Driving up Interstate 77 from the south, downtown Charlotte jumps out at you suddenly. Much of that is a function of North Carolina’s inland topography — not yet Appalachia mountains, not the flat coastal plains either, but somewhere in between. The skyscrapers visible suddenly from the highway, only a few miles from the city center. Five of those high-rises are more than 50 stories tall (and 15 are more 30 stories tall) — not as many as in New York or Chicago, but moving in that direction. In 1990, the population was 396,000. Today, it hovers around 860,000, moving the city from the 35th to the 17th largest in the U.S. in less than 30 years. Charlotte is now the third largest financial cent

We get it: transportation demand management (TDM) is hard to wrap your head around. So plain and simple, TDM is using the existing infrastructure in more efficient ways. Like reducing single occupancy vehicle trips and getting people on transit, bikes, or in carpools. TDM is all about influencing people’s behavior to use the existing built environment better. But how does TDM actually do that, you might ask. What are some tangible TDM policies? We got you covered. These are the top strategies used by TDM and transportation management associations (TMAs) to help people access more transportation options. (Need help understanding how people make their transportation decisions? Check out our in

Kidding – of course I’ll be back but not before enjoying some fun in the sun! I’m leaving tomorrow (Friday, 27th) to Anaheim, California for ACT International’s Conference (July 28th – Aug. 1st). I had the pleasure of chairing this year’s conference, which is one of ACT’s record high attendance AND a SOLD OUT event - close to 600 attendees! Wow, I can’t wait! Before enjoying too much sun, I’ll be starting off my trip with our National board of directors’ meeting on Saturday. This is my second term as an At Large Director and I hope to be elected again next year, as I submitted my nomination this month (shameless plug – rock the vote, and vote for me!). Sunday evening is the Opening R

Parking eats up an incredible amount of space and costs America’s cities an extraordinary amount of money. That’s the main takeaway of a new study that looks in detail at parking in five U.S. cities: New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Des Moines, and Jackson, Wyoming. The study, by Eric Scharnhorst of the Research Institute for Housing America (which is affiliated with the Mortgage Bankers of America), uses data from satellite images, the U.S. Census, property tax assessment offices, city departments of transportation, parking authorities, and geospatial maps like Google Maps to generate inventories of parking for these five cities. (The inventories include on-street parking spaces, off-street

SEPTA’s KEY turnstiles have gone into service. As the transit agency begins the introduction of the KEY on Regional Rail, the turnstile roto-arms were put in place. All fareline entrances, including the ADA gates, were activated on Monday. To enter the station: All fareline turnstiles and ADA gates will be in operation (including platform farelines by the elevators, Monday through Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m. During these hours all fares must be paid at the turnstiles before proceeding to the platform area. Cash will not be accepted. Tickets available for sale at the Station Sales Office. Valid SEPTA TrailPass (with magnetic stripe) will be swiped through the reader at the top of the turnstile.

On a recent Thursday morning, Emily Keeney, a 30-year-old digital marketer from Queens, N.Y., was aboard a train rolling through New Haven, riding to her family home in Somers, Connecticut, for her younger sister’s high-school graduation. In the same car, Omar Eton, a 60-year-old Hartford cancer specialist, was returning to his office after appearing on a local TV news show in New Haven. Also a passenger was Nate Evans, a 27-year-old dance teacher, who lives about 40 minutes from his job in Hartford. Together, they were among the first riders on the Hartford Line, the first commuter rail service to operate trains throughout the day through the cities of central Connecticut since the defunct

Lyft made a big move yesterday to not only live up to its founders’ lofty ideals, but to stake a claim as a more multimodal, sustainable transportation company that supports transit equity and safer streets. In a Medium post, cofounders John Zimmer and Logan Green outlined Lyft’s new approach to integrating bikes and scooters into its suite of services, filling in details after announcing plans to purchase Motivate, the nation’s largest bikeshare operator, for $250 million earlier this month. Lyft’s announcement offers the latest escalation in the battle of urban mobility, as companies jockey to become an “Amazon of transportation” that can offer a variety of transit modes, and investors con

In Munich, the future of public transit might be up in the air. This month, the city is discussing a plan to create a new 4.5-kilometer gondola link in the northern part of the city, linking two districts on the internal beltway that are currently poorly connected for everyone except drivers. Supported by the mayor, the regional transit minister, and even the opposition parties in the city’s assembly, it’s a plan that has a strong likelihood of being built. It’s still perhaps a little unexpected: Munich is a flat city with a good public transit network. Gondolas have a mixed reputation, having both transformed mobility in some very hilly cities while failing to be more than gimmicky white el

Urbanists have long looked at cars as the scourge of great places. Jane Jacobs identified the automobile as the “chief destroyer of American communities.” Cars not only clog our roads and cost billions of dollars in time wasted commuting, they are a terrible killer. They caused more than 40,000 deaths in 2017, including of some 6,000 pedestrians and cyclists. But in the United States, the car plays a fundamental role in structuring the economy, our daily lives, and the political and social differences that separate us. Writing from prison in the 1930s, the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci dubbed our modern economic system Fordism—invoking the system of automotive production developed by Henr

It’s not quite one-stop shopping in King of Prussia, but it could take a step in that direction. SEPTA has issued a request for proposals for the $1 billion of work that will go into the King of Prussia Rail extension of the High Speed Line in Norristown. The extension aims to link the region’s three largest employment centers, which are King of Prussia, Center City and University City, as well as ease some of the congestion on roads throughout Upper Merion and nearby communities. SEPTA said it is seeking with the RFP detailed preliminary design work, including surveying, utility and geotechnical investigations for the project. This work will complete 15 percent of the total design of the p

In the ongoing pursuit of effective transportation, it's often forgotten that mobility optimizes at zero -- which is to say, the absolute best we can do to make transportation effective is to make it unnecessary. What's also forgotten is just how prominently the transportation constraints of yesteryear factored into telecommuting as a concept. Formalized in the 1970s by NASA engineer Jack Nilles, remote work seemed destined for prominence as the U.S. unwrapped the Clean Air Act and tumbled into the OPEC oil crisis. Crucially, Nilles' in-depth examination of telecommuting feasibility occurred prior to consumer-grade internet -- the offspring of which has since produced a comprehensive overlap

SEPTA is taking a major step forward in its overall effort to enhance Regional Rail service with the introduction of the Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotives. On Wednesday, July 11, 2018, SEPTA executives gathered with Siemens representatives, elected officials, and other dignitaries to celebrate the arrival and inaugural revenue service operation of the new ACS-64 locomotives. The purchase of the new locomotives was made possible by Act 89, Pennsylvania’s comprehensive funding transportation bill. The new vehicles are designed for improved reliability and increased service availability. “Without Act 89, long-needed fleet upgrades like this simply would not be possible,” said SEPTA Board Chai

Employee transportation benefits have become an increasingly important aspect of enterprise mobility strategies as more and more organizations realize the importance of offering commuter resources to their team members. Whether you are a business, government, or non-profit, having a strong commuter support system in place is a proven way to drive recruitment and retention. Especially given that younger workers place a premium value on benefits that lead to a better work-life balance. To get maximum value from commuter benefits, more and more organizations are adding a dedicated employee transportation coordinator (ETC) to their teams. Most organizations achieve this in one of two ways: those

Based on hype alone, the rise of dockless electric scooters appears to be the most meaningful shift towards a more multimodal, less car-centric future this year. But advocates for electric bikes believe that the growth of new, shared options for boosted bikes suggest they’re also prime to play a role in the evolution of urban transportation. During a press conference held by the North American Bikeshare Association yesterday, industry advocates presented a case for the rise in electric bikeshare, and how bikes powered by batteries, often called pedal-assist bikes, can integrate into and improve existing transportation networks. “If the end goal is more cycling and more trips made on a bike,

A recent study from DePaul University examines when and why consumers choose an on-demand ride like Uber or Lyft—or indeed a carpooled on-demand ride—over public transit in Chicago. The researchers found that saving time might not be riders’ main motivation for choosing these apps: even though riders saved considerable time using them outside of the city’s downtown core, none of these rides were “cost-effective,” at least according to U.S. DOT’s metric. Laura Bliss writes: Did you know that the U.S. DOT has an official metric for what it considers valuable time-savings for commuters? In 2018 dollars, an hour of time savings is worth $14.95, by federal standards. That number is used by transp

Electric scooter rental company Lime is teaming up with Uber to bring an unconventional mode of transportation to the world. Uber Technologies Inc. is investing in Lime as part of a $335 million financing round, the companies plan to announce on Monday. The deal, led by Alphabet Inc.’s venture arm GV, values the scooter business at $1.1 billion. While details of the partnership are still being finalized, Uber plans to promote Lime in its mobile application and slap its logo on the scooters, executives from the two companies said. Uber took a similar step with a startup called Jump Bikes, which rents electric bicycles, before acquiring the business for more than $100 million in April. Uber sa

GVF was pleased to nominate Brandywine Realty Trust for the 2018 Air Quality Partnership Award for their efforts and initiatives towards improving sustainable transportation and the environment. The Air Quality Partnership (AQP) is a public / private coalition dedicated to improving air quality in the Greater Philadelphia Region by providing air quality advisories and educating the public about air quality issues. The Air Quality Partnership is administered by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC). GVF nominated Brandywine because of its commitment towards promoting alternative transportation options by maintaining bike racks, providing cyclists with showers and lockers, p

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has released a request for proposals (RFP) to advance engineering work for its proposed King of Prussia Rail extension of the Norristown High Speed Line. The RFP's scope covers preliminary design work, including utility and geotechnical investigations and surveying. The chosen bidder will advance the engineering and architectural design from the conceptual locally preferred alternative, which SEPTA chose in January. The firm will complete 15 percent of the project's total design, according to a SEPTA press release. The selected engineering consultant also will take into consideration the public's needs as the design is developed

One thing I hear all the time is “I don’t take Metro because it’s too expensive; that’s why I drive.” Let’s unpack this, using my former coworker’s commute as an example. She lived in a suburb outside Washington DC, a twenty minute Metro ride to our downtown office from her park and ride station. Parking at the station costs $5.20 for the full day, and the ride itself costs $4.85 one-way during rush hour. Parking at our work was free. Her taking Metro to work would cost $14.95 each day. That’s $3,725 each year. That $3,725 is a bargain compared to the average yearly cost of owning a car, which AAA’s most recent report found to be $8,698. But on top of owning a car? Transit is expensive. My c

The American cities with the highest percentages of people commuting by transit all have something in common: They’re in the Northeast. This has been true for a while. It’s led to a belief among cities in the middle of the country that transit is not for them, that it is instead the exclusive domain of dense, older cities such as New York or Washington, DC. However, it is a mistake to believe that transit is inaccessible to others. In fact, many of the largest American cities are not as different from their eastern peers as it is often assumed. Mobility Lab’s Andy Furillo has covered how to close the suburban transit gap in a series of excellent articles and while it is true that many Americ