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The travel experiences of unhoused women in Los Angeles present a critical yet underexplored aspect of urban mobility and homelessness. This report aims to fill the gap in literature addressing the unique travel patterns and challenges this group faces, emphasizing the need for solutions tailored to their mobility needs. Interviews with unhoused women in Los Angeles were conducted to gauge their travel patterns and primary safety concerns. Interviews took place in Van Nuys and Little Tokyo to reflect the differences in travel experiences between the suburbs and the inner city. Homelessness resources are more concentrated in Central City Los Angeles, where Little Tokyo is located, providing a model for what could be possible in terms of mobility, safety, and access to public transportation. Conversely, in Van Nuys, resources are sparse and spread out, compelling unhoused women to travel greater distances and optimize their travel time by multitasking.Key takeaways include reliance on community networks, increasing preference for biking as an affordable and eco-friendly travel mode, and the use of bikes and fare-free transit for feelings of autonomy and independence. Additionally, despite concerns about safety when alone, unhoused women are still wary of law enforcement, and anti-homeless measures like 41.18 lead to continuous displacements, disrupting daily routines.Findings suggest addressing the fundamental issue of housing, implementing robust data collection, partnering with homelessness advocacy groups, securing funding for essential amenities, and making infrastructural improvements to support the autonomy, mobility, and safety of unhoused women. All in all, a comprehensive approach is necessary to provide effective relief.

Los Angeles County's 15-year initiative to overhaul its transportation infrastructure aims to reduce car reliance and promote public transit, walking, and cycling through dense, transit-oriented development (TOD) near stations. Despite significant investment, numerous challenges remain including bureaucratic obstacles, declining per capita ridership, and concerns about displacement and gentrification. The study evaluated LA Metro rail stations' impact on nearby communities, using ACS data from 2009 to 2022 to analyze demographic, housing, and mode choice changes within a half-mile radius of stations built between 2010 and 2020.Findings indicated increased population density, racial diversification, and higher education levels near stations. Median household income and housing costs surged, signaling economic growth and gentrification. Urban renewal was evident with increased construction activity, rising rent and home values, and rise in remote work. Decline in public transportation usage was less significant near stations compared to city-wide. To enhance Los Angeles' existing TOD policies, several recommendations were proposed. Encouraging diverse housing types near transit stations through mixed-use zoning, multi-family homes, and ADUs can increase density without major disruption. Innovative housing models like community land trusts and modular housing can improve affordability. Implementing robust anti-displacement measures, such as extending rent control, can safeguard low-income residents from gentrification. Promoting economic development near transit stations through local hire policies can reduce unemployment and foster economic stability. Lastly, expanded monitoring of TOD areas are necessary to better understand residential and travel behaviors, refining strategies to promote sustainable development and ensure inclusive, resilient, and thriving transit-oriented communities in Los Angeles.

This project focuses on carless and car-deficit households in the Westlake-MacArthur Park and Pacoima-Panorama City neighborhoods that have experienced challenges in traveling to their destinations due to their limited access to household vehicles. Car ownership in the U.S. is causally linked with positive economic outcomes such as being employed, gaining employment, working additional hours, and earning higher wages (Brown, 2017). In the U.S., however, “carless” households, or zero-car households, make up 7% of all households, and “car-deficit” households, households with fewer cars than drivers, make up 15% of all households (Blumenberg et al., 2020). Those who do not own a vehicle or do not always have access to one due to financial and health/age constraints, however, are left to navigate on modes other than the private vehicle to meet their transportation needs.Using quantitative and qualitative methods, I find that carless and car-deficit respondents from Pacoima-Panorama City reported carpooling and riding the bus as their most used transportation modes, whereas Westlake-MacArthur Park reported higher use of transit such as bus and rail. Over half of all carless and car-deficit respondents, however, shared that they have skipped and/or rescheduled trips to healthcare, school, work, and other destinations due to transportation issues. Furthermore, both neighborhoods reported similar concerns related to safety, time associated with transit use, and saw low rates of participation in public programs that aim to alleviate the cost of transportation.

This paper explores the enduring impact of freeway construction on urban neighborhoods and communities, focusing on Los Angeles. The legacy of freeways in Los Angeles, often and purposefully constructed through marginalized communities during the mid-20th century for the benefit of white suburbanites, is reflected in significant social, economic, and environmental symptoms today. This paper also examines de-freeway methods to reconnect these divided communities, assessing their need and effectiveness through data analysis and case studies.The case studies presented in this paper offer a diverse range of solutions. They include the capping of I-5 for Freeway Park in Seattle, the tunneling of the Central Artery for Boston's Big Dig, the activation of I-5 underpasses for Chicano Park in San Diego, and the creation of the Ricardo Lara embankment park along the I-105 freeway in Lynnwood. These examples provide valuable insights into the processes, challenges, and successes of de-freeway and community reconnection efforts, showcasing the adaptability of these solutions in different urban contexts.The paper introduces three design proposals for freeway sites across six communities in Los Angeles. These proposals are guided by urban reformation around freeways and incorporating urban design principles prioritizing social equity, environmental sustainability, and economic revitalization for the most vulnerable and impacted communities. The proposed designs aim to restore community cohesion and foster resilient urban ecosystems.This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable urban transformation and the reclamation of public spaces for community benefit by providing a comprehensive analysis of historical impacts and contemporary solutions. The paper's findings should help inform and guide urban planning and policy advocates and professionals inspired by the reconnecting communities movement, underscoring the need for innovative approaches to mending bifurcated and ecologically disadvantaged communities.

This report assesses the current and near-future conditions related to the disposal of Battery Electric Buses, specifically their batteries. The report begins by explaining the reasons and legislation in the current day which is pushing the adoption of zero emission buses as well as the growing interest in exploring new reuse and recycling methods. The subsequent section consists of interview responses from various transit agencies currently planning on electrifying their fleet, cataloging their concerns and options for disposal that are currently being considered. Following is a section with interview content from bus manufacturers on the current state of battery design and policies, as well as an exploration of future services possibly offered by these companies. The report then focuses on summarizing general trends in the US battery recycling and reuse market, as well as resources for transit agencies, to determine which disposal strategy is right for them. Finally, the report closes with recommendations for all stakeholders on how to best prepare for future disposal needs, from both the manufacturer and transit agency perspective, and some recommendations to increase battery recycling/reuse capacity domestically addressed to the state and the federal government.

In Los Angeles, bus shelters are a crucial source of relief from the heat and lighting after dark, but shelters are inadequately and inequitably distributed throughout the City. Although the City is making significant progress towards increasing the number of shelters and distributing them more equitably, there is limited understanding of how site constraints may limit shelter installation at priority locations or how other aspects of the built environment affect the distribution of adequate shade and nighttime lighting. To address these gaps, this project assessed the adequacy of shade and lighting at bus stops in Los Angeles, the alignment between the current locations of bus shelters and priority bus stops, and the magnitude and spatial distribution of site constraints that create obstacles to the installation of bus shelters. It combined an in-depth analysis of three neighborhoods (Sawtelle, Sun Valley, and Watts) that used original data collected during 202 nighttime site visits and a citywide analysis of all Metro, Big Blue Bus, and LADOT Transit bus stops in Los Angeles that used existing quantitative data. This research found that there are significant disparities in adequate shade and lighting across Los Angeles, and that the locations and types of bus shelters often exacerbate these disparities. Further, “higher-priority” stops where providing amenities is the most crucial are highly clustered in certain areas of the City. Finally, restrictions on installing bus shelters on narrow sidewalks or in residential areas may limit the installation of bus shelters at a significant number of high-priority bus stops.

EU containment and Tunisian domestic policies have produced a new, Black migrant, urban underclass. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork among Ivorian migrant women in Bhar Lazreg, a Tunis banlieue, this paper explores how the women navigate and negotiate everyday life. On the urban margins of society, forgotten and far from the border, migrants reinvent ways to keep moving. The paper suggests that their stuckness is still all about movement as encapsulated in the emic term bouger – akin to treading water, involving a constant motion to stay afloat, but without ever getting anywhere. Tension operates across many levels, between the physical, the temporal–spatial, and the existential. Embedded in this tension is a second emic term prison à ciel ouvert (open-air prison). Juxtaposing a space that feels carceral and limiting while simultaneously bursting with potential for movement, the paper contributes to the literature on immobility within mobility. But beyond that, the empirical findings show a far more complex reality, complicating the notion of transit. By exploring the tensions and entanglements between the emic terms it becomes clear that to understand spaces of transit it is essential to understand stuckness and movement as fundamentally intertwined, overlapping, and co-constitutive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the "causal" forest by Wager and Athey (J Am Stat Assoc 113(523): 1228–1242, 2018) represents a significant advance in the area of explanatory/causal machine learning. However, this approach has not yet been widely applied to geographically referenced data, which present some unique issues: the random split of the test and training sets in the typical causal forest design fractures the spatial fabric of geographic data. To help solve this issue, we use a simulated dataset with known properties for average treatment effects and conditional average treatment effects to compare the performance of CF models across different definitions of the test/train split. We also develop a new "spatial" T-learner that can be implemented using predictive methods like random forest to provide estimates of heterogeneous treatment effects across all units. Our results show that all of the machine learning models outperform traditional ordinary least squares regression at identifying the true average treatment effect, but are not significantly different from one another. We then apply the preferred causal forest model in the context of analysing the treatment effect of the construction of the Valley Metro light rail (tram) system on on-road CO2 emissions per capita at the block group level in Maricopa County, Arizona, and find that the neighbourhoods most likely to benefit from treatment are those with higher pre-treatment proportions of transit and pedestrian commuting and lower proportions of auto commuting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on a digitally mediated autoethnography within a contemporary Italian feminist movement, the paper analyses the transformations of feminist media practices in Italy since the start of the 20th century. If during the 1960s and 1970s Italian feminism reached its higher visibility as one of the largest in Europe, since the 1980s, it continued to operate in submerged ways through the creation of feminist bookshops, publishing companies, women’s archives and centres while engaging with practices, ideologies and texts that were circulating transnationally. Since the early 1990s Italian feminist groups started engaging with digital technologies, creating new virtual spaces of dialogue, an autonomous internet service provider, an alternative search engine, digital literacy programmes and practical laboratories. Over the past two decades, the online space became the privileged sphere for activists to challenge the hegemonic gender discourse, debate topics otherwise suppressed or misrepresented by traditional media and create a record of struggle. Expanding from a conceptualization of feminist activism as a process of transit, in this paper, I analyse how feminist media practices gradually transformed, shaped by historical and contextual specificities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper examines the integration of novel Transportation Ecology principles into transit operations, aiming to address the environmental impacts associated with surface services in urban areas and with the purpose of creating a comprehensive agenda for integrating ecological principles into transit planning and management. The research problem is to quantify the tangible benefits for transit operators, particularly in the context of mitigating wildlife-vehicle collisions and improving overall operational efficiency as a motivator for transit managers to adopt Transportation Ecology principles. The study design, after analyzing the regulatory requirements, implements scenario-based methodology, utilizing data from an average Italian bus fleet to estimate potential monetary savings and benefits. Key parameters, such as maintenance costs, insurance premiums, and collision-related expenses, are analyzed to provide a realistic assessment of the economic advantages of implementing Transportation Ecology measures. The findings reveal that significant cost reductions can be achieved by minimizing accidents involving wildlife, alongside other operational improvements. The scenario demonstrates that even a small fleet, when adopting these principles, can yield substantial financial benefits, thereby making a compelling case for broader implementation. The paper concludes that while the qualitative nature of the analysis necessitates conservative estimates, the results underscore the value of incorporating ecological considerations into transit planning and management. These insights are vital for transit operators and policymakers seeking to balance environmental sustainability with operational profitability and protect urban ecosystems. This also implies the need for a more holistic and interdisciplinary approach to transportation planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests a re-periodisation of the transit camps in which hundreds of thousands of immigrants were housed in Israel's first three decades. It anchors the meaning of these temporal housing spaces – known as Ma'abarot – and rebuts the perception of their temporality, presenting new data about institutional policies regarding these allegedly temporary living spaces and the everyday reality of their inhabitants. It suggests a re-periodisation that includes not only the initial handling of the massive Jewish immigration wave during the 'Mass Aliyah' (1948–51) but also the longer-term settling of the immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractFirst-/last-mile (FMLM) services have become an increasingly popular strategy intended to improve transit travel in the United States. However, empirical results about their benefits remain mixed. In this Viewpoint we critically examine the underlying mechanisms that steer decision making toward FMLM services and highlight the reality that in many community contexts, FMLM services do not effectively cater to rider needs. We argue that FMLM services are often band-aid solutions to improving transit services and do not address persisting systemic challenges, especially in low- to medium-density areas, and advocate for a holistic reform of transit planning in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of shared e-scooters with public transit is a promising solution for urban mobility's first/last-mile challenge. This study explores spatiotemporal factors influencing this integration, using 35-day e-scooter trip data from Chicago. Employing a random-effect negative binomial approach, we modeled the frequency of e-scooter trips to access/egress to/from bus stops and train stations. Results indicate that weather conditions, design features like intersection density, and multimodal network density significantly influence usage. The transit system characteristics such as service frequency have a positive effect on the integration of e-scooters and trains while a similar effect for bus and e-scooter integration was not significant. Furthermore, safety-related variables such as accident and crime rates as well as demographic characteristics were also revealed to be significant factors in our study. These findings offer vital insights to urban planners and policymakers for infrastructure, safety enhancements, and interventions to encourage efficient e-scooter-public transit integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of "transit" is an understudied phenomenon in migration studies. Transit is not necessarily a linear and unidirectional temporal movement from origin to destination countries, nor is it a clearly demarcated event in time and space. This article examines the complex dimensions of transit, that is, the geospatial, social, economic, psychological, and relational aspects that both shape and are being shaped by asylum seekers. Drawing on a unique qualitative phenomenological approach, the study utilizes an in-depth case narrative to trace and analyze the transit of Mamadou, a Guinean 26-year-old male asylum seeker in France. The salient themes of the narrative fall into five parts: (1) Triggers of transit; (2) Transit as a survival strategy; (3) The complex legal hurdles of asylum; (4) The politics of discomfort and dispersal; and (5) Acts of resistance. Throughout the narrative, an analytic lens is interwoven as informed by relevant literature. The results highlight how Mamadou's migration trajectory is characterized by various cycles of trauma, while he simultaneously employs survival, livelihood, and resistance strategies to confront and overcome these different forms of trauma. This paper highlights the much-needed call to depoliticize transit through adopting a pragmatic approach to asylum that promotes a virtuous cycle of policies, which contribute to the wellbeing and integration of asylum seekers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Transportation is an important component of dementia-friendly communities. People living with dementia have the right to access transportation services to keep their mobility in their community, which is essential for independence, well-being, and quality of life. This scoping review maps the literature on dementia-friendly transportation services and explores their characteristics to inform future development and research. Research Design and Methods Empirical quantitative and qualitative studies in English or French that informed on transportation services for people living with dementia in the community were searched in 15 databases. Two authors independently screened records and charted relevant characteristics from selected publications. Important findings were summarized with a narrative synthesis approach. Results Thirty-five studies informed on important dimensions of transportation services in urban and/or rural context: availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability, and affordability. Important insights were identified: the importance of staff training and attitude, and the challenges of availability of affordable services in the rural context. Emerging policy and program intervention areas include the need for access to quiet areas in transit hubs, training to use mass public transit and mobility management. Discussion and Implications The literature on dementia-friendly transportation services is important in the expansion and maintenance of mobility for people living with dementia in the community. The scope of the existing scientific literature remains limited. Although several studies indicated a clear need for better access to dementia-friendly transportation services, the best practices still need to be demonstrated in the scientific literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the algorithm of exoplanets transit search in MASTER global robotic telescope network database, that has been created with the involvement and use of artificial intelligence methods. MASTER's 2003–2023 years archive images are stored at data storage and analysis center in Lomonosov supercomputer. For exoplanets transit search we used the images of SWIFT gamma-ray bursts alerts (GRB), received by MASTER telescopes during several hours at target nights. The algorithm includes cross-correlation of GRB error-boxes coordinates and TESS exoplanetary transits candidates inside 4 square degrees of each field. Our analyses is based on wide-field images obtained on MASTER-Amur, -Tunka, -Kislovodsk, -Tavrida, MASTER-IAC, MASTER-OAGH, MASTER-OAFA and MASTER-SAAO robotic telescopes. We used data storage and analysis center in Lomonosov supercomputer with MASTER images archive, calculated light curves for target stars and approximate them to find eclipse by exoplanets. The centralized storage of this data allows us to simplify and significantly speed up access to the huge archive of images formed during the entire operation of the robotic network for automatic processing and facilitate the manual search for the necessary information by the researcher. From this storage we compared the program with unique long homogeneous series of Swift GRBs alert and inspection observations, which we analyzed. The main result is reduction of unique light curves of exoplanetary transits of TIC 127115861.01 TESS candidate, obtained by MASTER long before the TESS space observatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of Ablai Khan KazUIRandWL: Series 'International Relations & Regional Studies' is the property of Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations & World Languages and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Intercity passenger rail services must be designed in a way that users will be willing and able to ride. This study examines potential users' current travel behaviors and willingness to ride a proposed passenger rail between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, US. By analyzing a user preference survey with discrete choice experiment (DCE), the results show a strong support of the proposed rail service, but distinct deficiencies in the current multimodal transportation environment connecting to and from proposed stations. In addition, previous analyses include potentially faulty assumptions about trip purposes, which have critical implications for service design. The findings of this study reflect the priorities of likely rail passengers and advance efforts to plan for successful passenger rail service operation in Southeast Louisiana. The potential user-based and data-driven approach of this case study can also be used for planning other passenger rail services in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an incisive analysis of U.S. rail station area rent trends from 2012 to 2016, post-Great Recession. Utilizing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Hierarchical Spatial Autoregressive (HSAR), and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) models, it uncovers complex interplays between rent changes and socioeconomic, as well as built environment factors. Key findings reveal that increased rents are associated with walkability, higher housing density, and predominantly White neighborhoods. Conversely, rent decreases correlate with diverse land use, higher Black population percentages, and locations further from rail stations or business districts. These results are critical for understanding rent dynamics in transit-oriented development areas, impacting diverse housing market sectors, including workforce and affordable housing. The study’s regional analysis highlights the need for geographically tailored approaches. This research informs policy on housing development and affordability, aiming to mitigate displacement risks for low-income, transit-dependent communities in gentrifying urban areas.

We contribute to the literature on new mobilities by measuring spatial disparities in travel times for accessing essential non-work destinations via ridehailing. We focused on healthcare, restaurants, and grocery destinations in Chicago. Data from Chicago ridehailing providers, which included detailed information about all realized ridehailing trips in Chicago, were used to derive mean travel times by ridehailing for each census tract. Inspired by the gravity-based model, we calculated an inverse travel time index based on cumulative travel times for each census tract where ridehailing trips occurred. To understand the disparities in travel times, we compared the inverse travel time index for ridehailing and transit in the same census tracts. Then, we applied spatial autoregressive regression to examine the effects of various sociodemographic factors. The results suggested that the inverse travel time index was preferable in tracts with a higher household income and a lower percentage of minority populations. Also, disparities in travel times tended to be greater via ridehailing than transit. This study sheds light on disparities related to ridehailing and how we could improve access to essential destinations for underserved and underrepresented populations and communities. Policy implications include subsidizing disadvantaged users who lack reliable transportation options, regulating ridehailing prices, increasing the provision of essential destinations for underserved areas, and maintaining the quality of public transit services.

The intercity and intercounty public systems in the Southern California region still need to be fully integrated, which presents challenges to riders, like paying fares and accessing fare discounts, receiving real-time travel information, and making seamless intermodal transfers. Los Angeles County alone has 26 municipal transit agencies. Los Angeles Metro's (Metro) position as the primary and largest transit agency serving Los Angeles gives it the influence to lead integration efforts. Outside of Los Angeles County, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), Riverside Transit Agency (RTA), San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), and Metrolink operate services that provide transit access between LA County and destinations in the Southern California region. Yet, the organization of these transit providers creates a complex transit system governance structure that challenges coordination across operators –limited coordination results in a fragmented regional transit system that can confuse riders and operators. The report uses responses from interviews with LA Metro, Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, and Caltrans employees and data from the 2022 Metro Customer Survey Study and Metrolink 2022 Rider Survey to analyze the barriers to fare integration. After reviewing data and exploring case studies of integrated transit systems worldwide, this report recommends three actions that LA Mero can consider to enhance fare integration and create seamless transfers between intercity and intercounty transit providers. (1) Establish Initiatives for Equitable Fare Policies, (2) Analyze Current Governance Structures and; (3) Enhance Physical Infrastructure at Transit Station Areas.

Cities are continually turning towards more sustainable modes of transportation as many adopt initiatives and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase quality of life. Active transportation is positioned at the center of this shift as many cities continually untether themselves from car travel and turn to walking/cycling as an alternative.One of the most effective alternatives to vehicular travel are bicycles, specifically electric bicycles (E-bikes). Cycling offers several mental and physical health benefits, and E-bikes dramatically reduce physical barriers to cycling through the addition of an electric motor that aids the user in propelling their bicycle. Bike Share programs have been active in North America for decades and have historically been the most accessible option for bicycle access to those who do not want the costs and responsibilities associated with ownership. As the need for public funding in Bike Share increases, some cities are turning to alternative Bicycle Incentive programs (any program that incentivises the increased adoption of bicycle use) to promote cycling modal share. Government bodies are capitalizing on the rising popularity of E-bikes and cycling in North America by designing and implementing more of these programs in the form of Purchase Subsidies, Leasing & Ride-to-Own programs, and Low-Interest Loans.

Removing a center turn lane from a three-lane road does not appear to interfere with safety goals. In fact, in some cases, it appears it may improve safety. I compared streets with a center turn lane to those that once had a center turn lane, but later removed it. The streets that once had center turn lanes — but later removed them in favor of treatments such as bike lanes — registered an average of 42% fewer crashes per million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) than the comparison streets with center turn lanes. Furthermore, the additional safety benefits held up when measuring across a selection of sub-crash groups, such as fatal and severe crashes and pedestrian and bicycle collisions. While a before-and-after analysis suggested that part of this effect can be attributed to lower crash densities on our treatment streets, this did not invalidate the fact that these streets still observed absolute reductions in crash rates after the removal of a center turn lane, suggesting that center turn lane removal can coexist with safety objectives.

This research aims to prioritize safety on the Muni system from a gender equity perspective and inform the Safety Equity Initiative of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). A mixed-method approach was used, including a survey of Muni transit riders (n = 1,613), to explore experiences of gender-based harassment and perceptions of safety while riding Muni. The findings reveal a significant prevalence of gender-based harassment, with 67 percent of respondents reporting experiences in the last six months. Perceptions of safety are low, with only 68 percent feeling safe during the daytime and 32 percent feeling safe at nighttime. Certain populations, including women, gender minorities, transit-dependent riders, and non-white riders, experience higher levels of harassment and lower perceptions of safety. Spatial analysis identifies harassment hotspots in downtown San Francisco and Mission Terrace. Reporting incidents is often hindered by reluctance, lack of awareness, and skepticism about the impact of reporting. The most desired safety improvements are transit ambassadors and increased lighting. Based on these findings, transformative recommendations are provided, categorized into three categories: service changes, infrastructure improvements, and campaigns/advocacy. This research contributes to knowledge about gender-based harassment in transit and informs the SFMTA's Safety Equity Initiative.

Since the passing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill in 2021, high schools and nonprofits are now (re)eligible for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funding. This capstone’s client, Trailnet, is an active transportation non-profit based in St. Louis, Missouri, where the capstone project will center its work. Trailnet has tasked this project with addressing three questions: 1) why there is a lack of programmatic funding in the St. Louis region 2) how current successful/engaged SRTS programs around the nation are operating and 3) how Trailnet could practically support local school districts. In pursuit of these questions, this capstone followed a three-prong approach. By conducting informational interviews with national SRTS practitioners, working with a local school district (Bayless), and researching funding evaluation criteria in the region, we were able to highlight both challenges and opportunities for kids walking and biking to school in St. Louis. Specifically, we address the challenges that resource-scarce school districts face in applying for national funding and the importance of building coalitions and having champions at the school level. To tackle these resource constraints, we propose the creation of a planning assistance fund and an administrative support fund, similar to those of Oregon, for communities that could be classified as “support priority”. The first will provide resources to help schools compile initial resources necessary to be competitive for national funding while the latter will help sustain schools with programming support upon receipt of grant money. Additionally, this capstone pursued an extensive evaluation of current funding criteria and made recommendations for updated priorities that highlight environmental and transportation justice considerations.

California and its regional and local governments have invested heavily in public transit over the past half-century to provide an alternative to driving, ease traffic congestion, reduce emissions, slow climate change, steer new development, and provide mobility for those without. As a result, bus service has improved and expanded, and many parts of the state’s metropolitan areas are now served by rail transit.Yet today, many of the state’s transit systems are struggling operationally and financially. Ridership began eroding in the half-decade leading up to 2020 and plummeted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three federal pandemic relief bills provided a critical lifeline to keep struggling transit systems afloat early on, but these funds are running out. Meanwhile, operating costs have risen, ridership and fare revenues have only partially returned, and some transit systems face “fiscal cliffs,” where they will need substantial new infusions of funding, substantial cuts in costs and service, or some combination of the two.Against this backdrop, this report examines the current state of California transit finance: why ridership and fare revenues are down and their prospects for recovery; what lessons the successful federal relief bills provide; why commuter-oriented systems are struggling financially much more than those that primarily service transit-reliant riders; and what the financial managers at transit systems have done to cope with this turbulent time and how they see their future financial prospects.

The recently formed “Gas Union” of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is at a turning point, symbolizing a major shift in the energy dynamics of Central Asia. The goal of this tripartite alliance, initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is to transport Russian gas to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan. This event marks a historic moment, as it is the first time that Russian gas has been imported into Central Asia. Against the backdrop of acute energy problems in the region, this union is aimed at meeting the immediate needs of the member states from Central Asia, but it also leaves many long-term geopolitical and economic issues for the parties involved. This article aims to comprehensively analyze the Central Asia - Center gas pipeline within the framework of the emerging Russia - Central Asia Gas Union. It seeks to identify and discuss the geopolitical, economic, and environmental challenges and opportunities this renewed energy cooperation presents. The scope of this study encompasses an examination of the historical context of the pipeline, the strategic objectives of the involved nations, and the potential implications for the regional and global energy landscape. The research methodology includes a thorough review of existing literature, policy documents, and energy reports. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on neoliberal theory. The authors conclude that the creation of a new energy alliance is a sign of the beginning of a new stage in the transformation of energy cooperation between Russia and the Central Asian countries.

Abstract Background Public transportation use is influenced by perceptions of safety. Concerns related to crime on New York City (NYC) transit have risen following NYC’s COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration in 2020, leading to declines in subway ridership. In response, the most recent mayoral administration implemented a Subway Safety Plan in 2022. This study aimed to quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Subway Safety Plan on rates of complaints to and arrests by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Transit Bureau. Methods Using publicly available data on complaints and arrests, we conducted interrupted time-series analyses using autoregressive integrated moving average models applied to monthly data for the period from September 2018 to August 2023. We estimated changes in the rates of complaints to and arrests by the NYPD Transit Bureau before and after: (1) the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration (i.e., March 2020), and (2) the announcement of the Subway Safety Plan (i.e., February 2022). We also examined trends by complaint and arrest type as well as changes in proportion of arrests by demographic and geographic groups. Results After the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, there was an 84% increase (i.e., an absolute increase of 6.07 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 1.42, 10.71) in complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau, including a 99% increase (0.91 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.42, 1.41) in complaints for assault and a 125% increase in complaints for harassment (0.94 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.29, 1.60). Following the Subway Safety Plan there was an increase in the rate of arrests for harassment (0.004 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.001, 0.007), as well as decreases in the proportion of arrests for individuals racialized as White (− 0.02, CI − 0.04, − 0.01) and proportion of arrests in the borough of Manhattan (− 0.13, CI − 0.17, − 0.09). Conclusions The increased rates of complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic remained elevated following the enactment of the Subway Safety Plan. Further evaluation efforts can help identify effective means of promoting safety on public transportation.

In this report, we examine both the substantial research literature on transit pricing and use and literature on free- and reduced fare (FAR) programs. In general, we find that FAR programs can take many forms, and the idea of “fare-free” transit is far from a one-size-fits-all proposition. Second, while reducing or eliminating fares does indeed increase ridership, all else equal, transit research has consistently found that riders tend to be more service elastic than fare elastic. In other words, they tend to respond more to service improvements than price reductions, which means that, at the margin, money “spent” on fare-free programs (in the form of foregone revenues) may attract fewer riders than if that money were put toward improving service. And third, the social equity dimensions of fare-free transit are many, ranging from considering the share of fare-free benefits that flow to higher-income riders to the potential racial equity benefits of reduced fare enforcement policing on transit.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected public transit systems around the globe. Because transit systems typically move many people closely together on buses and trains, public health guidance demanded that riders should keep a distance of about two meters to others changed the definition of crowding on transit in 2020. Accordingly, this research examines how U.S. public transit agencies responded to public health guidance that directly conflicted with their business model. To do this, we examined published crowding standards before the COVID-19 pandemic for a representative sample of 200 transit systems, including whether they started or changed their published standards during the pandemic, as well as the reasons whether agencies publicize such standards at all. We present both descriptive statistics and regression model results to shed light on the factors associated with agency crowding standards. We find that 56% of the agencies surveyed published crowding standards before the pandemic, while only 46% published COVID-19-specific crowding standards. Regression analyses suggest that larger agencies were more likely to publish crowding standards before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely because they are more apt to experience crowding. Pandemic-specific crowding standards, by contrast, were associated with a more complex set of factors. We conclude that the relative lack of pandemic standards reflects the uncertainty and fluidity of the public health crisis, inconsistent and at times conflicting with the guidance from public health officials, and, in the U.S., a lack national or transit industry consensus on appropriate crowding standards during the first year of the pandemic.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic highly impacted transit ridership as people reduced or stopped travel, these changes occurred at different rates in different regions across the United States. This study explores the impacts of COVID-19 on ridership and recovery trends for all federally funded transit agencies in the United States from January 2020 to June 2022. The findings of this analysis show that overall transit ridership hit a 100-year low in 2020. Changepoint analysis revealed that June 2021 marked the beginning of the recovery for transit ridership in the United States. However, even by June 2022, rail and bus ridership were only about two-thirds of the pre-pandemic levels in most metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Only in a handful of MSAs like Tampa and Tucson did rail ridership reach or exceed 2019 ridership. This retrospective study concludes with a discussion of some longer-term changes likely to continue to impact ridership, such as increased telecommuting and operator shortages, as well as some opportunities, such as free fares and increased availability of bus lanes. The findings of this study can help inform agencies about their performance compared to their peers and highlight general challenges facing the transit industry.

Food provisioning represents a major everyday challenge for migrant shelter administrators, workers, and volunteers, yet very little is known about the specific conditions and challenges faced by these spaces. While there is a small body of scholarly work about food in shelters from the perspective of people on the move, most of this literature is based on state-run shelters in the Global North, and there is little understanding of the challenges and conditions faced by non-state shelters in general, and by shelters in the Global South in particular. This article represents an opening for exploring these issues. Drawing on a day-long workshop conducted between a team of researchers and representatives of five migrant shelters in the Mexico City metropolitan area, the article discusses the theoretical and practical stakes of ensuring food security for migrant populations and suggests that we rescale food security to address these spaces and their struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of transport systems has traditionally focused on congestion and ridership as its core performance measures. These perspectives fail to account for the actual service people seek from the transport system—the ability to reach destinations. Recent studies have shifted to focus on accessibility as a performance indicator, but do not address the question whether the observed accessibility is sufficient for meeting people's daily needs. This paper contributes to the accessibility literature by (1) applying a people-centered approach to the performance assessment of transit systems and (2) exploring the factors explaining the differences in performance between regions. The paper proposes the Accessibility Sufficiency Index (ASI) as a performance standard. The ASI is based on a sufficiency threshold representing an accessibility level that is assumed to enable adequate access to destinations. The paper uses neighborhood transit job accessibility data to calculate separate ASI scores for different sufficiency thresholds for 49 large US metropolitan areas. Regression analyses show that transit system performance is shaped most strongly by transit vehicle revenue miles, mixed land uses, and activity centering. Importantly, the size of these effects varies by the employed sufficiency threshold, suggesting that transportation and land use factors affect transit performance at different spatial scales. The results have implications for the ways we evaluate transport and transit systems and for our understanding of the factors that affect their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the user’s perceived quality of the service of a city bus and bus rapid transit (BRT) provided in the study areas of Navi Mumbai and Surat, India. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was used to identify the significant variables and quantify the effect of those variables on overall satisfaction. The models were validated using validation indices such as Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Normed Fit Index (NFI), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), and Cronbach’s alpha which are generally adopted for testing SEM models. Predicted models were observed to represent the actual data to a good extent. It was observed that users consider bus stop waiting time, bus on-time performance, and in-vehicle travel time as most important and riding comfort, safety, and end-to-end connectivity as relatively less important. The outputs provide policymakers with an understanding of the user’s perception of the overall service quality of the transit system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road transportation is the main contributor to emissions in Surakarta City, Indonesia. Massive commuting and transit activities are predicted as the driving forces behind this condition. This research took place in the administrative area of Surakarta from July-August 2022. It aimed to determine the impact of commuting and transit activities on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by the city's road transportation and develop a spatial interpretation of the emission distribution. A Tier 3 approach was used to estimate the emissions from average daily traffic data based on a 24-hour count and the characteristics of the monitored road segments with the Mobilev software. Results showed an estimated emission of 722,795.3 tonnes CO2e/year from road transportation. Commuting and transit accounted for 50.33% of the city's total road emissions or 133.77% of local vehicle emissions according to calculations from fuel sales, which were dominantly produced by private passenger cars (38.26%) and motorcydes (37.71%). The spatial distribution indicated a pattern where emission loads were higher at city gates and along transit lines than in the central business district (CBD) area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Public transportation use is influenced by perceptions of safety. Concerns related to crime on New York City (NYC) transit have risen following NYC's COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration in 2020, leading to declines in subway ridership. In response, the most recent mayoral administration implemented a Subway Safety Plan in 2022. This study aimed to quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Subway Safety Plan on rates of complaints to and arrests by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Transit Bureau. Methods: Using publicly available data on complaints and arrests, we conducted interrupted time-series analyses using autoregressive integrated moving average models applied to monthly data for the period from September 2018 to August 2023. We estimated changes in the rates of complaints to and arrests by the NYPD Transit Bureau before and after: (1) the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration (i.e., March 2020), and (2) the announcement of the Subway Safety Plan (i.e., February 2022). We also examined trends by complaint and arrest type as well as changes in proportion of arrests by demographic and geographic groups. Results: After the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, there was an 84% increase (i.e., an absolute increase of 6.07 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 1.42, 10.71) in complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau, including a 99% increase (0.91 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.42, 1.41) in complaints for assault and a 125% increase in complaints for harassment (0.94 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.29, 1.60). Following the Subway Safety Plan there was an increase in the rate of arrests for harassment (0.004 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.001, 0.007), as well as decreases in the proportion of arrests for individuals racialized as White (− 0.02, CI − 0.04, − 0.01) and proportion of arrests in the borough of Manhattan (− 0.13, CI − 0.17, − 0.09). Conclusions: The increased rates of complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic remained elevated following the enactment of the Subway Safety Plan. Further evaluation efforts can help identify effective means of promoting safety on public transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2011, migration and asylum have grown in salience in EU-Tunisia international cooperation. Through various agreements, the EU has provided technical and financial support to Tunisia to strengthen its border management capabilities, develop a national migration strategy, legislate a national asylum framework, and re-integrate Tunisians who were returned from Europe. However, among the points of contention between Tunisia and the EU, two key issues stand out: the continued absence of a national law governing asylum in Tunisia, and Tunisia's refusal to include clauses related to readmission (of its own nationals and third-country nationals) in its agreements with the EU. Drawing on an analysis of cooperation on asylum and readmission between the EU and Tunisia from 2011 to 2021, this article argues that the EU's perceptions of a lack of cooperation from its Tunisian counterparts are misplaced. Rather, Tunisia is willing to work cooperatively with the EU as long as it does not see this cooperation serve the sole purpose of supporting the EU's externalization agenda. We see this attitude as a form of resistance to EU pressure, with the unfortunate consequence being the undermining of protection for vulnerable populations in Tunisia and in the EU. Tunisian authorities see the adoption of an asylum law as paving the way for disembarkation platforms, the use of the safe third country concept to return foreign nationals and contain them to Tunisia. This has been fueled by issue linkage in negotiations with the EU between the passing of the asylum act and the return of third-country nationals to Tunisia. Similarly, while Tunisia has concluded agreements with some EU countries regarding the readmission of its nationals, its priorities with respect to facilitating returns lie in the protection of its nationals' social rights rather than in meeting quantitative targets set by the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this article is to analyse experiences associated with steamship mobilities in the years 1869–1891, with focus on voyages to and from Asia via the Suez Canal. The source base includes lesser-known texts written by Polish, Russian, Serbian, and Indian authors that are examined using a twofold approach. The first is focused on the macroscale, scrutinising the networks in which travellers functioned, including other communication technologies and imperial webs. The second is focused on the microscale, on bodily experiences of travellers: how did they characterize their bodily position on board of the ship and factors which influenced it, as well as how did they describe their sensuous impressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positioning of Mexico as a country of transit, since the end of the 1980s, particularly in relation to the United States, allows us to take into account its geopolitical condition as a place of global delocalisation and relocalisation. At the same time, we can therefore consider the effects of this situation on both countries. In this condition of transit, the narrative possibilities of a historical discourse both to and from Mexico and the United States have changed considerably, modifying thus the ways of understanding artistic production. In this sense, we must understand the correlations not as an inside and an outside, but rather in terms of flow and porosity. This article shows how narratives and practices within contemporary Mexican art have changed based on the bilateral relations with the Unites States, and it also elaborates on some particular cases in which local artistic production has transformed in the last 20 years due to the flows relative to the Mexican territory.

In this paper, I review literature that can build foundation for integrating allocative and productive efficiency research of transit provision in the United States. Both frameworks concern transit performance but use distinct methods and talk past each other. Productive efficiency research uses economic cost models to measure the economic structure of transit service — economies of scale, economies of scope, etc. — to inform aggregate system size and output. This research shows that bus transit reaches constant scale economies between 300 and 500 vehicles but says little about when and where to allot these resources. Allocative efficiency research uses cost allocation models that disaggregate transit systems into parts — generally spatial areas or times of service — to measure service output and pricing variability. This literature suggests that transit agencies underprice or over-allocate resources to suburban areas and peak travel times. Yet, allocative efficiency scholarship ignores aggregate economic factors. This isolation in research approach and scale of focus leaves unclear the union between how much transit to produce, and when and where to produce it. Both bodies of literature can benefit from representation of transit modes other than bus transit and methodological integration. Allocative efficiency research can benefit from the use of more granular data and spatiotemporally focused studies.