Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Continuation Of The Differentiation Of Transit Agencies And Their Funding In The United States, Hannah Stapp

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

This paper explores the role of efficiency, and effectiveness, measured in relation to the differentiation of public transportation agencies operating in the United States with a bus mode. Data is gathered from the National Transit Database (NTD) from 2015-2019, at the agency level. A k-means clustering approach is used to determine how these ratios segment agencies in the market. After agencies are classified into three groups, a discriminant analysis is done to affirm the distinctiveness of the solution. Next, an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model is run each year to investigate whether or not the ratios used to form …

Transportation Asset Management For The Electric Road System, Kamalen Maria Santos Diaz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Electric road systems (ERS) have been presented as a new solution towards a sustainable transportation future, fueling the widespread adoption of electric vehicles by eliminating range anxiety, reducing battery size, and being regional friendly. These systems consist of four components: electric power supply, roads, vehicles, and operations. Much of the early research conducted on ERS has been on how to initially construct these systems by focusing on the first three components, however, there is limited knowledge on how ERS will impact traditional road operations after the systems are in place. Transportation Asset Management (TAM), a major focus within the transportation …

Perceived Social And Environmental Impacts Of The Maya Train Project On The Yucatan Peninsula Of Mexico: A Case Study Of Puerto Morelos, Emely Hernandez Yac

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Maya Train Project (MTP) is a new national megaproject in Mexico, meant to connect the perimeter of the Yucatan Peninsula, and facilitate easier transportation for tourism, industry, and agriculture. Given the region’s dependence on tourism, the train will accelerate the growth, as well as the social and environmental impacts of tourism in the region. Globally, the tourism industry has resulted in inequitable social and environmental impacts for the local communities and there is concern that this new Maya Train Project will serve to accelerate uneven development in the region. This project focused on the coastal tourist city of Puerto …

Strategies To Increase Profitability And Longevity Of Small Trucking Businesses, Derrick Olando Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Typically, small businesses have encountered issues with sustaining their enterprise for longer than 5 years after inception, which can adversely affect the prosperity of the communities in which the businesses operate. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify and explore strategies some owners of small business trucking companies used to achieve profitability and longevity for longer than 5 years. The population of the study consisted of owners of 4 small business trucking companies located in Northern Virginia, who demonstrated profitability and longevity for longer than 5 years of operation. The conceptual framework for this study was systems …

An Assessment Of The Sharing Economy And Its Policy Solutions Through The Lens Of Sustainability, Chloe An

Pomona Senior Theses

This senior thesis in environmental analysis explores the promise of sustainability of the sharing economy, its shortcomings from this positive potential, and possible policy solutions to help it reach its fullest, positive potential. At its core, the sharing economy enables shared access to goods and services that would otherwise sit in idle or underutilized capacity – popular platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and craigslist all fall within the sharing economy. By enabling affordable and convenient access to goods that would otherwise sit idle, the sharing economy encourages maximal use of a good that already exists rather than seeking out …

Multi-Criteria Decision Making When Planning Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Routes In A Linear Corridor, Marie Louis

Doctoral Dissertations

In urban and suburban locations, public transit can be seen as an effective mode of daily transportation. The majority of the time, travelers would seek the cheapest, shortest, and possibly most eco-friendly means of transit. When designing public transit network systems, transportation planners and decision-makers, with input from stakeholders, should strive to optimize transportation services to meet the needs of the population most efficiently and at the lowest cost, that is, providing a transportation system that s the three E's of the sustainability concept: environment, social equity, and economic. Previous studies have focused on sustainability as the primary concern in …

All Roads Lead To The Fair: How A 2022 Los Angeles World's Fair Would Accelerate The Implementation Of Sustainable And Innovative Forms Of Transportation, Isabella Levin

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the potential impact of a World’s Fair on urban mobility in Los Angeles County by 2022. A brief historical account of World’s Fairs, and their impact on technological innovations in transportation will be given in conjunction with the development of transportation in Los Angeles. These accounts will help to contextualize an analysis of current plans to provide Los Angeles with transportation solutions, in light of the oversaturated automobile landscape in place today. Specifically, my research has revealed that the further development of light-speed rail systems paired alongside a mass adoption of autonomous vehicles would both alleviate contemporary …

A Multi-Objective Sustainable Model For Transportation Asset Management Practices, Marketa Vavrova

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Transportation Asset Management (TAM) practices have gained popularity in the United States and worldwide with the aim to provide the required level of service for the transportation infrastructure network in the most cost-effective manner. However, TAM is a complex decision-making process because many objectives and different perspectives, often producing conflicting goals, must be considered.

This Dissertation presents a Multi-Objective Sustainable (MOS) model to integrate economic, social, and environmental sustainable objectives into TAM decision-making. The objective is to develop a holistic multi-objective asset management approach integrating environmental and social sustainability related performance measures with traditional indicators, such as asset condition and …

Economic And Traffic Impacts Following The Installation Of New Bicycle Facilities: A Denver Case Study, Stephen Antonio Rijo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

America is currently experiencing a unique departure from the historical vehicle miles traveled (VMT) trend, often referred to as "peak travel." Decreasing VMT numbers suggest that the US is currently experiencing an unprecedented change in the way individuals utilize transportation systems. The following research calls on a need to understand the importance of improving alternative transportation infrastructure, namely cycling facilities, and how this impacts local businesses and their communities. This research informs the overarching question, "What are the economic and traffic impacts of cycling facilities?" A mixed methods analysis of retail sales tax, traffic count, and RTD transit access data …