Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Barriers To “New Mobility”: A Community-Informed Approach To Smart Cities Technology, Aaron Golub, Vivian Satterfield

PSU Transportation Seminars

There is an active debate about the potential costs and benefits of emerging “smart mobility” systems, especially in how they will serve communities already facing transportation challenges. This presentation will describe the results of an assessment of these equity impacts in the context of lower-income areas of Portland, Oregon, based on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research.

Portland, Oregon’s proposal for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge, “Ubiquitous Mobility for Portland,” focuses on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). This study found that by lowering …

Data From: Market Segment Prediction Tool, Philip L. Winters, Amy Lester

TREC Datasets and Databases

Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Social marketing is a useful transportation demand management (TDM) planning approach to promote travel-behavior change, and combines at least seven distinguishing features that sets it apart from other popular, behavior-change planning approaches, such as education and mass media campaigns. These seven features include a focus on socially beneficial behavior change; a strong consumer orientation; the use of audience segmentation techniques and the selection of target audiences; the use of marketing’s conceptual framework (marketing mix and …

Trec/Oapa Webinar: Authentic Community Engagement, Eryn Kehe, Wendy Serrano

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will provide practical tools for designing effective and authentic community engagement for transportation projects. Too often, we can forget to ask ourselves who, what and why for our engagement processes. Authentic community engagement requires us to think through exactly why we need to involve the public, how they can influence project decisions and who the most impacted people may be. This session will walk you through the steps to plan a unique engagement approach for each project and share examples of what can happen when these tools are used correctly and what can go wrong when they are …

Holding Ridesharing Companies Accountable In Texas, Martha Alejandra Salas

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Who Wins And Who Loses? How Gentrification Caused By Public Transportation Is Felt Differently Across Race, Rosina Shipman

Politics Summer Fellows

When does a public good become harmful? And who does it harm? To tackle these questions I take a detailed look at how public transportation affects housing prices. Public transportation is a common good utilized by people of all different socioeconomic levels, but scholars have found that the presence of a new public transportation stop can be a catalyst for gentrification, raising housing prices and displacing previous residents. While this positive relationship between housing prices and public transportation is well documented, there is a lack of literature on how gentrification, caused by public transportation, affects neighborhood-housing prices across race. In …

How Much Do Users Value A Network Expansion? Evidence From The Public Transit System In Singapore, Eric Fesselmeyer, Haoming Liu

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We estimate the network effects of a public transit system by examining the impact of its expansion on housing prices. Our results show that a major expansion of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system increased the price of apartments within 0.5 km of a pre-expansion station by 1.8% relative to apartments that were further away from a station. Evaluated at the mean housing price, the expansion increased the value of pre-connected apartments by at least S$455 million in aggregate, which is equivalent to 9% of the estimated S$5 billion cost of the expansion.

Immigration, Income, And Public Transit Perceptions: Findings From An Intercept Survey, Jesus M. Barajas, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Daniel G. Chatman

Journal of Public Transportation

Although a significant fraction of public transit riders in the United States are immigrants, relatively little research explores whether immigrants have unique transit experiences. This paper analyzes intercept survey data from 1,247 transit riders in the San Francisco Bay Area to explore how mode choices and travel experiences differ for low-income immigrants compared to higher-income immigrants and US-born residents. We find that some public transit experiences are similar across all immigrant status and income groups, while in other ways low-income immigrants differ from their higher-income counterparts or from US-born respondents. In particular, low-income immigrants were less likely to have a …

Fare Policy And Vertical Equity: The Trade-Off Between Affordability And Cost Recovery, Xavier J. Harmony

Journal of Public Transportation

Vertical equity and the maximization of farebox revenue are important but conflicting goals in the development of fare policy in the United States. Reducing fares for low-income riders reduces revenue for a transit agency, while increasing fares could disproportionately impact lower-income riders. This paper details this conflict, explores strategies that could account for both goals, and evaluates fare programs in the United States. Two types of low-income strategies are discussed: first generation strategies and targeted subsidy strategies. First generation strategies have several limitations that targeted subsidy strategies account for; first generation strategies focus more on supply, while targeted subsidy strategies …

How Much Do Users Value A Network Expansion? Evidence From The Public Transit System In Singapore, Eric Fesselmeyer, Haoming Liu

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We estimate the network effects of a public transit system by examining the impact of its expansion on housing prices. Our results show that a major expansion of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system increased the price of apartments within 0.5 km of a pre-expansion station by 1.8% relative to apartments that were further away from a station. Evaluated at the mean housing price, the expansion increased the value of pre-connected apartments by at least S$455 million in aggregate, which is equivalent to 9% of the estimated S$5 billion cost of the expansion.

The Cost Of Jaywalking On Traffic Congestion In An Intersection In Greater Cairo: A Case Study, Hussein Gawdat

Theses and Dissertations

There have been many studies focusing on different types of traffic delays, pedestrians’ interaction at signalized intersections and economic losses as a result of these delays. However, there is a huge gap in the current literature, regionally and globally, in studying the traffic delays associated with jaywalking. In Egypt, jaywalking is considered a common phenomenon, however, population increased drastically over the past decades in Greater Cairo leading to more congested streets. This research provides a case study that investigates the economic effect of jaywalking on traffic flow in Mashaal, a sample location in Greater Cairo, due to traffic congestion. The …

A Survey Of Ride-Hailing Passengers, Steven Gehrke

PSU Transportation Seminars

In less than a decade, the ride-hailing industry, led by Uber and Lyft, has dramatically transformed the way we travel in our metro regions. Rider adoption of these on-demand mobility services has proceeded much quicker than our understanding of their impacts to our urban transportation systems. Planning for this transformation in personal mobility, which will have unintended consequences, has been made more difficult by the scarcity in meaningful data made available by these ride-hailing companies. Public agencies responsible for managing congestion and transit services are hindered in their ability to successfully plan for the integration of this emergent travel mode …

Utrecht, Bike Capital Of The World, Martijn Rietbergen

PSU Transportation Seminars

Utrecht is a bustling, bicycle-friendly city in the Netherlands. Every day, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., over 125,000 cyclists ride to their work, school, university, public transport, shops or home through the city centre.

The municipality wants to make cycling even more attractive for these and other cyclists. Consequently, the bicycle is given precedence in the mobility policy of the municipality of Utrecht. We want to be the most bike-friendly city in the world. We want to keep our growing city livable, accessible and economically strong, and we are convinced that the bicycle can and should play a major …

Science, Advocacy, Policy, Planning: Tools For Advancing Transportation Equity, Garrett S. Mcallister

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The theme of this portfolio is how different tools and approaches can be used for advancing transportation equity. Broadly defined, transportation equity is about fairness in transportation. There are a number of ways this fairness can be assessed. The most common way to assess transportation equity is by looking at the fairness of outcomes, distributed geographically, socially, or even by mode of transportation. Equity can also be defined by the fairness of processes. The first half of the portfolio illustrates some of the problems with the current transportation system and how it is unhealthy (Piece 1) and unjust (Piece 2). …

A Fair Distribution Of Accessibility: Interpreting Civil Rights Regulations For Regional Transportation Plans, Karel Martens, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The US Department of Transportation requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to consider social equity in their plans and projects in accordance with civil rights–related laws. In this paper, we suggest four interpretations of directives’ distributional standards in relation to accessibility. Employing this framework, we review the equity assessments of regional plans of the ten largest MPOs in the United States. Against our expectations, we find that MPOs tend to employ relatively strong distributional standards, albeit never explicitly. We argue that more explicit guidance regarding standards would improve the fairness and consistency of planning practice

Understanding The Effects Of Taxi Ride-Sharing: A Case Study Of Singapore, Yazhe Wang, Baihua Zheng, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper studies the effects of ride-sharing among those calling on taxis in Singapore for similar origin and destination pairs at nearly the same time of day. It proposes a simple yet practical framework for taxi ride-sharing and scheduling, to reduce waiting times and travel times during peak demand periods. The solution method helps taxi users save money while helping taxi drivers serve multiple requests per day, thus increasing their earnings. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted, based on real taxi booking data for the city of Singapore, to evaluate the effect of various factors of the ride-sharing practice, e.g., …

Intersection: Orientation And Mobility As Interdisciplinary Conversation, Amy T. Parker, Prateek Dujari

PSU Transportation Seminars

Knowing where one wants to go and how to get there are essential life skills for all people. Community access and travel skills are not only important rites of passage for youth in becoming adults, they are linked to higher rates of employment and overall health. People who are blind and visually impaired (BVI) face challenges in accessing public transportation, yet studies have shown that with relevant orientation and mobility instruction, technology, and accessible design, vision loss need not preclude community travel.

Join PSU's Amy Parker and Intel's Prateek Dujari on the ways that knowledge from consumers and the field …

Fhwa Guidebook For Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity, Joseph Broach

PSU Transportation Seminars

In 2016 the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a Guidebook for Developing Pedestrian and Bicycle Performance Measures that presents methods for measuring walking and bicycling performance and activities and embedding them into the transportation planning and decisionmaking process (U.S. Department of Transportation 2016). Building on the 2016 guidebook, this resource focuses on pedestrian and bicycle network connectivity and provides information on incorporating connectivity measures into state, metropolitan, and local transportation planning processes.

Connectivity measures can help transportation practitioners identify high priority network gaps, implement cost-effective solutions that address multiple needs, optimize potential co-benefits, and …

Bicycles & Business Success - A San Francisco Examination, Joseph Poirier

PSU Transportation Seminars

This presentation will review research regarding the economic impact of bicycle infrastructure on local businesses. Three case study corridors in San Francisco, CA are examined, and a robust discussion of the shortcomings of the research will be included. A question and open discussion period will follow, with a focus on constructive criticism of past research and methods to improve future work.

Hedonic Modeling Of Commercial Property Values: Distance Decay From The Links And Nodes Of Rail And Highway Infrastructure, Kihwan Seo, Deborah Salon, Michael Kuby, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the impacts of positive and negative externalities of highways and light rail on commercial property values in Phoenix, Arizona. We hypothesize that the positive externality (i.e., accessibility) of highway and light rail accrues at exits and stations, whereas nodes and links of highways and light rail emanate negative effects. Positive and negative effects decay with increasing distance and are captured by multiple distance bands. Hypotheses are tested using a spatial error regression model. Results show that commercial property values are positively and significantly associated with the accessibility benefits of transport nodes. The distance-band coefficients form a typical …

Defining Place: A Review Of How Place Type Is Measured And Constructed, Kelly Rodgers

PSU Transportation Seminars

Part of the Student Presentations from TRB

Researchers have been parsing which components of the built environment contribute to outcomes of interest and to what degree, particularly the effects on vehicle use and walking. Increasingly, researchers and practitioners recognize that the type of neighborhood may affect individual travel behaviors. These bundle of various land use and transportation system characteristics can be constructed as different neighborhood or place types. But not all place types are constructed with the same use, purpose, or methods. This presentation will review three classifications of place typologies to better understand their purpose and appropriate application as …

Webinar: An Accessible Approach To Shared Streets, Jim Elliott, Janet Barlow, Dan Goodman

TREC Webinar Series

In October 2017 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) unveiled a groundbreaking new resource on planning and designing shared streets to accommodate people with vision disabilities. The first report of its kind, Accessible Shared Streets: Notable Practices and Considerations for Accommodating Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities (learn more and download the report) / (access the 508 version here) introduces accessible design principles for shared streets based on detailed research and extensive outreach, equipping communities to pursue new designs that are accessible for people with vision disabilities. Drawing from notable practices, public outreach, and field analysis from multiple US …

Development Of A Multi-Modal Travel Demand Module For The Regional Strategic Planning Model, Huajie Yang

PSU Transportation Seminars

Part of the Student Presentations from TRB

Integrated land use and transportation models have evolved along a spectrum with simplistic sketch planning models on one end and sophisticated microsimulation models on the other. While each type of these models has its niche, they are largely unable to balance the flexibility and realism of microsimulation and the speed and interactiveness of simple models. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) aims to fill this gap by taking a microsimulation approach but making other simplifications, to model first-order long-term outcomes of land use and transportation quickly. It takes into consideration the underlying uncertainties …

Exploring Bicycle Accessibility And Equity In Portland, Oregon, Jenny H. Liu

PSU Transportation Seminars

As urban areas across the country are investing in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure to promote environmentally sustainable transportation and to develop livable communities, many have pointed to improvements in environmental quality, economic development and public health as potential positive outcomes. While these outcomes of active transportation infrastructure are relatively well documented, it is also known that both transportation and environmental amenities are typically unevenly distributed in the urban context. Studies show that those who are the most socioeconomically disadvantaged (i.e. low income, people of color, etc.) are also those who disproportionately experience transportation disadvantages.

This study contributes to the existing …

An Investigation Of The Performance Of Urban Rail Transit Systems On The Corridor Level: A Comparative Analysis In The American West, Daniel Zimny-Schmitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1980s, significant investments have been made in urban rail transit across the United States, particularly using light rail technology. Most of these light rail systems have been built in Sunbelt cities which no longer had legacy rail systems. As a result, they were constructed using a building blocks approach, being funded corridor by corridor. Most research, however, on urban rail performance has taken place at the system-wide level, leaving a significant gap at the level of the transit corridor. This research examined nineteen urban rail corridors in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Portland. A performance score was constructed …

Cascadia Connect: Car-Free Access To The Outdoors, Kara Boden, Brandon Crawford, Matt Gray, Tony Lamb, Maricelith Valencia, John Whitman

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

As outdoor recreation areas in Oregon become more popular, increased auto-related congestion results in strained resources, environmental degradation, and diminished visitors’ experiences. This project proposes policies, strategies, and a variety of approaches to help transportation agencies and land managers facilitate car-free access to outdoor recreation areas. The plan also proposes approaches to increase access to recreation areas for transit-dependent visitors and under-represented communities who face significant barriers to access today. The Background Report includes data; interview, survey and focus group themes; site visit findings; and personal travel anecdotes.

North Pdx Connected: Final Report, Taylor Campi, Mohammed N. Hotak, Hector Rodrigues Ruiz, Leeor Schweitzer, Mike Serritella

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

North PDX Connected is an active transportation improvement plan for North Portland focusing on the N Willamette Blvd corridor. Based in community input, the plan seeks to improve safety and comfort for people walking, biking, and taking transit along the corridor and to ensure equitable engagement and distribution of impacts. The enhanced corridor will help connect neighborhoods in North Portland to each other and to the rest of the city.

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 …

Empowering Portland's Youth To Choose Car-Free Mobility, Autumn Shafer, Jared Macary

TREC Project Briefs

Little is known from research about how to motivate youth to choose non-car mobility, especially specific Portland-area youth. Understanding the current attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of youth in relation to non-car mobility contributes to the sustainability of a long-term transportation system. Transportation system-related beliefs and behaviors of youth are likely to influence their willingness to access and support transportation services as adults. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s riders, bikers, walkers, voters, and transportation planners. Thus, it is important to develop age-appropriate messaging strategies and tactics that promote youth non-car mobility.

This project seeks to build on the sparse national and non-Portland …

Explaining Market Urbanism, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Compares Market Urbanism to New Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism

Engineering Standards In Highway Design Litigation, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Highway engineers sometimes believe that if they redesign streets to improve pedestrian safety (for example, by introducing traffic calming techniques) they might be successfully sued for negligent design by motorists. This chapter suggests that in such situations, governments are likely to be protected by discretionary function immunity. In addition, the chapter discusses a variety of technical issues.