NEW GEOGRAPHY BLOG

CODATU XIII - Ho Chi Minh ville - 11-14 November 2008 Sustainable Development in Emerging Urban Areas: Doing What Works

Western Europe Work Trip Travel Times Less in Suburbs (20060926)
The London Congestion Charge: Hype and Reality
Houston: More Roads Less Traffic Congestion: Texas Transportation Institute Data
Amtrak's Problem: Excessive Costs Not Insufficient Revenues
World Urban Areas: Population, Land Area & Density
International Urban Areas: Transport & the Environment: Index

WENDELL COX PUBLIC SPEAKING BROCHURE

LOST OPPORTUNITIES
US Transit Value Since 1970: $0.07 per New $1.00
This series of charts shows how transit expenditures have risen at an inflation adjusted rate 15 times that of the increase in ridership. This more than 60 percent loss in productivity is in contrast to the competitive bus and airline industries, where productivity has increased 22 percent and 91 percent respectively.

UNITED STATES: BY FAR THE HIGHEST PUBLIC TRANSPORT COSTS
USA Transit Costs 3.5 Times Europe, 10 Times Asia
International data indicates that the cost per point of public transport market share in the United States is 3.5 times that of Western Europe and 10 times that of high-income Asia. Subsidies are also highest in the United States, also at 3.5 times Western Europe. The largest systems in high-income Asia are generally not subsidized, either for capital or operations (Tokyo-Yokohama alone carries nearly double the number of passengers each year as all USA public transport systems combined). It can be expected that the gap with Europe will increase, as competitive incentives and funding decentralization are increasingly used the to reduce unit costs and expand public service within existing budgets.

SMART GROWTH: DELUSION, NOT VISION
Wendell Cox Closing Statement at Railvolution Conference
Wendell Cox and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) debated smart growth and transit at the annual Railvolution conference in San Francisco (2001). Wendell Cox's closing statement is reproduced here.

WENDELL COX TEACHES AT CNAM IN PARIS
Public Transport in the US: International Perspective
Wendell Cox (principal of The Public Purpose and Demographia) served as a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (CNAM) in Paris in 2002 and 2003. This French national university has approximately 80,000 students and grants degrees to the doctoral level. It is in the core of Paris (3rd Arrondissement) at the Arts and Metiers Metro station and was established in the former Abbaye de St. Martin-des-Champs during the French Revolution. Mr. Cox presented seminars on U.S. and international urban planning, urbanization, public transport, intercity rail (including Amtrak), freight transport and world urban areas in Paris and Le Havre and conducted research on French and European demographics and transport.

LINK TO DEMOGRAPHIA WEB SITE
Detailed International and US Demographic and Land Use Information
This web site contains the world's most comprehensive data on large urban area population density as well as specialized data from the censuses of France, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and other nations. The site also specializes in urban planning and land use, with data and analysis generally critical of so-called "smart growth."

EXORBITANT US COSTS
Urban Rail: Less to Lease Cars for New Riders

Cheaper: Jaguar XJ8 for New Seattle Riders

US Dept. of Transportation data indicates that the costs per new rider of all but one of the more than 25 proposed new US light rail and metro systems exceeds the cost of leasing a car in perpetuity. In some cases a luxury car (such as a BMW 740i or Jaguar XJ8) could be leased for less. In virtually all cases, an economy car could be leased. The demonstrates that urban transport policy that requires such exhorbitant costs for new ridership is unsustainable except for a small elite.Famous Jaguar-Light Rail slide.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT SHARES DROPPING AROUND THE WORLD
International Public Transport Market Share Trends: More than 40 Urban Areas
An analysis of public transport market shares from 1980 in international urban areas shows a downward trend in most urban areas.

WENDELL COX U.S. SENATE TESTIMONY
Smart Growth: More Congestion, Air Pollution & Less Home Ownership
The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works invited Demographia principal Wendell Cox to testify on 15 May 2002. In his testimony, Mr. Cox reviewed the national and international evidence demonstrating that the higher densities smart growth requires are associated with greater traffic congestion, more air pollution, higher consumer expenditures and lower levels of home ownership. This latter impact occurs because smart growth rations land and development, which inevitably raises the price of housing. The impact falls most heavily on lower income households, which are disproportionately minority. The testimony also reviewed the conditions under which public transit can be successful, and noted, consistent with the analysis of the International Union of Public Transport (the international equivalent of the US American Public Transportation Association or APTA) that transit has little impact in the United States. This is because so little transit is provided and it is so slow.

AVOIDING BANKRUPT WESTERN POLICIES
Keeping Hong Kong Rail Expansion on the Right Track
This Hong Kong Apple Daily op-ed makes the case for expanding Hong Kong's successful passenger rail system. It is suggested that the key to future success is to maintain a system that does not require subsidy, so that customers remain the passengers rather than the government funding agencies.

POLICY STATEMENT
Urban Rail: Uses and Misuses
The Public Purpose has consistently found urban rail to be an expensive and ineffective strategy for reducing traffic congestion in automobile oriented urban areas, despite unsupportable claims by promoters to the contrary. Urban rail is quite appropriate in high density, highly centralized urban areas such as Tokyo-Yokohama, Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong. The Public Purpose is not opposed to urban rail. The Public Purpose is opposed to waste and deception.

WHERE RAIL MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Urban Rail Success Stories
Urban rail is an effective strategy for controlling traffic congestion where residential population densities are very high and where there are extremely large and dense central business districts. Examples are Tokyo, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION LISTS
Transport Policy and Urban Policy Discussion Groups
The Public Purpose sponsors a transport policy e-mail discussion list. With approximately 100 correspondents, diverse and lively discussion is the rule. Through its Demographia website, Wendell Cox Consultancy also sponsors the Urban Policy Discussion Group.

BADGE OF HONOR
Wendell Cox Placed on Sprawlwatch List
Wendell Cox and others are highlighted as opponents of the anti-sprawl movement. Cox stated that placement on the list was a "badge of honor." but that Sprawlwatch would have more correctly characterized those on the list as "pro-choice" with respect to urban development --- that people should be permitted to live and work where they like.

WENDELL COX OPED IN THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A Straitjacket on Growth
New urbanist and so-called "smart growth" policies promise to slow economic growth where implemented and could limit job creation and business expansion. Limitations on new "big-box" retailers is likely to limit job growth in construction trades and related industries. The telecommunications revolution and the expansion of regional jet service could erode the competitiveness of larger metropolitan areas, in combination with new urbanist and so-called "smart growth" initiatives. Smaller metropolitan areas are likely to benefit, by welcoming the growth turned away by areas engaging in heavy-handed land use regulation, like Portland, Oregon.

WENDELL COX OPED IN ATLANTA CONSTITUTION
Portland Not Sprawl Free: Atlanta Needs Other Policies
Despite Atlanta's reputation for severe traffic congestion and low densities, Wendell Cox shows that the Atlanta area scores generally better on measures of public transit use than Portland, which has gained an international reputation for policies intended to increase transit ridership and urban density. His conclusion is that Portland's policies would not solve Atlanta's traffic problems any more than they have Portland's.

RESPONSE TO REPORT BY DAVID RUSK
Keeping Kalamazoo Competitive: The Husock Report
This report by Howard Husock of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Wendell Cox challenges the findings of the Kalamazoo County Compact by David Rusk and recommends competition based measures to improve the competitiveness of Kalamazoo.

TENDERING REQUIREMENT EXPANDED
Legislature Mandates 35% Competition
In 1988, Colorado legislation was enacted to require Denver's public transport system to competitively tender 20 percent of its bus service. The result through 1998 was savings of more than $100 million. Legislation was enacted in May 1999 to increase the mandate to 35 percent, with implementation due by March 31, 2000.