XFacebook

About Elizabeth Deakin (Edit profile)

Elizabeth Deakin is Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley (edeakin@berkeley.edu).

Dynamic Ridesharing

Elizabeth Deakin, Karen Trapenberg Frick, and Kevin Shively

Most cars can carry at least four passengers, but the average auto occupancy rate for all trips in the US is only 1.6 persons. Because all the empty seats in cars represent our greatest source of untapped transportation capacity, promoting ridesharing is of considerable interest. Government agencies across the country employ ridesharing programs both to provide transportation at low cost and to reduce traffic congestion and the other costs of solo driving.

Download the PDF.

2022-10-11T19:34:15+00:00Categories: ACCESS 40, Spring 2012|Tags: , |
Read More

Introduction: Transportation Technologies for the 21st Century

Elizabeth Deakin

New technologies are transforming the way we plan, design, build, and operate transportation systems. Transport agencies use them to count traffic, detect crashes, collect tolls and fares, and manage transit operations and traffic signal systems. Travelers depend on traffic condition reports, electronic maps, on-board vehicle performance monitors, real-time transit arrival information, and a host of other services that did not exist a generation ago. Some of us are already driving hybrid vehicles or commuting in buses powered by hydrogen or biofuels. For the future, we all are counting on additional advances in transportation technology, not just to get us where we want to go, but also to reduce greenhouse gases, improve air quality, and support economic development.

Download the PDF.

2018-02-07T23:12:27+00:00Categories: ACCESS 34, Spring 2009|Tags: , , |
Read More

Intelligent Transport Systems: Linking Technology and Transport Policy to Help Steer the Future

Elizabeth Deakin, Karen Trapenberg Frick, and Alexander Skabardonis

If you’ve seen an electronic message sign along the highway that tells you how long it will take to get downtown or to the airport, or paid your toll or your parking fees with an electronic tag, or ridden a bus that triggered the traffic lights to turn green as it approached them, then you have experienced some of the benefits of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)—an umbrella term for a variety of new technologies and operations methods for highways and transit. Other on-the-ground ITS applications are less visible to the average traveler, but every bit as useful: they help traffic managers detect and respond to accidents promptly, handle the extra traffic that special events generate, and help state workers safely plow snow on mountain roads in blinding snowstorms.

Download the PDF.

2018-02-07T23:30:02+00:00Categories: ACCESS 34, Spring 2009|Tags: |
Read More

Introduction

Elizabeth Deakin

Transportation planners and engineers often focus on specific areas of expertise, such as particular modes of transport, or air quality effects of transportation. Increasingly, however, Californians are reminded that such focused specializations, while valuable, are insufficient by themselves. Current efforts to meet stringent greenhouse gas reduction targets while accommodating growth and counteracting economic downturn show just how complex and interconnected urban development issues are. The emerging paradigm is one that integrates transportation planning into a broader metropolitan development strategy.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-19T22:57:42+00:00Categories: ACCESS 33, Fall 2008|Tags: , , , |
Read More

California Futures: Accommodating Growth In an Era of Climate Change and Rising Fuel Prices

Elizabeth Deakin

Sometime between 2025 and 2030, California's population will reach 50 million. During this same period, the state (and indeed the entire world) must find effective ways to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in hopes of slowing and reversing climate change. California has committed to such reductions in SB 32 and Executive Order S-3-05; the state has pledged to reduce GHG to 2000 levels by 2010 (11 percent below business-as-usual), to 1990 levels by 2020 (25 percent below business-as-usual), and to eighty percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-30T21:58:31+00:00Categories: ACCESS 32, Spring 2008|Tags: |
Read More

The Challenge of Urban Transportation in California

Elizabeth Deakin and Robert Cervero

As California grows, increased travel from more households, business activity, and goods movement will surely increase greenhouse gas emissions, lead to more congestion and air pollution, and damage ecosystems and neighborhoods—unless we change the basics of travel in California. We need to take action now to deliver a sustainable transportation system that provides the mobility and accessibility necessary for a prosperous economy, and to find ways of doing so that also assure a healthy environment, social equity, and a high quality of life. Here are some ideas for managing, improving, and reworking our urban transport systems that are proven best practices and, with legislative leadership, could be more widely utilized.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-30T21:58:44+00:00Categories: ACCESS 32, Spring 2008|Tags: , , |
Read More

Teaching With Mel

Elizabeth Deakin

Mel Webber taught both planning theory and transportation policy to graduate students in the Department of City and Regional Planning. I had the good fortune to co-teach the transportation policy class with him in the late 1980s, shortly before his retirement from the department. We each took responsibility for some of the sessions, but both of us participated in nearly every class. When it was Mel’s turn, he rarely lectured. Sometimes he started the class with a slide show or a few transparencies, then opened up the session to discussion. At other times he came to class with brief introductory remarks and an example or two, plus a list of questions to debate.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-30T22:16:36+00:00Categories: ACCESS Special Issue, Winter 2006-2007|Tags: , , |
Read More

Editorial: Shuttles For The First And Last Mile

Elizabeth Deakin

Transit operators faced with sharp revenue shortfalls due to the economic downturn have reduced or eliminated feeder bus services. Feeder services often carry only five to ten passengers per run, with costs in the range of $6 to $10 per one-way trip, and so are prime targets for cost-cutting measures. Trunk line routes, in contrast, carry two to three times more riders. What happens when feeder services disappear or are sharply cut back? Some former users are able to walk to the trunk line bus or rail service, and some can drive to a station, park, and ride transit the rest of the way. But many others, no longer able to navigate their first and last mile on a shuttle, give up and drive to work instead, adding to the traffic load on city streets and freeways.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-30T22:31:03+00:00Categories: ACCESS 25, Fall 2004|Tags: |
Read More

Director’s Report: The University of California Transportation Center: 15 Years of Accomplishment

Elizabeth Deakin

UCTC has just turned fifteen; so it seems an appropriate time to assess our accomplishments. Clearly, our most important products have been transportation professionals. We’ve supported over a thousand students, nearly all of them now working for state and local transportation agencies and as transportation specialists in the private sector. We’ve helped educate over a hundred PhDs, many of whom are now transportation faculty members at universities across the US. And we’ve sponsored several dozen conferences, training sessions, and seminars for practicing professionals here in California and beyond.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-30T22:44:56+00:00Categories: ACCESS 23, Fall 2003|Tags: , |
Read More

Trends And Policy Choices: A Research Agenda

Elizabeth Deakin

The US faces significant challenges in transportation as its population grows and as it adapts its lifestyles to new technologies. Well-planned research will shed light on the issues while helping transportation systems contribute to a more productive economy, a stable and high-quality environment, and high quality of life.

Download the PDF.

2017-05-30T22:45:59+00:00Categories: ACCESS 23, Fall 2003|Tags: |
Read More
Copyright © 1992 - 2015 The Regents of the University of California.
ACCESS is sponsored by UCCONNECT
XFacebook
Go to Top