Bringing the Convenience of Expedia to Paratransit
During the recent Thanksgiving holiday, a record 30 million-plus Americans traveled by air, and millions more will take to the skies before the clock strikes 2019. Notably, less than 10 percent of those travelers used a traditional travel agent to book their flights. Consumer travel planning has undergone a technological revolution. Today, the vast majority of travelers enjoy the convenience of online tools like Expedia or flight aggregators and metasearch engines, such as Google Flights, to explore flight options across …
The Devil is in the Details: Securely Sharing Transportation Data
Hacks. Leaks. Theft. Every week seems to have a new scandal about the misuse of data. Yet, data — and its sharing — are the lifeblood of many of the technological innovations we see across every major industry. How you shop, eat, and even make friends has been completely transformed by data-driven technologies. And transportation is no different. For transportation systems to work effectively, they need to both collect information about users and relay accurate information to those users. …
Threats to Infrastructure Funding Could Undermine Successful Local Development Efforts
Well-designed, transit-rich neighborhoods provide many benefits to residents of all ages, as I document in, “Independence Found in Downsizing to a Transit Rich Neighborhood.” These neighborhoods also provide dividends to the larger community, generating higher property values, rents, and revenue than real estate located further away from high quality public transportation services. Cities as diverse as Seattle, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Denver, Detroit, and Washington, DC have all strengthened their regional economies through investment in transit-oriented development (TOD). And because their residents …
Innovation brings new transportation option to rural America
Most of us take our mobility for granted. We grab our keys and head out to work, buy groceries, and shuttle our kids to movies and soccer practice—all without a second thought. But for the one-third of Americans who don’t drive and many others who lack access to a working vehicle, transportation options don’t come easy—especially in rural America, where transportation has long been a seemingly intractable problem. The technology revolution is showing potential to help solve that problem and …
Communities See Rising Livability Index Scores With Policy Adoption
By Jana Lynott & Shannon Guzman, AARP Public Policy Institute Communities across the country are taking steps to become more livable, and AARP is tracking their progress. Today the AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) posted new data to its Livability Index based on an update of 19 of the index’s 20 policies.[1] A powerful free tool that anyone can access at www.aarp.org/livabilityindex, the Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that affect people’s …
Too Many Lives Cut Short on Our Nation’s Roads
In 2009, a truck struck and killed Beverly Shelton’s grandson, Zachary, who was walking inside a marked crosswalk and accompanied by an adult. The driver had rolled through the stop sign rather than make a complete stop. Since the time of Zachary’s death, another 32,000-plus pedestrians have been killed in the United States. A pedestrian is killed every two hours and injured every eight minutes on our nation’s roads. Unfortunately, these tragedies are rising at a distressing rate. From 2009 …
