THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2013 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 27, NO 8 OC TO BER 25, 2013 Ridesharing Com pa nies Pres ent Le gal Is sues for Reg u la tors and Work ers Bat tles Sim mer ing over Sta tus of Driv ers and Need for Indus try Reg u la tion Peer-to-peer ridesharing com pa nies that con nect pas sen gers with driv ers via websites or mobile apps are oper at ing in a legal gray area in most of the coun try. While the California Public Utilities Commis sion recently gave a nod of approval to the indus try by set ting up reg u la tions to gov ern what it s call ing Trans por ta tion Net work Com pa nies (TNCs) ( see arti cle on page 4), the legal i ties of run ning a TNC are murk ier else where. In fact, not long ago, the CPUC was among those tak ing action against the com pa nies. Reg u la tory bod ies across the coun try have filed cease-and-desist orders against ridesharing com pa nies for oper at - ing auto mo bile-for-hire busi nesses with out a per mit or for oper at ing as pas - sen ger car ri ers with out proper insur ance and lia bil ity protections. In addi tion to the legal wran gling with reg u la tory groups, some driv ers are now fil ing law suits against the com pa nies. They argue that they are employ ees who deserve legal pro - tec tion under labor laws. The TNCs main - tain that they do not oper ate the cars or hire driv ers they sim ply provide the technology for matching people. In Cal i for nia, the CPUC decided that rather than fight ing the com pa nies, it would instead move to reg u late them. The com mis sion says it took action in order to pro tect pub lic safety, give peo ple more travel options and fos ter the devel op ment of this nascent indus try. Lyft, a ridesharing com pany with ser vices across the coun try, calls the CPUC s action a milestone. Com pa nies such as Lyft, Ridejoy, Side - car, Tickengo and Uber oper ate by pro vid - ing a website or mobile app that pas sen gers Study Finds Bus Rapid Tran sit a Lead ing Catalyst for Transit-Oriented Development Cleve land Cited for BRT Best Prac tices A new study con ducted by the Institutute for Trans por ta tion Devel op ment Pol icy (ITDP) finds that Bus Rapid Tran sit (BRT) is the type of tran sit sys tem that pro vides the best devel op ment bang for the buck, and it can be a key fac tor in revi tal iz ing cities. The ITDP study finds that true BRT sys tems can lever age as much, or more can use to find driv ers who are will ing to use their per sonal cars to take pay ing cus - tom ers to another city, an air port or a Please turn to Page 4 devel op ment as much cost lier light rail sys tems. In fact, ITDP found that the best BRT sys tem gen er ates 31 times more devel op ment than the best light rail sys tem for each dol lar spent. In reach ing its con clu sions, the ITDP ana lyzed 21 North Amer i can tran sit cor ri - dors and put five BRT sys tems at the top: Please turn to Page 9 Inside Sur veys....page 10 Requests for Pro pos als....page 22 Confer ences...page 23 The HealthLine BRT in Cleveland resulted in increased transit-oriented development, according to the ITDP. (Photo: Courtesy of ITDP)

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27, NO. 8 Page 2 Bogota Wins International Competition for Ex cel lence in Ur ban Trans por ta tion City Hon ored for its BRT Sys tem and Elec tric Taxi Cab Pi lot Pro gram Bo gota is be ing hon ored as a leader in ur - ban trans por ta tion by the C40 Cit ies Cli - mate Lead er ship Group and Siemens. The Co lom bian cap i tal is one of ten cit ies to win the first City Cli mate Lead er ship Awards that have been de signed to honor ex cel lence in ur ban sustainability and lead er ship in the fight against cli mate change. Judges se lected Bo gota in the Ur ban Trans por ta tion cat e gory be cause of its ef - forts to green its bus and taxi fleets. C40 and Siemens note that Bo gota s bus rapid tran sit (BRT) sys tem, TransMilenio, was launched in 2000 to trans port more than 70 per cent of the city s pop u la tion who travel daily by bus. It has achieved emis sions re - duc tions of more than 350,000 tons an nu - ally, and ef forts are cur rently un der way to re place the city s die sel fleet with hy brid and full elec tric buses. The goal is to reach 100 percent conversion by In ad di tion, Bo gota im pressed the judges with its elec tric taxi cab pi lot pro - gram. It prom ises to con vert 50 per cent of the city s fleet within the next 10 years. New York City Mayor Mi chael Bloomberg, the chair of C40, said the awards are ded i cated to the idea that cit ies by re fus ing to wait for ac tion from na - Bo gota's BRT. (Photo: Cour tesy of C40) tional gov ern ments and in ter na tional bod - ies can lead the way in ad dress ing the risks posed by cli mate change. As the awards were handed out last month dur ing a cer e mony in Lon don, Bloomberg noted that by us ing in no va tive lo cal ap - proaches, cit ies are hav ing an im pact on climate change globally. Bo gota has one of the high est lev els of sul phur di ox ide pol lu tion of the Latin Amer i can Green City In dex cit ies. With no metro or tram way, it was faced with the chal lenge of how to re duce emis sions while trans port ing some five mil lion peo - ple by bus each day. In 2000, it in tro duced BRT. Now, about 2,000 of the city s 18,000 buses are part of the TransMilenio sys tem. Many ar tic u lated, and some hy - brid mod els, run on a net work of 87 km and carry some 1.5 mil lion pas sen gers per day. Bo gota started test ing elec tric and hy - brid buses on some routes last year, and this year, it in tro duced a fleet of 46 elec tric taxis. Taxi cabs have the larg est CO2 emissions per passenger in the city. In addition to Urban, C40 and Siemens gave awards in nine other cli - mate-related categories. New York City won an award for Ad ap ta tion and Re sil ience and San Fran cisco was hon ored in the Waste An elec tric taxi cab in Bo gota. (Photo: Cour tesy of C40) Management category. This year s cli mate win ners were cho - sen by an in de pend ent, seven-mem ber judg ing panel com prised of for mer city mayors, architects and representatives of the World Bank, C40 and Siemens. The panel eval u ated 37 pro jects in 29 cit ies as award fi nal ists. The 19 re main ing fi nal ist cit ies are now tak ing part in a dig i tal and so cial me dia cam paign called the Cit i - zen s Choice Award. The pub lic can vote on line for the pro ject they find to be the most in no va tive and for ward-look ing. Please turn to Page 3 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 2013, 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, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 3 California Changes Traffic Impact Analyses Within Tran sit Pri or ity Areas High way Level of Ser vice Re moved from Traf fic Mit i ga tion Pro cess The Cal i for nia leg is la ture last month passed a bill that will change traf fic im pact analyses in transit priority areas areas within one-half mile of a ma jor tran sit stop that ex ists or is be ing planned. Key mea sures of the new bill are listed be low: The (Cal i for nia) Of fice of Plan ning and Re search shall de velop cri te ria for de ter - min ing the sig nif i cance of trans por ta tion im pacts of pro jects within tran sit pri or ity ar eas. Those cri te ria shall pro mote the re - duc tion of green house gas emis sions, the de vel op ment of multimodal trans por ta tion net works and a di ver sity of land uses. In developing the criteria, the office shall rec - om mend po ten tial met rics to mea sure transportation impacts that may include, but are not lim ited to, ve hi cle miles trav - eled, ve hi cle miles trav eled per ca pita, au - to mo bile trip generation rates, or automobile trips generated. Upon cer tif i ca tion of the guide lines, au to mo bile de lay, as de scribed solely by level of ser vice or sim i lar mea sures of ve - hicular capacity or traffic congestion shall not be con sid ered a sig nif i cant im pact on the environment. This does not re lieve a pub lic agency of the re quire ment to an a lyze a pro ject s po - tentially significant transportation impacts re lated to air qual ity, noise, safety, or any other im pact as so ci ated with trans por ta - tion. The meth od ol ogy es tab lished by these guide lines shall not cre ate a pre - sump tion that a pro ject will not re sult in significant impacts related to air quality, noise, safety, or any other im pact as so ci - ated with transportation. Notwithstanding the fore go ing, the ad e quacy of park ing for a pro ject shall not sup port a finding of significance pursuant to this section. California Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sac ra mento), the au thor of Sen ate Bill 743, says the changes it makes to Cal i for nia En vi ron - men tal Qual ity Act (CEQA) will take a good law and make it work better, rather than strip ping it of mean ing. He praises CEQA as a great de fender of Cal i for nia s beauty and adds that the bill s changes fuse CEQA with the pro mo tion of smart ur ban growth, which is a vic tory for the econ omy, for the en vi ron ment and for California. Steinberg says the state wide modernizations in the bill signed by the gov er nor last month are: Re mov ing park ing and aes thet ics stan - dards as grounds for le gal chal lenges against pro ject de vel op ments in ur ban ar eas. The stan dards re main in place for green-field de vel op ments. Mod ern iz ing the state wide mea sure - ments against which traf fic im pacts are as sessed and re solved. Cur rently, a pro - ject s traf fic im pact can be mit i gated by in creas ing sur face park ing lots and new ve hi cle lanes, which in creases con ges - tion and pol lu tion. A mod ern ized met ric al lows traf fic im pacts to be mit i gated by mass-transit stations. Ex pand ing an ex emp tion from CEQA lit - i ga tion for pro jects lo cated within tran sit pri or ity ar eas where a full En vi ron men tal Im pact Re view has al ready been com - pleted and the pro ject doesn t deviate from the lo cal spe cific plan. Cur rently, the ex emp tion ap plies only to res i den tial pro jects, but the new pro posal ex pands that ex emp tion to in clude mixed use pro jects. Steinberg s bill was en dorsed by Cal i for - nia de vel op ers. The Cal i for nia Infill Build ers Fed er a tion, in urg ing the gov er - nor to sign the mea sure, said it will ad - vance infill de vel op ment cre at ing eco - nomic ben e fits, pro mote the state s Green House Gases and air qual ity goals and re - vitalize urban centers. The Cal i for nia Of fice of Plan ning and Re search (OPR) has un til July of next year to draft cri te ria for de ter min ing the sig nif i cance of trans por ta tion im pacts of projects within transit priority areas. Ac - cord ing to the mea sure, those cri te ria shall pro mote the re duc tion of green house gas emis sions, the de vel op ment of multimodal trans por ta tion net works and a di ver sity of land uses. The fi nal ver sion will depend on public comment and input. OPR says a ve hi cle miles trav eled (VMT) ap proach will likely look at re gional VMT. Pro jects that re duce the av er age will re quire less mit i ga tion and those that in crease it will re quire more. For more in for ma tion, visit: lnavclient.xhtml?bill_id= sb 743. Con tin ued from Page 2 Bogota Wins International Competition Win ners will be an nounced in No vem ber. Vot ing is tak ing place at om. C40 is a net work of the world s megacities tak ing ac tion to re duce green - house gas emis sions. It works with par tic i - pat ing cit ies to ad dress cli mate risks and im pacts lo cally and glob ally. Plans call for C40 s City Cli mate Lead er ship Awards com pe ti tion to be come an an nual event. De tails on how to ap ply for next year s awards will be posted next month on the awards website. For more in for ma tion, visit: eBM_1_BM_2_a_Hlt dBM_3_ershipawards.com/bogota-tran smilenio-e-taxis/.

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 4 Con tin ued from Page 1 Ridesharing Com pa nies Pres ent New Le gal Is sues des ti na tion across town. Some op er ate on a flat rate ba sis while oth ers sim ply sug gest a do na tion amount. The com pa nies make money by tak ing a per cent age of the fee paid by the pas sen ger. Even with out gov ern ment reg u la tion, TNCs have taken steps to pro tect pas sen - gers. The safety steps out lined on Tickengo s website echo many of the reg u - la tions ap proved by the CPUC. For ex am - ple, it pro vides a driver li cense check, crim i nal back ground check, driver train ing pro gram, re views, zero-tol er ance pol icy on drugs and al co hol, $1 mil lion ex cess li - a bil ity in sur ance pol icy and 19-point car in spec tions. At Side car, all rides are GPS tracked, do na tions are cashless trans ac - tions and driv ers rate their passengers after trips. How ever, Ridejoy, which ar ranges city-to-city rides, leaves it up to driv ers and pas sen gers to de cide whether they feel safe with their trans ac tion. It en cour ages both driv ers and pas sen gers to take steps like talk ing to each other be fore the trip, ar - rang ing a pick-up spot in a pub lic lo ca tion, shar ing itin er ar ies and con tact in for ma tion with friends and check ing re views of the peo ple who will be in the car. The com pany says it monitors for suspicious activity within the sys tem and removes bad apples when necessary. While the CPUC s ac tion has put some reg u la tory ques tions to rest in Cal i for nia, other le gal dis putes con tinue to sur round this new shar ing type of com pany. Some driv ers are now fil ing suit against the Please turn to Page 5 Cal i for nia Acts to Reg u late In stant Ridesharing Ser vices to Pro tect Pub lic Safety Trans por ta tion Net work Com pa nies Re quired to have State Li cense, and Cars and Driv ers Sub ject to New Rules Cal i for nia has be come the first state in the coun try to es tab lish rules for rideshare ser vices in which driv ers use their per sonal, non-com - mer cial ve hi cles to trans port rid ers they find through on line plat forms. The Cal i for nia Pub lic Util i ties Com mis sion has es tab lished 28 rules and reg u la tions to gov ern this grow ing, new cat e gory of trans - por ta tion en ter prise it calls a Trans por ta tion Net work Com pany (TNC). TNCs in clude com pa nies such as Lyft, Side car and Uber which al low con sum ers to use mo bile apps to book and pay for rides with driv ers who make money by us ing their own cars to give oth - ers a lift. The rides of ten cost less than a com pa ra ble trip us ing a reg u lated taxi ser vice. The CPUC says there were no par tic u lar prob lems that sparked the reg u la tions. It is sim ply act ing to pro tect pub lic safety and en - cour age in no va tors to use tech nol ogy to im prove the lives of Cal i for nians. It stresses it does not want to sti fle in no va tion and new ser vices that con sum ers want, but it does want to en sure that the safety of the pub lic is not com pro mised in the op er a tion of these busi - ness mod els. Among the new rules are re quire ments that TNCs must: Ob tain a li cense from the CPUC to op er ate in Cal i for nia. Re quire each driver to un dergo a crim i nal back ground check. Es tab lish a driver train ing pro gram. Im ple ment a zero-tol er ance pol icy on drugs and al co hol. Con duct a 19-point car in spec tion. Hold a com mer cial li a bil ity in sur ance pol icy that is more strin gent than the CPUC s cur rent re quire ment for lim ou sines, re quir ing a min i mum of $1 mil lion per-in ci dent cov er age for in ci dents in volv ing TNC ve hi cles and driv ers in tran sit to or dur ing a TNC trip, re - gard less of whether per sonal in sur ance al lows for cov er age. Com mis sioner Mark Ferron says it will now be up to the in sur ance mar ket to de ter mine the best ap proach for pro vid ing cov er age for pas sen gers, driv ers and third par ties while ve hi cles are be ing op er ated on a com mer cial ba sis. TNCs are hail ing the CPUC s de ci sion as an en dorse ment of ridesharing. Side car CEO Sunni Paul and the Side car Team call the CPUC s ac tion a land mark de ci sion that gives rideshare the green light once and for all. They point out that a year ear lier, the CPUC was tak ing steps to shut them down. Side car says the de ci sion makes it clear there will be one set of rules for rideshare across the en tire state of Cal i for nia, and the com pany is ex pand ing its op er a tions in the state. Mean while, some taxi op er a tors are voic ing con cerns about com pe ti tion from non-pro fes sional driv ers who are more loosely reg u lated. Dur ing phase two of the CPUC s reg u la tory pro cess, there will be a re view of ex ist ing reg u la tions over lim ou sines and other char ter party car ri ers to en sure that pub lic safety rules are up to date and re spon sive to the needs of to day s mar ket. This sec ond phase will also con sider the im pact of any leg is la tive changes that could af fect the CPUC s abil ity to reg u late the TNC in dus try. For the com plete text of the reg u la tions, visit:

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 5 Signal Optimization Program in Atlanta Yielding Big Re wards Com mu ters in parts of the At lanta area are sail ing through more green lights these days, thanks to an in no va tive, multi-city sig nal tim ing pro gram. Stud ies show the average vehicular delay in the target area has been re duced by 29 per cent. The pro gram in volves the op ti mi za tion and main te nance of 99 traf fic sig nals in the Per im e ter Com mu nity Im prove ment Dis - tricts (PCIDs) north of At lanta in por tions of the cit ies of Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. With fund ing from the Geor gia De part ment of Trans por ta tion (GDOT), the PCIDs se lected Kimley-Horn and As so ci ates, Inc. to con - duct what it called the Per im e ter Traffic Operations Program (PTOP). One of the pri mary goals of PTOP was to de velop base traf fic sig nal tim ing plans to im prove traf fic sig nal tim ing along eight sig nal ized cor ri dors this year. By im prov - ing sig nal tim ing and mak ing changes to the sig nal in fra struc ture, the pro gram hoped to re duce travel time, ve hi cle emis - sions, driver de lay, driver stops and starts, and fuel consumption. GDOT says that with the 29 per cent drop in ve hic u lar de lay, mo tor ists us ing the cor ri dors dur ing morn ing, noon and eve - ning peak pe ri ods will save 233,680 hours of travel time and 160,290 gal lons of gas each year be cause of the im proved traf fic flow. In dol lar terms, of fi cials fig ured that with a ve hi cle oc cu pancy rate of 1.2, $12 per hour for the value of mo tor ists time and $3.50 per gal lon for gas o line, the an - nual ben e fits of re duced de lay come to nearly $3.4 mil lion. Fuel con sump tion sav - ings were cal cu lated at $561,020, bring ing the to tal an nual sav ings to motorists to more than $3.9 million. With an equiv a lent an nual cost of about $60,500 for the sig nal tim ing por tion of the pro ject, the im proved tim ing plan has a ben e fit/cost ra tio of 65 : 1. In other words, of fi cials say the tim ing plans pay for them - selves ap prox i mately ev ery 3.9 workdays. The sig nal pro gram was teamed with the use of a Di verg ing Di a mond In ter - change (DDI) at I-285 and Ash ford Dunwoody Road and the Hammond Half-Di a mond In ter change at Geor gia 440. Travel time stud ies af ter DDI showed a 25 per cent re duc tion in the num ber of stops, a 13 per cent in crease in av er age speed and a 47 per cent re duc tion in average time stopped. The three-year pro gram, funded by a $2.8 mil lion grant from GDOT, made use of Tac tics and Microsoft Of fice Tools soft - ware. It also in cluded fill ing in the miss ing gaps in the fi ber op tic net work link ing the lights and up grad ing other sig nal equipment. PCIDs Pres i dent and CEO Yvonne Wil liams notes that many peo ple travel through sev eral cit ies to reach their des ti - na tions, so we needed to co or di nate the tim ing of traf fic sig nals across those bound aries. Ra chel Brown, GDOT Metro At lanta Dis trict En gi neer, adds that as the Atlanta metropolitan area continues to grow, we have got to work to gether with our lo cal part ners to come up with new ways to help al le vi ate traffic congestion. For more in for ma tion, visit: -Executive-Summary pdf. Con tin ued from Page 4 Ridesharing Com pa nies Pres ent New Le gal Is sues TNCs over the role the driver plays within the com pany. The le gal is sue at stake is whether the driv ers are, in fact, em ploy ees of the com pa nies and thereby en ti tled to pro tec tion un der la bor laws. For in stance, in a class ac tion law suit filed against Lyft, driv ers are pro test ing the 20 per cent cut the com pany takes from the gra tu ities paid. The suit ar gues that the Cal i for nia La bor Code pro hib its em ploy ers from tak ing any part of a gra tu ity paid to an em ployee. Lyft main - tains the driv ers are in de pend ent con trac - tors not em ploy ees. Plain tiffs in both this case and in a fil ing against Uber also ar gue that driv ers should be re im bursed for mile - age. Ridesharing pro grams are grow ing in pop u lar ity and spread ing across the coun try be cause they have ap peal to both driv ers and pas sen gers. Driv ers can make some ex - tra money us ing their cars at what ever time is con ve nient to them. Pas sen gers can en joy leav ing their cars at home or sav ing money over stan dard taxi rates. Many of the sites also mar ket the con ge nial ity of their driv ers and the so cial aspect of ridesharing. Taxi and lim ou sine ser vices are among those who are not wel com ing the new busi ness model. They have pro tested the lack of reg u la tion of the in dus try, com - plain ing that con sum ers are at risk when proper li cens ing and in sur ance are not re - quired. Taxi driv ers them selves are com - plain ing that the new busi nesses are dip - ping into their in comes. Some tran sit ad - vo cates also worry about the growth of this shar ing busi ness model, fear ing that ride-shar ing could eat into the de sire and fi nanc ing for public transportation. In re act ing to the CPUC s reg u la tory de ci sion, Lyft ar gues that new in no va - tions in trans por ta tion have al ways played a large role in our coun try s eco nomic de - vel op ment. It com pares what s hap pen - ing to day to the con struc tion of the na - tion s rail roads in the 1800s and the In ter - state High way Sys tem of the 1900s, and it says the CPUC s rec og ni tion of the ridesharing in dus try will pave the way for our generation s peer economy.

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 6 NACTO Of fers New Guide for City Street De sign Guide Aimed at Broad Au di ence to Help Cit ies Adapt to 21 st Cen tury There s new help avail able for cit ies try ing to re de sign ur ban cen ters to meet the needs of the 21 st century. The National Associa - tion of City Trans por ta tion Of fi cials (NACTO) has re leased its Ur ban Street De sign Guide a fol low-up to the suc cess - ful Ur ban Bike way De sign Guide re leased in Ac cord ing to NACTO, the new guide dem on strates how streets of ev ery size can be reimagined and re ori ented as safe, sus tain able pub lic spaces for peo ple walk - ing, driv ing, bik ing and tak ing tran sit. The guide takes into ac count how ur ban streets must serve mul ti ple pur poses from store front or door step to throughway. Designing Cities Initiative Director Da - vid Vega-Barachowitz says the guide was needed be cause city streets have his tor i - cally been de signed to the stan dards and mea sured by the same cri te ria as ru ral and sub ur ban high ways. Ex ist ing guides have failed to keep up with the ways in which cit ies are try ing to cre ate more bal anced and liv able streetscapes. For in stance, he cites the AASHTO Greenbook, which is geared to ward ru ral and sub ur ban ju ris dic - tions and high-speed roadways. Vega-Barchowitz says the new guide creates a standard that accommodates the unique characteristics of cities while celebrat ing their spe cial qual i ties, such as com - plex, busy in ter sec tions and shared streets and pla zas. He notes that it also is aimed at a broad au di ence rang ing from cit i zens to city en gi neers. Though the guide con tains significant technical detail, it s written in a way to help city lead ers and cit i zens craft a more con crete vi sion for sustainable, vibrant streetscapes." The guide con tains sec tions on streets and in ter sec tions of ev ery size, as well as al leys and pas sage ways, tran sit streets, multi-leg in ter sec tions and pub lic pla zas. It cov ers a host of crit i cal is sues such as speed and safety, de sign and tar get speed, cor ner de sign and turn ing ra dii, lane width, crosswalks, traffic control devices, visibility and sightlines, ac cess man age ment and drive ways. In ad di tion, it dis cusses treat - ments and el e ments such as parklets, pop-ups and street seats, low-im pact de - sign, bus stops, storm water man age ment, parking and sidewalk configurations. The Sum mit Foun da tion and The Bus priority treatment and bus stop location from the Urban Street Design Guide. (Image: Cour tesy of NACTO) An example of a pedestrian crossing treatment from the Urban Street Design Guide. (Photo: Cour tesy of NACTO) Rockefeller Foun da tion sup ported the de vel - op ment of the guide. Darryl Young, Di rec tor of Sus tain able Cit ies at The Sum mit Foun da - tion, says the guide shows how to de sign a street and city that works for all of us. Mi - chael Myers, Se nior Pol icy Of fi cer at The Rockefeller Foun da tion, calls it a pow er ful new tool to help meet the needs of ev ery - one from pe des tri ans to driv ers. Gabe Klein, Chicago Commissioner and Trea surer of NACTO, says the guide is help ing Chi cago build com plete streets and pub lic pla zas that sup port lo cal businesses and vibrant community life. The 250-page Ur ban Street De sign Guide is be ing pub lished by Is land Press. Hard-cover cop ies can be pur chased for $50 through the pub lisher s website at: 01_Hlt kBM_1_BM_2_s/book /islandpress/u/bo html. There is also an interactive document available at NACTO is an as so ci a tion of 16 ma jor U.S. cit ies that was formed to ex change trans por ta tion ideas, in sights and prac tices and work co op er a tively on na tional trans - por ta tion is sues. Mem bers in clude: At - lanta, Bal ti more, Boston, Chi cago, De troit, Hous ton, Los An geles, Min ne ap o lis, New York, Phil a del phia, Phoe nix, Port land, San Diego, San Fran cisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. For more in for ma tion, visit: /.

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 7 Cen tral In di ana Weigh ing Ad van tages and Dis ad van tages of BRT vs. Light Rail Cap i tal and Op er at ing Costs, Pas sen ger Counts, Lon gev ity and Flex i bil ity Among Fac tors Be ing Analyzed As bus rapid tran sit (BRT) grows in pop u - lar ity as a tran sit op tion, more re gions across the coun try may find them selves fac ing a choice sim i lar to one cur rently be - ing weighed in Cen tral In di ana. Is BRT or light rail the best op tion for pub lic trans - por ta tion? The Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (IMPO) is comparing options for BRT and light rail lines along the Hoo - sier Her i tage Port Au thor ity (HHPA) Rail - road Cor ri dor, for merly known as the Nickel Plate Rail Line. Stud ies have shown that this north east ern cor ri dor in the In di a - napolis metropolitan area faces the worst traf fic con ges tion in the re gion. With both tran sit al ter na tives, there are cur rently 17 sta tions un der con sid er ation for in clu sion in what s be ing called the Green Line pro ject. Both al ter na tives would of fer shel ters, have sim i lar sta tion plat forms, though the length would dif fer, and pro vide park ing, where appropriate. There are, how ever, plenty of dif fer - ences. Green Line Pro ject Man ager Jeremy Moore says that for light rail, the cor ri dor would be re con structed as sin gle track from down town In di a nap o lis to Noblesville with sid ings as needed to al - low ve hi cles to pass each other go ing op - po site di rec tions. Sid ings would gen er ally be lo cated at sta tions, but they could be needed at other lo ca tions, too. For BRT, the cor ri dor would be re con structed as a two-lane, two-way road way for use by the BRT vehicles. There are ex ist ing tracks along the HHPA cor ri dor, but Moore says their con - di tion is too poor for reg u lar tran sit ser vice. Cur rently, the In di ana Trans por ta tion Mu - seum runs a few sea sonal ser vices, such as the Fair Train each sum mer. That 11-mile trip, which is less than half the cor ri dor length, takes 40 min utes be cause the train has to move slowly due to the con di tion of the track. De pend ing on the num ber of sta - tions ul ti mately cho sen for the Green Line, travel time along the en tire 23-mile cor ri - dor is ex pected to range from 45 min utes, about the same time as car travel, to as low as 30 min utes. Whether BRT or light rail gets the nod, the current tracks will be The Hoo sier Her i tage Port Au thor ity (HHPA) Rail road Cor ri dor at East 87th Street. (Image: Courtesy of Google, Inc.) removed. Moore says BRT s big gest ad van tage for pas sen gers would be that it can pro vide more fre quent ser vice to han dle the same num ber of rid ers as light rail. So, pas sen - gers would have shorter wait times. He notes that the big gest op er a tional ad van - tage of BRT is that the buses could pass each other at any point along the cor ri dor, mak ing sched ul ing more flex i ble. That would al low both lo cal and ex press ser vice along the cor ri dor an op tion not available for light rail. In ad di tion, Moore says they have found that at ei ther end of the cor ri dor where we en ter city streets in very built-up ur ban en - vi ron ments, the tighter turn ing ra dius of the BRT ve hi cles com bined with less need for ded i cated lanes pro vides us with a better op por tu nity to reach the places that are best suited for tran sit sta tions, in stead of be ing lim ited by where it is fea si ble to fit the rail. The choice is not so clear when it co mes to costs. Moore re ports that op er at ing costs for the two sys tems would be sim i lar at about 5,000 daily rid ers, but light rail has the ad van tage when ridership tops 10,000. In terms of cap i tal costs, the price to con vert to light rail is es ti mated at $439 mil lion while the cost to con vert to BRT is es ti - mated at $378 million. When it co mes to tran sit ori ented de vel - op ment, Moore does n t see much dif fer - ence. He says that in look ing at cit ies with ex ist ing rapid tran sit lines, both BRT and light rail have proven they can spur suc - cess ful de vel op ment, de pend ing on the level of ser vice and amenities provided. A side-by-side com par i son on the Green Line website shows that BRT could pro vide ser vice ev ery 7 to 10 min utes, com pared to 15 for light rail. Each BRT ve hi cle could carry 60 pas sen gers, have an ex pected life span of 12 years and cost $950,000. That com pares to 120 pas sen - gers per car, a life span of 25 years and a ve hi cle cost of $6.5 mil lion for light rail. Both sys tems would use cross ing gates or traffic signals at intersections, and the noise level of BRT would be slightly higher at 79 deci bels vs. 75 decibels. A Draft Environmental Impact State - ment is cur rently be ing de vel oped for the Green Line pro ject. It s ex pected to be com pleted next sum mer. Mean time, Moore says the In di ana leg is la ture is de bat - ing a mea sure to pro vide the lo cal por tion of the fund ing needed for the pro ject. If all goes smoothly, the Green Line could be providing service for passengers by For more in for ma tion, visit: orridor/ or con tact Jeremy Moore at Jeremy.Moore@indy.gov.

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 8 Tort Liability: Case in Review Su preme Court of NY Rules on What Ev i dence is Proof of Rea son able and Adequate Discretionary Action by a Governmental Entity In De cem ber 2005, an elec tric ity-sup ply com pany worker was in jured when he was struck by a ve hi cle as he stood on the side - walk, next to a pole he was in spect ing. The pole had been dam aged when struck by a car in a pre vi ous ac ci dent. Plain tiff sued the City of New York (the City) to re cover dam ages, al leg ing the City was neg li gent in its de sign, main te nance and con struc tion of the road way at the ac - ci dent site -- spe cif i cally, it failed to con - duct timely and ad e quate traf fic stud ies of the area de spite its knowl edge of re peated ac ci dents at the lo ca tion and nu mer ous com plaints about the unsafe nature of the roadway. Plain tiff claimed that as early as Au gust 2002, the City had de ter mined that traf fic sur veys at the ac ci dent site should be per - formed, but none were un der taken un til De cem ber 2004, when only a traf fic sig nal study was per formed. Plain tiff al leged the fail ure to con duct a traf fic calm ing study constituted a material omission, since the two stud ies are dif fer ent in na ture and are per formed by dif fer ent peo ple with dif fer - ent areas of expertise and experience. Fur ther, de spite com mu nity pres sure about the pro lif er a tion of speed ing ve hi - cles in the area, a sec ond traf fic sig nal study was per formed in May 2005, but again, no traf fic calm ing study was per - formed. Only af ter the in ter ven tion of cer - tain elected of fi cials re sulted in the area be - ing given top pri or ity did the City s De - part ment of Trans por ta tion (DOT) con - duct a traf fic calm ing study in De cem ber 2005, shortly after the accident occurred. Among other claims, Plain tiff ar gued that chang ing the two-lane, one-way road - way to a one-lane, one-way road way would have re duced speed ing and that im - proved street mark ings would have re - duced the num ber of ac ci dents and slowed the flow of traf fic. Fi nally, Plain tiff al leged that if all these changes had been made prior to De cem ber 2, 2005, the sub ject ac - ci dent could have been prevented. Plain tiff showed ev i dence that the City The corner of Van Duzer Street (the road with the oncoming vehicle) and Waverly Place in New York City where a worker was struck when inspecting a utility pole. de layed im ple ment ing in stall ing new pave ment mark ings un til April 2006 due to it s claim that these could not be in stalled dur ing the win ter. Given the re sults of the traf fic calm ing study, Plain tiff claimed this de lay was negligent. In sup port of these claims, Plain tiff sub - mit ted an af fi da vit by a high way en gi neer - ing ex pert who main tained that if the DOT had taken ac tion ear lier, there would have been suf fi cient time be fore the on set of win ter to make the changes in pave ment mark ings that could have pre vented the accident. The City re sponded by con tend ing that road way de sign is a dis cre tion ary gov ern - men tal func tion for which it en joys ab so - lute im mu nity. In ad di tion, any pur ported neg li gence on its part was not a prox i mate cause of Plain tiff s injuries. In proof of its discretionary activities, the City pro vided the tran scripts of ev i - dence by the DOT s High way Trans por ta - tion Spe cial ist, its Chief of High way De - sign, and the Staten Is land Bor ough Com - mis sioner; re cords from the City s De part - ment of High way De sign; an Au gust 2002 re quest for traf fic light or traf fic calm ing stud ies; cop ies of traf fic sur veys con - ducted dur ing 2004 and 2005, in clud ing an in ter sec tion con trol anal y sis of the sub ject in ter sec tion; cop ies of ac ci dent re ports, area maps, con di tion di a grams; vol ume clas si fi ca tion and turn ing counts, traf fic light war rant anal y ses; a four-hour ve hic u - lar vol ume study; an in ter sec tion de lay study; a signage study; and pedestrian volume and school crossing information. It also ar gued that its de ci sions were made in the best en gi neer ing judg ment of the DOT s traf fic en gi neers based on their education, experience and expertise, their re view of the stud ies con ducted by DOT in spec tors and guid ance pro vided by the U.S. Man ual of Uni form Traf fic Control Devices (MUTCD). The City showed that the stud ies con - ducted by the DOT in De cem ber 2004, May 2005 and Oc to ber 2005, had each in - di cated that MUTCD stan dards had been met, and that the in stal la tion of ad di tional traf fic sig nals at the site was unwarranted. The Su preme Court of Rich mond County granted sum mary judg ment in fa - vor of the City and dis missed the com plaint Please turn to Page 9

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 9 Con tin ued from Page 8 Tort Liability against it. It found that once it was de ter - mined that a gov ern men tal act is dis cre - tion ary, i.e., the prod uct of rea soned judg - ment, it is not for the trier of fact to sec - ond-guess these ac tions, and the mu nic i - pal ity is en ti tled to ab so lute im mu nity. More over, it noted that it was well-es tab - lished that high way de sign was a quint es - sen tial, dis cre tion ary gov ern men tal func - tion. It found the City had dem on strated its ex er cise of dis cre tion in the ac tions of the DOT in (1) prop erly ad dress ing com mu nity con cerns re gard ing the sub ject in ter sec tion; (2) con duct ing the nec es sary stud ies; (3) con sid er ing al ter na tive courses of ac tion; and (4) mak ing rea soned judg ments re gard - ing the need for additional traffic controls. The Court fur ther ar gued that un der the doc trine of qual i fied im mu nity, a gov ern - men tal body may not be held li a ble for an in jury aris ing out of a duly ex e cuted high - way safety plan un less it was evolved with - out ad e quate study or lacked a reasonable basis. It gave as its opin ion that the ev i dence City pro duced was proof of an on go ing de lib er a tive de ci sion-mak ing pro cess which con sti tuted strong ev i dence that the City s ac tions had been both ad e quate and rea son able. Fi nally, it found that it was wholly speculative to attribute the acci - dent to the City s pur ported de lay in changing the pavement markings. Con tin ued from Page 1 Study Finds Bus Rapid Tran sit a Lead ing Cat a lyst for Transit-Oriented Development HealthLine in Cleve land, Or ange Line in Los An geles, SDX in Las Ve gas, EmX in Eu gene, Or e gon, and East Busway in Pitts - burgh. It listed four other cit ies or sys tems as ones to watch: two BRT lines in Chi - cago, two BRT pro jects in the San Fran - cisco Bay Area, a Down town to Oak land BRT pro ject in Pitts burgh, and the Boston Re gion, which is get ting se ri ous about BRT. In par tic u lar, the re port puts a spot light on Cleve land and the way it coped with the eco nomic down turn of The ITDP says that while many sur round ing cit ies in the re gion cut pub lic ser vices and jobs, Cleve land man aged to trans form a $50 mil lion in vest ment in BRT into $5.8 bil - lion in new tran sit-ori ented de vel op ment (TOD) in vest ments since the HealthLine opened in An nie Weinstock, ITDP s Di rec tor of U.S. Pro grams and co-au thor of the re port, says Cleve land dem on strates how BRT "can re vi tal ize ur ban ar eas once in a de - cline. She says more and more cit ies still strapped by the last re ces sion are now con - sid er ing the po ten tial of BRT, light rail and other sur face mass tran sit op tions as a means to anchor new development. In Cleve land s case, the HealthLine con nects the city s two ma jor em ploy ment hubs the down town area and the Uni ver - sity Cir cle neigh bor hood. The sys tem s $50 mil lion price tag was less than a fifth of what light rail would have cost in the cor ri - dor. Cleve land spent $150 mil lion to im - prove streets and in fra struc ture in the cor ri - dor to at tract de vel op ment around the HealthLine, and there was a pay off in air quality. Particulate emissions in the corri - dor dropped by 95 per cent with the com bi - na tion of die sel-elec tric hy brid buses and fewer cars on the streets. The ITDP re port re sult ing from the study, More De vel op ment for Your Tran - sit Dol lar: An Anal y sis of 21 North Amer i - can Tran sit Cor ri dors, also found that: - Gov ern ment sup port is the best pred i - ca tor of tran sit-ori ented de vel op ment, re - gard less of sys tem type. - Bus rapid tran sit le ver ages more tran - sit-ori ented de vel op ment per dol lar spent on build ing tran sit than light rail or street - cars. - The strength of the land mar ket around the tran sit cor ri dor is the sec ond ary in di ca - tor of suc cess. - A higher qual ity tran sit in vest ment, as scored by The BRT Stan dard, helps le ver - age more de vel op ment in emerg ing land markets. Au thors of the re port point out that ex - ist ing tran sit sys tems can also gen er ate de - vel op ment, and they cite Pitts burgh s East Busway, which was the first BRT sys tem in the coun try. While it was not orig i nally con ceived as a de vel op ment ini tia tive back in 1983, 20 years later, a pub lic-pri - vate initiative to revitalize one community along the Busway route used the BRT sys - tem as a cat a lyst for $900 mil lion in new de vel op ment around the East Liberty Station. Still, the ITDP be lieves that BRT has an im age prob lem. It claims that key de ci - sion mak ers, the me dia and the pub lic are still largely un aware of the ad van tages of true BRT. In ad di tion, light rail is still seen as a more glam or ous tran sit op tion for pol - i ti cians look ing for a big sig na ture pro ject. The ITDP hopes its re port will pro vide start-to-fin ish guid ance on what needs to be done to make TOD happen. For more in for ma tion, visit: or con tact Joe Suther land at jsutherland@burnesscommunications.co m.

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 10 ` This Month s Sur vey Re sults (Sur vey 1) Bus Rapid Tran sit (BRT) Char ac ter is tics Last month, The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor con ducted a na tional sur vey to ob tain in for ma tion from tran sit agen cies that im ple - mented or are plan ning BRT pro jects. Re plies were re ceived from eight tran sit agen cies. The re sults of the sur vey are pub lished here. BRT Con tacts ORGANIZATION NAME CONTACT NAME ADDRESS, TELEPHONE King County Metro Transit Karen Rosenzweig 201 S. Jackson St., Mail stop: KSC-TR-0426 Seattle, WA (206) karen.rosenzweig@kingcounty.gov Capital District Authority Ross Farrell 110 Watervliet Avenue Albany, NY (518) RossF@cdta.org Maryland Transit Administration Rick Kiegel 6 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD (410) rkiegel@mta.maryland.gov Santa Clara Valley Authority Adam Burger 3331 North First St., Building B San Jose, CA (408) adam.burger@vta.org Regional Commission of Southern Nevada Perrin Palistrant 600 S. Grand Central Parkway, Suite 300 Las Vegas, NV (702) palistrantp@rtcsnv.com Community Transit June DeVoll 7100 Hardeson Road Everett, WA (425) june.devoll@commtrans.org New York City Transit Ted Orosz 2 Broadway New York, NY (646) Theodore.Orosz@NYCT.com Port Authority of Allegheny County David Wohlwill 345 Sixth Avenue, Third Floor Pittsburgh, PA (412) dwohlwill@portauthority.org Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization Jeremy Moore 200 E. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN (317) jeremy.moore@indy.gov

11 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 25, 2013, VOL. 27 NO. 8 Page 11 Bus Rapid Tran sit Characteristics Name of transit agency? King County Metro Transit Location (urban area) King County (greater Seattle area) How many BRT routes are being planned and/or are 2 planned being operated by your transit agency? 4 operating Which elements in support of BRT are included in your Exclusive bus lanes on the line-haul portion of the BRT service. planned/existing BRT route(s)? Park-and-ride locations at bus termini/main stations. Feeder buses at main termini. Coordination of arrival times of buses at main termini (e.g. timed transfers). Distinct character/color of BRT buses to be easily recognized by passengers. Distinct signing (for pedestrians and vehicles) leading to and at BRT stations. Integration into existing HOV lanes. Improved pedestrian access to BRT stations. Traffic signal priority. Real time traveler information. Provision of wi-fi on BRT buses. Reduced stop operation. Off-vehicle fare collection. All-door boarding/alighting. Free transfer between bus lines from and to BRT. Please list any special characteristics of the buses you are using for your BRT service(s)? Does the ideal bus for your BRT route(s) exist? What are the existing/estimated daily passenger boardings for each of your existing/planned BRT routes? What percentage increase in passengers are estimated to/have taken place as a result of your existing/planned BRT route(s) compared to previous "regular" bus routes serving the same corridor(s)? What is the combined route length of your planned/existing BRT route(s)? How many stations/stops are serving or are planned to serve your BRT route(s)? How many buses are you using/are you planning to use for your BRT route(s)? What is the total estimated capital cost of your BRT route(s)? Please include cost of buses, right of way, stations, signing, etc. What is the peak hour headway on your BRT routes? What types of right-of-way does your BRT route(s) use? What is the average operating speed during peak periods for your BRT route(s), stops included? Please name three features that a BRT route should have that are most cost-effective in terms of making the service a success? (e.g. exclusive lanes, reduced stop operation, off-vehicle fare collection, etc.) Was light rail considered as an option in any of the corridors where you are planning/have planned BRT? If your answered "yes" to the above question, what were the main reasons for choosing BRT over light rail? What would you consider to be the most attractive features of your planned/existing BRT route(s)? What would you consider to be the least attractive features of your planned/existing BRT route(s)? What advice would you give to an agency embarking on the planning of a BRT route? What would you consider to be the most successful BRT route so far in the U.S? What are the main reasons for your answer in the above question? Hybrid (diesel-electric), additional destination signage, three doors, passive wheelchair restraint system. New Flyer DE60 LFR+ is used for the RapidRide program. Highest: 9,800 (Estimated E Line, weekday) Lowest: 6,050 (Existing B Line, weekday) Overall BRT growth is estimated to be 50% in 5 years. Acutal experience: A Line (3 years) + 54%; B Line (2 years) +19%; C Line (2 years) + 50%; D Line (1 year) +15%. 64 miles 138 stations (full complement of amenities), 157 stops (fewer amenities) 113 $200 million 5-10 minutes Exclusive, no at-grade crossings -- 0% Includes right-of-way that is longitudinally physically separated from other traffic, but with at-grade crossings -- 35% Surface streets with mixed traffic -- 65% 15 mph Reduced stop operation HOV/Business Access Transit (BAT) lane operation Transit signal priority No Increased service frequency, well-lit stations/stops, free wifi on buses, off-board fare payment for smart card users. Mixed traffic operation, no off-board fare payment for cash riders. Select corridors after assessing the ability to acheive BRT-type improvements, such as roadway improvements and adequate ROW for stations and other facilities. Cleveland Was able to take advantage of a major redevelopment project for capital facilities and has included many of the BRT features. = Not Ap pli ca ble / Not Available