THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2015 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 29, NO 2 MARCH, 27, 2015 U.S. Pe des trian Traf fic Fa tal i ties Re main High; Most Killed at Night The Gov er nors High way Safety Asso ci a - tion s (GHSA) lat est report on pedes trian traf fic fatal i ties indi cates there is still a lot of work to be done to help cut the num ber of pedes tri ans killed on U.S. road ways. GHSA s Spot light on High way Safety: Pedes trian Traf fic Fatal i ties by State pro vides a first look at pedes trian fatal ity data for Jan u ary through June of When com par ing fig ures for the first half of 2013 to the fig ures for 2014, it found an esti mated 2.8 per cent decrease in fatal i ties. How ever, after study ing the data and fac tor ing in expected undercounting, Allan Wil liams, for mer chief sci en tist at the Insur ance Insti tute for High way Safety, esti mates that 2,125 pedes tri ans were killed in the first six months of 2014, very close to the 2,141 killed during the same period in Wil liams says it s encour ag ing that pedestrian fatalities haven t increased over the past two years, but he notes that prog - ress has been slow. Pro tect ing pedes tri ans Pedestrian deaths by time of day. (Photo: Courtesy of GHSA) Inside Sur veys....page 12 Requests for Pro pos als....page 21 Confer ences...page 22 is a pri or ity for GHSA and our members. The per cent age of pedes tri ans killed in all motor vehi cle crashes dropped from 17 per cent in the late 1970s and early 1980s to a low of 11 per cent in the past decade. That fig ure climbed back to 14 per cent in New Move able Bar rier Mak ing Golden Gate Bridge Safer Bar rier Designed to Pre vent Cross-Over Col li sions Along 1.7 Mile Span The so-called sui cide lane on San Fran cisco s famed Golden Gate Bridge is no more. A new Move able Median Bar rier (MMB) sys tem now sep a rates oppos ing lanes of traf fic on the bridge, replac ing a series of plas tic tubu lar pylons that had allowed cars to cross into oncom ing traf fic. This new bar rier stretches for 11,500 feet along the bridge and an approach. It con sists of a series of highly rein forced concrete units that are tightly pinned together to form a con - tin u ous bar rier wall between lanes. Two Bar rier Trans fer Machines (BTMs), known as zip per machines, allow oper - a tors to move the bar rier as needed dur ing the day to adjust the bridge lanes to accom mo - date such traf fic demands as morn ing and eve ning rush hour commutes. Priya David Clem ens of the Golden Gate Bridge, High way Please turn to Page 11 States with the most fatal i ties tend to be those with large pop u la tions and large urban cen ters. Wil liams points out that four states Cal i for nia, Florida, Texas and New York accounted for 43 per cent of all Please turn to Page 11 The Barrier Transfer Machine moves the moveable barrier by one laterally. (Photo: Courtesy, Golden Gate Bridge District )

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29, NO. 2 Page 2 PathoMap of New York Sub way Sys tem Charts Thriving Microbial Life Tran sit Rid ers Shar ing Sub way with Hun dreds of Dif fer ent Types of Bac te ria, Vi ruses and Un known Microbes Re search ers have taken a snap shot of mi - cro bial life on the New York City sub way sys tem and found there s noth ing for tran - sit rid ers to fear, de spite the abun dant bac - te rial life they un cov ered. Ac cord ing to the Weill Cor nell Med i cal Col lege re port, pub lished in Cell Sys tems, culture experiments revealed that all the sub way sites con tained live bac te ria. How - ever, the ma jor ity of the 637 known bac te - rial, vi ral, fun gal and an i mal spe cies de - tected were non-patho genic and rep re sent nor mal bac te ria pres ent on hu man skin and hu man body. More than half of the se - quences of DNA col lected could not be iden ti fied and did not match any or gan ism known to the Na tional Cen ter for Bio tech - nol ogy In for ma tion or the Cen ters for Dis - ease Control and Prevention. Researchers say they rep re sent or gan isms New York ers touch ev ery day but were uncharacterized and undiscovered until the study. Over a pe riod of 17 months, the re - search team used ny lon swabs to col lect more than 4,200 sam ples from each of the sys tem s 466 open sub way sta tions, the Staten Is land Rail way, a closed sub way sta tion that was sub merged dur ing Hur ri - cane Sandy in 2012, and a num ber of other pub lic ar eas. Sam ples were taken both in - side the sta tions and in side the trains from sur faces such as ki osks, benches, turn - stiles, gar bage cans and rail ings. Ul ti - mately, 1,457 underwent DNA sequencing. New York City and its sub way sys tem were deemed ideal for the study be cause of the city s size and pop u la tion den sity and be cause its sub way sys tem, used by about 5.5 mil lion peo ple per day, is the larg est mass-tran sit sys tem in the world by sta tion count. Se nior in ves ti ga tor Chris to - pher Ma son, an as sis tant pro fes sor of Please turn to Page 3 Mi cro bial life on the New York City sub way sys tem. (Graphic: Cour tesy, Weill Cor nell Med i cal Col lege) 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 2015, 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, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 3 Combination of Ramp Metering and Variable Speed Lim its Could Reduce Freeway Delays by 30% Sim u la tion In di cates Freeway De lay Re duc tions Possible without Clogging Ramps Swiss re search ers have found that com bin - ing ramp me ter ing with vari able speed lim - its may be able to sig nif i cantly cut traf fic de lays in a way more eq ui ta ble to driv ers than ramp me ter ing alone. Traf fic on some ma jor high ways in Swit zer land has more than tri pled in the past 30 years, lead ing to daily traf fic jams and de lays. Ramp me ter ing has been con - sid ered as one pos si ble so lu tion to keep free way traf fic mov ing, but it co mes with its own set of prob lems. Free way driv ers may find smoother sail ing with ramp me - ter ing, but those try ing to get onto the free - ways may face ad di tional de lays. In a coun try like Swit zer land, where free way ac cess roads tend to be very short and con - nected to the lim its of ur ban cen ters, slow - ing free way ac cess could spread con ges tion to other parts of the urban network. So, re search ers at the Ur ban Trans port Sys tems Lab o ra tory (LUTS) took a look at what might hap pen if ramp me ter ing was com bined with vari able speed lim its on the free ways. Their mod els showed that free - way de lays could be cut by 30 per cent, and de lays across the high way sys tem could drop by 12 percent. Sim u la tions were con ducted on por tions of the A1 be tween Lausanne and Geneva, and sen sors were in stalled on three ac cess and exit ramps along the free way. That data Con tin ued from Page 2 PathoMap of New York Sub way Sys tem physiology and biophysics, says a primary the goal of the pro ject was to cre ate a base - line of the city s microbiome and un der stand the dynamics of microbial communities. Ma son says re search ers fo cused on the built en vi ron ment, es pe cially the sub way sys tem, with the hope that the find ings will help to de velop these in fra struc tures as we move for ward. The goal is for tran - sit agen cies to be able to use this patho gen map, or PathoMap, as we de velop tech - nol ogy and sen sors to have real-time sur - veil lance of tran sit sys tems, to be able to track these microorganisms and detect any ir reg u lar i ties and re spond ac cord ingly. The re port says re peated samplings could be used for long-term, ac cu rate dis ease sur veil lance, bioterrorism threat mitigation, and large-scale health management. About 12 per cent of the bac te ria spe cies sam pled showed some as so ci a tion with dis ease, and frag ments of DNA were found at trace lev els that are as so ci ated with an thrax and Bu bonic plague. Still, Mason offers the reassurance, The fact that peo ple are not dy ing of these dis eases is a tes ta ment to our im mune sys tem and how we in ter act and evolve with the world around us. Ma son notes that, de spite all the mi - crobes dis cov ered, New York s sub way sys tem has been around for over 100 years and to date there have not been cases where the sub way was a source of in fec tion or spread dis ease. In fact, some of the bac te - ria dis cov ered can clean tox ins from the en - vi ron ment, and Ma son says that be cause there are so many spe cies of non-patho - genic bac te ria, they could out-com pete any threatening species. The PathoMap re vealed some other in - ter est ing tid bits about New York. Trace lev els of hu man DNA sam ples taken from the sub way sta tions pro vided clues to the eth nic makeup of the area around the sta - tion. The sam ples also of fered ev i dence that New York ers love their pizza, as mi crobes as so ci ated with cheese and sau sage were found at many of the sta tions. In the sam - ples taken from the sub way sta tion flooded dur ing Hur ri cane Sandy, 10 spe cies of bac - te ria were found that did n t ap pear any - where else in the sub way sys tem. All of them are nor mally found in marine or aquatic environments. For more in for ma tion, visit: - nell.edu/news/pr/2015/02/re search ers-pro - duce-first-map-of-new-york-city-sub - way-sys tem-mi crobes-chris to pher-ma - son.html was sup ple mented by man ual counts, vari able speed limit sys tem de tec tors and video se quences at two of the ac cess ramps. Nikolas Geroliminis, the leader of the LUTS team, says the re search ers de - vel oped al go rithms that could be im ple - mented in real time and tested through the simulation environment. Geroliminis says the chal lenge in con - struct ing the al go rithms was to keep den - sity lev els on all ramps be low the con ges - tion thresh olds and pre vent the on set of low speeds on the high way. When it was - n t pos si ble to keep the lanes be low the con ges tion thresh old, the al go rithm tried to de lay as much as pos si ble ex ceed ing the thresh old. In or der to do that, it used the stor age ca pac ity still avail able on the ramps near the location of the bottleneck. In the sim u la tions, they were able to slow the on set of con ges tion, speed up the re turn to nor mal ity af ter a traf fic jam and im prove the over all per for mance on the free way and ramps. The study found the new strat egy to be very ef fec tive at re - duc ing ramp de lay with out pe nal iz ing non-freeway users. The study did not spe cif i cally cover the costs of im ple ment ing such as sys tem, but Geroliminis says def i nitely this is much smaller than build ing new roads. The main com po nents to be in stalled would be loop de tec tors, which are sen sors on the pave ment in the free way and the ramps that would mea sure in real time the den - sity and speed of ve hi cles and de cide ac - cord ingly how to in flu ence the speed of different components. Stud ies of lo cal ramp me ter ing or vari - able speed limit have been con ducted pre - vi ously in Swit zer land, but Geroliminis says he s not aware of any stud ies to co or - di nate mul ti ple ramps to gether and in te - grate in a vari able speed limit. He says the com bined ap proach is a more chal leng - ing to de velop strat egy but with higher ben e fits. There is no word yet on when, or if, the strat egy will be field-tested on the highways. For more in for ma tion, visit: nd-speed-limits-to-prevent-traffic-/

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 4 New Con cept in Shared Mo bil ity Get ting Try-out in France Eco-friendly Elec tric Cars Pro vid ing Last-Mile Com mut ing Op tion The city of Grenoble, nes tled at the base of the Alps in south east ern France, is test ing a new con cept for us ing shared mo bil ity to stop traf fic con ges tion. In an ef fort to get com mu ters to leave their per sonal cars be - hind, the city has launched the Cité lib by Ha:mo car-shar ing pro gram. Com mu ters can now down load an app that shows them how to get to their des ti na - tion by com bin ing pub lic tran sit with eco-friendly elec tric cars avail able at charg ing sta tions through out the city. The pro ject is be ing run by the city of Grenoble, Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, the French elec tric ity com pany EDF and af fil i ate Sodetrel, the lo cal car-shar ing op er a tor Cité lib, and Toyota. The part ners each have a role to play. Grenoble has al lo cated park ing spaces for the car-shar ing sys tem. Grenoble-Alpes Métropole is pro vid ing the con nec tion to the Sta tion Mo bile trip plan ner. EDF Group pro vides the plan ning, in stal la tion and op er a tion of the charg ing sta tions across the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole. Cité lib of fers cus tomer re la tion ship man - age ment and daily ve hi cle and charger maintenance. Toy ota is pro vid ing 70 cars 35 of its three-wheel i-road ve hi cles and 35 of its four-wheel COMS that can be picked up at 27 charg ing sta tions, which of fer 120 charg ing points. The car com pany says driv ing its two-pas sen ger, three-wheel i-road feels a lot like ski ing as the car leans into turns. The one-pas sen ger, four-wheel COMS of fers a more tra di - A Toyota i-road electric car sharing vehicle being charged. (Photo: Cour tesy of Toyota) The Cite lib process. (Photo: Cour tesy of the City of Grenoble) tional ride and has a trunk for storage. In or der to pro vide this last-mile mo bil - ity, the Sta tion Mo bile app sug gests the best route to meet the needs of each user. The app con sid ers all as pects of pub lic trans por ta tion, such as buses and trams, and then the Cité lib by Ha:mo ve hi cles for the last-mile part of every trip. Christophe Ferrari, pres i dent of Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, says Grenoble is an ideal test city be cause it al - ready has a unique tram-bus-bi cy cle and car-shar ing net work. He says this new pro - gram, which launched last Oc to ber, goes in the di rec tion we want to take. Mar tin Lesage, di rec tor of Cité lib, says the ma jor ad van tages to us ers of the car-shar ing pro gram is the abil ity to pick up and drop off at a dif fer ent lo ca tion, and the flex i bil ity of a very small ve hi cle for short trips. The rate plan for us ing the ve - hi cles has been dubbed 3, 2, 1 euros. Driv ers are charged three eu ros for the first 15 min utes, two eu ros for the sec ond 15 min utes and one euro for each 15-min - ute in cre ment af ter that. An nual lo - cal-trans port-card sub scrib ers can use the sys tem for even less money. They re charged two eu ros for the first 15-min ute seg ment and one euro for each sub se quent seg ment. Charges stop when the driver plugs the car into a charg ing sta tion at their destination. Toy ota has de vel oped a sys tem that al - lows Cité lib by Ha:mo to mon i tor how many cars are avail able, which are clos est to the user, and whether the cars have enough charge to get the user where they want to go. Takeshi Uchiyamada, chair man of Toy - ota Mo tor Cor po ra tion, says ur ban mo bil - ity so lu tions will be a key growth area for Toy ota in the fu ture. The car com pany may ex pand the pro gram based on re sults from the trial in Grenoble. For more in for ma tion, visit: /smart_mobil_hlt _hlt iBM_1_BM_2_ty_society/news_and_

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 5 Driverless Cars Get ting Real-World Test ing in UK Gov ern ment Reg u la tions Put UK in Prime Position for Testing Automated Vehicle Technologies The United King dom says it s in the pole po si tion for de vel op ing a driverless car in - dus try and is putt ing 19 mil lion into an ef - fort to test self-driv ing cars on Brit ish roads. Trans port Min is ter Claire Perry says that un like some other coun tries, reg u la - tions in the UK do not re strict au ton o mous ve hi cle tri als to test-tracks or re quire spe - cial per mits. She notes that any one wish - ing to con duct tests will sim ply be ex - pected to com ply with a code of prac tice, to abide by the law, and to main tain our ex - cel lent road safety record. Last sum mer, the gov ern ment launched a fund ing com pe ti tion through In no vate UK to pro vide back ing for real-world tests of au ton o mous ve hi cles. The win ners have now be gun build ing to ward for mal tri als in four cit ies, Green wich, Bris tol, Mil ton Keynes and Coven try, which will oc cur over the next three years. The UK s Trans port Min is try notes that in the United States, only four states have adopted leg is la tion to per mit test ing of au - ton o mous cars on pub lic road ways. Fif teen states have re jected bills re lated to au ton o - mous driv ing. In Eu rope, only Ger many and Swe den are known to have com pleted a re - view of leg is la tion re lated to driverless cars. There fore, the UK be lieves it is uniquely po si tioned to be come a pre - mium lo ca tion glob ally for the de vel op - ment of driverless car tech nol ogy. Perry says, Driverless cars are the fu ture. I want the UK to be open-minded and em brace a tech nol ogy that could trans form our roads and open up a brand new route for global investment. As the tri als prog ress, the gov ern ment is also work ing to re view and amend do mes - tic reg u la tions by the sum mer of 2017 to specifically accommodate driverless vehi - cle tech nol ogy. Among the ar eas it will be considering are a clarification of liabilities when an au to mated ve hi cle is in a col li sion, amend ing reg u la tions on ve hi cle use to al - low the use of au to ma tion tech nol ogy with - out a test driver, and ways in which to pro - mote safety. For ex am ple, the gov ern ment will con sider whether a higher stan dard of driv ing should be de manded of an au to - mated vehicle than would be expected of a conventional driver. UK Autodrive, a con sor tium of 12 busi - nesses, gov ern ment coun cils and uni ver si - ties, will be con duct ing the tests in Mil ton Keynes and Coven try un der the lead er ship of Arup, an en gi neer ing and con sul tancy firm. Tim Armitage, Arup s di rec tor of the UK Autodrive pro ject, says the de vel op - ment and test ing will in clude in-car, car-to-car and car-to-in fra struc ture tech - nol o gies that will be re quired to drive cars au ton o mously. In ad di tion, he says the pro ject will place great em pha sis on the role and per cep tions of motorists, pedestrians and other road users. Arup plans to start its test ing on closed roads and build to a point where all road us ers, as well as leg is la tors, the po lice and in sur ance com pa nies, are con fi dent about how driverless pods and fully- and par - tially-autonomous cars can operate safely on UK roads. How ever, Jag uar Land Rover, one of the con sor tium mem bers, says it s also work - ing on ways to en sure the ex cite ment and en joy ment of driv ing will not be taken away. Di rec tor of Re search and Tech - nol ogy, Wolfgang Epple, notes that Jag - uar Land Rover is re search ing the Hu man Ma chine In ter face in cars and self-driv ing pods to make sure that ev ery one us ing the roads will ac cept and sup port these new and exciting technologies. Other part ners in the UK Autodrive con sor tium in clude Mil ton Keynes Coun - cil, Coven try Coun cil, Ford Mo tor Com - pany, Tata Mo tors Eu ro pean Tech ni cal Cen tre, RDM Group, MIRA, Oxbotica, AXA, in ter na tional law firm Wragge Law rence Gra ham & Co, the Trans port Systems Catapult, the University of Oxford, Uni ver sity of Cam bridge, and the Open University. In the Bris tol trial, an em pha sis will be placed on de ter min ing the role driverless cars may play in cut ting road con ges tion and mak ing road ways safer. Tests be ing con ducted in Green wich will fo cus on au - tomated passenger shuttle vehicles and driverless valet parking. The Trans port Min is try says the driverless ve hi cle in dus try is ex pected to be worth 40 bil lion glob ally by It s hop ing the tri als in these four cit ies will help to show lead ing car man u fac tur ers that the UK is the place to de velop and test their new models. For more in for ma tion, visit: k-to-lead-development-of-driverless-cartechnology or ecember/02_dec_consortium_wins_co mpetition_to_develop_driverless_cars.as px The UK Autodrive timeline. (Graphic: Cour tesy of UK Autodrive)

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 6 Product and Industry News BikeShield App Gives Mo tor ists Ad vance Warn ing that Cy clists are Close; App De signed to Keep Bi cy clists and Mo tor cy clists Safer on the Road Vehicle to vehicle communications can in - volve more than cars. The mak ers of TheBikeShieldApp have de signed a way for bi cy cles and mo tor cy cles to com mu ni - cate with cars via a smartphone app to warn driv ers when they are nearby. TheBikeShieldApp is de scribed as a First Layer Crash Avoid ance Tech nol ogy mo bile app that al lows cars, mo tor cy cles and bi cy cles to es sen tially talk to one an - other. Driv ers who use the app get an acous tic sig nal that warns them when an app-equipped mo tor cy cle or bi cy cle is ap - proach ing. Bi cy clists and mo tor cy cle rid - ers who use the app send sig nals out in all di rec tions around them to raise driv ers aware ness and re duce dis tracted ma neu - vers that may result in a fatal crash. The app was de vel oped in 2014 by startup TDG Com pany, which the found - ers de scribe as a group of en thu si as tic peo - ple who love bicycles, motorcycles, and above all safety. The TDG Com pany in - cludes peo ple from Los An geles, The various settings of the BikeShield app. (Photo: Courtesy, BikeShield) Guadalajara, Mex ico, and Bar ce lona, Spain, who have biked all around the world. CEO and co-founder Pere Margalef says about 4,000 BikeShields are cur rently in use glob ally, and af ter the ini tial in stal la - tion, the app ac ti vates au to mat i cally at speeds of more than 5 mph. More than half are used by car driv ers, fol lowed by bi cy - clists and motorcyclists. Margalef would n t spec u late on how many app-equipped ve hi cles it would take to make the shield ef fec tive, but he says, The more the better. BikeShield is free for both ios and An droid us ers, and the com pany says it in tends to keep the app free. It has launched an Indiegogo fund - rais ing cam paign to at tract new in ves tors so it can achieve wide scale adop tion and de velop BikeShield 3.0. The new ver sion is de signed to use min i mal bat tery power and con nect bikes with more types of ve hi - cles on the road, such as taxis and buses. BikeShield BUS has al ready been de - vel oped, but Margalef says it s not on the mar ket yet. How ever, the com pany has been talk ing to the Or ange County Trans - por ta tion Au thor ity (OCTA) about us ing BikeShield BUS, and Margalef says they are very in ter ested. It may get a pi lot test around the Uni ver sity of Cal i for nia-irvine. The BikeShield website notes that buses pres ent a unique chal lenge for shar - ing the road be cause they of ten drive in and Please turn to Page 7 Signal from cyclist alerts drivers. (Photo: Courtesy, BikeShield) The BikeShield app displayed on a smartphone in a car. (Photo: Courtesy, BikeShield)

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 7 Con tin ued from Page 6 Product and Industry News (continued) out of bike lanes to reach side walk bus stops. In ad di tion, the large size of the ve - hi cles and the driv ers lim ited views can make it dif fi cult for them to see cy clists. In or der to add to the fun of cy cling, BikeShield 3.0 also prom ises to in clude re ally cool fea tures like real-time vi su al - iza tion of friends on the map to check their ride, meet up with them and make sure they are safe. The lat est ver sion, Ver sion 2.1, includes such features as automatic activa - tion, trip re ports and in ter ac tive maps to help de ter mine safer routes. Cur rently, Margalef says BikeShield is in heavi est use in the Bay Area, the Los An geles Ba sin and Guadalajara. With 13 days left in the Indiegogo cam paign, BikeShield was about one-third of the way to its fund rais ing goal of $25,000 to help ex pand its reach. BikeShield has part nered with MiBici, a bike share pro gram in Guadalajara, to in - cor po rate the BikeShield Bike-2-Ve hi cle (B2V) Com mu ni ca tion Sys tem into its pro gram. In ad di tion, it has opened its B2V com mu ni ca tion chan nels to the most pop u - lar road and nav i ga tion apps so ev ery one us ing them will be able to get ad vance warn ing when cyclists are near. For more in for ma tion, visit: 96kBM_1_BM_2_eshieldapp.com/ nor mal walk ing speed of roughly 1.5 mph. What sets ACCEL apart is that once a rider is on the walk way, the walk way can tri ple its speed and ac cel er ate to nearly 4.5 mph. If some one chooses to walk, rather than just stand on the mov ing sur face, they can move even faster at around 7.5 mph. The walk - way decelerates to normal walk ing speed as the rider reaches their destination. ACCEL uses a band of over lap ping pal lets that ex - pand to three times their orig i nal size to al low the change in speed. ThyssenKrupp has ap plied the lin ear mo tor tech nol ogy of the Transrapid mag netic train to al low for the speed change and smooth tran si - tions. Each pal let has its own mag net, which is pro - Please turn to Page 8 ACCEL Mov ing Walk way Of fers New Op tion for Metro and Air port Ac cess; Mag netic Sys tem Al lows Walk way to Tri ple its Speed but Pro vide Easy Ac cess to Walk ers Ger many s ThyssenKrupp con glom er ate has de vel oped a new type of mov ing walk - way that could en cour age more peo ple to use metro sys tems or help them get to their gate at the air port much faster. The ACCEL trans por ta tion sys tem looks a lot like the typ i cal mov ing walk - way that peo ple are used to ac cess ing at a Images of the ACCEL moving walkway. (Photo: Cour tesy of ThyssenKrupp)

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 8 Con tin ued from Page 7 Product and Industry News (continued) pelled by lin ear mo tors in stalled in fixed po si tions. The ACCEL sys tems can cover a dis - tance of 10 to 1,500 me ters, or nearly a mile, and ThyssenKrupp says that makes it ideal for ex pand ing ac cess to those metro sta tions that seem just too far to reach by foot. Its anal y sis has shown that peo ple more than 500 me ters, about one-third of a mile, from a metro sta tion usu ally opt for other means of trans port, even if it might mean heavy traf fic jams or higher costs. The com pany says ACCEL has the po ten - tial to at tract 30 per cent more pas sen gers to a more en vi ron men tally friendly mode of transport. When it co mes to air ports, ThyssenKrupp notes that some of the most re cent ex pan sions at large air port hubs have con sid er ably length ened the dis - tances be tween gates. ACCEL of fers a way for peo ple to more quickly and eas ily cover those grow ing dis tances with out any ma jor investment in infrastructure. ACCEL, which was first un veiled last year in Gijón, Spain, can move up to 7,300 pas sen gers per hour, per di rec tion. The com pany says that s as many peo ple as a typical fully-automated cabin system. In ad di tion, ThyssenKrupp says it is easy to im ple ment and does n t re quire ma jor con - struc tion work. It can be in stalled with a base depth of just one me ter. For pas sen - gers, it of fers the ad van tage of no wait ing times at sta tions or any entry barriers. The com pany will only de scribe the con struc tion costs as low. It adds that ACCEL is eas ier to op er ate and main tain and does n t re quire the large main te nance teams and com plex in struc tions as so ci ated with fully au to mated cabin systems. For more in for ma tion, visit: art_de - tail.html&eid=tkbase_ _ New App Uses Parkeon Park ing Me ter Data to Help Driv ers Lo cate Parking Spots; Path to Park In creases Odds of Quickly Find ing a Place to Park A new app to help driv ers find a park ing spot more quickly and eas ily will de but in the United States in mid-april. The mak - ers of Parkeon park ing me ters have de - signed the Path to Park app to draw on in - for ma tion from their park ing me ter sys tem and di rect driv ers to likely park ing spots. Parkeon says it now pro vides more than 50 per cent of the world s net work of pay and dis play ter mi nals, and those me ters pro vide Parkeon with a wealth of data about the hab its of ur ban driv ers. Path to Park uses that data to cal cu late real-time de mand for park ing in the area in which a driver wants to park, and it then di rects driv ers to the area they are most likely to find a space. Mar ket ing Di rec tor Sean Renn says the app uses ad vanced sta tis tics Ma chine Learn ing to iden tify likely park ing spots. Driv ers are sent to at least three spots, each of which has an 80 per cent prob a bil ity of be ing empty. Renn says the prob a bil ity that an empty space can be found on the path pro vided is greater than 95 per cent. Path to Park guides driv ers to the spots with turn-by-turn audio. Path to Park was un veiled last month in the French city of Issy-les-Moulineaux, and there are plans to soon ex pand it to an - other 1,000 cit ies in France. Renn says the num ber of us ers is in creas ing in its first mar ket, but a more de tailed anal y sis won t be con ducted un til the app ex pands into the sur round ing cit ies. The mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, André Santini, says Path to Park is pro vid ing us ers with com - fort as it proves to be a real as set in terms of lim it ing the im pact of traf fic caused by mo tor ists who are look ing around for a space. The app is cur rently avail able only for ios sys tems, but an An droid ver sion is due out next month. It s free to down load and use the app. Parkeon hopes to make money on the free app in two dif fer ent ways. First, Renn says it en riches our of fer to our cus tom ers and pros pects to help us sell our park ing me ters. He calls it an added value ser - vice to help cit ies reach their goals of elim i nat ing cir cling for park ing spots and cut ting CO2 emis sions. Sec ondly, Renn says that in the fu ture, Parkeon may find rev e nue through ad ver tis ing on the app. Renn won t re veal where the app will get its first test in the U.S. be cause launch plans are still be ing dis cussed. How ever, he does note that there is no cost for cit ies to en able Path to Park when they al ready have Parkeon me ters. He points out they have al ready paid for the me ter equip ment and are pay ing a ser vice fee for the re port - ing suite and wire less communications. Parkeon s park ing man age ment and tick et ing so lu tions for pub lic trans port can be found in more than 4,000 cit ies and 55 coun tries around the world. The com pany says Path to Park us ers in non-parkeon cit - ies can use the app to find off-street park - ing lots and garages. For more in for ma tion, visit: or con tact Sean Renn at srenn@parkeon.com The Parkeon Strada TVM park ing me ter. (Photo: Cour tesy, Parkeon)

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 9 Tort Liability: Case in Review Does the Po ten tial to In crease Pub lic Safety Prove the Con di tion of Pub lic Prop erty at the Time of an Ac ci dent Is Dan ger ous? An automobile-pedestrian accident at an unsignalized in ter sec tion on Lau rel Can - yon Bou le vard in Los An geles, CA, re - sulted in the death of a 10-year-old girl and ren dered a 12-year-old girl quad ri ple gic. Lau rel Can yon Bou le vard is des ig nated as a ma jor high way and car ries 26,000 ve hi - cles per day. The fam ily of the chil dren, the plain tiffs, brought suit against the City of Los An geles, al leg ing a dan ger ous con di - tion of pub lic prop erty pur su ant to sec tion 835 of the Gov ern ment Code. The trial court granted sum mary judg ment in fa vor of the City, and plain tiffs ap pealed, con - tend ing that tri able is sues of ma te rial fact ex isted as to whether a dan ger ous con di - tion of pub lic prop erty con trib uted to the cause of the fa tal ac ci dent.the ap peal re - sulted in a ma jor ity view that re versed the trial court s rul ings, find ing that: Tri able is sues of fact ex isted whether the in ter sec tion as con fig ured placed chil dren at risk on a con tin ual ba sis, be - cause the City failed to ad dress the im - pact of nearby schools and re tail shops, the lack of gaps in traf fic, in ad e quate crosswalk painting at the intersection, lack of traf fic con trols at this in ter sec - tion, and the prior his tory of ac ci dents and stud ies of the in ter sec tion; A con flu ence of City-caused fac tors com bined to make the in ter sec tion a dan ger ous con di tion; and The con duct of the driver did not ab - solve the City of li a bil ity given the con - dition of the intersection. How ever, a dis sent ing opin ion ar gued that sum mary judg ment was proper be cause none of the fea tures iden ti fied by plain tiffs, ei ther con sid ered in di vid u ally or to gether, es tab lished a tri able is sue as to a dan ger ous con di tion of pub lic prop erty. He sup ported the trial court s find ings that a con di tion is not dan ger ous merely be cause of a fail ure to pro vide reg u la tory traf fic con trol sig - nals. Fur ther, that there was no ev i dence The cor ner of Lau rel Can yon Bou le vard and Archwood Street in Los An geles, CA where a fa tal pe des trian ac ci dent took place in the pe des trian cross walk lo cated in the fore ground of the photo. (Photo: Cour tesy, Google, Inc.) that the phys i cal con di tion of the road way cre ated a trap for mo tor ists and pe des tri - ans: five mo tor ists saw the cross walk and the girls; four stopped for them. Im por - tantly, he ar gued that the ma jor ity s anal y - sis would un nec es sar ily ex pand the lim - ited stat u tory scope for li a bil ity for a dan - ger ous con di tion of pub lic prop erty. The un dis puted facts in the case were that on a clear eve ning in No vem ber, 2010, the girls crossed from the south east cor ner of Lau rel Can yon Bou le vard at Archwood Street to the south west cor ner in a marked cross walk. Lau rel Can yon Bou le vard, run ning north and south, had two lanes of traf fic as well as a left turn lane in each di - rec tion. For south bound traf fic, the pave - ment in each through lane had an ad vance warn ing in di cat ing SLOW SCHOOL XING. Two school cross walk warn ing signs were at the cross walk. The cross - walk it self was marked in a lad der pat tern, with clearly vis i ble lines in good re pair. The intersection was illuminated with four intersectional street lights, one di rectly over the cross walk. Three cor ners at the in - ter sec tion had shopping centers with illuminated parking lots. Four mo tor ists stopped for the girls: three in the north bound traf fic lanes and a south bound mo tor ist in lane clos est to the park ing lane. How ever, the south bound mo tor ist in the lane clos est to the cen ter of the street did not brake and hit both girls, with tragic results. The driver ad mit ted he was fa mil iar with the in ter sec tion and knew there was a cross walk there; his view was un ob - structed, he did not re call any shad ows over the cross walk; he saw the cross walk and girls on the cor ner but was mo men - tarily dis tracted when he looked down to change a CD. The dis sent ing judge con tended that the ac ci dent oc curred be cause the driver Please turn to Page 10

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 29 NO. 2 Page 10 Con tin ued from Page 9 Tort Liability looked down, not be cause of any phys i cal de fect in the con di tion of the in ter sec tion. He ar gued that be cause the in ter sec tion was safe for rea son ably fore see able care - ful use, as ev i denced by the four driv ers who did stop, and a risk of harm was cre - ated only when the driver failed to ex er cise due care, the stat utes pre cluded li a bil ity for a dan ger ous con di tion of pub lic prop erty. He also re jected the ma jor ity view, which sup ported the plain tiffs con ten tion, that tri able is sues of ma te rial fact ex isted based on the com bi na tion of a num ber of fac tors: the fre quency of use by chil dren; the pres ence of three schools in the area of the cross walk; shop ping cen ters fre - quented by the school chil dren in a res i - den tial neigh bour hood; in suf fi cient traf fic gaps; in ad e quate cross walk paint ing at the in ter sec tion; lack of traf fic con trols at the in ter sec tion when con di tions re quire them; and a prior his tory of accidents and studies of the intersection. The ma jor ity view noted that the City s own traf fic en gi neer had en dorsed a 2008 study that rec om mended a traf fic sig nal be in stalled at the sub ject in ter sec tion to en - sure the safe and or derly move ment of pe - destrian and vehicular traffic. The engi - neer found in suf fi cient gaps in traf fic to per mit school-aged chil dren to cross safely. This view found that the level of due care the City had to ex pect of the chil dren, i.e. the level of child be hav ior the City had to fore see, was lower than that expected of adults. The ma jor ity of the Court went fur ther: it main tained that the af fir ma tive ac tions the City had taken col lec tively cre ated a dan ger ous con di tion and thus cre ated li a - bil ity for it self. It agreed with plain tiffs ex pert wit ness a Caltrans en gi neer who claimed the in ter sec tion was a trap in that it did not give enough warn ing to driv ers or pe des tri ans of each other s pres ence in time to avoid a col li sion. The Court noted the ac ci dent his tory at the site, in clud ing an ac ci dent eight months be fore when two pe - des tri ans were hit in the same crosswalk by a northbound car. It ar gued that both the phys i cal set ting of the in ter sec tion (the pres ence of schools and shops on op po site sides of the street, and in ad e quate the traf fic gaps) and it s fea tures con sti tuted a dan ger ous con di tion and added up to make this type of col li sion likely. It ac knowl edged that the rel e vant phys i cal fac tors of the in ter sec tion con sid - ered alone may not con sti tute a dan ger ous con di tion but rea soned that when con sid - ered in con junc tion, they op er ated syn er - gis ti cally to cre ate a haz ard. Thus it con - cluded the City was re quired to do more than paint a crosswalk and put up crosswalk signs. Re gard ing the con duct of the driver, the Court held that it was a log i cal fal lacy to main tain that just be cause some mo tor ists avoid a haz ard means it does not ex ist; the im port of this would be that there can only be a dan ger ous con di tion where the ma jor - ity of cars suc cumb to the condition. Sim i larly, the fact that some at ten tive driv ers would stop at the cross walk for chil - dren would not im mu nize the City from a find ing of a dan ger ous con di tion of pub lic prop erty if nu mer ous in at ten tive driv ers sped along such a ma jor ar tery. There fore, it held that the City was obliged to cre ate and main tain the in ter sec tion with this fore - see able risk in mind. It also found that the driver s familiarity with the intersection did not mean it was not a dan ger ous condition as a matter of law. The Court noted and re jected that any find ing that the driver s in at ten tive ness caused the ac ci dent would be a fac tual find - ing that he was one hun dred per cent re spon - si ble and the con di tion of the prop erty did not con trib ute at all to its occurrence. Against this rea son ing the dis sent ing opin ion ar gued that: The driver did not need more in di ca tion that there was a cross walk on the south side of the in ter sec tion. He was fa mil iar with the in ter sec tion, knew there was a cross walk and be fore the ac ci dent saw it and the girls on the cor ner. Thus, the lack of a painted cross walk on the north side of the in ter sec - tion did not pre clude sum mary judg ment. The driver s fail ure to stop for the girls was not caused by any of the fea tures plain tiffs claim were dan ger ous and was not con - nected to a phys i cal de fect in the condition of the property; Fail ure to cre ate traf fic gaps does not con sti tute a phys i cal de fect in the prop erty it self, as it was well es tab lished that vol - ume and speed of ve hic u lar traf fic in com - bi na tion with heavy pe des trian use do not con sti tute a dan ger ous con di tion; fur - ther, a phys i cal de fect must cre ate a sub - stan tial, rather than a potential, risk of injury; No ev i dence sug gested that the driver s fail ure to stop for the girls was caused by a lack of traf fic gaps, or that lon ger traf fic gaps would have led to a dif fer ent re sult. No causal re la tion ship ex - isted be tween an al leged de fect in the prop erty the lack of traf fic gaps and the driver s con duct that injured the girls; Al though schools and shops were near the in ter sec tion, and pe des tri ans might have used the cross walk fre quently, plain - tiffs failed to iden tify any phys i cal con di - tion that made it un safe to cross. The ac ci - dent oc curred at night af ter school hours, and there was no ev i dence that the girls pres ence at the in ter sec tion that night had any re la tion to school activities; Citizen s reports of accidents or re - quests for traf fic sig nals con sti tute ev i - dence that the City was aware of the con - di tions but do not in them selves es tab lish a dan ger ous con di tion of public property; The ac ci dent his tory in cluded two bi - cycle accidents and five automobile-pe - des trian ac ci dents in a 10 year pe riod. Plain tiffs failed to con nect the re main ing ac ci dents with any phys i cal de fect in the prop erty un der the cir cum stances of the subject case; The study cited by plain tiffs ex pert re - gard ing the lack of traf fic gaps re lated to mea sures to be un der taken based on the ex pan sion of one of the schools near the in ter sec tion, and not the (then) cur rent con di tion of the in ter sec tion. An other study sug gested the in ter sec tion might be in line for safety im prove ment, but such an eval u a tion did not ren der the in ter sec - tion statutorily dangerous. The dis sent ing opin ion con cluded that the po ten tial to in crease pub lic safety did not prove the con di tion of pub lic prop erty at the time of an ac ci dent was dan ger ous. The judge ar gued that the ma jor ity s anal - y sis would un nec es sar ily ex pand the lim - ited stat u tory scope for li a bil ity for a dan - ger ous condition of public property.

11 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, MARCH 27, 2015, VOL. 27 NO. 2 Page 11 Con tin ued from Page 1 Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities Remains High pe des trian deaths in More than a third of those killed in 2013 who were 16 or older had a blood al co hol con tent of.08 of higher. Sev enty per cent of the pe des - trian deaths oc curred be tween 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. The GHSA re port es ti mates that in 2014, the num ber of pe des trian fa tal i ties will drop in 24 states and the Dis trict of Co - lum bia, go up in 21 states, and re main un - changed in five states. One bright note in the re port is the sub - stan tial prog ress be ing made in pro tect ing the na tion s old est and youn gest Amer i - cans. Pe des tri ans 70 and older have al ways been the most vul ner a ble group when it co - mes to per ca pita ac count ing, but the rate of fa tal in ju ries dropped from 9.3 in 1975 to 2.2 in In 1975, 21 per cent of pe des - trian deaths in volved chil dren 12 and un - der. That rate fell to four percent in How ever, dur ing that same time pe riod, there was a 28 per cent age point in crease in deaths in volv ing pe des tri ans 20 to 69. About 70 per cent of those killed in mo tor ve hi cle crashes are men, and many are struck at night and in the fall and win ter months. An other fac tor that might be con trib ut - ing to the con tin ued high rates of pe des - trian fa tal i ties is dis trac tion. The GHSA re - ports there is some ev i dence from the Fa - tality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and emer gency room data that in di cates dis tracted walk ing and dis tracted driv ing are con trib ut ing in creas ingly to both pe - des trian injuries and fatalities. GHSA notes there are many dif fer ent ap proaches to re duc ing pe des trian fa tal i - ties in clud ing ed u ca tion, en force ment, en - gi neer ing, speed re duc tion and ve hi cle de - sign. Cal i for nia, Penn syl va nia and Del a - ware are among those tak ing an ed u ca tion ap proach. Cal i for nia is dis trib ut ing a how to guide to help com mu ni ties with pe des - trian safety by us ing so cial norming prin ci - ples. Penn syl va nia is us ing spe cially iden - ti fied cross ing guards at high-risk in ter sec - tions to teach safe cross ing prac tices. In Del a ware, po lice of fi cers in volved in ed u - ca tion pa trols stop vi o la tors, ed u cate them about safe practices and sometimes give them items to increase their visibility. New York City is tack ling the is sue with ed u ca tion and a move to re duce speeds, since im pact speed is a fac tor in a pe des - trian s sur vival rate. The city has dropped its de fault speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. Wash ing ton, Mary land and the Dis - trict of Co lum bia are among those us ing en - gi neer ing coun ter mea sures, along with ed - u ca tion and en force ment, to try to re duce fatality rates. Those countermeasures in - clude pe des trian ref uge is lands, lon ger pe - des trian signal timing and more visible and Trans por ta tion Dis trict says the Bridge Dis trict has been dis cuss ing the need for a bar rier for de cades to pre vent the dev as ta - tion of head-on ve hi cle col li sions. De sign and man u fac ture of the bar rier sys tem be - gan a few years ago, and the bar rier was in - stalled in Jan u ary. Since then, Clem ens says the bar rier has rarely been hit, but in two cases it did pre - vent ve hi cle cross overs that could have re - sulted in se ri ous col li sions. There have been 128 head-on col li sions on the bridge since 1970 and 16 deaths due to head-on crashes. In ad di tion, there were many non-le thal cross-over col li sions, such as side swipes. The price tag for the pro ject was set at $30.3 mil lion with fund ing com ing from three sources: $20 mil lion (66%) from the Metropolitan Commission via the State of Cal i for nia; $1,379,200 (5%) in fed eral funds; and $5,120,800 (19%) from Golden Gate Bridge toll rev e nues. The bar rier was con structed by Lindsay Trans - por ta tion Solutions. Lindsay re ports that the bar rier is made up of 3,500 in di vid ual units which weigh 1,500 pounds each. The sec tions of highly re in forced con crete are pinned to gether at each end, and the bar ri ers have a T top, which acts as a lift ing sur face for the BTM or Road Zip per. The BTM lifts the bar rier crosswalks. Some mea sures are aimed at driv ers, rather than pe des tri ans. In Cal i for nia, po - lice are tar get ing driv ers who speed, fail to yield to pe des tri ans, run red lights or use cell phones. Wash ing ton, D.C. is mak ing use of au to mated en force ment in the form of cam eras to catch driv ers who speed and run stop signs or red lights. For more in for ma tion, visit: potlight/peds2014.html Con tin ued from Page 1 New Move able Bar rier Mak ing Golden Gate Bridge Safer and passes it through a con veyor sys tem to al low bridge op er a tors to shift lanes to accommodate traffic flow. Be cause the Road Zip per sys tem ac tu - ally lifts the bar ri ers, they can be moved with out dam ag ing the road. Lindsay says the sys tem in place on the Golden Gate Bridge had to be cus - tom-made to fit the Golden Gate Bridge s six nar row lanes. The struc ture has been tested to with stand the force of a 4,400-pound truck trav el ing at 62 miles per hour, which vir tu ally elim i nates the risk of cross-over col li sions. Bar rier Trans fer ma chine op er a tors move the bar rier two to three times a day, and each lane change takes about 35 to 40 min utes. Clem ens says the pub lic has been de lighted with the new bar rier, and notes, We ve no ticed in creased speeds on the bridge since the in stal la tion and have worked with lo cal law en force - ment and me dia to slow drivers down. For more in for ma tion, visit: or s_Hlt _Hlt BM_1_BM_2_yBM_3_BM_4_stemsi nc.com/ or con tact Priya Da vid Clem ens at pclemens@goldengate.org.