Advancing Transportation Decarbonization through Rigorous Evaluation in the Climate Action Learning Lab
Webinar Overview
As J-PAL North America opens applications for a new Climate Action Learning Lab for US state and local governments, we are conducting two webinars—one focused on transportation decarbonization and one on residential energy efficiency—that explore how data and rigorous evaluation can be leveraged to build the evidence base and scale mitigation solutions that work.
This webinar will focus on transportation decarbonization, providing a brief overview of existing evidence and research opportunities in the transportation decarbonization space. Featured speakers will also discuss randomized evaluations of programs seeking to reduce vehicle miles traveled, including an evaluation on strategies to incentivize active and shared travel in San Francisco, and a new research partnership to evaluate an e-bike rebate program in Atlanta. Additionally, speakers will reflect on the process of assessing evaluation needs, utilizing randomized evaluation to inform future transportation programming, and how local jurisdictions and researchers can work together to plan an evaluation that aligns with jurisdiction priorities.
We will also provide information about the J-PAL North America Climate Action Learning Lab and answer questions related to this exciting opportunity.
Register to attend the webinar >>
Panelists
Krute Singa is a principal planner at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments (MTC/ABAG). Her suite of programs includes Regional Mobility Hubs, Parking Management, Transportation Electrification and Behavior Science/Change. Her objective is to help reach the state’s greenhouse gas emissions targets by creating policies, partnerships and behavior change programs to reduce solo driving trips. Krute received her Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Casey Wichman is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a researcher in the J-PAL network. He is an applied microeconomist working on issues at the intersection of environmental and public economics. His research focuses on how people interact with the natural and built environment, and what that behavior reveals about the value of environmental amenities. Dr. Wichman's research spans water and energy demand management, climate change impacts and policy, valuation of environmental resources and infrastructure, urban transportation, public good provision, and outdoor recreation.
Featured Programs and Evaluations
The Incentivizing Active and Shared Travel Program contributes to the 19% per-capita greenhouse gas emissions reduction CARB target by reducing solo driving trips and supporting other strategies identified in the Bay Area’s 30-year regional transportation plan. The MTC designed a randomized evaluation to determine whether messages alone and messages with an incentive could compel participants to use an active or shared mode instead of driving alone. Results indicated that blanket transit messages had no significant effect on mode adoptions, whereas offering $3-5 incentives increased usage of multiple modes—such as walking and biking—for a single trip.
The Atlanta E-Bike Rebate Program is an equity-focused program designed to provide affordable transportation options for Atlanta residents. The program is a partnership between the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the City of Atlanta, and Propel ATL and it aims to break down barriers to e-bike ownership, reduce transportation costs, and replace car trips. ARC is partnering with J-PAL affiliated researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of rebates by comparing randomized rebate recipients with non-recipients to assess adoption, ridership, and income-based impacts.