Still stuck on highways
Somehow, we've got to get out of our cars and off the roads. Or we've got to get better cars. And do something different with roads.
Today, the Texas Transportation Institute released its annual Urban Mobility Report, which found that traffic congestion is worsening once again, after two years of slight declines.
Here's the upshot:
Congestion costs continue to rise: measured in constant 2009 dollars, the cost of congestion has risen from $24 billion in 1982 to $115 billion in 2009.
The total amount of wasted fuel in 2009 topped 3.9 billion gallons – equal to 130 days of flow in the Alaska Pipeline.
Cost to the average commuter: $808 in 2009, compared to an inflation-adjusted $351 in 1982.
Yearly peak delay for the average commuter was 34 hours in 2009, up from 14 hours in 1982.
The American Public Transportation Association noted the report's finding that without public transporation, travelers would have spent an additional 785 million hours of delay on the nation's highways and consumed 640 million more gallons of fuel.
Transportation for America Director James Corless called the report "an important reminder that too many Americans are stuck without good options for efficient, safe and affordable travel in our cities and towns. It is especially timely as Congress prepares to reset priorities for investing our transportation trust fund."
But he also pointed out that the report assumes "that everyone should be able to speed as rapidly down the highway during rush hour as they could in the middle of the night. American taxpayers will never stand for being asked to turn over their wallets and their neighborhoods in order to build that kind of highway capacity."
"They would much rather see Congress make more efficient use of their money by fixing crumbling roads and bridges; investing in technology to manage existing freeway traffic better; providing rail and rapid bus service in congested corridors; and linking transportation funding to smarter planning and development," he said.
Europe may be showing one good way to handle congestion: Make changes to parking.
On Wednesday, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released a report, Europe's Parking U-Turn: From Accommodation to Regulation.
Among its findings:
• Parking is increasingly linked to public transport. Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich and Strasbourg limit how much parking is allowed in new developments based on how far it is to walk to a bus, tram or metro stop. Zurich has made significant investments in new tram and bus lines while making parking more expensive and less convenient. As a result, between 2000 and 2005, the share of public transit use went up by 7%, while the share of cars in traffic declined by 6%.
• European cities are ahead of the rest of the world in charging rational prices for on-street parking. In Paris, the on-street parking supply has been reduced by more than 9% since 2003, and of the remaining stock, 95% is paid parking. The result, along with other transport infrastructure improvements, has been a 13% decrease in driving.
• Parking reforms are becoming more popular than congestion charging. While London, Stockholm, and a few other European cities have managed to implement congestion charging, more are turning to parking. Parking caps have been set in Zurich and Hamburg's business districts to freeze the existing supply, where access to public transport is easiest.
• Revenue gathered from parking tariffs is being invested to support other mobility needs. In Barcelona, 100% of revenue goes to operate Bicing—the city's public bike system. Several boroughs in London use parking revenue to subsidize transit passes for seniors and the disabled, who ride public transit for free.