Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Economic Impacts Of Bus Rapid Transit In Southeast Michigan, Utpal Dutta, Jeff Henze

Mineta Transportation Institute

In recent years, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has generated great interest across the United States. There are more than 20 BRT systems in existence, and more are in the planning stage (including in Detroit). Within the next few years, BRT will be planned and implemented phase by phase in various parts of Southeast Michigan. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to identify probable economic impacts of BRT in Southeast Michigan.

Taxable real estate values, injury and fatal crash data, and selected demographics of BRT users, including employment sector, age group, median income, and daily vehicle miles …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of Cars, Transit, And Employment Outcomes, Michael J. Smart, Nicholas J. Klein

Mineta Transportation Institute

Access to cars and transit can influence individuals’ ability to reach opportunities such as jobs, health care, and other important activities. While access to cars and public transit varies considerably across time, space, and across populations, most research portrays car access as a snapshot in time; some people have a car and others do not. But does this snapshot approach mask variation in car ownership over time? And how does access to particular types of transportation resources influence individuals’ economic outcomes?

The authors improve upon existing research by using panel data from 1999 to 2013 from the Panel Study of …

What Do Americans Think About Public Transit? A Review Of U.S. Public Opinion Polling Survey Questions, Asha W. Agrawal

Mineta Transportation Institute

This “seed grant” research project compiled a set of 56 US public opinion polls that asked respondents their opinions about public transit. The first and primary goal of the project was to assemble a large set of transit-related survey questions that can be used to inspire the design of future surveys on the topic of public transit. The report presents the specific wording of every relevant question identified.

A second objective of the project was to identify general patterns in public opinion about transit that emerge across multiple surveys. Reviewing the entire set of polling questions related to public transit …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Public Transit, Highways, And Local Streets And Roads? Results From Year Six Of A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report summarizes the results of year six of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll asking 1,503 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard sociodemographic factors, travel behavior (public …

The Purpose, Function, And Performance Of Streetcar Transit In The Modern U.S. City: A Multiple-Case-Study Investigation, Mti Report 12-39, Jeffrey Brown, Hilary Nixon, Luis Enrique Ramos

Mineta Transportation Institute

The streetcar has made a remarkable resurgence in the United States in recent years. However, despite the proliferation of streetcar projects, there is remarkably little work on the streetcar’s role as a transportation service. This study examines the experiences of the modern-era streetcars operated in Little Rock, Memphis, Portland, Seattle, and Tampa. The authors discovered that in these cities, the primary purpose of the streetcar was to serve as a development tool (all cities), a second objective was to serve as a tourism-promoting amenity (Little Rock, Tampa), and transportation objectives were largely afterthoughts with the notable exception of Portland, and …