John Hennessy III,
P.E.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
Why people choose to travel by private car rather than by public transit is of major concern to transportation planners and transit operators. For some reluctant would-be riders, the answer might be summed up by the words of Yogi Berra when asked why he no longer patronized a popular St. Louis nightspot: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
Earthquakes are a reality in both Japan and California. Seismically active areas lie near and under high-speed rail systems in Japan and along the proposed route for the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (CHSRA) developing system. Japanese high-speed lines have withstood significant earthquakes without a single loss of life. Their experiences are instructive for California as it develops its system.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
This study examines the transportation performance of modern-era streetcars operated in five U.S. cities: Little Rock, Memphis, Portland, Seattle, and Tampa. The objective of the study is to examine streetcar performance, test hypotheses about variation in performance through a combination of empirical analysis and insights derived from key informant interviews, and to identify lessons for other cities that operate or are contemplating operating streetcars
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
Between 1999 and 2011 consumers in the U.S. experienced an unprecedented increase in and fluctuation of gasoline prices. In July 2008, gasoline prices exceeded $4 per gallon, marking the highest price in real value in U.S. history. In the same year, the nation’s transit ridership reached 10.7 billion trips, the highest level since the Federal- Aid Highway Act of 1956…The rising gasoline prices were considered to have resulted in substantial changes in travel behavior in terms of trip taking, choices of travel destinations, selection of vehicles for higher fuel efficiency, or travel mode. A change in travel mode from driving to transit results in a higher level of transit demand and ridership for transit agencies. With this background, gasoline price increases in the last decade have generated substantial interest in developing a better understanding of how people respond to fluctuations in gasoline prices—particularly with respect to switching modes from driving to public transit—so that transit agencies can better prepare for higher demand for their services during periods of increased gasoline prices.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
Taxis provide an alternative to conventional public transit services in many cities, and understanding the demand for taxis requires consideration of the role that taxis serve in the greater transportation system. This report presents the results of a study to model taxi demand across time and space, explicitly accounting for the presence and quality of transit service. The primary objective of the study was to identify the factors that drive taxi demand and to understand how this varies by location and time of day. This was accomplished by developing demand models for taxi trip generation and mode choice that explicitly account for the characteristics of transit service in the neighborhoods where trips are made. The resulting insights are useful for making regulatory, planning, and engineering decisions about how to manage taxi markets, accounting for their role in the transportation system.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
This report provides a review of scholarly literature with direct relevance to the topic of modal shift and high-speed rail (HSR). HSR systems are usually planned on the expectation that they will attract riders who would have chosen other modes (such as air, automobile, bus, etc.) had the HSR not been created. Identifying and measuring the actual ability of HSR to effect modal shift is therefore critical. To establish the most current systematic research on the topic, this report examines the evidence concerning HSR and modal shift in both secondary analyses of previous studies and in newer studies that use primarily original data. The studies that were reviewed comprise a large variety of HSR systems, time periods, data sources, and means of analysis.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The goal of this study was to examine various policy options that can achieve large-scale reductions by 2040, based on the current time frame of Annual Energy Outlook forecasts. Existing regulations on light-duty vehicle fuel economy and carbon emissions are leading to rapid decreases in emissions. New heavy-duty fuel economy standards will also soon take effect. These are supplemented by the renewable fuel standard. But these efforts are unlikely to be sufficient to meet what will be challenging reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the next 30 years. This study examined the degree to which three key travel-demand policies—road pricing, directing new population growth to more compact areas, and increasing the level of transit service—could contribute to reductions within this time frame.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The transit and transportation sector is a key critical infrastructure. All other emergency response depends on the availability of functional roads and transportation assets. Police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles can only reach disaster victims if passable and safe roads have been inspected and cleared of debris by the transportation agency personnel. Rescue and relief goods can only be delivered to the disaster site if roads, railroads and ports can recover functionality rapidly. This ability to respond to disasters effectively is based on training the transit and transportation agency personnel in advance, and practicing the knowledge and skills needed to ensure the rapid response to disaster events through realistic exercises.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
Livability programs are an inherently broad set of approaches intended to create communities with coordinated transportation, housing and commercial investments, with specific goals and objectives subject to local priorities and conditions. The great variety of such efforts calls to question whether and how such programs can measure their success.
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