What's New in Public Transportation

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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...

TRB’s Conference Proceedings 48: Financing Surface Transportation in the United States: Forging a Sustainable Future—Now summarizes a May, 2010 conference that focused on developments in innovative funding techniques and options for securing continued revenue to support national infrastructure and mobility needs. Views presented in Conference Proceedings 48 reflect the opinions of the individua...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 431: Practices to Manage Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity includes examples of practices that illustrate how different types of transportation agencies might meet federal retroreflectivity requirements for traffic signs.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 188: Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation—Ways to Improve It includes suggestions on ways to potentially improve the Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation. Areas covered by the report include definition of major terms, post-submission data checks, improved accessibility, non-transit related fe...

The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University has released a report that explores the results of a survey conducted of small urban and rural transit agencies regarding their use of alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles.

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program has issued a request for problem statements identifying research needed for TCRP’s FY 2013 program. Research problem statements for the TCRP FY 2013 program are due June 15, 2012. These submittals form the basis for selection of the annual TCRP research program. The TCRP undertakes applied research and technical activities focusing on the needs of tran...

The Center for Urban Transportation Research of the University of South Florida has released the latest issue of its Journal of Public Transportation.

Roundabouts have seen unprecedented growth across the United States, from just a handful a decade ago to more than 2,000 and counting. National guidance had to keep pace with the needs of states and communities planning and implementing roundabouts, and NCHRP took a lead role.

The Mineta Transportation Institute has released a report that examines 13 terrorist plots against public surface transportation that were uncovered and foiled by authorities between 1997 and 2010, and two failed attempts to carry out attacks.

In regions across the nation, bridge engineers know that the next major seismic event is coming—maybe tomorrow, maybe centuries from now. DOTs have the critical charge of designing for earthquakes and protecting the lives of travelers.

TRB is sponsoring the Fifth National Bus Rapid Transit Conference in August 20-22, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference is designed to bring together transit professionals interested in planning, implementing, and enhancing Bus Rapid Transit service so they can discuss and share information on the latest developments, technologies, and lessons learned in the field. Early bird registration ...

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 95: Practices for Wayside Rail Transit Worker Protection is designed to highlight knowledge, practice, lessons learned, and gaps in information related to wayside rail transit worker protection programs.

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 98: Ridesharing as a Complement to Transit explores current practices in using ridesharing to complement public transit and highlights ways to potentially enhance ridesharing and public transit.

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released the latest update to its conditions and performance report series. The biennial report to Congress provides an appraisal of the physical conditions, operational performance, and financing mechanisms of highways, bridges, and transit systems based on the current state of these systems and on the projected future state of these systems under a ...

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.

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 153: Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations is intended to aid in the planning, developing, and improving of access to high capacity commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, and ferry stations. The report includes guidelines for arranging and integrating various station design elements. The prin...

Austroads has released a report that explores four on-road public transport priority treatments including full bus lane, set back bus lane, queue jump bus lane, and no priority. The report is free after registering on the website.

The New Zealand Transport Agency has released a report that explores how commuters use travel time, and evaluates commuter habits while using a variety of modes including driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 368: State DOT Financial Auditing Requirements for Public Transportation Assistance Programs identifies various financial policies and procedures used by states for conducting grantee financial audits. The report documents policies, procedures, and practices used by some state departments of trans...

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 97: Improving Bus Transit Safety Through Rewards and Discipline addresses the practices and experiences of public transit agencies in applying both corrective actions and rewards to recognize, motivate, and reinforce a safety culture within their organizations.

Travel training services may offer public transportation agencies an alternative to providing increasingly costly paratransit service to customers with disabilities. Research to understand the outcomes and financial implications of travel training services, however, has been scant. To address this issue, a cost–benefit model was tested to measure the value that travel training services can prov...