Remote work has dispersed economic activity away from city centers, according to researchers who dubbed the phenomenon, the "Donut Effect."

“How working from home reshapes cities,” published last fall in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), estimated that about three-fifths of households that left large cities moved to the suburbs of the same city thanks to hybrid work schedules. Of the remaining 42 percent who relocated to other areas entirely, 29 percent went to smaller cities, 9 percent went to other large cities, and 4 percent to rural areas.

The “Donut Effect” is limited to large cities and is “larger and more persistent” in cities with high levels of remote work. Authors suggest that the Donut Effect may have varying impacts on cities, such as:

•  
• -- Shifting the tax base from cities to surrounding areas, which could strain large cities’ public finances;
• -- A decline in public transportation usage, which may raise concerns about the solvency of mass transit systems;
• -- Large reductions in office valuations due to a drop in demand that could strain real estate firms and financing banks;
• -- Rezoning office space into mixed use to attract residents back to city centers which could cities more livable;
• -- Declining commute times and peak-hour traffic; and,
• -- Employees moving to less dense suburbs with larger homes and suburban amenities.

“Altogether, the net welfare effects of the Donut Effect are still ambiguous and will depend on how society continues to respond.”
 

Rail moves freight more efficiently than trucks, reduces traffic congestion by removing trucks from highways, and contributes some $233 billion in economic output, according to a report compiled by a rail advocacy organization.

The Washington, D.C.-based Association of American Railroads (AAR) released Rail Transportation and the U.S. Economy: Fueling Growth, Trade, and Opportunity, a 35-page report detailing the impact across the economy.

The report estimated that freight rail contributed:
-- $233.4 billion in total economic output.
-- 153,000 direct rail jobs with 749,000 total jobs supported nationwide.
-- $66 billion in total household income.
-- $25.1 billion in annual tax revenues on the federal, state, and local level.

The top five states for freight rail employment are Texas, Illinois, Nebraska, California, and Georgia, accounting for 34 percent of all freight rail jobs in the U.S.

AAR estimated that some 38 percent of rail traffic in 2023 was tied directly to international trade-related shipments, accounting for 543.5 million tons of goods moved through U.S. ports and across borders.

The complete report can be found here.
 

Users overwhelmingly choose ride hail services over transit to save time even when their destinations are served by transit, according to a study of Chicago area commuters.

Shorter wait times, closer stops, and a more efficient service could boost transit’s potential, according to researchers at the University of Michigan, but developing policies requires more robust data.

The study investigated other factors that could impact riders’ choices, such as pollution, traffic, and collision risk. Researchers found that charging users for these social harms would only slightly increase the value people have to place on their time to still choose ride hails over transit, bumping the value from $34 per hour, close to the city’s average hourly wage, to $37.

“If you were to tax riders based on how much harm they cause, it’s not clear they would behave any differently,” Parth Vaishnav, one of the researchers from the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, said.

Read more about the study here.
 

Major bus lines expanded along the country’s busiest corridors, upgrading to technologically advanced coaches, and prioritizing densely traveled routes in the Northeast and warm weather regions.

Those are some takeaways from Stepping Up Service, the 2025 Outlook for the Intercity Bus Industry in the United States by DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.

Expansion in the Sun Belt and Southwest propelled intercity bus ridership and several state bus systems also set ridership records, according to the report, which predicts bus ridership will grow 4 percent this year. That’s more than the 2.4 to 2.8 percent growth of domestic auto and air travel projected by the U.S. Travel Association.

State-supported bus networks, less vulnerable to impending “fiscal cliff” than public transit systems, will see more expansion and service additions, according to the report. The share of bus trips of less than 300 miles will grow due to competition from private vehicles, air travel, car rentals, and concerns about the unpredictability of longer bus trips.

The report breaks down developments across seven regions: New England and New York; Mid-Atlantic; South; Midwest; Texas and South Central; Mountain Region; California and Nevada; and, Pacific Northwest.

The previous report, released in February 2024, suggested that intercity bus traffic could recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2026.
 

A study of more than 50,000 Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations may help determine where to develop charging infrastructure and peak demand times.

Researchers at the University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability and Center for Disaster Resilience analyzed real-time data from 54,000 publicly available stations. Preliminary findings were presented in December at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis.

The study used individual charging port statuses recorded every 10 minutes at 54,000 stations in three power grid zones: California, Texas, and the Northeast. The first round of data for August 2023 revealed working-hour patterns in all three zones.

In California, about 45 percent of stations showed a working-hours charging pattern from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with peak utilization reaching 80 percent of charging capacity. About 30 percent of stations in Texas showed a similar workday pattern between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. with peak use averaging 60 percent of capacity. In the Northeast, which comprised six states, 28 percent of stations demonstrated a working-hour pattern of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with peak utilization of 55 percent.

Variation in charging behavior between zones may be due to:

• - Differences in the price of electricity;
• - Availability of public charging stations to EV owners; and,
• - Incentive programs that may encourage owners to charge during off-peak hours.

Right Turn On Red (RTOR) movements are generally unsafe for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers while only “marginally beneficial” in lowering emissions and only under certain contexts, according to a new study.

Right Turn on Red: Energy-Saving Measure or Unsafe Maneuver?, published in December by the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San Jose University, reviewed data from California right-turn collisions at signalized intersections between 2011 and 2022.

The highest numbers of right-turn collisions for pedestrians and cyclists were located near transit stops and in commercial zones with large parking lots and relatively heavy cross-traffic, according to a case study analysis of Los Angeles intersections. Several had “irregular” designs that could add to driver distraction or confusion. MIT recommended that California allow cities to elect to ban RTOR as the default and then indicate intersections where it would be permitted.

Marginal emission reduction benefits associated with RTOR have declined over the years with improved fuel economy and will likely further decline with increasing adoption of electric vehicles, according to the study. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 required states to permit right turns on red lights as an energy-saving measure to receive federal assistance for mandated conservation programs. New York City has long banned right turn on red unless explicitly noted in signage and in recent years, other cities have considered a ban, including Washington, D.C.

The complete 49-page report and research brief are both available via the Mineta Transportation Institute.
 

A study of Minnesota intersection crossings found that speed, signage, and wide, multi-lane roads strongly correlate with drivers yielding to pedestrians.

Specifically, Guidelines for Safer Pedestrian Crossings: Understanding the Factors that Positively Influence Vehicle Yielding to Pedestrians at Unsignalized Intersections noted three features when it comes to drivers yielding to pedestrians:

-- Vehicles traveling 25 MPH or more were significantly less likely to yield than those traveling slower;
-- Drivers may be twice as likely to yield at intersections where signs are posted; and,
-- Lower yielding rates were noted on wider roads and multi-lane roads.

Only 4 percent of pedestrians began crossing before a sufficient vehicle gap, according to the study, and more than 35 percent waited to cross even after a gap in traffic.

Results are based on more than 3,300 crossings at 18 Minnesota intersections in fall 2020 and summer 2021, using custom-built devices that stored about two weeks’ worth of video data. The study was sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and the Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB),
The study made recommendations to encourage drivers to stop for pedestrians at unsignalized intersections, including:

-- Consider geometric features of the road;
-- Limit road width, including pedestrian crossing markings;
-- Add signs at crossings;
-- Limit speeds with roadway features; and,
-- Look at adjacent land-use context.

The complete 91-page research report is available here.
 

Washington returned to the top spot as the most bicycle friendly state in the United States, according to the League of American Bicyclists.

The Evergreen State has ranked No. 1 in each ranking that the League has compiled since 2013 but for the last report in 2022, when Massachusetts ranked first.

The Washington, D.C-based advocacy organization’s rankings measure state performance on five “Bicycle Friendly Actions” across categories that “reflect policies, resources, and practices that contribute to safer and more accessible biking for everyone.”

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act led to record federal funds ($1.2 billion) spent on bicycling and walking projects in the last two years yet as a percentage of all federal transportation funds, spending on biking and walking projects was lower than average for those years. Federal funding for biking and walking amounted to $3.75 per person in 2023.

The report also warned of an “ongoing traffic safety crisis,” with preliminary estimates from the Governors Highway Safety Association predicting a record 1,149 bicyclist deaths in 2023.

The complete 2024 Bicycle Friendly States Report & Ranking is available here.
 

In 2009, only 35 percent of students within 1 mile of their school biked or walked to school in the U.S. That's down from almost 90 percent in 1969.

Bike buses have emerged both in Europe and the United States to encourage group biking to school for students. A bike bus generally consists of one or more adult supervisors guiding a group of students along a defined route to one or more schools.

Simply building a bike lane is insufficient to shift modes for many parents and students, according to a recent study. Barriers still exist, including dissatisfaction with infrastructure and a lack of funding.

Exploring Bike Bus Programs in the United States, a report by the Transportation Research Education Center at Portland State University for the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, suggests that bike buses can change the narrative about Active Transportation to School (ATS):

• - Reduces concerns about safety (both from crime and traffic);
• - Longer distances traveled (averaging 1 mile, but often longer); and,
• - Greater breadth of participant age (children as young as kindergarten were reported as riding with bike buses.)

Bike buses have the potential to leverage the last 20 years of Safe Routes To School (SRTS) interventions, according to the report, ensuring that bike lanes, sidewalks, and crosswalks funded by districts, communities, states, and the federal government have their full value realized.

The Streets Ahead podcast recently joined a bike bus in the United Kingdom.

Experience continues to be a main driver of trust and acceptance for people when it comes to robotaxis.

Consumer confidence when riding in a fully automated, self-driving vehicle is 56 percentage points higher among those who have ridden in a robotaxi (76%) than the general population who have not had the experience (20%), according to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Robotaxi Experience Study. Exposure to the technology, as seen by non-riders in cities with robotaxi deployments, also improves consumer confidence (34%). Consumers rated their satisfaction with the experience as 8.53 on a 10-point scale.

When asked to describe their ideal robotaxi service, consumers consistently selected image attributes of safe, reliable and trusted. The consistency with which these metrics are prioritized among riders and non-riders (78% selected safe; 71% selected reliable; and 66% selected trusted), as well as the general population, indicates the foundational expectations of consumers.

The study is based on responses from 3,773 respondents comprised of 773 consumers living in cities where robotaxi services are available -- Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco -- and a national sample of 3,000 consumers to better understand their perceptions and knowledge of the technology. To qualify in the targeted cities, respondents had to ride in a robotaxi and/or observe a robotaxi operating in their community. The two groups of participants are classified as riders and non-riders, respectively.

To learn more about the U.S. Robotaxi Experience Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/us-robotaxi-experience-study.
 

Installing one electric vehicle charging station boosts annual spending by almost 1 percent at nearby establishments, such as food, retail, arts and entertainment. The boost grows by four times when stations were installed within 100 meters of such establishments.

Those are among the findings from “Effects of electric vehicle charging stations on the economic vitality of local businesses.” The study, published in September in Nature Communications, analyzed data from more than 4,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and 140,000 businesses in downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.

Between January 2021 and June 2023, spending at nearby establishments increased by 0.8 percent ($404) from January 2021 to June 2023, and by 1.5 percent ($1,478) in 2019, according to the study. Spending increased by 3.2 percent and 2.7 percent during those periods, respectively, when a point of interest was within 100 meters of a charging station. The analysis incorporated three categories of points of interest: accommodation and food services; retail; and,arts, entertainment, and recreation.

Charging stations have the “potential to exert a broader influence on local communities, particularly on the economic vitality of surrounding businesses,” according to the study. They offer businesses the “potential to diversify income streams. Understanding the extent of this phenomenon is crucial for policymakers, providers, and business owners to harness the full potential of EV charging infrastructure and create sustainable and vibrant communities."

InTransition magazine recently looked at the future of gas stations amid the rise of electric vehicles.

The average bikeshare system in the United States had 167 docking stations operating last year. The 53 docked bikeshare systems operated 8,838 docking stations across the U.S., according to the latest data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).

Bikeshare systems range from the largest (CitiBike in New York City, which includes Jersey City and Hoboken, New Jersey), operating more than 2,000 stations to six systems that have 10 stations or less. The number of systems held steady, with just one closing in July. BTS counts systems operating as of June 30 each year. 

There were 60 dockless bikeshare systems serving 49 cities, up from a low of 30 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but down from a high of 91 in 2018. There were 194 dockless e-scooter systems, serving 130 cities, down from a high of 179 in 2022, thanks in part to consolidation and bankruptcy of e-scooter systems. 

Docked bikeshare stations are part of BTS’ Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database (IPCD), a nationwide database of passenger transportation facilities and docked bikeshare stations, with data on the availability of connections to intercity, commuter, and transit rail; scheduled air service; intercity and transit bus; intercity and transit ferry services; and bike share.

The BTS interactive bikeshare ridership application allows you to explore the total number of trips taken by year, month, and type for the largest systems with docking stations.
 

Urban areas had generally lower access to jobs as economic and transportation conditions evolved coming out of the COVID era, according to new research from the Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota. The annual Access Across America (AAA) study uses comprehensive travel data for walking, biking, transit, and auto to analyze the sustainability of transportation options for residents of major urban areas.

“Typically, land use and transportation networks change only gradually from year to year, but 2022 illustrated a much different dynamic,” according to the 122-page report, which was released this month and examines 2022 data, the most recent available. The annual research project has been conducted since 2014.

The greatest reductions in access to opportunity were associated with places where congestion increased the most, according to the report. “These drastic changes measure the impact of the return of traffic, magnified by the difference from unusually high job accessibility by auto during the first 21 months of the pandemic.”

Public transit accounted for an estimated 5 percent of commuting trips before the pandemic, making it the second most widely used commute mode after driving. Walking as a commute is typically very low, making up about 2.4 percent of all journeys to work. While bicycling accounted for just 0.5 percent of all commutes, the overall number of bicycle commuters has increased almost 22 percent since 2010.

Findings of the 2022 study are portrayed in an interactive map, which provides a comprehensive look at job accessibility, highlighting the number of jobs accessible within a 30-minute travel time by different modes of transportation. The full report can be accessed here.
 

A rise in remote work since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped traffic congestion in most of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.

“A reliance on remote work is not a panacea to the rise in VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) and the default solution for traffic – adding roadway capacity – isn't solving congestion,” according to The State of VMT and Congestion: How Rising Trends Impact U.S. Metros, published by StreetLight, a Jacobs Company.

The 26-page e-book measured five years of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), from January 2019 through May 2024, comparing the top 100 most-populated metros by change in VMT, VMT per capita, change in congestion, and overall congestion. StreetLight also analyzed the correlation within the 25 biggest metro areas and in downtowns.

As of spring 2024, VMT has jumped up after steadily increasing since mid-2020. The rise in congestion from January-May 2023 marks the steepest year-over-year increase since the initial pandemic bounce back in 2021.

Eighty-eight of the top 100 metros in the U.S. saw VMT increase from spring 2019 through spring 2024 while only four metros saw decreases in the double digits. Six metros kept VMT down by more than 5 percent compared to 2019 while 27 have seen VMT rise by more than 20 percent.

Metrowide data follows a similar pattern to national data. Overwhelmingly, VMT accelerated in the last year compared to 2022-23. "Without significant changes, the upward trend in VMT shows no sign of peaking.”
 

The number of shared micromobility trips and the numbers of cities with shared micromobility systems are at record highs with the industry having evolved over the past 15 years. 

There were 172 million trips in North America last year, with an estimated 421 cities that had at least one bikeshare or scootershare system, according to the fifth annual Shared Micromobility State of the Industry Report from the North American Bikeshare & Scootershare Association (NABSA). The Portland, Maine-based organization released its annual report last month. 

"Climate, transportation equity, connections to transit, and financial sustainability continue to be key themes for the industry as electrification of shared micromobility devices and of operational vehicles expands,” according to the 21-page report, which tracks the progress and presents new research demonstrating the impact of the industry across North America. 

The total number of shared micromobility vehicles has slightly decreased since 2022 but the vehicles are being ridden more. Micromobility trips replaced a car trip about 37 percent of the time (25 percent, car driver/passenger and 12 percent, taxi or rideshare), according to the report, slightly more than the 35 percent that replaced walking. Some 16 percent of all micromobility trips were for the purpose of connecting to transit.