Juan Matute
Recent Posts
Santa Monica to Mobility Companies: Don’t Innovate Here
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Santa Monica is uniquely suited to mobility innovation, but the city won't learn from new mobility launches
Opinion: Three-Month Expo Bike Path Closure Offers Win-Win Safe Streets Opportunity
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At L.A.-Santa Monica border, a stretch of Expo bike path will soon close for maintenance. The temporary closure is an opportunity for implementing temporary safe bicycling improvements.
Technologists and Transportation Professionals Meet at TransportationCamp Los Angeles
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2015 is an exciting time for transportation innovation in Los Angeles. We have a rapidly-expanding frequent transit and bicycle network. Technological innovation has already brought us reliable point-to-point mobility for passengers, real-time transit arrival and traffic incident information, and even “feeding the meter” from a phone. We see more promise on the horizon as local […]
SBLA Editor Damien Newton Honored by Society of Professional Journalists
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Last night at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, the Society of Professional Journalists honored Streetsblog Los Angeles’ founding editor, and the Southern California Streets Initiatives’ Executive Director Damien Newton for “Distinguished Work in New Media.” Congratulations, Damien! You’ve done great work and deserve the acknowledgements you’re now receiving. Less than four years ago, […]
The Growth and Growing Pains of Transportation Network Companies
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ed’s note: This week, we’re featuring a short series of articles from our board member Juan Matute on what he’s thinking about technology and transportation. His first thoughts were on vehicle connectivity versus automation. A lot has been going on with Transportation Network Companies since my October 2013 conversation with Damien Newton. Damien and I talked […]
Vehicle Automation versus Connectivity, and What it Might Mean for Traffic
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ed’s note: This week, we’re featuring a short series of articles from our board member Juan Matute on what he’s thinking about technology and transportation. I have the opportunity to be involved in a lot of interesting research as the Associate Director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. Over the past year, I’ve been […]
Utility Relocation Costs Not a Death Sentence for Downtown LA Circulator
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A funny thing happened on the way to a downtown Los Angeles streetcar. According to the Los Angeles Times, the initial cost estimate of $125M excluded the costs of utility relocation, which could total $166M in additional costs, and $295M in operating costs over 30 years. That’s quite a bit compared to the $62.5M voters […]
UCLA Complete Streets Conference this Thursday
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When UCLA started it’s annual Complete Streets Conference in February of 2011, discussing topics like parklets, bike plan and implementation, seemed more like an academic exercise a description Los Angeles two years later. Now in it’s third year, the conference continues to deliver innovative ideas, but also takes some time to reflect on local implementation. […]
New Parking at Santa Monica College: Not Just for Bikes
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Riding on Pearl Street a few weeks ago, I noticed preparations for a new bicycle parking lot. This past Saturday, before Santa Monica College students returned for the spring, I had a chance to check out the new bicycle parking. I was surprised to see not only bike parking, but other parking and amenities for those […]
Op-Ed: Invest in multipurpose streets to support housing values
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Municipal bond rates are at historic lows. A memo by two respected faculty members at the UCLA Anderson Forecast (available at Streetsblog, for some reason link to city website is broken) suggests the city take advantage of these low rates to fund a $3 billion program to resurface, rehabilitate, and reconstruct city streets. This same logic extends […]
Could the Sepulveda Corridor Congestion Reduction Plan Equal Carmaheaven?
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With Carmageddon once again looming over Los Angeles, we have another opportunity to reflect on the 405 freeway: what does it mean and what do we want from it? What does it mean that the 405 between the 90 and the 101 has been under construction for the better part of this millenium, yet it still […]
Donald Shoup Responds to California APA Regarding California’s Parking Reform Bill
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Professor Donald Shoup poses a parking question at UCLA’s Complete Streets for California event in March. Photo: Juan Matute (A letter from Donald Shoup on AB 904 to the American Planning Association can be found after the jump. – DN) “Donald Shoup is an academic authority on parking and its effects on transportation, land use, […]