some other condition or hazard. It found that the City had cre ated the haz ard but not the dis trac tion. Nev er the - less, it ruled that it should have rea son ably an tic i pated the dis trac tion and should have fore seen the po ten tial for in jury to pedestrians. The Court be lieved that the bur den on the City to have bar ri caded the en tire walk - way so that no one could use it un til the con - struc tion was com plete, or to have re routed pe des trian traf fic or pro vided an al ter na tive walk way, would have been minimal. It noted that City would have been shielded from li a bil ity for fail ing to erect bar ri cades or pro vide warn ings, but once it had placed bar ri cades, it was not shielded from liability when barricades were placed negligently. In the light of the above it found the City had had a duty to ex er cise due care and re - versed the grant ing of sum mary judg ment. The dis sent ing opin ion noted that the Su preme Court was very clear that in its con sid er ation of the open and ob vi ous rule, the fo cus must be on the de fen dant. In this case, it was un con tested that the pe des - trian had al ready safely crossed one bar ri - cade placed by the City as a warn ing of the dan ger ous con di tion, and knew the bar ri - cades were pres ent. She had there fore been given suf fi cient no tice to per mit her to ex er cise rea son able care in light of the con di tion. This warn ing would have been suf fi cient to render the condition reasonably safe. The pe des trian had also failed to ex - plain what fur ther pre cau tions the City could have taken to ad dress the risk posed by the con di tion. The dis sent ing opin ion ar gued that: City had no duty to re move all dan gers from the side walk to avoid li a bil ity, nor was it pos si ble for the City to ren der the streets in jury-proof; the risk posed by the con di tion re - mained the same with or with out the noise from the jackhammer; the pedestrian had alternative means of pro gres sion; she could have crossed the road or walked around the bar ri cades. He there fore con cluded that the City had taken all the ac tion the law re quired, and noted the irony in that the very act of giv - ing no tice of an open and ob vi ous dan ger would now serve, un der the ma jor ity s view, as the ba sis to ex pose the City to possible liability for its claimed negligence. Fur ther he ar gued that pe des trian s in - ju ries had arisen from some thing out side of the City s con trol an alarm ing noise, not caused by the City, had caused her to misstep. Fi nally, he dis agreed that tak ing ad di - tional pre cau tions, be yond the plac ing of the bar ri cades, would be a min i mal bur - den to place on the City. Ac cord ingly, he dis sented from the ma jor ity rul ing and would have af firmed grant ing sum mary judg ment in fa vor of the City.