Category Archives: Studies

Relative Costs of Transit Construction

Posted on 2012/09/25 by

The relative costs of different technologies of transit are not fixed. Although there are some rules of thumb for the ratio of tunneling cost to above-ground transit cost, the actual ratio depends on the city and project, and this would … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction Costs, Good/Interesting Studies, Studies, Transportation, Urban Transit, Vancouver | 9 Comments

Are Forecasts Improving?

Posted on 2012/08/28 by

In response to my takedown of Reason, specifically my puzzlement at the estimates of inaccuracy in traffic forecasts, alert reader Morten Skou Nicolaisen sent me several papers on the subject. While there is past research about traffic shortfalls, for example … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction Costs, Good/Interesting Studies, High-Speed Rail, Regional Rail, Studies, Transportation, Urban Transit | 15 Comments

Reason Releases Fraudulent Report Criticizing XpressWest

Posted on 2012/08/24 by

In response to the forthcoming FRA loan application by XpressWest (the rebranded Desert Xpress) for its high-speed rail line from the edge of the Los Angeles metro area to Las Vegas, Reason published a report claiming the project would fail. … Continue reading →

Posted in High-Speed Rail, Shoddy Studies, Studies, Transportation | 40 Comments

The Recession Won’t Last Forever

Posted on 2012/07/03 by

The article about New York State’s decision to discontinue studying high-speed rail between New York and Buffalo is by itself not terribly surprising. Although Andrew Cuomo likes flashy public works projects, of which HSR is one, he is consistently pro-road … Continue reading →

Posted in High-Speed Rail, Incompetence, New York, Politics and Society, Shoddy Studies | 34 Comments

The Rockaway Cutoff

Posted on 2011/12/08 by

When I went to an IRUM meeting nearly two years ago, the participants crowed about the possibility of restoring rail service on the Rockaway Cutoff. New York urban planner and technical activist David Krulewitch recently posted his proposal in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Good/Interesting Studies, New York, Regional Rail, Studies, Transportation | 34 Comments

Transfer Penalty Followup

Posted on 2011/10/31 by

My previous post‘s invocation of Reinhard Clever’s lit review of transfer penalties was roundly criticized on Skyscraper City Page for failing to take into account special factors of the case study. Some of the criticism is just plain mad (people … Continue reading →

Posted in Good/Interesting Studies, Regional Rail, Studies, Transportation, Urban Transit | 14 Comments

Congestion, Freeways, and Size, Redux

Posted on 2011/10/10 by

As a followup to my previous post about the TTI’s new congestion report, I finally did a multivariate regression analysis, with the dependent variable being cost and the independent variables being size and freeway lane-miles per capita. Such an analysis … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Good/Interesting Studies, Studies, Transportation | 1 Comment

Congestion and Size

Posted on 2011/10/07 by

The Texas Transportation Institute has just released the latest version of its much-criticized Urban Mobility Report. Although the conclusions and recommendations made by the TTI tend to reflect its funding sources (APTA, American Road and Transportation Builders Association), the underlying … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Good/Interesting Studies, Studies, Transportation | 23 Comments

Defrauding the Public on European Rail Profits

Posted on 2011/10/05 by

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) penned an op-ed defending his attempt to strip California high-speed rail of all funding. In the usual litany of complaints about the deficit, he referenced a 2008 study by Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General claiming that … Continue reading →

Posted in Amtrak, High-Speed Rail, Politics and Society, Shoddy Studies, Studies, Transportation | 36 Comments

Skewed North Shore BRT/LRT Proposal (Hoisted from Comments)

Posted on 2011/10/03 by

The MTA produced an alternatives analysis for transit service on the North Shore of Staten Island. The study contains zingers and various factors making the cost many times higher than it should be, but the agency response to all comments … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction Costs, Incompetence, New York, Shoddy Studies, Studies, Transportation, Urban Transit | 12 Comments