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Browsing by Subject "Rural transit"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Access in Appalachia Pilot Implementation Project
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2024-05) Jain, Saumya; Lind, Eric; Owen, Andrew; Liu, Shirley Shiqin
    The Access in Appalachia Pilot Implementation Project report is an exploration of transportation accessibility within the Appalachian Region. Here, Accessibility means the ease with which people can travel to valued destinations. Commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and led by the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, this project represents a significant leap forward in the understanding of the intersections between economic development, land use, and transportation infrastructure. Through innovative methodologies this project measures, analyzes, and visualizes the access of Appalachian residents to critical opportunities, including jobs, education, healthcare, entertainment, and intermodal freight facilities. The analyses reveal critical insights into transportation dynamics, land use practices, and accessibility nuances, often marked by the urban vs rural landscape within the Appalachian region, offering pathways for strategic development. The report highlights need for tailored transportation strategies, informed decision-making, and equitable planning to address the diverse needs of Appalachia's varied landscapes to foster socio-economic growth.
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    MnDOT's Mobility-as-a-Service Platform: Assessing User Behavior and Measuring System's Benefits
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2024-06) Baek, Kwangho; DeBruin, Hannah; Khani, Alireza; McFadden, Elliott
    A Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform was implemented in Southern Minnesota to streamline transit use and promote rural transit use, incorporating features like interactive trip planning and mobile payment. The project commenced with an area analysis, followed by a literature review highlighting MaaS's potential benefits for rural regions. Pre-deployment ridership data analysis revealed the impact of COVID-19 and seasonal variations on mid- and long-term ridership trends. Analysis of reservation and ride data provided insights into transit use patterns and user/operator experiences, informing areas for improvement through MaaS deployment. The post-deployment analysis employed a time series model to estimate MaaS's impact on ridership, showing a notable average monthly increase of 4.2% for demand-responsive transit (DRT) and paratransit services over nine months, compared to a marginal 0.2% rise in the control group. In addition, a before-and-after study of trip location data demonstrated MaaS's efficacy in boosting transit service rates in areas with socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, underscoring its equity-driven effectiveness.
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    Rural and Small Urban Multimodal Alternatives for Minnesota
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2014-11) Becker, Carol
    This paper looks at alternatives for promoting and strengthening multimodal transportation in rural and small urban areas. It outlines 65 different innovative activities around the United States that have been undertaken to promote multimodalism in rural areas and smaller towns. These activities are grouped into six categories: improving transit options; accommodating alternative vehicles; supporting pedestrian and bicycle travel; multimodal land use planning; the use of financial incentives to promote multimodal land use development; and other alternatives that do not fit in these five categories. From this, six case studies have been developed. These case studies include retrofitting sidewalks in Olympia Washington: the network of interurban transit options in North Dakota; providing mileage reimbursement for seniors arranging their own rides in Mesa Arizona; the State of Oregon’s “Main Street as a Highway” guidance for integrating highways into the fabric of smaller towns; the use to transportation impact fees to fund transportation infrastructure, including concurrency fees, development fees and special district fees; and a “Complete Streets” project in Clinton, Iowa.
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    Rural Community Transit Strategies: Building on, Expanding, and Enhancing Existing Assets and Programs
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2023-02) Fisher, Thomas; Vogel, Mary; Khani, Alireza; Burga, Fernando
    This project involved the development of innovative sharing-economy strategies to address rural transit challenges in Greater Minnesota. Many transit services and transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft do not provide services to commuters outside metro areas, forcing most residents in Greater Minnesota to own automobiles. Meanwhile, many communities have school bus systems and substantial vehicle capacity that remain parked and unused much of the day. This project uses a human-centered design approach to engage a community in Greater Minnesota with a population of less than 10,000 people to develop a pilot for rural community transit that could be a model for similar communities across the state. The research seeks to answer the question of whether a shared, mobility services approach to rural transit transportation in Greater Minnesota could meet people's needs at a lower cost, with more convenience, and with greater positive impacts on the local economy than current transit practices and services. Our research developed a menu of strategies that uses existing community assets to promote walking, biking, car sharing, bus sharing, and car and van pooling.
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    Southern Minnesota Rural Transit Origin, Destination, and Reservation Data (The ODR Data)
    (2024-06-27) Khani, Alireza; Baek, Kwangho; baek0040@umn.edu; Baek, Kwangho; University of Minnesota Transit Lab
    The ODR data provides detailed observations of six Southern Minnesota Transit Agencies' trip reservations and actual trips over two one-week periods, spanning both pre- and post-MaaS deployment phases. The collected features for the reservation-based services — demand-responsive transits, some ADA paratransits, and route deviations — included the following: date and time of phone call (ride requests) received or reservation reception time (RRT or call-in time), the request’s intended trip date, preferred departure time (PDT), scheduled departure time (SDT), actual pick-up time (APT), actual drop-off time (ADT), origin & destination (OD), fare type (cash, token, etc.), service type (paratransit, student, etc.), and some information on trip cancellations. On the other hand, the collected features for the fixed route buses include the number of boarding and alighting activities for each bus stop and the inferred timestamps. Some measures were taken to mask sensitive information.
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    Survey and Interviews on Contactless Payment for Western Minnesota Rural Transit
    (2024-06-27) Khani, Alireza; DeBruin, Hannah; akhani@umn.edu; Khani, Alireza; University of Minnesota Transit Lab
    The survey focuses on access and demographic disparities in the use of contactless fare payment and comfort/discomfort in using it in rural areas. Questions about passenger acceptance of technology, biases, and monetary capability were included to assess the magnitude of these challenges. Specifically, survey questions were developed to assess transit usage patterns throughout the pandemic, attitudes about COVID-19-related safety concerns, and fare payment. The first section of the survey includes questions about the frequency of transit use for different periods. This is then followed by questions about access to a smartphone, mobile data plan, and internet, along with the questions asking for sociodemographic information of respondents. The interviews focused on transit users' experience during and after the implementation of contactless fare payment. The passenger interview focused on the attitude towards the contactless fare payment.