transit | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

ITS at Trimet: Improving Service and Saving Money

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The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), the transit provider for urban Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, has been a leader in applying ITS technologies to its operations since the mid-1990s. The use of ITS technology has enhanced service for its customers while providing significant operational efficiencies.

In this presentation, analyst David Crout will describe many of TriMet's ITS projects, including the automatic vehicle location (AVL) system, computer-aided dispatch (CAD), real-time customer information, transit signal priority, and automatic stop announcements, and show how they have resulted in improved service and cost savings for the agency.

Webinar: Transit-Oriented Development and Equity in Latino Neighborhoods: A Comparative Case Study of Macarthur Park (Los Angeles) and Fruitvale (Oakland)

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Transit-oriented development (TOD) projects in low-income neighborhoods have the potential to provide needed transportation access to a segment of the population that stands to benefit significantly from these large-scale transit infrastructure projects. This research project reveals that large-scale TOD projects have the potential of leading to neighborhood revitalization and equitable outcomes in low-income Latino communities. But these positive outcomes depend on both the process and context of these particular neighborhoods, and how transportation planners incorporate the various forms of political, financial and cultural capital that exist in these communities into the planning and implementation process of TOD projects. This comparative case study analyzed the Fruitvale Transit Village in Oakland and the MacArthur Park METRO TOD in Los Angeles. We...

Webinar: Social Transportation Analytic Toolbox (STAT) for Transit Networks

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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 two major new open transportation data sources—social media and GTFS data—to support transit decision making. In this webinar, we will introduce how we...

Using "big data" for transportation analysis: A case study of the LA Metro Expo Line

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Topic: Using "big data" for transportation analysis: A case study of the LA Metro Expo Line

Summary: Access to a comprehensive historical archive of real-time, multi-modal multi-agency transportation system data has provided a unique opportunity to demonstrate how “big data” can be used for policy analysis, and to offer new insights for planning scholarship and practice. We illustrate with a case study of a new rail transit line. We use transit, freeway, and arterial data of high spatial and temporal resolution to examine transportation system performance impacts of the Exposition (Expo) light rail line (Phase 1) in Los Angeles. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we explore whether the Expo Line has had a significant impact on transit ridership, freeway traffic, and arterial traffic within the corridor it serves. Our results suggest a net increase in transit ridership, but few effects on traffic system performance. Given the latent travel demand in this heavily congested corridor, results are consistent with expectations. The benefits of rail transit investments are in increasing transit accessibility and person throughput within high-demand...

Sustainable Design and Transportation: Verifiably Measuring the Carbon Benefits

Portland State University, Urban Center (SW 6th and Mill), Parsons Gallery, Level 2

Special Transportation Seminar:

Join us for a presentation by Projjal Dutta, NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s first-ever Director, Sustainability. He tries to reduce MTA’s environmental footprint and quantify carbon benefits that accrue to the region from transit. This unrecognized service, if priced, can generate substantial resources for transit.

Sponsored by PSU's College of Urban and Public Affairs and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium

Psychological Insights on Transportation Mode Choice

Transportation mode choice is often expressed in terms of models which assume rational choice; psychological case studies of mode adoption are comparatively rare. We present findings from a study of the psychology of adoption for sustainable transportation modes such as bicycles, car sharing, and mass transit. Case studies were conducted with current and former participants in PSU’s ‘Passport Plus’ transit pass program, as well as a longitudinal cohort study of first-time winter bicycle commuters. Composite sequence analysis was used to construct a theory of the adoption process for these modes. Our findings suggest that mode evaluation is cognitively distinct from mode selection and has different information requirements. We conclude that public and private organizations could improve the adoption rate for these modes by tailoring their communication strategies to match the commuter’s stage of adoption.

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TRB Showcase of Portland State University student research in transportation: Part 2

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Adam Moore: Bus Stop Air Quality: An Empirical Analysis of Exposure to Particulate Matter at Bus Stop Shelters

Congested traffic corridors in dense urban areas are key contributors to the degradation of urban air quality. While waiting at bus stops, transit patrons may be exposed to greater amounts of vehicle-based pollution, including particulate matter, due to their proximity to the roadway. Current guidelines for the location and design of bus stops do not take into account air quality or exposure considerations. This study compares the exposure of transit riders waiting at three-sided bus stop shelters that either: 1) face the roadway traffic or 2) face away from the roadway traffic. Shelters were instrumented with air quality monitoring equipment, sonic anemometers, and vehicle counters. Data were collected for two days at three shelters during both the morning and afternoon peak periods. Bus shelter orientation is found to significantly affect concentration of four sizes of particulate matter: ultrafine particles, PM1, PM2.5, and PM10. Shelters with an opening oriented towards the roadway were consistently observed to have higher concentrations inside the shelter than outside the shelter. In contrast, shelters oriented away from the roadway were observed to have lower concentrations inside the shelter than outside the shelter. The differences in particulate matter...

Transit's Dirty Little Secret: Analyzing Patterns of Transit Use

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Webinar: What Do We Know About Location Affordability in U.S. Shrinking Cities?

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Webinar: What Do We Know About Location Affordability in U.S. Shrinking Cities?

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Traditionally the discussion about affordability has focused on housing, but HUD’s Location Affordability Index (LAI), released in 2012, helped to elevate the conversation by expanding the focus to include households’ transportation costs. In the...

Friday Transportation Seminar: Utilizing High-Resolution Archived Transit Data to Study Before-and-After Travel-Speed and Travel-Time Conditions

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Utilizing High-Resolution Archived Transit Data

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Travel times, operating speeds, and service reliability influence costs and service attractiveness. This research outlines an approach...

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