Transportation Commons^™

New Orleans Regional Pedestrian And Bicycle Crash Report, 2009-2010, Tara Tolford, Uno Transportation Institute

UNOTI Publications

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Headway Maintenance For Bus Routes: Causes And Effects Of “Bus Bunching” In Extensive And Congested Service Areas, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Wu-Chi Feng, Gerardo Lafferriere, Wei Feng

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A healthy and efficient public transit system is indispensable to reduce congestion, emissions, energy consumption, and car dependency in urban areas. The objective of this research is to 1) develop methods to evaluate and visualize bus service reliability for transit agencies in various temporal and spatial aggregation levels; 2) identify the recurrent unreliability trends of bus routes (focusing on high-frequency service periods) and understand their characteristics, causes and effects; and 3) model service times using linear regression models.

This research utilized six months of archived automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data from a low-performance route (Route …

Real-Time Road Traffic Forecasting Using Regime-Switching Space-Time Models And Adaptive Lasso, Yiannis Kamarianakis, Wei Shen, Laura Wynter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Smart transportation technologies require real-time traffic prediction to be both fast and scalable to full urban networks. We discuss a method that is able to meet this challenge while accounting for nonlinear traffic dynamics and space-time dependencies of traffic variables. Nonlinearity is taken into account by a union of non-overlapping linear regimes characterized by a sequence of temporal thresholds. In each regime, for each measurement location, a penalized estimation scheme, namely the adaptive absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), is implemented to perform model selection and coefficient estimation simultaneously. Both the robust to outliers least absolute deviation estimates and conventional …

Rejoinder: Real-Time Road Traffic Forecasting Using Regime-Switching Space-Time Models And Adaptive Lasso, Yiannis Kamarianakis, Wei Shen, Laura Wynter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Kamarianakis et al. presented a promising application of multivariate time series analysis to the traffic condition forecasting problem in urban transportation networks. Interest is keen and growing in providing accurate predictions of link and route travel conditions, especially in the context of the burgeoning demand for ‘real-time’ traveler information. Forecasts underlying this information must be sufficiently accurate for the traveler information provided to be of tangible value. As the authors clearly pointed out, although the near ubiquitous availability of urban traffic condition data makes area-wide forecasts theoretically possible, scalability to area-wide networks and the required speed of forecast generation represent …

Analyzing And Quantifying The Impact Of Congestion On Ltl Industry Costs And Performance In The Portland Metropolitan Region, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased congestion during peak morning and afternoon periods in urban areas is increasing logistics costs. In addition, environmental, social, and political pressures to limit the impacts associated with CO2 emissions are mounting rapidly. A key challenge for transportation agencies and businesses is to improve the efficiency of urban freight and commercial vehicle movements while ensuring environmental quality, livable communities, and economic growth. However, research and policy efforts to analyze and quantify the impacts of congestion and freight public policies on carriers operations and CO2 emissions are hindered by the complexities of vehicle routing problems with time-dependent travel times and the …

Bus Operator Awareness Research And Development Training Program, Christopher Kozub, Brian Michael Jenkins

Mineta Transportation Institute

This training is designed to enhance the abilities of bus operators to: Quickly and effectively evaluate suspicious and dangerous activities Take actions to protect yourself and your passengers, and Provide timely and accurate information to law enforcement through your control center This summary and the full instructor-led course were developed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in cooperation with the National Transportation Security Center of Excellence (NTSCOE), managed through the Science and Technology Directorate of DHS. Through the intensive efforts of four universities and two federal agencies, the team conducted extensive research both nationally and abroad to identify appropriate countermeasures …

Demand Responsive Signal Control Strategy (Drsc) Incorporating Queue Length Information In Real-Time Signal Control, Rahul Rajbhara

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Most of the existing vehicle detection systems, namely inductive loops, video cameras etc. are incapable of measuring the queue lengths at signalized intersections. However, with the advent of modern technology, newer detection methods such as probe vehicles equipped with wireless communications (Connected Vehicles), particularly under the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration [52), and radar detection currently provide this capability [53). This thesis presents a Demand Responsive Signal Control Strategy (termed as DRSC) for an isolated signalized intersection. The control strategy incorporates real-time queue length information (obtained from probe vehicles) into the signal control logic. Demand based maximum green time for each upcoming/new …

Off Premises Sunday Sales In Georgia Localities: Will It Affect Traffic Accidents?, Forrest Rose, Nathan Dunkel

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Discussions about public policy relating to alcohol cause a polarizing reaction to many people in this country, particularly in the South. The state of Georgia, for example, has a long history of policies regulating alcohol which reflects its membership as part of the “Bible Belt” where Sunday is regarded as a holy day and therefore alcohol cannot and should not be purchased on this day. Given that the impetus of alcohol control policy has generally widened the availability of alcohol since the Prohibition, the moral concerns of voters regarding alcohol regulation have been superseded in the public debate with safety …

Getting On The Bus: Marketing San Luis Obispo's Regional Transit Authority, Jenna Higgins

Master's Theses

A new trend is emerging, seeking to recognize the benefits of and encourage the use of public transportation. In the past, public transit agencies have not directed much energy or focus at marketing, seeking to use limited funds elsewhere. “The common perception is that money spent on marketing would be better spent on transit systems themselves…over time, a sustained investment in marketing increases the number of people who use transit. Increased ridership leads to increased revenue, and ideally, an increase in service to match the new demand” (Arpi, 2009).

Even as marketing gains importance in the public transit world, questions …

Collaborative Funding To Facilitate Airport Ground Access, Research Report 11-27, Geoffrey D. Gosling, Wenbin Wei, Dennis Freeman

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report presents the findings and conclusions from a research study that has examined the challenges of funding airport ground access projects and the role of collaborative funding strategies between the different agencies that typically become involved in such projects. The report reviews the recent literature on funding airport ground access projects, as well as funding transportation projects more generally. This is followed by a detailed review of current federal transportation funding programs relevant to airport ground access projects, as well as a discussion of state and local funding programs and potential opportunities for private-sector funding. A major component of …

Systematic Procedures To Determine Incentive / Disincentive Dollar Amounts For Highway Transportation Construction Projects, Research Report 11-22, Jae-Ho Pyeon, Eul-Bum Lee

Mineta Transportation Institute

The Federal Highway Administration has encouraged state transportation agencies to implement Incentive/Disincentive (I/D) contracting provisions for early project completion. Although general guidelines to determine the I/D dollar amount for a project are available, there is no systematic and practical tool in use to determine optimum I/D dollar amounts for I/D projects considering road user cost, agency cost, contractor’s acceleration cost, and contractor’s cost savings. Therefore, systematic procedures and models to assist project planners and engineers in determining an appropriate I/D dollar amount are essential to optimizing the use of I/D contracting techniques. This research performed a literature review related to …

Public Bikesharing In North America: Early Operator And User Understanding, Mti Report 11-19, Susan A. Shaheen

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study evaluates public bikesharing in North America, reviewing the advances in technology and major events during its rapid expansion. We conducted 14 interviews with industry experts, public officials, and governmental agencies in the United States and Canada during summer 2011/spring 2012 and interviewed all 19 IT-based bikesharing organizations in the United States and Canada in spring 2012. Several bikesharing insurance experts were also consulted in spring 2012. Notable developments during this period include the emergence of a close partnership between vendor and operator and technological advances, such as mobile bike-docking stations that can be moved to different locations and …

Advancing High-Speed Rail Policy In The United States, Research Report 11-18, Seananu Ashiabor, Wenbin Wei

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report builds on a review of international experience with high-speed rail projects to develop recommendations for a High-speed rail policy framework for the United States. The international review looked at the experience of Korea, Taiwan, China, and several countries in Europe. Countries in Asia and Europe have pursued high-speed rail (HSR) to achieve various goals, which include relieving congestion on highway networks, freeing up capacity on rail network for freight train operations, and reducing travel time for travelers. Some of the key rationales do not work well in the US context. As an example, in the US, freight companies …

Residential On-Site Carsharing And Off-Street Parking Policy In The San Francisco Bay Area, Research Report 11-28, Charles Rivasplata, Zhan Guo, Richard W. Lee, David Keyon

Mineta Transportation Institute

In light of rising motorization, transportation planners have increasingly supported alternatives to the indiscriminate use of the car. Off-street parking policy and carsharing have emerged as credible alternatives for discouraging car ownership. This report explores an initiative that could connect these policy fields and build on their synergy: the provision of on-site carsharing service in residential developments. It evaluates the performance of on-site carsharing programs in the San Francisco Bay Area by interviewing developers, planners, and carsharing service providers. Interviews were conducted in four Bay Area cities that support the provision of carsharing as an alternative to the private automobile. …

Development Challenges Of Secondary And Small Airports In California, Research Report 11-21, Senanu Ashiabor, Wenbin Wei

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study investigates the development of secondary and smaller airports in California. Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) business is growing at these airports because they offer reduced operating costs, and they have adequate capacity to help LCCs avoid battling with incumbent airlines at the large hubs for limited resources, such as gates. However, increased LCC aircraft operations at the secondary airports have led to significant noise impacts on the surrounding communities and this has been a challenge for the secondary airport operators. They have imposed operational curfews to limit the noise impacts, but this approach constrains the resident airlines that want to …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Public Transit, Highways, And Local Streets And Roads? Results From Year 3 Of A National Survey, Mti Report 12-01, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon, Vinay Murthy

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,519 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 and creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard socio-demographic factors, travel behavior (public …

Amenity Or Necessity? Street Standards As Parking Policy, Research Report 11-23, Zhan Guo, Charles Rivasplata, Richard W. Lee, David Keyon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This paper explores the rationales underlying the use of minimum street width requirements to mandate street parking. A survey of 97 cities reveals that this mandate is not a technical necessity based on safety concerns or an amenity reflecting market demand, two common beliefs held by decision-makers. Many residents are likely unwilling to pay for street parking if it is unbundled from housing. The hidden parking policies should be made transparent and subject to public oversight, the double standard between private and public streets should be eliminated, and parking on residential streets should be optional.

Marketing In An Automobile Dependent Society: An Analysis Of Consumer-Oriented, Industry-Produced Advertising Material, John Ridout

All Dissertations

Despite the best intentions of public policy to cure societal ills, for the individual American consumer, the solution to the problem of automobile dependence is simple: buy an automobile. Consumers are alleviating societal pressure of not having a car rather than focusing on the negative impacts of vehicle usage after the purchase. Marketing and advertising play an important role in portraying how the public views transportation. Marketing reinforces automobile dependence and automobility by creating images and messages that say the norm of American life requires an automobile; therefore, marketing creates, controls, and reinforces values within the automobile consumer culture. Addressing …

Bike Easy: Bicycle Share Feasibility Study, New Orleans, Uno Transportation Institute

UNOTI Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploratory Methods For Truck Re-Identification In A Statewide Network Based On Axle Weight And Axle Spacing Data To Enhance Freight Metrics: Phase Ii, Mecit Cetin, Christopher M. Monsere

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Vehicle re-identification methods can be used to anonymously match vehicles crossing two different locations based on vehicle attribute data. This research builds upon a previous study and investigates different methods for solving the re-identification problem and explores some of the factors that impact the accuracy of the results. To support this work, archived data from weigh-in-motion (WIM) stations in Oregon are used for developing, calibrating, and testing vehicle re-identification algorithms. In addition to the Bayesian approach developed by the researchers in the previous study, a neural network model is developed for solving the re-identification problem. The results from the testing …