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SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS UCLA Geography M149/Urban Planning M150 Winter 2011

Transportation Geography Meetings: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:30am to 11:50 am (except for King

Day Jan. 16 and Presidents Day Feb. 20)

Room: Dodd 167

Instructor: Eric Morris

Office: 6265 Public Affairs BuildingMailbox: PAB third floor faculty mail room

Telephone: 818-625-3987E-mail: eamorris@ucla.eduOffice Hours: Wed. 1:00-2:30, or by appointment

TA: Stephen Brumbaugh

Office: 6248 Public Affairs BuildingMailbox: PAB third floor student mail roomTelephone: 310-867-9548E-mail: stephen.brumbaugh@gmail.comOffice Hours: Tu. 1-3

Website: Access through my.ucla.edu

Course Description

On average, each of us spends about an hour and twenty minutes a day traveling, making it oneof our most common activities. So it should come as no surprise that transportation geographyhas tremendous implications for levels ranging from the personal (time use and activity patterns),to the regional (urban land use and congestion), to the national (the gas tax and federaltransportation expenditures), and even to the global (greenhouse gas emissions). This course will

provide a broad overview of travel and transportation from many different perspectives: social,economic, political, psychological, and geographical.

Has our reliance on the auto caused urban sprawl, or is it an effect of it? Can investments intransportation projects like high-speed rail improve mobility, create jobs and foster economicgrowth? What causes traffic congestion, and is there any cure for it? How do the costs and

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benefits of transportation fall on different groups by gender, race, monetary means, andlocation (suburban versus urban, state versus state, and nation versus nation) and are there

patterns of inequity which should be addressed? What factors contribute to differences in where,why, how, and how much people travel? What is the future of transportation worldwide, andwhat does it mean for the environment?

These are just a few of the questions we will explore in this course. While we will spend sometime looking at travel between cities, goods movement, and travel in other countries, the focus ofthe course is on personal transportation in U.S. metropolitan areas and the central role oftransportation in shaping cities and the lives of people in them. The course is both historical andtopical; we will examine the tandem evolution of transportation systems and urban form, but willalso devote considerable time and discussion to current transportation issues such as congestionand air quality.

The course is introductory and assumes no prior knowledge of transportation, urban planning, orgeography.

Topics Covered in Course

Specific topics covered in this course include:

The historical tandem evolution of transportation and urban formWhy freeways? The development of metropolitan highway systems

Planning for bikes and pedestriansThe powerful effects of parking policy

How does transportation shape land use and the built environment? And how is it shapedby them?

Transportation, sprawl and smart growth How much do we travel, where do we travel, when do we travel, how do we travel, andwhy?

How do we predict the impact of transportation projects and our future transportationneeds? And do we do it right?

Why are cities so congested? And can we solve the congestion problem? Public transit, past and present Is high-speed rail a good idea? Ports, airports and goods movementWho pays for transportation, how do we pay for it, and are we doing it the best way?Can transportation investments promote economic growth?

My fare share transportation, equity, and social justiceTransportation and povertyTransportation and the environmentTransportation around the worldThe future of transportation: cars, transit, and technology

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Course Requirements

There are five parts to this course: 1) class lectures and discussion, (2) readings, (3) quizzes, (4) agroup Fieldwork Paper, and (5) a Policy Analysis term paper. Each is described below.

Congrats: no final exam!

Class Lectures and Discussion: Discussion and interaction will be an important part of thecourse, and participation will be one factor in determining your final grade. Thus it is importantthat you do the readings and attend class. To encourage attendance and note-taking, I will not be

posting lecture powerpoints prior to the quizzes.

Readings: The required book for this course is:

Hanson, Susan and Genevieve Giuliano, Editors (2004). The Geography of UrbanTransportation , Third Edition. New York: The Guilford Press.

This book is available from the LuValle Commons bookstore or from most on-line book retailerslike Amazon.com. All the remaining required readings are available online. Many readings arefrom Access magazine and can be accessed at http://www.uctc.net/access/access.asp . In caseswhere I dont list a URL, simply Google Scholar the article title and go from there. Forreadings that are gated , you will have to go to the UCLA library site and configure either a

proxy or a VPN (this will also be helpful when you write your papers, and in other courses aswell).

You will be expected to do the required readings prior to each class and to be ready to contributeto class discussion.

Bi-Weekly Quizzes: To encourage you to keep up with the lectures and readings there will be ashort quiz at the end of class every other Wednesday, starting at the end of week 2.

Dates for the quizzes will be:

January 18February 1February 15February 29March 14

Each of the five weekly quizzes will cover material in all of the required readings for the previous two weeks, plus material presented in class lectures and discussions.

The quizzes will be comprised of about 8-10 multiple choice questions and shouldnt take morethan 15 minutes. Provided another class isnt forcing its way into the room, you may take extra

http://www.uctc.net/access/access.asphttp://www.uctc.net/access/access.asphttp://www.uctc.net/access/access.asphttp://www.uctc.net/access/access.asp

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time within reason.

Of the five quizzes, scores on the top four will be used in computing your grade. That means youcan miss one quiz entirely and not have it count against you.

Written Assignments: There are two major written assignments for this course, a FieldworkPaper to be completed in teams of three and a Policy Analysis essay to be completed on yourown. Descriptions of each of these assignments and the topics from which you may choose are

below. The Policy Analysis will allow you to study one of the topics we cover in the course,analyze the issues based on your reasoning and the evidence, reach your own conclusions, andsuggest policies designed to improve the functioning of the transportation system and its broaderurban context. The Fieldwork Paper will give you a chance to get out and study LAstransportation system firsthand, analyze it, and draw conclusions about how our system functions(or fails to function!).

These assignments should be turned into Stephens mailbox on 2/13/12 for the Fieldwork Paper

and on 3/19/12 for the Policy Analysis. Hardcopy only. Stephens box is in the mail room off thestudent lounge at the end of the hall down from the Urban Planning office. The papers will bedue at 4:00 pm. This cut-off time will be strictly enforced, so please leave extra time if you planto get stuck in traffic, get lost wandering around the building, etc. Late papers will beaccepted, but a penalty of 1/3 grade will be applied to any papers turned in after the due date andtime. The late penalty for assignments can be waived only with a written note from a clinicalmedical professional (such as a doctor).

Course Grading

Grading will be determined as follows:

4 Quizzes (8.25% each) 33 percent

Policy Analysis Term Paper 33 percent

Fieldwork Paper 33 percent ________________________________________________________________Total 100 percent

Grades on each quiz and assignment will be curved around a B+.

Class Sessions, Topics, and Readings

TOPIC 1: Course introduction (1/9)

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No reading.

TOPIC 2: The tandem evolution of transportation systems and urban form in the U.S.(1/11 and 1/18)

Glaeser, Edward L. and Janet E. Kohlhase (2003) . Cities, Regions and theDecline of Transport C osts. Harvard Institute of Economic Research, DiscussionPaper 2014. Pages 1-53. [located athttp://www.economics.harvard.edu/pub/hier/2003/HIER2014.pdf]

[Dont panic that theres math here! You wont be expected to follow the proofsof the propositions, just to understand the general argument.]

Webber, Melvin (2004). Editorial: Spread -City Everywhere, Access , 24: 1.

Muller, Peter O. (2004). Transportation and Urban form: Stages in the SpatialEvolution of the American M etropolis, in The Geography of UrbanTransportation , Third Edition, Susan Hanson and Genevieve Giuliano, Editors.

New York: The Guilford Press. Pages 59-85.

HOLIDAY: January 16 (King Day)

TOPIC 3: Planning for pedestrians and bikers (1/23)

Guest Speaker: Ryan Snyder

Grava, Sigurd (2003) . Walking, in Urban Transportation Systems: Choices forCommunities . New York: McGraw-Hill. Pages 13-57. [located athttp://www.accessengineeringlibrary.com/mghpdf/0071449485_ar002.pdf]

Grava, Sigurd (2003) . Bicycles, in Urban Transportation Systems: Choices forCommunities . New York: McGraw-Hill. Pages 59-103. [located athttp://www.accessengineeringlibrary.com/mghpdf/0071449485_ar002.pdf]

TOPIC 4: Parking (1/25)

Guest speaker: Donald Shoup

No reading

TOPIC 5: Transportation and land use: contemporary issues

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1/30 and 2/1

Giuliano, Genevieve (2004). Land Use Impacts of Transportation Investments:Highway and Transit, in The Geography of Urban Transportation , ThirdEdition, Susan Hanson and Genevieve Giuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford

Press. Pages 237-273.

Ewing, Reid and Robert Cervero (2001). Travel and the Built Environment: ASynthesis. Transportation Research Record, 1780, 87-114.

Crane, Randall (1998). Travel by Design? Access , 12: 2-7.

Levine, Jonathan (1999). Access to Choice, Access , 14: 16-19

Smart Growth America (2010) . Read all items in the Issues section [located athttp://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/what-is-smart-growth] and click through to

further research on topics you find interesting.Bertaud, Alain (2002). Clearing the Air in Atlanta: Transit and Smart Growth orConventional Economics? Pages 1-22. [located at http://alain-

bertaud.com/images/AB_Clearing_The_Air_in%20Atlanta_1.pdf]

Richardson, Harry and Peter Gordon (1997). Are compact cities a desirable planning goal? Journal of the American Planning Association, 63 (1), 95-106.

Ewing, Reid (1997). Is Los Angeles-style sprawl desirable? Journal of the American Planning Association, 63 (1), 107-126.

TOPIC 6: Congestion (2/6-2/8)

Taylor, Brian D. (2002) . Rethinking Congestion, Access , 21: 8-16.

Downs, Anthony (2004) . Why Traffic Congestion Is Here to Stay... and Will Get Worse, Access , 25: 19-25.Varaiya, Pravin (2005) . What We've Learned About Highway Congestion,

Access , 27 : 2-9.

Boarnet, Marlon (2008) . Transportation Infrastructure and SustainableDevelopment: New Planning Approaches for Urban Growth, Access, 33: 27-33.

TOPIC 7: Travel Demographics, Behavior, Modeling, and Well-Being (2/13-2/15)

Guest speakers: John Muggridge and Kevin Johnson of Fehr & Peers

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Ed Glae sers series in the New York Times :

Is High -Speed Rail a Good Public Investment? July 28, 2009. [locatedat: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/is-high-speed-rail-a-good-public-investment/?scp=3&sq=high+speed+rail&st=nyt]

Running the Numbers on High -Speed Trains. August 4, 2009. [locatedat: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/running-the-numbers-on-high-speed-trains/?scp=6&sq=high+speed+rail&st=nyt]

How Big are the Environmental Benefits of Hi gh-Speed Rail? August12, 2009. [located at:http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/how-big-are-the-environmental-benefits-of-high-speed-rail/?scp=1&sq=high+speed+rail&st=nyt]

What Would High -Speed Rail d o to Suburban Sprawl August 18, 2009.[located at: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/what-would-high-speed-rail-do-to-suburban-sprawl/?scp=2&sq=high+speed+rail&st=nyt]

California Legislative Analysts Office (2011). High -Speed Rail is at a CriticalJuncture. [located athttp://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2011/trns/high_speed_rail/high_speed_rail_051011.aspx]

TOPIC 10: Transportation Finance/Economics (3/5)

Taylor, Brian D. (2004). The Geography of Urban Transportation Finance, in The Geography of Urban Transportation , Third Edition, Susan Hanson andGenevieve Giuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford Press. Pages 294-331.

Delucchi, Mark (2000) . Should We Try to Get the Prices Right? Access, 16 : 14-21. [located at http://www.uctc.net/access/access16.pdf]

Schweitzer, Lisa and Brian D. Taylor (2010) . Just Road Pricing. Access, 36 : 2-7. [located at http://www.uctc.net/access/36/access36.pdf]

T. R. Lakshmanan and Lata R. Chatterjee (2005). Economic Consequences ofTransport Improvements, Access , 26 : 28-33. [located at:http://www.uctc.net/access/26/Access%2026%20-%2006%20-%20Economic%20Consequences%20of%20Transport%20Improvements.pdf]

TOPIC 11: Transportation and Equity/Poverty (3/7)

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Deka, Devajyoti (2004) . Social and Environmental Justice Issues inTransport ation, in The Geography of Urban Transportation , Third Edition,Susan Hanson and Genevieve Giuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford Press.Pages 332-355.

Ong, Paul and Douglas Houston (2002). The Access Almanac: Travel PatternsAmong Welfare Recipients, Access , 21: 40-41.

Blumenberg, Evelyn (2003). The Access Almanac: Transportation Costs andEconomic Opportunity Among the Poor, Access , 23 : 40-41.

Ong, Paul (2004). The Access Almanac: Auto Insurance Redlining in the InnerCity, Access , 25: 40-41.

Glaeser, E.L., M.E. Kahn and J. Rappaport (2008). Why Do the Poor Live in

Cities? Journal of Urban Economics , 63: 1-24.[located at: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/pub/hier/2000/HIER1891.pdf]

TOPIC 12: Global Comparisons/Transportation and the Environment (3/12)

Greene, David L. (2004) . Transportation and Energy, in The Geographyof Urban Transportation , Third Edition, Susan Hanson and GenevieveGiuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford Press. Pages 274-293.

Bae, Chang-Hee Christine (2004) . Transportation and the Environment, in The Geography of Urban Transportation , Third Edition, Susan Hansonand Genevieve Giuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford Press. Pages356-381.

Schipper, Lee (2009) . Moving Forward With Fuel Economy Standard s, Access,34: 11-19.

Cervero, Robert (2001) . Informal Transit: Learning From the DevelopingWorld, Access, 18 : 15-22.

Sperling, Daniel and Eileen Claussen (2004) . Motorizing the DevelopingWorld, Access, 24 : 10-15.

TOPIC 13: The Future of Transportation/Final Thoughts (3/14)

Janelle, Donald G. (2004) . Impact of Information Technologies, in TheGeography of Urban Transportation , Third Edition, Susan Hanson andGenevieve Giuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford Press. Pages 86-112.

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Giuliano, Genevieve, with Susan Hanson (2004) . Managing the Auto, in The Geography of Urban Transportation, Third Edition , Susan Hansonand Genevieve Giuliano, Editors. New York: The Guilford Press. Pages382-403.

Written Assignments

Fieldwork Paper

The Fieldwork Paper is designed to give you a chance to roll up your sleeves, get out into theworld, and learn something about transportation in the city you live in. You and two partnersmust choose one of the following assignment options and write an 8-12 page memo (notincluding bibliography, pictures, etc.). The paper must use double spacing, one-inch margins,and 12-point type. Its pretty obvious when people cheat on the margins, so dont bother try ing totrick us

If you need help finding partners, post a message on the course discussion board telling otherswhich of the assignments you are most interested in completing. If worse comes to worst wemight be able to help you.

As with the Policy Analysis paper, it is not necessary to mechanically address every single pointraised in the assignments below, but it is strongly advised that you cover the large majority of thesuggested issues.

Option 1: Parking at UCLA

Clark Kerr, first chancellor of the UC system, once said the purpose of a university is to provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty. InUCLAs case, it is arguable whether the university is getting the parking (or the sports,for that matter) right. Despite the fact that UCLA is almost tops in the nation in terms ofhaving the most on-campus parking spaces, many (particularly undergraduates) are stillunhappy with the current situation. In the past, political fur has flied over the way theschool creates and allocates parking; for example, there has been widespread cheating on

parking permit applications.

For this paper, you are to analyze parking at UCLA and give recommendations for howit is to be developed in the future. First, give a brief history of how we have dealt with

parking on campus in the past. What has been the universitys traditional strategy? Howmuch has it cost? Next, give a snapshot of how parking is handled today. How manyspaces are there? Who gets them? Who pays for what and how much? What are thecurrent plans for the future?

Next, give your analysis of the performance of the current system.

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Are there enough spaces (using your reasoned definition of enough) Is the system economically efficient and cost-effective? Is the current system of charging for parking equitable and effective? Is the permit system successful? Is the allocation of spaces fair?

In addition to examining the parking system per se, you should also consider otheralternatives that seek to manage demand for campus parking, such as BruinGo!, the

program for reduced transit fares for UCLA students which has been the subject ofconsiderable controversy.

In terms of research, you should examine past parking plans that have been compiled bythe university. The Daily Bruin archives might be of interest. You might want to walk a

parking structure or two, noting things like its occupancy rates, design characteristics,distribution of spaces by permit type, or anything else you think might be of interest.You should also interview at least one person from Parking Services about current

operations and future plans, and for a different perspective look at the work of DonaldShoup of the urban planning department (his ideas are here --and he will

be speaking in class). In terms of research on BruinGo!, two studies that reach verydifferent conclusions (one from Parking Services, performed by Crain and Associates,and one from Shoup and others) appear at .

Finally, give your thoughts about the future. Do we have too much parking, not enough,or just right? Should we build new structures? Should we change the way parking is

priced and allocated? Is promoting transit use instead of driving a viable alternative? Isthe system working well enough that we should just leave it alone?

Option 2: Comparing Two Modes of Travel

Imagine you are a planner for the LA Department of Transportation and have been taskedwith making transportation improvements to an area. However, your superiors areuncertain about which travel mode to focus on. Does the area suffer from extreme autocongestion, making improvements for auto traffic circulation necessary? Or is the areaalready too slanted towards cars, making improvements in the transit, walking or bikingsystems more promising?

To do this analysis, pick a neighborhood with which you and your partners are familiar,and write a memo comparing two travel modes in your study area. First, lay out what youthink the criteria for judging an area should be. Maximizing traffic flows? Providingchoice? Promoting the economic health of the area? Helping the environment?

Next, define your neighborhood boundaries, and explain why those boundaries werechosen. Then proceed to comparing and contrasting two modes of travel that people use

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in the neighborhood. Questions you might want to consider are how much traffic doeseach mode attract? Does the physical environment and density of your area favor onemode over the other? What about the transportation infrastructure supports or discourageseach mode? Does each mode serve area stakeholders (drivers, pedestrians, stores,employers) well? What are some of the problems with each mode, and what are the

advantages of using each mode? Do the two modes work well together in your area?

You are expected to supplement your report with pictures and support your position withother evidence. For example, you may conduct surveys and interviews of travelers, localmerchants, etc.; inventory parking lots, sidewalks, crosswalks, left turn lanes, bicyclelanes, transit stops and amenities, etc.; and/or include traffic or pedestrian or bicyclecounts at various times of the day. You may also wish to use census data (we can helpyou with this) to determine some characteristics of the neighborhood.

Travel in the area using both modes and compare your experiences. Though this is notrequired, you may also conduct historical research on the evolution of your neighborhood

to explain the how both modes have changed, or how the physical environment may havedeveloped to favor one mode over another. For example, if you were to chooseWestwood as one of your neighborhoods, you may ask how transportation has shaped theadjacent areas development and density, how the area has changed in relation to thecampus, and how travel to and from the neighborhood has changed over time.

Finally, give your opinion on which mode your area needs to focus on The automobile?Transit? Walking? Biking? and give some ideas about how your area could be changedto better serve that mode.

Option 3: Major Transportation Investments and NIMBYism: The Case of the OrangeLine

A common lament of transportation planners trying to get major transportationinvestments approved and built is that the benefits of transportation projects aredistributed broadly across regions, but the negative impacts are often concentrated alongthe proposed transportation corridor. The result of this geographic imbalance betweencosts and benefits is frequently a highly motivated group of locals opposing a project, butno organized constituency in its favor. The localized opposition to such projects is called

Not-In-My-Back-Yard-ism, or NIMBYism.

The Orange Line busway in the San Fernando Valley north of UCLA is a recent butclassic example of this phenomenon. The Los Angeles MTA explored plans to build amajor public transportation investment along an old railroad right-of-way in the Valleyfrom the 1980s on. However, community opposition derailed many proposals, includingsubways and light rail. However, in 1999, the MTA tried again with a proposal for a busrapid transit project through the corridor; bus rapid transit, or BRT, is sometimes calledlight rail on rubber tires. Community opposition to this alternative was intense,

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culminating in a lawsuit against the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project. Nevertheless, the MTA prevailed in the lawsuit and the project was constructed, openingin October 2005. The project is generally regarded as a success relative to other majortransit investments, attracting, for example, more riders than the Gold Line light rail

between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena at one-third the cost. However, do these

regional benefits in increased transit ridership outweigh the localized impacts (noise,traffic disruption, safety, etc.) of building a busway through the neighborhoods in thiscorridor?

For this memorandum, you should investigate the complaints of local residents asrecorded in the Final EIR as well as the responses of the planners working on the project.Why were residents opposed to the project? How did planners propose to address theircomplaints? You should also do your own investigation of the situation. Travel up to theOrange Line, ride it, and record any evidence you might find that reinforces thearguments of the opposition or the MTA. Take pictures as necessary to back up yourarguments, and cite articles from local newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and

the Los Angeles Daily News , that include facts about how the Orange Line hasfunctioned. Finally, talk to least three people, either in the neighborhood along theBusway, amongst the organizations listed as opposing the project in the Final EIR, or atthe MTA (no more than one MTA person) about their views on whether the issues wereresolved. Have they changed their minds now that the busway has been operating forseveral years? Conclude you memo by describing what you think the right balance

between local impacts and regional benefits should be. Do you think the Orange Line hasachieved that balance?

Option 4: Bicycling in Los Angeles

The experience of the bicyclist is most profoundly felt at the level of micro-geography:the physical design of the streets, the presence or absence of parked cars, turn lanes,

potholes, stop signs or traffic lights, driveways, and bicycle paths and lanes. Elements ofthe street not noticed by the motorist may be major obstacles (or aids!) to the cyclist.Your task in this assignment will be to investigate the experience of the cyclist at thisvery fine grain.

In order to do this, you should first acquaint yourself with bicycle planning practices.Consider what steps are being taken in Los Angeles to make the city more bicycle-friendly. What about in other municipalities, such as Santa Monica? Do all cyclingadvocates agree on the right kind of street design? For example, theres an ongoingdebate between, on one hand, cyclists who favor the creation of bicycle lanes and paths,and on the other hand proponents of vehicular cycling (sharing lanes with cars) . Youshould explore the realm of bicycle-friendly transportation planning by reviewing LosAngeles (and possibly other cities) bicycle infrastructure plans (ours is called theBackbone Bikeway Network: ) and/or by interviewing bicycle planners and cyclingcommunity leaders. You might start by giving the Bicycle Coalition (www.la-bike.org) a

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call or by simply attending one of its meetings. Also, think about what Ryan Snyder hasto say in his lecture about bicycle in pedestrian planning.

Next, you will need to survey at least 10 cyclists and not just students cycling from theresidence halls, please! You might start by simply handing out questionnaires at bicycle

racks on campus or at a similar location. An even better method might be to interviewcyclists in small groups or individually. You should attempt to find out two things:elements of street design that make cycling more or less enjoyable (or safe), and specificlocations in the Los Angeles transportation network that your respondents feel are

particularly bad or particularly good. Ask them to comment specifically on things thatyou read about in the Bicycle Plan or heard about from cycling advocates. Make sure youget details and if possible some anecdotes.

Finally, pick one particular good biking location you have i dentified during yoursurvey process and one particularly bad one. Go to both, photograph them, and takenotes. ( Dont attempt to ride a bike in the bad one , please we know its bad for bikes!)

What makes these good and bad biking locations? What might be done to make the badlocation better?

You should provide a report detailing (1) the plans for better cycling in Los Angeles andany bicycling community res ponse youve read or heard; (2) the progress currently madein completing these plans and obstacles (if any) to implementing them; (3) your cyclistsurvey methods and results and; (4) a description of the good and bad locations youvediscovered and a brief proposal for making the bad location more like the good one.

Option 5: Travel Survey or Travel Journal Analysis

You are to conduct a small original study of travel behavior. You should first decide onyour topic of interest and unit of analysis. You can pick any traveler type, trip type, ortravel mode that interests you. Some examples might include: (1) travel by male andfemale UCLA students, (2) shopping trips, (3) walking trips, (4) travel at night, (5) use of

public transit, (5) bicycling, (6) travel on campus, (7) bus riders, (8) recreational trips, (9)work trips, (10) trips to and from school, or (11) travel in and around a particularneighborhood, like Westwood, or even a comparison between two neighborhoods.

After you have decided on your topic and unit of analysis, you and your partners shoulddevelop one or more hypotheses about what you expect to find. For example, you mighthypothesize that:

Women are more likely to do shopping travel than men Students are more likely to use public transit than non-students Travel behavior varies a great deal based on age Bicyclists have very similar demographic characteristics Minorities are more likely to ride the bus than whites

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Transit is more commonly used for work trips than other types of travel Travelers to and in Westwood are much more likely to walk, bike, or ride transit

than those traveling to or in another LA neighborhood, like Hollywood People with cars have much different grocery shopping patterns than those

without them

or any others that come to mind. Use existing travel behavior research, if available, tohelp you formulate your hypothesis or hypotheses.

Then set out to test your hypothesis by designing a survey that asks respondents to detailtheir trip making, for example including times of departure and arrival, addresses wheretrips began and ended (you can then derive distances using Google Maps), travel modesused, fares/tolls paid, stops made along the way, and so on. Also, collect some basic

background information on your subjects (things like gender, age, race, occupation, perhaps income, etc.). And you might want to ask your respondents specific questionsthat will help you test your hypothesis about how people travel and the factors that

influence travel-related decisions.

Dont overburden your respondents by asking for too much information; try to keepthings bounded, whether this is in terms of the types of travel you ask about, the time

period over which the survey must be filled out, or the information requested. Asking people to keep track of every trip they take over a one week period and why they takeeach trip is definitely too intrusive and will cause people to drop out of the study. So besure that what you ask about is relevant to your topic and hypotheses. You might askyour respondents about all trips but in just one day, about a longer period of time but forless frequent occurrences (such as trips to the doctor, the supermarket, in Westwood, etc.)or about trips using only one particular mode.

Then get at least 30 of your friends, classmates, and/or family members to complete thesurvey. Note that depending on your topic you should try to get plenty of variation: asurvey on age and travel wont yield much in the way of results if you only interviewUCLA students, and a survey on mode won t work if all you study is car drivers.

You should consider (and comment on) whether your method of recruiting survey participants might bias your results. Provide some analysis of the demographics of yourrespondents, and whether there are any biases in your sample. Do you think that yoursample population is representative of the population you wish to analyze? If so, why? Ifnot, why not?

Finally, clearly and concisely present the results of your survey and analyze them. Doyour survey data support or fail to support your hypotheses? Present summary data fromyour survey (with clear, simple graphs, charts, and/or tables) in support of yourconclusions. In addition, supplement these conclusions with evidence from coursereadings and lectures (or other material you might find we can help you with this). If

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your conclusions differ from other researchers findings, be sure to speculate on what youthink may have caused the observed differences.

Option 6: SR 91 Express Lanes

Tolled express lanes which vary the toll according to traffic levels and permit motorists tobuy out of congestion have been popular with transportation analysts for decades.However, they have been slow to be rolled out due in large part to antipathy from some

parts of the public. The first major value - priced lanes in America are here in SouthernCalifornia, running parallel to the SR 91 freeway for a ten mile stretch connecting OrangeCounty and Riverside County. Tolls vary based on day-of-week, time-of-day, anddirection-of-travel. At times they are quite steep.

Imagine you work for a Department of Transportation in another part of the country thatis interested in building tolled express lanes. You have been sent to analyze the SR 91

facility and make recommendations. Is this type of facility promising for other locations?Why or why not?

First, do some background research on the facility. Scholar Ed Sullivan did an in-depthreport that is an excellent resource: find it at. Also, you mightsearch the internet, newspapers like the LA Times , the websites of the Orange CountyTransportation Authority or Cofiroute (the private firm that built and manages thefacility), or other sources of information.

Interview at least one official from the OCTA or Cofiroute about important issues facingthe facility. You might also want to talk to other stakeholders, for example somebodyfrom AAA or (if you can find one or more) a motorist(s) who travels in the corridor.Finally, drive the SR 91. You wont be able to use the managed lanes without atransponder, but you will be able to use the free lanes. Note whether the tolled lanes dohave an advantage over the free lanes. It would be especially interesting if you drive at atime when there is some congestion, time your trip in the free lanes, calculate the timesavings that the tolled lanes offer over the free ones (assuming free flow in the tolledlanes), and decide if the time savings is worth the toll for that day, time, and direction.

Factors you might include in your analysis might be:

Economics (does the facility cover the costs of its construction and operation?) The expansion of traveler choice Time savings (including thoughts on how the value of these can vary from person

to person and minute to minute) Possible environmental benefits Travel time reliability

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Replicability (will this facility work with different kinds of roads in different places?)

Politics (hint: there was a major political problem several years ago that befell thefacility you will read about this in your research, including an Access articlefrom Marlon Boarnet in issue 25)

Public opinion are users and other SR 91 drivers happy with the lanes? Equity is it fair that rich drivers can use these Lexus Lanes while others mightnot be able to?

Conclude by giving a recommendation to your bosses about whether these types of tolled lanesshould be pursued, why or why not, how, and if there are any changes to the SR 91 model youwould make in future incarnations of this project.

Policy Analysis

The second major writing assignment is a Policy Analysis essay. The Policy Analysis will becompleted individually. The purpose of the essay is to give you a chance to delve more deeplyinto a transportation topic that is of interest to you, bring your intellect to bear on the issues, andgive your two cents on where we should go with transportation policy in America.

You should produce a document with 8 to 12 pages of body text (i.e. excluding cover page,references, tables illustrations, etc.). As with the Fieldwork Paper, the paper must use doublespacing, one-inch margins, and 12-point type. You should edit your work carefully and cite all ofyour sources. Ill be distributing a memo with tips on writing effectively. Where appropriate, usegraphs, tables, and/or pictures to make key points. Include a bibliography, and put supportingdata or other materials in appendices.

First, you are called on to analyze the topic using multiple sources of information from multiple perspectives, using the required readings, information from lectures, and materials you find as part of your own research. Note that I am extremely happy when you show initiative in terms ofadding outside research that I don t have to provide you.

Using these sources and information, you are called on to produce a paper with three conceptual parts.

First, lay out the issue. In terms of your topic, what is the current state of affairs? How did we getwhere we are? What are the problems with the status quo? Are they serious, or overblown? What

are the causes of the problems? What will the implications be if the problems are not addressed?

Next, lay out the various solutions that have been proposed, or that you yourself can devise.What are these solutions? How and why (or why not) would they be effective? How difficult orcostly would they be to implement? Are they politically feasible? Why hav ent they beenimplemented yet?

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Finally, present your proposed policy course(s), supporting your position with evidence. Inaddition to presenting your own prescriptions, and outlining how and why they would beeffective, if there are popular proposed solutions you do not endorse outline why you thinktheyre bad ideas not worthy of being pursued.

The paper doesnt need to take this exact form, but this framework gives you a reasonableroadmap to success.

Keep in mind that I want your reasoned analysis and opinion, but it is crucial that that opinion besupported. So be sure to cite sources (for both facts and expert opinion) when necessary. As Inoted, in addition to course materials bring in at least some outside information. Thanks toGoogle and Google Scholar, it should not be hard for you to do additional outside research onyour topic, particularly given the fact that all of the topics are the subject of spirited publicdebate.

You can choose from a number of topics, all of which are the subject of a unit we will study in

class.One final note: please dont plagiarize! In addition to the fa ct that it is a pretty sad admission youarent bright or hard -working enough to write a simple term paper, you would be surprised howoften people who do this get caught. It s easier for an instructor to detect this than you mightthink, and I know of at least four people who have been caught since Ive been at UCLA. Whenthis happens, the code of conduct I have to follow as mandated by the university gives me zeroleeway; I have no choice but to immediately turn the offender over to the authorities. Their

punishments are extremely harsh; the less you learn about them the better. Putting something inquotes and citing it properly seems like a far easier option.

The topics are below. Note that I am not going to count to be sure every single point I raise foreach is addressed, and you dont have to tackle issues in the order I list them, but I stronglyrecommend responding to most of the points I suggest.

Option 1: Transit Policy

Transit in the United States faces multiple challenges. Despite decades of rising spending,ridership has remained stubbornly low, with market share steadily dropping over time.Moreover, the industry faces serious financial difficulties which require heavy subsidies.On the other hand, many believe that transit has the potential to help us deal with many ofthe serious transportation problems we face, including congestion, emissions, sprawl, oil

dependence, and quality of life. In this essay, your job is first to discuss the generalimportance of transit. What do you feel are the positives of transit, and what are thenegatives? Should we care about promoting transit or not? Next, outline the key issuesand problems facing transit. How did we get here, and why do we face these current

problems? Next, lay out a case for future transit policy based on these issues. Are the key problems facing transit insurmountable? If so, why? If not, how might the challengesfacing transit be addressed? Should spending levels be increased, decreased, or held

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constant? What about fares and fare structure? What might be done in terms of laborrelations or operations? Does land use play a role, and if so what complimentary land use

policies might be appropriate? What about bus vs. rail, and questions of equity?Ultimately, do you feel transit has the potential and justification to play a larger role inthe U.S. transportation system, and if so what should that role be and how do you feel this

can be brought about?

Option 2: Transportation and the Environment

In this era of global warming, the relationship between transportation and theenvironment is very much in the public consciousness. Most agree that the prospect oftwo billion cars worldwide, if they have todays fuel efficiency and are driven at thelevels of contemporary U.S. drivers, will be difficult to sustain. Is there hope for thefuture? This paper calls on you to succinctly lay out how transportation affects theenvironment, how the environment affects transportation, what the particularly acute

environmental challenges posed by the current transportation system are, and what youthink the picture will look like in the future. Most importantly, the topic asks for youropinion and analysis of the appropriate policy responses to our current challenges. Do wehave to fundamentally change the frequencies, modes, distances, and ways in which wetravel? Or are there other possible solutions which might allow high levels of mobilityand environmental cleanliness simultaneously? What role do governments have to playhere, in terms of taxes, subsidies, regulations, etc.? Will the market alone fix things? Ifyou were a policymaker, what steps would you implement to safeguard the environmentand why? After laying out your proposed policy course, what do you think are the

prospects for it being adopted by world governments in the near future? Is there hope wecan address these problems?

Option 3: Transportation and Land Use

Many critics decry the suburbanization of America, maintaining it wastes resources, promotes social isolation, is aesthetically displeasing, etc. For others, suburbanizationreflects the wishes of the American people and offers space, privacy, comfort, etc.Whether for good or ill, many commentators believe that transportation is an important

part of the land use equation. In this paper, frame the issue, outlining the ways in whichland use affects transportation and vice versa, in both a historical and a contemporarycontext. Next, discuss what you see as the positives and negatives of our current land use

patterns. If you believe land use patterns need to be substantially changed, lay out yourreasoning for why, and for how transportation would fit in to your proposed policyframework. Suggest some transportation policies you feel would be appropriate to eithercomplement our current land use patterns or try to change them entirely. Should we fightsprawl, and if so how should transportation policy be employed to do this? And will itwork?

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The book The Limitless City will help you here: it will be on reserve at the library, or youmay wish to purchase it online.

Option 4: High-Speed Rail

Although momentum seems to have slowed recently, the Obama administration has madethe creation of a high-speed rail network in America one of its top transportation

priorities. Supporters of such a system maintain that it will have myriad benefits,including saving traveler time, reducing the need to build costly road and airinfrastructure, cleaning the environment, creating jobs, and much else. They point toHSRs success in other nations as evidence of its efficacy. Detractors maintain that HSRwill be an enormously costly boondoggle that will fail to attract riders, require massivesubsidies, and possibly harm the environment more than it helps it. Using coursematerials and other resources you can find (this topic has been much-discussed by themedia, government, and think tanks, so you should have no trouble finding evidence),

briefly lay out the arguments for both sides, critically contrast and analyze them, andoutline your well-supported opinions on whether or not we should build HSR, and, if so,how we should go about doing it (for example, which proposed routes and types ofservices to prioritize and why, who should pay for it, etc.).

Option 5: Congestion

As a resident of Los Angeles, it should come as no surprise to you that traffic congestionis an irritant, perhaps a serious one. Yet despite the fact that many believe congestion is amajor problem that is worsening over time, we have thus far had limited success intaming it. Many policies for addressing congestion have been broached, including but notlimited to building more roads, investing more in mass transit, creating jobs/housing

balance, building at higher densities, improving incident management, congestion tolling,and many others. In this paper, briefly lay out the nature of the congestion problem. Whydoes congestion occur? Is it a severe problem necessitating radical solutions? What doescongestion cost our society? Next, discuss what the major proposed solutions are, givingyour analysis of the pros and cons of each. Finally offer your proposed solutions to thecongestion problem and why you think they are politically feasible and would beeffective.

Anthony Downs excellent book Still Stuck in Traffic will be an important resource if youintend to tackle this topic; I will place a copy on reserve at the library but again to savetime and hassle Id consider orderin g it online as soon as possible if this topic appeals toyou. You should also look at the Texas Transportation Institute s annual Urban MobilityReport.

Option 6: Transportation Finance

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The transportation financing system is at a crossroads. With the purchasing power of thegas tax waning, some action will have to be taken in order reform our financing system to

place the transportation system on a solid fiscal foundation. This paper calls on you torecommend a course for this. First, briefly trace the history of transportation finance fromthe years just prior to the introduction of the auto to the present day. Next, discuss the

difficulties the current system finds itself in and lay out why this is the case. Next,consider the primary financing options that are currently in policymakers toolkits,including the gas tax, local option sales taxes, transit fares, bonding, tolling, a VMT fee,etc. Discuss the plusses and minuses of each, in terms of things like practicality, politicalacceptability, equity, and revenue-raising ability. Finally, lay out the course yourecommend for meeting our fiscal challenges in the future, and speculate about what theimpacts of that course would be both in terms of finance and other impacts such as travel

behavior.

In addition to class materials on this topic, I will post a document I co-wrote forCALTRANS about the subject

Thats it! Let us know if you have any questions, and good luck!