Education

Transportation Seminars Feature Mobility Issues

The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at NDSU is offering a seminar series during the 2007-2008 academic year. Several of the seminars have focused on transit and personal mobility issues and some have featured SURTC staff. SURTC director Jill Hough is coordinating the series. Personal mobility related seminars included:

Patricia L. Mokhtarian, University of California, Davis, presented "When is Getting There Half the Fun? Understanding the Positive Utility of Travel" on Nov. 14. Mokhtarian is a professor of civil and environmental engineering, associate director for education of the Institute of Transportation Studies, and chair of the interdisciplinary graduate program in Transportation Technology and Policy. Mokhtarian's presentation challenged the truism that the demand for travel is exclusively derived from the demand for spatially-separated activities. She discussed the threefold nature of the utility for travel: the utility of reaching the destination, the utility of activities that can be conducted while traveling, and the utility of travel itself. She also presented suggestions to begin data collection to establish the extent to which a positive utility of travel translates to "excess travel" and discussed how that data can be used for transportation planning.

Jill Hough, SURTC director, presented the findings of "Realized Travel Demand of Elderly Women" at the Dec. 5 seminar. As part of her doctoral degree through the University of California, Davis, Hough studied the mobility concerns and needs of the growing proportion of elderly women living in rural areas. She presented a portion of the results of this study including the importance of mental acuity and self-efficacy in maintaining elderly women's mobility.

Dave Leftwich, Local Government Division, North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT), presented "Why Does the North Dakota Department of Transportation Do Planning?" on Nov. 28. He noted planning is essential before specific decisions can be made relating to the layout and design of transportation facilities and infrastructure. Leftwich discussed what type of planning studies NDDOT needs, why they need them, who conducts the studies, and how the NDDOT uses the planning studies in decision making.

Jon Mielke, SURTC associate research fellow, presented "Using Census Data to Quantify Public Transportation Needs" on Oct. 24. The 2005 federal highway bill created a new program which provides funding for tribal transit services in non-metropolitan areas. Mielke outlined a demographic needs analysis that was conducted to identify mobility-dependent Indian reservations. His presentation identified population subgroups that are traditionally mobility dependent, outlined study findings concerning reservations which appear to be most in need of transit services, and compared the Federal Transit Administration's list of program grant recipients with the study's findings concerning needy reservations.

Rick Kasper, president and chief operating officer of Global Electric Motors, LLC (GEM), presented "Ten Years in the NEV Business: The Top Ten Success Factors." His Oct. 17 presentation encompassed a 'Top Ten' list of key growth and success factors for the evolving Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Industry (NEV). From start-up to acquisition by Chrysler, GEM has learned many lessons and developed into a growing and lasting business in the alternative fuel vehicle industry. GEM is in its 10th year of business in the NEV, a milestone no other NEV has reached.

David Ripplinger, SURTC researcher, presented an overview of his study, "What does Rural and Small Urban Really Mean? A Methodological Approach," on Sept. 26. He focused on the differences in perceptions between terms like "rural" and "urban" and discussed a transitspecific set of classifications developed for use in public policy and research discussion.

Wade Kline, Community Development Planner for the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments, presented the "Sub-Area Transit Planning Metro Area Transit: Moorhead Expansion & Alignment Study," on Sept. 19. The Moorhead Expansion & Alignment Study in 2007 developed transit expansion and alignment opportunities in the Moorhead and Dilworth portion of the Metro Area Transit service area. Kline presented on the plan development process, including public input process, route analysis, and alternatives development and analysis.

Jim Miller, SURTC affiliated faculty, presented the seminar "Demand and Cost Models for Small Urban and Rural Transit: Do They Really Work?" on Sept. 12. His presentation discussed some of the most frequently used approaches to demand forecasting and cost modeling and then discussed why the results depart from actual experience. Miller illustrated these issues based on his previous experience in both Pennsylvania and North Dakota, and also used the River Cities Public Transit system in Pierre, SD, as a case study.

Carol Wright, SURTC's associate director for training and outreach, presented "Common Pitfalls of Writing." Her Sept. 5 presentation identified some of the most common errors of academic writing and addressed the principles behind the rules as to help improve one's writing skills. She also gave attendees a checklist to evaluate their own writing before submitting it for an assignment or to an editor for publication.

The full list of seminars and copies of the presenters' slides can be accessed on the UGPTI website at www.ugpti.org/training/seminar.php

Transit Class Offered Spring Semester

The spring 2008 semester will bring another opportunity for SURTC to introduce transit to college students across the country. SURTC will be offering the course TL 786: "Public Transportation" taught by SURTC director, Dr. Jill Hough.

The course will cover concepts and models used in both urban and rural transit industry settings. Issues such as policy, government's role in transit, transit planning, demand forecasting, performance evaluation, and system costing will be discussed.

Students will have the opportunity to work on projects directly related to transit systems and will be introduced to employment opportunities in the area. The course is scheduled for Mondays from 9:00-11:45 a.m. and is available to NDSU graduate students for three credit hours.

The course will be taught via the Transportation Learning Network, an interactive learning network that makes the course available to students at universities across the country. Transit professionals may also use the network to sit in on all or parts of the course. The technology also allows SURTC to tap the expertise of experts in federal agencies, transit organizations and other universities.

"Guest speakers from a variety of transit agencies will provide students with a solid foundation of industry functioning as well as a glimpse at the breadth and depth of the field," notes Hough.