Sarah Kaufman

What policies matter for DRT (microtransit) services? When it comes to microtransit, there are five areas of policy that can support/hinder its implementation: 🚌 Overarching transportation policies. These dictate the direction of development of transportation systems in a given country. ♻ Environmental policies that focus on congestion relief, a reduction on personal vehicle ownership and GHG emission reduction. 💼 Corporate Sustainability policies for employers, especially if they tackle or mandate the reduction of corporate fleets or targets to reduce employees traveling with their personal vehicles. 🏥 Health policies that provide guidelines for underserved demographics (i.e seniors or people with special mobility needs). 📈 Data policies that dictate what data can be collected through on-demand transportation and how this can be used and by whom. If you'd like to learn more about DRT/Microtransit services and the policies that matter when launching or scaling a service, check out our free online course created in collaboration with EIT Urban Mobility 'Demand Responsive Transport (DRT): Where does it fit?' here: https://lnkd.in/eVw3MH28 #DRT #Microtransit #sharedmobility #onlinelearning #transpotationpolicies #environmentalpolicies #datamanagement

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#SmartCitiesDive, Urban Institute #9April2024 : #How #to #ease the #path #to #transit-#oriented #housing #development "#Public #transportation #agencies “just [#don’t] #have the #land #resources on hand #to #make #it #feasible,” said the author of a recent Urban Institute analysis on funding transit-oriented development." "Cities are funding transit projects they otherwise couldn’t afford with money from the bipartisan infrastructure law, pandemic-era economic stimulus programs and other federal sources, said #Yonah #Freemark, #principal #research #associate at the #Urban #Institute and #author of a #February #analysis #on #funding #transit-#oriented #housing #development. “But what the #federal #government #does #not do is #provide any #specific #resources #for the #housing #elements #of #these #projects,” he said."

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Is it time to rethink the basics of mass transit? Can it operate any longer as a utility? Do we need to plan for the days of transit as a public program—and who will pay??? It’s as big a crisis as these systems have had in two generations.

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From our January report on transit accessibility: Congestion pricing "is expected to generate $15 billion...so essential to delivering the remaining station accessibility improvements to which the agency has committed. In addition to the critical resources it will provide to the MTA, CBDTP will reduce traffic blocking bus and paratransit customers, and improve air quality for New Yorkers." Essential accessibility, efficiency, and livability measures hinge on CP. https://lnkd.in/eXV35j_a

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Building on the idea of setting big goals for housing production, I wrote about a specific recommendation for linking transportation funding to housing production. https://lnkd.in/eFBhz5w2

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There's some great research inside the new resource Policy to Practice: A Guide to Measuring Complete Streets Progress, which makes the case for why measuring Complete Streets progress is essential, and outlines 100 different ways that local agencies can effectively evaluate their impact. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/guukRA26

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I try to take as much public transportation as possible wherever I go, including my 40-mile commute to and from work. I am always interested by the amount of people who had never even considered public transportation as an option, especially in cities that have robust light rail and bus options. That being said, the infrastructure of public transportation rarely is a top priority for updates and renovations. As the planet continues to warm due to human-accelerated climate change, we need to think about how this will affect the millions of people who utilize public transportation every single day. With that, can we just start with getting covered areas at every bus stop so that people do not pass out from direct sun exposure and shelter from the rain?

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🚌 New Analysis: the Public Transit Paradox—Why More Funding Doesn't Solve the Problem I'm excited to share my latest newsletter, which examines a fundamental challenge in urban mobility: the "endless emergency" of public transit funding. Key insights from the analysis: 📊 The Economics: * Most North American transit systems only recover 40-60% of costs through fares * Even New York's MTA, with the continent's highest ridership, requires substantial subsidies * Only a handful of systems worldwide (Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo) achieve profitability... and even they don't do it consistently 🏗️ The Structural Challenge: * Transit requires density to succeed * Post-war North American development prioritized cars * This created low-density environments hostile to efficient transit * The result: a self-reinforcing cycle of service inadequacy 💰 The Funding Trap: When new funding arrives, it gets captured in predictable ways: * Labor costs increase * Management expands * Asset maintenance, a 'black box' of spending, drains it all away Service quality briefly improves, then regresses to baseline—but with higher operating costs 🤔 The Critical Question: Is this truly an intractable problem? Or, like other "endless emergencies" of the past (from childbirth mortality to fossil fuel dependence), can new approaches and technologies offer a solution? Read the full analysis here. #UrbanPlanning #PublicTransit #Transportation #Infrastructure #UrbanDevelopment #Mobility

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Thinking about #transit projects? Check out this guide for effective planning and public participation! #CommunityEngagement is key. We've summarized insights from transit agencies into a roadmap with four steps for community-focused mobility. https://hubs.la/Q02W2xQl0

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#TRB AMR10 Quarterly Meeting (Monday, 11/4 at 2 PM easter): #USDOT #Resilience Coalition – Implementation Needs of the Transportation Practitioner Abstract: In an effort to gain an understanding of the current state of capabilities and capacities of surface transportation agencies in resilience planning and implementation, the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) partnered with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (#AASHTO) to assemble a coalition of surface transportation professionals focused on the growing issue of climate resilience in transportation. The Coalition effort focused on a bottom-up approach to identify challenges with the implementation of resilience at a range of agency types.  The purpose of the Resilience Coalition was to gather implementation-level input from stakeholders across the surface transportation industry, including highways, transit, rail, and ports to: • Document gaps in knowledge, data, capacity, and tools. • Identify barriers to implementing climate resilience. • Develop recommendations for next steps. The opportunities to improve resilience implementation were grouped into five categories: Capacity and Understanding, Policies and Funding, Data and Information, Metrics and Methods, and Tools and Approaches. This presentation will highlight the findings of the Resilience Coalition and will include four panelists. #Connection details: you must be a friend of the AMR10 committee of the Transportation Research Board (#TRB). It's free. Sign up at https://www.mytrb.org/ and message me.

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FHWA has clarified that State and Metropolitan Planning Funds can be used for Complete Streets planning activities without the need to match with non-Federal funds -- and that this waiver applies beyond the required spending on these activities under BIL. Hard to get that all in one sentence, but State and MPO planners may want to read on: https://lnkd.in/eCk6Hks3 FHWA encourages States and communities to adopt and implement Complete Streets policies that prioritize the safety of all users in transportation network planning, design, construction, and operations.

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Another RFP Alert: #rfp #smartcities #smartgrant #transportation #philadelphia Smart Right of Way Software RFP: The City of Philadelphia aims to reduce congestion, enhance livability, and provide the tools needed to address equity and improve safety on City streets. One of the main strategies to achieve these goals is to manage the right-of-way (RoW) digitally. This requires digitally codifying and creating a digital twin of RoW features and rules at a granular level that surpasses what is found in the City’s current digital inventory. The Office of Innovation and Technology, in partnership with the Streets Department, is seeking technology solutions for a pilot project to digitally manage the right-of-way (RoW): curb, sidewalk, and street space. The goals of this project are: to demonstrate means of automating ongoing digitization of the physical RoW and ingesting digitized RoW information from various data streams in various formats into a RoW management system; to demonstrate means for effectively managing the RoW using digital tools that interface seamlessly with diverse data streams that impact or rely upon an accurate “digital twin” of the RoW; to make use of continuous traffic data for motor vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians in RoW management decisions; to disseminate to smart phone and other smart device users real-time information about the RoW; and to publish information in real-time about the RoW from the management system to digital signages along the RoW. Pre Proposal Meeting: May 3, 2024 2PM https://lnkd.in/etcJ6pju Meeting ID: 846 4468 8073 Passcode: 499771 Deadline for Questions: May 10, 2024, 5:00 PM (Local Philadelphia Time) Proposals Due: May 31, 2024, 5 PM Philadelphia Local Time. For more details: visit "econtracts Philly" website here: https://lnkd.in/gbPZygxG and look for opportunity number 21240422124008 under the "New Contract Opportunities" tab To read up just the RFP document, here is a quick link: https://lnkd.in/eHChAXsq NOTE: You must read several other documents besides this RFP posted at eContracts Philly to ensure you have all the information before submitting a proposal.

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Great piece by the editors at Scientific American today! "Vehicle crashes are among the leading causes of death in the U.S. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can design or redesign streets to make people drive more slowly or to discourage driving altogether. We can invest in better public transit, including subways and buses with dependable, on-time service. And we can change zoning laws to allow denser housing and mixed-use developments, so people can live closer to where they work, attend school or socialize." Article: https://lnkd.in/gdMwp6jJ

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Philadelphia's SEPTA—a major public transit agency that serves hundreds of thousands of riders a day—is threatening to increase fares by 29% and reduce service by 20% starting in January https://lnkd.in/eJGwGmfe. This would be devastating for the city's transit riders. The problem SEPTA is facing is that it has a major budget gap, the state legislature hasn't filled the gap, and federal support has run out. Put all these things together, and you end up with a "fiscal cliff." Unfortunately, many transit agencies will face this predicament in the coming years. At Urban Institute, Lindiwe Rennert, PhD and I put together a big paper on how transit agencies might consider surmounting this fiscal cliff: https://lnkd.in/eFrXvxEc One idea we have could be applied to SEPTA and also most transit agencies around the country: "Flexing" federal highway dollars for transit. We diagram that out below. Basically, the federal government allows states to use the funding they receive from the Federal Highway Administration for transit uses. This could help cover SEPTA's budget gap, at least for now (though other funding sources are likely needed). It's also something that other transit agencies should be talking with their state governments about doing!

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Transportation Toolkit This toolkit covers a wide range of topics important to consider around the types of transportation: + Types of Transportation Available in My Community + Building Transportation into My Routine + Strategies to Seek out Transportation Options and Accommodations Access it here: https://lnkd.in/erm2npsB

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When you see problems on MARTA related to operations $ (maintenance, staffing, frequency of service) think about an image like this, where massive amounts of dead space or low-density housing surround transit. The two things are intrinsically connected. https://lnkd.in/eg5HY4tU

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🌆 Urban planning 🙇 Human geography 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Sociology 🪙Political Economy, all in one.. Time for some reflective introspection.. 😊 Beautiful interview..

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With the drop in turnout in big cities in 2024, re-engaging voters in urban America has to be a priority and it starts with increasing turnout and voter engagement in local elections next year and building relationships with voters at the local level. For some areas necessary for improvement, see a lit review here:

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