A new report examines cities around the world to discover why some have safer streets than others. The authors provide real-world examples and evidence-based techniques to improve safety through neighborhood and street design that emphasizes pedestrians, bicycling, and mass transport, and reduces speeds and unnecessary use of vehicles.
Transit
Smart Mobility: Reducing congestion and fostering faster, greener, and cheaper transportation options (Deloitte Public Sector Research, 2015)
Deloitte’s Public Sector Research organization offers a study that found that the expansion of alternative modes of transportation could lead to reduced congestion and other benefits, and identified the types of transportation suited to a city or suburb. The study uses geospatial analytics, such as coupling location data with existing government data, to examine the potential congestion reduction benefits in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. Congestion reduction could result from the expansion of alternative modes of commuting.
Guidebook on Pedestrian Crossings of Public Transit Rail Services (TRB, 2015)
TRB’s new guidebook discusses the safety issues associated with pedestrian crossings on light rail, streetcar, and commuter rail tracks. It provides a broad survey of the pedestrian crossing infrastructure currently in use, safety issues that should be …
Transit Value Capture Coordination: Case Studies, Best Practices, and Recommendations (Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 2015)
Nearby public transportation boosts property values, and increasingly cities are asking developers to help fund transit improvements that will benefit their projects. This report examines various value-capture methods used in four cities operating some of the largest and oldest transit systems in the nation, with the greatest backlogs of unfunded capital needs.
Co-monitoring for Transit Management (Rudin Center for Transportation, 2014)
Transit agencies often do rider surveys and in-person checks of equipment and infrastructure. But by monitoring social media, agencies may get a faster report of problems and rider concerns. This report suggests methods for “co-monitoring,” the monitoring of field conditions through a combination of staff reports, data analysis and public observations.
The Innovative DOT: A Handbook of Policy and Practice (SSTI & SGA, 2015)
SSTI and Smart Growth America continue working with state departments of transportation and tracking innovative strategies for meeting 21st century transportation needs. The 2015 edition of The Innovative DOT builds upon its predecessor with updated content and fresh new ideas from a growing number of states.
Accessibility in Cities: Transport and Urban Form (Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, 2014)
This paper focuses on one central aspect of urban development: transport and urban form and how the two shape the provision of access to people, goods and services, and information in cities. The more efficient this access, the greater the economic benefits through economies of scale, agglomeration effects and networking advantages.
Public Bikesharing in North America During a Period of Rapid Expansion: Understanding Business Models, Industry Trends, and User Impacts (Mineta Transportation Institute, 2014)
This study evaluates public bikesharing in North America, reviewing the change in travel behavior exhibited by members of different programs in the context of their business models and operational environment. This research, featuers interviews with IT-based bikesharing organizations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as both annual members and casual users of the bikesharing systems.
Access Across America: Transit 2014
Researchers at the University of Minnesota released a new report ranking major metropolitan areas in terms of their accessibility to jobs by transit. The report complements the group’s 2013 release, which measured job accessibility by automobile, and builds upon their ongoing efforts to develop tools for assessing transportation performance in terms other than mobility and congestion. Rankings were determined by a weighted average of accessibility, giving a higher weight to closer jobs. The calculations include all components of a transit journey, including “last mile” access and egress walking segments and transfers.
Who’s on Board: The 2014 Mobility Attitudes Survey (Transit Center and RSG, 2014)
This study reveals that Americans from regions across the country think about and use public transit in remarkably similar ways. The report is the first to compare rider and non-rider attitudes by age, income, education, family status and ethnicity, and to examine both cities and suburban areas across various regions of the U.S. The work documents the unmet need for reliable, quality transit. This preference is true across age groups and geographic regions.