Will An Auto-Oriented Public Vote for Higher Parking Rates and Public Transit? Evidence from San Francisco

Transportation agencies’ increased reliance on voter approved financing requires planners to better understand and address voters’ motivations to support ballot initiatives. These initiatives, which can mimic or subvert traditional regional planning processes, are also opportunities for voters to register backlash against planning initiatives. The authors examine the role of voters’ self- interest, as measured by personal travel patterns and their attitudes towards the impacts of various transportation policies, in predicting residents’ votes on two concurrent transport ballot measures in San Francisco, CA in November 2014. They find that that drivers will vote against policies presented to the public as benefiting drivers or asserting “drivers rights” if they believe strongly in the benefits of sustainable infrastructure for non-users. Drivers who saw their immediate interests as drivers as divergent from what was best for the city as a whole voted mostly for what they believed was best for the city, an indication of the greater importance of what psychologists call “inclusive self-interest.” Among travel behaviors, only cycling significantly predicted votes, with frequent cycles voting as a cohesive block for sustainable transportation.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADA20 Standing Committee on Metropolitan Policy, Planning, and Processes.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Palm, Matthew
    • Handy, Susan
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2016

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 18p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01593809
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 16-5017
  • Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 16 2016 9:36AM