Portland State University TREC researchers Kelly Clifton, Kristin Tufte and John MacArthur are among the co-authors of a May 2021 article published in Harvard Data Science Review. The paper, "Urban Sustainability Observatories: Leveraging Urban Experimentation for Sustainability Science and Policy," offers an outline of the requirements and research challenges involved in designing effective policies to meet sustainability goals for cities.

Humanity is experiencing revolutionary changes in the 21st century, including accelerating urbanization, the introduction of disruptive mobility technology services, and new sources of data generated and consumed by urban and mobility processes. However, the environmental, social, and economic sustainability implications of these new mobility services are unclear given the complex nature of urban systems and the multifaceted, contested nature of sustainability goals. The article discusses the concept of urban sustainability observatories that leverage urban experimentation through ongoing data collection and analysis capabilities. The researchers also discuss challenges in building and sustaining these observatories and how university, community, and industry partnerships may establish successful observatories that serve as critical drivers of research, technology transfer, and commercialization. 

Photo by hapabapa/iStock

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

We're proud to announce the publication of a new NITC dissertation: "Methodologies to Quantify Transit Performance Metrics at the System-Level," by Travis Glick of Portland State University.

Performance metrics have typically focused at two main scales: a microscopic scale that focuses on specific locations, time-periods, and trips; and, a macroscopic scale that averages metrics over longer times, entire routes, and networks. When applied to entire transit systems, microscopic methodologies often have computational limitations while macroscopic methodologies ascribe artificial uniformity to non-uniform analysis areas. These limitations highlight the need for a middle approach. This dissertation presents a mesoscopic analysis based around timepoint-segments, which are a novel application of an existing system for many transit agencies.

In the United States, fix-route transit is typically defined by a small subset of bus stops along each route, called timepoints. For this research, routes are divided into a consecutive group of bus stops with one timepoint at the center. Each timepoint-segment includes all data collected in that segment during one hour of operation. Visuals for congestion and headway performance, based on the aggregated datasets, are designed to examine transit performance along a route, between routes, and for specific segments. These visuals are a potentially useful tool for evaluating performance along routes and for identifying areas that may require a closer examination.

The methodologies for data cleaning, regression modeling, and performance visuals, provide a foundation for how timepoint-segments may prove useful to researchers and agencies.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Methodologies to Quantify Transit Performance Metrics at the System-Level

Travis Glick, Portland State University

• Download the final report (PDF)

Photo by jorgeantonio/iStock

RELATED RESEARCH

To learn more about this and other NITC research, sign up for our monthly research newsletter.

• Improving Integration of Transit Operations and Bicycle Infrastructure at the Stop Level
• Visual Exploration of Utah Trajectory Data and their Applications in Transportation
• Using High-Resolution Bus Detection Data to Improve Travel Time Prediction and Identify Urban Congestion Spots

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

Our multi-year study on automated transit fare collection offers a key finding that won't surprise you: Despite the convenience, the rush toward cashless fare systems has created barriers for lower-income riders seeking to use transit. Results from focus groups, surveys, and a review of current transit agency practices suggest that continuing to accept cash is a crucial way to keep transit accessible. However, dealing with cash has drawbacks: it’s time intensive and expensive. Using a detailed cost-benefit model, the researchers explored the costs for agencies to maintain some cash options and found that some simple approaches can be quite effective. The best bang for the buck? Cash collection on board buses.

Launched in 2019, the research project "Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation" was supported by a Pooled Fund grant program from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at three universities: Portland State University (PSU), the University of Oregon (UO), and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The other funding partners were City of Eugene, OR, City of Gresham, OR, Lane Transit District, Clevor Consulting Group, and RTD (Regional Transportation District) Denver.

Aaron Golub of PSU served as the principal investigator, with co-investigators Anne Brown of UO, Candace Brakewood of UTK and John MacArthur of PSU.

WHY STUDY CASHLESS TRANSIT FARE?

Automated payment technologies can smooth operations and improve data collection, but the added convenience for the agency and some riders comes at a price: those systems require riders to have access to private internet, smartphones, and banking/credit services. Access that is decidedly not universal. What happens to the riders who are left behind?

Fare payment systems have a long history in significant equity challenges - both in fare amounts, but also in how and where fare can be purchased and stored. The final report “Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation” (PDF) is a detailed exploration of how transit riders pay for their fare, based on 2,303 intercept surveys and three focus groups with transit riders in Colorado and Oregon. Researchers looked at the use of cash, and focused on riders who may be excluded if cash options are removed as new fare payment systems are implemented in the coming years. The research team also interviewed employees at ten transit agencies to find out how their fare payment has been modernized in the past 5 years, how those agencies have evaluated the equity implications of these changes, and what programs they have deployed to mitigate the equity impacts.

Andrew Martin, Development Planner at Lane Transit District, served on the project's technical advisory committee. "Around the same time as this study, we were in the middle of purchasing and implementing our first electronic fare collection system. We had already decided to take a more customer-centric approach: instead of going completely cash-free, we determined that we were going to take on the costs of making sure our service remained accessible to all riders. It was good to see, in the research, a lot of the things that we were intuitively feeling turned out to be true. The cost-benefit analysis shows that the cost isn't as great as you think; by doing the equity mitigations, you might end up with higher ridership and offset the revenue loss," Martin said.

SOME KEY FINDINGS

Researchers found that a significant number (around 30%) of transit riders still rely heavily on paying cash on-board buses. Older and lower-income respondents had less access to smartphones and internet. 

Of those who do own smartphones, many are concerned about reaching data limits, and some depend solely on public Wi-Fi for internet connectivity. 

A small but significant number of riders (around 7%) have no access to formal banking services.

The researchers worked with transit organizations in three case cities: Eugene, OR (population 247,421); Denver, CO (population 2,374,203); and Portland, OR (population 1,849,898). The cost-benefit model can be used by any size agency to implement new fare payment technology.

"One thing that would be really helpful to a lot of agencies is the cost modeling [the researchers] did. It estimates the general cost to put new technologies out there, like ticket vending machines. A lot of smaller agencies may not have things like that, and they're really useful for customers. So even aside from the equity focus, there is a lot of good info on costs of implementing a system," said Martin.

COST BENEFIT MODEL

Researchers constructed a quantitative cost-benefit model that combines first-year capital investments along with 10 years of maintenance, operations and capital replacement into a single total cost estimate. This approach creates an overall reflection of the lifecycle costs of the fare payment system, meaning it enables us to understand the total cost from both the initial costs, as well as the recurring annual costs.

They then used the model to explore and compare four scenarios along with an additional base (no-cash) case. Scenarios are based on the feedback received from transit agencies and a review of best practices nationally: 

• Base - (No cash accepted anywhere)
• Scenario 1 - No cash anywhere, adds retail network
• Scenario 2 - Cash on board, not at TVMs, no retail
• Scenario 3 - Cash only at TVMs, no retail
• Scenario 4 - Cash accepted everywhere

"The heart of this cost-benefit model is, how many riders cannot ride under the different scenarios? We were able to study more than 2,000 riders, and, in the fully no-cash base case, we knew that about 8% of riders could not ride, based on our surveys. Their answers to how they would  ride with different configurations of ticket vending machines and cash on board informed this model," Golub said.

SELECTING MITIGATION STRATEGIES

Any of the above scenarios 1-4, above the no-cash baseline, can mitigate some of the equity implications of going cashless. Which scenario is best for a particular setting depends greatly on how many riders are potentially excluded by a cashless fare system, and on which options those riders would most likely use, given the opportunity to pay with cash. Based on the results of the cost-benefit analysis for each of the three case cities, researchers developed some general principles that agencies should keep in mind, when choosing strategies to help keep transit accessible. 

"When you're looking at 10 different systems and you've got to justify to the board, the general manager, the community, why you're spending money a certain way – it's really helpful to have research like this that shows that the costs are not some huge amount. When equity is cheap to obtain, it's really easy to justify doing that," Martin said.

Larger agencies spend less to collect fare. This impacts the cost-benefit calculation of adding additional capabilities. Small agencies, the researchers suggest, should seriously consider going fare-free. The Eugene case study (the smallest agency) shows that, across the board, fare collection consumes a large part of fare revenues - in the full cash scenario, about 40% of revenue is spent on collecting fare. 

Retail is a low-cost option: Accepting cash payments at retail locations is by far the lowest cost option to add cash capabilities in terms of total cost, net costs, and in terms of cost to accommodate potentially excluded riders. It is also the most commonly used mitigation, according to interviews with agencies. However, the retail network still poses significant geographical barriers for many riders, and does not offer the kind of coverage and access that cash collection on-board would offer.

Simple cash collection on buses could be an important bridge: According to the ridership survey data, in addition to being a low-cost option for agencies, this mitigation also added significant ridership. Accepting cash at ticket vending machines was found to be much more expensive than accepting cash on board.

When larger numbers of riders are excluded, equity mitigations are cheaper. The larger number of riders that are excluded, the bigger impact equity mitigations have and the cheaper they are per additional rider, and per additional fare collected. The Portland-Gresham case study showed relatively few riders were excluded when cash was eliminated compared to the other properties. That meant that adding retail cash collection cost $0.27 per new boarding. In Denver and Eugene, larger populations of riders were potentially excluded by cashless fare, and adding retail capabilities only cost 14 and 1.9 cents per boarding, respectively.

"Within the 10-year transition, some of the worst effects could be avoided by using some of these mitigations,” Golub told NextCity in a May 25, 2021 article: What Happens When Cash Fares Are Eliminated?

This research was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities; the City of Eugene, OR, City of Gresham, OR, Lane Transit District, Clevor Consulting Group, and RTD (Regional Transportation District) Denver.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation

Aaron Golub and John MacArthur, Portland State University; Anne Brown, University of Oregon; Candace Brakewood, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Download the Final Report (PDF)
• Download the Project Brief (PDF)
• Read a 2020 blog post by Aaron Golub: The Hidden Costs of Removing the Option to Pay for Transit With Cash?
• Watch the recorded webinar from May 11, 2021
• Download the cost-benefit model (Excel spreadsheet)

Photo courtesy of TriMet

RELATED RESEARCH

To learn more about this and other NITC research, sign up for our monthly research newsletter.

• New Mobility For All: Can Targeted Information And Incentives Help Underserved Communities Realize The Potential Of Emerging Mobility Options?
• National Scan of Bike Share Equity Programs
• The Connection between Investments in Bus Stops, Ridership, and ADA Accessibility

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

This story is adapted from two sources; a story published by the Center for Transportation Studies and one from a 2007 Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) newsletter.

Transportation research and education has had a long, rich history at Portland State University. Looking back on that history, TREC is celebrating the achievements of an early advocate for transportation studies on the PSU campus: Dr. Walter H. Kramer. 

PSU is a national leader in transportation studies and research, with TREC - the Transportation Research and Education Center - serving as the interdisciplinary hub connecting urban planning, civil engineering, and other disciplines to mobility. We take full advantage of our university's location in one of the most innovative transportation networks in the U.S. – Portland, Oregon. Since 2005 we have also led a collaborative, federally-funded UTC research program dedicated to improving the mobility of people and goods. But before TREC existed, transportation had another home at PSU: the Center for Transportation Studies, or CTS.

Dr. Kramer joined PSU in 1965 as a tenured professor with a transportation studies specialty, and the following year CTS was founded within the PSU Department of Marketing (now the School of Business Administration). Prior to his founding CTS, there was no dedicated school or department at PSU that elevated transportation as a discipline. Dr. Kramer devoted himself toward bringing “the resources of the faculty to bear on the [transportation] problems of the community.”

Since Dr. Kramer’s retirement in 1987, transportation research and education has continued to grow at PSU: in the degrees and courses offered, the students specializing in transportation at the College of Urban and Public Affairs and the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the multidisciplinary faculty being engaged in transportation issues. Dr. Kramer saw PSU’s students capable of “determin[ing] the future of our cities, our society” through multimodal solutions.

Beginning with a donation by Dr. Kramer’s daughter (pictured left) and her husband, Mary Jo and Chris Chapman, a Walter H. Kramer Endowed Transportation Fellowship was established in 2007. The annual fellowship provides financial support to PSU graduate students enrolled in transportation-related graduate programs and working on multi-disciplinary, multimodal research. Over the past fourteen years, this scholarship has supported the work of students who are engaged with tackling the transportation system challenges facing us today. The most recent recipient of the Walter H. Kramer Fellowship is current PSU student Darshan Chauhan who is pursuing his PhD in civil engineering after completing his masters at PSU.

In 1968, the Portland State Viking magazine featured Professor Kramer in a four page feature (excerpts included here along with accompanying photographs):

Walter Kramer wears an easy smile. This smile he uses in his teaching of traffic management, retail management and water transportation classes. "Really, I find my occupation so exciting, I'm not interested in much else." Kramer is from Atlanta, GA. He brought his occupation to Portland State College (PSC) three years ago because of his interest in Portland and "what Governor McCall calls 'the quality of life.'"

Kramer believes the actions of an individual, of a college, can determine the future of our cities, our society. "Speaking as a member of the faculty I really think that PSC can be whatever I like it to be. It can be as good a school as I'm willing to make it. It can be a reflection of my own meagerness and sloth. Whatever its shortcomings the faculty has the power, if it wills, through hard work, to overcome them.

The great advantage of Portland State College [renamed to Portland State University in 1969] is its role as the urban college in the educational system. It arrives on the scene when the great domestic problem is the rapid urbanization of society. There's really great potential here. We can help build something in a meaningful way." 

With a continuing commitment to sustainable urban design and transportation, TREC is proud to carry on the legacy of Dr. Kramer. We are grateful for the foresight of the founding director of the Center for Transportation Studies. Reflecting back upon the original mission, and the philosophies of its director, it is clear that PSU's current mission is still building upon its history.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Last month, Portland State University announced the 2021 awards for faculty and staff excellence for research, graduate mentoring and research administration. The awards are among the university's highest honors. The 2021 Presidential Career Research Award recipient is Jennifer Dill. Dill is a professor in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Director of the Transportation Research & Education Center at PSU, and Director of the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, a national university transportation center funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

TREC Communications Director Cait McCusker interviewed Dr. Dill last week to learn more about the origin and trajectory of her career in transportation research at PSU.

What led you to choose transportation research as your career?

Growing up in the 1970’s, I was surrounded by environmental issues. It was the time of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the EPA, Earth Day, pollution, the oil crisis...all of that shaping my view on the world. When I went to undergraduate at UC Davis I knew I wanted to do something related to environmental policy and cities. Cities held a certain fascination for me, and in college I started putting all the pieces together and recognizing the huge impact that transportation has on urban areas and the environment. Transportation appealed to both the quantitative, analytical side of me, and also the people-oriented side of me that wanted to see the tangible impacts first hand.

I got a master's degree in planning at UCLA and I started working for the US Environmental Protection Agency doing air quality work with a focus on transportation. That's what I did until I decided to get a PhD and dig in deeper. The field of transportation just offered me so many good job opportunities.

Do you have a particular teacher or mentor that made an impact on you?

There’s definitely two people in my life that stand out: Dan Sperling and Marty Wachs.

Dan Sperling was my professor as an undergrad student at UC Davis, and he hired me to do research alongside him. We wrote my first TRB paper together! As an undergraduate, that was a big deal. He even invited me to the grad seminars where I got the opportunity to connect with PhD students. The confidence that he had in me was very supportive.

At UCLA Marty Wachs was my advisor as a graduate student, and again at UC Berkeley when I pursued my PhD. I’ve been thinking about Marty a lot lately. He passed away just a few weeks ago [read a memoriam for Marty Wachs from U.C. Berkeley]. He gave me so many opportunities, and in addition to being a leading scholar who did interesting work - he was a role model for how I serve as a professor today. He was a very caring person who spent a lot of time with his students. He had so many of them, but he managed to make each of his students feel special. He was an engineer, but also such a people person. He placed a big importance on ethics and serving underrepresented people in his transportation work.

There have certainly been others instrumental to my growth, particularly later on in my career I’ve developed peer networks of women that I lean on for insight and connection.

How has your 20 year tenure at Portland State University influenced you or your work? 

Teaching at an institution that values engaged learning and research is important to me. Portland State’s motto, “Let knowledge serve the city”, is the sentiment that motivated me to get a PhD in the first place. It’s allowed me to do the type of applied research that’s going to have a direct impact on practice and policies in cities. It’s not purely academic or just about citations. Portland more broadly has a lot of public institutions that are willing to engage with the university, which is so great.

Do you have any memories at PSU that you are particularly fond of?

I’ve been pretty happy here at PSU. When I think of some of the most fun I’ve had, it’s been in one-on-one conversations with students. Working together on a research project, in advising sessions, and just seeing where they go after graduation. I’m lucky to have had so many of my past students stay in the Portland area.

A funny, but not fond, memory I have was September 2001 – my first week as a PSU faculty member at CUPA [College of Urban and Public Affairs]. I was running to catch a bus, and there was this lip of the curb where the street car tracks descended and I just landed funny. I had broken my foot and spent the rest of my first term teaching in a boot. I was the new transportation professor at PSU and here I am, brand new to my role, with a broken foot from public transportation. I’m glad I can laugh about it now.

One memory that really stands out to me is getting the news in December 2016 that we won the UTC competition for the FAST Act and continuing on with our NITC program. And for that matter, also the memory of getting the news that we won the UTC competition for MAP-21 in 2013. The shared excitement with my team, and just having that recognition of our expertise was really wonderful.

What has Directing TREC and the NITC program meant to you?

Having an impact on practice and the partnerships we’ve built from TREC, the Transportation Research and Education Center here at PSU, along with our collaborative research program, NITC. One of the biggest challenges of collaboration is finding the people that you just honestly enjoy working with, that are also smart and do great work. NITC is not just a contractual grant where we divy up money. It’s a real collaboration and we work so well together.

We've been able to build on this partnership and our body of work on multimodal transportation. We focus on work that matters, and not just counting the number of citations or journal articles.

What research contribution have you made to the transportation profession that is most meaningful to you? 

What stands out to me the most is bikeway research I’ve done around bike boxes, green lanes, and bike boulevards. And, I have to give credit to my colleague Joe Broach for the analysis work, but the data collected demonstrate that bike boulevards support closing the gender gap in cycling. This larger body of work, often in collaboration with Chris Monsere and Nathan McNeil, provided clear evidence that infrastructure matters, and changes to it can influence behavior in a positive and safer way. These projects started out with a local focus, but expanded nationally.

A lot of people link me to the Four Types of Cyclists, and while I did the empirical research to look at it nationally - the concept was originally created by the City of Portland’s Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller.

More recently, the work that I’m excited about is around equity in bike share programs which is now being carried further by my colleagues John MacArthur, Nathan McNeil, and Joe Broach.

Is there anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?

Definitely the Research Roadmap for the AASHTO Council on Active Transportation that we’re finishing up right now. The draft is under review by the Council and the panel, and I’m excited about it. This opportunity has really given me the time to focus on the broad spectrum of active transportation research, and see just how much is going on right now. The field is constantly evolving though, and I already have some changes I want to make right up until the last minute to make it as current as possible. Call me dedicated! I really feel that this roadmap is going to be useful to a lot of people.

Is there a research question that you would love to explore if given the opportunity?

I’ve been working in this field, that is - getting people out of their cars - since 1989. In the beginning, we did not have good evidence for the things we knew instinctively around multimodal  infrastructure and policy. In this world of regulation and planning you have to have that evidence and numbers. So much of my career has centered around gathering that evidence.

It’s 2021, and now we’re in a place where we usually know what works, and we have the proof. Sure, we could replicate studies and quantify it in more ways, but how many more details are necessary to take action and invest in change? We know what needs to be done to make our streets safer for people to bike and walk and take transit.

The biggest barriers right now are political implementation and institutional infrastructure. How do we change decision-making in the transportation industry, at all levels? How can we influence and motivate practitioners and the middle managers to implement changes? How do we remove barriers like changing the MUTCD? That’s the holdup. I do think there is a field of research for this. It may not seem as obvious or in line with traditional research practices, and it’s definitely more challenging and time consuming work. But it’s what I want to spend more time exploring.

I would also love to spend more time on how to close the gender gap in cycling, in particular how to encourage tween and teen girls to get interested in bicycling.

Do you have any advice for transportation researchers just starting out in the industry?

When I published my first paper on bicycling research in 2003, written during my 1st year at PSU, I did hesitate. Bicycling? Is that really the research stream of work that is going to get me tenured at PSU and funded? But it’s what I was passionate about. There wasn’t much out there when I started, but research on bikes has exploded.

Focus on your passion, on what you’re really concerned about even if you don’t think others will consider it “serious” enough, valid or trendy. Stick with it. If you’re committed to the work, your peers will notice. For example, recently there has (thankfully) been an increasing focus on equity, race and racism in transportation, and even just a few years ago you would have senior people discouraging young scholars from pursuing that research. Now there is a huge demand for better understanding this intersection.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

See the full, original article "PSU Announces Recipients of Prestigious University Research and Mentoring Awards", authored by Shaun McGillis, Research and Graduate Studies, PSU. Below is an excerpt:

Portland State University announces the 2021 awards for excellence for research, graduate mentoring and research administration. The awards are among the university's highest honors. They recognize and incentivize PSU faculty and staff excellence in research, scholarship, artistry and dedication to PSU students.

Recipients of the awards are some of the most dynamic faculty and staff members at PSU. Colleagues submit nominations; a jury of peers selects awardees based on the significance and quality of their research or creative achievements and extraordinary commitment to creating an environment supportive of research and student success. Join us as we celebrate this year’s awardees at the Research Awards Ceremony (online Friday, 3:30 - 5 PM Pacific) during Research Week (May 3-7).

Presidential Career Research Award: Dr. Jennifer Dill

The 2021 Presidential Career Research Award recipient is Jennifer Dill. Dill is a professor in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of the Transportation Research & Education Center at PSU. TREC houses the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, a national university transportation center funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

TREC Researcher Profile | Jennifer Dill website and blog | Jennifer Dill Twitter

Professor Dill is an internationally known scholar researching the relationships between transportation, land use, health and the environment, focusing on active transportation. Before entering academia, Professor Dill worked as an environmental and transportation planner in California. That experience motivates her teaching and research, which aims to inform practice and policy. She has published extensively in peer-review journals and has served as principal investigator or co-PI on over $4.3M in research projects and over $28M in federal center funding. Her research has been covered by Wired, Governing, USA Today, the PBS NewsHour, Here and Now, Marketplace and the Atlantic. She has served on and chaired Transportation Research Board committees and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Transportation and Health, Transportation Research Record and the Journal of Transportation and Land Use. Professor Dill also serves on the Board of Trustees for the TransitCenter, a foundation that works to improve public transit across the U.S.

"Dr. Dill is a very accomplished and prominent researcher and is well-respected in her field," said Chris Monsere, professor and chair of Civil & Environmental Engineering. "Her research aims to understand people's everyday travel decisions, focusing on bicycling, walking and transit. Her scholarship informs our understanding of travel decisions, how the built environment influences travel decisions and how those decisions impact our health."

Since 2013, local transportation activist group Better Block PDX has developed partnerships with organizations across the Portland Metro area. Most notable were the connections that emerged between the communities’ needs for creative transportation solutions and the expertise of Portland State University (PSU) transportation students.

That collaboration evolved into Better Block PSU, a pathway program led by PSU’s Transportation Research and Education Center that integrates tactical urbanism and placemaking into the engineering and planning curriculum at PSU. Most recently we shared an update on Re-Imagining a Safer Route to the César Chávez School, which advanced to the Spring 2021 engineering capstone.

We’re excited to announce the latest projects to have been accepted into the Better Block PSU pathway program:

• City of Independence Neighborhood Greenways: This project will help create a low-stress biking and walking network through Independence connecting local schools, businesses, and parks.
• Community Green Space for Parkrose: This project plans to create a pathway from the Parkrose neighborhood to the Columbia Slough to increase access to green space and community knowledge of the Slough.
• Arleta Triangle Transformation: This project will transform a dangerous slipway into community space including a skate park, basketball court, and electric mobility hub, which have been identified as needs from the community.

Below we share summaries and excerpts from the proposals of the chosen projects for the PSU transportation classes. What aspects of the proposals are developed will evolve and change over time, depending upon the goals and constraints of the class. Later this year we’ll share an update on the progress and accomplishments of each project team.

City of Independence Neighborhood Greenways

THE OPPORTUNITY

The City of Independence, located in Polk County near Salem, Oregon, is updating its Transportation System Plan (June 2021). The City has articulated the need to improve pedestrian and bicycle routes, and identified a series of low-volume streets to serve as the basis for a new low-stress alternative transportation network. This project would be a logical next step following the update and would act as a pilot project to help the City think about how best to design and implement a small portion of the network.

This project would focus on three streets near historic downtown, offering the City the opportunity to connect four City-owned parks (including one facility that is currently undeveloped), three distinct neighborhoods, the area’s elementary school, two local head start facilities and the City of Independence’s downtown and riverfront. This historic neighborhood is served by a somewhat disconnected, gridded-street network. This disconnected network means that many of the through streets are primarily designed for cars, and the ability for individuals to walk or roll through the area is limited (especially for younger travelers).

The concept of these low-stress streets is broadly supported by the community, but design strategies to improve the routes are less well understood.

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

Methods on how to make the low-stress streets inviting for all is exactly the question that this project would address. Routes such as Ash Street are straight and often have limited on-street parking (which encourages motorists to travel at higher speeds). Additionally, the road makes two 90-degree turns onto 4th near Independence Elementary, which when combined with the higher traffic volumes associated with school pick up and drop off, can contribute to an uncomfortable bike route. Traffic associated with Independence Elementary also makes the best connection from the school to downtown and Riverside Park unclear. The City has wrestled with whether the City should use B Street or C Street for the low-stress connection.

Students from Portland State University would help the City to think about the benefits and drawbacks of each idea.

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

Is the project implementable? Have community residents, including those typically underrepresented had the opportunity to actively shape their community? Have relationships and opportunities for collaboration improved between the City and partner organizations because of work together on the project? Have the PSU students benefited from the experience? The project team has identified a multitude of success measures, and Fred Evander, City Planner for the City of Independence shares:

“The ultimate measure of the success is whether the project will promote walking, bicycling, and rolling. The City believes that the low-stress alternative transportation network pilot project will be transformative for Independence, Oregon.”

Community Green Space for Parkrose

THE OPPORTUNITY

Outer Sandy Blvd (between 99th and 121st avenues) is a narrow auto dominated strip often used as a bypass for Washington State residents seeking to avoid the I-205 freeway traffic. Located within the Historic Parkrose Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative district (HPR) and the Parkrose School District, it has few crossings and unimproved cross streets, and even fewer green elements to ease these harsh conditions. Trees have often been removed, citing a concern that they impeded car traffic visibility. Moreover, there is no community space or green space for the youth in this district.

HPR is developing a community plan, with the support of the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, that will document the needs and aspirations of Black and Brown local businesses, students, and families in the area. This planning work is funded through a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation which includes a series of activities to engage and involve youth, residents, and Black, Indgenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) professionals working in the area.

This initiative will provide a Parkrose action plan: including transportation, access to green space, housing and anti-displacement, job navigation and home-based business technical assistance, and emergency preparedness.

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

Better Block PSU can help bring several ideas to life, providing critical guidance for temporary transformation of an arterial road and/or collector streets as part of developing a conceptual route to the Columbia Slough. There are select sites directly on Sandy Blvd (an ODOT facility) and off this main road that are strong candidates for the project to:

• Create community gathering spaces, as there are no defined public spaces where people can rest, meet, showcase art, and put their own neighborhood landmark along their path to the Columbia Slough.
• Design safer pedestrian infrastructure for marked mid-block crossings on Sandy Blvd where there are lengthy walking distances between signalized intersections.
• Design pop-up parks and seating areas to provide much needed relief from a concrete landscape dominated by vehicular traffic. Invite businesses to collaborate and visualize the possibilities for growing entrepreneurship, connectedness, and safety. Much of the available land on Sandy Blvd is privately owned and vacant or underutilized.
• Develop a concept of a route from the Sandy district to the Columbia Slough for a direct, walkable and accessible connection to nature for the City of Portland and other partners to invest in.

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

“Success for this project means developing a process and guide to repeating the project demonstrations,” shares Seile Tekle, Executive Director of HPR, “This could mean multi-agency permitting, fundraising, and community participation that documents community strengths and ideas.” The hope is that through demonstrations, these improvements could eventually become permanent.

Parkrose is among Portland’s most diverse and low-income districts, with 47.7% of residents identifying as persons of color (Venture Portland 2017) and a household median income of $34,906, compared to the Portland city average of $61,532. (American Community Survey 2017)

“The project is for underserved BIPOC communities, particularly the youth,” emphasized Tekle. The project team will measure success in terms of the quality of BIPOC community engagement and deliverables for the community plan (in progress) such as locating outdoor spaces preferably with green elements in Parkrose for our diverse community members to find respite.

Arleta Triangle Transformation

THE OPPORTUNITY

SE 72nd & Woodstock is the current home of the Arleta Triangle Project (ATP) in Mt Scott-Arleta Neighborhood of Outer Southeast Portland. The slip lane here - a remnant of the Lents streetcar line that once ran through this part of town, is wider than the main thoroughfare and its design incentivizes careless driving, esp from high-speed motorists across two arterials.

This poses a significant safety hazard to bicyclists and pedestrians, cutting off access to a valuable neighborhood amenity, Mt Scott Park and Community Center and creates dangerous gaps in the sidewalk and bike lane network. There have been numerous automobile crashes at or adjacent to this site. The slip lane is fully paved with asphalt, curbs, no painted parking, and ineffective stop signs at either end.

In addition the safety hazards, the project team has heard from a strong need from their diverse community for more inclusive planning. Their Black neighbors have shared that they feel marginalized from public space by the removal of basketball hoops in parks. They have heard from transit-dependent neighbors that the lack of a TriMet bus on either SE 72nd or Woodstock through this part of town is a burden on them. The teen program at Mt Scott Community Center has endured through recent budget cycles, and the youth in the community are struggling with mental health and other issues due to the state of the world.

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

In addition to safety improvements, the project team wants to create an inclusive skate park with a basketball hoop, as well as an electric mobility hub (scooter parking, bike share, etc.). The Arleta Triangle Transformation project could use this Better Block PSU phase as grounds for building relationships with younger neighbors and their families across languages, cultures, and abilities; including site signage in multiple languages; and centering the principle of inclusivity in all stakeholder processes and design. This also might entail creating set aside times for specific parts of the community (trans, femme/NB identifying, people with disabilities) to use the space exclusively, as well, to be determined by those community members.

• Continue fostering equitable neighborhoods and demonstrate that creating inviting, inclusive community spaces can help foster community connections, intercultural learning, and tolerance across differences.
• Support the youth, especially from non-dominant cultures, and help them feel more valued, confident, and connected.
• Improve traffic safety in the neighborhood, especially the arterials.
• Activate the Arleta Triangle and encourage neighbors to be involved in the creation, management, and ownership of the space.

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

“Inclusion is a tool, process, and outcome, so at each step of the project we would want to focus on it,” shared project lead Sarah Ianorrone, Executive Director of the Street Trust. “It can be hard, because inclusion is both qualitative (demographic) and subjective (user experience).” The project team may want to consider starting from PBOT's existing Equity Matrix (GIS) as a framework and getting some benchmark data about participants in the Teen Program at the nearby Mt Scott Community Center. The proof will be in the process and use.

Ultimately, they know it’s been a success if people from all backgrounds and experiences love using the space and feel committed to its success. By engaging in this process, the team hopes to gain methodological support for project evaluation.

How Do I Get Involved?

Although the 2021 RFP is now closed, you can read the Better Block PDX Guide to Pop-Up Projects, join our mailing list, and learn more about Better Block PSU here.

We're also seeking three transportation professionals to volunteer as Better Block Technical Advisors. Although classes began April 1, 2021, we're still accepting inquiries on a rolling basis.

We've just published a brand new set of four "How Walkable is Your Neighborhood?" education modules for high school students (download here)!

The modules, which can be taught in sequence or as standalone lessons, provide students with creative ways of observing transportation systems in their neighborhoods through collecting pedestrian data, critically evaluating accessibility, and learning about livable communities. Students will gain a deeper understanding of how people move through their community, and whether the transportation in their community is designed with the needs of all people in mind. 

This curriculum was originally developed for the National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) - a STEM-focused transportation summer camp for high school students. In 2020, when the camps were converted to a virtual format for the first time, new tools had to be developed for student engagement and learning. These walkability modules were completed during the virtual camps, but are not dependent on a virtual format. They are provided as in-person activities with notes throughout on how to adapt them to a virtual learning experience:

• Module 1: Observations by Foot
• Module 2: Collecting the Data
• Module 3: Crossing at the Intersection
• Module 4: Final Project
• Bonus Optional Activities: Transit Budgeting; Transportation Bingo

This curriculum was developed by Nora Stoelting, our Transportation Education Program Coordinator and current PSU student who is pursuing a dual master's degree in Leadership for Sustainability Education and Urban and Regional Planning at Portland State University. It was also supported by TREC Associate Director Hau Hagedorn, and with input from the many transportation professionals who have volunteered as guest camp instructors.

TREC TRANSPORTATION SUMMER CAMPS THIS JULY 2021

We have received funding for another year of the transportation summer camps in 2021 (July summer dates to be announced) and we will know more about the format of the camps as we monitor state and campus guidance on in-person events. In the meantime, add your name here to be notified about the camps.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

In June 2019, the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) launched a new incentive package aimed at making transportation more accessible for low-income households. In the "Transportation Wallet for Residents of Affordable Housing" pilot program, people living in affordable housing developments received access to free transportation options like transit passes, bike or scooter share memberships, rideshare and carshare credits.

Portland State University researchers evaluated the pilot program to find out how participants used the Transportation Wallet and how it helped them use different transport modes to get around.

A February 2021 paper in Transportation Research Record by Huijun Tan, Nathan McNeil, John MacArthur and Kelly Rodgers presents insights into the implementation and effectiveness of a transportation financial incentive program for low-income populations. Access the paper: "Evaluation of a Transportation Incentive Program for Affordable Housing Residents."

Main findings include:

1. The financial support of this program encouraged some participants to use new mobility services (including Uber/Lyft, bike share, and e-scooter) that they had never used before.
2. The program increased access for participants, helping them make more trips and, for some, get to places they otherwise could not have gone.
3. Transportation fairs, where participants could learn about services and talk to providers, promoted both mode sign-up and mode usage, particularly for new mobility services and a reduced fare transit program.

The article is part of a larger research effort underway, funded by the National Institute for Transportation & Communities, Metro, and PBOT: "New Mobility For All: Can Targeted Information And Incentives Help Underserved Communities Realize The Potential Of Emerging Mobility Options?" This project explores underserved communities' access to new mobility programs such as ride-hailing, car-sharing, and micromobility. Researchers surveyed participants of PBOT's Transportation Wallet pilot, as well as a program of Oregon Metro designed to provide personalized transportation planning services (trip planning, education, outreach) in combination with free ride or drive credits from ride-hail and car share services to help connect residents to travel opportunities. An update on the project will be given in an upcoming Friday Transportation Seminar:

Friday, April 16, 2021: Friday Transportation Seminar: Evaluation of a Transportation Incentive Program for Affordable Housing Residents. 

In the seminar, Huiun Tan, Nathan McNeil and John MacArthur of PSU along with Roshin Kurian of PBOT will share findings from their survey of participants in PBOT's pilot program, and draw connections to how a transportation demand management program like the Wallet could be implemented to provide incentives and financial benefits to low-income populations.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

New Mobility For All: Can Targeted Information And Incentives Help Underserved Communities Realize The Potential Of Emerging Mobility Options?

Nathan McNeil and John MacArthur, Portland State University

• Read the Transportation Research Record journal article
• Register for the April 16 Seminar

Photo by Cait McCusker

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

Citing two TREC studies, Congressman Jimmy Panetta of the 20th District of California and Congressional Bike Caucus Chairman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon have introduced the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment (E-BIKE) Act to encourage the use of electric bicycles, or e-bikes.

The E-BIKE Act creates a consumer tax credit that:

• Covers 30% of the cost of the electric bicycle, up to a $1,500 credit
• Applies to new electric bicycles that cost less than $8,000
• Is fully refundable, allowing lower-income workers to claim the credit

The first TREC study referenced, The E-Bike Potential: How E-Bikes Can Improve Sustainable Transportation, found that if 15% of car trips were made by e-bike, carbon emissions would drop by 12%. This finding was based on a Portland, Oregon case study. The researchers also created an Electric Vehicle Incentive Cost and Impact Tool which enables policymakers, public stakeholders, and advocates to quickly visualize the potential outcomes of an electric vehicle incentive program in their own region.

The second TREC study cited, A North American Survey of Electric Bicycle Owners, surveyed people who owned e-bikes and found that 46% percent of e-bike commute trips replaced automobile commute trips.

The proposed legislation would make it easier for people to own e-bikes and contribute to cutting the nation's carbon output. By incentivizing the use of electric bicycles to replace car trips through a consumer tax credit, more Americans will be empowered to help fight the climate crisis by transitioning to more sustainable transportation modes.

Read more about our e-bike research studies from Portland State University.

Photo by Halfpoint/iStock

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.