2004 Additions to NCTR Website
Call for Papers:
Journal of Public Transportation
Special Issue: Safety and Security
Deadline: April 15, 2005 Papers offering
contributions in the areas of transit safety and security
are solicited for submission to the Journal of Public
Transportation. The Journal of Public Transportation is a
refereed international journal produced quarterly with over
2,200 subscribers. The guiding principal for authors is
found in a quote from Oscar Handlin, “Our troubled planet
can no longer afford the luxury of pursuits confined to an
ivory tower. Scholarship has to prove its worth, not on its
own terms, but by service to the nation and world.” The JPT
is an academic journal of high standards that is of service
to both academics and practitioners. Papers should be
approximately 4,000 words in length (18-20 double-spaced
pages). All manuscripts must be submitted electronically in
Word file format. For specific instructions, please go to
www.nctr.usf.edu/jpt/journalsubmission.htm.
For further information, contact: Gary L. Brosch Editor
at (813) 974-3120 or
brosch@cutr.usf.edu
12.16.04
Transportation Management Association (TMA) Survey
Results
A
28 minute on-demand streaming media presentation of the
2003 TMA Survey
final report (pdf)
is now available. Over 100 TMAs responded to the
survey and for the first time Canadian TMAs participated.
The report contains the specific results of 70 questions on
the topics of membership, services, personnel and policies,
financial characteristics and organizational
characteristics. The report provides trends, observations
and recommendations through a comparative analysis with data
from previous TMA surveys issued in 1998 and 1993. The
report is also viewable in
HTML format.
View streaming presentation (RealMedia Player required)
12.13.04
Design Elements of Effective Transit Information Materials
This report presents the latest phase of research into public
comprehension of printed transit information materials. Building on
the findings of a study conducted in 2001, this study investigated
in more detail how the general public perform in the planning of a
transit trip using printed transit information materials. The
study lists the various problems encountered by participants at each
trip planning stage and provides suggestions for potential
solutions. Two thirds of participants stated that they were now more
confident about using transit following the exercise, and around 20
percent, including non-transit users, stated that they would now use
transit more often. This suggests that providing instructions and/or education to members of the public on how to use transit
information materials could increase ridership. A copy of the final report
is available here in pdf format
and in HTML format. Also
available is a brochure in pdf
format for easy reference. For more information, contact Alasdair Cain, Research Associate, at
cain@cutr.usf.edu
12.06.04
Commuter Choice Program Case Study Development and Analysis
A 15-minute on-demand streaming presentation of the Choice
Program Case Study Development and Analysis project by Sara
Hendricks, Principal Investigator, is now available for viewing.
Click here to view the presentation. A copy of the final report
is available here in pdf format
and in HTML format. Appendix C: Characteristics of Employee Transportation
Coordinators is also available here in
pdf format and in HTML format.
You will need
RealPlayer (Read more)
11.23.04
Paying for Performance: Cash for Commuters Netconference
This 80-minute netconference session on November 4 featured Brian Lagerberg, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
discussing "Is There a Market for Avoided Vehicle Trips?" and Ellen Macht,
Clean Air Campaign (Atlanta, GA) and Jennifer Gregory, Center for
Transportation and the Environment, discussing the "Cash for
Commuters" program in Atlanta. Co-sponsored by the
Association for Commuter
Transportation and NCTR.
Read more and obtain copies of slides
11.05.04
Worksite Trip Reduction Model and Manual
According to Institute of Transportation Engineers, assessing
the trip reduction claims from transportation demand management
(TDM) programs is an issue for estimating future traffic volumes
from trip generation data. To help assess those claims, a Worksite
Trip Reduction Model and Manual was produced using existing data
on programs, services and incentives contained in thousands of
before and after worksite trip reduction plans. Models were built
using linear regression and non-linear neural networks with the
change in vehicle trip rate (VTR) as the dependent variable. No
single variable selection technique, data handling method, or
modeling approach yielded the best-fitting model for all three
urban areas. The neural network model built on equally sampled
data was the best generalized model based on three performance
measures: the accuracy across the moderate range of change in VTR;
the accuracy on full range of change in VTR and the R-square
between the actual change in VTR and the predicted change in VTR.
Worksite trip reduction plans explain a modest portion of the
change in vehicle trip rates from one year to the next. The
final report contains convenient look-up tables. An online version
of the generalized model is available at
http://www.nctr.usf.edu/worksite For more information, contact
Phil Winters at
winters@cutr.usf.edu
09.07.04
Model Regulations and Plan Amendments for Multimodal
Transportation Districts
In 1999, the Florida legislature enabled local governments to
establish Multimodal Transportation Districts [MMTD) in their
comprehensive plan as a means of promoting a high quality
multimodal environment within selected urban areas. The Florida
Department of Transportation and its partners have engaged in
several projects to support a more multimodal approach to
transportation and development planning. These efforts have
included development of multimodal level of service standards, as
well as procedures for determining multimodal level of service and
concurrency. This project builds on that work by providing model
comprehensive plan amendments and land development regulations to
assist local governments in implementing multimodal transportation
districts, where priority is placed on walking, bicycling and
transit use through a coordinated package of land use and
transportation strategies. For more information, contact Kristine
Williams, AICP at
kwilliams@cutr.usf.edu
09.07.04
Commuter Choice Program Case Study Development and Analysis
This study sorts out the internal and external conditions that
might affect the success of a work site trip reduction program. A
rigorous case study method was used to disprove a null hypothesis,
stated as “The effectiveness of work site trip reduction programs
does not depend on organizational culture.” The research results
appear to indicate that the null hypothesis is sometimes true.
This study found evidence that management support and an effective
employee transportation coordinator (ETC) are not necessary for a
successful work site trip reduction program if the work site is
located in an area with access to high quality public
transportation and employs lower-income staff who must choose
transportation cost savings over time savings and convenience.
Management support and an effective ETC are necessary for a
successful work site trip reduction program if the work site is
not located in an area with access to high quality public
transportation. For more information, contact Sara Hendricks at
hendricks@cutr.usf.edu
08.27.04
Handbook of Automated Data Collection Methods for the National
Transit Database
In recent years, with the increasing sophistication and
capabilities of information processing technologies, there has
been a renewed interest on the part of transit systems to tap the
rich information potential of the NTD for the purpose of improving
transit operations. Because the NTD contains the only standardized
collection of performance data for urban transit providers in the
nation, it has become an important transit evaluation tool. In
many cases, however, there have been concerns about the accuracy
of the NTD information, even after final Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) validation. Many of the errors found in the
NTD are often related to data collection problems experienced by
transit agencies and many of these agencies have expressed
difficulties in collecting some elements of the NTD data. Hence,
they are requesting help with collecting data from the correct
sources, ease of obtaining the NTD data, determining operational
procedure guidelines to collect data more efficiently, and
gathering data from their contractors. This document provides
examples of the capabilities of automated methods available for
collecting and compiling data for the NTD. However, automated
methods included in this document have capabilities beyond
collecting the data necessary for the NTD, which in fact may be
the primary reason for agencies to acquire these tools in the
first place.
For more information, contact Victoria Perk at
perk@cutr.usf.edu
08.27.04
Price Elasticity of Rideshare: Commuter Fringe Benefits
This research project determined the price elasticity of
rideshare with specific objectives of helping to assess what
the effect on ridership would be if the effective price paid
by the traveler was substantially reduced (i.e., increase in
employer co-pay) or increased (i.e., decrease in employer
co-pay). This research was limited to the study of vanpools.
The quantitative analysis used the Puget Sound data set and
applied the regression and Logit models to analyze the
impact of fares and other factors on mode choice. Further
qualitative analysis was done using simple elasticity and
tabular analyses using data sets from several Florida
agencies and others from other states to provide an overview
of vanpool elasticities and operations in general. While the
study found only a limited interpretation of the elasticity,
it generated a significant interest in the role of employer
subsidies. For more information, contact Sisinnio Concas at
concas@cutr.usf.edu
06.18.04
"Talk the Talk: Communicating the TDM Concept in
Business Terms" Netconference
On June 3, 2004, the National Center for Transit Research’s
National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse at the University of South
Florida and the
Association for Commuter
Transportation held a net conference entitled Talk the Talk:
Communicating the TDM Concept in Business Terms. This
one-hour session featured Tad Widby, Vice President of
Parsons Brinckerhoff and an ACT TDM Institute Director and
Jim Baetge, former executive officer of the California Water
Quality Control Board and the Tahoe Regional Planning
Agency.
More
06.04.04
Transportation Management Association (TMA) Survey
Results
The final report of the
2003 TMA Survey
is now available. Over 100 TMAs responded to the
survey and for the first time Canadian TMAs participated.
The report contains the specific results of 70 questions on
the topics of membership, services, personnel and policies,
financial characteristics and organizational
characteristics. The report provides trends, observations
and recommendations through a comparative analysis with data
from previous TMA surveys issued in 1998 and 1993. The
report is also viewable in
HTML format.
05.25.04
Evaluation of Shared Use Park & Ride Impact on Properties
This study documents the economic benefit of shared use park
and ride facilities located at retail centers. Transit agencies
usually perceive shared use park and ride as mutually beneficial
to both the transit agency through savings in land and development
costs and to park and ride providers through an increase in
customer base and sales. In contrast, park and ride providers may
hold negative perceptions about shared use park and ride and often
feel that allowing a shared use park and ride on their property
will bring problems such as increased liability, vandalism, and
litter, and will occupy spaces that potential shoppers might have
used. This study attempts to document whether the presence of a
“Shared Use Park & Ride” has influence on shopping behavior
patterns, whether it generates revenues for park and ride
providers, and whether it generates ridership for transit service
providers. For more information, contact Francis Wambalaba, PhD,
AICP at
wambalaba@cutr.usf.edu
813.974.5168 fax