Regional express bus services can be an important and cost-effective travel mode for peak-hour commuters, but rarely receive sustained attention in the transportation planning process. In 2003, the University of California Transportation Center (UCTC) entered into an innovative partnership with San Francisco Bay Area public transit agencies, Caltrans District 4, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to develop a Bay Area System Plan for Regional Express Bus Service.

Most engineering solutions to road safety problems ? better brakes and suspensions, more crash-worthy cars, seat belts and helmets, longer sight lines ? etc assume no change in road user behaviour. Most regulatory safety measures such as speed limits assume voluntary compliance or, failing that, strict enforcement. Most safety training, whether skills training for motorists, or road crossing training for children assumes that the trainee will apply the lessons with sense and vigilance.

Relying on the current Federal and State motor vehicle fuel tax as the major approach to finance transportation is neither viable nor fiscally appropriate because of the combined effects of inflation and improved vehicle fuel efficiency. As transportation capital and operating costs have continued to increase annually, the purchasing power of fuel tax revenues has declined nationally and is forecast to continue to decline.

The real-time city is now real! The increasing deployment of sensors and hand-held electronics in recent years is allowing a new approach to the study of the built environment. The way we describe and understand cities is being radically transformed - alongside the tools we use to design them and impact on their physical structure.

Clifford Winston assesses the performance of the urban and intercity components of the U.S. transportation system on efficiency and equity grounds.  After identifying pervasive inefficiencies in how the current system is managed and operated, he outlines public sector reforms to improve the system’s performance but he concludes that such reforms are inadequate. Instead, he argues that privatization and deregulation offer the potential to greatly improve Americans’ satisfaction with their transportation services.

This talk will provide an overview of the measurement of wider economic impacts in transport appraisal focusing in particular on the role of agglomeration economies. It will describe how agglomeration effects can be estimated and included within a standard Benefit Cost Analysis framework to assess the productivity benefits of investment. Examples from around the world will be used to illustrate the potential significance of agglomeration externalities.

Current interest in public transit investments is enormous. The challenge will be to also create the supporting development to make them work. Robert Dunphy will discuss experiences in transit oriented development from a new Urban Land Institute book, Developing Around Transit: Strategies and Solutions that Work, a collaboration among six authorities from the fields of development, planning, and transit.

How many parking spaces are enough? How much should parking cost? Why are decisions about parking vital to the future of our communities?

In this presentation, Donald Shoup will discuss how New York City and surrounding communities can cope with complex parking issues. Shoup argues that the average parking space costs more than the average car. When we shop, dine out, or see a movie, we pay indirectly for parking because its cost is included in the price of everything from hamburgers to housing.

The past few decades have seen transit patronage decrease in all Western countries, including Europe and the United States, lagging far behind the substantial growth in mobility that has occurred during the same period. This is, in-part at least, due to rising levels of real income and the decreasing relative costs of private travel. In addition to these, come large budgetary deficits faced by many countries in recent years necessitating fiscal constraints that have led to a significant reduction in transit subsidization.

With the emergence of new services and products, new information technologies, and innovative public and private partnerships, we are approaching a new age of mobility and accessibility in urban regions. This new age is about moving people and goods in ways that are greener, safer, healthier, more equitable, multi-modal, multi-service, and connected, door-to-door. It's also about moving less, reducing the number and length of trips with the help of telecommunications technologies, smart land use, and urban design.