June 15, 2009
The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed by Professor Peter Gordon about congestion pricing. "The fairest and most cost-effective option in urban transportation is rational pricing of highway space," Gordon wrote. "[P]eople in all walks of life value the time they save if and when they choose to pay the toll."
June 11, 2009
The Contra Costa Times quoted Professor Genevieve Giuliano about attempts to launch a multi-system transit pass in San Francisco. "There are institutional and human capacity barriers to adoption," Giuliano explained. "The institutional barriers are how long it takes for transit agencies to agree with one another on the terms of sharing a smart card."
June 9, 2009
The New York Times reported that Professor Genevieve Giuliano and SPPD doctoral student Mohja Rhoads will select the finalists for a Times essay contest on the worst roads in America. "I'm bringing in a couple of celebrity judges from the outstanding transportation program at UCLA's crosstown rival, the University of Southern California," the columnist wrote. "P.S.: Don't tell them we think so highly of them, we don't want them getting big heads."
May 2, 2009
The Age (Australia) quoted Assistant Professor Elizabeth Currid about the fading luster of the Hummer car brand. "In the 2000s, we saw the Hummer as the epitome of glamour and excessive living," Currid said. "Now, if they're not scorned, they're laughed at. I think the Hummer is considered quite gauche among the set that used to drive them."
April 2, 2009
Los Angeles' "transportation transformation" was the subject of a recent panel discussion hosted by the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development. The event took place at the downtown headquarters of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was the third event in the SPPD Dean's Speaker series, which has focused on the revitalization of Los Angeles.
January 26, 2009
The USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development marked its 80th anniversary by hosting a special colloquium Jan. 16 at the Davidson Conference Center. During the conference, Dean Jack H. Knott noted that SPPD remains dedicated to advancing academic theory and making a vital impact in the world.
December 21, 2008
The Los Angeles Times quoted Professor Genevieve Giuliano about the expected departure of L.A.'s Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Roger Snoble. "The next person is going to have to be hardheaded about the market for some of these capital investments," Giuliano said. If not, the cost of running and building rail could drain agency coffers, she noted. Guiliano is senior associate dean for research and technology at SPPD and director of the METRANS Transportation Center.
December 12, 2008
Eight USC students conducting research on transportation projects ranging from toll roads to airport runway incursions have been recognized with scholarships from two Southern California chapters of the Women's Transportation Seminar. Two of those students are from the School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
November 30, 2008
The Los Angeles Times quoted Assistant Professor Lisa Schweitzer about the light rail extension set to join Union Station with East Los Angeles. Rail lines mean access, which is valuable, Schweitzer said. Rail means a bump in property values, with land around the line becoming "perpetually valuable," she added.
November 6, 2008
Dr. Louise Nelson Dyble, associate director for research at the USC Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, recently received the American Public Works Association (APWA) Michael Robinson Award for her article, "Revolt Against Sprawl: Transportation and the Origins of the Marin County Growth-Control Regime."
October 29, 2008
During an Oct. 21 panel hosted by the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry said that the goal of downtown's revitalization effort is to restore "the excitement of an earlier time." The changing downtown landscape was the focus of the panel discussion, which took place inside City Hall. The event was part of the SPPD Dean's Speaker Series.
October 28, 2008
The Los Angeles Times quoted Assistant Professor Elizabeth Currid about double-decker tourist buses in Los Angeles. The buses are a gambit by L.A.'s biggest tour operator to broaden the areas in which tourists roam, the story stated. "The double-decker buses aren't the silver bullet," Currid said. "But great cities are great cities because of all the little things adding up. The cumulative effect of all the little things actually adds up to something important."
October 22, 2008
METRANS celebrates 10 years of research and education on metropolitan transportation. For the past decade, the center has aimed at "generating the highest quality basic and applied research," according to METRANS Director Genevieve Giuliano, professor and senior associate dean at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
September 8, 2008
SPPD Associate Professor Catherine Burke wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times about improving mass transit with "podcars." These personal rapid transit vehicles would provide on-demand, private, nonstop travel on small, overhead guideways above existing roads, Burke wrote. "Podcars offer a new kind of service, providing the convenience of an auto without the negatives for the individual - costly to purchase plus high costs for gasoline, insurance, maintenance and parking. For society, podcars would reduce the use of petroleum as well as pollution, congestion, accidents, injuries and deaths," she noted. "With governments in Europe and South Korea already supporting this development, the U.S. needs to get onboard and begin test runs on the podcar designs being created in this country."
August 14, 2008
SPPD Assistant Professor Lisa Schweitzer was quoted in a widely carried story about Americans driving less. People are driving less not only because of high gas prices, but because the things they do at the destination have also become more expensive, Schweitzer said.
August 14, 2008
Professors Peter Gordon and James, along with consultant Thomas Rubin, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Daily News about rail lines in L.A. County. "[T]here is no way the Los Angeles rail system can ever be cost-effective," they wrote. "Adding new rail lines is going to make a bad deal even worse, and paying for more rails with regressive sales taxes ensures that the poor will carry the largest share of this burden."
August 14, 2008
SPPD Assistant Professor Lisa Schweitzer was quoted in the Seattle Time about the recent dip in American gas consumption. Gas prices aren't the only deterrent to driving, Schweitzer said. "Not only is it expensive to get anywhere, but you have to pay more for whatever you do when you get there," she noted.
August 12, 2008
SPPD Assistant Professor Lisa Schweitzer was quoted in the Los Angeles Times about transportation policy and the presidential election. "I think both sides of the political spectrum agree that Americans' consumption patterns have to change," Schweitzer said in a story on USC's Election 2008 Web site, cited by the Times. "For example, we had President Bush's 'addicted to oil' comments in his State of the Union address a few years ago. Barack Obama has transit in his platform, and John McCain's platform includes advanced transportation technologies to deal with both energy and climate change. Everybody sees the writing on the wall clearly enough; the devil is in the implementation."
June 11, 2008
A study by Genevieve Giuliano was cited in a Los Angeles Times story on traffic congestion in southern California. "People say they want less traffic, but they don't want to be forced to alter their habits," the story stated. The mandatory changes required for the 1984 Olympics worked because the changes required were temporary, according to Giuliano's study.
May 2, 2008
Prof. Peter Gordon wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times about the future of Los Angeles transportation. "As more people drive, they will have more range and more options. Origins and destinations disperse. And as they disperse, more people want their autos," Gordon wrote. "There is only one intervention that will slow it down: Make driving and parking more expensive, which brings us back to tolling and pricing."
May 1, 2008
Prof. Peter Gordon wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times about city planning and traffic congestion in Los Angeles. "Lifestyle choices and the demographic composition of our population are ever-changing," Gordon wrote. "It is the job of builders to figure out how to respond, and those who get it right make sales and money. Those who get it wrong suffer losses and end up in another line of work. The only thing that stands in the way is politics. When politicians get involved, as they increasingly want to do, the process favors large and well-connected developers."
April 30, 2008
Prof. Peter Gordon wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times in favor of congestion pricing to alleviate Los Angeles traffic problems. The congestion pricing wouldn't be like that of London, Gordon wrote. "Compared with London, our jobs and our traffic are dispersed. A pricing scheme for L.A. should be 'dynamic,' meaning that it has to be sensitive to time-of-day traffic conditions. We already know about matinee prices and early-bird specials: Prices adjust to demand specific to the time of day. There are predictable cycles of daily demand for almost all freeways, so prices must adjust. (And we must stop using the term 'freeways.')"
April 28, 2008
Prof. Peter Gordon wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times supporting the conversion of some carpool lanes on Los Angeles freeways into toll lanes. "[N]ot pricing road access is demonstrably unfair," Gordon wrote. "[W]e know that if price does not ration, something else will. When we refuse to price highway access, rationing of available road space is done by overcrowding, and everyone complains about the resulting congestion," he added. "Forgoing the pricing option leads to trouble, but some always believe they can resort to something 'fairer' instead. They never have."
April 29, 2008
Prof. Peter Gordon wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times stating that building more subways in Los Angeles won't decrease traffic congestion. Some predict that higher gas prices will lead to more people riding transit, Gordon wrote. "I disagree because I remember the oil shocks of the 1970s. If you look at only the annual transit data over those years, you cannot find the shocks. People coped by demanding (and getting) smaller and more fuel-efficient cars. This is beginning to happen again."
