Solutions that put people first.

Transportation Economics

Transportation economics isn’t just about financing and fares—it’s about the choices people make every day, from where a family chooses to live to how a commuter gets to work. These decisions don’t happen in a vacuum—they’re shaped by costs, incentives, and trade-offs.

Smart transportation investments do more than help people get from point A to point B. They can expand job opportunities, improve safety, and support a healthier environment. But every decision involves trade-offs—Should we focus on transit reliability or coverage? When does it make sense to replace on-street parking with passenger loading zones? Should we consider a transportation impact fee or a sales tax increase to fund new infrastructure? These aren’t just technical questions; they reflect a community’s values, priorities, and aspirations.

Transportation economics helps make these choices clearer. By understanding how people may respond to different policies and investments, we help clients make informed decisions that improve mobility, strengthen communities, and make the best use of their resources.

Our Expertise

Clients value our counsel to:

• Look Beyond Costs and Benefits: The real action in transportation economics is often in the trade-offs and how incentives ripple through a system.
• Consider the Experience: We think about movement as an experience, not just a number—speed matters, but so does the experience; convenience, comfort, reliability, and even the costs of uncertainty all shape behavior.
• Understand Unintended Consequences: Flag potential secondhand effects—every intervention creates new dynamics related to travel, economic development, investment, and politics.
• Navigate Competing Priorities and Interests: Help navigate the messy, overlapping layers of regulation, politics, and interests and understand how realities can shape what’s actually possible.
• Explore Behavior-changing Tactics: Experiment with what actually changes behavior—Travel Demand Management (TDM) sounds technical, but at its heart, it’s about human psychology. What is going to influence travel behavior and what won’t?

Why We’re Trusted

Our use of advanced data analytics, modeling, and a commitment to continuous improvement keeps our insights fresh and forward-looking. Here are a few reasons why agencies and communities trust us:

• Balancing TDM Plans with Development and Financing: We help clients weigh the trade-offs between parking supply, TDM costs, and market requirements. In regions with trip caps and TDM mandates, we’ve guided developers on cutting parking construction costs while meeting both lender and municipal standards. Our approach helps meet sustainability goals without compromising project viability.
• Applying Economic Principles to Assess Trade-Offs: Through classical and behavioral economics, we inform evidence-based decisions on tolling strategies, pricing elasticities, and safety priorities. For example, for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) North Berkeley Station, we asked, “How many riders must park here, with no other choice?” By considering walk/bike distances, nearby station capacity, and remote work trends, BART justified minimal replacement parking in a new transit-oriented development.
• Identifying Solutions to Systemic Funding Gaps: Many communities rely on transportation funding sources that are not tethered to key factors like inflation or volatility in external funding streams. Our expertise in the full suite of transportation funding options unlocks funding doors for busy communities. Recently, we helped Skagit County, Washington identify three untapped funding sources to address a lack of funding for both maintenance and the construction of new roads, sidewalks, and trails.
• Simplifying the Complex: From TDM to transit expansions, we cut through complexity, clearly showing how policies, incentives, and infrastructure decisions affect behavior and outcomes.

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