Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Inclusive Planning To Evaluate Improved Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Services For Patients With End Stage Renal Disease, Jenny Liu, August Benzow

TREC Final Reports

The objective of this project is to design a framework that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of non-emergency transportation services (NEMT) for better livability. In addition to the development of the framework, this project aimed to establish connections between Portland State University (PSU) researchers with regional connections involved in public health research, non-emergency medical transportation, medical services, and medical insurance provision. With the rising costs of transportation and medical costs generally in the United States, it is increasingly important to develop new tools and strategies to reduce these costs while maintaining and improving upon the level …

Regulations Of E-Bikes In North America, John Macarthur, Nicholas Kobel

TREC Final Reports

Throughout the world, the electric bicycle (e-bike) industry is growing very quickly. The North American market has been somewhat slow to adopt this technology, which is still considered to be in the “early adopter” phase (Rose & Dill, 2011; Rose, 2011), but in recent years, this has begun to change. But as e-bike numbers increase, so too will potential conflicts (actual or perceived) with other vehicles and non-motorized devices, bicycles and pedestrians, causing policy questions to arise. Indeed, conflicting user groups are petitioning state legislatures and local governments for permission to operate legally on roadways and paths or to ban …

Assessing Transit Fare Equity In Utah Using A Geographic Information System, Steven Farber, Keith Batholomew, Xiao Li, Antonio Paez, Khandker M. Nurul Habib

TREC Final Reports

The goal of this study is to develop and apply a new method for assessing social equity impacts of distance-based public transit fares. Shifting to a distance-based fare structure can disproportionately favor or penalize different subgroups of a population based on variations in settlement patterns, travel needs, and most importantly, transit use. According to federal law, such disparities must be evaluated by the transit agency, but the area-based techniques identified by the Federal Transit Authority for assessing discrimination fail to account for disparities in distances travelled by transit users. This means that transit agencies currently lack guidelines for assessing the …

Accessibility-Based Transportation Planning: Literature And Applications For Shrinking Cities, Joanna Ganning

TREC Final Reports

For 15 years, scholars have claimed that accessibility-based transportation planning was at the brink of becoming a new paradigm, and yet this hope remains unrealized. Its implementation may lag due to vague definitions when compared to mobility, or because those who would benefit from accessibility-based planning lack political power to rally its support. Possibly, the lag in implementation reflects the missing linkages between theory and application for many contexts. This literature review synthesizes knowledge regarding the applications for accessibility-based transportation planning for shrinking cities along the themes of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. While residents in shrinking cities might especially …

Continuous Data Integration For Land Use And Transportation Planning And Modeling, Liming Wang, Kihong Kim

TREC Final Reports

There is an urgent need for improved models that address the interdependencies between land use and transportation, and considerable new work is underway to develop such models in Oregon and elsewhere. These models and planning practices to integrate land use into the process, however, require the integration of massive amounts of land use data that is messy and incomplete. There have been considerable advances in the treatment of such data problems in other domains, drawing on data mining and machine-learning techniques to address issues in various domains. To date, however, little systematic effort has applied these technological advances to the …

Durability Assessment Of Recycled Concrete Aggregates For Use In New Concrete Phase Ii, Jason H. Ideker, Matthew P. Adams, Jennifer Tanner, Angela Jones

TREC Final Reports

This Phase II investigation into the durability of new concrete incorporating recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) focused on several goals: 1) Provide corroboration of results obtained in Phase I for a multi-laboratory study related to assessing alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) of RCA in accelerated laboratory tests; 2) Investigate the efficacy of mitigation methods to control ASR in concrete containing potentially reactive RCA; 3) Establish long-term data through placement of concrete blocks containing RCA in an outdoor exposure site in Laramie, WY; and 4) Survey state DOTs and other transportation agencies about their perceptions and usage of RCA ASR in concrete within their …

Street Portals: Urban User Interface 'Test Bed' Prototype For Bike Shares, Jason Germany, Philip Speranza

TREC Final Reports

The objective of this research project is to develop a user interface “test bed” to measure the role of touchscreen kiosks with community connectivity. This interface test bed will apply the knowledge of interface design to the domain of public transit kiosks, with a particular focus on bike share stations. The value of this research is the ability to generate user feedback between community members using urban experiences. Safety, effectiveness and community connectivity of public transit is enhanced with this information interface.

This report explains the test bed kiosk’s design, physical build, and hardware and software testing. User interaction studies …

The Development Of Low-/No-Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure In The Portland Metro Region: A Roadmap, John Macarthur, Peter Murchie, George Beard

TREC Final Reports

The shift from combustion engines to low- and no-emission electric vehicles is underway and gaining momentum. During the last year, Oregon has become an active player in the electric vehicle arena, with a number of promising relationships and activities in the early stages of formalization. With additional thought, effort and strategy Oregon can seize the opportunity to become the national leader in the adoption and incorporation of new vehicle platforms and mobility strategies into the fabric of urban life and the built environment. Oregon is currently actively engaged in relationships with international automotive companies and local businesses and utilities interested …