Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)

Americans Aren't Likely to Start Driving at Pre-Pandemic Levels Soon
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and gasoline production trends point to VMT in the United States staying ten to 12 percent lower than in 2019 for the next few months, at least.

Report: Vehicle Miles Traveled Almost Fully Returned to Pre-Pandemic Levels
Reports last week that the U.S. economy is about 30 percent smaller than before the pandemic aren't reflected in driving trends.

New Rule on Environmental Impacts of Driving, Long Awaited, Goes Into Effect Today
At long last, California law will consider the amount of driving, rather than vehicle delay, when evaluating the environmental impacts of new developments. This is a more common-sense approximation of their environmental impacts.

Chain Restaurants and Cars Go Together. Driving Ruins Local Flavor
City Observatory research shows that urban regions where residents drive less and rely more on other travel modes have more independent restaurants and more varied dining options. Bon appetit for walking, bicycling and public transit.

Vision Zero, Meet VMT Reductions
Many jurisdictions have vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction targets, intended to reduce congestion and pollution. They can also provide large but often overlooked traffic safety benefits.

Better Maps Would Save Delivery Companies a Ton of Time and Money
A new report estimates the cost of inaccurate maps for delivery companies in the billions of dollars.

Ranking the Climate Impact of Transportation in the 100 Largest U.S. Metro Areas
This performance ranking separates the fakers from the legit operation to reduce carbon emissions from transportation.

Study Finds a Way to Duplicate the Effect of Self-Driving Cars: Chauffeurs
A small group of test subjects, enabled with the use of a chauffeur, increased driving distances by a collective 83 percent.

Ride-Hailing Report Examines Effects on Chicago's Congestion
A new report looks at how the increase of ride-hailing in Chicago is affecting infrastructure and mobility.

Research: Distance Matters More Than Multi-Modal Trips for Reducing Carbon Emissions
European researchers have published a new study in the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment that might be a hard pill to swallow for some transit advocates.

Level of Service Canceled in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles City Council voted to officially end the use of Level of Service in measuring environmental impact in favor of a more people-friendly measure: vehicle miles traveled.

Fun With Statistics: Factors Affecting Motor Vehicle Travel
A few graphs provide insights into factors that affect the amount of motor vehicle travel in a community, and how driving can be reduced.

Housing Crisis Derailing California's Climate Strategy
In a powerful opinion in The New York Times, state Senator Scott Wiener and UC Berkeley energy professor Daniel Kammen make the case that transportation emissions are rising in the Golden States because of the shortage of housing in coastal cities.

Two Cities That Reduced Driving Over a Decade
Minneapolis and Seattle bucked national trends by increasing active transportation and use of public transit in recent years.

List: The Negative Effects of Ride-Hailing
Ride-hailing companies have yet to deliver on many of the transportation system improvements that they, and their supporters, have been promising. Streetsblog USA provides a scathing critique of the consequences of widespread ride-hailing.

Uber and Lyft Make 11,000 Trips a Week Without Leaving UCLA's Campus
Students at the University of California, Los Angeles are using ride-hailing companies to get between classes on campuses. The effect is far from the congestion and emissions reducing idea many hoped for from companies like Uber and Lyft.

*Video: Explaining Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)
Conventional planning evaluates transport system performance car-centric indicators such as roadway Level-of-Service (LOS). Many jurisdictions are shifting to Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), which supports multimodal planning and Smart Growth policies.

How Not To Measure Traffic Congestion—Hold the Hyperbole, Please!
The new INRIX congestion costing report is another good example of bad analysis. We just want accurate information; hold the hyperbole, please.
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