Todd Litman

Todd Litman is the executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

Member for
20 years 9 months

Contributed 458 posts

Full Bio

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.

Mr. 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. Mr. 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.

Critiquing the "Urban Mobility Report"

The "Urban Mobility Report" produces widely-cited congestion cost estimates. It is biased in various ways that exaggerate congestion costs and roadway expansion benefits. Few users of these cost estimates seem aware of these problems.

Affordability As A Transportation Planning Objective

Transportation system users rate inaffordability as a top concern, but conventional planning ignores this issue. Increasing transport affordability requires changing planning practices to favor more affordable modes and more accessible development.

Smart Transportation Funding

Governments need money to finance transportation system improvements, but revenues from traditional sources are flat. This is leading to debate over how best to generate new funds. There are many possible options, some better than others, because in addition to raising revenue, they support other strategic objectives. Politicians will be tempted to choose the easiest funding options. It is up to planners to point out the best options, taking into account all impacts.

Measuring Transport System Efficiency

There are various ways to define transport efficiency which can lead to very different conclusions as to what transport policies and projects are best overall. Conventional planning tends to evaluate transport system performance based on mobility, which assumes that faster travel is always better. A new planning paradigm evaluates transport system performance based on accessibility (people's ability to access services and activities) which leads to very different definitions of efficiency and very different conclusions about how to improve transport systems.

Proximity Trumps Mobility: Smart Growth Maximizes Accessibility

The increased proximity provided by more compact and centralized development is about ten times more influential than vehicle traffic speed on the number of destinations that people can reach within a given travel time.