Transportation Commons^™

Going Green: A Comparative Analysis Of Green Urbanism In Paris And Shanghai, Jeanne Torp

Honors Theses

As climate change becomes more pressing with each day and as we scramble to slow down the challenges it poses, adapting the means of operation within our cities will become an invaluable tool for reducing humanity’s carbon footprint. This paper seeks to study the ways in which green infrastructure in global cities can be used to do just that—adapting to and mitigating the effects of challenges resulting from climate change. In order to provide a broad overview of the effectiveness of such green infrastructure systems across the globe, this research will focus on two cities that vary greatly in their …

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed A Digital Humanities Project, Elise Tanner, Geoffrey Joseph

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped …

Oregon Walks Pedestrian Crash Report: Causes, Effects, And Recommendations, Ashton Simpson, Scott Kocher, Brandon Summers

PSU Transportation Seminars

Perhaps you’ve seen a public meeting about pedestrian safety (or infrastructure projects) deteriorate into speculation about texting pedestrians or drunk drivers. What do the data say? The Oregon Walks Pedestrian Crash Report reviews police reports and available information for all 48 fatal pedestrian crashes in Portland from 2017-2019. The authors will summarize their most notable findings relating to infrastructure, other systemic factors, equity and the information that the public receives about crashes. Participants may wish to review the report or articles describing it to prepare for a robust discussion: You’re Driving Too Damn Fast, Willamette Week, March 17, 2021 Oregon …

The Mode Less Traveled: Exploring Bicyclist Identity In Portland, Or, Christopher Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores bicyclist as a social identity in Portland, OR and a relatively under researched topic in the existing literature about transportation mode choice. The results indicate that bicyclists in Portland do have an understanding of what it means to be a bicyclist and particularly the normative behaviors associated with that social identity. Results also indicate that barriers to entry into this social group are quite low but the path to becoming someone who regularly chooses bicycling as a mode of transportation is not straightforward and is fraught with barriers that could easily discourage new group members. Bicyclists in …

Evaluation Of A Transportation Incentive Program For Affordable Housing Residents, Roshin Kurian, Huijun Tan, Nathan Mcneil, John Macarthur

PSU Transportation Seminars

This seminar presents the results from the Transportation Wallet for Residents of Affordable Housing (TWRAH) pilot program launched by the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). The program provided a set of transportation incentives for low-income participants including a $308 pre-paid visa card which could be applied to public transit or other transportation services, a free bike share membership, and access to discounted rates on several services. The researchers conducted a survey with the program’s participants to understand how they used the Transportation Wallet and how the program helped them use different modes to get around. The main findings …

Towards A Safety Learning Culture For The Shipping Industry : A White Paper, Barry Kirwan, Beatrice Bettignies-Thiebaux, Matteo Cocchioni, Raphael Baumler, Maria Carrera Arce

Documents

Within the framework of the EU-funded SAFEMODE project, a series of confidential, in-depth interviews of seafarers and investigators was carried out to ascertain the current status of Safety Culture in the shipping industry, and to recommend possible avenues for improvement. The interview script covered practices in incident and accident investigation and reporting, the Human Element, the factors that keep the ship safe, the role of the Safety Management System, Just Culture and Safety Learning. The seafarers’ and investigators’ interviews were complemented by small focus groups with unions, education and safety bodies. Participants were open and genuine in providing their opinions, …

Webinar: Rethinking Streets During Covid, Clare Haley, John Larson-Friend, Marc Schlossberg, Aliza Whalen

TREC Webinar Series

Re-allocating space on streets to accommodate new uses – particularly for walking, biking, and being – is not new. However, COVID-era needs have accelerated the process that many communities use to make such street transitions. Many communities quickly understood that the street is actually a public place and a public good that serves broader public needs more urgent than the free flow or the storage of private vehicles. This seminar describes a new case study book that captures some of these quick changes to city streets in response to societal needs during COVID, with two open questions: 1. What changes …

Racial Bias In Driver Yielding Behavior At Crosswalks, Kimberly Kahn, Peter Koonce, George Stern

PSU Transportation Seminars

This seminar discusses how pedestrian race and gender can influence drivers’ behavior in interactions with pedestrians at crosswalks. Three speakers will present different lenses to look at this topic. Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, a researcher at Portland State University, will discuss research exploring how pedestrian race and gender influence drivers’ behavior in interactions with pedestrians at crosswalks. One dangerous potential point of conflict for pedestrians within the transportation system is interactions with drivers at crosswalks, and racial minorities are disproportionately represented in pedestrian fatalities. Research tested the hypothesis that drivers’ would demonstrate unequitable yielding based on pedestrians’ race and gender in …

Predicting Bus Travel Times In Washington, Dc Using Artificial Neural Networks (Anns), Stephen Arhin, Babin Manandhar, Hamdiat Baba Adam, Adam Gatiba

Mineta Transportation Institute

Washington, DC is ranked second among cities in terms of highest public transit commuters in the United States, with approximately 9% of the working population using the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrobuses to commute. Deducing accurate travel times of these metrobuses is an important task for transit authorities to provide reliable service to its patrons. This study, using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), developed prediction models for transit buses to assist decision-makers to improve service quality and patronage. For this study, we used six months of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Automatic Passenger Counting (APC) data for six Washington …

The Impact Of Ride Hail Services On The Accessibility Of Nonprofit Services, Dyana P. Mason, Miranda Menard

TREC Final Reports

Nonprofit organizations are responsible for providing a significant level of human services across the United States, often in collaboration with government agencies. In this work, they address some of the most pressing social issues in society – including homelessness, poverty, health care and education. While many of these organizations consider location and accessibility crucial to supporting their clients – often locating services near bus or train stops, for example – little is known about the impact of new technologies, including ride hail services like Lyft and Uber, on nonprofit accessibility. These technologies, which are re-shaping transportation in both urban and …

Rockwood Identity Project, Phil Longenecker, Ana Navia, Natalie Chavez, Francisco Ibarra, Max Nonnamaker, Eric Trinh

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Rockwood Identity Atlas is a data collection initiative that aims provide the Rockwood Community Development Corporation (CDC) with information about the community it serves. Through maps, data, and stories that highlight the identity, geography, and living conditions of the Rockwood community, this atlas aims to support Rockwood CDC and partner organizations better understand the challenges and opportunities facing the neighborhood. Although the atlas is an attempt to synthesize a more unified narrative about the identity of Rockwood, the report can be viewed in three distinct sections. We explored the three sections in three phases during March-May 2021:

• Phase I: …

Impact Of Penalty Cost On Customers' Booking Decisions, Jianghua Zhang, Daniel Zhuoyu Long, Rowan Wang, Chi Xie

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study a novel newsvendor-type problem where the information on demand quantity is not exogenously given. The customer needs to make the booking decision based on her estimation on demand, which is affected by the value of shortage penalty cost. The problem is motivated by low-cost airline service practices where passengers need to book baggage allowance for their travel. The baggage overweight price affects the accuracy of passengers’ baggage weight estimation and thus their booking quantities. Through stochastic decision models, we analytically characterize the impact of shortage penalty cost on passengers’ booking decisions as well as airline’s profit. We consider …

Urban Consolidation Center Or Peer-To-Peer Platform? The Solution To Urban Last-Mile Delivery, Qiyuan Deng, Xin Fang, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The growing population in cities and booming e-commerce activities create huge demand for urban last-mile delivery, exerting intense pressure on the cities' well-being. To keep congestion and pollution under control, a consolidator can operate an urban consolidation center (UCC) to bundle shipments from multiple carriers before the last-mile delivery. Alternatively, the consolidator can operate a peer-to-peer platform for the carriers to share delivery capacity. We provide guidance for the consolidator to choose between these two business models by comparative analysis. We capture the interactions between the consolidator and carriers using a game-theoretical framework. Under each business model, the consolidator first …

Numerical Investigations Of Virus Transport Aboard A Commuter Bus, Hamid Rahai, Jeremy Bonifacio

Mineta Transportation Institute

The authors performed unsteady numerical simulations of virus/particle transport released from a hypothetical passenger aboard a commuter bus. The bus model was sized according to a typical city bus used to transport passengers within the city of Long Beach in California. The simulations were performed for the bus in transit and when the bus was at a bus stop opening the middle doors for 30 seconds for passenger boarding and drop off. The infected passenger was sitting in an aisle seat in the middle of the bus, releasing 1267 particles (viruses)/min. The bus ventilation system released air from two linear …

Surface Transportation Supply Chain Security: Creating A Blueprint For Future Research, Frances Edwards, Joseph Szyliowicz, Dan Goodrich, William Medigovich, Liz Lange, Autumn Anderton

Mineta Transportation Institute

Ninety percent of the world’s trade goods travel by surface transportation, using maritime, road and rail assets. The security of the goods in transit, the infrastructure supporting the movement, and the vehicles, are required to ensure that international commerce proceeds successfully. Much has been written about the surface supply chain itself, but little has focused on the security of these components. This report provides a guide for those wanting an increased understanding of the security issues that supply chain surface transportation systems confront and a blueprint to guide their future research.

City Best Practices To Improve Transit Operations And Safety, Michelle Derobertis, Christopher E. Ferrell, Richard W. Lee, David Moore

Mineta Transportation Institute

Public, fixed-route transit services most commonly operate on public streets. In addition, transit passengers must use sidewalks to access transit stops and stations. However, streets and sidewalks are under the jurisdiction of municipalities, not transit agencies. Various municipal policies, practices, and decisions affect transit operations, rider convenience, and passenger safety. Thus, these government entities have an important influence over the quality, safety, and convenience of transit services in their jurisdictions. This research identified municipal policies and practices that affect public transport providers’ ability to deliver transit services. They were found from a comprehensive literature review, interviews and discussions with five …

Cycling Past 50: A Closer Look Into The World Of Older Cyclists, Carol Kachadoorian

Mineta Transportation Institute

This document reports on 2,300 responses to a nationwide survey of older adults who cycle. The survey, open from February through September 2020, includes questions about a rider’s cycling history, current cycling habits, and falls. It includes a visual preference survey of various cycling facilities and an online journaling option for two rides subsequent to completing the survey (results of the online journals will be available in the summer 2021). Responses reflect the impact of COVID-19 on older adults’ cycling habits, the impact of aging on ability and agility, the impact of the built environment, types of bicycles, and opportunities …

Novel Method For Probabilistic Evaluation Of The Post-Earthquake Functionality Of A Bridge, Vesna Terzic, William Pasco

Mineta Transportation Institute

While modern overpass bridges are safe against collapse, their functionality will likely be compromised in case of design-level or beyond design-level earthquake, which may generate excessive residual displacements of the bridge deck. Presently, there is no validated, quantitative approach for estimating the operational level of the bridge after an earthquake due to the difficulty of accurately simulating residual displacements. This research develops a novel method for probabilistic evaluation of the post-earthquake functionality state of the bridge; the approach is founded on an explicit evaluation of bridge residual displacements and associated traffic capacity by considering realistic traffic load scenarios.

This research …

Slowing The Spread Of Covid-19: Review Of “Social Distancing” Interventions Deployed By Public Transit In The United States And Canada, Camille Kamga, Penny Eickemeyer

Publications and Research

This paper presents a review of social distancing measures deployed by transit agencies in the United States and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses how specific operators across the two countries have implemented changes. Challenges and impacts on their operations are also provided.

Social distancing is one of the community mitigation measures traditionally implemented during influenza pandemics and the novel coronavirus pandemic. Research has shown that social distancing is effective in containing the spread of disease. This is applicable to the current situation with the novel coronavirus, given the lack of effective vaccines and treatments in the United States …

Does Institution Matter? An Analysis Of Two Types Of Public Transit Agencies In Midwest, Minshuai Ding

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study explores the consequence of using special-purpose and general-purpose forms of governments in public transit services. Since the 1950s, this form of local government has become prevalent yet remains an under-researched topic in the field of public administration. This study compares the performance of special-purpose and general-purpose governments in the field of public transit in the Midwest area of the United States. Performance in this context comprises four groups of variables: efficiency, effectiveness, solvency, and social responsiveness. Pooled cross-sectional data from the National Transit Database (NTD) of the agencies and census data from 2009-2018 are used for multilevel modeling …