A guide to effective decision making written just for transportation professionals

This pioneering text provides a holistic approach to decision making in transportation project development and programming, which can help transportation professionals to optimize their investment choices. The authors present a proven set of methodologies for evaluating transportation projects that ensures that all costs and impacts are taken into consideration.

The text's logical organization gets readers started with a solid foundation in basic principles and then progressively builds on that foundation. Topics covered include:

Developing performance measures for evaluation, estimating travel demand, and costing transportation projects

Performing an economic efficiency evaluation that accounts for such factors as travel time, safety, and vehicle operating costs

Evaluating a project's impact on economic development and land use as well as its impact on society and culture

Assessing a project's environmental impact, including air quality, noise, ecology, water resources, and aesthetics

Evaluating alternative projects on the basis of multiple performance criteria

Programming transportation investments so that resources can be optimally allocated to meet facility-specific and system-wide goals

Each chapter begins with basic definitions and concepts followed by a methodology for impact assessment. Relevant legislation is discussed and available software for performing evaluations is presented. At the end of each chapter, readers are provided resources for detailed investigation of particular topics. These include Internet sites and publications of international and domesticagencies and research institutions. The authors also provide a companion Web site that offers updates, data for analysis, and case histories of project evaluation and decision making.

Given that billions of dollars are spent each year on transportation systems in the United States alone, and that there is a need for thorough and rational evaluation and decision making for cost-effective system preservation and improvement, this text should be on the desks of all transportation planners, engineers, and educators. With exercises in every chapter, this text is an ideal coursebook for the subject of transportation systems analysis and evaluation.

Many transport economists have for some time proposed marginal social cost as the principle on which prices in the transport sector should be based and, in recent years, their prescription has come to be taken more and more seriously by policy-makers. However, in order to properly test the possible implications of implementing pricing based on marginal social cost and, ultimately, to introduce such a system, it is necessary to actually measure the marginal social costs concerned, and how they vary according to mode, time and context. This book reviews the transport pricing policy debate and reports on the significant advances made in measuring the marginal social costs of transport, particularly through UNITE and other European research projects. We look in turn at infrastructure, operating costs, user costs (both of congestion and of charges in frequency of scheduled transport services) accidents and environmental costs, and how these estimates have been used to examine the impact of marginal cost pricing in transport. We finish by examining how the results of case studies might be generalised to obtain estimates of marginal social costs for all circumstances and, finally, presenting our conclusions.

This report presents the findings of an independent evaluation of the Freight Information Real-time System for Transport (FIRST) intermodal freight ITS prototype system. FIRST is an Internet-based, real-time network that integrates numerous sources of freight location and status into a single, easily navigated Web portal to allow port users to access cargo and Port information to facilitate planning and logistics. This system was designed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in cooperation with members of the private sector intermodal industry, to meet the operational needs of regional intermodal freight service providers and their customers. FIRST makes information from ocean carriers, terminal operators, rail lines, and trucking companies available to port users. These stakeholders envisioned the FIRST system would help to reduce the truck queues at terminal gates, reduce unnecessary trips by trucks to the port, reduce truck emissions, increase terminal operation efficiencies, and improve the freight transportation system at the Port of New York/New Jersey overall. However, due to a variety of internal and external factors, the FIRST system did not gain a significant level of usage over the course of the evaluation period. For this reason the aforementioned benefits did not occur. This evaluation presents some of the factors contributing to the low usage, compares FIRST to similar, yet successful systems, and demonstrates via simulation the benefits that might be realized should the FIRST system incorporate a truck appointment system.

Henry Wells (1805-78) and William Fargo (1818-81) first worked together when they broke the Post Office monopoly on mail service along the Erie Canal in the 1840s. In 1852 they incorporated Wells, Fargo & Company and went into the express business in California, carrying gold, letters, packages, and freight between the mining regions and the financial centers of the East. They registered the miners to receive deliveries, guarded the gold-dust shipments, apprehended stage robbers, recovered stolen gold and silver, and established a reliable, conservative banking house in the world's wickedest city, San Francisco. They survived the collapse of the mining industry, the great California panic of 1855, the depredations of bandits such as Rattlesnake Dick and Black Bart, the dominance of the railroads, and the San Francisco earthquake and fire. Acclaimed Western writer Ralph Moody tells the exciting story of Henry Wells and his drivers, messengers, and riders; his accountants, managers, and detectives; and how they built a lasting empire in a business most entrepreneurs thought too risky to try. Moody, author of more than a dozen books on Western subjects, gives an action-packed account that readers young and old will enjoy.

Comprising contributions from a range of experts, this volume offers a critical commentary on the government's sustainable transport policy.* A critical commentary on the Blair government's sustainable transport policy and its implementation.* Firmly rooted in an appreciation of the politics of this controversial field.* Experts contribute up-to-the-minute analyses of the key issues.* Will inform debate over the future of transport policy.* Includes a Foreword by David Begg, Chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport.

Transportation research has traditionally been dominated by engineering and logistics research approaches. This book integrates social, economic, and behavioral sciences into the transportation field. As its title indicates, emphasis is on socioeconomic changes, which increasingly govern the development of the transportation sector.

The papers presented here originated at a conference on Social Change and Sustainable Transport held at the University of California at Berkeley in March 1999, under the auspices of the European Science Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
The contributors, who represent a range of disciplines, including geography and regional science, economics, political science, sociology, and psychology, come from twelve different countries. Their subjects cover the consequences of environmentally sustainable transportation vs. the "business-as-usual" status quo, the new phenomenon of "edge cities," automobile dependence as a social problem, the influence of leisure or discretionary travel and of company cars, the problems of freight transport, the future of railroads in Europe, the imposition of electronic road tolls, potential transport benefits of e-commerce, and the electric car.

The urban population in many developing countries continues to grow at more than six percent per year. The number of cities with a population of over 10 million inhabitants is expected to double within a generation. More importantly, within a generation, more than half of the developing world's population and between a third and one-half of its poor, will then reside in cities. Not only will the number of inhabitants in cities continue to increase but the problems associated with an increasing urban population will be exacerbated. This strategy paper connects the urban and transport strategies with a focus on poverty. It concentrates on the problems of the very poor, not only in relation to income, but also in terms of the broader dimensions of social exclusion. The objectives of this book are to offer a better common understanding of urban transportation problems in developing and transitional economies and to identify an urban transport strategy framework for national and city governments.

Many inhabitants of rural areas in developing countries do not have adequate and affordable access to transport infrastructure services. Insufficient access to transport constrains economic and social development and contributes to poverty. This book focuses on improving rural mobility by facilitating the provision of affordable means of transport and transport services. It concentrates on the many and varied types of transport that provide mobility such as bus service, freight trucks, bush taxis, transport animals, bicycles, and handcarts.

Several of the papers in this volume are concerned with assessing both the timing and the impacts of deregulation and regulatory reform in the US transportation sector. Of increasing interest is the importance of productivity growth and the role played by new technologies in a more competitive market environment. Four of the papers in this volume deal directly with these issues in the context of motor carriers and railroads, two sectors which have been operating under substantially reduced regulatory constraints for the past twenty years in the US. Although the financial condition of US railroads has improved since 1980, there is still some concern regarding their long run viability as private enterprises. Accordingly, one of the papers considers the potential for further reductions in railroad costs through transcontinental mergers, a controversial issue due to the small number of railroads that remain in the industry.

This paper is part of a four-volume series of publications on rural transport promoted by the World Bank's Rural Transport Thematic Group under the aegis of its knowledge management activities. The four volumes are - 'Options for Managing and Financing Rural Transport Infrastructure' - 'Improving Rural Mobility' - 'Developing Rural Transport Policies and Strategies', and - this paper on 'Design and Appraisal of Rural Transport Infrastructure'.

"Stagecoach West" is a comprehensive history of stagecoaching west of the Missouri. Starting with the evolution of overland passenger transportation, Moody moves on to paint a lively and informative picture of western stagecoaching, from its early short runs through its rise with the gold rush, its zenith of 1858-68, and beyond. Its story is one of grand rivalries, political chicanery, and gaudy publicity stunts, traders, fortune hunters, outlaws, courageous drivers, and indefatigable detectives. We meet colorful characters such as Charlie Parkhurst, a stagecoach driver who took an amazing secret to his death: "he" was actually a woman. Using contemporary accounts, illustrations, maps, and photographs to flesh out his narrative, Moody creates one of the most important accounts of transportation history to date.

"Robert Snyder has compiled the tales and the war stories, sketches of the varied jobs and those who work on the buses and trains of the New York city mass transit system. These are the engrossing stories of the invisible workers-those who labor day and night to ensure a safe trip for the five million who ride the subways and buses of the city. Ever present, the workers have seen it all, and regale us with their experiences. It is an enjoyable read renewing our appreciation and respect for those who tend the transit systems."-New York History New York City may seem to be a place where everyone is a stranger, yet transit workers provide a human presence on a late-night bus or an empty subway platform. Few of us give any thought to these invisible workers-until something goes wrong. Transit Talk takes readers into the world of MTA New York City Transit employees, as they describe their lives and work, from the most visible subway conductor to the seemingly invisible mechanic. There are nearly 44,000 transit workers like those you will meet in Transit Talk, and every day they help five million of us travel to work, to school, to weddings, to funerals, to hospitals, to vacations. These workers labor daily on subway tracks inches from high-voltage powerlines, risking their lives for passengers they'll never know. The city can feel large and fragmented, but the transportation system and its workers create common threads in the lives of all New Yorkers, threads we take for granted. Nearly one hundred transit workers were interviewed for Transit Talk. These are the people who keep the country's largest transit system up and running. Together, their stories create a human tableau of life and labor in the city within a city that is the MTA New York City Transit. Transit workers find satisfaction in fixing a damaged subway car, gain wisdom from mastering a dangerous workplace, nurse emotional wounds from tending to someone injured in an accident, battle frustration from difficulties with management, and express satisfaction when reflecting on a productive career. They tell of how years spent in the same shop create bonds between workers. They talk of the burden of laboring in a twenty-four-hour system with night shifts and weekend workdays that take them away from families. You'll hear joyous anecdotes of workers delivering babies in a subway car as well as painful tales of informing next-of-kin of a death on the tracks. The stories weave together vignettes about race, unions, and the relations between men and women in the transit workforce. The memories recorded here cover the last fifty years of the twentieth century, a time when the transit system acquired many of the characteristics of contemporary modern American industry. Robert W. Snyder, a lifelong bus and subway rider and the grandson of a transit worker, is the author of The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York and coauthor of Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York. He lives with his wife and two children in Manhattan, where he is the editor of Media Studies Journal.

In developing and transition economies, 60 to 80 percent of all passenger and freight transport moves by road-the main form of access for most rural communities. Yet most of the 11 million kilometers of roads in these economies are badly maintained and poorly managed. This paper discusses one of the most effective ways to promote sound policies for managing and financing road networks--commercialization. It discusses the emerging central concept of bringing roads into the marketplace, putting them on a fee-for-service basis, and managing them like a business.

World Bank Technical Paper No. 376. Roads are agents of change and can be responsible for both benefits and damage to the existing balance between people and their environment. This handbook examines specific road projects ranging from minor rehabilitation and maintenance activities on existing roads to major works on new alignments. It provides a description of practical methods for designing and executing effective environmental assessments that are useful to those who are involved in various aspects of road projects, from planning to construction to maintenance.

Traveling along the path of the previous editions, "Transportation Engineering Planning and Design," follows the United States transportation system from its development, to its operations and control of the vehicle used to its planning (planning process, data collection, finances, procedures for future developments and evaluation of transportation plans) and on to the design of land, air and water transportation facilities (which includes highways, railways, runways, pipelines, terminals, harbors, ports, lighting for these areas, sizing and more.)

This study of CAMI Automotive, a unionized joint venture between General Motors and Suzuki, is the most comprehensive ever undertaken of a lean production plant. James Rinehart, Christopher Huxley, and David Robertson address a topic that has inspired fierce debate in industrial relations, sociology, labor studies, and human resource management. Heralded as a model of lean production when it opened in 1989, CAMI promised workers something different from traditional plants a humane environment, empowerment, and cooperative labor-management relations. However, the enthusiasm workers felt during the orientation and early phases of production steadily declined, as did their involvement in participatory activities. Workers came to describe CAMI as "just another car factory." Union challenges and shopfloor resistance to key elements of the lean system grew, capped by a five-week strike in 1992. The authors attribute workers' disillusionment to lean production itself rather than to North American managers' inadequate implementation."

“The foundation has been laid for fully autonomous,” Elon Musk announced in 2016, when he assured the world that Tesla would have a driverless fleet on the road in 2017. “It’s twice as safe as a human, maybe better.” Promises of techno-futuristic driving utopias have been ubiquitous wherever tech companies and carmakers meet. In Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving, technology historian Peter Norton argues that driverless cars cannot be the safe, sustainable, and inclusive “mobility solutions” that tech companies and automakers are promising us. The salesmanship behind the driverless future is distracting us from investing in better ways to get around that we can implement now. Unlike autonomous vehicles, these alternatives are inexpensive, safe, sustainable, and inclusive. Norton takes the reader on an engaging ride —from the GM Futurama exhibit to “smart” highways and vehicles—to show how we are once again being sold car dependency in the guise of mobility. He argues that we cannot see what tech companies are selling us except in the light of history. With driverless cars, we’re promised that new technology will solve the problems that car dependency gave us—zero crashes! zero emissions! zero congestion! But these are the same promises that have kept us on a treadmill of car dependency for 80 years. Autonorama is hopeful, advocating for wise, proven, humane mobility that we can invest in now, without waiting for technology that is forever just out of reach. Before intelligent systems, data, and technology can serve us, Norton suggests, we need wisdom. Rachel Carson warned us that when we seek technological solutions instead of ecological balance, we can make our problems worse. With this wisdom, Norton contends, we can meet our mobility needs with what we have right now.

This text examines the controversies surrounding state and federal regulatory oversight, and presents recommendations for changing transportation regulation and federalism.

Innovation - the imaginative attempt to introduce something new or to solve some problem - smashes routine and demands choice, even if only the choice to retain the status quo. This collection of fourteen essays provides a spectrum of historical perspectives on how, when, or why, individuals, societies, governments, and industries have made choices regarding the use of technologies. Through historical accounts that span centuries and national boundaries, exploring the complexity of a nuclear power plant and the apparent simplicity of an electrical plug, the contributors to this volume dramatically illustrate the push and pull between technology and society. General topics addressed include: Regulation of private industry Social acceptance of commercial innovation Negative perceptions of the "Technological Age" Cultural and artistic features of technology Provocative and accessible, this collection will serve both students and faculty in history, sociology, and public policy, as well as in history and philosophy of science and technology. These essays were originally published in the journal Technology and Culture

"Smerk s account, thankfully, is not just another exercise in quantitative analysis. He makes his points with words and sentences, not numbers and charts. The result is a free-flowing narrative in which changes in federal policy over the years are shown to have occurred because people interacted within certain political frames of reference.... I highly recommend this book... " Brian J. Cudahy, Business Horizons

..". a solid history of an important component of modern public policy... ably integrated with scholarship on metropolitan development so that urbanists can learn much here." Choice

"This book is must reading for anyone who has deep interests in transit issues specifically and transportation problems in general, but it is also for all those who are more than casually curious about the dynamics of urbanization." Economic Geography

..". a highly in-depth study of the impact of governmental policies on the mass transit industry over the last few decades and where it may soon be heading." Railfan and Railroad Magazine

..". a timely and important book." Business History Review

This important new book is the only available comprehensive survey and analysis of federal policies and programs for urban mass transit. It is a must book for anyone interested in the plight of our cities and the efforts being made to solve our transportation problems."