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Public Transportation Research at TRB

The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. This page highlights recently released TRB reports, meeting announcements, requests for proposals, and other announcements related to public transportation. In addition, it includes links to selected public transportation research-related activities taking place at the federal and state levels, and within the academic and international transportation communities. Finally, this page also highlights and provides links to TRB public transportation-related programs and activities, which are the source of most of TRB’s marine transportation-related research products.

What's New

TRB Public Transportation-Related Programs and Activities

2013 TRB 92nd Annual Meeting and Transportation Research Record Call for Papers2013 TRB 92nd Annual Meeting and Transportation Research Record Call for Papers
May 18, 2012
TRB standing committees have issued  calls for papers for the TRB 92nd Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2013, in Washington, D.C, and the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (TRR). While papers addressing any relevant aspect of transportation research will be considered, some committees are soliciting papers in specific subject areas to help potential...
Use of Web-based Customer Feedback to Improve Public Transit Services
May 17, 2012
TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop a toolkit of best practices, emerging platforms, and promising approaches to provide web- or electronic-based customer feedback as a means to help improve public transit services. Proposals are due July 10, 2012.
Transportation Asset Management Webinar Series, Part 2: Federal Transit Administration and Transit Cooperative Research Program - Research Results and Initiative
May 16, 2012
The National Transit Institute, in cooperation with the Transportation Research Board (TRB), will conduct a webinar on May 30, 2012, from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM that will highlight two active research projects that offer technical assistance to the transit industry in developing and improving transportation asset management and state of good repair practices. Participants must register in advance of...
Improving Transit Integration Among Multiple Transit Providers
May 16, 2012
TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has issued a request for proposals to identify and document the motivations, benefits, and barriers to public transportation coordination and integration that facilitates seamless travel, and to provide guidance on how to integrate and coordinate delivery of a public transportation system in a multi-service region. Proposals are due July 20, 2012.
World Transit Research Newsletter: May 2012
May 16, 2012
Monash University’s Institute of Transport Studies has released the latest issue of its bimonthly newsletter that is designed to highlight recently added items to the World Transit Research database.
Transportation Asset Management Webinar Series, Part 1: Highlights from Transit State of Good Repair Track
May 15, 2012
The National Transit Institute, in cooperation with the Transportation Research Board (TRB), will conduct a webinar on May 16, 2012, from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM that will highlight practices and potential next steps to improve asset management and state of good repair, as discussed during the 9th National Conference on Transportation Asset Management.  Participants must register in advance of t...
A Decision-Support Framework for Using Value Capture to Fund Public Transit: Lessons from Project-Specific Analysis
May 10, 2012
The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San Jose State University has released a report that examines five value capture mechanisms--tax-increment financing, special assessment districts, transit impact fees, joint developments, and air rights. According to MTI, value capture involves the identification and capture of public infrastructure-led increases in land value.
Peer-to-Peer Information Exchange on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Bus Priority Best PracticesPeer-to-Peer Information Exchange on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Bus Priority Best Practices
May 10, 2012
The U.S. Federal Transit Administration has released a report that summarizes the results of three peer-to-peer exchanges that were designed to explore the challenges related to promoting bus rapid transit projects and ways to address those challenges.
Uses of Social Media in Public TransportationUses of Social Media in Public Transportation
May 3, 2012
TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 99: Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation explores the use of social media among transit agencies and documents successful practices in the United States and Canada. For the purposes of the report, social media are defined as a group of web-based applications that encourage users to interact with one another, such as blogs, Fac...
Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Now Accepting Funding ProposalsInnovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Now Accepting Funding Proposals
May 2, 2012
TRB’s Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) has released its annual program announcement that solicits funding proposals for the upcoming review cycles.  The announcement explains the IDEA programs, describes the types of eligible projects and their funding structures, suggests general areas for which IDEA proposals can be submitted, and provides guidelines and forms for submit...

Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)
TCRP is an applied, contract research program that develops near-term, practical solutions to problems facing transit agencies.
Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Problems
TRB's Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Problems searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) report series, Synthesis of Transit Practice.
Transit Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program
TRB's Transit Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program is designed to provide an opportunity to investigate new and unproven concepts or to evaluate novel applications of technologies that have been tried, tested or used for transit systems practice.
Technical Activities Standing Committees
TRB's Technical Activities Division provides a forum for transportation professionals in all modes and functions to identify research needs and to share information on research and issues of interest. The Division's staff of specialists in each mode and discipline work with a network of volunteers to carry out activities on behalf of TRB sponsors and the transportation community, including the TRB Annual Meeting, conferences and workshops, publications, visits to each state, and responses to inquiries. This network includes members and friends of over 200 standing committees, supplemented by designated TRB representatives in each state, over 150 universities, and 35 transit agencies.
Research in Progress in this Subject Area
TRB's Research in Progress (RiP) Database now contains more than 11,900 current or recently completed transportation research projects. Most of the RiP records are projects funded by federal and state departments of transportation. University transportation research is also included. The RiP Database also serves as a clearinghouse of University Transportation Centers ongoing research.
Research Needs in this Subject Area
An important function of TRB is to stimulate research that addresses concerns, issues, or problems facing the transportation community. In support of this function, TRB Technical Activities standing committees identify, develop, and disseminate research need statements (RNS) for use by practitioners, researchers, and others.
Research Completed in this Subject Area
TRB's TRID is integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide.

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