As transit agencies modernize their fare payment systems, opportunities to pay with cash diminish. This speeds boarding and lowers the cost of operations, while also creating new sources of ridership data. Arguably, service is improved for riders as well, where payment systems work across modes, and in some cases different transit providers, creating a more seamless and simplified experience. Still, about 15% of adults in the United States are without a bank account or credit card, and many rely on restrictive cell-phone data plans or don’t have access to a smartphone. These shares are even higher for public transit users. As transit fare technologies move further from cash, these digitally-excluded riders will find it more difficult to conveniently pay their transit fares.
In the latest project to be funded under the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC)'s Pooled Fund grant program, researchers from...
Read moreThis article was cross-posted from Portland State University news.
The Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University is pleased to announce that Professor Kelly Clifton has accepted the position of Associate Dean for Research (ADR). This role will provide leadership for research excellence that supports the mission and vision of the College. The ADR will oversee the research portfolio in the College and will be responsible for growing the College’s funded research portfolio. Dr. Clifton brings much research experience to the position, as well as a career involving interdisciplinary collaboration, development of partnerships, engineering and planning expertise, and more.
Dr. Clifton looks forward to her new role and stated, “As the Associate Dean of Research for MCECS, I am excited to be a part of this next phase of growth and development of the college. I look forward to working with our talented faculty, staff, and students to advance our research enterprise and grow our capacity to engage in scientific exploration and discovery. At MCECS and the larger PSU community, we direct our energies toward activities that aim to make a difference.”
Dr. Clifton will...
Read moreA new report from Portland State University's Institute for Sustainable Solutions suggests that the most effective policies to support the growth of electric vehicles in the City of Portland would be those that target low-income drivers. The report is part of a collaborative project between Portland State University and the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to further goals in the Portland Climate Action Plan.
THE RESEARCH TEAM
The collaborative research team included Ingrid Fish from the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability; John MacArthur and Kelly Clifton, who are both...
Read moreTravis Glick, Portland State University
Travis Glick is a PhD student, graduate teaching and research assistant in civil & environmental engineering at Portland State University. He served for two years as president of Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP), Portland State University's transportation student group. Travis is a 2018 NITC student scholar and two-time Eisenhower fellow, and will be presenting research on bus dwell times, bus-bike conflicts and transit modeling at the 2019 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).
Tell us about yourself?
... Read moreTransportation defines Portland, Oregon. Portland State University (PSU) shapes transportation professionals who, in turn, shape cities across the world. Our students conduct cutting-edge research under the guidance of the world’s foremost transportation research faculty at PSU - from both the Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning and the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering of MCECS.
WHAT MAKES TRANSPORTATION UNIQUE AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY (PSU)?
A PSU research center dedicated to transportation: Students have the advantage of TREC - the Transportation Research and Education Center which is home to one of five national university transportation centers. We lead the National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC), a six-university consortium that receives an average of $4.4 million per year from the U.S. DOT to support transportation research projects and students. PSU also supports other related research centers on smart cities, population, aging and more.
An active and engaged...
The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State is committed to open-access learning. Grounded in research, we connect students and professionals to current best practices in transportation through free webinars and seminars open to the public. Since 2002, we have maintained an extensive education library, archiving over 500 hours of these videos and countless megabytes of reading material.
Want to learn on your own time and/or earn professional development credits (AICP, and more)? Explore the TREC Education Library, or check out our “Top Ten” list below.
TREC TOP TEN: GREATEST MOBILITY HITS of 2018
Below are our most popular presentations from 2018 - watched by a combined total of 2,367 viewers:
An Accessible Approach to Shared Streets
The movement of goods throughout the supply chain is complex, fraught with uncertainties, and not without room for improvement. Portland State University recently received a $167,000 grant to support research investigating the development and evaluation of an intelligent freight transportation matching system. The system could improve freight and trucking networks critical to supply chain performance by reducing inefficient capacity—the problem of keeping trucks full of cargo while they’re on the road.
... Read moreThe latest report from The National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) offers help to planners seeking to incorporate emerging travel modes—including car sharing, bike sharing, ride hailing, and autonomous vehicles—into regional travel demand models. More specifically, it brings these new travel modes into the Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) tool. As more people start taking advantage of new...
Read moreBIKE/PED COUNT SURVEY: CALL FOR INPUT
Researchers at Portland State University, University of Texas at Arlington, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Toole Design Group are conducting a scan to identify locations where bicycle counts are taking place around North America, and hope to enlist your help! If you collect bike count data (or oversee counts) in your jurisdiction, please consider taking our quick survey to tell us a little bit about your count locations and data.
The survey can be accessed here: tinyurl.com/BikeCounterScan
THE NEW PROJECT
... Read moreTHE NEW PROJECT
Portland State University is embarking on a collaborative research effort, funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), to help road users better understand bike-specific traffic signals. Over the next year, Dr. Christopher Monsere and Dr. Sirisha Kothuri of PSU's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) will work with researchers from Oregon State University and Toole Design Group to identify gaps in driver comprehension and causes of confusion when both bike signals and motor vehicle signals are present...
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