Regional Briefing Book
SCAG’s Economic Summit began in the wake of the Great Recession as a convening to expand the region’s economic base and to determine priorities for the region that help businesses, public agencies, and communities improve economic vitality.
Last-Mile Freight Delivery Study
The purpose of the Last-Mile Freight Delivery Study is to increase understanding of last-mile delivery issues for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and its member cities by examining the relationship between last-mile access conditions, the delivery of goods, and the role of last-mile delivery in the overall transportation system.
The study serves as a foundational approach and assesses the use of curb areas for deliveries, and the magnitude of other curb uses competing for curb space in the study area of the City of Los Angeles. It provides findings based on field data collection, analyses, and stakeholder discussions.
Recommendations are included for blocks in case study areas, pilot project concepts, policy considerations, and a Toolbox of Strategies for cities throughout the SCAG region to utilize when faced with their own unique delivery challenges.
SCAG President Introduces 2020-2021 Work Plan
President Rex Richardson introduced his comprehensive work plan for 2020-2021, “Framework for Recovering and Reimagining a Resilient Region.” Intended to be a collaborative and inclusive process, the framework is focused on the implementation of Connect SoCal, promoting housing production, data and information services, and legislative efforts.
Snapshot of COVID-19 Transportation Impacts in the SCAG Region
The public response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the subsequent national, state, county, and local mandatory stay-at-home orders has significantly impacted transportation demand globally, nationally, regionally, and locally. As the largest metropolitan planning organization in the nation, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is at the forefront of transportation planning and analysis. In order to facilitate regional planning and public awareness, SCAG prepared this document to highlight impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation activities to date.
Snapshot of COVID-19 Transportation Impacts in the SCAG Region
Potential Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in the SCAG Region
This white paper provides an initial assessment of potential employment and taxable sales implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region as of the end of April, 2020. A discussion of data and information used in their development is also provided. The analysis assumes a low-point occurring around June 1, 2020 with a resumption of some economic activity thereafter, but a long, slow recovery extending through the end of 2021. Additionally, numerous assumptions are made about the decline and potential recovery trajectory in individual industry sectors. Future taxable sales in the SCAG region are compared to a baseline and assume a linear growth trajectory between June 2020 and December 2021. Employment and economic output are modeled separately using a structural economic forecasting model (REMI). Analyses of the pandemic’s impact at this stage are subject to an extremely high level of uncertainty; importantly this analysis does not assume a second wave of the pandemic or specifically model the impact of additional federal action. As the pandemic unfolds and additional data become available, these assumptions, modeling strategies, and outputs can be revised.
SCAG Transportation Demand Management Strategic Plan and Final Report
SCAG’s Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Strategic Plan (August 23, 2019) identifies TDM policies and programs that increase the efficiency of the transportation system, reducing vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions through alternative modes of travel. The Plan helps guide short, medium and long-term initiatives, defines specific management strategies for the region’s most congested corridors, and develops specific performance measures to evaluate the cost effectiveness and benefits of TDM strategies. The Plan was developed through a region-wide collaborative effort involving diverse stakeholders from the public, non-profit, and private sectors, and is an important element of Connect SoCal. SCAG is currently in the process of implementing several priority recommendations. For more information, contact Tom Bellino, bellino@scag.ca.gov, (213) 236-1830.
SCAG Transportation Demand Management Strategic Plan and Final Report
Bike Share in Los Angeles County Study
SCAG’s Bike Share in Los Angeles County Study examines the role of bike share in the Los Angeles regional transportation system. The results are intended to guide decision-making related to future system investments and new shared mobility programs in the region. This report shows that users are happy with what these systems offer and for the most part simply want more of it — more availability of bikes, more flexibility for trip times, more e-bikes, more geographic reach, and more integration with transit. Recommendations identified through this effort include investment in equitable access and the identification of new funding opportunities.
2019 Federal Legislative Priorities
SCAG maintains a Federal and State Legislative Program, which consists of the Regional Council’s positions on policies and legislative initiatives related to SCAG’s core planning and policy areas that need the leadership and support of Congress and the California State Legislature to resolve challenges facing the SCAG region. This report summarizes SCAG’s 2019 legislative priorities around the issues of transportation, air quality, freight/goods movement, housing, environmental impact, sustainability, and economic recovery and job creation.
Mobility Go Zone & Pricing Feasibility Study
SCAG’s ”Mobility Go Zone Program Feasibility Study” takes a close look at how cordon pricing, and a “Go Zone” program, could be deployed to better manage traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in Southern California. SCAG selected the Westside Los Angeles area for analysis as an initial proof-of-concept pilot location. This report shows that decongestion fees can have sizable impact in transportation mode choices and overall travel times by incentivizing motorists to travel at different times throughout the day.
Strategic Plan
In early 2018, SCAG adopted a new strategic plan to guide us as we work toward a brighter future for Southern California. Developing this new roadmap for the agency was an inclusive process that challenged and engaged staff, board members, and stakeholders across sectors. Using stakeholder surveys, focus groups and best‐practice analysis, the President’s Strategic Plan Committee and a cohort of SCAG staff developed an update designed to provide new and ambitious guidance for the agency. With fresh mission and vision statements, refined core agency values and a new set of goals and objectives, we have created a strategic path that prioritizes innovation, collaboration and solution-finding as we continue our work to improve the quality of life for all Southern Californians.
SCAG Future Communities Framework
Big Data and the rapid proliferation of new technologies are poised to transform and disrupt traditional policy making and planning within our local communities and across the Southern California region as a whole. Through improvements in data collection, analysis, and technology applications, governments have the opportunity to be more efficient, innovative, and transparent. To ensure that public agencies and communities in Southern California not only keep up with the pace of innovation, but lead the nation, SCAG hosted an Open Data/Big Data – Smart and Connected SCAG Region Committee (Committee) from June to November of 2017. This report provides a summary of the Committee, its work and outcomes, including a set of policy recommendations, Future Communities Framework, and a short-term work plan, Future Communities Initiative, which will implement the framework.
Falling Transit Ridership: California and Southern California
In the last ten years transit use in Southern California has fallen significantly. This report investigates that falling transit use. We define Southern California as the six counties that participate in the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) – Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Imperial. We examine patterns of transit service and patronage over time and across the region, and consider an array of explanations for falling transit use: declining transit service levels, eroding transit service quality, rising fares, falling fuel prices, the growth of Lyft and Uber, the migration of frequent transit users to outlying neighborhoods with less transit service, and rising vehicle ownership. While all of these factors probably play some role, we conclude that the most significant factor is increased motor vehicle access, particularly among low-income households that have traditionally supplied the region with its most frequent and reliable transit users.
Falling Transit Ridership: California and Southern California
Transit System Performance Report FY2011-2012
The FY2011-2012 Transit System Performance Report provides an assessment of the region’s large and complex public transportation system, including current performance and trends over the past two decades. The annual report was developed in response to anticipated federal rulemaking to address performance-based planning requirements in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), and also to establish performance baselines for the 2016-2040 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy. Key findings from this report include the continued significance of fixed route bus service in the region, the growing importance of demand response transit to support regional mobility and slow growth in per capita transit trips over the last two decades.
California’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program
California’s Film and Television Tax
Credit Program returned an impressive 11 percent return on
investment in its first three years and helped generate $4.3
billion in economic activity and supported 22,300 jobs, according
to a study released today by the Southern California Association
of Governments.
Your Guide to SCAG 2013-2014
Your Guide to SCAG is an overview of the nation’s largest Metropolitan Planning Organization and largest Council of Governments. It describes SCAG’s governing body, the Regional Council, the many important committees that make policy-making decisions for the agency, lists member jurisdictions and board members and highlights SCAG’s key initiatives and programs.
On the Move: Southern California Delivers the Goods (Executive Summary)
On The Move represents a long-range comprehensive plan for the goods movement system in Southern California. The plan is designed to ensure that the region continues to play a vital role in the global supply chain while meeting regional economic goals, addressing critical mobility challenges, preserving the environment and contributing to community livability and quality of life goals. The plan is the final product of the SCAG’s Comprehensive Regional Goods Movement Plan and Implementation Strategy, a multi-year effort to collect data, conduct analyses and engage with regional, statewide and national stakeholders covering various aspects of the region’s goods movement system.
On the Move: Southern California Delivers the Goods (Executive Summary)
Southern California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan
The SCAG Southern California Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) Readiness Plan is an in-depth assessment and planning tool that allows planners to strategically develop the infrastructure necessary to support the region’s growing numbers of electric vehicles. The PEV Readiness Plan is comprised of 15 chapters, covering everything from the basics of PEV charging, to providing technical assistance to commercial property owners and adapting zoning/building codes to streamline the installation of PEV chargers. In addition to the plan, the associated Southern California PEV Atlas provides projections of PEV growth over time in each of the 15 subregions as well as predictions of PEV daytime travel to employment and retail destinations. This information gives planners a wealth of data to support building charging infrastructure where demand will be the greatest.
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report consists of required financial statements and other supplementary information for fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. It has been independently audited by Vasquez & Company, LLP.
Overall Work Program
Each year, SCAG develops an Overall Work Program (OWP). This work program describes proposed transportation planning activities for the upcoming fiscal year. The OWP also includes those transportation planning activities and studies required by federal and state law and authorized by the Regional Council. These related planning studies address the overall social, economic and environmental effects of transportation decisions in the region.
2012-2035 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (Executive Summary)
On April 4, 2012, SCAG’s Regional Council adopted the landmark 2012-2035 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS): Towards a Sustainable Future. The 2012-2035 RTP/SCS Executive Summary provides an overview of the goals of the long-range plan, identifies key transportation investments to address the growing population in the region and strategies to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. The SCS is a new element of the long-range plan that demonstrates the integration of land use, transportation strategies, and transportation investments within the Plan. The RTP/SCS is updated every four years to reflect changes in economic trends, state and federal requirements, progress made on projects, and adjustments for population and jobs. Transportation projects must be included in the RTP in order to qualify for federal and state funding.
Public Participation Plan, Amendment No. 3
Public Participation is essential for the success of SCAG’s regional planning efforts. SCAG’s Public Participation Plan outlines the agency’s public participation goals and objectives. The most recent plan, Amendment #3, was adopted by the Regional Council on January 5, 2012.
Single Audit Report – Year Ended June 30, 2012
Report of independent auditors on internal control over financial reporting and on compliance and other matters. Based on an audit of financial statements and performed in accordance with government auditing standards.
Regional Comprehensive Plan
Through extensive outreach and input from the RCP Task Force, SCAG’s Policy Committees, local governments and other key stakeholders, the RCP is a collaborative effort to address our region’s challenges and set a path forward.