State Op-Ed: HOT lanes

What’s the problem?

In the transportation industry we are dealing we pretty much every issue possible: congestion, air pollution, transportation financing, safety, etc. We need to be creative in our solutions and there is no "correct" and perfect answer that will satisfy every person. The state level policy I propose is a simple one that is not perfect but has the potential to improve many transportation issues when used in the appropriate manner.

Possible Solution

We all know about High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, especially the solo I-5 NB HOV lane that some hate and some love. My proposal is to implement policy to consider High Occupancy Toll lanes (HOT) as a means to reduce congestion. I don't propose this as a policy to be considered just in Oregon but in any state. Congestion is a pressing transportation issue which I describe in another op-ed blog post.

HOT lanes are HOV lanes that allow single-occupant vehicles to use it if they pay a fee. Busses and carpoolers can still ride in it for free but if you’re alone then you pay a fee. HOV lanes are discouraged because they don't use all of the capacity that they offer...so why not sell that extra capacity  HOT lanes have the ability to improve transportation in many ways. They can reduce congestion, increase transit ridership, lessen travel times and promote carpooling which can reduce air pollution. When peak hour pricing is implemented it can also decrease the amount of drivers during peak hours. Agencies can also promote electric vehicle usage by allowing them to travel in the lanes for free.

Congress has made it possible to implement this new(er) strategy to reduce congestion. MAP-21 gives states flexibility, when it comes to tolling, but exempts them from converting an existing lane into a HOT lane. States will need to build new lanes or convert HOV lanes in order to create HOT lanes.

In San Diego, a HOV lane was converted to a HOT lane in 1996 and has proved to be successful, especially financially. The implementation cost was $1.85 million and the lane creates about $1 million in revenues each year. The toll rates for this lane range from $0.50 to $4.00 based on how much traffic is on the road. For awhile, San Diego also offered a monthly pass instead of per trip costs.

The United States Government Accountability Office did a study on price-managed lanes and found that these lanes generally reduce congestion even though they found some potential issues of concern, such as equity.  Below is a map of the lanes that they studied:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/02/lukewarm-report-card-high-occupancy-toll-lanes/1120/

How can this be implemented?

Even though the federal government has given the states to go-ahead, some states may need to implement new legislation in order for HOT lanes to be possible. They may need to pass legislation allowing for the conversion of an HOV lane to a HOT lane, to allow charging fees on state highway or to permit enforcement by technology or electronic toll collection (ETC).

Political issues may be the hardest obstacles to overcome. It is difficult for officials to persuade drivers to pay for something that they already get for free. Value pricing can help mitigate this issue by basing the price on maintaining a certain level of service.  

Potential issues

One critique of HOT lanes is that they are not equitable for low income drivers. A possible mitigation for this critique is exemplified in California’s option of FAIR lanes. Essentially, drivers that use the normal lanes get credits and once they get enough credits they can use the HOT lane for free. Drivers can also choose to carpool or take transit. Also, ideally, if the HOT lane is reducing congestion then the normal lanes should be going faster anyway so there is still some time travel savings.

HOT lanes are not the answer to everything but they can be the answer in some instances. Transportation officials need to be wise and do the proper research and studies to determine if a HOT lane would be effective in a certain location. There is a lot of flexibility with HOT lanes when it comes to pricing and means to operate the lanes. HOT lanes have proved to be effective so when used appropriately, they can be a great tool in the transportation toolbox. 

Employer incentives for transit

Reflection: Even American Drivers like Mass Transit More than They Should

I was surprised when I read the article “Even American Drivers like Mass Transit More than they Should”. The article reports the findings of a study published in the journal Transportation Policy. The

Local op-ed :No Turning Back

On May 29, 2013 the City Club of Portland released the “No Turning Back” report, a comprehensive examination of biking in Portland. Among other claims, the report insists that “biking is essential to continued growth in Portland’s local economy and overall quality of life”. With the findings the com

State Op-ed: Oregon self-service ban

How many Oregon residents have never had the pleasure of pumping their own gas? Oregon’s ban on self service gas stations intrigue me. Where I come from, most people learn to pump gas before they can legally drive a car. Oregon and New Jersey are the only two states in the US that ban self service throughout the entire state. In Oregon, violators of the ban could receive $500 ticket for filling up their own tank(ORS480.315-320). Strange for a state that mandates that you must administer your own lethal injection.

Portland should embrace new bike share technology

Bike sharing systems have skyrocketed in popularity over the last 10 years in the United States. Minneapolis, Washington DC, Denver, Philadelphia, Boston and now New York have extensive networks of bike sharing docks placed on street corners, plazas and parks throughout the city. The docking station was the key innovation that addressed issues of security, payment, and circulation that plagued past attempts to implement a bike sharing scheme. But new technology is integrating the functions of the docking station into the bikes themselves, offering promising benefits to both users and operators that may catalyze another wave of expansion of bike sharing in the future. Portland, the top bike city in the country, should lead the way in deploying this technology when they roll out bike sharing next year.

Active Transportation and The War On Obesity

Fatness – being overweight/obese is in most cases a symptom, not a negative health outcome in itself. It is defined by the ratio of your height to your weight and doesn’t take into account body composition, i.e. whether this height and weight ratio comes from a body builder, someone with excess fat, a pregnant woman, or someone with excess fat who had a leg amputated and consequently has the “right” height to weight ratio. It’s too blunt of an instrument to take into account whether someone’s bone structure and musculature resembles a refrigerator or a giraffe. It doesn’t consider how much exercise someone is getting, whether their calories are coming from produce or deep-fried Mars bars, genetics, stress, exposure to environmental contaminants… essentially, it is just about the bluntest means of talking about health that the field of health has. We only hear about it so prevalently for two reasons: 1) it gets used frequently in studies because it is quick, easy, painless, and cheap to measure someone’s height and weight. Especially compared to drawing blood or performing a cardiovascular stress test.  2) it’s in the news all the time, not because it is terribly relevant, but because a three-letter abbreviation (BMI) is more accessible to the general population than medical terminology like “adipose tissue” and “lipid profile”, and articles about fat get clicked on. That’s why you see ads like

 

 

 

 

 

Because it works. People click on that stuff like crazy. And what’s on the cover of supermarket tabloids?

Forget scientific accuracy, this stuff sells!

 

But cardiovascular disease isn’t caused soley by a few extra inches on your waist. It’s a subtle distinction between correlation and causation: for most of us, poor diet and exercise habits (A)  cause fat cells to grow (B) and a long list of health problems (C). But this is a case of A causes B, and A causes C. B did not cause C, except in the case of mechanical issues (sleep apnea) and hormone-mediated diseases like diabetes and some cancers. People who won the genetic lottery and can eat junk food and watch tv all day without gaining weight are still increasing their risk of dying, and someone who is overweight but eats well and exercises might live to see 97. The greatest increase in health from exercise is reaped by people who are just transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle to an active lifestyle – before any weight loss is likely to have occurred [1].

 

But is there anything wrong with vilifying fat, since it can be an indicator that one's intake of food and exercise is imbalanced?

Reminding girls that they are girls decreases their test scores (the official terminology from psychology is “stereotype threat”)[5], and the appearance of girls and women is heavily policed and held to a mostly unobtainable standard [6], so it doesn’t seem to be a stretch that constantly talking about fatness could make people who aren’t thin feel like there isn’t a place for them in “bicycle culture” or other forms of active transportation. I wondered if I might be the only person to worry about this, but Google quickly turned up Ms. Kinzel’s experience:

 

“I’m using the elliptical trainer at the gym. A man walks by and gives me an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “GOOD FOR YOU!” he says loudly, pointedly, a little patronizingly. 

His intentions may well be positive, but in reality he has drawn attention to the perceived discrepancy between my apparent interest in exercise and the size of my body. He has pointed out that seeing people who look like me exercising in public is a strange and unfamiliar occurance, an idea rooted in the assumption that fat people are uniformly lazy and unhealthy, and I, as an exception, therefore deserve to be recognized and lauded. I feel singled out and othered, and very uncomfortable.” [4]

 

But if we can get overweight and obese people to exercise, won’t they lose weight and no longer suffer from stereotype threat or discouragement?

 Unfortunatly, exercising more isn’t a silver bullet for weight loss. Nothing is [3]. Even people who don’t experience stereotype threat could experience run-of-the-mill discouragement at not making much progress towards the goal of being skinny, if we promote walking and biking for the purpose of weight loss. Most of the weight gain Americans have been experiencing for the past couple of decades can be attributed to eating more, not exercising less [2]. People who walk and bike more might engage in less of other forms of exercise, such as sports or a gym membership. Or they might work up more of an appetite and eat more in compensation for increased activity. Real, permanent weight loss is very rare.

 What we as Planners need to do is stop linking active transportation to weight loss. We run the risk of discouraging people from improving their health and the environment when the pounds don’t melt away, or they lose some weight but not enough to stop viewing themselves as “fat”. Whether or not weight loss happens, exercising more improve blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer risk, hormone balance, sleep quality, bone density, inflammation, immune response, and mental health. And the planet. We need to hear much more exhortation to quit looking at the scale and just go ride a bike, and it should be coming from the national level such as the CDC. This is an issue where medical credentials matter, and the local City Council is not the appropriate level of government. Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign carefully avoids fat-shaming, but still puts a large emphasis on measuring the success of healthy eating and exercise by largeness. To improve utilization of active transportation for health improvement, and not unecessarily discourage people, takes a better understanding of psychology.

 

1. Running Doc: Biggest health benefits from exercise come when sedentary people start a program. (n.d.). NY Daily News. Retrieved June 10, 2013, from http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/exercise-benefits-start-program-article-1.1336187

 

2. Dreifus, C. (2012, May 14). A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity. The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/science/a-mathematical-challenge-to-obesity.html

 

3. Parker-pope, T. (2011, December 28). The Fat Trap. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html

 

4. What’s Wrong With Fat-Shaming? (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2013, fromhttp://www.xojane.com/issues/whats-wrong-fat-shaming

 

5. Matthew S. McGlone, Joshua Aronson, Stereotype threat, identity salience, and spatial reasoning, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Volume 27, Issue 5, September–October 2006, Pages 486-493, ISSN 0193-3973, 10.1016/j.appdev.2006.06.003.

 

6. Pretty much all media.

State Op-Ed - Autonomous Vehicles on Oregon’s Roads

“THE ROBOTS ARE COMING, AND THEY WANT TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CAR!”

Well, perhaps that’s a little bit overblown. But the promise of self-driving vehicle technology - given a recent boost by Google’s self-driving car - has attracted the attention of technologists, lawmakers, and even members of this very blog. Speculation abounds as to what level of autonomy future cars will have, when they’ll be on the roads, and how they’ll change the transportation landscape. What is certain is that vehicles will increasingly do more of the driving themselves, and this has the potential to radically alter the physical, social, and legal environment of driving in America.

Oregon needs to move quickly to pass legislation that will allow for a safe and controlled introduction of autonomous vehicles. We cannot wait idle for more federal guidance while other states seize the opportunity to shape the future of American transportation.

What is an autonomous vehicle, exactly?

The phrase “autonomous vehicle” hides two important distinctions that are critical to describing the technology coming to cars of the future.