Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Webinar: Social Transportation Analytic Toolbox (Stat) For Transit Networks, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will present an open-source socio-transportation analytic toolbox (STAT) for public transit system planning. This webinar will consist of a demonstration of the STAT toolbox, for the primary purpose of getting feedback from transit agencies on the tool's usefulness. We are especially interested in hearing about any improvements that would aid transit agencies in implementing it.

The STAT toolbox was created in an effort to integrate social media and general transit feed specification (GTFS) data for transit agencies, to aid in evaluating and enhancing the performance of public transit systems. The toolbox enables the integration, analysis, and visualization of …

Social-Transportation Analytic Toolbox (Stat) For Transit Networks, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Qian Zuo, Shenruoyang Na, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Jake Davis

TREC Final Reports

This project builds an open-source, socio-transportation analytic (STAT) toolbox for public transit system planning in an effort to integrate social media and general transit feed specification (GTFS) data for transit agencies in evaluating and enhancing the performance of public transit systems. This toolbox is novel and essential to transit agencies in two aspects. First, it enables the integration, analysis and visualization of two major, new open transportation data, social media and GTFS data, to support transit decision-making. Second, it allows transit agencies to evaluate service network efficiency and access equity of transit systems in a cohesive manner, and identify areas …

Bike-Ped Portal: Development Of An Online Nonmotorized Traffic Count Archive, Krista Nordback, Kristin A. Tufte, Nathan Mcneil, Morgan Harvey, Michelle Watkins

TREC Final Reports

Robust bicycle and pedestrian data on a national scale would serve numerous purposes. Access to a centralized nonmotorized traffic count archive can open the door for innovation through research, design and planning; provide safety researchers with a measure of exposure; provide fundamental performance metrics for planning and funding decisions; and allow policymakers and transportation professionals to better support the public’s desire for livable communities. Numerous jurisdictions have initiated nonmotorized traffic count programs. However, many agencies and policymakers, who need data to support investment decisions, are in locations without a centralized count program. This lack of access to count data may …

Making Every Mode Count In Washington State, Krista Nordback

TREC Project Briefs

A NITC report by Krista Nordback of Portland State University offers a step toward establishing a performance metric by which statewide progress with respect to bicycling and walking can be evaluated. The Washington State Pedestrian and Bicycle Miles Traveled Project discusses the relative merits of three different methods which can be used to compute bicycle miles traveled (BMT) and pedestrian miles traveled (PMT).

Estimating Walking And Bicycling At The State Level, Krista Nordback, Mike Sellinger, Taylor Phillips

TREC Final Reports

Estimates of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) drive policy and planning decisions for surface transportation. No similar metric is computed for cycling and walking. What approaches could be used to compute such a metric on the state level? This report discusses three such approaches, identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each, and applies them to Washington State. The first approach employs travel survey data. The second approach is sample-based using pedestrian and bicycle count data. The third approach is an aggregate demand model approach using demographic data combined with count data. Due to data limitations, none of these methods could be …

Locating Truck Data Collection Sites In Oregon Using Representation Optimal Sampling, Kenneth Dueker, William A. Rabiega, Bruce Rex

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The Oregon Department of Transportation collects data on the performance of the highway system by sampling traffic volume, vehicle classification, truck weights, pavement conditions, etc. The selection of efficient and accurate locations for collecting data is important. This report addresses the larger sampling problem by focusing on locations for collecting truck weight data. Sites selected for weight-in-motion/automatic vehicle identification (WIM/AVI) within the Crescent/HELP project are assessed to determine their locational suitability for truck weight data collection. A method, Representation Optimal Sampling (ROS), to aid in site selection is reported here. Sampling configurations of six and twelve station using ROS are …

Research Note: Determinants Of Bus Dwell Time, Kenneth Dueker, Thomas J. Kimpel, James G. Strathman, Steve Callas

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

This research note reports an analysis of dwell times at bus stops using archived Automatic Vehicle Location/ Automatic Passenger Counter (AVL/APC) data reported at the level of the individual bus stop. The data provide a large number of observations that serve to better understand the determinants of dwells, including analysis of rare events, such as lift operations. The analysis of bus dwell times at bus stops is applicable to TriMet, the transit provider for the Portland metropolitan area, and transit agencies in general. The determinants of dwell time include passenger activity, lift operations and other effects: low floor bus, time …

Gis-T Data Sharing Issues, Kenneth Dueker, J. Allison Butler

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework and principles for sharing of transportation data. The framework is intended to clarify roles of the various participants and the principles are intended to provide guidance for the participants. Both the framework and the principles are based on a GIS-T data model that defines relations among transportation data elements. (See Dueker and Butler (1998) for a detailed description of the data model. A simplified version is provided in the next section.) The data model guards against ambiguities and provides a basis for the development of the framework and principles for …

Automated Bus Dispatching, Operations, Control, And Service Reliability: Baseline Analysis, James G. Strathman, Kenneth Dueker, Thomas J. Kimpel, Rick Gerhart, Ken Turner, Pete Taylor, Steve Callas, David Griffin, Janet Hopper

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The authors of this report are engaged in a long term project to assess the impacts of Tri-Met's BDS on service reliability and transit use. The framework designed for this assessment focuses on documenting service reliability and passenger activity at three major junctures:

• The pre-operational (baseline) period;

• The initial (passive) period following implementation of the new system, when both drivers and dispatchers have access to schedule adherence information in real time, but before the development and use of operations control practices that exploit the information generated by the system;

• Full implementation, when operations control practices are defined …

Traffic Data Selection: An Evaluation Of Siting Criteria For Permanent Traffic Recorders, Richard Ledbetter, Kenneth Dueker, Milan Krukar, Vern Tabery

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Traffic volume data are needed for design and construction zone traffic management. In addition, continuous traffic volume data (collected by automatic traffic recorders) is needed to factor short counts (24 hours or more) collected at key sites on the states highway network.

This study evaluates the procedures used by the Oregon Department of Transportation for collecting continuous traffic volume data to determine: (1) if the current location and number of automatic traffic recorders (ATRs) on Oregon's highway network is adequate for estimating monthly seasonal factors, and (2) if the current procedure of using group means, based on geographical regions, to …