Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

ITDP Announces New Board Members and Newly Elected Board Chair

We are proud to announce the appointments of former Santiago mayor Carolina Tohà and transport and social justice champion Rehana Moosajee to the ITDP board of directors, as well as the election of longtime sustainable transport advocate Paul Steely White as chair.

Carolina Tohà served as Mayor of Santiago, Chile from 2012-2016, and is currently the head of the civil society organization Fundación Instituto Ciudad. During her term as mayor, she succeeded in implementing Santiago’s Sustainable Comprehensive Mobility Policy, prioritizing public transport, improving pedestrian spaces, and creating high quality cycling infrastructure, making the historic downtown area vibrant and people-friendly. Tohá is active in the international development community, having acted as Co-Chair of the High Level Advisor Group on Sustainable Transport, convened by the ex-United Nations General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon. “The way we manage our streets says everything about what we value in society,’’ says Tohà, “I share ITDP’s commitment to sustainable transportation, and I’m delighted to join the board of directors to help further it.”


Rehana Moosajee is former Councilor for the City of Johannesburg, South Africa and the founder of The Barefoot Facilitator. She has long been a strong advocate for social justice in transport. Under her stewardship, the city of Johannesburg implemented Africa’s first bus rapid transit system, Rea Vaya. “I’m honored to join the board of this organization I’ve been working with for many years, that has been such a catalyzing force for equity and access,” said Moosajee, “I look forward to working with ITDP to make transport systems, and cities, more accessible and equitable.”


Paul Steely White, who recently became director of safety and advocacy at Bird, has been both an ITDP board member and director of Transportation Alternatives for 15 years. “Paul has a long history with, and deep understanding of ITDP, and has been at the vanguard of so many of the positive changes on New York City’s streets, from Citi Bike to car-free Central and Prospect Parks to Vision Zero,” says ITDP Board member Ellen Lou, Director of Urban Design and Planning at Skidmore, Owings & Merrell, “the board welcomes his leadership and I look forward to working with him to replicate successes in cities worldwide.”

“All three of these leaders have been at the forefront of sustainable transport transformations in their cities,” says Philipp Rode, ITDP board member and executive director of LSE Cities. “Carolina and Rehana bring incredible expertise that will help us shape ITDP’s work going forward. Their successes in getting transport projects implemented will go a long way toward furthering ITDP’s mission to replicate best practices in sustainable transport around the world.”

No cars needed when visiting Minneapolis

Minneapolis Skyline as seen from Lake

New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago are what many people think of as American cities, yet these cities, do not fully represent the typical American city. Minneapolis is more similar to the average American city in terms of size, scale, and organization. A population of 400,000 in the city proper, and three million in the greater region of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis is also in the Midwest, a region in the middle of the country considered a foil to the coastal cities that tend to dominate culture and media.

Minneapolis: A Difference from the Rest of the Midwest

Minneapolis’ capitalizes upon its flat topography by having nice outdoor dining areas and wide sidewalks for passersby

Minneapolis, Minnesota; a place known for Paul Bunyan, Prince, “Minnesota Nice”, and innovative culinary creations using tater tots, can add another moniker to the list: home to great public transit. While Minneapolis resembles many Midwestern cities in its demographic population, municipal budget, tax base, density, opportunities, and drawbacks –  it has distinguished itself from many of its peers in one major area. In the 21st century when so many cities in America are completely reliant on personal vehicles for transportation, Minneapolis is uniquely not fully car dependent. Throughout the US, most populations rely heavily, if not entirely, on personal vehicles to move around. Most US cities have poor or nonexistent infrastructure making it impossible to go anywhere without a vehicle. Minneapolis can serve as a case study for cities looking to implement infrastructure changes to create a welcoming environment for the many non-vehicle dependent people.

Minneapolis is the larger of the Twin Cities, the other being Saint Paul, the capital of the state of Minnesota.  Minnesota is in the upper Midwest, sandwiched between North and South Dakota, Canada, Wisconsin, and Iowa. It is known for its flat prairies and called the Land of 10,000 lakes because of the many lakes throughout the region. It has famously long and brutal winters and before French fur traders and later Scandinavian settlers moved in, it was home to many Native American tribes such as the Sioux, Dakota, and Ojibwe people. Minneapolis is culturally significant in the region for having a robust arts and LGBTQIA communities and is considered a “blue dot” or politically progressive state in an otherwise conservative geographical region. The population of the greater Twin Cities area, over 3 million people, is over 60% of the state population.

A Home for Public Transit

In ITDP’s Indicators for Sustainable Mobility, Minneapolis stood out in having a large portion, 24%, of its commuters use public transit or walk or cycle daily. It stood out for having frequent transit close to both its population and places of work. For instance, 73% of the population, 89% of all jobs, and 84% of low income households are within a 500 meter walk or a 10-minute bike ride to frequent transit. Minneapolis ranked before New York City and Washington DC in access to jobs within 30 minute using sustainable transit. These revelations probably seem obvious to the almost 400,000 people who live in Minneapolis and luckily, some ITDP staff had the opportunity to travel to Minneapolis for a communications conference. While there, we were able to use the celebrated transit. To our delight, Minneapolis proved itself impressive in scale and accessibility.

Accessibility

Bus stops are at ground level, allowing unencumbered access for all

One of the most striking parts of Minneapolis is how accessible it is.  Each train station in the Light Rail is fully wheelchair accessible with at-street boarding for all cars. Each train car is fitted with spacious areas dedicated for wheelchairs with disabled and elderly seating clearly demarcated and accessible. The bus system in the city is wheelchair accessible and there is a program called Metro Mobility which provides scheduled rides to people with disabilities. Furthermore, in the city of Minneapolis, the sidewalks are fitted with ramped curbs allowing for wheelchair access and each crosswalk includes a wheelchair level button for crossing that also makes a loud noise when crossing, to accommodate the visually impaired.
Throughout the city accommodations for people with differing levels of vision and walking are ever present. Despite inclement weather particularly during the winter, potholes are hard to spot along the wide sidewalks and flat streets.

Light Rail

Woman entering Green Line Metro Rail Line in Minneapolis
The frequency of the Green Line trains makes them a popular option for commuters within and throughout the region
We found buying Light Rail tickets (that transferred to the bus) very easy

Minneapolis’ light rail was opened in 2004 as the Hiawatha Line, now called the Blue Line and extends over 19 kilometers from Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins baseball team, to the Mall of America, passing through Minneapolis’ International Airport. This line runs every ten minutes between 6am and 9pm during the week, and during off-peak hours it runs every half hour. The train does not run from 12:30 to 3am. A second line, called the Green Line, opened in 2014, is 18 kilometers long, and operates 24 hours a day. The Green Line connects Target Field in Minneapolis with St. Paul, the state’s capital and runs through the University of Minnesota. A trip from one city to the other takes 40 minutes.

The city is planning an expansion of the Green Line into neighboring suburbs of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie. The planned extension, which includes 16 new stops, has already prompted real estate development projects building homes closer to planned rapid transit.

Cycling

In February 2019, it was reported that both light rail lines had their highest ever ridership in 2018, with over 80 million rides taken by a diverse group of riders. One aspect of the Light Rail that we noticed was how quiet and clean it was, compared to many major cities’ trains and rail lines, the Light Rail stood out in its modern features.

Bicycle riders as a popular sight in the Twin Cites, many people reporting that they still bike during the winter

Throughout Minneapolis bicycle paths can be seen but many are not protected. Minneapolis boasts a total of over 200 miles of bike trails, over half of which are on-street bikeways and less than half are off-street bikeways. The off-street paths are often built adjacently or close to parks and lakes, making them very scenic. Some are repurposed land. The Greenway, an almost 9 meter long bike and walking path, was inaugurated in 2000 along a former railroad corridor in the south of the city. This pathway is plowed to be accessible during the winter, is open 24 hours a day, and it lit for safe passage at night. Minneapolis is a city built around many lakes, almost all of which are connected by the Chain of Lakes, a path encircling five of the largest lakes in a 24-km route. There are East and West River Parkways, stretching along the Mississippi River (which begins in Minnesota), and along other parks within the Twin Cities. The topography of the region, mainly flat, helps in creating easy paths but the city’s dedication to maintaining these paths is impressive and explains why there is such a high cycling usage. Minneapolis also has a NiceRide, a bike sharing program with over 3,000 bikes available, and a new mobile application that just allowed for dockless bike sharing.

  • The Greenway extends along much of the city and is maintained year round
  • Bicycle racks make a trip in the neighborhood possible for bike riders
  • We enjoyed walking along the Greenway during our trip

Bus System


Buses run frequently throughout the day, making a trip downtown easy and pleasant

Minneapolis has a bus system that includes high frequency, rapid, commuter, and local bus lines allowing passengers’ needs to be accommodated. 14 Routes are considered High Frequency meaning they stop less than every 15 minutes throughout the week and on Saturdays. Many of the bus lines converge at transit centers equipped with bicycle storage and are climate controlled to protect passengers during the winter. There are also Park & Ride lots near many bus and light rail stations, providing access to transit to passengers who might live farther from some stations.

The Skyway

A map of the Skyway shows the many routes possible, but does not show the hours of operation

Perhaps one of the most ingenious, and upon reflection, obvious features of Minneapolis’ urban environment is its system of elevated and protected pedestrian tunnels. Called “the Skyway” Minneapolis has a contiguous system of second level bridges, covering 15 km of pathways over 80 city blocks. These walkways are climate controlled, so would seem an important feature to daily life during Minnesota’s famously long, cold, and brutal winters. A brief history of the Skyway. It was opened in 1962 to connect two large office buildings and quickly gained popularity. It was not created to provide easy passage during winter but rather to reroute pedestrians from crowded sidewalks, provide more room for cars, and give building owners an opportunity to increase rent and property value by having a second level of retail space. The skyway system is interesting in that while it is used by the public, the tunnels themselves remain privately owned, and maintained, by the buildings they connect. While there are hours of operation for the Skyway, morning to night during the week but fewer hours on the weekend, they are not uniform as they are ultimately determined by the building owners. This lack of coherent construction and design also makes the Skyway difficult to navigate. When we tried to get from a WeWork where we had met to our hotel one evening, we had to backtrack multiple times due to poor signage and confusing markers.

Other Policies

Minneapolis enforces road pricing during peak hours. With a MnPASS, drivers are able to pass for free in dedicated express lanes which are also designated to buses, motorcycles, cars transporting two or more occupants, or MnPASS holders. These lanes are open during off peak times, with clear signage. The enforcement of High Occupancy Toll lanes has been successful in decreasing traffic and traffic fatalities.

In Minneapolis the streets make space for more than just cars

A City for People

Minneapolis stands out in many regards – its residents are very friendly and willing to help, its restaurants and bars are diverse and interesting. Mostly, getting around is just so easy. It was fast and efficient to take the Light Rail from the Airport to the Hotel and getting around town was straightforward and pleasant. No cars were necessary for a nice week spent exploring different neighborhoods – which is more than can be said for the majority of American cities. The time spent in Minneapolis allowed us to unofficially explore some of the city’s diverse set of restaurants and use the many modes of transportation (we took the bus, took the light rail, walked on sidewalks and in the Skyway, and biked). Minneapolis is worth a return trip – not just for the quiet and clean train cars, but also for the friendly people and delicious (and often) fried food.

America, The Netherlands, and the Oil Crisis: 50 Years Later

By Jacob Mason, ITDP

The 1973 oil crisis caused gasoline prices to skyrocket and supplies to dwindle. Gasoline rationing led to long lines at gas stations and paralyzed car movement. Two countries—the United States and the Netherlands—responded to the crisis in nearly opposite ways. The Netherlands began a long-term policy shift away from a car-based society. The US, however, doubled down on car culture.

Multiple lane highway shows the space allocated to cars in the American south

Across the Netherlands, cities built bicycle lanes, people friendly shopping streets, and spent large amounts of money on high-quality public transport. US cities built new highways and expanded low-density suburbs, car-centric shopping centers, and office parks. American public transit, cycling, and walking infrastructure deteriorated. The share of people using sustainable transport in the U.S. fell from 23% in 1970 to just 15% in 2016 (U.S. Census data). Today, nearly 87% of all trips take place in a private car, and American cities are five of the top ten most congested cities in the world, while Amsterdam does not even break the top 100.

A tram in Amsterdam shows how the city builds around public transit

Prioritized bicycle lanes and public transit make sure that everyone, including the poor, small children, and the disabled, have access to safe, efficient, and affordable transportation. A well-used bus is at least 14 times more space efficient than a single-occupancy car traveling the same distance and light rail, bus rapid transit, and metro are even more efficient. Road designs focused almost exclusively on increasing and maintaining high car speeds, have the opposite effect. The proliferation of wide multi-lane roads and cul-de-sac street networks has the effect of cutting off neighborhoods. Today, in many places, few viable alternatives to driving exist. Today, unsurprisingly, most Americans drive nearly everywhere. In the United States, the average household has 2.3 cars and spends nearly a sixth of its income on transportation. The lack of viable alternatives places a heavy burden on the poorest members of society, who struggle to afford basic transportation. Fines for driving without a license—because no other viable transportation options exist—trap many people in a cycle of poverty. While the cost of car ownership in the Netherlands is similar, people rely on high-quality transit, cycling, and walking for half of all trips. This helps poor families access jobs and save money, helping to improve their quality of life. Good public transit leads to a safer, healthier society.

In the U.S., there is a 90% lower crash risk for public transit than car travel. According to the World Health Organization, U.S. residents are three times more likely to die on the streets than people in the Netherlands. And despite a more sedentary population, U.S. residents are five times more likely to be killed while walking. In addition, most public transit trips begin and end with walking or cycling, making exercise an integral part of daily life. This helps to reduce rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. In the Netherlands, only 18.8% of adults (over 20 years old) are obese compared to 32% of Americans. The economic benefits of a city built around public transport are manifold.

Dangerous and inhospitable bus stops make taking public transit an unsafe and unpleasant experience

Good public transit leads to a safer, healthier society. In the U.S., there is a 90% lower crash risk for public transit than car travel. According to the World Health Organization, U.S. residents are three times more likely to die on the streets than people in the Netherlands. And despite a more sedentary population, U.S. residents are five times more likely to be killed while walking. In addition, most public transit trips begin and end with walking or cycling, making exercise an integral part of daily life. This helps to reduce rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. In the Netherlands, only 18.8% of adults (over 20 years old) are obese compared to 32% of Americans.

The economic benefits of a city built around public transport are manifold. Good transit boosts the economy and stimulates economic development4 by bringing people together for jobs and opportunities. Public transit uses space efficiently and supports dense development, which reduces travel distances and space requirements. American cities have spent billions creating vast networks of urban freeways, only to find this encourages more people to drive and results in gridlock.

Blue tram in Amsterdam city center
Tramways provide accessible transport for city dwellers and visitors in Amsterdam

When cities spend money on roads, they are also losing the benefits of more productive land use, like public spaces and housing. Car infrastructure is also expensive, particularly the elevated highways and tunnels needed to move cars around urban areas. In Milwaukee, renovating an existing freeway would have cost $80 million, but it only cost $30 million to remove it and replace it with surface streets. In addition despite the country’s enormous wealth, infrastructure in the U.S. is collapsing. The Netherlands, although slightly less wealthy, is managing to maintain and expand its infrastructure.

Cities built around public transit play an important role in protecting the environment. By moving more people per vehicle in less space, transit uses far less energy per kilometer of travel. Public transit cuts pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and prevents premature deaths from poor air quality. Through the more efficient use of space, transitoriented cities prevent sprawl into natural areas and resources, protecting them for future generations. The Netherlands, with its cities built around public transit, generates 40% fewer GHG emissions per capita than the United States.

Urban populations in the United States and the Netherlands are growing slowly—47% and 50% of people live in urban areas, respectively. In many parts of the world, such as Kenya, urban populations are exploding. While only 20% of residents there live in urban centers, it’s not at all clear what shape cities will take when 40% or 50% live in those centers. Will those countries choose the United States’ car-oriented model, with expensive infrastructure that punishes the poor, degrades the environment, and fails to effectively move people from one place to another? Or will they choose the Netherlands’ transit-oriented model that boosts people out of poverty, protects the environment, and reliably gets people where they need to go? The choices that rapidly-growing cities make today will shape their future for generations.

2020 STA Nominee Cities Feature Electrification, Pedestrian Design, and Low-Cost Interventions from Africa, Asia, and Americas

Woman on back of bicycle that man is riding in bicycle lane in Colombia
Montería, Colombia built 60 km of cycling infrastructure

For 16 years, the Sustainable Transport Award (STA) has showcased cities that demonstrate political courage by implementing innovative sustainable transport projects. This year is no different. The 15 nominated cities for the STA hail from Africa, Asia, South America, and North America and feature transportation interventions from electrified vehicles and widened walkways to new transportation lines. This year, as in others, demonstrates that size, both in city and project, is not the largest determining factor regarding impact. In fact, it is often the small, on-the-ground, and low-cost interventions such as sidewalk improvements, bus frequency, and or parking reform that make the biggest difference in people’s lives. With the political will for improvements, any city can make adjustments large and small that transform lives. This was evident in the nominees where cities of all sizes presented an impressive collection of innovations all with the same goal of improved sustainable transportation.

Large Indian bus on BRT route in Amritsar, India
Amritsar, India increased its BRT ridership to 76,000 people per day

Strategies honored by the STA improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation, greenhouse and air pollution emissions, and improve safety and access for cyclists and pedestrians. Cities apply under five categories of interventions including Cycling & Walking, Public Transport, Sustainable Urban Development, Travel Demand Management, and newly added for 2020, Urban Freight. This year the most popular interventions were Cycling & Walking and Public Transport with 12 and 11 cities, respectively, engaging in interventions in those arenas. Six cities engaged in Sustainable Urban Development and only 3 cities engaged in Travel Demand Management. The 2019 winner, Fortaleza, Brazil, implemented a complete streets plan that massively improved road safety by prioritizing public transport, cycling, and walking. The winning city will be announced at the MOBILIZE summit in Fortaleza in June, and will host the MOBILIZE summit the following year.

While many of the Public Transportation interventions included creating new or expanding current BRT lines like in Peshawar, Pakistan or Richmond, USA. Some cities increased public transportation with other types of interventions like a new funicular in Bogotá, Colombia. Many cities saw ridership and participation in public transportation increase. Jakarta, Indonesia has doubled its BRT and bus ridership through better integration of systems and improved access to stations. Public transportation growth also came from electrifying vehicles already in use like buses and rickshaws in Amritsar, India; tricycles in Pasig City, Philippines, or motorcycles in Marrakech, Morocco.

  • Richmond, USA opened a new BRT line in June 2018
  • Kingston, Canada’s communications campaign focusing on young people increased ridership among that demographic

When it came to Cycling and Walking, Cali, Colombia; Cuenca, Ecuador; Montería, Colombia; and Pasig City, Philippines started or expanded public bike share programs while San José, Costa Rica expanded its cycling infrastructure. Many cities provided their pedestrians with enlarged sidewalks or footpaths like in Pune, India; Montería, and Providencia, Chile. Improved pedestrian environments are crucial to healthy and safe residents. Cities also focused on inclusivity. In Kingston, Canada, youth were targeted to engage in public transportation or in Montería, Pasig City, and Bogotá initiatives specifically targeted supporting low-income communities.

Bicycle riders with reflective vests in San Jose, Costa Rica
San José, Costa Rica built 15 km of cycling pathways

Many of the Sustainable Urban Development projects included transformations of waterways and historic districts into pedestrian friendly and mixed real estate neighborhoods like in Amritsar, India; Pune, Providencia, and Cali. Additionally, Kigali, Rwanda and Pasig City host regular car-free days. Parking policies in Pune and congestion pricing in Cali serve to alter their urban landscapes, promoting a high shift to public transport and active modes.

“We are thrilled with the list this year because it demonstrates how innovation can come from anywhere – it is not just the ‘usual suspects’ of progressive, predominately Northern European cities that are implementing policies to improve sustainable transport,” says STA committee member Aimée Gauthier, “The STA demonstrates that with enough political will, any city is fully capable of putting forth powerful solutions to enhance their urban environment.”

About the Sustainable Transport Award

The Sustainable Transport Award is an annual award chosen by the STA Committee given to any city that has implemented innovative sustainable transportation projects in the preceding year. The STA has been given every year since 2005 to cities worldwide that have implemented innovative, important, and forward thinking initiatives in transportation. Past winners have included cities of all sizes – from large metropolises to medium-sized cities from North America, Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. The winning STA city hosts ITDP’s  MOBILIZE summit the following year and like every year, the 2020 winner will be announced at MOBILIZE in Fortaleza, Brazil, the 2019 STA winner. The 2020 winner will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, DC this upcoming January.

See the full list of the nominated cities here.

From New York to Mumbai, Congestion Pricing is Finally on the Agenda

congested highwayAs we all know by now, the New York State budget, released on April 1st, launched a major new traffic reduction policy, and a potential source of desperately-needed funds for modernizing the ancient NYC subway system. Congestion pricing, a system that charges a fee for cars entering the city center (in this case Manhattan below 60th street), during peak hours, has been at the fringes of policy discussion in New York City for over a decade, is now officially on the table.

While most cite the political pressure to fix the subway as a key motivator for taking this step, there is also the push of increasing traffic congestion. New York City traffic speeds have lowered year over year since 2010, and TNCs such as Uber and Lyft have crowded urban streets to their breaking point in cities all over the world. US cities including Seattle, Portland, and Philadelphia are contending with overwhelming car traffic, and need new revenue streams to pay for much-needed extensions and upgrades to their public transport systems. On a much larger scale, the conversation is gaining momentum in Mumbai, India, one of the world’s largest cities, with some of the worst air quality.

The New York State Assembly’s response is a hopeful one, and implementing congestion pricing is the right step to take. The policy, and what it will accomplish, is still far from certain. There is already pressure from local politicians and interest groups for exemptions and for a cut of the revenue, and the next year will show us just how far the political winds have shifted from Mayor Bloomberg’s ill-fated push more than 10 years ago.

Let’s talk about road pricing

Congestion pricing is one of the options on the menu of road pricing, along with tolling and parking fees, that cities often use to manage traffic and fund transport work. It is politically risky and there is often backlash, particularly in American cities where car drivers are often oblivious to the amount of subsidies they receive from taxpayers. Drivers see it as an unfair tax on something they expect to be free, and businesses often fear that they will have fewer customers if there are costs to driving and parking in their neighborhoods.

Does “taxing” the road lead to fewer cars? Do businesses suffer if driving is priced? The cities of London, Stockholm, and Singapore, which have had congestion pricing implemented for as long as New York has been fighting it, give us the answers: mostly yes. Despite initial political opposition, people quickly changed their tune after implementation. There is less traffic, enabling road and parking spaces to be used for more essential uses funded by these fees, such as public transit, housing and public space, making for a much faster trip within the city, regardless of mode. Time after time, we’ve seen that businesses in the city center have more customers with increased foot traffic than they ever could with free parking.

The cost of traffic

An argument that often gets lost in the conversation, particularly in New York, about congestion pricing is fairness of the transportation and transit. Consider the subway, which moves well over five million people per day. Like every transit and infrastructure system, its heavily subsidized with taxes, but there is still a cost to each individual every time they use it.  If people have to pay to ride the subway, why are roads treated as free?  Why are roads exempted from fees imposed on other forms of transportation?

Anyone who has been stuck in a traffic jam, on a bus in mixed traffic, or their own car, knows the frustration of sitting helplessly waiting for the wheels to turn. But there are also major, long term human and economic costs of gridlock, even if you’re fortunate enough not to have to deal with it.  Freight, with increasing Amazon-and-co demand for delivery vehicles, increasingly clog roadways, cycle lanes, and block bus stops and dedicated lanes and entryways as trucks double park. Emissions from the transportation sector are especially toxic and huge contributors to poor air quality and climate change.

nyc man hanging out on sidewalk

Designated non-car areas can create relaxing environments, a rarity in Manhattan

These are real costs, in the forms of infrastructure damage, public health, lost productivity time, and stress. We are still a long way from equity on our streets, but putting even a small part of this cost on those who are most directly responsible – private car owners – would be a massive step in the right direction.

Including congestion pricing in the budget is the right first step to fixing the growing crisis of road safety, health, access to the city that is the car-dominated culture of both US and cities around the world. ITDP US Director Michael Kodransky, explained, “The implementation details will be important to watch. Only a handful of cities have ever done it. Cities like Boston, recently named by INRIX as the most congested in the US, may rethink pursuing it while their peers on both coasts charge ahead. What New York does may lead to a watershed moment for public acceptance of such strategies, not just in the US but around the world.” If the State Assembly can implement the pricing fairly, use it wisely, and prevent excessive loopholes, this step could become a major shift, that could fundamentally change cities for the better.

Nominate Your City for the 2020 Sustainable Transport Awards

ITDP, together with an international committee of development and transport experts, invites you to nominate your city for the Sustainable Transport Award.  

Nominations accepted March 1st-31st, 2019 at staward.org.

Does your city deserve more recognition for new transport, street design, or policy improvements that increase mobility and improve quality of life for your residents? The Sustainable Transport Award is a unique, global recognition conferred by a committee of international experts in sustainable transport and development that supports the often-unrecognized progress happening on the ground.

Anyone with city contact info and details of projects can submit a nomination, which can take as little as a few minutes. If your city is selected for the second round, more details will be requested.

Since 2005, the Sustainable Transport Award has recognized courageous leadership and vision in sustainable transportation and urban livability. These strategies should improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions, and enhance safety and access for bicyclists and pedestrians. Nominations are welcome from any interested parties, but typically include government, civil society organizations, and academic institutions. Nominations must include verifiable project data and contact information for the city.

Cities of all sizes from all over the world have been recognized by the committee for best practices in sustainable transport. Past winners include:

2018 STA winner, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

  • Fortaleza, Brazil
  • Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • Santiago, Chile
  • Yichang, China
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Paris, France
  • Mexico City, México
  • San Francisco, United States
  • Ahmedabad, India
  • Bogotá, Colombia

A complete list of winning cities with details on their win is available at staward.org.

The 2019 winner, Fortaleza, Brazil, was selected for its multi-year program of street transformation, including complete streets with more equitable division of road space among users, and reductions in emissions and road safety by prioritizing public transport, cycling, and walking. In 2018, they reached a total of 108 km of dedicated bus lanes, refurbished bus terminals, and fare integration. They complemented this with a massive 225 km of cycling infrastructure, integrated bike share with public transport, and cut road deaths by over a third in 3 years.

In June 2019, Fortaleza will host MOBILIZE, a transport summit held each year in the winning city. MOBILIZE brings together 200 international urban transport and development planners, practitioners, and officials, world-class researchers, and NGO representatives to share strategies, challenges, research and study the example of Dar es Salaam as an international best practice in sustainable transport. The winner of the 2019 STA is where the summit goes next year.

“The Sustainable Transport Award is about celebrating bold vision and momentous changes that improve quality of life for people in cities. In the nearly 15 year history of the award, the nominees have often included cities doing great work under the radar,” says Michael Kodransky, chair of the STA Committee, “There are so many inspiring changes happening on the ground in cities that aren’t known as having the usual transport best practices. The STA and MOBILIZE are great vehicles for recognizing political courage and showcasing the latest achievements. It’s also a great opportunity for those of us working in sustainable transport to learn from innovative approaches, which are shared with a global cohort of transport and development leaders at MOBILIZE”.

The 2020 winner will be announced at MOBILIZE Fortaleza on June 26, 2019. The winner and honorable mentions will be recognized at a ceremony and reception in Washington, DC during the Transport Research Board conference the following January.

The Effects of Transportation on Early Childhood Development

by Julien Vincelot and Patrin Watanatada, Bernard van Leer Foundation

If you were in Los Angeles one morning last September, you might have noticed small groups of adults making their way downtown on foot while pushing empty strollers or carrying bags of rice as heavy as an 18-month-old child. These men and women had come from Amsterdam, California, Dakar, London, Madrid, New York City, Shenzhen, Tel Aviv, and other cities to contribute their expertise to an Urban95 meeting on urban transport for families, hosted by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Urban95 asks city leaders, planners, designers, and engineers: “If you could experience the city from 95 cm—the height of a three year old— what would you change?”

Babies and toddlers deserve a good start in life, and the best way to achieve that is to support the people who care for them. So, what does this have to do with transportation?

 

Urban Transportation and the Developing Brain

Between conception and age three, the brain is developing rapidly and is more sensitive to external experiences and inputs—both negative and positive—than at any other time in life. These experiences set the foundation for health and learning in later childhood and into adulthood. And they are powerfully influenced by the mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, grandparents, siblings, friends, and professionals who care for them. These primary caregivers not only influence the quality of food, play, and healthcare but they also provide warm, responsive human interactions that the developing brain depends on to build neural connections.

Urban transportation can affect the quality of the experiences that shape the developing brain— for good and for bad. It affects access to healthy food, healthcare, childcare, and other key early childhood services. The quality of transportation and planning affects the extent to which pregnant women, babies, and toddlers can access the services they need for healthy development: sources of healthy food, well-baby clinics, and other primary healthcare, childcare, parks, and play spaces.

It can cause stress for caregivers. Traveling in the city can be tiring, long, stressful, or dangerous for caregivers, which affects the quality and amount of responsive care they can provide.

It can pollute the air. For children under five, the top two causes of death are preterm birth complications and lower respiratory illnesses. In urban areas, air pollution from vehicles is a significant contributor to both. What’s more, the damage air pollution causes to still-maturing brains and lungs—asthma, cancer, cognitive impairment, and reduced lung functioning—can last a lifetime.

 

How City Planners and Transport Agencies Can Build Healthy Brains

Better walking and cycling infrastructure, widespread, affordable and safe public transportation, and low-emission zones benefit every urban dweller, including babies, toddlers, and the people who care for them. But until these exist throughout every city, we encourage cities to prioritize the health of their youngest residents and the adults they will become by considering the following:

  • 20-minute (or less) neighborhoods for babies. City planning for the needs of pregnant women, babies, and toddlers starts with understanding where they live and where they need to go. Shortening distances to key early childhood services is one of the best things a city can do for the healthy development of its babies and toddlers. Researchers at Turkey’s Kadir Has University and the TESEV thinktank have produced Istanbul’s first map of children under five by income level, and some of its municipalities are beginning to use the map to plan home visits and public spaces. In Tel Aviv, Israel, the departments of Community, Culture & Sports and Social Services are collaborating to share physical facilities to locate early childhood services closer to families. This is being piloted in five community centers with the goal to allow parents to walk to well-baby clinics.

 

 

As Climate Change Escalates, US Cities Fail to Provide Car Alternatives


Minneapolis emerges as a middle-tier mass transit role model while seven major US cities provide less than one eighth of their populations with “frequent transit” options.

Many US cities are failing to connect people to jobs through mass transit, according to our new report that uses census and employment data to establish 12 new benchmarks for how mass transit systems serve urban populations. More than one third of the US cities surveyed—all with significant climate change risk—have grown without developing any substantial mass transit systems to serve their populations.

The new report, Indicators for Sustainable Mobility, defines criteria to evaluate mass transportation systems and then uses the criteria to assess 20 cities in the US and compare the scores to those of eight cities in Canada and Mexico.

“We know what happens when cities grow without a solid plan for transport, because we’re seeing it now in some of the fastest-growing cities of both the Global South and southern US,” said Joe Chestnut, author of the ITDP report. “Without alternatives, middle-class wage earners become increasingly dependent on their cars, spending more and more time stuck in traffic, and less wealthy communities simply lose access to the city.”

Metrobus in the Centro Historico of Mexico City.

Compared to major cities in Canada and Mexico, US cities, on average, lag in terms of transit access, speed, comfort and access to destinations. Toronto and Vancouver join Chicago and New York City as the only cities serving more than 85 percent of their populations with frequent transit.

Minneapolis also emerged as one of the best cities for mass transit, with 74 percent of its population, 89 percent of all jobs, and 84 percent of all low-income households all within a 500-meter walk or a 10-minute bike ride of frequent transit. Boston, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., were the only other US cities serving more than 70 percent of their populations, jobs, and low-income households with frequent transit.

More cities sat at the opposite end of the spectrum, however, with some of the fastest growing metropolitan areas relying almost exclusively on automobile traffic as the sole transportation option. Memphis stood out in this regard, with less than 10 percent of all jobs, 2 percent of all low-income households, and 2 percent of people overall within a 500-meter walk or a 10-minute bike ride of frequent transit. Nashville and San Antonio also served less than one quarter of all jobs, and less than one tenth of all low-income households and people overall served by frequent transit.

The report found many ways in which low-income populations were just as poorly served by transit as other communities, even though their needs are greater. ITDP measured low-income households near rapid transit as the percentage of the population that makes less than $20,000 a year that is located within about a 10-minute bike ride or walk of a rapid transit station. The report found that, although there is not a major difference in terms of proximity to transit, there is a lack of access to jobs that don’t require a high school education with a 30- or 60-minute commute, putting them out of reach of the people who most need them.

“In the US, there is a narrative that if people work hard, then they can get out of poverty, but we’ve built cities that make this narrative impossible,” said Chestnut. “For households making less than $20,000 per year, reliable cars are a pipe dream: a huge expense that they can’t afford. Without adequate transit, they will remain stuck in place.”

 

Benchmarking Success in Mass Transportation

The ITDP report found that the high-performing cities all focused on keeping mass transit frequent, rapid and accessible:

  • Frequent—A bus or train every 12 minutes or less from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Increasing transit frequency is the single most important thing cities can do to increase transit ridership. It may not be sufficient alone, but it is the single most important predictor of transit use.
  • Rapid—Slow-moving buses stuck in traffic are not an appealing option. In addition to frequency, transit needs to have priority on streets—a dedicated tram or busway, off-board fare collection and all-door boarding are some of the features that make transit rapid.
  • Access to Destinations—You can’t take transit if it doesn’t go where you need to go. At a minimum, it needs to take you between home and work, but should also offer options for mobility overall—changing jobs, moving houses, taking children to school, shopping, health care. This is measured by a host of indicators: everything from people’s daily access to transport, to jobs located near transit, to cycling infrastructure, to city characteristics such as block density, which makes for a more walkable environment.

First Street green bike lane in Los Angeles.
Photo Credit: LADOT Bike Blog

ITDP’s analysis revealed that good biking infrastructure improves access to frequent transit. Protected bike lanes are an inexpensive way for cities to increase the number of people using frequent transit lines, often solving the “first-last mile” problem. On average, bike lanes increased access to frequent transit by 2.5 percent or about 21,000 people per city.

The researchers also found that the more access people have to transit and jobs, the more they tend to use transit. Those cities with higher transit mode share also tended to have high-capacity transit corridors, such as major arteries that cut through the city center, with dedicated lanes for buses, as well as metro or light rail. Lower transit mode share would include islands of coverage, such as a park-and-ride cluster in certain areas, requiring most people to drive at least part of the trip.

Interestingly, Los Angeles—famous for its gridlock and smog—placed in the middle of the pack, serving 45 percent of its population, 59 percent of jobs, and 57 percent of low-income households with frequent transit.

“Climate change is forcing a rethink of urban development principles across the US, and provide more transport options. Cities are doing that are seeing some really positive results, while cities that cling to the “cars only” model are falling behind,” added ITDP’s Chestnut. “In creating universal benchmarks, we can see how cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and Minneapolis have made tremendous strides in improving access without cars. These cities are healthier and more equitable places to live because of these improvements.”

 

Minneapolis Stands Out

Minneapolis Metro Transit Green Line Light Rail

While the overall picture of transport access is dim, the city of Minneapolis stood out as a role model. Although a much smaller city, Minneapolis is close to Washington, DC, in terms of transit ridership percentage and Frequent Transit, and rivals Boston and Philadelphia in terms of block density, a key indicator of a quality walking environment.

Minneapolis’ success is partly due to smart policies around an ambitious plan for transit-oriented development, Minneapolis 2040. This includes investing in a quality bike network, a system of off-street trails that the city is building on to create 35 miles of protected bikeways. Minneapolis significantly increased access to cycling and transit, growing the percentage of people living near frequent transit (PNFT) from 64 percent to 73 percent. This was the largest increase among all the cities that ITDP evaluated, and the city’s scores were comparable to larger coastal cities like Boston and Seattle. In contrast, Dallas––a much larger city with a limited frequent transit network––serves only 41 percent of all jobs, 14 percent of all low-income households, and 11 percent of all people overall within a 500-meter walk or a 10-minute bike ride of frequent transit.

“Minneapolis has very intentionally tied transportation and land use decisions together in policy, focusing growth near transit and prioritizing infrastructure improvements in growing parts of the city,” says Lisa Bender, president of the Minneapolis City Council. “We have made very specific commitments to using public transportation investments to advance city goals supporting race equity and fighting climate change.”

 

[WEBINAR] Indicators For Sustainable Mobility


Wednesday, January 30, 2019
12pm EST

Webinar Recording

 

More on the Indicators

 

About the Webinar

As cities seek to improve their transportation systems to make them more sustainable, equitable, and useful for people, it is critical that they first understand how their system performs.  To that end, ITDP has developed a suite of 12 indicators that can be used to benchmark sustainable mobility in cities. In this webinar, ITDP will provide an overview of those indicators, which range from city characteristic indicators, such as weighted population density, to accessibility indicators, such as the percentage of jobs accessible in 60 minutes. ITDP has applied these indicators in over 20 cities across North America. This webinar will cover the results for those cities as well as trends and insights gleaned from the results.

 

About the Presenters

Jacob Mason | Director of Research and Impact, ITDP

Jacob manages data collection, reporting, and evaluation for ITDP globally. He specializes in strategic research that drives the conversation about sustainable transportation and development, assessing new technologies and identifying new, quantifiable ways of meeting program goals.

Jacob has been the lead researcher for many of ITDP’s most recognized publications, including the Bike Share Planning Guide, the BRT Standard, and A Global High Shift Cycling Scenario and Three Revolutions in Urban Transport, quantifying the multi-trillion-dollar savings in transportation costs and massive reductions in CO2 emissions possible through more sustainable urban transport. He also oversaw the production of ITDP’s People Near Transit report, which developed and measured an international metric for rapid transit coverage, which has since been adopted by city, national, and international governments.

Jacob has been responsible for data collection analysis—and, often, metric development—for ITDP projects worldwide, including a walkability study in five African cities and a BRT project in Nairobi, Kenya. Within the World Bank’s Sustainable Mobility for All program, Jacob co-chairs the Urban Access working group, which is developing sustainable urban transport indicators that are shared across multiple international institutions.

Jacob has a master’s in urban planning from McGill University (Montreal) and a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Columbia University.

 

Joe Chestnut | Transport Research Associate, ITDP

Joe Chestnut joined ITDP in May of 2017. His role includes work on implementing indicators to analyze organizational impact, urban growth, and walkability. Prior to his work at ITDP Joe was a research intern at The Brookings Institution in their Metropolitan Policy Program. Growing up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in what is far from an urban setting, Joe has always been drawn to cities. Aside from his interests in cities and public transportation, Joe is interested in college basketball, the Food Network, and reading. He has a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and Geography from The George Washington University and a master’s degree in Geography, also from The George Washington University.

E-Scooters Could be a Last-Mile Solution for Everyone

Like docked and dockless bikeshare before them, dockless electric “kick” scooters are taking off in popularity, responding to a strong and growing need for urban car alternatives like transit and “last mile” connections. As part of a menu of urban transportation options, scooters have the potential to reduce short-distance, single occupancy vehicle and TNC (Transportation Network Company, e.g. Uber, Lyft, Via) trips, reducing urban congestion and emissions. Scooters provide a low cost, flexible mobility option for short trips, particularly those connected to transit. Bikes have long provided an excellent option for last-mile trips, and they continue to do so. However, the popularity, and user-friendliness of e-scooters may offer an even easier option for the first and last mile.

Scooters, particularly e-scooters, offer an option that pretty much anyone, regardless of fitness or ability, can ride for short trips. As with shared bikes, cities have an opportunity to leverage scooters, and other privately-operated, shared modes in a way that more directly encourages their use in coordination with transit. For example, cities could work with operators to subsidize scooter and bikeshare rides that start or end at transit using common payment options. This level of targeted integration benefits cities by expanding access to transit at a relatively low cost per mile (compared to building new stations, adding buses, etc.), benefits users by making sustainable, multi-modal trips more streamlined and affordable, and benefits companies by establishing a loyal, diverse customer base.

Scooters, bikes, and other technology-enabled shared modes have a role to play in shifting the paradigm away from personal car ownership. Cities can take advantage of this opportunity by understanding the demand for car-alternatives for short trips, and setting smart, goal-oriented regulations that help address that demand. Data from Portland’s scooter pilot shows that 34% of resident scooter riders would have otherwise driven a personal car or taken a taxi or TNC if a scooter hadn’t been available for their most recent trip. While this is promising support for scooters helping to reduce car trips, the data also indicates that 37% of respondents would have otherwise walked if a scooter wasn’t available. When asked how often they rode a scooter to or from a transit stop, 61% responded ‘never’. These last two data points underscore the need for cities to ensure that scooters support public transit, walking and cycling, instead of competing with these modes.

Photo Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pbotinfo/44665532241

Scooter riders during Portland Bureau of Transport e-scooter event

More, and longer-term data on scooter trips could help cities decide whether scooters are, in fact, providing a first-last mile connection to transit, substituting car trips, or pushing pedestrians and cyclists away from biking and walking.

 

Funding the Last-Mile Solution

Cities are now more prepared for the “ask forgiveness, not permission” attitude of privately-operated mobility services, and are responding to the unpermitted launch of e-scooters much more quickly and systematically than with transportation network companies like Uber, or even dockless bikeshare companies. While a few cities have outright banned scooters, most have launched pilots to test regulations and evaluate potential for long-term integration of scooters into the transportation network. In some cases, such as in Austin, Denver, and Los Angeles, cities are moving to combine permitting of dockless bikes, e-bikes, and e-scooters under a common regulatory scheme.

Other cities are taking more concrete steps to improve scooter and bike riders’ comfort on the street by requiring private operators to help fund infrastructure and other road safety improvements. Indianapolis is the first city to require scooter operators to pay $1 per scooter per day into a fund for road safety improvements for cyclists and scooter riders. Scooter operator, Bird, has volunteered to pay a similar amount for infrastructure improvements in other cities (many of which have been hesitant to accept Bird’s offer) however, some reportedly do not have a process in place to accept this type of funding from the private sector. Regardless, this new model of collaboration between cities and private companies to fund projects that make choosing a scooter or bike as a last-mile solution safer could prove successful, as long as cities are clear about what their goals are and why they are asking companies to share costs.

Encouraging the use of dockless scooters as a first-last mile option could also help connect people living further from the city center to public transit. Residents who live in outer neighborhoods tend to have fewer transit options, and likely require both a first and last mile solution for their trip. These residents stand to benefit the most from improved access to reliable, affordable first-last mile options.

Cities and e-scooter operators have an opportunity to learn from bikeshare by recognizing the demand – especially in neighborhoods further from downtown – for low-cost, reliable transportation options that aren’t private vehicles. It’s also critical for cities to realize their role in supporting sustainable transport like bikeshare and e-scootershare with protected infrastructure that can serve cyclists and scooters well, along with cost-effective and convenient connections with transit. Technology and private capital offer cities great tools to improve the lives of their residents, and taking full advantage of these tools means making space on our streets for many mobility options: scooters, bikes, transit, and shared vehicles all have a role to play in a healthy, vibrant transport system.

For more on e-scooters, check out our post: Scooters Are Not A Public Safety Crisis, but Cars Still Are