Travel Behavior

Advanced Public Transportation Sytems; A Taxonomy, Commercial Availability And Deployment, Phase II

Khattak, Asad
Et. al.
1997

This study explores the development and availability of Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) technologies. The study refines a taxonomy of transit technologies and uses it to explore the availability of new technologies and their impacts in transit agencies. THe taxonomy is based on defining the features, functions and performance characteristics of transit technologies. Based on the taxonomy, three surveys of technology suppliers were conducted. Questions were related to technology features, functions, performance, implementation, and impacts.0

Effectiveness of California’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) System

Varaiya, Pravin
2007

This is the most extensive empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of California’s HOV system based on data collected from traffic sensors. The evaluation leads to four major conclusions. (1) Since it operates as a single lane freeway, an HOV lane suffers a 20 % capacity loss compared with multi-lane freeways. (2) HOV lanes are either under-utilized or suffer degraded operations. (3) HOV lanes do not measurably increase car-pooling. (4) HOV lanes do not reduce overall congestion in a reasonably well-managed system.

Establishing Infrastructure Requirements for Bus Rapid Transportation Operations in Dedicated Bus Lanes

Monismith, Carl L., P.E.
Weissman, Shmuel L., PhD
Popescu, Lorina
Santero, Nicholas J.
2008

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has the potential to improve mass transit service and contribute to reduced traffic congestion in urban areas. To achieve this improvement in service BRT will require the use of dedicated bus lanes together with lane assist and precision docking (LA/PD) to accelerate the passenger boarding process. Using this approach, BRT lanes can be reduced somewhat in width. However, such a reduction will result in increased channelization of traffic which in turn can lead to a more rapid development of pavement distress. With today’s improved pavement engineering technology, it...

Evaluation of Caltrans District 10 Automated Warning System: Year Two Progress Report

MacCarley, Art
1999

District 10 of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) encompasses an area of seasonal fog and dust-related visibility problems that have been the cause of numerous multi-car traffic collisions, many fatal. In 1990, motivated by the expansion of State Route 120 (SR 120) connecting Interstate Highway 5 (I-5) and State Route 99 (SR 99), Caltrans proposed a sophisticated multi-sensor automated warning system as a means for reducing incidents in this high-traffic area. This proposal, and the significant development effort that followed, culminated in the implementation of Phase...

Are Traffic Safety Rules and Experience Sufficient to Make Children Safe Pedestrians?

Rouse, J
Smith, R
Sessions, M
Combs, T
Rodriguez, D
Sisiopiku, V
Schwebel, DC
2015

Pedestrian injury is among the top causes of death in North American children ages 5-12 (NCIPC, 2014). Research documents a wide range of factors that contribute to child pedestrian injury risk, but many contributing factors remain unknown and unevaluated. This study considered two such factors: institution of safety rules by parents and children’s experience crossing streets. We hypothesized both presence of parental rules about traffic safety and greater child pedestrian experience would be associated with safer pedestrian behavior in children.

The Effect of Population Mobility on COVID-19 Incidence in 314 Latin American Cities: A Longitudinal Ecological Study with Mobile Phone Location Data

Kephart, J
Delclòs-Alió, X
Rodriguez, D
Sarmiento, O
Barrientos-Gutierrez, T
Ramirez-Zea, M
Quistberg, D
Bilal, U
Roux, AV Diez
2021
Little is known about the effect of changes in mobility at the subcity level on subsequent COVID-19 incidence, which is particularly relevant in Latin America, where substantial barriers prevent COVID-19 vaccine access and non-pharmaceutical interventions are essential to mitigation efforts. We aimed to examine the longitudinal associations between population mobility and COVID-19 incidence at the subcity level across a large number of Latin American cities.In this longitudinal ecological study, we compiled aggregated mobile phone location data, daily confirmed...

What Makes the Route More Traveled? Optimizing U.S. Suburban Microtransit for Sustainable Mobility

Pan, Alexandra
Shaheen, Susan
2025

Microtransit services that provide pooled on-demand transportation with dynamic routing have been used in low-density areas since the 1970s, but improvements to routing technology have led to a resurgence of interest in the past decade. Questions remain about the effectiveness of microtransit to serve riders in low-density, car-dependent suburban areas. Better understanding of the factors underlying microtransit ridership can improve usage of these services and shift travelers to more sustainable modes in suburban areas. We compile a database of suburban microtransit programs from 32...

Communities Are Experimenting with Microtransit to Fill Critical Gaps in Public Transit Service – What Have We Learned so Far?

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Wolfe, Brooke
Martin, Elliot
2024

Microtransit is a technology-enabled transit service that typically employs shuttles or vans (Figure 1) to provide on-demand transportation with dynamic routing. While many rides are dispatched and paid via a smartphone, many services also provide a telephone booking option. A few services accept cash payment and street hails (similar to taxis). Variations of microtransit can include fixed schedules and routes and larger or smaller vehicles. Typically, microtransit services are operated by or provided on behalfof a government entity or nonprofit organization, although privately operated...

Environmental Impacts of Transportation Network Company (TNC)/Ride-Hailing Services: Evaluating Net Vehicle Miles Traveled and Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts within San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Using Survey and Activity Data

Martin, Elliot
Shaheen, Susan
Wolfe, Brooke
2024

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) play a prominent role in mobility within cities across the globe. However, their activity has impacts on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study quantifies the change in personal vehicle ownership and total miles driven by TNC drivers in three metropolitan areas: San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; and Washington, D.C. The data sources for this analysis comprise two surveys, one for TNC passengers (N = 8630) and one for TNC drivers (N = 5034), in addition to data provided by the TNC operators Uber and Lyft. The...

From Taxis to Ridehailing: Examining Gender Issues for Female Drivers and Passengers

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Wolfe, Brooke
Champlin, Jacob
2024

This report analyzes gender issues for female drivers and passengers of transportation network companies (TNCs) and taxis. Between August 2023 and May 2024, the researchers conducted driver and rider focus groups (n=8 drivers and n=8 passengers); a driver survey (n=170); a TNC user/non-user survey (n=440, including n=217/440 taxi non-users, n=7/440 TNC non-users, and a subset of n=5/440 non- users of TNCs and taxis); and expert interviews (n=13). This research finds that both female drivers and passengers experience an array of safety concerns and challenges traveling with young children...