UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

2018 Fall Innovative Mobility Speaker Series
2018-11-08 00:00 - 23:59 (America/Los_Angeles)
2018 Fall Innovative Mobility Speaker Series

Realistic Prospects for Vehicle Automation in the Years Ahead and their Implications for Mobility with Steven Shladover
Extraordinary Innovation at Metro with Joshua Schank
New Mobility: Lys Mendez and Marla Westervelt of Bird
Robert Poole: Rethinking America’s Highway Institutions
Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future – Dan Sperling, UC Davis

Spring 2019 Lecture Series on Resilient, New Mobility
2019-04-17 - 2019-05-08
Spring 2019 Lecture Series on Resilient, New Mobility
Unintended Consequences of Autonomous Vehicles | Adam Millard-Ball, UC Santa Cruz
Towards Resilient Infrastructure for a Changing Climate and Future | Mikhail Chester, Arizona State University
Model Checking in a Time of Simulation | Timothy Brathwaite, Lyft
Bringing Congestion Pricing to LA | Joshua Schank, Metro
Building Traveler-Centric Methods to Design Safe and Functional Urban and Intercity Transportation Infrastructure | Megan Ryerson, University of Pennsylvania
Representing the Underrepresented: Making the Case for Digital and Inclusive Data for Travel Activity Studies | Tierra Bills, University of Michigan
Financing California’s Transportation Infrastructure: A Capital Markets Perspective | Alex Zaman, Citi

Designing the 30-Minute City
2019-05-16
Designing the 30-Minute City
Martin Wachs Lecture || May 16, 2019 || UCLA
Presented by: David Levinson, University of Sydney
The 12th annual Martin Wachs Distinguished Lecture will be held May 16 at UCLA Luskin School of Pubic Affairs. David Levinson is professor in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney and adjunct faculty in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering at the University of Minnesota. The 30-minute isochrone has long defined people’s use of cities — from ancient times through the trams era to modern times. Networks and land use co-evolve with technology subject to the constraints of available time. There are opportunities (low-hanging fruit) to use design to reduce the costs of travel and thus increase access for relatively little monetary outlay. This talk discusses both the measurement of accessibility, why it matters, and how it might affect traveler behavior, institutional behavior, and public policy. Looking at data from rail and tram development in Sydney from the 1800s and Australia today, implications about the effects of accessibility are described.
Levinson received the 1995 Tiebout Prize in Regional Science for the paper “Location, Relocation, and the Journey to Work.” From 1989 to 1994, he worked as a transportation planner, developing integrated transportation and land-use models for Montgomery County, Maryland. He then applied those models for multimodal network planning and growth management. Levinson has authored or edited several books, including Spontaneous Access, The End of Traffic and the Future of Transport, The Transportation Experience, and Planning for Place and Plexus, as well as numerous peer reviewed articles. He is the editor of the Journal of Transport and Land Use. He has a PhD in transportation engineering from Berkeley and his dissertation “On Whom the Toll Falls,” argued that local decision-making about managing and financing roads will most likely lead to direct road pricing, which will allow the efficient allocation of scarce road resources (and thus reduce congestion).
The full recording can be found here.

TransportationCampLA @ UCLA
2019-07-13
TransportationCampLA @ UCLA
UCLA ITS Event | July 13, 2019 | UCLA Campus
TransportationCamp LA is an open venue for sharing and learning about the region’s transportation issues and successes. It is not a formal conference – rather, as an unconference, it is driven entirely by attendees’ interests and experiences. Sessions are determined at the beginning of the day and are drawn from proposals and ideas that attendees submit. A session can be any format: a presentation, an open discussion, a demonstration, a panel, or even a group exercise or game.
This event is open to advocates, professionals, community members, and everyone passionate about mobility in Los Angeles and Southern California.
More info here.

The 29th Annual UCLA Arrowhead Symposium
2019-10-20 - 2019-10-22
The 29th Annual UCLA Arrowhead Symposium
UCLA ITS & Lewis Center Event | October 20 – 22, 2019 | Lake Arrowhead, Calif.
The annual UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium hosts leaders and stakeholders from the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors for thoughtful discussion around the connections and conflicts between transportation, land use, and the environment. For the past 28 years, attendees have tackled the local policies, influences, and consequences related to climate change.
This year’s theme is Routes to Opportunity: Connecting Equity and Transportation.
More info at this link here.

ITS Fall 2019 Lecture Series
2019-10-23 - 2019-12-02
ITS Fall 2019 Lecture Series
UCLA ITS Event | Multiple Dates | UCLA Campus
“California High Speed Rail: Origin and Possible Destinations” with Martin Wachs (UCLA)
“Where to Put the Port? The Free Harbor Fight and the Development of Los Angeles” with Eric Morris (Clemson University)
“Drive to Precarity: A Political History of Work, Regulation, & Labor Advocacy in San Francisco’s Taxi and Uber Economies” with Veena Dubal (UC Hastings College of Law)
“Scootershare, Carshare, Bikeshare, and the Role of Public Policy” with Francie Stefan (City of Santa Monica)
“How to Make Money Moving People Around Cities (Hint: Best of Luck!)” with Joshua Schank (LA Metro)
“Anticipating a World of Automated Transport: Opportunities for Vehicle- and Ride-Sharing Systems” with Kara Kockelman (University of Texas)

Integrating for Social Justice
2019-11-14
Integrating Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Planning for Social Justice and Carbon Reduction: Finding a Way that Works

Martin Wachs Lecture || November 14, 2019 || UC Berkeley
Presented by: Elizabeth Deakin, UC Berkeley
Elizabeth Deakin’s research focuses on transportation and land use policy and the environmental impacts of transportation. She has published over 200 articles, book chapters, and reports on topics ranging from environmental justice to transportation pricing to development exactions and impact fees. She currently is carrying out a series of studies on urban development and transportation in China, Latin America, and India as well as in California.
Deakin is professor emerita of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley, where she also is an affiliated faculty member of the Energy and Resources Group and the Master of Urban Design group. She formerly served as Director of the University of California Transportation Research Center (1998-2008) and co-director of the UC Berkeley Global Metropolitan Studies Initiative (2005-2008).
The full recording can be found here.

UCLA at TRB 2020
2020-01-12 - 2020-01-16
UCLA at TRB 2020
UCLA ITS Participation | Jan. 12-16, 2020 | Washington, D.C.
UCLA ITS had 18 presentations from faculty, affiliated researchers and students at the TRB 99th Annual Meeting. For a full list of presentations, click here.
UCLA faculty and students were awarded the Pyke Johnson Award for a paper on the mobility needs of aging adults. Read more here.
Students received recognition for their poster presentations and recent capstone projects.

InterActions LA: Uplifting Women's Safety in Transportation
2020-04-03
InterActions LA: Uplifting Women’s Safety in Transportation
UCLA Lewis Center Event | April 3, 2020 | Virtual Event
InterActions LA discussed the opportunities to improve safety for women, girls, and other vulnerable populations as they travel throughout the Los Angeles region. Too often, people in these groups feel unsafe in public and this inhibits their freedom, independence and quality of life. This event presented new research by UCLA professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris on public transit safety from LA and around the world, along with real-world examples and thoughts for advancing safety for everyone. Participants had an opportunity to exchange their best ideas with each other and engage deeply on solutions to advance mobility justice for women, girls, and everyone.
The full recording and materials can be found at this link here.

MTI Research Snaps Presents COVID-19 and State-Generated Transportation Funds in California
2020-05-14
MTI Research Snaps Presents COVID-19 and State-Generated Transportation Funds in California
Mineta Transportation Institute Event | May 14, 2020 | Virtual Event
The COVID-19 public health emergency has drastically changed every aspect of California life, including reducing personal travel by as much as half in many regions. As a result, transportation revenues are plummeting because user fees produce a large share of resources needed to operate California’s transportation system. This research used simple spreadsheet models to estimate the impact of different scenarios for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic on state-generated transportation revenues. The model covers the SB1 package of gasoline taxes, diesel taxes, and two annual fees levied on vehicles.
The full recording can be found at this link: https://youtu.be/i9SqP8soXB0

Transit Past, Present and Future
2020-05-15
UCLA Luskin Virtual Summit Series — Session 10: Transit Past, Present and Future
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Event | May 15, 2020 | Virtual Event
The role and usage of public transit in America has changed much over the past century, past decade, and even past few months in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In this webinar, faculty affiliated with the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies discussed the evolution of transit and its implications for the weeks, months, and years ahead.
Full recording can be found at this link here.

2020 UCLA Arrowhead Symposium
2020-10-19 - 2020-10-30
Not Back to Normal: Mapping a Just Transportation Recovery from COVID-19, a remote learning series by the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium
This year’s Not ‘Back to Normal’: Mapping a Just Transportation Recovery from COVID-19, a remote learning series presented by the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium, considered the transportation system before, during, and after COVID-19.
COVID-19 has produced a profound shock to transportation systems already rife with inequities and inefficiencies. The intensity and speed with which COVID-19 spread through communities around the globe forced quick and often difficult adaptations by historically-rigid, slow-changing systems, casting numerous transportation challenges and inequities into sharp relief.
The 2020 UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium found that smart policy and planning choices made as part of COVID-19 response and recovery can lead to more just, equitable, and sustainable transportation systems. The series highlighted the work of transportation practitioners and advocates working on a just post-COVID transition. What are the economic, social, and racial dimensions of transportation in the pandemic, and what is being done to pursue a just and equitable transportation recovery? Are there new political opportunities for environmental justice and climate action in transportation? Finally, COVID-19 has required adapting formal processes for public engagement; what can we learn from this period to form new models for public engagement?
This is a multi-day event with a total of nine sessions over the course of three weeks.
More information, along with video recordings can be found here.

New Routes to Equity
2021-02-11 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UCLA Urban Planning and UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Perloff Lecture Series on Race in Transportation
New Routes to Equity: The Future of Transportation in the Black Community
Dr. Regan Patterson will present from her report for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. This report highlights ongoing challenges affecting African Americans in the transportation system and provides policy recommendations for how shared mobility, electric vehicles, and autonomous vehicles can equitably serve the Black community. She will also discuss her research that focuses on the intersection of transportation, air quality engineering, and environmental justice.

REGAN F. PATTERSON is the Transportation Equity Research Fellow for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Incorporated (CBCF). Prior to joining the CBCF, Dr. Patterson was a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, where she examined the linkages between racial residential segregation and air pollution.
She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. While at UC Berkeley, she was a recipient of the US EPA STAR Fellowship, the Switzer Environmental Fellowship, and the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellowship. Dr. Patterson’s dissertation research focused on the impact of diesel truck emission control regulations and freeway routing policies on air pollution and environmental equity. Parts of her dissertation are published in the peer-reviewed journals Atmospheric Environment and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Additionally, she has conducted air quality research in Kenya and China. Dr. Patterson has taught courses on the environment, environmental justice, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the past, she interned with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in their Community Engagement Office. She also interned with the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Dr. Patterson holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UCLA and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley.
MODERATOR:
JUAN MATUTE is deputy director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. Juan researches innovation in public transit, parking, and mobility services in response to climate change, congestion, and urban market dynamics. He led UCLA’s work on two strategic transit plans for the State of California and long-range climate action plans for Southern California communities. Juan has worked with research teams to quantify the number of parking spaces in Los Angeles County, assess life-cycle environmental impacts of the Los Angeles Metro system, and examine the cost-effectiveness of GHG reductions from California’s High Speed Rail.

The full recording to this event can be found here.

Attendees of this event can claim up to 1.5 AICP CM units.
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Human-Powered Mobility and Just Transition
2021-02-18 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UCLA Urban Planning and UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Perloff Lecture Series on Race in Transportation
The Human Infrastructure of Sustainable Transportation Systems: Human-Powered Mobility and Just Transition
What role can bicycling play in healing the intersecting harms of racial and climate injustice? Activists have learned that individual mode shift alone will not correct the extractive social effects of transportation governance and industries, but collective actions point toward regenerative possibilities.
Professor Lugo will share ideas from her collaborations in mobility justice to argue for the significance of human-powered mobility in moving the transportation field toward a just transition.

Cultural anthropologist ADONIA E. LUGO, Ph.D. is the chair of the Urban Sustainability Department at Antioch University Los Angeles. She was born and raised in traditional and unceded Acjachemen territory and now lives and works in traditional and unceded Tongva territory. Professor Lugo began investigating sustainable mobility, race, and space during her graduate studies at UC Irvine when she co-created CicLAvia and the organization today known as People for Mobility Justice in Los Angeles. After receiving her doctorate in 2013, she worked at the League of American Bicyclists in Washington, D.C. as a national leader in developing “bike equity.” In addition to her role at Antioch LA, Professor Lugo is a core organizer of The Untokening and the co-founder of the Mobility Justice Research Network.
MODERATOR

MADELINE BROZEN is Deputy Director of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and a transportation researcher. Her research focuses on the transportation needs for vulnerable populations and how transportation connects people to opportunity, most recently focusing on transportation needs to healthcare. Her previous research includes work on parklet design and evaluation, park design for older adults, and street performance metrics. Madeline is a lecturer in GIS for the UCLA Urban Planning Department and commonly incorporates spatial analysis in her work. She previously managed the UCLA Complete Streets Initiative, was the founding editor-in-chief of Transfers Magazine, and is a member of the Investing in Place advisory board.

The full recording can be found here.

Attendees of this event can claim up to 1.5 AICP CM units.
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Safe for Whom?
2021-02-25 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UCLA Urban Planning and UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Perloff Lecture Series on Race in Transportation
Safe for Whom? Transportation Safety in the Context of Planning and Infrastructure Inequities
While cyclists and pedestrians are vulnerable road users and face significant safety threats on roadways, environmental conditions in historically marginalized communities compound such vulnerability for people of color. In this lecture, professor Barajas will take a mobility justice perspective to contextualize street safety for cyclists and pedestrians. He will share findings from his research that shows how identity shapes the way cyclists experience the streetscape, how safety has multiple meanings particularly for people of color, and how inequity in the distribution of infrastructure compounds police injustice in Black communities. The work calls upon planners to be attentive to the intersections of identity and mobility to ensure equitable transportation systems.

JESUS M. BARAJAS is an assistant professor of Environmental Science and Policy and affiliated faculty at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. His research at the intersection of transportation planning and environmental justice addresses how systems of inequities influence travel behavior and how policymakers can and should respond. He has led projects on topics including travel behavior, transportation safety, and the implications of policing on transportation planning.

MODERATOR:
BRIAN D. TAYLOR is Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, and Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA. His research centers on transportation policy and planning. Professor Taylor explores how society pays for transportation systems and how these systems in turn serve the needs of people who — because of low income, disability, location, or age — have lower levels of mobility. Topically, his research examines travel behavior, transportation economics & finance, and politics & planning.

The full recording can be found here.

Attendees of this event can claim up to 1.5 AICP CM units.
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Emerging Scholars Transportation Research Symposium
2021-03-02 - 2021-03-03
UCLA at 3rd Annual Emerging Scholars Transportation Research SymposiumThe Third Annual Emerging Scholars Transportation Research Symposium, hosted by the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center, will be taking place on March 2nd and 3rd online. This webinar will feature presentations by PSR students and researchers on their work. UCLA PhD candidates Hannah King and Teo Wickland will be presenting on their research as well as UCLA professor Dr. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris. The event includes keynote presentations from Senator Fran Pavley and Dr. Susan Handy. See below for more details.
Event information can be found here.

Policing the Open Road
2021-03-04 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The 14th Annual Martin Wachs Distinguished Lecture in Transportation
presented as part of the UCLA Urban Planning and UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Perloff Lecture Series
Columbia Law professor Sarah Seo‘s book “Policing the Open Road” is a thought-provoking look at how the automobile fundamentally changed the nature of police work, and thus the conception of freedom, in the United States. These themes are close to transportation studies, but too often ignored in transportation academia. These issues, moreover, will only become more salient as broader swaths of transportation academia seek to understand and study the role of race and ethnicity in freedom of mobility. Professor Seo will be joined by UCLA professor Genevieve Carpio, whose book, “Collisions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race,” documents the effects of police-imposed limits to mobility on Latinx populations in Southern California’s Inland Empire.
Support the Wachs LectureSARAH SEO is a professor at Columbia Law School, where she teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, and legal history. Her book, “Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom” (Harvard University Press 2019), has been reviewed widely, including in The New Yorker, listed in Smithsonian Magazine’s ‘Ten Best History Books of 2019,’ and cited in judicial opinions. In addition to publishing in academic journals, she’s written for The Atlantic, Boston Review, Lapham’s Quarterly, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New York Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Since the publication of “Policing the Open Road,” professor Seo has been advocating for the removal of civil traffic law enforcement from police duties.
Before joining Columbia, she spent four years at Iowa Law School. She received her A.B. and Ph.D. in history, both at Princeton, and J.D. at Columbia Law School. Between law school and grad school, she clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
GENEVIEVE CARPIO is an Assistant Professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies. Her research and teaching interests include relational studies of race, 20th century U.S. history, (sub)urban history, and spatial theory, particularly as it relates to notions of place and mobility. She has a long-standing interest in the public and digital humanities, particularly as it relates to the California Inland Empire, where she was raised. She is the author of a book on spatial mobility, both permission to move freely and prohibitions on movement, and racial formation in the multiracial suburbs of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire entitled Collisions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race (University of California Press, 2019).
MODERATOR:
MICHAEL MANVILLE is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Both his research and teaching focus on the relationships between transportation and land use, and on local public finance. Much of his research concerns the tendency of local governments to hide the costs of driving in the property market, through land use restrictions intended to fight traffic congestion. These land use laws only sometimes reduce congestion, and can profoundly influence the supply and price of housing.
The full recording can be found below.

Attendees of this event can claim up to 1.5 AICP CM units.
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Compton Cowboys and California Love
2021-03-11 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UCLA Urban Planning and UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Perloff Lecture Series on Race in Transportation
Compton Cowboys and California Love
Multimedia artist Walter Thompson-Hernández shares from his book, “The Compton Cowboys,” and latest NPR Podcast California Love.
In Compton, California, 10 Black riders on horseback cut an unusual profile, their cowboy hats tilted against the hot Los Angeles sun. They are the Compton Cowboys, their small ranch one of the very last in a formerly semirural area of the city that has been home to African American horse riders for decades. “The Compton Cowboys” is a story about trauma and transformation, race and identity, compassion, and ultimately, belonging. Walter Thompson-Hernández paints a unique and unexpected portrait of this city, pushing back against stereotypes to reveal an urban community in all its complexity, tragedy, and triumph.
California Love is a new audio memoir about Walter’s coming of age in Los Angeles.

WALTER THOMPSON-HERNÁNDEZ is an award-winning journalist, writer, and host. He is a former New York Times writer and host who covered global subcultures for the paper between 2017-2020. He was named one of Quartz magazine’s “Top 50 creative people in the world,” in 2018. In 2019 he was awarded the prestigious Whiting Award for his book, The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland. He was awarded the “Yo Soy” award by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Instagram for his coverage of communities of color throughout the United States in 2019. He was named the 2020 “podcast host of the year” by ADWEEK for his NPR audio memoir, California Love. California Love was also named one of the best shows of 2020 by Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and The Atlantic.
MODERATOR:
EVELYN BLUMENBERG is the Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and a Professor of Urban Planning within the Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research examines the effects of urban structure — the spatial location of residents, employment, and services — on economic outcomes for low-wage workers, and on the role of planning and policy in shaping the spatial structure of cities. Recent projects include analyses of trends in transit ridership, gender and travel behavior, low-wage workers and the changing commute, and the relationship between automobile ownership and employment outcomes among the poor.

The full recording can be found below.

Attendees of this event can claim up to 1.5 AICP CM units.
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Challenges Facing Public Transit Before, During, and After COVID-19
2021-03-22 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UC ITS Webinar Series: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Public Transit
Public transit agencies are facing an existential crisis. Ridership is recovering, but it is only about half of pre-pandemic levels. Public health protocols have increased operating costs, while revenues — from both passenger fares and government subsidies — are down, in many cases dramatically. Current efforts are focused on how to stop the financial bleeding to ensure that public transit agencies can provide essential service and survive fiscally. But when or whether passengers, fare revenues, and government subsidies return to pre-pandemic levels remains an open question. Understanding the dimensions of these challenges and the opportunities to build public transit back better will require innovative thinking, collaboration with stakeholders and workers, and leadership. Experts from the UC Institute of Transportation Studies (UC ITS) will examine the challenges facing public transit operators large and small in California and the opportunities for recovery and renewal as part of a two-part webinar series.
Part I: Challenges Facing Public Transit Before, During, and After COVID-19
This webinar is the first in a two-part series exploring the challenges and opportunities facing public transit. UC ITS experts will review the challenges facing public transit operators leading up to and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, including changes in ridership, deepening fiscal issues, and growing social challenges related to homelessness, sexual harassment, and safety. The webinar will conclude with insights of a recent scenario planning exercise exploring how to build public transit back better in light of these many challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Brian D. Taylor – Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, UCLA
Susan Shaheen – Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris – Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning; UCLA
Jacob Wasserman – Research Project Manager, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

Find more information here.

Register

Key Considerations for Public Transit Moving Forward
2021-03-24 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UC ITS Webinar Series: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Public Transit
Public transit agencies are facing an existential crisis. Ridership is recovering, but it is only about half of pre-pandemic levels. Public health protocols have increased operating costs, while revenues — from both passenger fares and government subsidies — are down, in many cases dramatically. Current efforts are focused on how to stop the financial bleeding to ensure that public transit agencies can provide essential service and survive fiscally. But when or whether passengers, fare revenues, and government subsidies return to pre-pandemic levels remains an open question. Understanding the dimensions of these challenges and the opportunities to build public transit back better will require innovative thinking, collaboration with stakeholders and workers, and leadership. Experts from the UC Institute of Transportation Studies (UC ITS) will examine the challenges facing public transit operators large and small in California and the opportunities for recovery and renewal as part of a two-part webinar series.
Part II: Key Considerations for Public Transit Moving Forward
This webinar is the second in a two-part series exploring the challenges and opportunities facing public transit. UC ITS experts will share key considerations for the recovery of public transit and for achieving the state’s broader vision for more sustainable, equitable, and cost-effective transportation. Topics to be addressed include: better serving the needs of mobility disadvantaged populations; leveraging new business models, technologies, and services to attract new riders; working more effectively with the private sector; protecting workers and jobs; and financing the future of public transportation.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Shaheen – Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley
Evelyn Blumenberg – Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA
Susan Pike – Professional Researcher, Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis
Juan Matute – Deputy Director, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies
Mike Manville – Associate Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA

Find more information here.

Register

2021 UCLA Arrowhead Symposium
2021-09-30 - 2021-10-28
Transit in TransitionThe 2021 UCLA Arrowhead Symposium Series: Transit in Transition considers the current state of public transit in the United States and transit’s options for the future. The pandemic accelerated the pre-existing trend of declining ridership. Transit agencies have built fixed route and rapid transit infrastructure to serve commercial centers and downtowns, but expanding remote work brings uncertainty to recovery of demand in these areas.
The more flexible bus is the workhorse of many transit systems, including Los Angeles, and has catered to lower-income transit users. An enhanced focus on equity often brings additional resources for the bus and meeting the public’s mobility needs through alternative shared mobility options.
How should transit agencies define success? Is it increasing ridership, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, decreasing traffic congestion, providing access to opportunities, or something else? And how do they achieve this success in the future, given broader socio-economic trends that impact transit use?
This event will feature five webinars between Sept. 30 – Oct. 28, 2021. Attendees are eligible to obtain AICP CM Credits.
Learn MoreSchedule of EventsSept. 30Oct. 7Oct. 14Oct. 21Oct. 28Sept. 30
Transit before and during COVID-19
THUR Sept. 30
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. PT
COVID-19 has exacerbated trends of increasing transit ridership and increasing costs that existed before the pandemic. What has happened? What changes will be short-lived? Which may change transit for the longer term?
Speakers: Regan Patterson, Brian Taylor, Kari Watkins
Learn more >>
Oct. 7
Money for Transit
THUR Oct. 7
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. PT
Transit’s finances have been temporarily boosted by a series of federal stimulus bills. California’s budget surplus has also provided additional funding for transit. But what happens after agencies exhaust these one-time infusions of funds?
Speakers: Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Robert Puentes
Learn more >>
Oct. 14
Transit for People
THUR Oct. 14
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. PT
Public transit exists to serve people and their mobility needs. This mission as a provider of social service includes addressing societal problems, like homelessness, that occur on transit, enhancing the safety of transit passengers, and ensuring that fares are not a barrier to meeting mobility needs.
Speakers: Tierra Bills, David Bragdon, Therese McMillan, Jessica Meany
Learn more >>
Oct. 21
Transit Now
THUR Oct. 21
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. PT

Hear from the Federal Transit Administration about relief specific programs and program changes that will assist transit agencies in their recovery. The past 18 months have brought some of the most significant changes to the FTA’s programs in the past 50 years. What is on the immediate horizon going forward? Doran Barnes, Executive Director of Foothill Transit, will offer a response.
Speakers: Veronica Vanterpool, Felicia James, Bruce Robinson, Doran Barnes
Learn more >>
Oct. 28
Transit’s Future
THUR Oct. 28
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. PT
We’ll present the results from two academic approaches to explore the future of public transit and public mobility: the UC ITS Resilient and Innovative Mobility Initiative and UCLA ITS work on the California 100 project.
Speakers: Susan Shaheen, Jeffrey Tumlin, Jacob Wasserman
Learn more >>

Transit in Transition @ UCLA
2022-04-01 09:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Covel Commons – Grand Horizon Room, 330 DeNeve Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
UCLA Arrowhead Symposium: Transit in Transition @ UCLAAfter 2.5 years, we’re holding our first in-person event. The UCLA Arrowhead Symposium: Transit in Transition reconvenes at UCLA on Friday, April 1 after a successful online series this past fall.
Over the course of the 2021 series, we assessed the state of public transit in a time of intense uncertainty. We explored the pandemic’s impact on operations, examined the post-bailout financial landscape, discussed ongoing equity issues, and hosted a roundtable with federal officials, who relayed the Biden administration’s plans for resuscitating public transit. We closed with a look into the future: Will transit ever resemble its prior self? And is a return to “normal” even preferable — or is there something to be gained from an alternate path?
We will highlight the work from our UCLA ITS Public Transit Initiative and the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies Public Transit and Shared Mobility Recovery program.
Review Event Program & SpeakersRegister

The Legacy of Martin Wachs
2022-05-13 13:30 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | DeCafe Perloff Hall, 365 Portolo Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
For better than a half-century, Professor Martin Wachs was a leading educator, researcher, and influencer of transportation policy and planning at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the RAND Corporation. This afternoon event will bring together some of his many former students, colleagues, and friends to reflect on his influence and legacy as a teacher and mentor, as a planning and transportation scholar, as well as his dedication to influencing policy and practice for the better.
UCLA DeCafe Perloff Hall
365 Portolo Plaza

Schedule of Events
This event will include a programmed portion with speakers, followed by a reception.
1:30 p.m. :: Welcoming Remarks & Reflection
Brian D. Taylor, Professor and Director, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies
1:45 p.m. :: Marty’s Influence as Teacher and Mentor
Cornelius Nuworsoo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Megan Ryerson, University of Pennsylvania
Paul Sorenson, Cambridge Systematics
Gian-Claudia Sciara, University of Texas, Austin
Moderator: Asha Weinstein Agrawal, San José State University
2:30 p.m. :: Marty’s Influence on Transportation and Planning Scholarship
Evelyn Blumenberg, UCLA
Genevieve Giuliano, University of Southern California
Jonathan Levine, University of Michigan
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, UCLA
Moderator: Brian Taylor, UCLA
3:45 p.m. :: Marty’s Influence on Policy and Practice
Maria Mehranian, Cordoba Corporation
Ryan Russo, Oakland Department of Transportation
Robert Skinner, Transportation Research Board
Moderator: Donald Shoup, UCLA
4:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. :: Reception

Donations
For those interested, please consider donating to the UCLA Urban Planning Professors Emeriti Fellowship Fund in memory of Martin Wachs. Proceeds from this fund support student scholarships.
Make a Gift TodayHealth and Safety
In accordance with UCLA health and safety protocols, all attendees will be required to provide a photo ID and either proof of full vaccination status or negative COVID test (3 days for PCR tests and 1 day for antigen tests). These protocols may change to align with the most current campus policy.

California's Housing Crossroads
2022-10-16 - 2022-10-18 | UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center, 850 Willow Creek Rd, Lake Arrowhead, CA, 92352, United States
California’s Housing Crossroads
The 32nd Annual UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium
High land costs, a shortage of homes, and income inequality have led to a cost-burdened population facing one of the nation’s worst housing crises, which is acutely felt in coastal job centers and near public transportation infrastructure.
Housing policy is complex, but the solutions to the housing crisis don’t need to be. At this year’s UCLA Arrowhead Symposium, we’ll focus on how to make these solutions happen in California.
This invitation-only symposium is the go-to event for an in-depth examination of the interconnected planning and policy issues around transportation, land use, and the environment. Regular registration fee of $1,195 includes access to programming, 2 nights lodging, all meals and receptions, use of venue facilities.
For more information about the event, along with scholarship opportunities to attend, please visit www.uclaarrowheadsymposium.org.

The Spatial Dilemma of Sustainable Transportation and Just Affordable Housing
2023-01-24 11:30 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
UCLA Housing, Neighborhood and Health Series: The Spatial Dilemma of Sustainable Transportation and Just Affordable Housing
Tuesday, Jan. 24
11:30 a.m. PST
Zoom webinar
California’s intense affordable housing crisis has highlighted the fundamental linkage between land use, transportation, climate policy, and equity. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the main contributor to climate change, is a priority policy goal for the state of California, and cutting vehicle miles traveled is a key mechanism for achieving this goal. In order to equitably achieve this reduction, it is critical that affordable housing options be situated in areas that facilitate less driving, through reliable access to public transit, walkability, and proximity to employment. These elements, among others, can combine to create more sustainable communities.
We hope you can join us for this research seminar where Dr. Ong will discuss his project that examines the spatial distribution of tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) units and Low-income Housing Tax Credit units to understand whether geographic patterns and trends are consistent with climate change and equity goals.
Find reports and briefs associated with this project here.
Featured Speaker
Paul Ong, PhD
Research Professor, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Director, UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge
Gilbert Senior Research Fellow, UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate
This seminar is a joint endeavor brought to you by the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate’s Housing as Health Care Initiative and Gilbert Research Program in Real Estate, Finance and Urban Economics, the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

Biking while Black – Documentary Screening and Discussion
2023-02-07 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | James Bridges Theater, 235 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, 90095, United States
Biking while Black – Documentary Screening and Discussion
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 20236:30 – 8:15 p.m. PSTJames Bridges Theater
In a 30-minute documentary, BIKING WHILE BLACK: CONTINUING TO RIDE THROUGH DECRIMINALIZATION, DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND GENTRIFICATION incorporates narratives to dig deeper into solution-based storytelling and features the actions being taken by some of our leading Black bicyclists and BIPOC community-based organizations. Cast members are paving new roads to tackle the myths, the community safety conditions in Los Angeles, and celebrating Black joy on two wheels. Black and BIPOC lives continue to have an unseen connection to the realms of hope and resilience. Some of the key revelations that were spoken of during our interviews were on uplifting and educating our youth to become leaders and navigators in bicycling education and mechanics, safety education, and engagement, paired with mobility justice advocacy. The film connects these perspectives to transportation planning through speaking with agencies on the need to acknowledge, hire, and collaborate with community leaders who have been doing the work to help keep their multi-generational community members safe and informed. This second episode expands on the nine-minute short film, BIKING WHILE BLACK: HOW SAFE ARE BLACK LIVES BICYCLING?
Post-screening discussion with director Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, moderated by UCLA ITS Equity Research Manager Adonia Lugo.
More information: https://www.bikingwhileblack.com/
Read Panel RecapPanelists
Yolanda Davis-Overstreet
Yolanda Davis-Overstreet is a graduate of the Urban Sustainability Master’s Program at Antioch University. Her community service and consulting work revolve around community organizing and mobility justice, with a focus on pedestrian safety in communities of color. She is the founder of Ride in Living Color, a bicycling and mobility justice advocacy initiative that was started in 2011. Yolanda is a proud woman of color, mother, activist, and emerging social-justice filmmaker.
David Price
David Price serves as the current Director of Racial Equity for the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department within the City of Los Angeles. In this role, he leads the Empowerment and Equity team, Peace & Healing Centers, Reparations Advisory Commission, and employs a policy equity analysis across City programs and policies. Prior to joining LA Civil Rights, David worked under Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, overseeing the Mayor’s Interfaith Collective and Mayor’s Youth Council, as well as organizing and delivering resources to hard-to-reach communities. David was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles.
Rev. Patricia Strong-Fargas
Rev. Patricia Strong-Fargas was born in Jacksonville, Texas, and is a proud mother of two and grandmother of four. She is a graduate of California State Dominguez Hills, and went on to complete her master’s degree in Biblical Studies at Bible Believers College & Seminary. Currently, Patricia serves as a pastor and community activist. She is a founder of Mother’s Against Hazing and an active member of PUSH (Parents United to Stop Hazing), Faith for Safer Streets, and many other impactful local organizations. Across all of her work, she brings a passion for serving others and fighting for equality and social justice.
Adonia Lugo (moderator)
Cultural anthropologist Adonia E. Lugo was born and raised in traditional and unceded Acjachemen territory and now lives and works in traditional and unceded Tongva territory in Los Angeles. Adonia began investigating transportation, race, and space during her graduate studies at UC Irvine, when she co-created the Los Angeles open street event CicLAvia and the organization today known as People for Mobility Justice. Since receiving her doctorate in 2013, Adonia has applied her research on “human infrastructure” in sustainable mobility advocacy and helped to define the concept of “mobility justice.” Currently, Adonia is the Equity Research Manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, a core organizer of The Untokening, and a recent appointee to the California Transportation Commission.

Accessibility, Social Equity, and Contemporary Policy Debates
2023-02-28 | California Nanosystems Institute, UCLA Campus, 570 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Part of the Martin Wachs Distinguished Lecture Series and Meyer and Renee Luskin Lecture Series.
Robert Cervero works in the area of sustainable transportation policy and planning. He has consulted on numerous transportation and urban planning projects worldwide, most recently advising long-range planning in Dubai and Singapore. His most recent book, Beyond Mobility, won the 2019 National Urban Design Best Book Award. Dr. Cervero was a member of Berkeley’s city and regional planning faculty from 1980 to 2016, where he twice served as Department Chair, was the inaugural holder of the Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies, and directed both the University of California Transportation Center and the Institute of Urban and Regional Development. More recently he has held visiting faculty appointments at Tongji University in Shanghai and NYU-Abu Dhabi. During his doctoral studies in urban planning at UCLA, he worked under the supervision of his long-time mentor, Martin Wachs.
Martin Wachs’ seminal 1973 paper on accessibility as a social construct continues to influence urban planning policy and practice a half-century later. It also shaped a generation of research on, broadly speaking, the ‘transport-land use connection’, including my own. This talk probes a number of policy initiatives that implicitly aim to enhance physical access but for which social equity has been at best secondary and all too often an afterthought. Included here are regional jobs-housing balance initiatives, reverse-commute transit services, transit-oriented development (TOD), and formalization of public transport in a developing world context. Here I’ll revisit my own past work as well as that of others on such policy initiatives, drawing from global experiences, both empirically and inferentially. Policy reforms for advancing both physical access and social equity are reviewed and critiqued. The popularized movement toward the 15-minute city, for example, suggests a future of increased micro-mobility, creating new types of accessibility challenges, such as curb-access management. Implications of unfolding megatrends on accessibility and social equity in an increasingly resource-constrained, public-health conscientious world are discussed.

Check-in begins at 5:30pm with the discussion following at 6:00pm.
Public transportation: Big Blue Bus (Routes 2 and 17), Culver CityBus (Line 6), Metro
Ride-hailing locations: Gateway Plaza, Luskin Conference Center
On-site parking available for $14 (Lot 2, Lot 8)
The Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.

Luskin Summit 2023: Our Research in Action
2023-04-19 | UCLA Faculty Club, 480 Charles E. Young Drive E, Los Angeles, California, 90095
UCLA ITS research will be featured at this year’s Luskin Summit, during a morning breakout session
CALIFORNIA’S ZERO EMISSIONS VEHICLE PLANS— NECESSARY, BUT INSUFFICIENT
California plans to phase out new gasoline vehicle sales starting in three years and will eliminate all sales by 2035. It’s a necessary step toward public health, equity and climate goals. But is it sufficient? The Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA will lead a panel discussion about the consequences of rapid transportation electrification without addressing driving activity — and who is most likely to get left behind.
Information about the other breakout sessions and speakers can be found on the registration site.
OPENING AND CLOSING SESSIONS
Quality of Life Index
Former public official and current UCLA professor Zev Yaroslavsky will unveil the results of his eighth annual poll of Los Angeles County residents on their satisfaction with their lives across nine categories.
Closing Session on Homelessness
Ever-rising homelessness has been designated as an emergency by both the city and county of Los Angeles, yet roughly 70,000 unhoused people continue to sleep outside or in vehicles. Mayor Karen Bass and other elected officials have pledged to work together to address this complex issue in a compassionate, effective manner. What is actually being done? Get answers from some of the people directly involved in ensuring that shelter and supportive services are getting to those who need them most.
Register Here

UCLA Downtown Los Angeles Forum: Transforming Transportation
2024-03-21 | The California Endowment, 1000 Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA, 90012, United States
This in-person event showcased new research, analysis, and future research plans in TRACton: A Research Agenda For Just and Sustainable Transportation, a research and policy agenda that is a product of collaborative agenda-setting between UCLA researchers and members of community-based and advocacy organizations. Speakers and attendees pondered some of the pressing questions affecting transportation and land use in California:
How does a research agenda developed in collaboration by researchers and community advocates differ from the status quo for transportation research?
With an impending fiscal cliff and the continuing slog of post-pandemic ridership recovery, how will California transform public transit to achieve the state’s strategic vision of transit oriented development with less reliance on personal automobiles.
Climate change, housing affordability, unsafe roads, and the impending Olympic games all motivate the need to advance the pace and scale of transportation change. But achieving scale and agility require significant changes in public sector managerial approaches. What can transportation professionals do differently to transform transportation?
How can transit agencies overcome labor shortages that impair services and ridership?
What is known about racial injustices in siting freeways? What can communities do to repair the resultant harms?
EV adoption in California is taking off, but are environmentally-burned communities benefiting?
Claim Your CreditsAttendees who are members of the American Institute of Certified Planners can claim up to 4.5 CM credits from the American Planning Association’s website. Event #9286604.
Session RecordingsUCLA ITS is providing this video for archival purposes and for those who were unable to attend the event. The video is a low-resolution crop from a webcam at the venue. Spanish subtitles are included for the first two sessions on TRACtion.
Schedule

9:30 AM
Welcome
Juan Matute welcomes attendees and introduces the TRACtion process and its recommendations for researchers and policymakers in Los Angeles.

10 AM
TRACtion: A community-engaged research agenda for transportation sustainability and justice
TRACtion participants Oscar Zarate (community organizer), Andres Ramirez (mobility justice advocate), and Tierra Bills (Assistant Professor at UCLA) discuss the importance of partnering with communities to produce knowledge.

11:15 AM
TRACtion Research in Action
Researchers present work related to the TRACtion research agenda. In researching California’s transit labor recruitment and retention challenges, Jacob Wasserman and the research team found that pay raises are necessary but not sufficient to address labor shortages that impair services and ridership. Wasserman will discuss what else agencies should be doing. Manos Proussaloglou will present recent research into freeway planning choices made in California during the 1960s that displaced people of color and continue to reverberate today. Qiao Yu will share recent research on EV adoption in California that found improvements to air quality for everyone but have less impact in areas with existing environmental injustices.

12:15 PM
Lunch
Lunch is provided and attendees are invited to network and engage in discussions.

1:30 PM
Lessons Learned from Transforming Transportation: 2023 UCLA Arrowhead Symposium
Attendees of the 2023 UCLA Arrowhead Symposium on Transforming Transportation share key messages and lessons learned.

Sarah Jepson, Planning Director, SCAG
Emma Huang, Senior Consultant, InfraStrategies
Jody Litvak Executive Officer, Community Relations, LA Metro
Chelsea Richer, Principal, Fehr & Peers

2:45 PM
Transforming Transit in California
California State Transportation Undersecretary Mark Tollefson, ITS Senior Fellow and InfraStrategies Managing Partner Joshua Schank, and SCAG’s Partnerships for Innovative Deployment Manager Kate Kigongo discuss transit’s needs for transformation in California and offer solutions. Tollefson chairs California’s Transit Transformation Task Force, initiated by SB 125 to rethink funding and policies to set transit up for success well into the future.

3:45 PM
Closing Remarks
UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Director Brian Taylor offers closing remarks.

4 PM
Reception
Attendees will gather in the outdoor courtyard with appetizers and beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages.

SpeakersSpeakers will be added once confirmed.

Assistant ProfessorTierra Bills

Senior ConsultantEmma Huang

Chief Planning OfficerSarah Jepson

Executive Officer, Community Relations (Interim)Jody Litvak

Deputy DirectorJuan Matute

Assistant DirectorEmmanuel Proussaloglou

Executive DirectorAndres Ramirez

Managing Principal and Senior FellowJoshua Schank

Professor and DirectorBrian Taylor

UndersecretaryMark Tollefson

Research Program ManagerJacob Wasserman

PhD Candidate, Department of Environmental Health SciencesQiao Yu

Director, Organizing and Advocacy, Building Equity and TransitOscar Zarate

Manager, Partnerships for Innovative DevelopmentKate Kigongo

PrinicipalChelsea Richer

Assistant ProfessorTierra Bills
Tierra Bills is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering and Public Policy at UCLA. Dr. Bills is a thinker, teacher, and researcher committed to advancing equity is transportation systems and policies. She has over 10 years of experience developing and advancing travel demand and equity analysis methods. She holds a B.S in Civil Engineering Technology from Florida A&M University, and M.S and PhD degrees in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Research Areas:Access to Opportunities, New Mobility, Transportation & Communities

Senior ConsultantEmma Huang
Emma Huang is a Senior Consultant at InfraStrategies, a strategic advisory firm. She supports transportation agencies with strategic planning, policy, and innovation. Her clients include Lane Transit District, DART, SamTrans, and Charlotte Area Transit System. Emma has published white papers and perspectives on innovative transportation issues, including microtransit, bus only lanes, and fareless transit. Prior to joining InfraStrategies, as a Manager with Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation, Emma spent six years focused on advancing strategic initiatives for the agency. She has her MPP from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Chief Planning OfficerSarah Jepson
Sarah Jepson is the Chief Planning Officer at Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the nation’s largest Metropolitan Planning Organization. Her responsibilities include the development and implementation of the Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy, a long-range visioning plan that balances future mobility and housing needs with economic and environmental goals. Sarah also oversees the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, Federal Transportation Improvement Program, local funding programs and a comprehensive environmental analysis and compliance program. Prior to this role, she managed the agency’s Active Transportation Department leading the development of regional plans, funding programs and the Go Human Campaign. Sarah also served as the Sustainability Policy Manager for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and worked on growth management planning for the King County Executive in Seattle, Washington. She started her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Sarah received a BA in English from Miami University; and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Executive Officer, Community Relations (Interim)Jody Litvak
A Los Angeles native, Jody Litvak currently serves at LA Metro as Executive Officer for Community Relations leading a team focused on delivering the agency’s environmental and other planning studies, strengthening the agency’s partnerships with the 88 cities in Los Angeles County and other key stakeholders, as well as supporting an array of county-wide initiatives, bus and rail operations and more. She has a broad range of experience across the agency’s varied functions having worked in Operations, Planning, Government

Relations and others. She has been involved in some of the agency’s highest-profile efforts including the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, Purple Line Extension, NextGen Bus Plan, and the successful Measure R and Measure M efforts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Deputy DirectorJuan Matute
Juan Matute, Deputy Director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), leads research initiatives that bridge the gap between academic inquiry and practical transportation decision-making. As Deputy Director, Juan Matute leads UCLA ITS’s annual UCLA Arrowhead Symposium on urban and regional planning and is the Program Manager for the national Center of Excellence on New Mobility and Automated Vehicles.

At UCLA ITS, Juan spearheads research projects that delve into public transit, transportation finance, and governance. His interdisciplinary approach, rooted in problem-solving and systems thinking, enables him to unravel complex transportation challenges and develop effective solutions.

Juan’s dedication to public service extends beyond UCLA. He actively serves on various state, regional, and city committees, contributing his expertise to initiatives such as the Transit Transformation Task Force, Open Data/Big Data – Smart, and Connected SCAG Region Committee. Juan’s involvement in working groups and boards, such as the Los Angeles Parking Reform Working Group and the Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. Board of Directors, demonstrates his commitment to improving transportation systems at the local level.

Juan’s passion for transportation extends to the classroom, where he has taught numerous courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels at UCLA. His courses cover a wide range of topics, including transportation, environmental assessment, and climate planning.

Juan holds an MBA and Urban Planning MA from UCLA and a BA from Pomona College. He lives in Santa Monica, CA., where he and his wife Sirinya bike, walk, and use transit regularly with their son.

Research Areas:New Mobility, Parking, Public Transit, Sustainable Transportation, Transportation & Communities

Assistant DirectorEmmanuel Proussaloglou
Emmanuel Proussaloglou is Assistant Director of cityLAB, a multidisciplinary research center housed within UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design. Having received dual Master’s degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning from UCLA, his work interrogates the impact of public policy on the built environment with a specific focus on the design, provision, and distribution of affordable housing. Professionally, he has worked at think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the Center for Neighborhood Technology. He has also worked in architectural offices like Perkins & Will and Sharif, Lynch; Architecture.

Executive DirectorAndres Ramirez
Andres Ramirez serves as the Executive Director of People for Mobility Justice. He also serves on LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Policy Advisory Council, the Public Utilities Commission Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Group, and the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) advisory council. He has over 15 years of experience advocating for Equity in DACs through community organizing and policy advocacy. Andres has a diverse policy expertise and a keen understanding of the strengths and needs of BIPOC communities. He has led multiple advocacy and organizing efforts assuring that land use, transportation, housing, and environmental policies are developed and implemented equitably. Some of the successful efforts he has led include: LADOT Community Ambassador program (Vision Zero), Electro Bici (Pacoima e-bike library), and South Central Power Up (South LA e-bike library)

Managing Principal and Senior FellowJoshua Schank
Joshual Schank is a Managing Prinicipal at InfraStrategies LLC, where he leads a practice focused on innovation, strategic planning, and technology. He is also a Senior Fellow in the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA, and a Research Associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute. Prior to joining InfraStrategies and UCLA, Dr. Schank was the first-ever Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) at LA Metro. Dr. Schank previously served as President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, led transportation research for the Bipartisan Policy Center, and served as Transportation Policy Advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

Research Areas:New Mobility, Public Transit, Traffic, Transportation Finance

Professor and DirectorBrian Taylor
Brian D. Taylor, PhD, FAICP is a Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy in the Luskin School of Public Affairs and Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA. He teaches courses on transportation, land use, and urban form; public transit and shared mobility; and transportation economics, finance, and policy. Professor Taylor studies travel behavior and transportation equity, finance, history, and politics. His recent research examines falling public transit ridership, public sector responses to new transportation technologies, the socio-economic dimensions of travel behavior, the equity of increased local option sales taxes for transportation, the economic effects of traffic congestion, and the transportation policy and equity implications of the SARS-Cov-2 global pandemic.

Professor Taylor is on sabbatical during the 2022-23 academic year.

Research Areas:Access to Opportunities, New Mobility, Public Transit (lead), Traffic, Transportation & Communities,Transportation Health & Safety, Transportation Finance (lead)

UndersecretaryMark Tollefson
Mark Tollefson was appointed Undersecretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) by Governor Gavin Newsom in December 2022. As Undersecretary, Mark advises the Secretary on CalSTA issues, programs and departments, and oversees personnel, fiscal and administrative functions, and planning.

Previously, Mark served as Governor Newsom’s Senior Counselor on Infrastructure and Fiscal Affairs and as a Deputy Cabinet Secretary. He held several positions at the California Department of Finance from 2007 to 2019. Mark earned a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Sacramento.

Research Program ManagerJacob Wasserman
Jacob Wasserman studies and manages research on public transit, the intersection of transportation and other social issues, and a range of mobility questions at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. With a background in transportation equity, finance, and demand management, Wasserman serves as the lead scholar of ITS’ Public Transit research program.

Prior to joining ITS, he worked for the Cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Haven on capital planning, vehicle miles traveled development review thresholds, budget process improvements, and active transportation. He also served as a Transportation Justice Fellow for BART Director Lateefah Simon, coordinating passage of the system’s Safe Transit sanctuary policy.

Wasserman has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with concentrations in transportation policy and planning and in community economic development and housing, in the housing stream. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Yale.

Research Areas:Public Transit, Transportation & Communities, Transportation Health & Safety,

PhD Candidate, Department of Environmental Health SciencesQiao Yu
Qiao Yu is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences, focusing on climate change mitigation, air quality co-benefits, Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) policy, and environmental justice. His work has contributed to the LA100 Equity Strategies Report and involves improving clean and equitable transportation for disadvantaged communities through California Climate Action funded projects.

Director, Organizing and Advocacy, Building Equity and TransitOscar Zarate
Oscar U. Zarate is a Director of Advocacy and Organizing at Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), where he leads the organization’s built environment work, with a focus on improving the conditions of rental housing and public transit. Oscar serves as a council member on the LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Community Advisory Council and is a Founding member of the City of Compton’s Tenant Union. He’s led successful grassroot efforts to establish new tenant protections in LA County and prevent fare hikes for Metro riders.

Before joining SAJE, Oscar was a UCLA Labor Fellow at SEIU Local 2015 and Teamsters Port Division, organizing truck drivers and long-term care workers. Oscar holds a BA in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara.

Manager, Partnerships for Innovative DevelopmentKate Kigongo
Kate Kigongo is the Manager of Partnerships for Innovative Deployment at Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). Her career has focused on using technology, innovation, and pilot projects to improve transportation, urban design, and sustainability outcomes in California. Kate has worked for the City of West Hollywood, Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, and the Low Income Investment Fund. She is a double-Bruin, with a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning and BA in Geography and History.

PrinicipalChelsea Richer
Chelsea is a Principal in Fehr & Peer’s Los Angeles office. Chelsea leads the Fehr & Peers companywide discipline group on Climate Change & Resilience. Much of her work focuses on policies and practices to enable mode-shift towards low-carbon modes – first/last mile planning, multimodal safety, VMT policy, active transportation planning, and transportation demand management (TDM). She also is passionate about gender equity on transit, working on local and national projects to advance that practice. She is a UCLA Luskin alum (MURP 2014) and has her bachelor’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago.

Sponsors

Human Transit, Book Talk by Jarrett Walker
2024-04-18 | 2355 Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us to celebrate the revised edition of Jarrett Walker’s Human Transit, Revised Edition: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. The new edition will deepen its explanations about the basic principles of public transit, informed by his work as a network planning consultant. New topics include the problem with specialization; the role of flexible or “demand response” services; how to know when to redesign your network; and responding to tech-industry claims that transit will soon be obsolete. Finally, he added a major new section exploring the idea of access to opportunity as a core measure of transit’s success.

RSVP HERE
