Household car travel dropping steadily

Update: Our original post noted a major decrease in household vehicle miles traveled from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey to the 2017 survey. Due to methodological changes from year-to-year, we’re looking deeper into the new data to validate any apparent trends in travel behavior.
Until we can validate the methodology and numbers, we have removed the post. 

What is ride-hailing doing to our transportation system?

A new study from the Institute of Transportation Studies at University of California–Davis delves into the effects of ride-hailing (Uber and Lyft) use on other parts of our transportation system. What they find confirms some assumptions and disproves others. Interrelationships between parking, vehicle ownership, use of different forms of transit, and effect on vehicle miles traveled are all examined. The reasons respondents gave for using ride-hailing services may also impact transportation policy decisions.

Bridging the gap between research and practice: new study on the role of induced vehicle travel

A newly released study sponsored by CalTrans offers a thorough review and analysis of research and practice related to the limitations of existing travel forecasting models. The authors focus on limitations in forecasting induced vehicle travel generated by adding lane miles during a capacity expansion. Acknowledging that many practitioners may not have access to more advanced travel models capable of capturing induced demand, the authors recommend project staff in these cases rely on general elasticities while acknowledging the shortcomings in the analysis.

VMT growth continued, slowed in 2016

The total number of vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. grew by 2.8 percent to 3.2 trillion in 2016, according to monthly estimates from USDOT. This marks the third year of notable growth following nine years of historical lows, but still shows slower growth than in the previous year (3.5 percent, based on the most recent numbers).

A preview of the driverless-vehicle future: Uber and other TNCs are cannibalizing New York’s transit ridership and worsening congestion and emissions

The effect of transportation network companies is one of the central concerns of transportation planning, in part because TNCs can provide a hint about what might happen when driverless vehicles become widely available. In addition, to date the lack of TNCs’ willingness to share data has limited our ability to assess these effects. A new report focusing on these services in New York City, sheds welcome new light on the topic, and provides plenty of evidence for pessimism about the sustainability of TNCs, conventional or driverless, without significant policy intervention.

SSTI research highlights built environment policies to reduce VMT

As part of a larger 2015 project for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, SSTI investigated the influence of six built environment variables on passenger vehicle miles traveled. Using data on average daily household VMT at the Census block group level from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, along with detailed land use data and transportation system information, we were able to determine how VMT varied according to a number of variables.

U.S. DOT: States overestimating VMT growth

The U.S. DOT recently released its 2015 Conditions and Performance Report to Congress, describing the current state and future needs of the country’s roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure. In this newest C&P report, U.S. DOT recognizes that its past forecasts were too high, adding, “states have tended to underpredict future VMT during periods when actual VMT was growing rapidly and to overpredict at times when actual VMT growth was slowing or declining.”

Maybe urban truck traffic isn’t rising after all

One of our posts from last year, which raised the possibility that we may be in the midst of a major increase in urban truck traffic—and the analysis by the Brookings Institution on which it was based—was recently called out as flawed in a blog post by Joe Cortright of City Observatory. Cortright’s criticism is rooted in what he believes is a faulty analysis of FHWA data.

Crash fatalities climbing faster than VMT

Recent data indicate that the total number of traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2016 will be significantly higher than in 2015. The growth in fatalities represents an increasing death rate relative to population and miles traveled. The most striking increase occurred in the South Gulf region. Pedestrian and bicyclist deaths have been increasing even more rapidly. Untangling the causes behind the increasing number of road deaths overall, as well as bicycle and pedestrian deaths specifically, is difficult. Whatever the cause, traffic safety, particularly for vulnerable road users, is an increasingly pressing issue.

Study: One-way car-sharing reduces VMT, GHG emissions, and vehicle ownership

A recent study done by researchers at University of California-Berkeley has answered several questions many have had since car-sharing began by showing that car2go members in five North American cities reduced both their annual vehicle miles traveled and also their greenhouse gas emissions. Members also sold or delayed purchasing vehicles, resulting in each car-sharing vehicle removing seven to 11 private vehicles from the road.