In This Issue

	Truckers Prefer Off-Peak Deliveries in NYC
	Americans agree with Transportation Tax linked to Environmental Benefits
	Link Light Rail Celebrates One Year Anniversary
	Oregon’s Early Gas Tax Hike Appears Unlikely

Truckers Prefer Off-Peak Deliveries in NYC

Truckers and New York City officials agree that making deliveries during off-peak hours is optimal in major cities. Now city officials are working with the federal government to encourage off-peak deliveries which increase travel speeds between stops and significantly cut curb wait times, according to a recent study on the concept.

In a pilot program, the NYC Department of Transportation, the U.S. DOT, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University and other agencies established partnerships between 25 businesses and 33 delivery companies to allow deliveries during the off-peak hours of 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. The results of the study were encouraging, with travel speeds from a truck depot to a delivery drivers first stop in Manhattan improving by 75 percent.

The study also showed reduced curbside wait times for truckers from 100 minutes to only 30 minutes by switching to off-peak delivery times. Multiple-stop deliveries were able to speed up by an average of 48 minutes per truck. The program was funded by a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

This strategy was used in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. It took planning and coordination by many groups including the trucking industry, warehousing operations, and the commercial sites themselves. In the end it worked well and everyone seemed pleased with the outcome. It’s another TDM strategy that will likely become more prevalent in the future. TW

Americans agree with Transportation Tax linked to Environmental Benefits

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Americans would be much more likely to support a transportation tax if it is linked to environmental benefits, according to a recent study by the Mineta Transportation Institute. Researchers tested national support for sales, gas and mileage taxes that would raise revenue for transportation purposes.

While none of the eight options tested, including a flat-rate mileage tax and several versions of a gas tax, received majority support, three did fairly well, with support levels around 40 percent. The most popular were a half-cent sales tax (43 percent support), a ten-cent gas tax increase whose revenue would be used for projects to reduce the transportation system’s impact on global warming (42 percent support), and a ten-cent gas tax increase spread over five years (39 percent support). The survey also compared public support for alternative versions of the mileage and gas taxes.

The report offers two policy recommendations based on the survey. First, linking a transportation tax to environmental benefits can strongly increase support. Support for the mileage tax rose significantly when the flat –rate tax was converted to a tax with a rate that varied according to the vehicle’s pollution emissions. The increase in support for a gas tax was even more striking when respondents were told that the revenues would be spent on transportation projects to reduce global warming.

Link Light Rail Celebrates One Year Anniversary

Sound Transit celebrated the first birthday of Central Link light rail, which during its inaugural year of operations attracted an estimated six million riders. Some quick facts about Link’s first year of service on the 16-mile line serving 13 stations between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport:

• Total estimated ridership for the year: 6 million
• Passenger miles travelled: 43 million
• Average rider trip length: 7.1 miles
• Total light rail train miles traveled: 1.2 million

Those numbers add up to major environmental savings for the Seattle region. Had those six million riders driven cars instead of climbing aboard Link, Sound Transit estimates they would have consumed 93,000 barrels of oil to make 1.8 million gallons of gasoline. Light rail trains run every 7.5 minutes during peak hours and every 10 or 15 minutes at other hours of the day, serving 23,400 riders daily during the week.

The first year ridership numbers are particularly strong given that the recession reduced transit ridership across the nation by about 4 percent last year. The Central Link line is the first portion of what will be 55 miles of light rail serving the Central Puget Sound Region. A 3.1-mile underground extension from downtown Seattle north to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington is under construction and will open in 2016. Voters have also approved extensions to Northgate, Lynnwood, Bellevue, Redmond, Mercer Island and northern Federal Way scheduled to open by 2023.

Oregon’s Early Gas Tax Hike Appears Unlikely

An early gas tax hike approved by lawmakers in a road construction package last year is unlikely to be implemented as the economy has not improved quickly enough. The accelerated tax hike of six cents per gallon was dependent upon a specific improvement in the state’s economy: job growth of two percent or more for two consecutive quarters.

State economists confirm the growth had not happened by the end of June, and with two quarters left in the year, the early hike will not take effect. Fee increases from the construction bill for vehicle registrations and titles were not dependent on the economy, and went into effect last fall.