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 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 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.
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 Regional Express Lane Network – Regional Concept of Operations (Technical Report)
The SCAG Regional Express Lane Network Regional Concept of Operations Technical Report is intended to describe how express lane facilities being implemented, planned, or proposed by the region’s county transportation commissions (CTCs) and/or California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) districts in the six-county SCAG region, referred to collectively as the regional express lane network, will operate from a user perspective and to set the framework for the design and operational characteristics of the express lane system. The report provides a blueprint for a regional express lane network that integrates individual express lane facilities into a regional system with consistent or compatible operating, design, and policy rules.
Download the SCAG Regional Express Lane Network - Regional Concept of Operations (Technical Report).
Further updates of this report is available here.
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
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.