Research out of UC Berkeley shows that car sharing lowers all customers' vehicle mileage by about a quarter over time.
Steven T. Jones shares insight into research by Susan Shaheen of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at UC Berkeley. Shaheen’s research "has found that each shared car takes between nine and 13 other cars off the road, figures that she says are amazingly consistent around the world."
Moreover, when people adopt car sharing, they also decrease their use of cars, in general, over time: "the studies by Shaheen and other researchers show that VMT among car sharing customers drops in subsequent years, often quite dramatically, as people figure out that it’s not really so hard to get around by public transit, bike, or on foot."
Read the full story: Does carsharing really reduce overall driving?
Demographic Changes Spell Trouble Ahead for Auto Industry
It's not only young adults who are delaying in getting drivers licenses, but a drop in licenses among all age groups according to a new analysis of license data from 1983-2014 by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Arizona Residents Ditching Cars, Taking Transit
A new report finds that residents of Arizona are driving less—much, much less. Arizonans drive less that they did in the 1990s, in fact. Despite these trends, the state government has not adjusted its traffic forecasting models.
Do You Know What Year the U.S. Hit Peak Gasoline Consumption?
Michael Sivak of the Univ. of Michigan has published another key report documenting our waning love affair with the automobile. Sivak documents peak overall gasoline consumption occurring in 2004. Per capita fuel consumption may have peaked in 2003.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future
Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.
NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project
New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.
One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’
The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority