transit | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

Identifying Market Segments based on Observed Travel and Activity Patterns

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Abstract: In transportation planning and engineering, market segments or groups of individuals with varying attitudes and travel behavior are often identified in order to define a set of policies and strategies targeted at each segment. Examples include residential location choice studies, electric vehicle adoption and the marketing of public transit options. Defining market segments is common in the marketing literature, typically based on observed socioeconomic characteristics, such as gender and income. However, in addition to these characteristics, travelers may also be segmented based on variations in their observed travel and activity patterns. The activity-based approach to travel demand analysis acknowledges the need to analyze the travel patterns of individuals, conceptualized as a trip chain or tour, as opposed to individual trip segments. This has implications for identifying markets segments based on travel patterns which needs to distinguish between the sequencing and timing of travel choices and activities, in addition to the actual travel choices and activities. One approach that holds promise is pattern recognition theory which has wide applications in image analysis, speech recognition and physiological signal processing. In this study, pattern recognition methods are applied to observed daily travel and activity patterns from Oregon to identify travel market...

Influential Vectors in Fuel Consumption by an Urban Bus Operator

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Summary: In an era of reduced government funding, transit operators struggle to reduce operating costs and increase revenues. Energy costs account for an important share of the total costs of urban and suburban bus operators. Using a case study of one operator in Lisbon, Portugal, this talk will expand upon the empirical research on bus transit operation costs and identify the key factors that influence the energy efficiency of the overall bus fleet. Our results of a multivariate analysis find the following dimensions influence transit energy efficiency: vehicle type, commercial speed, road grades and bus routes; and to a lesser extent elements related with engine failures and malfunctions. In addition to these findings, the methodology is a decision-support tool for the bus operator in optimizing energy efficiency. The transferrability of these results and analytical tools to other contexts will also be discussed.

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Webinar: Crowdsourcing the Collection of Public Transportation Data

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This webinar presents a novel method that utilizes location-based services for collecting public transportation data.

A NITC-funded project at the University of Oregon will be presented that focuses on the development and evaluation of a mobile application based on Bluetooth low energy technology sensors and geofencing technology for crowdsourcing data collection.

The application was employed in a case study using Lane Transit District’s express bus system in the Eugene-Springfield area in western Oregon. The results show that using these types of location-based services offers an effective approach to collecting richer data than traditional means, while requiring only minimal...

Transit Planning Practice in the Age of Transit-Oriented Development

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Summary: Transit serves as backbone infrastructure for many regional and local visions for sustainable urban development. Also, many modern policies predicate transit funding on the potential for transit-oriented development (TOD) near proposed infrastructure investments. However, little research has examined how TOD considerations have informed transit planning. This presentation discusses the results of recent dissertation research that fills this gap. Through multiple transit project case studies and interviews with nearly 100 transit planning professionals, this research categorized how transit projects across 19 U.S. regions were designed to foster TOD and how transit planning professionals identified TOD opportunities as projects were planned. During interviews, many professionals lamented the amount of real estate development that had occurred around the transit projects they helped plan. Analysis revealed that the ways in which professionals identified TOD opportunities helped to explain disconnects between their expectations and actual outcomes. The findings raise concerns about the effectiveness and efficiency of transit planning practice in the age of transit-oriented development and point to potential policy and practice changes that could address the issues.

Bio: Ian...

Lessons from Utrecht: Connecting Bicycle and Rail Networks

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Ronald Tamse is a traffic engineer for the city of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Ronald has been involved in traffic design in Amsterdam and Utrecht. He is most interested in bicycle and rail transportation. He has worked on the design of the Amsterdam subway, a light rail system in Utrecht, and is currently working on urban transportation solutions as Utrecht Centraal is redeveloped. Utrecht Centraal is the largest train station in The Netherlands.

Ronald will highlight key examples from Utrecht that show some new ideas, similarities between the Dutch and American approaches, as well as a few lessons imported from Portland. These examples will share highlights from major projects that include building a new commuter railway network, including the rebuilding of Utrecht Centraal railway station, and the development of a light rail line in Utrecht that uses MAX as a development model. In addition, Ronald will demonstrate the importance of connecting bike infrastructure through network planning, infrastructure, and connections to transit.

Empirical Evaluation of Transit Signal Priority through Fusion of Heterogeneous Transit and Traffic Signal Data and Novel Performance Measures

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Transit signal priority (TSP) is designed to reduce delay for transit vehicles through signalized intersections. For an existing TSP system, it is important to assess how timely and effective TSP phases are granted to buses that request priority. It is also necessary to evaluate the time savings and delays for buses and other vehicles as a result of TSP phases. However, due to the lack of disaggregated and integrated transit, traffic and signal phase data, previous studies have not investigated the TSP performance at the phase level. This study collects and integrates three archived databases: bus automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data, intersection signal phase log data, and vehicle count data. Based on the integrated database, this research proposes innovative and useful performance measures to assess the timeliness and effectiveness of TSP phases to buses that request priority. This study also evaluates the time savings and delays to buses and other vehicles on major and minor streets. Results show that TSP performance varies significantly across intersections. On average, most of the TSP phases were granted timely to buses that request priority, but only a few of them were effective. Early green phases are more...

Webinar: Case Studies in the FTA "Manual on Pedestrian and Bicycle Connections to Transit"

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Webinar: Case Studies in the FTA "Manual on Pedestrian and Bicycle Connections to Transit"

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Capturing the Ride: Exploring Low-Density Flexible Transit Alternatives in Salem-Keizer

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Speaker: Darwin Moosavi, MURP, Portland State University
Topic: Capturing the Ride: Exploring Low-Density Flexible Transit Alternatives in Salem-Keizer

Summary: Current fixed-route transit service provided by Salem-Keizer Transit is inefficient in the low-density neighborhoods of West Salem, South Salem, and Keizer. The lack of sidewalks, non-gridded circuitous streets, and large single-family residential lots all contribute to a lack of ridership. As a result, traditional fixed-route transit service is not cost-effective in these areas. Through a five month planning process, a group of Portland State University graduate students, better known as Paradigm Planning, tackled the task of addressing this problem in each of the three study areas. Paradigm’s planning process explored mode and route options in order to produce a plan that provides innovative and feasible alternatives to current transit service that will better meet the needs of the community. Through an intensive community engagement process, the residents in each neighborhood were given a voice in shaping the future of transit in their neighborhood.

Bio: Darwin Moosavi is a Master in Urban & Regional Planning candidate at Portland State University and Project...

TOD in 3D: How Transit Oriented is the Portland Region?

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Abstract: If a two-dimensional picture is worth a 1,000 words, how much more can 3D imagery convey? As part of its recently completed Strategic Plan, Metro’s TOD Program in Portland, OR has developed a new GIS -based transit orientation tool to analyze and compare the readiness of its station areas and corridors for higher density mixed-use development. For the purposes of better capturing a more holistic view of the built environment, this innovative measure expands on the 3 “D’s” of density, diversity, and design by adopting the 5 “P’s” of people, places, physical form, performance and pedestrian/bicycle connectivity. Given the program’s interest in catalyzing near-term private development, it goes further to incorporate a strong “market strength” component. In addition to describing the tool and its future implementation, the presentation will demonstrate how the TOD Program developed and used two- and three-dimensional maps and graphics to help convey the complex methodology and findings to a broad audience of policy makers and stakeholders.

Chris is a Senior TOD Project Manager with Metro’s TOD Program in Portland, OR. Along with managing public-private development projects near transit, he led the recently completed TOD Strategic Plan and is participating in corridor planning region-wide. Prior to Metro, Chris specialized in TOD in the public and private sectors.

Seminar #394: Transforming Transportation Through Connectivity

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Summary: The transportation system is the backbone of the United States' economy, and transportation is an essential part of everyday life for American citizens. It is essential that the transportation system continue to provide accessibility and connectivity to an ever-evolving global economy. A key way to do so is to embrace, develop and implement new technologies. One of the newest and most promising facets of transportation-related technology is in the field of connected mobility. The vision behind connected mobility is of a transportation system where vehicles, travelers, and infrastructure are all wirelessly connected with one another and able to transmit real-time data about things like weather, location, and vehicle and infrastructure status. Such a degree of connectivity could have substantial benefits for the safety, mobility, and sustainability of the domestic transportation system, including accident prevention and congestion reduction. In recent years, major strides have been made into the research and development of connected mobility technology and some field-testing has commenced, but there is a need for more attention and investment from stakeholders throughout the transportation community and beyond.

Bio: Robert Bertini is a...

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