conference paper
conference paper
published journal article
During the last five years, transit performance indicators have been widely used in the transit industry. California and New York have used performance indicators to determine eligibility for funding. In Pennsylvania, transit performance measures have been used to provide incentive payments for superior performance, and in Michigan a detailed analysis of transit operations provides the basis for state managerial assistance. In Los Angeles County, nine transit operators, including Southern California Rapid Transit District, provide fixedroute transit service. Between 1977 and 1980, operating cost per vehicle hour increased from $28.52 to $38.76, a rate higher than the consumer price index for the Los Angeles area. In response to state legislation designed to maximize utilization of public subsidies for transit, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission undertook the development of performance-based guidelines for allocating transit subsidies. The performance guidelines developed in cooperation with the local transit operators are presented here. In this program, service is classified into local and express categories. Seven indicators were chosen to monitor transit performance on a periodic basis. Three indicators were selected to establish standards to be achieved by all fixed-route service operators in Los Angeles County. Compliance with these standards will determine eligibility for discretionary funds (representing 5 percent of operating assistance) in the future. The methodology for quantifying loss of subsidy funds if an operator falls below the established standards is also described. The performance guidelines merit consideration for two reasons. First, they represent an attempt by a large metropolitan area to control transit costs, and second they initiate performance-based funding allocation rather than funding based on demographic characteristics or operating deficits. Both reasons are substantial advancements in the theory and application of performance-based guidelines to transit-financing issues.
conference paper
published journal article
research report
In California, there has been a growing concern about housing unaffordability and its negative consequences, but it has remained unclear how transportation is related to this issue. This report synthesizes the literature on the causes and consequences of local growth control which has been viewed as one of the most significant barriers to expanding housing supply and thus managing travel demand more effectively. Emphasis is on what insights can be gained from the literature and what further research is needed to better understand how transportation influences and is influenced by growth control actions.
policy brief |
Nov 2020
published journal article
published journal article
conference paper
In spite of their significance in freight modeling, freeway design and operation, varying truck flow patterns by season and time-of-day cannot be captured by current truck data sources such as surveys or point detectors. In this paper, a truck tracking algorithm was developed to estimate path flows of trucks by a linear data fusion method utilizing weigh-in-motion and inductive loop point detectors. The authors utilized a Selective Weighted Bayesian Model (SWBM) that tracks individual vehicles between two detector locations using truck physical attributes and waveform signatures. Selected truck features were identified and weighted via Bayesian modeling to improve vehicle matching performance. Data for model development were collected from two WIM sites in California, separated by 27 miles. The algorithm showed a high matching accuracy for the truck population tracking across longer distance. In a test data set, the model was able to successfully match 76 percent of trucks that traversed the corridor. Although only 21 percent of trucks observed at the downstream site traversed the corridor, only 18 percent of the matches predicted by the model were false matches. In a follow-up case study, the algorithm was implemented over a longer 65-mile distance of freeway section and showed that the proposed algorithm was capable of providing insights into truck travel patterns and industrial affiliation to yield a comprehensive truck activity data source.
working paper
Starting in the mid-1960’s, federal policy encouraged the public takeover and subsidy of what had been a privately owned, self-supporting transit industry. The combination of public ownership and subsidy was able to halt the long-term decline in ridership, but it also led to the growth of an enormous financial deficit that has become increasingly difficult to bear. This paper uses disaggregate data for 62 transit properties to measure the change in productivity (output per dollar of input) over the period 1950–1985. It also shows the relationship between productivity and the size of the transit property – the large transit properties showed the greatest declines in productivity. The evidence shows substantial diseconomies of scale too. The magnitude of the productivity decline is surprising: indeed, if transit productivity had merely remained constant since 1964, the year the federal subsidy program began, total operating expenses would be more than forty percent lower. To put that figure in perspective, this is enough cost reduction to erase most of the current operating deficit — without raising fares.
working paper |
Nov 1991
working paper |
Jun 1991
working paper |
Nov 1988
working paper |
Sep 1991
working paper |
Oct 1989