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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
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TRB Public Transportation-Related Programs and Activities
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National Academies Report: The Future of Electric Power in the United StatesMarch 4, 2021 A new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides comprehensive recommendations for improving the U.S. electric power system so that it can adequately provide electricity to the nation in a safe, reliable, clean, resilient, and equitable way, especially as the U.S. pursues decarbonization of the energy supply. The report also recom... |
National Academies Report: Emergency Evacuation and Sheltering During the COVID-19 PandemicMarch 4, 2021 Fundamental shifts in preparedness planning are needed to ensure health, safety, and smooth operations during emergencies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To prepare for emergency events requiring evacuation, it is necessary to revise shelter planning and mass care operations, shelter staffing, and shelter design and operations with a focus on reducing virus transmission and ensuring sa... |
TRB Webinar: Measuring Resiliency – Tools for Analyzing Resilient Transportation SystemsMarch 4, 2021 Investing in the resilience of our transportation networks and systems is a practice of continuity of operations through daily and extreme hazard conditions. TRB will host a webinar on Thursday, March 18, 2021 from 2:00-4:00 PM Eastern that will provide ways to accurately assess the value of resilience in future infrastructure investments. To achieve this, all stakeholders need to be able to u... |
Preparing for Winter Weather with Transportation ResourcesMarch 4, 2021 It’s become common to hear that “one-in-100-year events” are occurring in five-, 10-, and 15-year periods. Scientists identify these extreme weather events based on the historical record of weather in a particular region. A “return time” is a commonly used metric of probability; for example, a 100-year return time means that in any given year, there is a 1-in-100 chance of the threshold being ... |
TRB Webinar: Real-Time Response - A Pandemic Playbook for Public Transportation AgenciesMarch 3, 2021 How can public transportation agencies respond efficiently and effectively to a pandemic? TRB will host a webinar on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 from 1:00-2:30 PM Eastern that will identify ways to do so. Presenters will discuss the Pandemic Playbook , a practical guide for managing a public transportation agency’s response to a pandemic, concentrating on what needs to be done when and by whom. Th... |
TRB's Transportation Explorers Podcast: Communicating and Using Transit to Get People to VaccinesMarch 3, 2021 In the latest episode of TRB's Transportation Explorers podcast, BART Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost discusses where San Francisco is in the vaccination effort and how communications plays a crucial role in getting people to and from vaccine sites. Listen to the podcast here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. It is now available on all major podcast providers. |
TRB Webinar: Minutes Matter – Bus Service Reliability February 28, 2021 Transit reliability is critical to the operation and attractiveness of public transportation services. TRB is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 from 1:00 to 2:30 PM Eastern that will clarify what factors determine bus reliability. Presenters will discuss relevant definitions, measurement tools, and strategies to improve reliability. They will also present a structure for an overall ... |
TRB Webinar: Visualizing Effects of COVID-19 on Transportation: A One-Year RetrospectiveFebruary 28, 2021 The worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly affected the health and economies of the United States and the world. TRB will host a webinar on Monday, March 8, 2021 from 2:00-3:30 PM Eastern that will delve into the pandemic’s effect on transportation. Presenters will discuss visualizations of where these impacts have been especially notable, including the drastic reduction in r... |
U.S. DOT job opening: Electronics Engineer, OST-RFebruary 26, 2021 The Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking an Electronics Engineer within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology's (OST-R) Positioning, Navigation, and Timing and Spectrum Management Program. Applications accepted through March 9, 2021. |
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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.
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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.
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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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