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End-of-Summer 2019
Newsletter |
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Introducing Our New Policy Director
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We are excited to introduce a new full-time Policy Director for the
National Center for Sustainable Transportation: Mike Sintetos
Mike comes to us from the Bureau of Land Management with 5+ years of experience in policy and legislation communication. Prior to BLM, Mike served in the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research in a developmental rotation position, working to synthesize technical information to inform policy decisions and analyzing legislation and evaluating proposed transportation projects. He has extensive experience collaborating with partners and stakeholders to achieve shared goals and looks forward to building upon existing relationships and establishing new collaborations as Policy Director. Mike received a BA in Psychology from UC Davis, and a Master of Science in Natural Resources and Environment (Environmental Policy) from the University of Michigan.
In his role as Policy Director, Mike will help to link NCST research and researchers to policymakers, working to further our impact on sustainable transportation research, policy and practice. As NCST continues to grow, Mike will serve as an instrumental player in ensuring that our research is timely, relevant, and valuable to policymaker and practitioner audiences and stakeholders. |
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NCST Webinars
Upcoming & Recorded
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Changes in the Retail and Distribution Landscape: Behavioral and Logistics Modeling Implications
Thursday, September 19, 2019 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT
Speaker: Miguel Jaller | Co-Director, Sustainable Freight Research Center, UC Davis
The rapid diversification of distribution strategies has dramatically changed how we shop and the way companies design their retail and distribution operations. All these changes have important implications for logistics modeling from the strategic, tactical and operational perspectives. In this webinar, NCST's Dr. Miguel Jaller will discuss how these changes will be reflected in logistics and transportation planning models, including changes in shopping decisions, from where to shop, what to shop, and how much to shop. He'll review the impacts of and trade-offs between facility location, fleet and technology characteristics, time-windows, and the use of crowd-shipping services, as well as how these factors affect the sustainability of the urban transportation system.
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A New Web Tool to Calculate Induced Travel
Speaker: Jamey Volker | Ph.D. Candidate, Transportation Technology and Policy Program, UC Davis
Attempts to address traffic congestion commonly rely on increasing roadway capacity, e.g., by building new roadways or adding lanes to existing facilities. But studies continue to show that adding capacity is at best a temporary fix: adding roadway capacity in congested areas actually increases network-wide vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by a nearly equivalent proportion within a few years, which reduces or negates any initial congestion relief. That increase in VMT is called “induced travel.” The induced travel effect is explained by bedrock economic principles of supply and demand: adding roadway capacity reduces travel time; and as that effective “price” of driving goes down, the quantity of driving increases. The magnitude of that increase is commonly measured as the elasticity of VMT with respect to lane miles. Studies generally show that a 10-percent increase in roadway capacity is likely to increase network-wide VMT by 6 to 10 percent (an elasticity of 0.6 to 1.0). Yet methods of calculating project-level induced travel frequently vary and are often opaquely explained in transportation impact studies.
NCST researchers developed a web-based induced VMT calculator to help with that and presented it in a recent webinar. Watch below! |
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International Conference on Ecology and Transportation
September 22-26, 2019
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Sacramento, CA
The NCST is proud to sponsor the 2019 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, the foremost interdisciplinary, interagency supported conference addressing the broad range of ecological issues related to transportation systems in all modes. Experts in transportation development, related scientific study, policy issues, and administrative processes will gather at ICOET to share current research, quality applications, and best practices that can enhance both the project development process and the ecological sustainability of all transportation modes.The ICOET program includes podium presentations, posters, field trips, and exhibits on topics of interest to researchers, biologists, engineers, planners, project managers, administrators, and policy makers. Hundreds of professionals from the United States and more than 20 countries—representing government, Tribal, academic, nongovernmental, and private industry organizations—regularly attend ICOET.
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Addressing Cycles of Inequality: A Workshop on Mobility Justice
November 1-2, 2019
UC Davis International Center, Davis, CA
The NCST and the UC Davis Feminist Research Institute will be hosting "Addressing Cycles of Inequality: A Workshop on Mobility Justice" at the International Center Multipurpose Room, UC Davis. This workshop will consider how frameworks of mobility and racial justice offer new pathways toward creating more robust research models for bike equity and sustainable transportation futures. Participants will engage in deep discussion about how bicycling researchers can account for the complexity of equity with the goal of making bicycling and other modes of sustainable transportation accessible for all. The goals of the event will be to develop new collaborative research relationships, to develop a shared research agenda that presumes the centrality of equity and justice for sustainable transportation futures, and to share insights with our broader communities. |
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Sustainable Transportation Concepts:
A Mini-Lecture Series from the NCST
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The NCST continues its mini-lecture series aimed to supplement college-level courses with sustainable transportation-related material. The series is intended for undergraduate and graduate level college students and covers a wide variety of sustainable transportation topics. |
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Are Airplanes Really More Efficient?
University of Vermont Professor and NCST Associate Director, Dr. Lisa Aultman-Hall explains the efficiency of different modes of passenger transportation; specifically air travel.
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E-commerce and Last Mile Distribution
UC Davis Professor and Co-Director of the ITS-Davis Sustainable Freight Research Center, Dr. Miguel Jaller, discusses the impact of e-commerce in last mile distribution.
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Electric Vehicle Markets
UC Davis Researcher, Dr. Scott Hardman, presents the different types of electric vehicles and summarizes the current state of the electric vehicle market.
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Emissions Benefits of Electric Vehicles in Uber and Lyft Services
Alan Jenn | University of California, Davis |
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Integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into vehicle fleets deployed by transportation network companies (TNCs; e.g., Uber and Lyft) is a particularly promising way to realize the benefits of vehicle electrification, due to the greater average miles traveled and passenger occupancy of TNC fleets. In this report, the researcher examines EV use in TNC fleets from 2016 through 2018. They leverage novel datasets from TNCs as well as from charging service providers (e.g., Chargepoint and EVGo) to analyze charging and use patterns of EVs within TNC fleets. These insights allow the researcher to quantify the emissions benefits of EV use within TNC fleets, assess the capability of EVs to perform TNC services, and understand the effects of EV use within TNC fleets on the charging behavior of non-TNC EVs. Findings show that the emission benefits of electrifying a vehicle in a TNC fleet are nearly three times greater than the benefits from electrifying a privately-owned vehicle.
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Deep Learning–based Eco-driving System for Battery Electric Vehicles
Guoyuan Wu | University of California, Riverside |
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Eco-driving strategies based on connected and automated vehicles technology, such as Eco-Approach and Departure (EAD), have attracted significant worldwide interest due to their potential to save energy and reduce tail-pipe emissions. In this project, the research team developed and tested a deep learning–based trajectory-planning algorithm (DLTPA) for EAD. Preliminary simulation with microscopic traffic modeling software PTV VISSIM showed that the proposed DLTPA can achieve the optimal solution in terms of energy savings and a greater balance of energy savings vs. computational efforts when compared to the baseline scenarios where no EAD is implemented and the optimal solution (in terms of energy savings) is provided by a graph-based trajectory planning algorithm.
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New Policy & Research Briefs
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NCST has published 11 Project Briefs so far this year to summarize and highlight the policy and research implications of our research.
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Exploring Unintended Environmental and Social Equity Consequences of Transit-Oriented Development
Caroline Rodier, Farzad Alemi, and Robert A., Johnston | University of California, Davis |
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Coordinated land use and transportation plans that locate high-density, mixed-use development near high-quality rail and bus transit are essential in helping communities reach important goals, such as economic development, reduced traffic congestion, greater transportation choices, and improved public health; however, there are concerns that these plans could undermine the well-being of low-income groups and GHG reduction efforts. Researchers explored the potential for housing displacement and increases in vehicle miles travelled among other consequences.
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Smart Algorithms to Increase Rail Capacity in Congested Areas
Maged Dessouky | University of Southern California |
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Railway has always been an effective mode to transport both people and goods; however increasing rail network capacity can be difficult and expensive. This research brief highlights findings from the project, "Integrated Management of Truck and Rail Systems in Los Angeles," which simulated the complex, busy freight and passenger rail corridor between downtown Los Angeles and Pomona to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed new scheduling and dispatching algorithms using positive train control to improve efficiency and minimize delays in freight and passenger railway operations.
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Estimating Fuel-Saving Impact of Low Rolling Resistance Tires on Heavy-Duty Vehicle Fleet Operations
Franklin E. Gbologah, Michael O. Rodgers, and Hanyan "Ann" Li | Georgia Institute of Technology |
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies the use of low rolling resistance (LRR) tires as an effective method of reducing vehicle fuel consumption, especially from heavyduty vehicles; however, their adoption rate has been slow primarily due to performance uncertainties under real-world operating conditions. Researchers have developed a new tool for fleet managers that better predicts the benefits of LRR tires under real-world conditions.
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Express Shipping: What are the Costs of Convenience? |
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In a recent article for CNN, UC Davis Professor and NCST researcher Dr. Miguel Jaller discussed the environmental costs of same-day and rush shipping, and gave insights as to why faster shipping speeds lead to higher levels of harmful emissions. What factors lead to increases in emissions, and how can companies and consumers work to avoid producing excessive emissions?
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Can individual choices help save the planet? Or is the system too rigged? |
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Personal travel decisions have a major influence over an individual's carbon footprint. In the recent Sacramento News & Review article "Vacationing Green," University of Vermont Professor and NCST Associate Director, Dr. Lisa Aultman-Hall discussed how individuals can limit energy use by making informed transportation decisions, and provided insight as to what kinds of trips are ideal for lessening an individual's carbon impact. Aultman-Hall also touched on how policy makers must create the systems and policy structures necessary in order for changes to travel behvaior to occur.
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The National Center for Sustainable Transportation is a consortium of leading universities committed to advancing an environmentally sustainable transportation system through cutting-edge research, direct policy engagement, and education of our future leaders. Consortium members: University of California, Davis; University of California, Riverside; University of Southern California; California State University, Long Beach; Georgia Institute of Technology; and the University of Vermont.
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Lauren Iacobucci
Senior Program Manager
liacobucci@ucdavis.edu
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