conference paper
published journal article
California’s seminal Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008—Senate Bill (SB) 375—includes two provisions specifically intended to help streamline transit-oriented development (TOD) projects through environmental review (California SB 375, 2008). One provision exempts qualifying TODs from environmental review entirely. The other provision streamlines environmental review for qualifying projects. This study explores the use and effect of those provisions. We first quantify how much and where the provisions have been used. We then use interviews and email communications with planning and development practitioners to explore why streamlining is used, whether streamlining actually helps reduce the time, cost, and uncertainty of permitting TOD projects, and how streamlining could be improved to better facilitate TOD projects. We find that SB 375 streamlining is a mixed bag. Neither streamlining provision has been used extensively. The full exemption appears to have been avoided because its costs and complications outweigh any streamlining benefit, though the more limited streamlining provision was regarded as having at least some utility. We also found that SB 375-streamlined projects might not be fulfilling SB 375’s more fundament goals—reducing vehicle kilometers traveled and greenhouse gas emissions. The clearest lesson for policymakers is to reduce the eligibility requirements for environmental review streamlining provisions.
policy brief
Off-road vehicles and equipment (e.g., forklifts, tractors, dirt bikes) are a major source of air pollution in California due to their heavy reliance on diesel engines, which emit high levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and other emissions. These pollutants cause a range of health impacts, including respiratory diseases like asthma, increased cancer risk, premature death, and other ailments, and disproportionately affect low-income communities located near highways, freight hubs, ports, and industrial areas. To address this issue, California has a range of policies and programs in place seeking a cleaner off-road sector beginning with Executive Order N-79-20, which sets a goal of 100 percent transition to zero emission (ZE) off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible. Reflecting this, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2022 California Scoping Plan outlines ambitious ZE technology adoption, including hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric technologies. To better understand the implications of both current and future policies, this study quantifies 1) the benefits of off-road emission reductions from current policy and 2) potential additional benefits that can be achieved by increasing ZE adoption of off-road vehicles and equipment over and above the level considered feasible in the Scoping Plan up to and including a full transition to ZE.
working paper
The defining trait of urban areas is density: of people, activities, and structures. The defining trait of urban transportation is the ability to cope with this density while moving people and goods. Density creates challenges for urban transportation because of crowding and the expense of providing infrastructure in built-up areas. It also creates certain advantages because of economies of scale: some transportation activities are cheaper when carried out in large volumes. These characteristics mean that two of the most important phenomena in urban transportation are traffic congestion and mass transit.
Phd Dissertation
published journal article
Abstract In lean and demand-responsive logistics systems, orders need to be delivered rapidly, accurately, and reliably, even under demand uncertainty. Increasing burdens on the industry motivate the introduction of new methods to manage transportation service contracts. One way to hedge transportation capacity and cost volatility is to create derivative contracts. To date, ocean transportation is the only mode of transportation where this type of contract has been applied. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of freight transportation derivatives and to discuss some recent relevant research. We start by introducing the theory underlying derivative contracts, before reviewing the development of derivatives markets in the maritime industry. We then investigate the adoption of derivatives contracts in trucking (the dominant mode of freight transportation), which we call truckload options. A numerical example follows to illustrate how derivatives could help financially both shippers and carriers. Finally, this article discusses the conditions necessary for the emergence of a market for truckload options.
Phd Dissertation |
Jan 2008
working paper |
Sep 2008
published journal article
This article explores ways in which land use policy outcomes vary across contexts focusing, as an example, on urban growth boundaries. Specifically, it analyzes how various contextual factors interact with the policy and generate diverging development outcomes by employing a kernel-based regularized least squares method. Results show that the policy effectiveness is largely dependent on the region’s population size, initial density levels, and organizational conditions. The presence of urban growth boundaries also appears to shape the way other determinants influence development patterns, suggesting that the policy can both directly and indirectly promote a more compact/contiguous pattern of development.
working paper
The design and implementation of Advanced Traveller Information Systems (ATIS) providing real-time enroute information to drivers should follow insightful analyses into the dynamics of driver decisions and the resulting traffic flow under information to prevent counter-intuitive and counter-productive results. An important yet often neglected aspect of this problem is the distribution of benefits both over the driver population and for different origins and destinations in the network. This paper presents modifications to and an application of DYNASMART (DYnamic Network Assignment Simulation Model for Advanced Road Telematics) for this problem. DYNASMART is a simulation framework for ATIS experiments which incorporates: 1) real-time traffic flow and control simulation, 2) dynamic network path processing, and 3) microscopic consideration of driver response to information. A boundedly-rational behavioral model is assumed for driver route-choice under non-prescriptive route information. The information strategies are based on multiple paths rather than a single shortest path. Initial paths of drivers were generated from dynamic equilibrium assignments using the CONTRAM program and used as input to DYNASMART. ATIS-equipped drivers change their paths based on a behavioral model (with stochastically assigned parameters) and provided information, while unequipped drivers change routes based on self-observation of traffic conditions. The application presented involves the evaluation of ATIS strategies to alleviate traffic congestion due to spectators leaving a major sports event at Anaheim Stadium. A dynamic traffic demand matrix was estimated from partial link-counts. Interesting insights are derived regarding the higher benefits from ATIS to drivers on congested parts of the network. Robustness of the benefits under various information supply strategies and behavioral scenarios are also discussed.
working paper |
Dec 1994
working paper |
Sep 1994
working paper |
Oct 1993
working paper |
Jan 1997
book/book chapter |
Oct 1998
conference paper
Most,discrete choice models assume steady state conditions and a fully equilibrated system when estimating unknown coefficients from real-world data. However, the estimated model can be biased when the data set used for the model estimation was drawn from non- or less-equilibrated traveler behavior. The resulting biased model could lead to a misunderstanding of the system. Such effects on discrete choice model estimation were examined by performing Monte Carlo simulation experiments. A day-to-day dynamic evolutionary framework was used to observe changes in traveler’s choice and to compare the estimated results during the adjustment process with the true behavior parameters.
published journal article
