CTS Webinar: Dedicated Right-of-Way, Transit Ridership, and Carbon Emissions

About the Webinar

This webinar offered an overview of the Transit Impacts Research Program (TIRP) and its research. Launched in 2006, TIRP studies the contributions of transit to mobility, economic development and job access, equity and opportunity, well-being and safety, and sustainability. 

Presenters also shared highlights from a recently completed TIRP-funded project on the impact of dedicated right-of-way (ROW) on transit ridership and carbon emissions. Transit agencies have adopted various types of ROW—including mixed traffic, semi-exclusive ROW, exclusive ROW, and grade separation—for transit routes, but their impact on transit ridership is largely unproven. In this project, the research team used data collected from local transit agencies in the US to help fill that knowledge gap.

The webinar was held in conjunction with a CTS Transportation Planning and the Economy Research Council meeting.

Watch the recording

Speakers

Eric Lind is the director of the Accessibility Observatory at CTS. In this role, he provides leadership, direction, and strategic management to the Observatory and oversees its research and outreach activities. Lind formerly served as manager of research and analytics at Metro Transit.

Jason Cao is a professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He specializes in land use and transportation interaction, the effects of information and communication technologies on travel behavior, and planning for quality of life. He is internationally well-known for his research on residential self-selection in the relationships between the built environment and travel behavior.

Tao Tao is a postdoctoral research associate at the Mobility Data Analytics Center in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His current research involves in the nonlinear interaction between the built environment and travel behavior, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and the impact of transit on travel demand.

John Levin is the director of strategic initiatives at Metro Transit. for the past seven years. In this role, he oversees performance measurement, data analytics and research activities, and coordination of shared mobility initiatives. He previously served as the director of service development.

Credit

Attendees are eligible for Professional Development Hours (PDHs) and American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification maintenance credits.