Human Transit


Book Description

Public transit is a powerful tool for addressing a huge range of urban problems, including traffic congestion and economic development as well as climate change. But while many people support transit in the abstract, it's often hard to channel that support into good transit investments. Part of the problem is that transit debates attract many kinds of experts, who often talk past each other. Ordinary people listen to a little of this and decide that transit is impossible to figure out. Jarrett Walker believes that transit can be simple, if we focus first on the underlying geometry that all transit technologies share. In Human Transit, Walker supplies the basic tools, the critical questions, and the means to make smarter decisions about designing and implementing transit services. Human Transit explains the fundamental geometry of transit that shapes successful systems; the process for fitting technology to a particular community; and the local choices that lead to transit-friendly development. Whether you are in the field or simply a concerned citizen, here is an accessible guide to achieving successful public transit that will enrich any community.




Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes


Book Description

From a transportation and community perspective, objectives of pedestrian and bicycle facility improvements have evolved to include numerous aspects of providing viable and safe active transportation options for all ages, abilities, and socioeconomic groups. Pedestrian and bicycle facilities appear overall to benefit the full spectrum of society perhaps more broadly than any other provision of transportation. A challenge in non-motorized transportation (NMT) benefit analysis is to adequately account for all the different forms in which pedestrian and bicycle facilities provide benefit. In this report, new as well as synthesized research is presented. This chapter examines pedestrian and bicyclist behavior and travel demand outcomes in a relatively broad sense. It covers traveler response to NMT facilities both in isolation and as part of the total urban fabric, along with the effects of associated programs and promotion. It looks not only at transportation outcomes, but also recreational and public health outcomes. This chapter focuses on the travel behavior and public health implications of pedestrian/bicycle areawide systems; NMT-link facilities such as sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and on-transit accommodation of bicycles; and node-specific facilities such as street-crossing treatments, bicycle parking, and showers. Discussion of the implications of pedestrian and bicycle "friendly" neighborhoods, policies, programs, and promotion is also incorporated. The public health effects coverage of this chapter, and associated treatment of walking and bicycling and schoolchild travel as key aspects of active living, have been greatly facilitated by participation in the project by the National Center for Environmental Health--part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This pivotal CDC involvement has included supplemental financial support for the Chapter 16 work effort. It has also encompassed assistance with research sources and questions, and draft chapter reviews by individual CDC staff members in parallel with TCRP Project B-12A Panel member reviews (see "Chapter 16 Author and Contributor Acknowledgments". TCRP Report 95: Chapter 16, Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities will be of interest to transit, transportation, and land use planning practitioners; public health professionals and transportation engineers; land developers, employers, and school administrators; researchers and educators; and professionals across a broad spectrum of transportation, planning, and public health agencies; MPOs; and local, state, and federal government agencies. This chapter is complemented by illustrative photographs provided as a "Photo Gallery" at the conclusion of the report. In addition, PowerPoint slides of the photographs in full color are available on the TRB website at http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/167122.aspx.




Trains, Buses, People


Book Description

What are the best transit cities in the US? The best Bus Rapid Transit lines? The most useless rail transit lines? The missed opportunities? In the US, the 25 largest metropolitan areas and many smaller cities have fixed guideway transit—rail or bus rapid transit. Nearly all of them are talking about expanding. Yet discussions about transit are still remarkably unsophisticated. To build good transit, the discussion needs to focus on what matters—quality of service (not the technology that delivers it), all kinds of transit riders, the role of buildings, streets and sidewalks, and, above all, getting transit in the right places. Christof Spieler has spent over a decade advocating for transit as a writer, community leader, urban planner, transit board member, and enthusiast. He strongly believes that just about anyone—regardless of training or experience—can identify what makes good transit with the right information. In the fun and accessible Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US Transit, Spieler shows how cities can build successful transit. He profiles the 47 metropolitan areas in the US that have rail transit or BRT, using data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. The best and worst systems are ranked and Spieler offers analysis of how geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning. He shows how the unique circumstances of every city have resulted in very different transit systems. Using appealing visuals, Trains, Buses, People is intended for non-experts—it will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective. While the book is built on data, it has a strong point of view. Spieler takes an honest look at what makes good and bad transit and is not afraid to look at what went wrong. He explains broad concepts, but recognizes all of the technical, geographical, and political difficulties of building transit in the real world. In the end,Trains, Buses, People shows that it is possible with the right tools to build good transit.




Studies and Reports


Book Description




Efficient Transportation and Pavement Systems: Characterization, Mechanisms, Simulation, and Modeling


Book Description

Internationally, significant attention is given to transport sustainability including planning, design, construction, evaluation, safety and durability of the road system. The 4th International Gulf Conference on Roads: Efficient Transportation and Pavement Systems - Characterization, Mechanisms, Simulation, and Modeling, hosted by the University o




A Dictionary of Travel and Tourism Terminology


Book Description

This fully revised and updated second edition provides over 7,000 definitions of travel and tourism terminology used throughout the world, highlighting the many differences between US and European usage. It covers all aspects of the tourism industry, including hospitality, transport, and ancillary services. It explains the operating language of the travel industry, acronyms and abbreviations of organizations, associations and trade bodies, IT terms and brand names, and provides website addresses. Entries vary from one-line definitions to 500 word articles, and references are provided for further reading. This new edition contains over 500 new entries and the unique cross referencing system has been extended; for example accessing any entry about business travel leads to over 70 others. It is an essential reference tool for anyone involved in tourism research, and everyone in the travel industry.







Travelling Companions


Book Description

'Antoni Jach takes one of the oldest of storytelling forms, the traveller who shares with us the tales of other travellers, and makes new magic from it. Travelling Companions is a joy from start to finish.’ — John Connolly, author of he: A Novel and the Charlie Parker series Solitary travellers and a couple encounter Nina, an eloquent storyteller, on their travels through Spain, France and Italy. She entrances them all with her tales, which prompts her fellow travelling companions to share their own stories. A handsome young man from Staten Island, who believes that life forms exist in other galaxies, vows to never work in an office again and travels by container ship to a commune in Italy. A lonely postal worker from Lodz takes home and reads the most interesting love letters, often becoming convinced a relationship needs his intervention, before delivering them the next day. A woman named Pauline calls herself Kim because her surname is Nowak. Depressed about turning forty, she mysteriously disappears from her own birthday party. Told by people on a journey, these are stories – rich with unexpected wisdoms – of lives in transit. Travelling Companions is charming, amusing and philosophical – a wholly original exploration of what it means to honour our strangest dreams and disappointments. It is both a confrontation with, and a sweet diversion from, these, the darkest of times. ‘In the tradition of Boccaccio and Chaucer, Jach is an extraordinarily inventive fabulist for late capitalism, seducing his reader into an ever-expansive web of captivating and often hilarious stories from likely – and unlikely — travelling companions.’ — Marion May Campbell, author of Shadow Thief and Konkretion ‘Travelling Companions is a hybrid travelogue of Europe and the strangeness of the human spirit. It reminds us that storytelling is different from ‘fiction’ — it catches us in a different pulse and breath as we open ourselves to even the most far-fetched and ironic pleasures of the tale. It leads our tourists further than mere travelling: these stories transport them, with folly, irony, humour and endless pleasure.’ — Philip Salom, author of The Returns and The Fifth Season




Use of Electronic Passenger Information Signage in Transit


Book Description

"TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 104: Use of Electronic Passenger Information Signage in Transit documents U.S. and international use of electronic passenger information signage in terms of the underlying technology, sign technology, characteristics of the information, resources required, and decision processes used to determine its use"--Publication page.