Transportation Commons^™

Rail - The Left-Out Service Alternative, Charles W. Clowdis

Journal of Transportation Management

The trucking industry faces a number of issues as it tries to meet growing demand for services. Trucking services are stifled by three factors: (1) strict enforcement of hours of service requirements which preclude carriers from meeting scheduled appointments; (2) over-the-road driver shortages; and (3) the absence of tort reform or federal preemption to trump nuclear judgments which reach upstream to shippers and brokers. However, rail may be an alternative for a growing number of commodities. This article examines the viability of rail services for the wine industry.

The Economic Impact Of Olympic Games: Effects Of Host Country Announcements On Stock Market Returns, Bryan Engelhardt, Victor Matheson, Alex Yen, Max Chisholm

Economics Department Working Papers

Roughly seven years before an Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepts bids from countries to host an Olympics. Subsequently, the IOC determines and announces to the world who has won (and lost) the right to host. Contrary to prior evidence, we find the announcements do not affect the bidding countries’ stock markets. We complement prior studies by including additional, more recent, years of announcements, by investigating whether there are effects prior to the announcement, and by testing for an effect both parametrically and non-parametrically.

Smart Tech, Smart Cities: Achieving Mobility For All, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Project Briefs

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Train Wrecks And Track Attacks: An Analysis Of Attempts By Terrorists And Other Extremists To Derail Trains Or Disrupt Rail Transportation, Brian Michael Jenkins, Bruce R. Butterworth

Mineta Transportation Institute

Attempts to sabotage rails and deliberately derail passenger trains have a long history in conventional and guerrilla warfare as well as during some particularly bitter labor disputes in the past. Since the 1970s, political fanatics have become a major adversary. Terrorists have sought to derail trains to achieve high-casualty events, while anarchists and issue oriented extremists have attacked rails to attract attention to their causes and impose economic damage. In this report, we examine the more than a thousand attempts to derail trains and to attack rail infrastructure to discern overall patterns and trends. We then look at four subsets …

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 …

Exploring Transit’S Contribution To Livability In Rural Communities: Case Studies Of The North Dakota Cities Of Valley City And Dickinson, Ranjit Godavarthy, Jeremy Mattson

Journal of Public Transportation

This paper investigates the nexus of transit and rural livability as demonstrated by case studies in the North Dakota communities of Valley City and Dickinson. While there are many factors that influence the livability of a rural community, transit is believed to be an important contributor. For each of the two North Dakota communities considered, public/resident surveys, local transit rider surveys, and stakeholder interviews were conducted to understand differing opinions on livability and how transit contributes to livability.

In both Valley City and Dickinson, surveys of residents showed that they believe affordable housing, low crime, quality healthcare, overall cost of …

Precluding Discovery Of Preventability Determinations In Trucking Accidents, Patrick E. Foppe

Journal of Transportation Management

The discoverability and admissibility of post-accident “preventability” determinations by trucking companies is often much disputed in truck accident cases. It is well known that Plaintiff’s attorneys will try to construe a trucking company’s classification of an accident as “preventable” as an admission of fault during the course of a lawsuit. However, statements made by the FMCSA provide significant support to a trucking company’s efforts to preclude discovery or admission of preventability determinations in a lawsuit. This articles explores these issues.

Situation-Aware Authenticated Video Broadcasting Over Train-Trackside Wifi Networks, Yongdong Wu, Dengpan Ye, Zhuo Wei, Qian Wang, William Tan, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Live video programmes can bring in better travel experience for subway passengers and earn abundant advertisement revenue for subway operators. However, because the train-trackside channels for video dissemination are easily accessible to anyone, the video traffic are vulnerable to attacks which may cause deadly tragedies. This paper presents a situation-aware authenticated video broadcasting scheme in the railway network which consists of train, on-board sensor, trackside GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications-Railway) device, WiFi AP (Access Point), and train control center. Specifically, the scheme has four modules: (1) a train uses its on-board sensors to obtain its speed, location, and RSSI …

Early Career Job Choice In Logistics: Comparing Shifts In Attribute Importance Between Internship And Full-Time Roles, Michael Scott Garver, Sean P. Goffnett, Richard Divine, Zachary Williams, Connor F. Davis

Journal of Transportation Management

Maximum difference scaling was used to analyze the importance logistics students attach to 17 job attributes for internships as well as for full-time, entry-level positions. Significant differences in importance were found on nine of the 17 attributes tested. Room for advancement was the most important criterion for full-time positions while atmosphere/work environment was most important for internships. Implications for practitioners, academics and students are discussed. It is believed the results of the current study will provide useful insight to logistics employers to assist them in developing more attractive, entry-level job and internship opportunities and help them communicate more effective recruiting …

The New E-Commerce/Home Delivery Retail Distribution Paradigm, Henry E. Seaton Esq.

Journal of Transportation Management

The purpose of this article is to set forth a basic outline of the new e-commerce home delivery retail distribution paradigm. Special attention will be placed on how it is being implemented and the as yet unresolved contracting, regulatory and risk transfer issues involving selection, retention, and use of motor carriers, particularly for the rapidly developing final delivery of consumer goods.

Safety Fitness Determinations: What Is Fmcsa Measuring?, Mark J. Andrews, Henry E. Seaton

Journal of Transportation Management

Big Data and regulatory "Improv" are drowning due process

In-Transit Cargo Crime Impacting The Retail Supply Chain, John Tabor

Journal of Transportation Management

Surveys of retail security directors show that almost half of those polled had been the victims of a supplychain disruption directly related to cargo theft. This is a significant increase from just five years ago. In order to fully understand the issue of cargo theft, retailers need to know why it exists, who is perpetrating it, how risk can be reduced, and ultimately how to react to a loss. This article explores a number of dimensions of the issue, and offers several suggestions for mitigating the risk and dealing with theft after it occurs.

Evaluating And Enhancing Public Transit Systems For Operational Efficiency And Access Equity, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Thomas Cova

TREC Final Reports

Assessing the performance of public transit services has long been an important yet challenging issue for transportation agencies and researchers. Transit service performance measurement reflects a very first step towards an efficient and proactive management, where public transit agencies are increasingly pressured to provide high-quality services in spite of constrained resources. However, the performance evaluation of transit services is complicated by an array of quantitative measures available to assess the goals and the diversity in the goals themselves, which usually include improving operational efficiency and providing equitable access. While much previous work has examined public transit services for achieving optimal …

Community-Based Assessment Of Smart Transportation Needs In The City Of Portland, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Final Reports

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Integrated Performance Measures: Transit Equity & Efficiency, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Thomas Cova

TREC Project Briefs

Assessing the performance of public transit services has long been an important yet challenging issue for transportation agencies and researchers. Transit service performance measurement reflects a very first step towards an efficient and proactive management, where public transit agencies are increasingly pressured to provide high-quality services in spite of constrained resources. However, the performance evaluation of transit services is complicated by an array of quantitative measures available to assess the goals and the diversity in the goals themselves, which usually include improving operational efficiency and providing equitable access. While much previous work has examined public transit services for achieving optimal …

Survey Of Oregon Electric Vehicle & Hybrid Owners, John Macarthur, Michael Joseph Harpool, Daniel Scheppke

TREC Final Reports

The market for electric vehicles (EVs) is changing dramatically in the United States. Federal and state policies have been adopted to promote research and development in EV technology and to increase the number of EVs available in order to support increasing rates of EV ownership. The state of Oregon has one of the highest per-capita EV sales markets in the country. However, much is to be done if Oregon is to reach their ambitious goal of complete electrification of the private automobile industry by 2050. The goal of this study is to illuminate some of the current challenges and opportunities …

Measuring The Economic Impact Of High Speed Rail Construction For California And The Central Valley Region, Hilary Nixon, Matthew Holian, John Niles, J. M. Pogodzinski

Mineta Transportation Institute

The nation’s first high-speed rail project is under construction in California’s Central Valley as of the date of this report. This research analyzes the immediate economic impacts, focused on employment and spending generated by California High-Speed Rail (HSR) Construction Package 1 (CP1) in the Central Valley and the rest of California. The authors use a two-pronged approach that combines original economic analysis and modeling with case study vignettes that explore the economic impacts through the lens of a sample of businesses and individuals directly impacted by this phase of HSR development. Overall, the economic analysis suggests that CP1-related spending (forecasted …

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.

Deeptravel: A Neural Network Based Travel Time Estimation Model With Auxiliary Supervision, Hanyuan Zhang, Hao Wu, Weiwei Sun, Baihua Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Estimating the travel time of a path is of great importance to smart urban mobility. Existing approaches are either based on estimating the time cost of each road segment or designed heuristically in a non-learning-based way. The former is not able to capture many cross-segment complex factors while the latter fails to utilize the existing abundant temporal labels of the data, i.e., the time stamp of each trajectory point. In this paper, we leverage on new development of deep neural networks and propose a novel auxiliary supervision model, namely DeepTravel, that can automatically and effectively extract different features, as well …