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| Vol. 5, Issue 1 | Spring/Summer 2007 |
Getting to School on Time and on Budget
"Declines in enrollment paired with a steady or decreasing tax base and increases in costs of education make efficiency a high priority," says SURTC researcher David Ripplinger. "Fuel costs, for example, can have a significant impact on school budgets. At the same time, there has been some interest in using school buses to provide public transit to non-pupil community residents. There may be opportunities to enhance both mobility and efficiency in rural communities." Larger schools often have computerized systems for developing bus routes. Costs and the complex nature of such systems are often barriers that prevent small rural schools from using them. Ripplinger developed a system for small rural schools that could also be used by small transit systems. The system was piloted in the Enderlin School District. Part of that effort was to look for opportunities to use school buses for other community transportation. Ripplinger said the experience in Enderlin indicates that route identification and finalization is a labor-intensive process. "While technology plays a key role, work by those with knowledge of the software as well as those involved in transportation management is important. Communication among managers at all stages of the process is critical," he says. Ripplinger noted that computerized routing tools can be used to test routes or to evaluate the addition or removal of buses of various sizes from the fleet. The tools can also be used to evaluate the impact of consolidation on student transportation. In Enderlin, the routes developed by the software were not put into effect immediately, but several significant improvements in efficiency were identified. Although significant obstacles such as legal and liability issues must be overcome for school transportation fleets to be used for other community transportation efforts, it is obvious that computerized routing tools could be used to facilitate such arrangements. "Given the challenges facing school transportation providers and other agencies that provide transportation, it is likely we'll see increased levels of coordination in the future," Ripplinger says. "Tools like our software will help assure that those collaborations are as efficient and effective as possible." Exploring Relationships Between Transportation and Apartment ChoiceSURTC researcher Xinyu Cao is exploring how the availability of various forms of transportation influences the residential choices of apartment dwellers. He notes that home renters are more mobile than home owners and are more likely to attempt strike balances among their choice of residence, transportation and other lifestyle factors. Consequently, when deciding where to live, home renters are more likely to rank transportation choice an important factor than home owners. It is less clear how residents of small urban areas (relatively close to workplace and local services) respond to transportation attributes of residential environment, Cao notes. Given that many home renters are low-income people, transit access and the level of service may have important impacts on their residential and travel choices. However, few studies have focused on apartment dwellers' trade-offs between residential choice and transit choice. Cao expects the results of this project will offer implications for various agencies, including:
EducationTransit Class Offered Spring SemesterSURTC continues to introduce transit to college students via its "Introduction to Public Transportation" course. The course is offered by NDSU and broadcast to students across the nation through the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's Transportation Learning Network, an interactive network that employs video, the Internet, and other learning technologies. Six students at Pennsylvania State University, one from Utah State University, and one from NDSU were enrolled in the course. Two employees from the North Dakota Department of Transportation also sat in on the class. The class was taught and coordinated by Jim Miller, a retired faculty member from Pennsylvania State University who is an affiliated faculty with SURTC. At least one session of the class was observed electronically by several transit professionals from across the country. "We experimented a little bit with opening up segments of the course to professionals who wanted to learn about a single topic or two," Miller said. "The technology gives us that ability." The technology also allowed the class to be addressed by FTA Administrator Jim Simpson. He provided an overview of the FTA and its national initiatives via an electronic link to FTA offices in Washington. His address was on April 30, the day that SURTC celebrated its fifth anniversary. FTA Acting Associate Administrator Ron Hynes attended the class in person at NDSU that day. As an assignment in the class, students were asked to complete a case study cost analysis of River Cities Public Transit in Pierre, SD. Miller and other SURTC staff members have been working with that transit agency to develop a transit plan. "This illustrates how our research and outreach work helps us add some real-world examples and experiences to the classroom," Miller said. SURTC will likely offer the course again in the spring semester of 2008. Events Calendar
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Small Urban & Rural Transit Center Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute North Dakota State University NDSU Dept 2880 P.O. Box 6050 Fargo, ND 58108-6050 Any questions or comments? Please use our comments form. |
With fewer children spread over a wider area, many rural school districts face a significant challenge in getting them to school efficiently.