Mobility Lab Express
          February 15, 2013 - Issue 8
Greetings!

Currently, there are important transportation budget issues being debated in state houses across the country, including here in Mobility Lab's home state of Virginia. Much of the discussion focuses on raising enough revenue for skyrocketing highway maintenance and construction costs to accommodate projections for ever increasing automobile travel.  

 

However, at Mobility Lab we believe that we cannot simply (and expensively) pave our way out of the traffic dilemma. Our research shows that by implementing effective mobility-management strategies, our society can achieve more economical transportation solutions. And that is good news for all American taxpayers.

 

Mobility Lab's research focuses on the well-established mobility-management programs of Arlington, Virginia, which are recognized as among the best in the industry. Mobility management (also called "transportation demand management") is the practice of encouraging travel by means other than single-occupant automobiles. 

 

The various mobility-management strategies practiced in Arlington and their impact is the topic of many articles and analyses found at MobilityLab.org. In addition to articles about Arlington's programs, you will find articles about best industry practices from around the world. We at Mobility Lab believe that by communicating the combination of grounded research with on-the-ground practical operations from Arlington and around the world, we can all benefit from a better, more economical, healthier, and less polluting transportation system. We invite you to read, learn, share, brainstorm, and participate with us in the Mobility Lab. Welcome. Together we can make a difference!

 

As discussed in our first article below, Arlington successfully focuses on moving people, not cars. If you've got a story that points to your similar successes, write me. We want to tell your success story too!

 
Paul Mackie, Mobility Lab Director of Communications
In This Issue
Arlington Focuses on Moving People, Not Cars, in the Nation's Worst Traffic Metro Area
Boston and Twin Cities Maps Show Bikeshare's Transportation Impact
On-Time Arrival App Wins TRB Contest, and You Will Never Miss Another Flight
Increasing Gas Tax Shows as Surprisingly Popular in New Traffic-Congestion Study
Maryland Mandatory Bike-Helmet Law Would Make Streets Less Safe
Mobility Lab's Partner Spotlight ... BikeArlington
Quick Links
Hot Stat

Cars and robust cities are fundamentally incompatible, according to new research from the University of Connecticut. "If the function of parking was to enable growth and development, the data suggests they were abysmal failures," note the authors, studying six cities that bolstered their parking beginning in the 1960s. "The number of people and jobs dropped by as much as 15 percent and the median family incomes fell by 20 to 30 percent in some places. Today, these places still struggle to compete in their regions." The bottom line: Less parking equals greater growth and development.


More About Mobility Lab
Mobility Lab is Hiring a Paid Social Media Intern!
Facebook

Mobility Lab
 is seeking a paid, part-time intern (up to 30 hours per week, $15 per hour) from now until June 30 to advance our social-media delivery, effectiveness, and impacts.

We are seeking a candidate with proven experience in social media to learn about us, align that with an inventory of our social-media needs, and make a strong set of strategic recommendations. Then put those recommendations to action.

Sound too good to be true? Well, there is a catch. Applications are due today - Friday, February 15. 

Read the full job description and apply here! 

 

Mobility Highlights From Around the Web
Trainsforming
Documentary Details How Riding Trains Reduces Stress - Transportation Radio



Seniors and Boomers Are Creating Happy Homes for Aging - Mobility Lab

Arlington Focuses on Moving People, Not Cars, 
in the Nation's Worst Traffic Metro Area
R-B Corridor

The Washington D.C. region's traffic is the worst in the nation - even worse than Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York - according to a new report by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute called the Urban Mobility Report.

 

However, there is an area in the region - Arlington County, Virginia, just south of downtown D.C. right across the Potomac River - that is surprisingly unclogged. It's because the county's leaders built a vision of ultimate mobility 30-plus years ago that encourages people to leave their drive-alone car trips in the garage and board the bus, Metro subway, rideshare, and even bike or walk to their destinations.

 

And it's not just Mobility Lab tooting Arlington's horn. Despite massive development between 1996 and 2009, annual vehicle counts have seen a reduction of traffic on the major roads.

 

 

Boston and Twin Cities Maps Show 
Bikeshare's Transportation Impact
Boston Hubway

After building the CaBi Trip Visualizer for the Capital Bikeshare system in Washington D.C. and Virginia, contributor Michael Schade looked for other cities to do similar analyses. 

 

So far, he has only found two cities with open data that allows him to create these impressive maps showing details of bikeshare-ride trends. Schade released these mapping tools this week for Hubway in Boston and Nice Ride Minnesota in Minneapolis-Saint Paul

 

He's hoping other systems around the world will release their data. But for now, we can all enjoy exploring the wealth of information about the three city systems he's completed so far.

 

Read more here. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter

 

On-Time Arrival App Wins TRB Contest, 
and You Will Never Miss Another Flight
On-Time Arrival

We recently interviewed the creators of a nifty, high-tech airport-arrival app in development that won this year's first-ever "Six-Minute Pitch" competition at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) 92nd Annual Meeting.

 

Essentially, the app provides a way to ensure that you get to the airport on time, every time. It is designed to greatly reduce stress when traveling because On-Time Arrival prevents you from getting to the airport too early, causing you to sit around and wait, or missing a flight because you misestimated traffic or security delays.

 

 
Increasing Gas Tax Shows as Surprisingly Popular 
in New Traffic-Congestion Study
Gas Tax

People are frustrated and think that governments are not doing enough to improve transportation, according to a new report by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Brookings Institution entitled What Do People Think of Congestion Pricing?

 

The unexpected finding in the study is that support for raising gas taxes increased from 21 percent to 57 percent - nearly a threefold jump - once they learned how transportation is funded and that gas taxes have not been raised in roughly two decades (Federal 19 years, Maryland 20 years, and Virginia 27 years).

 

This is good news for the many leaders who are looking for ways to solve the transportation-funding dilemma. It suggests that, when presented with clear and compelling information, even about such an emotional issue as taxes, people may respond favorably to increasing investment in transportation.


 

Maryland Mandatory Bike-Helmet Law Would Make Streets Less Safe
Bike Helmet

Studies by the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation tell us that mandatory bicycle-helmet laws are, perhaps counter-intuitively, a very bad idea when the hope is to increase bicycle ridership - and, along with it, multi-modal transportation and commuting options - in the United States.

 

Since their inception, mandatory helmet laws have sunk bike ridership rates in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. 

 

So with such a proposal becoming a serious possibility in Maryland, this year's expansion of Capital Bikeshare into the state could suffer greatly or even fail.

 

 

Mobility Lab's Partner Spotlight
BikeArlington

BikeArlington exists to ensure that anyone interested in biking in Arlington has the knowledge and motivation to make it happen. Mobility Lab is a close partner, providing the research support that helps BikeArlington's team perform outreach throughout the county and beyond.

 

Our research shows that BikeArlington has helped 33 percent of those who started using its services to make changes in their biking behavior. The county-funded organization has done this by participating in the regional Bike-to-Work day, distributing more than 60,000 bike maps annually, conducting bike-safety classes, and much more. 

 

And Arlingtonians appreciate the work of BikeArlington. Sixty-eight percent of people surveyed said they were "somewhat/very likely to recommend" BikeArlington to a friend. Subtract from that the 10 percent who said they were "somewhat/very unlikely to recommend" BikeArlington to a friend, and you get an overall Net Promoter Score of 58 percent, putting it among companies like Amazon, Trader Joe's, and Costco in terms of customer satisfaction.

 

The BikeArlington team regularly contributes to the Mobility Lab blog (see here and here) and works hard to make its own website a go-to source for biking in Arlington.

 

Please Send Us Your Feedback
We hope Mobility Lab Expressour events, and the research and case studies at our website will be go-to resources for you. In fact, we invite you to share your stories of how mobility improvements have been made in your communities. We'll publish your feedback, and together we'll strengthen the conversation on mobility for all! 
 
Simply respond to this email or click here with any thoughts or suggestions. 

Please check out much more at mobilitylab.org, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

 

Mobility Lab is a research-and-development initiative for "mobility management." Based in Arlington, Virginia - which has one of the largest mobility-management programs in the U.S. and removes 45,000 car trips from the county's roads each work day - Mobility Lab seeks solutions, stories, and partnerships from all over the world.