Todd Litman is founder and executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative solutions to transport problems. His work helps to expand the range of impacts and options considered in transportation decision-making, improve evaluation methods, and make specialized technical concepts accessible to a larger audience. His research is used worldwide in transport planning and policy analysis.
Litman has worked on numerous studies that evaluate transportation costs, benefits and innovations. He authored the Online TDM Encyclopedia, a comprehensive Internet resource for identifying and evaluating mobility management strategies; Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis: Techniques, Estimates and Implications, a comprehensive study which provides cost and benefit information in an easy-to-apply format; and Parking Management Best Practices, the most comprehensive book available on management solutions to parking problems. Litman is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops. His presentations range from technical and practical to humorous and inspirational. He is active in several professional organizations, including the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Transportation Research Board (a section of U.S. National Academy of Sciences). He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Transportation Research A, a professional journal.
There are many possible ways to reduce climate change emissions. Some, however, provide significant co-benefits, and so are much more cost effective and beneficial overall. Emission reduction strategies that simply increase vehicle fuel efficiency or promote alternative fuels at best achieve two planning objectives: energy conservation and emission reductions. They do nothing to reduce traffic congestion, road and parking infrastructure costs, accidents or sprawl, or to improve mobility options for non-drivers. In fact, by reducing the per-mile cost of driving, strategies that simply increase vehicle fuel efficiency tend to stimulate additional vehicle travel, called a "rebound effect," which exacerbates other transport problems. For… Read more
Highway Trust Funds should be spent to improve alternative modes whenever that is the most cost effective investment. This is a basic principle of good planning and is particularly important now. Several current trends (aging population, rising fuel prices, increasing urbanization, increasing traffic congestion, rising costs to expand roads and parking facilities, shifting consumer preferences, and increasing health and environmental concerns) are increasing the future value of having a more diverse and efficient transportation system. Sometime in the future you will probably want to drive less and rely more on alternative modes in response to some combintion of the factors cited above. This requires that we invest now to improve walking and… Read more
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