Home / Brian D. Taylor

Public Policy, Urban Planning

Brian D. Taylor

Research Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Research Fellow, Institute of Transportation Studies

Brian Taylor is Research Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy and a Research Fellow in the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA.

Professor Taylor’s research centers on transportation policy and planning – most of it conducted in close collaboration with his many exceptional students. His students have won dozens of national awards for their work, and today hold positions at the highest levels of planning analysis, teaching, and practice.

Professor Taylor explores how society pays for transportation systems and how these systems in turn serve the needs of people who – because of low income, disability, location, or age – have lower levels of mobility. Topically, his research examines travel behavior, transportation economics & finance, and politics & planning.

His research on travel behavior has examined (1) the social, economic, and spatial factors explaining public transit use, (2) ways to cost-effectively increase public transit use, (3) how and why travel patterns vary by race/ethnicity, sex, age, and income, (4) the emerging travel patterns teens and young adults, (5) gender divisions of household labor and travel, (6) the effect of travel experience on how people perceive opportunities, (7) the role of walking, waiting, and transferring on travel choices, and (8) the equity implications of new shared mobility systems.

A principal focus of his research is the politics of transportation economics & finance, including (1) alternative ways to evaluate the access and economic effects of traffic congestion on people, firms, and regional economies, (2) the history of freeway planning and finance, (3) emerging trends in pricing road use, (4) the equity of alternative forms of transportation pricing and finance, (5) linking of subsidies to public transit performance, and (6) measuring equity in public transit pricing and finance.

The politics of planning practice inform Professor Taylor’s teaching, which regularly includes courses on Transportation and Land Use: Urban Form, Public Transit and Shared Mobility, Transportation Economics, Finance, and Policy, courses in research design for planners, and, occasionally, the Comparative International Transportation Workshop. Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, Professor Taylor was a planning faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and before that he was a planner with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Educational Background

PhD, Urban Planning, UCLA;
MCP, City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley;
MS, Civil Engineering, UC Berkeley;
BA, Geography, UCLA

Areas of Expertise

Demographics, Equity, Finance, History, Politics, Public Transit, Transportation, Travel Behavior

Latest News

Will the Opening of the D Line Change Commuter Behavior?

May 20, 2026

The opening of the D Line means access to a more convenient route, but it remains to be seen whether this will have an impact commuters’ behaviors.

MIT Mobility Forum Reflects on Donald Shoup’s Influence on Parking Policy

March 16, 2026

Brian Taylor reflects on Donald Shoup’s enduring influence and the hidden costs of so-called “free” parking.

Latest News

Moving Away From Public Transit’s Commuter Focus

January 16, 2024

Transportation systems that have rebounded well from the pandemic tend to be ones that cater to communities rather than commuters, UCLA Luskin's Brian Taylor says.

Taylor on the Addition of New Toll Lanes on the 405

December 13, 2023

The two express lanes on a 16-mile stretch of the freeway in Orange County promise to operate more efficiently than general lanes, he says.

Should Public Transit Be Free? It Depends.

November 30, 2023

Different environments demand different transit planning strategies, says Brian Taylor of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

Taylor on Angelenos’ Travel Choices During Freeway Closure

November 20, 2023

The shutdown of the 10 forced commuters to change routes, what time they traveled and by what mode — but those adjustments will likely be just temporary.

Taylor on Efforts to Reverse Worrisome Trends in Public Transit

July 6, 2023

“If anyone says that they know the way out of this difficult situation, they’re fooling themselves,” he says.

Contact Information

Phone

(310) 903-3228

btaylor@ucla.edu

Office Location

5383 Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles E Young Drive, UCLA Campus

Media Contact

For media inquiries, contact Kate Shirley at kshirley@luskin.ucla.edu (email preferred) or 310-206-5252.

Personal Website

Google Scholar Page

Office Hours: youcanbook.me

Some recent publications (current and former student co-authors listed in italics)

Cities, Roads, & Congestion

Taylor, Brian D., Eric A. Morris, and Jeffrey R. Brown. 2023. The Drive for Dollars: How Fiscal Politics Shaped Urban Freeways and Transformed American Cities. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 360 pages.

Venegas, Kimberly, Brian D. Taylor, Severin Martinez, and Yu Hong Hwang. 2023. “Take the High (Volume) Road: Analyzing the Safety and Speed Effects of High Traffic Volume Road Diets,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, published online.

Ding, Hao and Brian D. Taylor. 2021. “Traffic Trumps All: Examining the Effect of Traffic Impact Analyses on Urban Housing,” Journal of Planning Literature, published online.

Taylor, Brian D. and Yu Hong Hwang. 2020. “The Eighty-Five Percent Solution: A Historical Look at Crowdsourcing Speed Limits and the Question of Safety” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board,2674(9): 346-357.

Osman, Taner, Trevor Thomas, Andrew Mondschein, and Brian D. Taylor. 2018. “Does Traffic Congestion Influence the Location of New Business Establishments? An Analysis of the San Francisco Bay Area,” Urban Studies, 56(5): 1026-1041.

Thomas, Trevor, Andrew Mondschein, Taner Osman, and Brian D. Taylor. 2018. “Not so fast? Examining neighborhood level effects of traffic congestion on job access,” Transportation Research, Part A: Policy and Practice, 113: 529-541.

Mondschein, Andrew and Brian D. Taylor. 2017. “Is traffic congestion overrated? Examining the highly variable effects of congestion on travel and accessibility,” Journal of Transport Geography, 64: 65-76.

Public Transit & Shared Mobility

Schouten, Andrew, Evelyn Blumenberg, Brian D. Taylor. 2024. “Are immigrants migrating away from transit? Immigrant transit use trends in California.” Travel Behaviour and Society 36, 100817

Wasserman, Jacob, John Gahbauer, Fariba Siddiq, Hannah King, Hao Ding, and Brian D. Taylor. 2023. Financing the Future: Examining the Fiscal Landscape of California Public Transit in the Wake of the Pandemic, Research Report. Los Angeles: UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. 98 pages

Gahbauer, John, Jacob L. Wasserman, Juan Matute, Alejandra Rios, and Brian D. Taylor. 2024. “Using a Modified Delphi Approach to Explore California’s Possible Transportation and Land Use Futures,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Wasserman, Jacob and Brian D. Taylor. 2023. “State of the BART: Analyzing the Determinants of Bay Area Rapid Transit Use in the 2010s,” Transportation Research, Part A: Policy and Practice, 172: 103663.

King, Hannah, Jacob Wasserman, and Brian D. Taylor. 2023. “Terra Incognita: Transit Agency Perspectives on Demand, Service, and Finance in the Age of COVID-19,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.

Dai, Tianxing and Brian D. Taylor. 2022. “Three’s a Crowd? Examining Evolving Public Transit Crowding Standards Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic Public Transport” Public Transport, Published online.

Speroni, Samuel, Brian D. Taylor, and Yu Hong Hwang. 2022. “Pandemic Transit: A National Look at the Shock, Adaptation, and Prospects for Recovery,” in Pandemic in The Metropolis: Transportation Impacts and Recovery. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Springer Nature.

Transportation Equity

Siddiq, Fariba and Brian D. Taylor. Forthcoming. “A Gendered Perspective on Ride-Hail Use in Los Angeles, USA,” Transportation Research, Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

Dasmalchi, Eric and Brian D. Taylor. 2022. “Examining Shifts in the Balance of Riders and Bus Service Before and During the Pandemic in Boston, Houston, and Los Angeles,” Findings, April.

Paul, Julene and Brian D. Taylor. 2022. “Pandemic transit: Examining transit use changes and equity implications in Boston, Houston, and Los Angeles,” Transportation, published online.

Lederman, Jaimee, Anne Brown, Brian D. Taylor, and Martin Wachs. 2018. “Arguing over Transportation Sales Taxes: An Analysis of Equity Debates in Transportation Ballot Measures,” Urban Affairs Review, 56(2): 640-670.

Smart, Michael J., Anne Brown, and Brian D. Taylor. 2017. “Sex or Sexuality? Analyzing the Division of Labor and Travel in Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Households,” Travel Behaviour and Society, 6(2017): 75-82.

Taylor, Brian D. and Eric A. Morris. 2015. “Public transportation objectives and rider demographics: Are transit’s priorities poor public policy?” Transportation, 42(2): 347-367.

Transportation, Land Use, & Urban Form

Gahbauer, John, Jacob L. Wasserman, Juan Matute, Alejandra Rios, and Brian D. Taylor. Forthcoming. “Using a Modified Delphi Approach to Explore California’s Possible Transportation and Land Use Futures,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.

Siddiq, Fariba and Brian D. Taylor. 2021. “Tools of the Trade? Assessing the Progress of Accessibility Measures for Planning Practice,” Journal of the American Planning Association, 87(4): 497-511.

Paul, Julene and Brian D. Taylor. 2021. “Who Lives in Transit-friendly Neighborhoods? An Analysis of California Neighborhoods over Time,” Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 10: 100341.

Blumenberg, Evelyn, Anne Brown, Kelcie Ralph, Brian D. Taylor, and Carole Turley Voulgaris. 2019. “A resurgence in urban living? Trends in residential location patterns of young and older adults since 2000,” Urban Geography, 40(9): 1375-1397.

Voulgaris, Carole Turley, Brian D. Taylor, Evelyn Blumenberg, Anne Brown, and Kelcie Ralph. 2017. “Synergistic Neighborhood Relationships with Travel Behavior: An Analysis of Travel in 30,000 U.S. Neighborhoods,” , 10(1): 437-461.

Ralph, Kelcie, Carole Turley Voulgaris, Anne Brown, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Brian D. Taylor. 2016. “Millennials, built form, and travel: Insights from a nationwide typology of U.S. neighborhoods,” Journal of Transport Geography, 57: 218–226.

Transportation Policy & Finance

Siddiq, Fariba, Jacob Wasserman, Brian D. Taylor, and Samuel Speroni. 2023. “Transit’s Financial Prognosis: Findings from a Survey of U.S. Transit Systems during the COVID-19 Pandemic” Public Works Management & Policy, 28(4): 393-415.

King, Hannah, Natalie Amberg, Jacob L. Wasserman, Brian D. Taylor, and Martin Wachs. 2022. “LOST and Found: The Fall and Rise of Local Option Sales Taxes for Transportation in California amidst the Pandemic,” Pandemic in The Metropolis: Transportation Impacts and Recovery. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Springer Nature.

Brown, Anne, Jaimee Lederman, Brian D. Taylor, and Martin Wachs. 2020. “Analyzing voter support for California’s local option sales taxes for transportation,” Transportation, 48: 2103-2125.

Lederman, Jaimee, Anne Brown, Brian D. Taylor, and Martin Wachs. 2018. “Lessons Learned from 40 Years of Local Option Transportation Sales Taxes in California,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2672(4): 13-22.

Travel Behavior

Morris, Eric, Samuel Speroni, and Brian D. Taylor. Forthcoming. “Going Nowhere Faster: Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerate the Trend Toward Staying at Home?” Journal of the American Planning Association.

Morris, Eric A., Samuel Speroni, and Brian D. Taylor. 2023. “Going Nowhere Fast: Are Changing Activity Patterns Behind Falling Personal Travel?” Journal of Transport Geography, published online.

Manville, Michael, Brian D. Taylor, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Andrew Schouten. 2022. “Vehicle access and falling transit ridership: evidence from Southern California,” Transportation, published online.

Schouten, Andrew, Brian D. Taylor, and Evelyn Blumenberg. 2021. “Who’s on Board? Examining the Changing Characteristics of Transit Riders Using Latent Profile Analysis,” ,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2675(7): 1-10.

Schouten, Andrew, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Brian D. Taylor. 2021. “Rating the Composition: Deconstructing the Demand-Side Effects on Transit Use Changes in California,” Travel Behaviour & Society, 25: 18-26.

Turley, Carole Voulgaris, Michael J. Smart, and Brian D. Taylor. 2017. “Tired of Commuting? Relationships among Journeys to School, Sleep, and Exercise among American Teenagers,” Journal of Planning Education and Research, 39(2): 142-154.