School of Policy, Planning and Development

PPD 634 FALL 2011 GIULIANO

XXX

SCHOOL OF POLICY, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

PPD 634: Institutional and Policy Issues in Transportation

4 units, Fall 2011

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Instructor: Professor Genevieve Giuliano Office: RGL 216

Time: Monday 2:00 – 5:30 PM Phone: 213-740-3956

Place: RGL 105 Email:

Office hours: Monday, 12 – 2 PM, or by appointment

Purpose and Objectives: The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an introduction to the nature and history of transportation problems and policy issues. The goal is to provide some understanding of the “urban transportation problem.” This course is part of a two semester series on transportation planning and policy analysis. The focus of the course is urban transportation, and US policy issues are emphasized. Urban transportation is examined in the context of general economic, social and spatial trends. Particular attention is placed on the public decision making process and how it affects policy choices.

Required text:

Hanson, S. and G. Giuliano, eds. (2004) The Geography of Urban Transportation, 3rd edition. New York: Guilford Press.

The text will be supplemented with additional readings provided on the Blackboard course site.

Prerequisites: None

Course requirements: This is primarily a reading course. The class is organized as a seminar; there are few lectures. Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions. Students will be asked to summarize, discuss and critique class readings, and to develop arguments for or against specific policy proposals. In addition to class participation, course requirements include 3 assignments (some with field work), a mid-term, and a term paper. Students may also be asked to attend relevant lectures, local conference sessions, or participate in field trips.

Grading: The course grade will be calculated as follows:

Assignment 1 / 10
Midterm / 25
Assignment 2 / 15
Assignment 3 / 5
Class participation / 10
Term Paper / 35

EXTENDED COURSE DESCRIPTION

Transportation problems and government attempts to solve them are as old as civilization. In Ancient Rome, congestion was so bad that chariots were banned in the center of the city on holidays and major market days. The Romans were also well aware of the importance of roads for expansion of the empire: they invested heavily in a road network that not only met military objectives but provided for international trade. The fundamental purpose of transportation has not changed much since the days of the Roman Empire. Transportation provides both enormous benefits (indeed, society as we know it could not exist without an extensive and efficient transportation system) and imposes enormous costs.

Among the developed countries of the world, the US is an exception in many ways. Nearly 9 out of every 10 trips people make are in private vehicles, while the share of trips on public transit is less than 4 percent, even taking into consideration recent increases in transit use. US households own more cars and drive more miles than households in Europe or Canada or Australia. Most long distance travel is also in private vehicles, with the longest distance trips made by air. Long distance train trips are almost non-existent. The US freight system is also unique, with railroads carrying 40% of all goods (measured by weight) – the highest share in the developed world.

Continued population and economic growth of the US means that demand for travel will increase, and absent big changes in public policy, so will congestion, but at a faster rate. Demand for new facilities of all types continues to grow – more public transit, new high-speed trains, and yes, more highway capacity -- while public consensus on what to build, where to build it, and how to pay for it is increasingly difficult to achieve.

With the dominance of the automobile comes a long list of environmental and social concerns -- air pollution, job access for inner city youth, public health, global climate change – to name just a few. Some problems are highly localized (walk access to local shops and services), others are global (world transport energy demand). Responses to these problems reflect many different and often conflicting perspectives. For example, we heavily subsidize public transit in the hopes of attracting people out of their cars, but at the same time have a host of policies that make driving cheap and convenient. There is also great concern about our deteriorating transport infrastructure, yet raising the fuel tax or imposing other user fees remain a political “non-starter.” Underlying these policy responses are more fundamental questions of the roles of governments and markets.

This course presents an overview of transportation policy issues. Its aim is to provide some understanding of the nature of the “urban transportation problem,” and why transportation problems are so difficult to solve. The course is organized in two parts. Part 1 provides the context, with a discussion of travel demand, the relationship between travel and social, economic and spatial trends, and the institutions involved in transportation policy. Part 2 discusses major topics in transportation policy.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Here are the topics and reading assignments for the semester. All readings are either in the assigned texts or available on the course Blackboard site.. Reminder: Readings are to be completed before each class meeting. Full references for all readings follow the course schedule.

PART 1

Week 1 / 8/22/11 / Introduction
Course overview, why study transportation, role of travel, some travel trends
Readings / Hanson, 2004, chapter 1 in Hanson and Giuliano
Assignment 1
Assignment 3 / Your personal 7 day travel/activity diary
Seminars and conferences
Week 2 / 8/29/11 / Travel trends and theory
Travel patterns and sociodemographics; theories of travel behavior
Readings / Santos et al, 2011
Pucher and Renne, 2003
Dargay, Gately and Sommer, 2007
Term Paper Assignment / Term Paper
Week 3 / 9/5/11 / LABOR DAY HOLIDAY – NO CLASS
Assignment 1 due / Submit via Blackboard (submission method subject to change)
Week 4 / 9/12/11 / The urban context
Evolution of US metro areas, current and future trends
Readings / Muller, 2004, chapter 3 in Hanson and Giuliano
Glaeser et al, 2001
Giuliano, Agarwal and Refearn, 2009
Lens and Nobis, 2007 (optional)
Term Paper Part 1 Due
Class Discussion / Travel diaries
Week 5 / 9/19/11 / The policy context
Public and private sector roles; who plans; primer on transportation planning history; governments and markets
Readings / Shaw, Knowles and Docherty, 2008
Wachs, 2004, chapter 6 in Hanson and Giuliano
Atkinson, 2004
Burwell, 2004
Giuliano, 2007
Button, 2005
Class Discussion / Atkinson vs Burwell

PART 2

Week 6 / 09/26/11 / Freight, globalization, supply chains
Globalization and trade; markets and regulation, deregulation; freight and public policy
Guest Speaker: TBA
Readings / Dicken, 2011
Giuliano, 2011
O’Brien, 2011 (optional)
Week 7 / 10/03/11 / Transportation finance and pricing
Finance and public policy, devolution, future of the gas tax, innovative finance and toll roads
Readings / Taylor, 2004, chapter 11 in Hanson and Giuliano
Puentes and Prince, 2005
Wachs, 2005
Vickerman, 2005
Week 8 / 10/10/11 / MID-TERM EXAM
Congestion
Causes of congestion, potential solutions, SR 91 case study
Guest Speaker: TBA (LA HOT Lanes)
Readings / Downs, 2004, chapters 1,2,3,4,10,11
Schweitzer and Taylor, 2008
Week 9 / 10/17/11 / Environment
Transport sector contributions to emissions; emissions policies and outcomes
Bae, 2004, chapter 13 in Hanson and Giuliano
NRC 2010, pp 21-32.
TRB Special Report 290, 2008,chapter 3
Leone, 1999
Giuliano and Linder, 2011 (optional)
Special Event / NUF Conference 10/12-14
Week 10 / 10/24/11 / Energy
Trends in energy consumption, US oil dependence, fuel policy
Green, 2004, chapter 10 in Hanson and Giuliano
Simon, 2007, chapters 1, 4
Fischer 2009
McNutt and Rodgers, 2004
Green, German and Delucchi, 2009 (optional)
Small, 2010 (optional)
Term Paper Part 2 Due
Class Discussion / What do we do after 2030?
Week 11 / 10/31/11 / Public transit 1
History of public transit industry, who uses transit, decline of transit
Readings / Smerk, 1991, chapters 4, 5
Pucher, 2004, chapter 8 in Hanson and Giuliano
Buehler, 2009
Assignment 2 / Improving public transit in Los Angeles
Week 12 / 11/7/11 / Public transit 2
Mobility and access, subsidies and their justification
Guest Speaker: TBA
Readings / Taylor et al, 2009
Kawabata and Shen, 2007
Sanchez et al, 2004
Giuliano, 2011
Class Discussion / The future of transit: what can be done?
Week 13 / 11/14/11 / Land use 1 Impacts of transport investments
The land use – transport relationship, impacts of transportation investments; land use policy to reduce auto dependence
Readings / Giuliano, 2004, chapter 9 in Hanson and Giuliano
Funderberg et al, 2010
Filion and McSpurren, 2007
Assignment 2 Due
Class Discussion / Improving public transit in Los Angeles
Week 14 / 11/21/11 / Land use 2 Impacts on travel
Urban form and travel behavior; theoretical expectations; impacts on VMT, mode choice, non-motorized travel
Readings / TRB Special Report 298, 2009, chapters 3, 5
Rodriguez, Tarza, and Aytur, 2006
Forsyth, Oakes, Schmitz, and Hearst, 2007
Rietveld and Daniel, 2004
Week 15 / 11/28/11 / Course review
Strategies for solving urban transportation problems
Assignment 3 due
TERM PAPER DUE / Friday, 12/9/11

REFERENCES

Atkinson, R. (2004) “An exchange on building US road capacity: The politics of gridlock,” Chapter 7 in R. Hanley, ed, Moving People, Goods and Information in the 21st Century. London: Routledge, 99-112.

Buehler, R. (2009) “Promoting public transportation: Comparison of policies in Germany and the United States,” Transportation Research Record, 2110, 60-68.

Burwell, D. (2004) “An exchange on building US road capacity: Metropolitan transportation politics,” Chapter 8 in R. Hanley, ed, Moving People, Goods and Information in the 21st Century. London: Routledge, 113-122.

Button, K. (2005) “Market and government failures in transportation,” chapter 2 in K. Button and D. Hensher, eds., Handbook of Transport Strategy, Policy and Institutions. Handbooks in Transport, Volume 6, 11-28.

Dargay, J., D. Gately, M.Sommer (2007) “Vehicle ownership and income growth worldwide 1960-2030,” Energy Journal. 28(4), 143-170.

Dicken, P. (2011) “The global economy,” chapter 1 in L. Hoel, G. Giuliano and M. Meyers, eds., Intermodal Freight Transportation: Moving Freight in a Global Economy. Washington, DC: Eno Transportation Foundation.

Downs, A. (2004) Still Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak Hour Congestion. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

Filion, P. and K. McSpurren (2007) “Smart growth and development reality: The difficult co-ordination of land use and transport objectives,” Urban Studies, 44(3), 501-523.

Fischer, C. (2009) “Are consumers or fuel economy policies efficient?”, chapter 10 in D. Sperling and J. Cannon, eds., Reducing Climate Impacts in the Transportation Sector. Springer Science, 173-179.

Forsyth, A., J. Oates, K. Schmitz, M. Hearst (2007) “Does residential density increase walking and other physical activity?” Urban Studies, 44(4), 679-697.

Funderberg, R., H. Nixon, M. Boarnet, G. Ferguson (2010) “New highwys and land use change: Results from a quali-experimental research design,” Transportation Research A, 44, 76-98.

Glaeser, E., J. Kolko, and A. Saiz (2001) “Consumer city,” Journal of Economic Geography, 1, 27-50.

Giuliano, G. (2007) “The changing landscape of transportation decision-making,” Transportation Research Record, 2036, 5-12 (2007 Deen Lectureship).

Giuliano, G. (2011) “The public sector role in freight transportation,” chapter 4 in L. Hoel, G. Giuliano and M. Meyers, eds., Intermodal Freight Transportation: Moving Freight in a Global Economy. Washington, DC: Eno Transportation Foundation.

Giuliano, G. (2011) “Transportation policy: Public transit, settlement patterns and equity in the US,” chapter 28 in N. Brooks, K. Donaghy and G. Knaap, eds., Oxford University Press Handbook of Urban Economics and Planning. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

Giuliano, G., A. Agarwal, and C. Redfearn (2009) “Metropolitan Spatial Trends in Employment and Housing: Literature Review,” commissioned paper for TRB Speical Report 298, Effects of Land Development Patterns on Motorized Travel,, Energy, and CO2 Emissions. Prepared for the Transportation Research Board and Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences. Washington DC: Transportation Research Board; available at www.gulliver.trb.org.

Giuliano, G. and A. Linder (2011) “Motivations for voluntary regulation: The Clean Air Action Plan,” submitted for presentation at the 2012 TRB Annual Meeting. Unpublished paper.

Greene, D., J. German, and M. Delucchi (2009) “Fuel economy: The case for market failure,” chapter 11 in D. Sperling and J. Cannon, eds., Reducing Climate Impacts in the Transportation Sector. Springer Science, 181-205.

Hanson, S. and G. Giuliano (2004) The Geography of Urban Transportation, 3rd edition. New York: Guilford Press.

Kawabata, M. and Q. Shen (2007) “Commuting inequality betweens cars and public transit: The case of the San Francisco Bay Area, 1990 – 2000,” Urban Studies, 44(9), 1759-1780.

Leone, R. (1999) “Technology-forcing public policies and the automobile,” chapter 10 in Gomez-Ibanez, J., W. Tye and C. Winsston, eds, Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy. Washington DC: Brookings Institution.

Lens, B. and C. Nobis (2007) “The changing allocation of activities in space and time by the use of ICT – ‘Fragmentation’ as a new concept and empirical results,” Transportation Research A, 41, 190-204.

McNutt, B. and D. Rodgers (2004) “Lessons learned from 15 years of alternative fuels experience – 1988 to 2003,” chapter 12 in D. Sperling and J. Cannon, eds., The Hydrogen Energy Transition. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Academic Press, 165-180.

National Research Council (2010) Advancing the Science of Climate Change. America’s Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change. Washington DC: The National Academies Press.

O’Brien, T. (2011) “The supply chain,” chapter 3 in L. Hoel, G. Giuliano and M. Meyers, eds., Intermodal Freight Transportation: Moving Freight in a Global Economy. Washington, DC: Eno Transportation Foundation.

Puentes, R. and R. Prince (2005) “Fueling transporation finance: A primer on the gas tax,” chapter 3 in B. Katz and R. Puentes, eds., Taking the High Road: A Metropolitan Agenda for Transportation Reform. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 45-76.

Pucher, J. and J. Renne (2003) “Socioeconomics of urban travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS,” Transportation Quarterly, 57(3), 49-77.

Rietveld, P. and V. Daniel (2004) “Determinants of bicycle use: Do municipal policies matter?” Transportation Research A, 38, 531-550.