essay on public transportation system

Essay on Public Transportation

Students are often asked to write an essay on Public Transportation in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Public Transportation

Introduction.

Public transportation refers to vehicles like buses and trains, used by the public to travel. It is a shared system, meaning it carries multiple passengers at once.

Public transportation is important because it helps decrease traffic congestion. It also reduces air pollution by lessening the number of cars on the road.

Using public transportation can save money as it’s cheaper than maintaining a car. It also promotes social interaction and provides mobility to those who can’t drive.

In conclusion, public transportation is beneficial for the environment, economy, and society. Therefore, we should consider using it more frequently.

250 Words Essay on Public Transportation

Public transportation forms an integral part of urban mobility, shaping the economic, social, and environmental dynamics of cities. It is not merely a service, but a key determinant of urban growth, sustainability, and inclusivity.

Role in Urban Mobility

Public transportation plays a pivotal role in facilitating urban mobility. It reduces congestion by transporting a larger number of people in a single vehicle, compared to private cars. This efficiency aids in reducing travel time, enhancing productivity, and improving the overall quality of life for citizens.

Economic Impact

Public transportation is a significant economic driver. It creates job opportunities, both directly and indirectly, and stimulates local economies by enhancing accessibility to businesses. It also plays a crucial role in reducing the economic burden of transportation for individuals, particularly those from lower-income groups.

Environmental Implications

Public transportation contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint. It minimizes the number of vehicles on the road, leading to lower emissions and reduced energy consumption. It also aids in mitigating climate change by fostering a transition towards a low-carbon urban transport system.

Social Equity

Public transportation promotes social equity by providing affordable and accessible transportation options to all, irrespective of socio-economic status. It ensures that everyone can access essential services, job opportunities, and social activities, thereby reducing social exclusion.

In conclusion, public transportation is a cornerstone of sustainable urban development. It is instrumental in promoting economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity. Therefore, investing in public transportation is not just a matter of urban policy, but a key to achieving sustainable and inclusive cities.

500 Words Essay on Public Transportation

Public transportation is a critical aspect of a city’s infrastructure, playing a pivotal role in reducing traffic congestion, promoting sustainable urban development, and enhancing the quality of life for residents. Through its capability to transport large numbers of people efficiently and economically, public transit systems have the potential to reshape urban landscapes and foster social equity.

The Role of Public Transportation

Public transportation serves as the backbone of urban mobility, providing a sustainable alternative to private vehicle use. It mitigates the environmental impact of transport by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Public transit systems like buses, trams, and metros are designed to accommodate large passenger volumes, thereby decreasing the number of vehicles on the road and reducing traffic congestion.

Moreover, public transportation fosters social inclusion. It provides access to employment, education, healthcare, and recreational activities for all segments of the population, including low-income groups, the elderly, and people with disabilities. By offering a reliable and affordable means of travel, public transportation can bridge socio-economic disparities and facilitate social cohesion.

Challenges in Public Transportation

Despite its numerous benefits, public transportation faces several challenges. These include inadequate infrastructure, insufficient funding, and a lack of integrated planning. Many cities struggle with aging infrastructure and overcrowded transit systems, which can lead to service delays and reduced passenger comfort.

Funding issues are another significant hurdle. Public transportation is often heavily subsidized, relying on government funding to maintain operations. However, budget constraints can limit the capacity for system improvements and expansions.

Lastly, a lack of integrated planning can lead to inefficient transit systems. To maximize efficiency and user convenience, public transportation should be coordinated with other urban services such as housing, land use, and pedestrian infrastructure.

The Future of Public Transportation

The future of public transportation lies in smart, interconnected, and sustainable systems. Technological advancements like autonomous vehicles, real-time tracking apps, and contactless payments can improve service efficiency and passenger experience.

Furthermore, the integration of public transportation with other modes of travel, such as bike-sharing and ride-hailing services, can create a seamless and flexible mobility network. This concept, known as Mobility as a Service (MaaS), represents a paradigm shift in urban transport, moving from vehicle ownership to shared mobility.

Sustainability is another key aspect of the future of public transportation. As cities strive to achieve carbon neutrality, electric buses, hydrogen-powered trains, and other forms of green public transit will play a crucial role in reducing transport-related emissions.

Public transportation is more than just a means of getting from one place to another. It is a tool for urban development, social equity, and environmental sustainability. Despite the challenges it faces, with proper planning, sufficient funding, and the integration of advanced technologies, public transportation can continue to serve as a vital component of urban life, shaping our cities for the better.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Road Transport
Essay on Importance of Rivers
Essay on River

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

151 Transportation Essay Topics & Writing Tips

Have you ever thought about the importance of transportation? Every day we see cars, trucks, planes, and ships and never wonder what exactly they are doing. In fact, these vehicles not only transport people from one place to another. They also form a vast system that plays a vital role in any country.

This is what transportation essays are devoted to. This article by Custom-Writing.org team will help you with writing your paper. Here, you will find:

a list of 151 excellent topics;
a step-by-step writing guide;
a public transportation essay sample.
🔄 Before You Start
✈️ Transportation Topics
✍️ Outline & Guide
📑 Essay Sample

🔗 References

🔄 essays on transportation: before you start.

First of all, we want to explain the two essential things you should consider before writing an essay. These are narrowing down the scope and planning .

STEP#1: Narrow down the scope.

Needless to say, transportation is a field that offers hundreds of issues to consider. You can start by determining what aspects of transportation interest you the most and using them as a starting point for your essay.

The picture enumerates the aspects that influence transportation essay topic choice.

STEP#2: Plan your paper.

After you’ve collected plenty of material for the essay, the next step is to think what specific points you want to highlight and what particular sources will be necessary. An effective way to do it is to make note cards while researching your topic:

On every note card, write down the point that you want to include in your paper.
Look through your cards and choose ideas that will finally make up your transportation essay.

✈️ Transportation Essay Topics

Now you’re ready to choose a perfect topic. Below you’ll find various exciting ideas that you’ll enjoy writing about.

Transportation Essay Topics: Top 10

Public transport in rural areas.
Road transport’s economy.
The future of public transport.
How to start a car
Gender inequality in driving
Family cars: pros and cons
American vs. British driving
Peculiarities of building bridges
My first driving experience
Preventing road accidents.

Topics for an Essay on Transportation in the Past and Present

Transport plays an integral part in human history . Its development facilitated the expansion of territories and allowed different nations to collaborate. Explore these fascinating transportation topics in your essay:

Importance of mobility: then and now. The role of transport has changed dramatically over time. Are you interested in studying differences in vehicle use between the past and present? This topic is for you.
Transportation modes before and after the Industrial Revolution . Choose several vehicles from the past. Then, compare them to some modern ones. Which of the old transportation modes have survived to this day?
Animal-powered transport: past to present. With this topic, consider the earliest methods of transit. You can focus on horses , camels, or llamas. It’s also interesting to look into the current use of animals for transportation.
How did transport influence expansion? Assess the role of vehicles during the Age of Exploration . How did they facilitate competition between countries?
National Road: connecting the US through the first highway . The National Road was vital for America’s expansion. Write about its past and present impact in your essay.
From the Appian Way to the Silk Road . Compare these two historic roads. Which of their features caused trade to boost? Can we trace present-day trade globalization to them?
Interstate Highway System and its legacy. The Interstate Highway System is a perfect transportation topic. Your essay might address its role in the US transit development. How does it connect America’s past with its present?
Challenges of transport in the past and present. Comparing past issues to the present ones can provide you with a perspective. This topic requires thorough historical analysis. For instance, you may focus on infrastructure development vs. environmental concerns.
From horse-drawn carriages to gasoline cars . The invention of the first automobiles is an exciting essay idea. Describe the significance of this innovation. How did it influence people’s lives?
Air travel : a revolution in the transportation industry. This exciting topic will take you on a journey through history. Describe the invention of a plane starting with the earliest attempts. What makes it a crucial step in global development?
Transport in the military . Vehicles help to accomplish critical tasks in the army. In your essay, explore inventions introduced during wartime. For example, you may examine the role of zeppelins and U-boats in WWI or bombers in WWII .
Transit for indigenous cultures in the past and present. Examine several tribes in your transportation essay. Various aboriginal cultures have unique approaches to transit. What factors influenced their emergence?

Topics for an Essay on Transportation Systems

Transportation systems are various means of carrying goods or people. These include air, water, and land transport. All of their components are interconnected, with each one serving a unique role.

Intelligent Transportation Systems : how AI transforms the industry. Explore the latest innovative ideas with this topic. Will AI systems define the future of supply chain management ?
Transport systems and sustainability: working toward a better future. It’s not easy to maintain an environmentally friendly approach in the transportation industry. Your essay can explore several recent solutions.
Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs): what are the prospects? CAVs are a recent yet promising development. Will they be the next milestone in public mobility?
Control of hazardous materials: key concerns. Environmental hazards are often mentioned in conjunction with public transport issues. This concern harkens back to the problem of sustainability. Further research on this topic can help improve road management.
Video detection: opportunities for flexible data capture. This future-oriented essay will be fascinating to write. For example, you can research the options that digital video detection tools offer.
AI-based traffic control frameworks. Traffic control is a crucial factor in road management. What innovative tools were introduced in recent years? Review them in your paper.
Deep learning in transportation systems . Technological updates are essential for preventing accidents. What opportunities does deep learning offer in this regard?
Complex system software for improving the road management system. You can focus your essay on IT tools. What type of software is required to navigate a modern transportation framework? Review its various opportunities.
Construction and structural design of road systems. Road designs change to reflect our current needs. Today it’s essential to make them safe and sustainable . Look into the industry trends and outline them in your paper.
Integration of manufacturing systems. Lean production is an exciting idea to explore. How can manufacturing systems help in improving the transportation sector?
Manufacturing, modeling, and simulation. Explore modeling and simulation as tools for creating safer vehicles . Can they increase the efficacy of current transportation systems?

Ideas for an Essay on Transportation and Communication

Communication is intrinsically connected with transportation. From the dawn of humanity, people exchanged goods and information by traveling. Throughout the ages, the speed of these exchanges increased. Today, our opportunities regarding communication are practically endless. Enjoy researching them in your essay!

Ways of increasing market size using transportation and communication. For this paper, analyze the changes in the target market attributes. What influences market size?
Role of communication in informing the public about disasters. Discuss disaster preparedness and information management.
How do transport and communication improve travel accessibility? Assess the extent of this change. What are its economic implications?
Investments in infrastructure development. Analyze the current model of managing transport-related financial concerns. Does focusing on socioeconomic factors make it effective?
Policymaking as an issue in transportation and communication. Analyze the implications of policymaking on economic development. Will development rates increase if we reconsider the existing policies?
Updating policies for cargo storage handling. In your essay, review the issues of cargo management. How can we make it better?
Investing in transportation and communication. Point out the connections between investment and the socioeconomic environment.

The picture enumerates the main components of transportation.

Spatial problems in building a transport system network . Spatial problems cause multiple infrastructure issues. Study them and expose the issues in building of transportation and communication channels.
Economic issues in transport management: key outcomes. Your essay could also delve into the financial problems of transit. Transport should be linked in a working system. Otherwise, you can expect dire consequences for its management.
Ways of increasing reliability of data management . Information management directly affects the realm of transport. The reliability of the data determines its effectiveness. How can we improve it?
Building a global transportation and communication system. With this topic, you can review critical global transport trends. Explore advantages and drawbacks of the innovation. Pay attention to the development of a worldwide framework.
Transportation and communication: gateway to economic development. Economic changes will lead to improved communication within transport systems . As a result, it will become more efficient. Encourage this improvement by writing an essay about it.

Benefits of Public Transportation: Essay Topics

Nowadays, public transportation is losing its popularity. More and more people prefer buying a car instead. However, buses and subways still have numerous benefits. Explore them with this list of essay topics:

What are the three main benefits of urban public transport ? Talk about how public transportation improves life in the cities. Mention how subways are faster than any type of private urban transport.
How does public transit benefit the environment ? Discuss how it helps to keep the air clean by reducing CO2 emissions.
Private transport is not as safe as public transit. Talk about how safe public transport is. Unlike traveling by car, it has fewer accidents, traffic casualties, and deaths.
In what ways does mass transit reduce health issues ? Here you can mention how the use of subways increases physical activity.
Public transportation gives people more free time. For instance, it allows passengers to read, study, or work instead of watching the road . It can also reduce the commute time.
Why is public transit perfect for tourists? Discuss how it helps tourists to learn more about the places they travel to.
Public transportation contributes to the country’s economy. For example, it creates job opportunities such as drivers and dispatchers.
Mass transit is the best way to travel. You can interview people who prefer to use public transport. Mention how it helps them to save money and time.
How does public transportation help to reduce air pollution? For instance, you can mention that using it leads to fewer car emissions.
The importance of efficient public transportation . Explain how the development of mass transit helps to improve people’s lives. For example, it allows them to commute to work and travel between cities and countries.
Public transit helps to reduce traffic congestion in the big cities . You can assess the role of an efficient transport system with timetables.
How does technology change public transportation? Talk about technological development that helps to improve the mass transit system, making it more convenient.
What makes up an efficient public transport system? Mention various means of transport, as well as good routes and timetables.
Reasons why you should use public transportation . You can discuss its safety, convenience, and other benefits.
The popularity of mass transit in the modern world. Talk about how it allows people to travel to work and visit other cities or countries.

Essay on Air Transportation: Topics & Ideas

The invention of air transport was one of the greatest milestones in human history. It allowed us to travel faster and safer than ever before. Are you interested in aircraft and its various uses? Check out these examples of air transportation essay topics:

The effect of air transportation on tourism . Mention that the developments of air services have shaped tourism in many countries.
The main benefits of air transportation . For example, talk about how it allows people to travel far distances in a relatively short amount of time.
Aviation and its adverse effects on the environment. Discuss how aircraft use contributes to air, noise, water, and soil pollution. and soil pollution.
Economic development and aviation. Discuss how air transportation contributed to the global economy. For instance, you can mention the development of tourism.
Traveling by plane is safer than road transportation. Here you can mention that despite many flights dispatched each day worldwide, the reports of crashes are very rare. On roads, however, no day goes by without a report of a motor accident.
What are the reasons for the rise of air transportation? Explain why it became popular. For example, you can talk about how air travel became more accessible for people.
Why is air transportation more efficient than high-speed rail ? Mention how a plane can get you anywhere, as it doesn’t need roads.
Aviation and its accessibility. For example, you can mention the prices of the tickets and the number of airports in different countries.
Main reasons why air transportation is safe . Talk about the high-security standards in airports . Give some statistics that show how rarely accidents occur. You can also mention how airplanes and helicopters are equipped for emergencies.
Air transportation and globalization. Talk about how aviation contributed to globalization, allowing people to travel and transport goods over significant distances.
What is the importance of air transportation ? Discuss the benefits of air transportation and how it helps to improve people’s lives.
Pros and cons of air transport . The development of air transportation helped to improve communication between the countries. On the downside, it has a serious environmental impact.
Does air transportation have any environmental benefits? Discuss whether aviation affects nature only in a negative way. You can talk about the technological improvements that help modern airplanes to emit less carbon monoxide.
The political importance of air transportation. Here you can talk about how the development of air transportation improved communication between nations. You can also mention how aircraft can be used as a weapon.
Ways to improve air transportation. Talk about technological development that can make traveling by plane more environmentally friendly.

Extra Transportation Topics

Still haven’t found a suitable topic? Well, here are 76 more transportation essay ideas:

The importance of transportation for a country’s economy . Review the main effects of urban transport on different aspects of the economy and assess its significance.
The public transport system. Research the sphere of different transport modes and determine how they’re connected.
Transportation in times of the Industrial Revolution . The industrial revolution has influenced today’s transport economy in many ways. The transport organization of that period is an interesting topic to research.
Urban transport  improvement in developing countries. Focus the research on finding ways to solve transport problems. You may also propose a new transport policy.
Adjustments for transport fares in a city of your choice. The essay may identify issues in the transport economy and suggests measures for its improvement.
Raising funds for transport improvement. With this topic, you can focus on different fundraising strategies , such as public campaigns. With this topic, you can focus on different fundraising strategies, such as public campaigns.
Types of government interventions in  air transport  organization. The essay may review existing governmental instruments for improving air transportation in a region.
Balancing supply and demand in rural transport economy. You can explore this important topic by identifying issues in rural transport and reviewing strategies for matching supply and demand.
Application of economic theory to urban transport. For this essay, study various economic theories and see which of them can be applied to different modes of transport .
Effective transport systems in various countries. One option is to study several examples of public transport in India and South Africa.
Development of water transport. This essay can explore how different modes of water transport could improve a city’s connectivity.
Recent economic trends in rural transport
How to choose transport for people with mental disorders
Current healthcare-related transport issues  in the United States
A dilemma of animal-powered transport and animal rights
The idea of transportation from the Amish point of view
Travel by train or by plane: the importance of psychological factors
Story of the first car made by Francois Isaac de Rivaz
Public  transportation in the USA : the 1990s vs. the 2000s
Rail transport : 5 issues to worry about in the 21st century
Peculiarities of shooting films on trains:  Murder on the Orient Express
Importance of communication during travel by plane
Threats of cruise ships: Titanic’s  story
Passenger 57  vs.  Speed : movies about transportation challenges
The Fast and the Furious : a wave of popularity for car movies
Is it acceptable to text while driving?
Toll roads in the USA: an important inequality issue
Pixar’s Cars : what does it teach us about transport?
Advertisement banners in the subway : a powerful marketing tool or a peril?
School bus transportation in Europe and the United States
What emotional problems do students face when they use school buses?
Bike lanes in parks: the question of safety
Cycling infrastructure: threats and benefits for drivers
Who is responsible for safety in aviation ?
Transport that kills: the case of 9/11
Riding a motorcycle : benefits and possible risks
Special free training programs to support motorcycle safety
Public helipads in the city: equipment that matters
Traffic congestion  in the United States: causes and solutions
Impact of traffic jams on human health and employment
Overpopulation or lack of roads: what toughens traffic congestion?
Safety of cable transport: how to behave in elevators
Reasons to visit the  Moon : spaceflight access for Americans
Gas pipelines: a safe means of transportation or a reason for concern?
Benefits of ferry transport: a place for contemplation
Water bike free access: the necessity of a license
Illegal behavior of drivers : lessons to learn
What are the most common driving distractions?
Traffic  jams and their impact on human behavior
Electric transportation technologies of the 21st century
Hygiene in public transport: subway threats for Americans
Driving accidents : the roles of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians
Transportation lessons from movies: Gone in 60 Seconds
Types of conflicts between motorcyclists and car drivers
Availability of transport for low-income families in the United States
Why do people need vehicles in their lives?
What would happen if all modern transport disappeared?
Pros and cons of transportation progress in society
Competition between different transportation systems
Differences between airline flight classes: are they equally safe?
Child  car seat : a new law and new power
The popularity of monorail tracks in different parts of the world
Do people actually like using transport or do they just have to do it?
The effects of drunk driving on road traffic death rates.
Gas prices and human needs: solutions for drivers
What can your car tell about you?
Environmental concerns in car driving discussions : dilemma without a solution
Public and  private transportation : how to make the right choice
You can  live without a car , but do you want it?
Transportation in healthcare: goals, techniques, and outcomes
Emotions while driving: the importance of control and expert help
Radio, phone calls, and communication:  threats for drivers
Plane and train traveling : history and current situation
Water transportation characteristics and techniques: sea vs. river
Space for people: what should you know about spaceflights?
A variety of transport in the  James Bond  franchise

If you haven’t found what you’re looking for, feel free to use our topic generator !

✍️ Transportation Essay Outline & Writing Guide

Now that you’ve chosen a perfect transportation topic, you’re ready to learn how to plan your essay. Similar to any other type of academic writing, a transportation essay consists of three main parts:

The picture shows a transportation essay template.

Now, let’s see how to write each essay part.

Transportation Essay Introduction

An introduction is the first part of the essay. Its goal is to let the reader know what they can expect from this work. Try to make your introduction as brief and straightforward as possible.

Since the introductory paragraph starts the paper, it has to draw the reader’s attention. The most effective way to achieve it is by using a hook . A question, an interesting fact, or statistics can work as a hook:

Why is public transportation important?

Did you know that in 2019 Americans took around 9.9 billion trips using public transportation?

After you’re done with the hook, do the following:

State what your paper is about. The reader needs to know the essay’s main topic and why it is important.
Provide some background information. It will help you to establish the issue.
Finally, build a strong thesis statement. Want to know how? Read the following section.

What Is the Strongest Thesis for an Essay on Public Transportation?

A thesis statement is a sentence that contains an answer to your paper’s central question. It helps you organize and develop your arguments and ideas. It also makes it easier for the reader to follow your logic.

To generate a good thesis statement, think of a question you will answer in your essay. For instance, let’s say your topic is “Explain how using public transportation can benefit people’s health.” With a topic like this, you may choose a question such as “What are the health benefits of using public transport?”

After you have a question, you can think of some answers to it. For instance:

The possible health benefits of using public transportation are that it helps to be more active, reduces stress, and keeps the air cleaner.
Using public transportation can help people stay more active, avoid stress, and keep the air cleaner.

Keep in mind that a thesis statement shouldn’t be too general. Try to narrow down the topics so that it becomes more specific. Take a look at the following thesis examples:

Transportation Essay: Main Body

In the essay’s body, you prove your thesis and support it with examples. If you have a simple thesis, you probably won’t need many body paragraphs to explain your ideas. Usually, 2 or 3 are enough.

Each of the main body paragraphs should contain:

Transportation Essay Conclusion

In a conclusion, you go back to the main focus of your essay. When writing a concluding paragraph, make sure to:

Rephrase the thesis statement. Remind the reader of your main argument using the information you have discussed in the body paragraphs.
Summarize the points you’ve made. It’s better to avoid mentioning new information in your conclusion. Briefly summarize the points you’ve made and explain how they support your ideas.
Talk about the argument’s significance. Demonstrate why the discussion on this topic is important. For instance, you may demonstrate how your argument helps shed light on a neglected issue. You can also suggest what the reader can do with the information they’ve learned.

📑 Public Transportation Essay Sample

Looking for an example a transportation essay? Look no further! Below, you will find an excellent essay example. Check it out:

We hope that this article helped you write your essay. Tell us in the comments which transportation topic you’ve chosen. Don’t forget to check our free tips on other essay types!

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3 Ways to Reimagine Public Transport for People and the Climate

public transit
Climate Equity
Air Quality

The coronavirus pandemic hit public transport hard. Global ridership tanked initially by as much as 80%, and transit was still at around just 20% of pre-pandemic ridership at the end of 2020. There is serious concern that people will increasingly opt for private vehicles, should public transport not recuperate.

Recent research by WRI shows how ensuring public transport not only survives but thrives is crucial for a green recovery , and to transport decarbonization actions that meet Paris Agreement goals.

Public Transport is Crucial to Addressing Climate Change, Equity and Health

For the transport sector to help keep the 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) target of global warming in reach, high-income countries — which contribute 70% of global emissions and have high rates of motorization — will have to reduce vehicle travel, while developing economies will need to reduce or slow the growth of vehicle travel. The State of Climate Action report finds that the world needs to shift trips away from private vehicles between 4% and 14% compared to a business-as-usual scenario by 2030, even with strong progress on vehicle electrification.

According to the International Transport Forum , buses and trains can release up to a fifth of emissions per passenger kilometer than ride-hailing and about a third that of a private vehicle. Simply put, public transport, along with bicycling and walking, is a climate solution staring us in the face. Embracing it in this next decade will be a determining factor in reaching climate goals.

Public transport is also key to an intersectional approach to addressing climate change in the transport sector — connecting with equity, health and economic development. When done well, it can provide more equal access to jobs, education, services and other economic opportunities, particularly to those without private vehicles and in underserved areas — all at a lower cost to consumers. The transit industry also provides millions of jobs globally that are important to local economies.

Other health challenges are also addressed through public transport: Cities with good public transport have fewer traffic fatalities. Transit riders tend to have more active lifestyles (from walking home from a station, station to work, etc.), and cleaner buses carrying more people than private cars can improve air quality and reduce exposure to dangerous pollutants in traffic.

Beyond the Global Pandemic Shock — Longer-standing Challenges at Play

Long before the coronavirus pandemic hit, public transport faced lack of investment and planning, unsupportive urban land use planning, and more recent challenges from disruptive technologies such as ride-hailing.

These historical challenges were often rooted in exclusionary policies based on race, class or gender, and favoring automobility over the needs of most of the public. For example, the United States subsidized the building of homes in car-oriented suburbia that excluded Black people and people of color through racial covenants, zoning and other ways while building freeways directly through their neighborhoods, displacing many and then cutting the public transit systems they relied upon.

This phenomenon is not limited to the U.S. and is often found across geographies that experienced colonialization (or some form of it). For example, in Nairobi, Kenya, history shows transport was built around the needs of European colonists , focused mainly on roads and not on public transport for all residents — perhaps carried on to today’s large expressway investments that continue to leave out the needs of low-income or marginalized people.

In Brazil, research suggests white and high-income people in cities have better transport access to opportunities than Black people and those with low-incomes, due to the location of housing and transport infrastructure. In many cases, even as some cities invest in a limited set of public transport projects, they simultaneously spend more money on private cars: take urban expressways like Mexico’s segundos pisos (elevated highways) and other projects in Latin America , or the many flyovers seen in Indian cities.

Meanwhile, public transport in many cities has been faced with an ever-present challenge to keep its riders despite limited public funding. Cities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, tend to provide less operating support for their public transport systems. In Brazil, according to the National Association of Urban Transport Companies, ridership on public bus systems decreased by over 26% between 2013 and 2019 — in part because of policies promoting car and motorcycle purchases. And in India, public transport ridership has been stagnant , without vast improvements particularly in bus transit while residents take to private vehicles.

Another discouraging trend is that countries have been building less rapid transit. One recent analysis by Walter Hook found that the number of new kilometers of any form of rapid transit has fallen globally since 2013 (excluding the outlier of China) — including metro, Light Rail Transit and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Ride-hailing, or the use of apps to hail for-hire vehicles, may be one more recent contributor to the decline. Research from New York City shows that ride-hailing has added more congestion and emissions to city streets and is taking away from public transport.

For a variety of reasons, decision-makers have not yet made the necessary investments to address the equity and health issues outlined previously. This must change.

Making the Case for Putting Public Transport First

To set the world on a path to green recovery, doing so without public transport is a non-starter. The world needs countries and cities to make it a priority by stabilizing these services with vital support to ensure they survive, accompanied by plans, policies and finance.

Here are three key opportunities for planners and policy makers to consider:

1. Rethink transport planning around access to opportunities

Cities should reshape how they plan and measure urban mobility — less on things like ridership and vehicle flow and more on how many residents have equal access to opportunities. This requires identifying areas where gaps in access exist and making targeted improvements in service such as frequency, reliability and capacity in those areas.

In many cities, as WRI research has shown, there are residents who do not have mobility and may be either underserved or trapped , for example in neighborhoods at the fringes of cities with extraordinarily long commutes. In fact, public transport is often not providing the service it could to low-income people. For example, in Mexico City someone living in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods has 28 times better access to jobs in a 30-minute trip by public transit and walking than those living in the poorest areas.

There are myriad measures that can help create an integrated public transport system that moves people more quickly to their destinations and reach those who have been denied access. We highlight a few key ways governments could consider revising their mobility plans in the wake of the pandemic:

Dedicate much more space to shared mobility. In some cities, streets can make up to 30% of land. A reallocation of these for public transport means dedicated bus lanes, for example, helping ensure high frequencies of service and reliability. Currently there are over 3,100 miles ( 5,000 kilometers ) of documented bus priority corridors around the world and during the pandemic some cities laid down more bus-only lanes. Take New York City’s 14 th Street busway which has improved travel times by closing the street to cars to prioritize the movement of people.

To scale to what’s needed, cities should ambitiously expand bus priority networks, as well as metro and Light Rail Transit where practical. One study from Sao Paulo found benefits of more direct transit routes for the many women domestic workers to their jobs in wealthier neighborhoods. These workers are some of the nearly 17 million women in Latin America who face long and divided commutes, as planners have instead focused on hub and spoke networks that are not responsive to female domestic workers’ mobility needs.

Avoid urban highways and improve reach of public transport. Take the well-known example in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon highway-to-linear park conversion; another part of the story is the city’s corresponding boost of its bus network as it shrunk its urban freeway footprint. According to a report on highway removal , the city expanded its network of median bus-only lanes to 42 miles, added several curbside bus-only lanes, coordinated schedules and fares to integrate with the subway system, and color-coded different services (local downtown buses, for example, are branded in yellow.) Within months, rider satisfaction had reached 90% and speeds in some bus corridors had improved up to 100%.

Connect with bicycling and walking measures. WRI China researchers found that in Chinese cities 54% of bicycle share users were using the service to reach other transport modes, including 91% of those riders connecting to public transit. If done right, bicycle and scooter share can be a great form of first and last mile connectivity. In addition, making streets and neighborhoods more human-oriented can make public transport one piece of a livable city’s pie. Just look at Paris, which according to the ITF , since 2014 has eliminated 15,000 parking spaces, expanded its bike network from 700 km to 1000 km, and converted riverbank expressways to public space, all while seeing the modal share for cars drop by 45% since 1990, cycling increasing tenfold, and, importantly, public transport use increasing by 30%.

Lastly, strategically place housing around public transport corridors. South Africa’s Johannesburg, for example, has been seeking to concentrate urban development near Bus Rapid Transit and trains as part of its Corridors of Freedom . The World Bank notes that from Singapore to Copenhagen, transit-oriented development has helped many cities reduce their carbon footprint while becoming more productive and more livable.

Connecting to public transport with bike share systems

2. Provide sustainable financing to public transport

The million-dollar question is: how would all this be paid for? To help develop better public transport we need a change in how financing is provided, relying less on farebox revenue and more on public actors to provide robust and sustained financing for transit operations and capital investments. This includes funds to stabilize services during and coming out of the coronavirus pandemic-related shock.

But funding should not only support public transport just so it survives. Instead, new public sector support can set it on a sustainable financial path that allows it to thrive. Such commitments should be seen as investments that can reduce emissions, provide access to jobs, and improve health. Here are some key ideas how it can be done, and examples from around the world:

Provide steady revenue for operations. As many public transport systems do not receive sustainable government support for operations, national governments could step in with more support, in turn improving contracts with operators or increasing service to underserved areas. Providing sustainable operating funds may require diversifying the sources of funding, so that fare revenue is just one piece of a multi-piece pie.

In Vienna, Austria — a city which has grown its public transport usage over the last decade — while user fares cover about 55% of transit operating costs other sources include: indirect payments from the national government; a public transport tax on large employers; and fees from on-street parking and city-owned parking garages. One promising proposal from the national government in India would not only finance acquisition of over 20,000 buses, but could also support operations. More of these new or revamped financing options will be necessary, and governments can use the added support to require improved access, services or contracting.

Renew investment in public transport infrastructure. Over a decade ago, governments in several middle-income countries established mass transit national programs — such as Mexico’s Public Transportation Federal Support Program or India’s National Urban Renewal Mission, that have funded the expansion of Bus Rapid Transit and bus services as well as subways. Some of these programs have fallen by the wayside, and a revival of national investments is needed to expand rapid transit infrastructure to address climate, health and equity needs. Nevertheless, cities can act now by directing their existing road maintenance budgets to close areas or lanes to cars and repaint the streets for public transport, walking and cycling. Congestion charges are another way to provide revenue for a wide-scale city level repositioning of surface transport. In London, for instance, over £1.3 billion in such revenue was dedicated over 14 years to improving the bus network, and the results were impressive. From 2002 to 2018 , the percentage of trips made by private car in the city shrunk from 46% to 36%, while public transport grew from 29% to 37%.

Package financing to make public transport an all-electric service. Public transport has been partly electric for well over 100 years with the introduction of electric tramways in the 1880s. However, today most buses remain powered by internal combustion engines. Electrifying public bus fleets globally could not only help reduce emissions but greatly improve services and health. Electric buses are also less costly to run, with lower total capital and maintenance costs . Despite barriers — including higher upfront costs and the need for charging infrastructure — programs such as those from China and Chile have shown how governments can support the procurement of these buses where operators may not have previously been able to fully cover them. WRI, together with the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative and other partners are assisting 20 cities in creating electric bus fleets and scaling e-bus adoption to hundreds more through city-to-city mentorship, including addressing these financial barriers.

3. Make governance supportive of public transport and its riders

The story, however, is not all about infrastructure and money. Cities need better institutions and governance to plan, manage and implement improved public transport. This includes creating more cohesive and professional transport authorities and integrated systems, and changing the way so-called “informal transit” is included from one of displacement to replacement.

Govern transport through better institutions. Now, every city may have a different context and solution, but there are a variety of ways to create better institutions. Take the Sao Paulo metro area in Brazil, where there are 39 cities with 39 different mayors and a state government running inter-city rail. Cutting down on this complexity can result in better service to users and improve efficiency. In some cities, there may be a need for a unified metropolitan transport authority that can plan and manage the entire system.

Transport for London (TfL), for example, was formed in 2000 by combing nearly all agencies responsible for transport — primary roads, streetscapes, rail, bus, cycling and taxi provision. The new organization model was tasked with showing results for people, rather than the needs of a specific mode of transport, and as such TfL has implemented coordinated changes to bring about fundamental transformation. Congestion pricing was possible in part due to the efficient reorganization and promotion of bus services. Fare capping methods, which limits upfront and monthly costs to the user over time, required a holistic view of transport revenues across the region.

While a combined transport agency may not be appropriate for any context, other cities such as Lagos, Nigeria, have established authorities to focus on public transport. And several cities across the globe have increased government planning and contracting, establishing public transport agencies that reform contracting and offer improved branding and service planning. Governments need to revisit and continue advancing better models.

Integrate fare payment systems. One of the more important ways cities can improve integration is through unified fare card systems. These not only improve the customer experience but enable better integration among multiple providers of public transport. In Istanbul, Turkey, the Istanbulkart is part of an integrated fare payment that previously constituted some 17 different payment forms across 11 different agencies, and can now be used at over 17,000 points in the city, including buses, metro, ferries, cable cars and even parking. Fare cards can now also be offered in mobile phone apps: In Delhi, India, a pilot program for an app-based payment was put into place with positive response from riders last year, and the city opted to scale up the option citywide.

Work with the “informal” transit that carries many if not most people. This may require a shift away from measures that often seek to displace minibus operators — those that run popular, informal transit in many cities around the world — with a non-punitive approach that supports improved business models, labor conditions for workers, data collection and analysis, and quality of service. Kigali, Rwanda has introduced more formal public bus services through three companies that are under contract with the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority. In Cape Town, South Africa, after the Bus Rapid Transit was introduced in 2010 with less than expected ridership due in part to lack of integrated minibus systems, the city has been supporting better integration of the minibuses to run alongside the BRT.

3 Key opportunities planners and policy makers should consider

The Time to Act for Climate and People

When we say we need to reimagine public transport, we are speaking to the need not to reinvent it, but to transition how we plan, fund and govern it to be the backbone of mobility in cities.

Explore climate-centered mobility for a sustainable recovery with world leaders.

Beyond some of the items outlined above, there may be other actions necessary to improve quality — such as communicating that public transport is safe to ride and improving marketing and branding, ensuring more can afford to ride and efficiencies of route planning. A lot will depend on the context of each city or country.

Importantly, countries need to increase their policy commitments under the Paris agreement through enhancing and updating their national climate action plans and Long-Term Strategies. This is where countries can lay down their commitments to connect public transport to climate action. Many current climate action plans do not even address urban transport, and the German Corporation for International Cooperation found that none of the recent updates declare national government support for cities to finance change.

We have no small task ahead. Rebooting public transport will require the support of a cadre of global stakeholders — including development banks, national governments, state and local officials, researchers, development aid institutions and philanthropy and companies. We’re calling on the world to act and to not forget this essential element in addressing climate change. These actors should come together on a new set of principles for reimagining public transport and move forward to enacting this agenda. The world cannot wait, and neither can the people who need better access, every day, to the jobs and city services that can improve their lives and well-being.

Relevant Work

Safer, more sustainable transport in a post-covid-19 world, 5 ways to cut oil and gas use through clean transportation, cities are taxing ride-hailing services like uber and lyft. is this a good thing, 5 ways to shape a greener, more equitable recovery through transport, how you can help.

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June 3, 2024

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American Public Transportation: Failures to Modernize

Ideally, a public transportation system is an economical and environmental alternative to driving cars, as it lightens the burden of congestion in mega-cities like Los Angeles and New York City and reduces carbon emissions. It also balances social and geographic inequality by providing an affordable alternative to those who cannot afford to own and operate cars. The benefits to the economy are equally notable: according to data recorded by the American Public Transportation Association, every $1 invested in public transportation generates $4 in economic return. However, American public transit infrastructure is crumbling and struggling to modernize.

A comparison between public transportation networks construction costs in US megacities and their international counterparts raises concerns about how we spend our money. Upon noticing the exorbitant cost of subway construction in Manhattan, the New York Times conducted an evaluation of 50 contractors, consulted international industry price indexes and built a database for spending. The Times reached the conclusion that, in Paris, building a project similar to the one in Manhattan costs one-sixth as much. This issue is by no means contained to Manhattan Island, on a per-mile scale, as the San Francisco BART extension costs around $1 billion per mile. The East Side Access connecting New York City to Long Island costs around $3.5 billion per mile, which led to the Times awarding it the undesirable title of “The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earthy”. To put these numbers in context, the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line cost only $280 million per mile in 2008, and the Paris Metro Line 14, $230 million per mile in 1998.

There is not a single driving force behind the high construction costs in the US, and there is nothing architecturally or geologically unique about American cities. Notable wastes are results of the systems’ lack of oversight of project estimation and inability to identify entities profiteering from this loophole. An immediate beneficiary of the massive spending are contractors. According to an article from the San Diego Union-Tribune , construction companies tend to have a pattern of submitting low bids to win government construction contracts and subsequently go over budget. Ron Tutor, an LA construction magnate and an infamous example, completed eleven major construction projects in San Francisco Bay Area, and these projects cost an average of 40 percent more than their initial bids .

Improvements can be made by implementing a bidding process with more rigorous scrutiny and transparency, and, above all, with more flexibility when mistakes are discovered. A successful case is Boston’s MBTA’s decision to cease working with a contractor immediately after it found out how poorly the project was managed, efficiently cutting down the construction cost from 3 billion to 2.3 billion, 1.1 billion of which was spent on tearing apart the failed start. Boston’s swift pivot in the project, although halting the entire project for two years, proved that proper management and estimation can significantly reduce construction costs. However, the greatest obstruction in the pipeline lies in obtaining approval and funds from municipal, state and federal levels, and each step involves years of waiting and intense courtroom battles.

On municipal and state levels, a proposal could encounter resistance not only from local communities but also find itself in a quagmire of zoning codes and environmental regulations. Bottom-up resistance to new public transportation projects include attempts to preserve communities, fear of taxation and safety concerns. For example, arguing that its construction would disrupt learning at the high school and threaten the health and safety of students, the Beverly Hills School District has spent $15.7 million to fight against Metro’s Purple Line subway extension to the Westside in courtrooms. In San Francisco, the hefty $30 billion project Salesforce Transbay Station allegedly caused the Millennium Tower, a nearby luxurious skyscraper, to sink and slant. A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled that the Transbay Joint Powers Authority must pay some of Millennium Partners’ legal bills over the fallout from the developer’s sinking building across the street. In Maryland, the Purple Line extension project has also encountered many expensive lawsuits which allege that “the corps permit allowing dredging and other work in streams and wetlands is illegal under the Clean Water Act.” With an astronomical amount funneled towards lawsuits after lawsuits, bond funds for actual construction and city planning are being slowly eaten away. Perhaps it is possible to circumvent lawsuits by redesigning track routes and avoid clashing with resistant communities, but strict and vague zoning codes from the last century still leaves few options.

Generally, a large portion of funding for public transportation projects comes from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury, and a massive cut in funding under the Trump Administration further encumbers new public transportation projects. Under the Trump Administration, the priority has been extending highways, roads and bridges. Amtrak funding is slashed in this new budget by 23 percent, and the federal Transportation Department canceled nearly $1 billion that would have helped pay for a high-speed rail project connecting L.A. to San Francisco. In addition, there has been increased funding for blocking new project proposals from being passed. For instance, the Koch brothers bankrolled local organizations across the nation to coordinate anti-transit canvassing campaigns. In Nashville, the campaign successfully flipped public opinion from 60 percent for a new transit plan to 60 percent against it. Essentially, with a lack of federal support under the Trump administration and increased attack from the opposition, American public transportation modernization is finding itself in another gridlock

The brawl over how to expand and maintain American public transit networks has led new construction projects into a transit death spiral. Meanwhile, Paris has been successful at taking the city off of the road by renovating subway stations and increasing coverage of subway networks to suburban region, and Shanghai’s successful experiment with magnetic levitation trains draws Chinese cities closer to each other than ever. Although changes in the US will not happen overnight, administrative and management problems can be resolved immediately to accelerate the product pipeline while an effort to thoroughly modernize the US transport system can allocate more resources to research, rezoning and battling against the financial-political complexes trying to trap Americans on the road.

Featured Image Source: Untapped Cities

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Building a transport system that works: Five insights from our 25-city report

Elements of success: Urban transportation systems of 25 global cities

A city’s transportation network is its cardiovascular system—a multifaceted structure that enables the continuous flow of people and goods through its arteries. Municipal authorities, city councils, urban planners, and transport-infrastructure owners and operators around the world are well aware that its quality and efficiency are crucial for the economy and for the well-being of citizens.

The research methodology

Our analysis of the performance and efficiency of transport systems uses a methodology similar to the one we used for our 2018 report , but we should not draw direct comparisons between the two. We tweaked our metrics and drew from different sources of information to derive this year’s results.

Instead of providing one general ranking for all the cities, we found it more useful to rank the cities according to specific indicators, such as public-transport efficiency and affordability (exhibit). We ranked the cities and grouped them into three categories: leading (first to tenth place), contending (11th through 18th), and emerging (19th through 25th). We assessed the transportation network of each city for availability, affordability, efficiency, convenience, and safety and sustainable development, with separate ratings for public and personal transport use.

Cities at the bottom of the ratings table need to improve the availability of their transport infrastructure and expand electronic services, which have already become part and parcel of living in most of the examined cities (highlighted chart areas marked “a”). These aspects should be a top-priority task for any city that is improving its transport system.

To rise from the middle to the top of the ratings table, cities need to improve their efficiency and safety and sustainable-development performance. These aspects differentiate the leading cities from all others (highlighted chart areas marked “b”).

The ratings table used 50 different metrics for comparison, including road and rail networks, ticketing, airport flight routes, bicycle lanes, public transport, electronic-service availability, and environmental safety. The geospatial data collected are supplemented by opinions gathered from interviews with more than 30 transport-system-development experts, plus survey responses from 10,000 residents across 25 cities to gauge current satisfaction with existing transport systems and any changes that have been implemented. We have presented the findings in a series of easy-to-digest graphics alongside summaries of the individual transportation projects and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in all 25 cities. The report covers Buenos Aires, Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, São Paulo, and Toronto in the Americas; Berlin, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Paris, and Saint Petersburg in Europe; Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, and Sydney in the Asia –Pacific (APAC) region, and Johannesburg in Africa.

To help stakeholders make informed decisions, we benchmarked the transport systems in 25 cities around the world in our latest report, Key elements of success in urban transportation systems (see sidebar “The research methodology”). We ranked the cities and grouped them into three categories: leading (first through tenth place), contending (11th through 18th), and emerging (19th through 25th).

All 25 cities have expanded projects to enhance their transport systems since 2018 (Exhibit 1). Leading cities invested more in improving the availability of their public-transport infrastructure, while emerging cities invested relatively less in safety and sustainability than in the other categories. As this article explains, such factors could have implications on residents’ willingness to use public transport.

While decision makers should delve into the full report for the complete rankings and details (see sidebar “Rankings at a glance: Top five cities by category”), this article distills the report’s findings into five key insights that stakeholders should pay attention to and highlights best-in-class practices in cities around the world.

Rankings at a glance: Top five cities by category

Here are the top-performing cities in each of the five categories:.

Availability—the variety of travel-mode options for residents

Affordability—the relative weight of costs associated with various transport modes

Efficiency—the speed and predictability of getting around the city

Johannesburg

Convenience—the ease of transferring from one mode of transport to another

Safe and sustainable development—the level of safety of city travel and the environmental impact of the transport system

1. Keeping service and safety standards high assuages pandemic-related fears of using public transport

COVID-19 lockdown restrictions clearly had an impact on lifestyles and commuting patterns in 2020. Many people stopped traveling to work completely. People who relied on private cars, as well as those who used public transport, actually increased their use of private cars, even as the overall number of trips dipped (Exhibit 2). And in some cities, staff shortages and declining revenue from lower passenger usage led to reductions in service frequencies to avoid fare increases.

If these trends persist postpandemic, they are likely to exacerbate traffic congestion, pollution, and the number of traffic accidents. As such, public-transport operators and authorities will need to find ways to restore confidence in shared modes of getting around and reduce reliance on private cars. Our research found that the safer people feel about using public transport, the more they’ll use it (Exhibit 3), which suggests that the visibility of pandemic-related safety measures has a significant influence on perceived risks.

In Chinese cities, there is a lower perceived risk of infection on public-transport systems, thanks to a mandatory mask mandate, physical-distancing mandate, regular disinfection, and other epidemiological safety measures that citizens visibly adhere to. These measures are stepped up as needed (for instance, when sporadic outbreaks occur), and commuters may have to present a green health code and have their temperatures taken before entering public-transport areas. As a result, Chinese cities also experienced higher-than-average levels of public-transport mobility during the pandemic.

2. Expanding transport networks and infrastructure, as well as smart policies, keep travel options available and affordable

The top-scoring cities in transport availability—London, Madrid, and Paris—share some common characteristics: they are major railway hubs and offer good road networks, bike lanes, and pedestrian infrastructure. Beijing, Madrid, and Moscow jumped up in the transport-availability rankings by expanding their metro and rail lines. These cities also improved their road infrastructure, increased the number of bicycle lanes and pedestrian streets, and invested heavily in shared-transport schemes such as rental-bike and ride-sharing services (Exhibit 4).

Madrid’s bike-share system consists of 3,000 bicycles and 250 rental stations, with 50 rental stations added in 2020 alone. Since our last urban-transport report, in 2018, Moscow added 3,000 two-wheelers to its bike-share program. It also opened new underground lines, resulting in 700,000 more people gaining access to the Moscow Metro, while Beijing opened three new underground lines over the past several years.

Public policies play a critical role in keeping transport affordable, whether it’s by regulating low bus and subway fares or by encouraging competition between legacy transport operators and ride-sharing companies. High rates of private-car ownership tend to constrict revenue flows for the public-transport system because fewer people use public transport. Thus, policies that discourage private-car ownership tend to prevent public-transport operators from either raising fares or reducing service standards.

The Asian cities of Seoul, Shenzhen, and Singapore, for example, top the rankings for public-transport affordability, and to offset the environmental and societal costs of personal car use, these cities actively make car ownership a more expensive choice.

Public-transport systems in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Shanghai are also becoming much more affordable because of government policies stimulating economic competition and technology. Cars registered outside Shanghai are barred from certain districts, and technologies for self-driving taxis are being piloted, which may lead to lower costs in the future. Commuters enjoy the benefit of lower fares, the result of competition among multiple ride-share providers. The widespread implementation of paid parking systems in Buenos Aires and Mexico City is making private-car ownership more expensive. With more people turning to public transport or ride-sharing over private cars to avoid incurring parking costs, there are fewer vehicles on the road, which eases traffic congestion.

3. Dedicated public-transport lanes and digitalization can make the commuter experience more efficient and convenient

Efficiency refers to how quickly and predictably one can move around the city, while convenience measures how easily commuters can switch from one mode of transport to another. Increasing the number of dedicated public-transport lanes, optimizing bus routes, completing road construction or modernization projects, and implementing digital upgrades all help improve the commuter experience.

Moscow, Shenzhen, and Singapore all scored high on transport efficiency. The Russian capital’s transport system has low underground waiting times, high speeds during rush hour, and a significantly above-average proportion of dedicated bus lanes. Shenzhen, too, has a high share of dedicated bus lanes, which helps with rush-hour predictability. Singapore’s electronic road-pricing system is powered by a digital device that automatically charges the driver the road toll when the car passes through a gantry, enabling frictionless road travel for both private and public vehicles, even during peak times.

Our convenience index assesses the ease of switching from one transport mode to another. High performers have invested in upgrading their ticketing systems, increasing internet access, and increasing the number of wheelchair-accessible buses and underground stations. Some offer convenient mobility-as-a-service applications (MaaS) to plan routes and to verify and pay fines and penalties.

Toronto delivers high levels of travel comfort, courtesy of a $934 million upgrade of its bus fleet, which is now 100 percent wheelchair friendly and located closer to subway stations. Hong Kong has also revamped its public-transport system. Ninety out of 93 metro stations have been outfitted with elevators and wheelchair ramps, making it easier and quicker for wheelchair-bound passengers to board and disembark. Meanwhile, Istanbul has risen in the convenience rankings with a significantly improved ticketing system using QR-code payments. The city has also introduced the Ulasim Asistani app, which helps travelers plan journeys across multiple forms of transport, leading to a considerable improvement in satisfaction ratings among its citizens.

4. Sustainability matters—in both investment and policy

Both commuter safety and the environment cannot be neglected in a city’s efforts to improve its transport system. In both our 2018 and 2021 surveys, respondents cited safety as their number-one priority, so it’s imperative that city planners and authorities constantly look to minimize accidents and fatalities while reducing the city’s carbon footprint. As mentioned earlier, leading cities tend to invest more in sustainable mobility options than contending and emerging cities do, which has resulted in greater use of their public-transport systems (Exhibit 5).

Initiatives to ensure compliance with safety requirements matter, as do the implementation of more stringent restrictions on the use of petrol and diesel engines, measures to reduce pollution, and incentives to switch to electric vehicles.

Tokyo boasts one of the world’s lowest road-fatality levels—9.6 deaths per 1 million people. Over the past several years, the government has deployed the data-driven smart-transport system to monitor and analyze information on people’s commuting patterns and traffic violations to inform decision making. As a result, road fatalities have decreased and more people are complying with traffic rules. The government is also using new toll-management technology to decrease vehicle traffic and improve road safety.

In China, Beijing and Shanghai are aggressively curbing the negative environmental impact of their transport systems. Both cities mandated in 2021 that only vehicles that adhere to the China 6 emissions standards (roughly equivalent to the Euro 6 standard in the European Union) can be sold.

5. In some cases, better communication is needed to bridge gaps between perception and reality

We tracked how satisfied residents were with how their transport system is doing according to specific metrics and based on changes implemented since 2018. Residents appear to appreciate the hard work urban authorities have put into transport projects, but in a few cases, their perceptions may not be aligned with reality. For instance, most citizens feel that public transport is too expensive in their cities (Exhibit 6). So even though Seoul, for example, stands out as a leader in public-transport affordability based on objective metrics, its citizens remain dissatisfied.

This suggests that authorities need to keep the residents informed of all positive changes and continue their efforts to improve public perceptions. It is highly likely that additional restrictions on personal motor vehicles will be introduced in the coming years and that environmental regulations will become more stringent. To improve the public perception of such efforts, city authorities must not only score tangible successes but also clearly articulate them.

Our full progress report benchmarking the transport systems in 25 cities around the world investigates the five themes outlined in this article in greater depth, and includes other findings that are relevant to key stakeholders. Overall, while there’s reason to celebrate the many improvements in the majority of our metrics in cities around the world, there’s still much work to be done. Making informed decisions about the further development of city transport systems will help.

Dmitry Chechulin is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Moscow office, where Vadim Pokotilo is a partner. Detlev Mohr is a senior partner in the Tokyo office, and Lola Woetzel is a senior partner in the Shanghai office.

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Elements of success: Urban transportation systems of 24 global cities

Public Transportation

By John Hepp | Reader-Nominated Topic

For more than three centuries public transportation has helped both to shape and define the Greater Philadelphia region. Befitting one of the world’s largest cities, Philadelphia and its hinterland have been served by a bewildering array of transportation options, and these vehicles and routes have helped to define the extent of the region.

Public transportation – consisting of vehicles that operate on fixed routes used by the public – began in the region in 1688 with a ferry between Philadelphia and what is now Camden, New Jersey. This early line, though not a success, spawned additional ferry service and quickly established a Philadelphia hinterland in New Jersey. It was an early example of land outside Pennsylvania being tied economically and culturally to the city and established a precedent for southern New Jersey to develop in association with Philadelphia.

It would be more than one hundred years before local public transportation extended beyond ferries, but during the early nineteenth century an explosion of options developed as the city sought to expand both physically within the region and economically across the region and nation. In December 1831, Philadelphia ceased to be a walking city for those who could afford the fares of the new omnibus service in the city and its immediate suburbs in the county. The next year saw the introduction of commuter trains on the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Rail Road, which allowed the middle classes and above to separate home from work not just within the city but also in portions of Philadelphia County like East Falls, Germantown, and Chestnut Hill, and in neighboring Montgomery County.

Not long after Philadelphia’s political consolidation in 1854 , the streetcar, a technological change in public transportation, became the vehicle that allowed the city’s grid to expand throughout the once rural county. On January 20, 1858, the first streetcars in the region began to be operated by the Frankford and Southwark Philadelphia City Passenger Railway Company. These horse-drawn streetcars quickly replaced omnibuses as the streetcars were larger, quicker, and more profitable. Soon the streetcars extended throughout the region to areas previously poorly served by public transportation. Coupled with an expansion in commuter rail service, Philadelphia could justly claim one of the finest transportation systems in country by the time of the nation’s Centennial Exhibition in 1876.

Network of Streetcars and Trains

By the 1880s, middle-class Philadelphians had a more-than-adequate system of horse-drawn streetcars and steam-hauled commuter trains to serve their transportation needs in both the booming metropolis and its expanding hinterland in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The lines of privately-owned streetcar companies occupied every major (and many minor) streets in Center City and extended southward, westward, and northward from the original urban core along the Delaware River into the adjoining neighborhoods. In addition to these routes centered on the business district, a large number of local lines operated in the other densely populated portions of the city like West Philadelphia.

Commuter trains served not only the city but also the larger region. The 1870s and 1880s were a period of transition for the railroads; some lines had quite intensive service while others still had surprisingly few trains. Overall, however, the steam trains were not used by many middle-class Philadelphians for their daily commute in 1880 simply because all of the downtown termini were a long walk or streetcar ride from the business district. By 1893, all three rail systems serving the city relocated their main facilities to Center City, and the daily commute by steam train became more viable for those who could afford the fares. The electric trolley, introduced in the mid-1890s after a brief and unsuccessful flirtation with cable cars, quickly became the typical mode of middle-class transport and eventually served as a symbol of the late-nineteenth century. In just five years, from 1892 to 1897, trolleys replaced all the horse-drawn streetcars and cable cars in the city.

In addition to a reasonably well-to-do ridership, all forms of public transportation in the region had comparatively low entry costs and only moderate regulation, and, through the 1860s, this meant that most providers were small, specialized organizations with just one or a few routes. Railroad and streetcar companies tended to go where their names claimed and not elsewhere. For example, a potential passenger knew the ultimate destination of a West Chester & Philadelphia train. Following the Civil War, however, a period of intense competition between long-distance railroads (such as Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Railroad) brought about consolidation in the railway industry nationally in the 1870s and 1880s. Technological changes, such as cable cars and electric trolleys at approximately the same time, encouraged similar mergers in the streetcar industry. The result was a dramatic transformation from a competitive environment in the 1860s of many small companies to a monopoly streetcar company in the city, known by 1902 as the Philadelphia Rapid Transit (PRT) , and only two railroad systems – the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia & Reading. Combined, by 1900 these two companies provided virtually all passenger rail services for a region that stretched from the Jersey Shore to Harrisburg.

A combination of events in the 1890s began the shift from nineteenth-century public transportation, serving primarily the middle classes and above, to twentieth-century mass transportation aimed at moving as many people as possible. Some of the changes were largely technological: the development of subways and elevated railways and electric streetcars allowed for lower fares. Coupled with these technological changes often were political changes. New franchise agreements allowed for increased government regulation at a time when both politicians and civic boosters envisioned a New Philadelphia in which working-class Philadelphians could live at greater distances from their work. Other changes were economic with political ramifications. Although the organizers of the new monopoly traction company in Philadelphia became quite wealthy, service deteriorated and strikes increased, creating a political consensus that more government planning and regulation was needed in public transportation. The most important change, however, was that rising working-class wages, together with falling or static fares, allowed more people to ride the trolleys and subways more often for work, shopping, and pleasure.

Market Street Subway-Elevated

Technological change continued in the early twentieth century. The Market Street Subway-Elevated opened between 1905 and 1908, offering the city its first rapid transit line which, when coupled with suburban trolleys, gave the region its first affordable high-speed system. Because of the financial weakness of the private company that instituted the line, the city took the lead in subway-elevated development over the next few decades, extending the original line to Frankford in 1922 and opening the Broad Street Subway in sections between 1928 and 1932. Although the trolleys and the subway-elevated caused the commuter railroads to lose some riders, the two major companies embarked on an electrification program of their own and between 1906 and 1933 modernized major portions of their commuter rail network.

Another late-nineteenth-century invention, the internal combustion engine, had the greatest effect on public transportation in the region in the twentieth century. By the 1910s, motorized buses began to operate on the streets of the Philadelphia area. The PRT and other transit companies on both sides of the Delaware River initially used buses to supplement trolley routes but by the 1920s, began use buses to replace streetcars. Buses offered transit companies two advantages. First was more operating flexibility, as a bus could detour around an obstacle that would delay a trolley. The other was lower capital costs as buses operated on public highways while trolleys needed privately maintained rails.

In addition to the buses operated by the established, regulated transit companies, a new form of public transportation came to the region: the jitney. Jitneys were unregulated buses operated by private individuals, usually in competition with existing transit companies. The jitneys usually charged lower fares but often only operated during peak hours and on peak routes when they could be assured of heavy ridership. Although jitneys could be found throughout the metropolis, they were extremely popular in New Jersey, perhaps because that state had a particularly good public highway system.

Despite the advent of the automobile, for the first third of the twentieth century most residential development still followed the railroad and trolley lines. Even for the Philadelphians who could afford an automobile, the car remained more of a toy for weekend exploration than a family’s primary means of transport until midcentury.

Depression Hurts Public Transit

The Great Depression had many negative effects on the public transportation of the region. Both railroad systems cut back on their commuter services, and their lines in southern New Jersey to the shore – once fiercely competitive – were merged to create the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. Many small suburban trolley lines were abandoned, and other larger systems converted the electric streetcars to buses. In Philadelphia, the PRT declared bankruptcy and emerged in 1940 as the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC). The city’s ambitious rapid transit construction program slowed and then stopped.

Although public transportation ridership rose greatly during World War II , this increase was temporary. At the end of the war, automobile ownership increased and middle-class families left the older sections of the city for the car-friendly Great Northeast and suburbs. By the 1950s, the PTC was owned by National City Lines, a bus-friendly company that continued abandoning streetcar lines, and both the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads were cutting commuter service in response to growing losses.

In reaction to these declines in service, local and state governments became increasingly involved in public transportation starting in the late 1950s. In 1960, the City of Philadelphia began subsidizing service and purchasing equipment for use on commuter rail lines in the city to Chestnut Hill and Manayunk. The South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) began to coordinate and fund all public transportation in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs in 1965. SEPTA bought new equipment and built the Center City Commuter Connection in 1984 to link the former Pennsylvania and Reading systems. Similar changes happened in New Jersey, where the state initially funded train and bus services and later took over their operation. Perhaps the region’s most significant change at this time was the construction of the Lindenwold High Speed Line in New Jersey by the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA). This line opened in 1969 and featured air-conditioned and computer-operated trains. More recently, New Jersey Transit opened the River Line between Trenton and Camden in 2004 and ridership has been well ahead of estimates.

Hubs and Spokes

photograph showing construction of the Market Frankford Elevated Subway

By the first decades of the twenty-first century, public transportation in the Greater Philadelphia region centered on a few hubs (Trenton and Camden in New Jersey; Wilmington in Delaware; Chester, Norristown and Upper Darby in Pennsylvania; and Center City for the region) with spokes extending throughout the city, suburbs, exurban towns, and countryside. Along these spokes rows of working- and middle-class homes attested to public transportation’s role in shaping the region, and retail and commercial districts remained around lesser transit hubs like Frankford and Upper Darby. Because of its extensive public transportation system, Philadelphia had a lower than average car ownership rate for an American city. “Reverse commuting,” boarding a train or bus in the city to a job in the suburbs, also became increasingly common and new transportation hubs, like Plymouth Meeting and King of Prussia, continued to develop.

Public transportation faces a wide range of challenges from uncertain funding to the need to serve jobs in the suburbs with new hubs and routes. The four major public transportation providers in the region — SEPTA, DRPA, New Jersey Transit and DART First State —will have to adapt to these changes as the region’s transportation needs continue to evolve, as did their predecessors for more than three hundred years.

John Hepp is associate professor of history and co-chair of the Division of Global History and Languages at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and he teaches American urban and cultural history with an emphasis on the period 1800 to 1940. (Author information current at time of publication.)

Cooper's Ferry

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The first public transportation in the region was a ferry from Philadelphia to what is now Camden in 1688. This early line, though not a success, spawned additional ferry service and quickly established an early Philadelphia hinterland in New Jersey. This 1875 print purports to show Cooper's Ferry in the late-eighteenth century. Cooper's Ferry also helped to establish an early transportation link between Philadelphia, all of New Jersey, and New York.

Railroad Suburbs

Library Company of Philadelphia

This image from 1832 shows a steam engine pulling railroad cars that resemble horse-drawn buggies at the Philadelphia Germantown & Norristown depot at Ninth and Green Streets. Starting in the eighteenth century, wealthy Philadelphians moved to the small borough of Germantown and built grand country estates to escape the crowded city. This influx of wealthy residents to the outskirts of town necessitated a reliable, efficient means of travel to and from the city. As a result, in the early 1830s a group of Germantown entrepreneurs set out to create the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Rail Road. The first trains arrived in Germantown in 1832, and the community soon developed into the first railroad suburb of Philadelphia, and one of the first in the nation.

Green Street Depot

The year 1832 saw the introduction of commuter trains on the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Rail Road, which allowed the middle classes and above to separate home from work not just within the city but also portions of Philadelphia County such as East Falls, Germantown, and Chestnut Hill and neighboring Montgomery County. Increased commuter trains over the next few decades helped to enable the political consolidation of the city and county in 1854 because most of the population centers were linked reliably with the originalurban core. This early-twentieth-century print by Frank H. Taylor depicts the Green Street depot of the line in 1876 and shows a steam engine to the left of the station.

Horse-Drawn Streetcar

The horse-drawn streetcar, introduced in 1858, moved along a set of tracks, which improved upon the early omnibus by providing a smoother ride with faster travel speeds for the customers, regardless of the conditions of the road. Faster travel meant that middle-class workers could move into new residential areas, such as to the north of Center City or to West Philadelphia (east of Fortieth Street). Streetcar fares were lower than the omnibus, but still too expensive for members of the working-classes to use on daily basis. Horse-drawn streetcars operated in Philadelphia until around 1897, when electric trolley cars became a more reliable and less expensive alternative. The streetcar shown here at Sixth and Jackson Street in 1894 demonstrates how streetcars typically operated with two horses, a driver, and a conductor.

Waiting for the Train, 1892

Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress

Commuters at Jenkintown in suburban Montgomery County along the Reading railroad await the train arriving in the distance. The final decades of the nineteenth century were the halcyon days of commuter rail service in the region with a large variety of lines linking the city to its hinterland. In addition to the lines focused on Center City and Camden, during this period there were smaller commuter nodes in North and Northeast Philadelphia.

Reading Terminal, 1893

Library of Congress

Reading Terminal opened in 1893 and represented the Reading’s desire to challenge its larger cross-town rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad. The headhouse was designed by architect Francis H. Kimball (known for early skyscrapers in Manhattan and his use of terra-cotta) and the train shed by Wilson Brothers & Company. It was one of the new termini located in Center City that encouraged commuter rail ridership.

The Market Street Subway-Elevated opened between 1905 and 1908 and offered the city its first rapid transit line and, when coupled with suburban trolleys, created an affordable high-speed system. Over the next few decades, the city extended the original line to Frankford in 1922 and opened the Broad Street Subway in sections between 1928 and 1932. This photograph from 1916 shows construction of the Market Frankford Elevated Subway on 189 Front Street in Philadelphia.

Subway Station Entrance - West Olney Avenue

PhillyHistory.org

One of the benefits of adding a mass transit system within the city of Philadelphia was the lower cost of transportation for the public and the ease of which to access the system. The subway entrance photographed in 1936 is located at the corner of West Olney Avenue and North Broad Street, over six miles away from Philadelphia's City Hall. By utilizing this subway station, a person was only twenty minutes away from accessing the center of Philadelphia. This ease of travel and the lower cost of everyday travel provided more incentive for people to move out to the suburbs and away from the center city district. Subways also provided additional incentive for people to travel to larger department stores in Philadelphia. Smaller businesses, like the Franklin's Shoe Repair and the drug store in this photograph, situated themselves by subway entrances because of the volume of people that traveled the subway every day.

PATCO High Speedline - City Hall Station

Photograph for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia by Kristen M. Rigaut

The Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) condensed two underutilized lines, the Locust Street Line in Philadelphia and the Camden Line in New Jersey, together and began operation in 1969 after an extension to the Camden Line to Lindenwold was completed. PATCO brought new technological innovations, like air-conditioned and computer-operated train cars, to the Philadelphia subway system for the first time. The PATCO train seen in this picture runs from 16th and Locust streets in Philadelphia, crosses the Delaware River on the Ben Franklin Bridge, goes under Camden, and ends in Lindenwold, New Jersey.

Time Periods

Twenty-First Century
Twentieth Century after 1945
Twentieth Century to 1945
Nineteenth Century after 1854
Nineteenth Century to 1854
Colonial Era
Center City Philadelphia
Market Street
Red Arrow Lines
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
General Strike of 1910
Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) Strike
Commuter Trains

Related Collections

Samuel Castner Collection, John Gibb Smith Jr. Collection, and Map Collection Free Library of Philadelphia 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia.
Local History Room Haddonfield Public Library 60 N. Haddon Avenue, Haddonfield, New Jersey.
Pennsylvania Railroad Collection, Reading Railroad Collection, and John F. Tucker Transit Collection Hagley Museum and Library 200 Hagley Creek Road, Wilmington, Delaware.
Harold E. Cox Transportation Collection (Collection 3158) and other transit holdings Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia.
Penn Central Railroad Collection Pennsylvania State Archives, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 350 North Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Penn Central Railroad Collection and other transit holdings Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 300 Gap Road (Route 741), Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Related Places

Sixty-Ninth Street Transportation Center (Media and Sharon Hill Lines), Sixty-Ninth and Market Streets, Philadelphia.

Market East Station and Reading Terminal Train Shed ( Pennsylvania Convention Center ), Eleventh and Market Streets, Philadelphia.

Norristown Transportation Center , 93 Schuylkill Avenue and DeKalb Street, Norristown, Pa.

The River Line , Camden to Trenton, N.J.

Backgrounders

Connecting Headlines with History

SEPTA taps hard-won $2.4B transportation funding for first project (WHYY, January 24, 2014)
SEPTA running weekend service this summer on El, Broad Street Line (WHYY, June 3, 2014)
Broad Street subway service for night owls begins (WHYY, June 13, 2014)
No deal: SEPTA Regional Rail workers announce strike (WHYY, June 14, 2014)
Obama intervenes in SEPTA strike: Service restored by Sunday morning (WHYY, June 14, 2014)
Drivers, bikers in Philly have the edge on public transit passengers, pedestrians (WHYY, July 11, 2014)
Students left on corner as Philly district reduces busing service (WHYY, August 18, 2014)
Turns out a SEPTA predecessor used double-decker buses (WHYY, August 24, 2015)
Jarrett Walker's philosophy of public transit as means to freedom (WHYY, December 7, 2016)
SEPTA pulls 40 Market Frankford railcars after cracks discovered (WHYY, February 5, 2017)
SEPTA transit fares to go up starting July 1st (WHYY, March 17, 2017)
Advertisement, Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown (Hagley Digital Images)
All Aboard for Philadelphia! (Historical Society of Pennsylvania)
The Rise and Fall of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Fondly, Pennsylvania)
Chrostwait's Pennsylvania Municipal Law Reporter, Philadelphia Jitney Association, et al. v. Blankenburg, et al. (Google Books)

Connecting the Past with the Present, Building Community, Creating a Legacy

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Published: 24 April 2024

Advanced transport systems: the future is sustainable and technology-enabled

Yue Cao 1 ,
Sybil Derrible 2 ,
Michela Le Pira 3 &
Haiping Du 4

Scientific Reports volume 14 , Article number: 9429 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Transport has always played a major role in shaping society. By enabling or restricting the movement of people and goods, the presence or absence of transport services and infrastructure has historically been determining for cultures to connect, for knowledge to be shared, and for societies to evolve and prosper, or, in contrast, for societies to decay and fail. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, transport has been going through a revolution worldwide. One of the primary goals for the transport sector is clear: it needs to be decarbonized and become more sustainable. At the same time, technological advances are shaping the transport sector toward smart services and societies. The Special Collection showcases some of the latest advances in research towards sustainable and technology-enabled transport.

Introduction

The transport sector is fundamental to promoting human development and economic growth. Yet, it is also one of the most impacting and energy-consuming sectors, accounting for a quarter of global energy-related CO 2 emissions 1 . This is largely because oil products still made up more than 90% of the energy used in transport by 2022 2 , 3 . The transport sector is also responsible for many other externalities, from social exclusion to crashes, and it is one of the most cost-intensive sectors in terms of public administration 4 .

Right now, the urgency to decarbonize and make transport more sustainable is clear. This is apparent from the articles published in the Special Collection. On purpose, we (the editors) had kept the call for the Special Collection broad by naming it “Advanced Transportation Systems”, but many submissions directly address the need for the transport sector to reduce its carbon footprint, whether by tackling traffic congestion, by making way for electric vehicles, or by promoting alternative travel modes. The first theme that emerged from the Special Collection is therefore sustainability.

The second theme that emerged from the collection is technology. Most submissions either study a technology or use advanced data science techniques to answer their research questions. This emphasis on technology was expected. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ubiquitous sensing and computing have pervaded virtually every domain, including transport, towards Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). From technology-enabled crowdsourced transit service to autonomous vehicles and freight delivery, the collection sees much promise in technology.

This editorial synthesizes the key topics and findings of the Special Collection “Advanced Transportation Systems” along the two themes found, and it lays the path for future research in transport.

Advances toward technology-enabled transport

The application of AI in transport has been growing significantly. As of this writing, typical use cases include autonomous vehicles, drones delivering packages, and sophisticated systems managing complex logistics delivery networks 1 . One report 5 projected that global AI in the transport market reached $3.5 billion by 2023, an impressive growth rate of 16.5%.

For example, as a fundamental component of autonomous driving systems, environmental perception 6 enables vehicles to comprehend their surroundings and make intelligent decisions based on this perception. Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) make wise decisions about speed, direction, and safety by recognizing pedestrians, other vehicles, and traffic signs. This capability is crucial for ensuring safe and efficient road navigation 7 . As another killer application, the usage of drones rapidly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, the Alphabet-owned drone delivery company Wing saw demand for its services double, thanks to the drones bringing contactless ways to access consumer goods 8 .

Digital-twin, federated learning, reinforcement learning, and machine learning have been widely applied in the literature and in this Special Collection, ranging from passenger demand forecasting and the prediction of electricity consumption using traffic volume data 9 to the optimization of traffic signal controls and the evaluation of the pedestrian level of service 10 , 11 , 12 . The debate around the potential of big data analytics is lively, and how/if they will replace traditional transport modelling techniques 13 .

ITS is a holistic system employed in transport management, including information, communication, sensing, electronic control, AI, and computer technologies. ITS provides comprehensive, real-time, accurate, efficient transport and management capabilities to service citizens and operate the city efficiently, such as traffic control, disaster management, and driver monitoring. With the help of ICT and the continuous development of ITS, smart parking has also been upgraded. Compared with traditional parking, smart parking alleviates users from finding available parking spots by notifying users of available spots in advance. Emerging ICT has been integrated with smart parking services, such as using RFID or magnetic sensors to monitor the utilization of parking space, or developing middleware for urban level parking management 14 .

Advances toward sustainable transport

Decarbonization of the transport sector is an important pathway to climate-change mitigation and presents the potential for future lower emissions. Electric vehicles (EVs) are regarded as a promising solution to achieve intelligent and green transport. With energy cost decreasing and user experience improving continuously, EVs are gaining significant market share. Considering the numerous advantages of EVs, many governments and large organizations are actively engaged in the process of promoting EV industry development 15 . Driven by these factors, over 6.8 million EVs were sold worldwide in 2021, despite supply chain bottlenecks and the then ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the analysis from Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, the number of EVs will reach over 300 million in 2030 and 60% of new car sales will be EVs.

Along with this, there has been substantial research on decarbonization of transport system, such as the work in 16 , 17 , 18 on reduction of vehicle emission, investigating the relationship between electricity consumed at building with travel demand and assessing the impact of on-demand public transit systems considering EVs. Of course, due to the existing drive-by-wire design and in-vehicle system, EVs have more advantages on autonomous technology implementation. Therefore, the application of autonomous EVs is progressively supplanting traditional ICE-based AVs.

Among transport externalities, safety represents one of the big concerns of modern societies. According to the statistic from World Health Organization (WHO) 19 , road traffic crashes result in the deaths of approximately 1.19 million people around the world each year and leave between 20 and 50 million people with non-fatal injuries. More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. This stems from multiple factors, including scarce road maintenance, pointing to the need to plan an ad-hoc planning and scheduling of interventions minimizing road congestion and discomfort 20 . Here, enabling an advanced transportation system is able to alleviate the number and severity of traffic crashes through emerging technologies such as traffic control and traffic operations, crash data collection and analyses, safety information and communication systems and safety policy and planning 12 . Yet, identifying and defining appropriate techniques to study safety remains challenging 21 .

The future of transport research

In the near future, we can see that the two themes present in the Special Collection (i.e.., sustainability and technology) will remain predominant. The threats of climate change are ever present, and they are not expected to lessen. Research efforts will likely continue to study how the transport sector can be decarbonized, notably leveraging technology. EVs and alternative low-carbon transport modes offer some of the best solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the transport sector 22 . We therefore expect many more research studies to come out that will study the impact of electrifying vehicles both on the transport and the electricity sectors. Besides, due the increasing concerning on cyber-attacks on road infrastructures and automobile, resilience in transport remains a critical topic as well, both on the physical asset such as road resilience as well as cyber-resilience which will likely get more attention as connected and autonomous vehicles become more popular.

Finally, issues related to inequity and social and environmental justice in transport will likely get more attention as they have in other domains. Sustainability issues can be tackled by leveraging on new flexible transport services, which are undoubtedly enabled by technology. The idea to have integrated and multimodal transport systems, accessible by users on-demand and according to their heterogeneous preferences is something that has driven research—more at a theoretical level than a practical one—toward the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Despite many uncertainties, considering the role that transport plays in society, what is certain is that much more research is needed, making transport research a rich, multidisciplinary and constantly evolving field.

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Sybil Derrible

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Michela Le Pira

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Y.C. leads the draft of the editorial. D.S. contirbutes to editorial writing and revision. M.L.P. contributes to editorial writing and revision. H.D. contributes to editorial writing and revision.

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Cao, Y., Derrible, S., Le Pira, M. et al. Advanced transport systems: the future is sustainable and technology-enabled. Sci Rep 14 , 9429 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59438-0

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Critical Issues in Transportation 2019

Policy snapshot.

INTRODUCTION

Driverless cars maneuvering through city streets. Commercial drones airlifting packages. Computer-captained ships navigating the high seas. Revolutionary changes in technology are taking us to the threshold of a bold and unprecedented era in transportation.

These technologies promise improvements in mobility, safety, efficiency, and convenience, but do not guarantee them. Will the technological revolution reduce congestion, fuel use, and pollution or make them worse by encouraging more personal trips and more frequent freight shipments?

The transportation sector also faces other unprecedented challenges. It needs to (1) sharply curb greenhouse gas emissions to slow the rate of climate change and (2) respond to more climate-related extreme weather. It must serve a growing population and cope with worsening highway congestion. It needs to maintain and upgrade a massive system of roads, bridges, ports, waterways, airports, and public transit and determine how to pay for those improvements. The transportation sector also needs to adapt to shifts in trade, energy, and funding sources that affect all modes of transportation. How will these challenges affect the transportation systems on which consumers and the economy depend?

The answers to these and other questions are critically important. Transportation plays a central role in society and the economy but is frequently taken for granted. Reflect, though, on how much you depend on reliable and affordable transportation to access work, friends and family, recreation, shopping, and worship. Then visualize the transportation networks needed for the daily movement of hundreds of millions of vehicles, ships, planes, and trains to satisfy both personal needs and commercial demands. These networks are enormous and complex. The transportation systems the economy and lifestyles rely on may be challenged dramatically in the coming decades in ways that cannot always be anticipated.

A national conversation among policy makers and citizens about how the country should respond to these challenges is urgently needed. Stakeholders need to debate, discuss, and analyze how transportation can evolve to meet growing and evolving needs and adapt to changes in society, technology, the environment, and public policy.

To spur that conversation, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) identified and organized an array of important issues under 12 key topics. In each of these areas, TRB posed a series of crucial questions to help guide thinking, debate, and discovery during the next 5 to 10 years. These 12 topics are neither comprehensive nor mutually exclusive, and no one can know how the future will unfold. But TRB thinks that asking the right questions, even if they cannot be fully answered, helps to motivate the analysis, discussion, and debate required to prepare for the potentially unprecedented changes ahead. This document is an abbreviated version of a more thorough discussion of the critical issues in transportation. It can be accessed at https://www.nap.edu/download/25314 .

Transformational Technologies and Services: Steering the Technology Revolution

All around the globe, companies are testing automated cars, trucks, ships, and aircraft. Pilot vehicles are already in operation. Some products are almost certain to enter the marketplace in the next few years. Driverless vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence may revolutionize transportation. Perhaps even sooner, vehicles connected to one another with advanced high-speed communication technologies may greatly reduce crashes How will vehicle automation—along with connected vehicles and shared ride, car, bike, and scooter services—transform society? These revolutionary technologies and services can potentially speed deliveries, prevent crashes, and ease traffic congestion and pollution. But they could also cause more congestion and more pollution and exacerbate sprawl and inequity. How do we determine and guide, as necessary, the direction of these changes? How the future unfolds depends on which technologies and services consumers and businesses embrace and how policy makers respond. While we do not know what the future will bring, the changes could be momentous. For example, if we encourage people to pool rides in driverless electric cars, we could see the service, cost, and environment improve. What policies would best reduce traffic congestion and emissions and improve accessibility for the disabled, elderly, and economically disadvantaged? How do we benefit most from the advent of connected and automated vehicles and potentially transformative transportation services?.

Serving a Growing and Shifting Population

The U.S. population is expected to grow about 1 percent annually, with highway use increasing similarly. But this growth will not be spread evenly across the country. Urban areas are growing more quickly, particularly clusters of metro areas known as “megaregions,” while many rural areas decline. At the same time, low-density residential development on the edges of urban areas continues to grow the fastest, which increases traffic and escalates emissions. Although many Millennials are settling in urban centers, more are locating on the edges of cities where Baby Boomers also prefer to live. How do we adjust to and guide travel demand so we are not overwhelmed with more roads, traffic, and emissions as a result of these geographic preferences? Megaregions in the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West have emerged as economic engines for the economy, but they also have the worst traffic congestion. And their traffic volumes continue to grow faster than new transportation facilities can be built. What are the best policies and modes for improving travel within each megaregion? How do we ensure that megaregions are well connected to the rest of the nation and the world? How can rural populations be ensured adequate access to jobs and services? How is that access changing? Which policies are needed to provide adequate rural access?

Energy and Sustainability: Protecting the Planet

The Earth’s changing climate poses one of the most important threats humanity has ever faced. To avoid catastrophic changes, all sectors of the economy need to make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicles, planes, ships, and other forms of transport emit more greenhouse gases than any other sector of the economy in the United States. And that share is growing because other sectors of the economy are reducing their emissions faster than transportation. Personal vehicles could rely on electrification using batteries or hydrogen as one way to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Planes, ships, and trucks pose major obstacles to this objective because of their dependence on fossil fuels that pack more power than alternatives. What are the most effective and cost-effective ways of achieving the drastic reductions needed in fossil fuel consumption? What are the appropriate roles for the public and private sectors in hastening this transition? How can the shift to electric vehicles be accomplished without overwhelming the power grid? Sustainability requires that there be long-term consideration of the implications of decisions and policies on social, economic, and environmental systems. Examples include making decisions based on life-cycle cost considerations and the long-term vitality of communities and key natural environmental systems. How can consideration of long-term sustainability goals be better incorporated into public policy debates and decisions about transportation?

Resilience and Security: Preparing for Threats

Recent floods, storms, fires, and hurricanes have disrupted the lives of millions and caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Extreme weather events are exacerbated by climate change, and scientists predict things will get worse. Extreme weather and other natural disasters pose huge and costly threats to the transportation infrastructure. Public officials face the challenge of making vulnerable highways, bridges, railroads, transit stations, waterways, airports, and ports more resilient to climate change and other threats. What policies and strategies would help them meet this challenge? How do we set priorities, cope with disruptions, and pay for these adaptations? Terrorists often choose transportation facilities as their targets. Airports and airlines have increased security to guard against terrorism, but other modes of transport— buses, trains, and ships—are more vulnerable. How do we protect these forms of transport without unduly slowing the movement of people and goods? We also need to address the risks of new technologies. Drones, for example, can be used by terrorists or drug smugglers. Automated vehicles and aircraft are vulnerable to hackers. And all types of transport depend on Global Positioning Systems (GPSs), for which there is no back-up system. How do we make technological advances more secure and resilient?

Safety and Public Health: Safeguarding the Public

We depend on motorized transportation, but we pay a price with our health with deaths, injuries, and diseases. Routine highway travel is the source of the vast majority of transportrelated deaths and a significant portion of transport-related pollution in the United States. Even though there have been improvements in vehicles and facilities, most crashes are preventable. How do we muster the political will to adopt the most effective measures to reduce casualties and diseases caused by transportation? How do we encourage the use of the safest vehicle and road designs, reduce alcohol- and drug-impaired driving, and manage operator fatigue? Also, how do we curb driver distractions, especially in semi-automated vehicles that do not require full attention except in emergencies when multitasking drivers may be unprepared to respond? Marijuana legalization and opioid addiction may lead to more people driving while impaired. In addition, pedestrian and cyclist deaths are increasing. What can we do to address these problems? What successes from other countries can be applied? Air pollution comes from many sources, but some transport emissions, such as the particulates from burning diesel fuel, are especially harmful to people. People living near roads, ports, distribution centers, railyards, and airports—often the marginalized and the poor—are exposed to more of these types of vehicle emissions. How do we best address these problems?

Equity: Serving the Disadvantaged

The United States is prosperous, but not uniformly. More than 40 million Americans live in poverty. Outside central cities, an automobile is essential for access to jobs and a piece of the American dream, but about 20 percent of households with incomes below $25,000 lack a car. In addition, nearly 40 million Americans have some form of disability, of whom more than 16 million are working age. And the population is aging: the number of people older than 65 will increase by 50 percent from 49 million now to 73 million by 2030. Access to jobs, health care, and other services can be expanded through transportation policies and programs and technology, but these approaches need to be affordable and effective. This is a particular challenge in sparsely populated areas. How do we help disadvantaged Americans get affordable access to work, health care, and other services and to family and friends? What policies would ensure that new technologies and services do not create new barriers to the disadvantaged or to rural residents? Also, as we expand transportation networks, how do we ensure that we are not harming low-income and minority neighborhoods?

Governance: Managing Our Systems

A complex web of institutions manages America’s transportation services. Many levels of government, from local to national, play important roles. Some functions, such as public transit, airports, and ports, are managed by thousands of special authorities across the country. This spider web of governance frequently limits efficiency. For example, urban transport networks often span jurisdictional boundaries, creating disagreement about which agency is responsible for which aspects of planning, funding, and management. Separate funding streams for specific transportation modes impede efforts to provide travelers with multi-modal options. How do we address these challenges, particularly as urban areas grow into megaregions? The federal government is responsible for interstate waterways and airspaces and for interstate commerce. However, federal leadership and funding for transportation supporting interstate commerce are waning, forcing state and local governments to take on a larger role. How do we ensure that there are efficient networks for interstate travel and international trade as the federal role declines? New private transportation services efficiently generate enormous data sets about trips. Such data can be helpful to agencies trying to manage system performance. Connected and automated vehicles will add even more information. How can public agencies gain access to these data streams to improve traffic flow while protecting privacy and proprietary information?

System Performance and Management: Improving the Performance of Transportation Networks

Highway congestion costs the nation as much as $300 billion annually in wasted time. Flight delays add at least another $30 billion. Clearly, demand for travel is outpacing growth in supply and the increasing congestion is costing us dearly. As the population grows, demand will only increase. However, expanding or building new roads, airports, and other facilities in urban areas is costly, time consuming, and often controversial. How can we serve growing demand in a financially, socially, and environmentally responsible manner? Transportation officials also need to squeeze more performance out of the existing networks. One way to do this is by managing demand: Charging drivers for peakperiod travel in congested areas, for example, has the potential to increase ride sharing and generate revenues for transit, bike paths, and sidewalks. While pricing is more effective than other approaches, it is also unpopular. How do we build public and political acceptance for demand management strategies that work? In the face of tight budgets, transportation officials must also figure out how to maintain the condition of roads, bridges, airports, and other assets for as long as possible. What research would help increase the durability of construction materials and designs? How do we speed adoption of new information to improve the life-cycle performance of transportation assets?

Funding and Finance: Paying the Tab

Fuel taxes and other user fees have traditionally paid for highways, bridges, airports, ports, and public transit. These user fees are generally fair and efficient ways to pay for the transportation infrastructure, which is valued in trillions of dollars. However, improving fuel efficiency undermines the revenue potential from the motor fuel taxes that have been the chief funding source for highways and transit. Since 1993, federal officials have not raised the fees that fund the federal share of surface transportation and have instead turned to general revenues. In addition, Congress has declined to raise aviation-related user fees, limiting funds for air traffic control and airports. Although most states have raised motor fuel taxes, state and local government officials are also turning to other sources as the revenues from these taxes decline. One is sales taxes, which can unfairly burden the poor. Also, officials are partnering with businesses to build and maintain roads and other assets. This approach has promising features, but relies on tolls or other charges that are controversial. With advances in technology, officials can charge highway users by the mile traveled. They could also charge more during peak periods to manage demand and more to gas-guzzling vehicles to reduce emissions. But the public is not widely aware of these options and is not enthusiastic about them when it is. Clearly, we need to find new ways to maintain and expand the transportation infrastructure. How do we build understanding of the need to invest in transportation assets, identify the best funding options, and reach consensus for action?

Goods Movement: Moving Freight

The economy and our lifestyles depend on an efficient system for moving freight. Although railroads and pipelines are privately owned, funded, and managed, the freight system also requires adequate public infrastructure—roads, airports, ports, and waterways—for private companies to carry the goods needed. Freight movement is expected to grow dramatically in the coming decades to serve the growing population and economy. Without more spending on public infrastructure, this trend could lead to more traffic bottlenecks and capacity problems, especially as overnight and same-day delivery become more popular. How do we provide additional capacity when and where it is needed and ensure that beneficiaries bear the cost? Government officials face the challenges of providing adequate infrastructure for the freight industry while setting a level playing field for competition among private carriers and across transportation modes. In doing so, they need to account and charge for the costs that trucks, aircraft, ships, and other vehicles impose on public infrastructure. This is a process that is both difficult and controversial. How can officials best foster competition and set fair user fees for the freight industry? Another challenge for the freight industry is how to reduce its large and growing share of greenhouse gas emissions. One way to do this is through technology: improving batteries and fuel cells to speed the shift to electric-powered vehicles and moving to automated vehicles. Another is by improving efficiency, such as ensuring more vehicles are carrying freight on return trips. How do we make these improvements effectively and affordably?

Institutional and Workforce Capacity: Providing a Capable and Diverse Workforce

Government transportation agencies face huge challenges and tight budgets. Their ability to rise to these challenges depends on having capable workers with the tools they need to do their jobs. These agencies have difficulty competing for and keeping talented workers. They simply cannot pay as much as private industry. How can officials attract and retain the best employees despite the pay disparities between the public and private sectors? Also, the changing nature of transportation is creating different requirements for the workforce. As a result, transportation organizations struggle to keep workers up to date in the skills they need. This problem is especially acute at the local government level in dealing with complex issues such as climate change and revolutionary new transportation services. How do we address these challenges? Automated trucks, trains, vessels, and aircraft will disrupt the transportation workforce in both the public and private sectors. What are the likely impacts of these technological changes on transportation jobs? What are the best ways to help displaced workers? With a growing, changing, and aging population, transportation organizations will need to hire new and diverse employees. How can managers attract more members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups into the transportation field? How can they minimize the loss of expertise and experience when Baby Boomers retire?

Research and Innovation: Preparing for the Future

America is known for innovation. Our discovery and embrace of the new is fueled in large part by public investments in education and research. The revolutionary breakthroughs in transportation-related technology happened because of decades of public spending on basic research. In addition, steady improvements in the design, construction, operation, and management of transportation infrastructures have been spurred by research funded by government agencies. Public funding for research and education has never been more important, nor more uncertain. Many experiments are taking place in transportation across the country to meet the challenges of technological innovation and climate change. How do we record, evaluate, and share the results of these experiences and adopt innovations more quickly into standards and practices? Demands on transportation are growing as public spending on transportation research is declining. At the same time, public officials are often discouraged from taking risks. How do we encourage innovation in transportation agencies? How do we speed the pace of research to keep up with the major challenges transportation faces?

Modern civilization would not be possible without extensive, reliable transportation systems. Technology is poised to transform transportation and impact society and the environment in ways we cannot fully predict but must be prepared to manage. In addition to coping with a technological revolution, we also face hard questions about how to reduce transportation’s greenhouse gas emissions; make it more resilient, efficient, safe, and equitable; and pay the staggering costs of doing so. TRB framed what it thinks are the most important transportation questions to address in the next few years. It hopes this document will help spur and inform an urgently needed national debate about the future of transportation and help researchers frame and inform choices about the most promising paths forward. Join the debate. Analyze the options. Find new solutions. Our future depends on it. For a more thorough discussion of these issues go to https://www.nap.edu/download/25314 .

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The Insufficient Public Transportation System in the US Essay

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Introduction

The reasons why the u.s. public system is underdeveloped, works cited.

To those who visit the United States for the first time, it may be surprising to discover how an average American is dependent on a personal car in their everyday living. On the other hand, American tourists traveling, for instance, to Europe, China, Russia, or Japan, may find that daily public transportation usage is at least as important as driving a personal automobile. For this reason, a certain percentage of the general U.S. public has been concerned about developing the public transit system in the country for a long time now.

They argue that the increased availability of subway lines and bus routes would help significantly reduce CO2 emissions and benefit those who cannot afford to have a car. Yet, the supporters of the improved public transportation add, at the current moment, it is evident that the overall system is severely underdeveloped and does not satisfy the existing demand.

However, not all people and government officials agree with the latter claim and maintain that the public transit system is sufficiently established to cover the actual need. They emphasize that the reason why public transport is not as popular as in many other developed or developing countries lies in the prevailing preference among Americans toward driving a personal vehicle. In this regard, the current paper seeks to provide arguments in favor of the former position and explain why those who claim that the U.S. public transportation system is sufficiently developed are wrong.

Firstly, there is low access to public transportation around the country. As such, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 45% of the citizens do not have access to transit (142). In contrast, in Europe, the average level of difficulty in accessing public transportation equals approximately 20.5%, with the worst country not exceeding 31% (International Association of Public Transport et al. 5). As a result, Bok and Kwon argue that it can be challenging for many U.S. citizens to use public transport without a personal car because it is impossible to reach the closest station on foot (235). Therefore, it is clear that the public transport infrastructure in the U.S. is quite underdeveloped.

Secondly, due to insufficient investments, there is a significant number of vehicles that necessitate an overhaul or a complete change. For instance, Anderson found that in 2013 around 40% of the buses and 25% of the trains were in poor condition. Such a condition of public transport does not only deter people from abandoning the usage of personal automobiles but also is negatively related to public safety (American Society of Civil Engineers 146). Thus, to able to attract more passengers, the policymakers should consider investing more money in purchasing new vehicles and repairing the old ones.

Last but not least, there is a lack of thorough planning, which leads to the inefficient operation of the public transit system. One of the issues that Schmitt mentions is that certain cities in the U.S. have bus stations located too close to each other. In New York, the author continues, the average distance between the stops equals 750 feet. As a result, such inadequate location of the stations greatly increases the time that it takes for passengers to reach the destination.

Still, as was mentioned above, some people state that the public system in the U.S. is sufficiently developed to cover the existing demand. In this regard, Ercan et al. claim that the country’s citizens have a developed habit of driving personal vehicles instead of using public transportation services (1790). Therefore, the majority of Americans would not consider abandoning their cars even if there were more buses and railroads available. However, it is clear that such an argument is wrong as there are many marketing and PR methods that can help to reshape the existing culture. Yet, those efforts would be futile unless the country had a developed public transportation system. Thus, it can be concluded that public transportation in the U.S. is indeed underdeveloped and necessitates further improvements.

American Society of Civil Engineers. 2021 Infrastructure Report Card . ASCE, 2021.

Anderson, Monica. “ Who Relies on Public Transit in the U.S. ” Pew Research Center . 2016. Web.

Bok, Jinjoo, and Youngsang Kwon. “Comparable Measures of Accessibility to Public Transport Using the General Transit Feed Specification.” Sustainability , vol. 8, no. 3, 2016, pp. 224-237.

Ercan, Tolga, et al. “Public Transportation Adoption Requires a Paradigm Shift in Urban Development Structure.” Journal of Cleaner Production , vol. 142, 2017, pp. 1789-1799.

International Association of Public Transport, et al. Urban Mobility Indicators: For Walking and Public Transport , 2019. Web.

Schmitt, Angie. “ America’s Bus Stops Are Too Close Together. ” Streets Blog USA . 2017. Web.

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IvyPanda . 2022. "The Insufficient Public Transportation System in the US." December 1, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-insufficient-public-transportation-system-in-the-us/.

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A push to safer and modernized public transport

Compared to its neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore, the Philippines has long been left behind when it comes to modernization of the mass transport system. Commuting nowadays remains a struggle for many Filipinos, not only because of the awful traffic but also because of its potential threats to passengers’ health and safety.

With the aim of making the country’s public transportation system efficient and environmentally friendly, the government launched the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). This is pursuant to Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) Department Order No. 2017-011, the Omnibus Guidelines on the Planning and Identification of Public Road Transportation Services and Franchise Issuance.

PUVMP is a flagship program of the Duterte administration which envisions a restructured, modern, well-managed, and environmentally sustainable transport sector, ensuring drivers and operators have stable, sufficient and dignified livelihoods while commuters get to their destinations quickly, safely and comfortably.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) says on its Web site that the PUVMP is not only a vehicle modernization program, it is a comprehensive system reform that will entirely change the public land transportation industry.

“It features a regulatory reform and sets new guidelines for the issuance of franchise for road based public transport services. It devolved the function of route planning to the local government units as they are more versed in the terrain and passenger demand within their respective territorial jurisdiction,” the LTFRB says.

The DoTr and LTFRB, together with the Land Transportation Office, Office of Transport Cooperatives and other concerned agencies, are responsible in conducting a pilot implementation in order to review and assess whether the new policies are responsive and efficient in achieving the program’s intended outcomes.

Under the PUVMP, the local government units are required to submit their own Local Public Transport Plan (LPTRP) as a prerequisite for the opening of public utility vehicle (PUV) franchises within their jurisdiction.

To determine the appropriate mode, quantity and service characteristics of the public transport service in each corridor, route rationalization studies will be conducted. This will make the routes more responsive to the demand of the passengers and ensure that the hierarchy of roads and modes of transportation are followed.

Fleet modernization is among the major components of the PUVMP. New vehicle standards are being developed that is based on extensive consultations with concerned involved government agencies, jeepney associations and local and international manufacturers. The modern vehicles are designed to be environment-friendly, safe, secure and convenient with due consideration to persons-with-disabilities passengers.

Last April, the DoTr held the Public Transport Modernization Expo: Modernong Sasakyan, Progresibong Bayan to showcase the modern vehicles and inform the public, especially the operators and drivers, of the PUVMP’s benefits.

Despite various advantages that the modernization program brings, it was received negatively by several transport groups, saying the program is “anti-poor.” The cost of modern jeepneys — which about P1.2 million to P1.6 million — and the plan to replace all PUVs aged 15 years or older have caused outrage to many drivers and small operators.

Amid all the criticisms, DoTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade clarified that the program is not designed to eventually put PUVs out of business. He stressed that the PUVMP will help improve and strengthen the public road transport sector.

“ Nililiwanag ko lang ho na ‘yung programang modernization of public utility is not anti-poor; it is not designed to phase out the jeepneys or the jeepney business. It is actually designed to strengthen and guarantee the profitability of the jeepney business,” Mr. Tugade said.

In a separate statement, the DoTr also explained that the program is long overdue.

“Past administrations have long wanted to modernize transportation, but every time people wave flags saying that the program is anti-poor, we take a step back,” the agency said, adding that: “If not now, then when? Remember that the same issues raised now hindered the modernization program before. We will never be ready if we keep on looking for reasons to delay the project.”

The DoTr assured that the modernization program will happen, noting that drivers and operators have only two options: cooperate and benefit from this program, or oppose and get left behind.

Considering the clamor of drivers and operators who will be affected by the PUVMP, a special loan program with Landbank and Development Bank of the Philippines is being proposed which will provide access to adequate funding.

In addition, drivers will be given access to various trainings and social support programs which will be offered to enable them to be competent, self-sufficient and well-equipped with the necessary technical knowledge and skills.

Meanwhile, the DoTr rolled out around 200 modern utility jeepney units to operators with franchises validated by LTFRB last July.

In the same month, two transport cooperatives launched their PUV Modernization Program-compliant jeepneys to ply new routes along Taguig and Pateros. The Taguig Transport Service Coop PUVs are plying the Bagumbayan (Taguig) to Pasig route via San Joaquin, while the Pateros-Fort Boni Transport Coop PUVs’ route is from Gate 3 of Fort Bonifacio to Guadalupe Market.

Last June, 15 out of 35 modern public utility jeepney units of the Senate Employees Transport Service Cooperative were rolled out and started to ply the route of Star City or CCP to PICC, GSIS or Senate to MOA to PITX and back.

The PUVMP was first launched in Tacloban City, Leyte in January with the deployment of 45 solar-powered jeepneys. — Mark Louis F. Ferrolino

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Phl, japan to complete talks on new mrt-3 maintenance agreement, dotr authorizes private vehicle inspection centers.

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Biden-Harris Administration Announces $343 Million to Modernize Transit Stations, Improve Accessibility Across the Country

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today announced that eight transit systems in eight states will receive a total of $343 million in federal funding to retrofit some of the nation's oldest and busiest rail transit systems to make it easier for Americans to access public transportation. Millions of Americans, including people with disabilities and injuries, have mobility concerns that prevent them from being able to get jobs, school, healthcare, and other destinations with the same ease as other users. For many, transit could be the best transportation option for individuals who aren't able to operate a vehicle.

This investment, created by President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, has been awarded through the All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) . Grant recipients will use the funding to make rail stations more accessible and in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards by installing elevators, renovating platforms for level boarding, improving signage and enhancing visual and audio systems. These projects will also create good-paying jobs in these communities.

"We are not only modernizing our nation’s infrastructure, we are doing so in a way that makes it more accessible for older Americans, people with disabilities, and all transit users," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "This initiative, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is retrofitting old rail stations with elevators, ramps, and more, to make sure that our public transportation is more accessible for millions of Americans going about their daily lives."

Inaccessibility is a significant hurdle for riders using rail systems built before 1990, known as legacy systems. More than 900 transit legacy stations are not fully accessible today.

"Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, great strides have been made in improving accessibility, but there is still a lot of work to accomplish," said FTA Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. "By modernizing rail systems across the country, the ASAP program provides funding to address these overdue improvements. We want to ensure that all customers can use transit systems with ease and reliability, including people with disabilities, those using mobility devices, and other users needing more accessible spaces."

Some of the selected ASAP projects include:

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority in Ohio will receive $16 million to rehabilitate eight stations to make the entire Blue Line accessible for people with disabilities. Station upgrades will include replacing the 40-year-old platforms with new concrete platforms with tactile warning panels, installing redesigned ramps, elevating a platform section to access trains, and improving parking stalls with curb ramps to access the stations.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City will receive $156.5 million to improve accessibility at the Wakefield-241st Street, Kingsbridge Road, 167th Street, 145th Street, and 110th Street stations. Modernization work will include installing elevators, updating platforms to reduce gaps, adding tactile platform edge warning strips, making stairway repairs, improving signage, and enhancing visual and audio announcement systems.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will receive approximately $4.7 million to construct platforms, wheelchair ramps, and make other accessibility improvements at five Muni light rail stops on the J-Church line and three Muni stops on the M-Ocean View line. These improvements will reduce gaps between the platform and railcar, improving accessibility for thousands of mobility-impaired residents who are currently unable to use the system.

Projects were selected for funding based on criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. This program was created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a total of $1.75 billion in funding for ASAP through FY 2026. In December 2022, FTA announced $686 million in FY 2022 and 2023 funding to 15 projects in 9 states through the ASAP program.

In response to the Notice of Funding of Opportunity, FTA received nearly $1.1 billion in funding requests for the $343 million available this year, demonstrating the high demand for the program.

What was Trump found guilty of? See the 34 business records the jury decided he falsified

Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after prosecutors successfully convinced a jury he disguised hush money reimbursement as legal expenses. He is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

Each count is tied to a different business record that prosecutors demonstrated Trump is responsible for changing to conceal or commit another crime .

Those records include 11 checks paid to former lawyer Michael Cohen , 11 invoices from Michael Cohen and 12 entries in Trump's ledgers.

The jury found that Trump authorized a plan to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment issued to Stormy Daniels and spread the payments across 12 months disguised as legal expenses.

Live updates: Former President Donald Trump found guilty on all counts in hush money case

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Breakdown of 34 counts of falsifying business records

Here are the 34 business records Trump was found guilty of falsifying, as described in Judge Juan Merchan 's jury instructions :

Count 1: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Feb. 14, 2017
Count 2: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated Feb. 14, 2017
Count 3: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated Feb. 14, 2017
Count 4: A Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account check and check stub dated Feb. 14, 2017
Count 5: Michael Cohen's invoice dated March 16, 2017
Count 6: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated March 17, 2017
Count 7: A Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account check and check stub dated March 17, 2017
Count 8: Michael Cohen's invoice dated April 13, 2017
Count 9: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated June 19, 2017
Count 10: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated June 19, 2017
Count 11: Michael Cohen's invoice dated May 22, 2017
Count 12: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated May 22, 2017
Count 13: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub May 23, 2017
Count 14: Michael Cohen's invoice dated June 16, 2017
Count 15: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated June 19, 2017
Count 16: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated June 19, 2017
Count 17: Michael Cohen's invoice dated July 11, 2017
Count 18: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated July 11, 2017
Count 19: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated July 11, 2017
Count 20: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Aug. 1, 2017
Count 21: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Aug. 1, 2017
Count 22: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Aug. 1, 2017
Count 23: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Sept. 11, 2017
Count 24: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Sept. 11, 2017
Count 25: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Sept. 12, 2017
Count 26: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Oct. 18, 2017
Count 27: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Oct. 18, 2017
Count 28: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Oct. 18, 2017
Count 29: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Nov. 20, 2017
Count 30: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Nov. 20, 2017
Count 31: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Nov. 21, 2017
Count 32: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Dec. 1, 2017
Count 33: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Dec. 1, 2017
Count 34: A check and check stub dated Dec. 5 2017

Jurors saw copies of these records entered as evidence. Evidence from the entire trial is available on the New York Courts website .

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi

What Nashville can learn from Phoenix's transit funding journey

Nashville leaders campaigning for a sales tax bump to pay for countywide transportation projects are taking cues from a decadeslong transportation funding push in Arizona's sweeping Maricopa County.

The fast-growing Western region anchored by Phoenix was home to more than 5 million people in 2022, compared to just over 2.1 million in Nashville and surrounding counties. Both areas added around 200,000 residents between 2018 and 2022, and both have seen cost of living (particularly, the cost of housing) rise more than 50% in that time frame.

But Maricopa County is about 20 years into its transit journey, with current Valley Metro operations including around 30 miles of light rail, a Tempe streetcar system and 100 bus routes. Meanwhile, Nashville is among just four major U.S. cities that have yet to establish dedicated funding for transportation projects.

Transportation funding efforts in Metro Nashville and Maricopa County are not an apples-to-apples comparison. Maricopa County's proposed extension of its already-in-place dedicated half-cent sales tax required the cooperation of 32 mayors, tribal chairs and county supervisors, in addition to hard-won approval from Arizona's state legislature , just to make it on the upcoming November ballot.

Nashville's transportation funding pitch — the city's second attempt since an unsuccessful vote in 2018 — is making its way toward its own ballot appearance and will head to the Metro Council for review after receiving a stamp of approval from the state comptroller.

Nashville business people and leaders, including Mayor Freddie O'Connell, compared notes with Maricopa County officials during a Nashville Chamber of Commerce trip in late April. Themes in O'Connell's May 14 State of Metro Address reflected transportation tax campaign advice gleaned from Arizona leaders on the trip.

How Nashville and Phoenix's transportation plans compare

Maricopa County's first half-cent sales tax bump for transportation sailed through with more than 70% voter support in 1985. The first 20 years of revenue focused on building out the region's freeway system.

Another half-cent regional tax was intended to fund mass transit shortly after, but that effort "bombed," said Ed Zuercher, executive director of the Maricopa Association of Governments . Phoenix and Tempe, two quickly urbanizing cities, decided there was no time to wait. Tempe enacted a citywide tax for transit, followed by Phoenix in 2000. Mass transit in Maricopa County is funded by a "hodgepodge of taxing sources … on a city-by-city basis," Zeurcher said.

Voters renewed the regional tax for another 20 years in 2004 with 58% in favor, continuing to fund freeway projects while this time expanding work to arterial roads and transit initiatives.

Valley Metro's initial 20 miles of light rail opened in December 2008. Extensions in 2016 and 2019 added about eight miles of track and connected downtown Mesa — a "suburb" equivalent in population to St. Louis — to Phoenix's northwest edge.

That regional funding source will expire in 2025 unless voters decide to extend it another 20 years. If the extension passes, the half-cent sales tax is expected to raise around $14.9 billion over the next two decades, with about 40% going toward freeway projects, 37% funding transit and about 23% supporting improvements to arterial streets and intersections. Maintenance for existing light rail is restricted to 3.5% of the transit funding bucket, with the remainder going toward bus rapid transit and other projects, a compromise made to appease conservative state legislators after a drawn-out battle to get the proposition ballot-approved.

O'Connell's proposed transportation improvement program would raise sales tax in Davidson County by half a cent to fund construction of 86 miles of sidewalk, an improved 24/7/365 bus-based transit system, 12 community transit centers, 17 park and ride facilities, 600 upgraded smart traffic signals and more.

An independent audit released in mid-May put the plan's total cost (including construction, operating, financing and reserves) at $6.93 billion over 15 years. The proposed sales tax surcharge would cover $3.26 billion of that cost, with revenue bond proceeds, federal and state grants, and farebox revenue making up the rest.

Approvals from the Tennessee comptroller, Metro Council and the Davidson County Election Commission are the remaining hurdles to make it on Davidson County voters' Nov. 5 ballots.

Nearly 60% of Nashville's proposed program would fund the expansion and enhancement of WeGo bus services, including Bus Rapid Transit (frequent bus service with dedicated bus lanes). In contrast to Nashville's previous attempt at a transportation tax that failed 64% to 36% in 2018, O'Connell's plan does not feature light rail, which is about five times more expensive to install than a comprehensive bus service.

In January 2024, Valley Metro logged 3,074,698 total riders, with 946,682 of those riding Valley Metro Rail . Nashville's WeGo bus system logged 667,491 total rides. In Phoenix, roughly 64% of commuters drive alone, and around 1% take public transit, according to American Community Survey estimates. In Nashville, an estimated 70% of commuters drive alone, while 0.7% take public transit.

Light rail works, but it 'does not work everywhere'

Zuercher and David Schwartz, executive director of Friends of Transit , were quick to highlight light rail's successes in Maricopa County, particularly its "rejuvenation" of Mesa.

"Mesa is an interesting story because it's traditionally more conservative than Phoenix or Tempe politically, but also a very strong local business community with a mayor who understood, early on, that this transit thing is our next step," said Zuercher, who also formerly served as the city manager of Phoenix. "They have aspirations ... to be seen as out of the shadow of Phoenix."

Since light rail opened in 2008, Mesa has added around 1,600 apartments, with another 1,500 in the pipeline, he estimated, and more than doubled the number of businesses.

A study by the Maricopa Association of Governments found that properties within half a mile of a light rail line appreciated in value 408% between 2000 and 2023, adjusted for inflation, well above Maricopa County's average property value increase of 232% during that period. Property values within half a mile of a freeway network appreciated 308%.

"The investment in transit paid off in more than just transportation," Zuercher said.

But light rail "does not work everywhere," he added. "Light rail works in a specific setting: dense, urbanized, no room to expand roads and freeways. ... Buses work in another setting. Commuter buses work in another."

Light rail was more nationally established when Phoenix began to build out its public transit system, Phoenix Light Rail Administrator Markus Coleman said, and data showed that light rail corridors saw more surrounding economic investment than bus rapid transit corridors. In introducing a new form of high capacity transit, Phoenix wanted to "go for the biggest and best." But BRT is "still a powerhouse of its own" and is now seen as "up and coming," he said.

Transit isn't a 'panacea,' but it does provide more options

"A lot of times, people see transit as a panacea," Schwartz said. "It's like, this is going to fix everything and we're going to be in nirvana after that. And it's not that ... it is one mode of transportation to get people where they want to go."

John Bullen, chief transportation officer for the Maricopa Association of Governments, said he was surprised by the amount of support for reliable, frequent transit options from people that might not be dedicated transit riders themselves.

"People wanted ... choices, and they consider transit an essential component of that overall mobility portfolio," Bullen said. "So while they might continue to take their cars, they wanted to be able to have access to transit, perhaps to go out to restaurants, shopping and entertainment, to be downtown, to visit family members."

Tony Bradley, president and CEO of the Arizona Trucking Association, is not shy about his disapproval of Maricopa County's light rail initiative. But he and the Arizona Trucking Association "support things that move people, and the reality is people will go on buses," he said. Bus systems also offer more flexibility than light rail tracks to adjust plans if needs change.

Bradley said Nashville's 24/7/365 bus service plan is a "very laudable goal" but also a significant public subsidy. That doesn't mean people who don't regularly ride public transit won't be willing to pay for it, he added. His organization prefers spending money upfront to pay for roadway maintenance and transit options that lessen roadway wear-and-tear rather than paying for repairs after things break down.

"(People) don't want potholes, they don't want to sit in traffic, but they want others to have the opportunity to get where they need to, and that's why they're willing to subsidize," Bradley said. "And again, that's in their own self-interest. Because they understand that ... people need to get to work."

But Bradley is blunt on one point: "Transit is a subsidy, and there's going to be a point where people get frustrated with the subsidy, so you've got to be careful in how you deliver that, because you're going to look for renewal at some point and the reality is ... if we don't renew it, transit is going away, and that's not a good thing."

More: Nashville transit plan supporters launch campaigns. Formal opposition absent — for now

Transit and economic development

Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Sanders said the business community has been clear: "We need to have a reliable transportation system to move people around." In a county with more jobs than people to fill them, making it easy to get to work can make a big difference for companies looking to hire, he said, and business community support for the campaign (both monetary and in messaging) has been crucial.

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a major manufacturer building a plant in north Phoenix, told Arizona legislators during the fight for state approval that it would not "be here without having that transportation option," Sanders said.

Bullen said high-capacity transit in areas that are dense with limited roadway capacity helps provide reliability that encourages development, whether transit takes the form of light rail or BRT.

"As we struggle with housing prices and development sort of further works its way out, people have to be far more intentional about where they live, how they access work, and being able to provide that transit connectivity to some of those workers is really important," Bullen said.

But Zuercher cautioned against promising growth.

"Growth is becoming not the greatest word for everybody, so we're careful to say now this is not about trying to make the region grow," he said. "This is about making places more accessible to those of us who are here and giving us more options for how to get where we want to go."

Coleman, Phoenix's light rail administrator, emphasized the use of transit-oriented development to offset gentrification concerns. O'Connell's proposal includes funding to purchase about 26 acres of land near planned transit centers to be used for potential affordable housing and community amenities.

"One of the first (transit-oriented development) grants that we received in the city of Phoenix, we actually used for business assistance … to help with the displacement and gentrification fear that comes along with these types of investments," Coleman said. The city used the funding to offer financial assistance to small and micro businesses along light rail corridors that were experiencing construction hardship.

And using the remnants of transit parcels for affordable and workforce housing opens up potential cost savings through federal programs, Coleman said.

Coleman also echoed a message O'Connell has often repeated: transit options can free up household income that would have been dedicated to maintaining personal vehicles. While gentrification and displacement concerns are real, the opportunity is there to "do a project with the community and not to the community."

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New traffic always emerges to take the place of any free road space. New research tells a very different story — that public transport is among the most direct ways to reduce congestion, if done ...
Public transportation and sustainability: A review
Public transportation systems play a vital role in reducing traffic congestion, curbing environmental pollution, and enhancing overall urban livability [1] [2][3]. Public transit, such as buses ...
151 Transportation Essay Topics & Writing Tips
Transportation Essay Topics: Top 10. Public transport in rural areas. Road transport's economy. The future of public transport. How to start a car. Gender inequality in driving. Family cars: pros and cons. American vs. British driving. Peculiarities of building bridges.
PDF THREE ESSAYS ON URBAN PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS IN THE U.S. A Dissertation
North Dakota State University Graduate School Title THREE ESSAYS ON PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS IN THE U.S. By Narendra Dhananjaya Kumara Malalgoda The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University's regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of
Public Transportation In The US: A Driver Of Health And Equity
Erin Abramsohn. Elizabeth Skillen. New or expanded public transportation options can improve health and health equity by reducing traffic crashes and air pollution, increasing physical activity ...
Public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that may charge a posted fee for each trip. There is no rigid definition of which kinds of ...
3 Ways to Reimagine Public Transport for People and the Climate
The coronavirus pandemic hit public transport hard. Global ridership tanked initially by as much as 80%, and transit was still at around just 20% of pre-pandemic ridership at the end of 2020. There is serious concern that people will increasingly opt for private vehicles, should public transport not recuperate.. Recent research by WRI shows how ensuring public transport not only survives but ...
American Public Transportation: Failures to Modernize
Ideally, a public transportation system is an economical and environmental alternative to driving cars, as it lightens the burden of congestion in mega-cities like Los Angeles and New York City and reduces carbon emissions. It also balances social and geographic inequality by providing an affordable alternative to those who cannot afford to own and operate
Public Transport
9 essay samples found. Public transport systems are vital for the connectivity and mobility of urban populations. Essays could discuss the benefits and challenges of public transport, compare transport systems around the world, or delve into the impact of public transport on economic and social structures.
Building a transport system that works: Five insights from our 25-city
[email protected]. Madrid's bike-share system consists of 3,000 bicycles and 250 rental stations, with 50 rental stations added in 2020 alone. Since our last urban-transport report, in 2018, Moscow added 3,000 two-wheelers to its bike-share program. It also opened new underground lines, resulting in 700,000 more ...
Public Transportation Essays (Examples)
The impact of local government funding cuts on essential services such as education, healthcare, and public safety. 8. The implementation and enforcement of local zoning and.... Read More. View our collection of public transportation essays. Find inspiration for topics, titles, outlines, & craft impactful public transportation papers.
Essay on Public Transport
Essay on Public Transport: Whenever you walk or drive by a road you see various other vehicles running besides you, carrying numerous passengers at a time. These vehicles constitute the public transport of a city or any locality. As the name itself, Public Transport is easily accessible to the general public. It includes vehicles like, […]
Public Transportation
One of the benefits of adding a mass transit system within the city of Philadelphia was the lower cost of transportation for the public and the ease of which to access the system. The subway entrance photographed in 1936 is located at the corner of West Olney Avenue and North Broad Street, over six miles away from Philadelphia's City Hall.
Advanced transport systems: the future is sustainable and technology
As of this writing, typical use cases include autonomous vehicles, drones delivering packages, and sophisticated systems managing complex logistics delivery networks 1. One report 5 projected that ...
Critical Issues in Transportation 2019
Governance: Managing Our Systems. A complex web of institutions manages America's transportation services. Many levels of government, from local to national, play important roles. Some functions, such as public transit, airports, and ports, are managed by thousands of special authorities across the country.
(PDF) Public transportation system and its impact on urban mobility
Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. Public transportation system and its impact on urban mobility: The case of Addis Ababa ... However, the existing public transportation system could not satisfy the demand. Moreover, the insufficient finance for investment by the government and the limited participation of the ...
The Insufficient Public Transportation System in the US Essay
This essay, "The Insufficient Public Transportation System in the US" is published exclusively on IvyPanda's free essay examples database. You can use it for research and reference purposes to write your own paper.
A push to safer and modernized public transport
With the aim of making the country's public transportation system efficient and environmentally friendly, the government launched the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). This is pursuant to Department of Transportation's (DoTr) Department Order No. 2017-011, the Omnibus Guidelines on the Planning and Identification of ...
Intelligent transportation systems for sustainable smart cities
Intelligent transportation systems are rapidly expanding to meet the growing demand for safer, more efficient, and sustainable transportation solutions. •. ITS systems encompass various applications, from traffic management and control to autonomous vehicles, aiming to enhance mobility experiences while addressing urbanization challenges.
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $343 Million to Modernize Transit
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today announced that eight transit systems in eight states will receive a total of $343 million in federal funding to retrofit some of the nation's oldest and busiest rail transit systems to make it easier for Americans to access public transportation. . Millions of Americans, including people with ...
Would a Wilmington trolley improve transit access, spark development?
A Wilmington trolley system would provide greater access to the train station, which services both Amtrak and local SEPTA passenger rail, thereby increasing Amtrak ridership, Spencer said.
What was Trump convicted of? See the 34 falsified business records
Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after prosecutors successfully convinced a jury he disguised hush money reimbursement as legal expenses. He is the ...
What Nashville can learn from Phoenix's transit funding journey
O'Connell's proposed transportation improvement program would raise sales tax in Davidson County by half a cent to fund construction of 86 miles of sidewalk, an improved 24/7/365 bus-based transit ...
Designing railway transit network with first-mile access via ride
New framework for an integrated rail-based transportation systems (RTS) and first-mile ride-sharing autonomous vehicle (RAV) service design. Develop a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to solve the problem and optimize AV fleet size with real-time relocations. Perform a real-world case study of the Melbourne (Australia) railway extension and gain valuable insights using the ...
Call For Datasets & Benchmarks 2024
For papers introducing best practices in creating or curating datasets and benchmarks, the above supplementary materials are not required. For papers resubmitted after being retracted from another venue: a brief discussion on the main concerns raised by previous reviewers and how you addressed them. You do not need to share the original reviews.
NeurIPS 2024 Call for Papers
Call For Papers Abstract submission ... The Thirty-Eighth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024) is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together researchers in machine learning, neuroscience, statistics, optimization, computer vision, natural language processing, life sciences, natural sciences, social ...