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Regional Public Transportation Solutions for
Intercity Commute Traffic
Co-Principal
Investigator:
Dr. Fengxiang Qiao
Sponsoring Agency:
Texas Department of Transportation, TxDOT
0-5345
Period:
September 1, 2005 ~ August 31, 2007
Research
Abstract:
This research
study will examine commuter travel to Texas’
urban areas from outlying cities, suburbs, and
rural communities, and propose ways in which
urban and rural transit providers could
coordinate to serve this travel market.
Increasing numbers of Texans are commuting from
outlying communities to jobs in urban areas,
both the larger metropolitan centers like
Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas/Fort
Worth and smaller urban centers like
Bryan/College Station, Tyler/Longview and
Killeen /Waco/Temple. Many of these commute
trips originate outside the urban transit
service areas, making transit an inconvenient or
even non-viable commute mode, and the travel
corridors connecting these outlying communities
to the metropolitan areas are likely to
represent growing volumes of traffic and
increasing congestion in future years. While
many small urban and rural areas are served by
their own public transportation providers, often
these providers have no service connections to
the larger urban transit systems, or are not
structured to serve peak period intercity
commute travel. The Department’s expanded role
in public transportation warrants an examination
of medical transportation program (MTP) services
as an aspect of this study. Because precise
service data on origins and destinations of
client travel is maintained for MTP services,
the inclusion of MTP services will enhance the
study. The study will be sensitive to the
level-of-service demands of MTP clients.
In this project,
the research team will (1) review prior research
on public transportation coordination and
partnerships in Texas and elsewhere, including
RMC Research Project 0-4233 on transit
information coordination; (2) review available
travel data relating to home and job locations
and client origins and destinations in and
around Texas urban areas; (3) identify travel
corridors for one or more urban areas that carry
significant levels of commuter traffic that
originate outside the urban transit service
area; (4) meet with public transportation
providers and other stakeholders to discuss
needs, challenges, and potential solutions for
intercity and rural-to-urban commuter transit
service; (5) develop location-specific
guidelines for potential public transportation
coordination solutions along selected travel
corridors, including institutional agreements,
infrastructure, and estimated costs; (6)
document all tasks and results in a research
report and in a fact sheet or executive summary
for public transportation stakeholders.
Research
Information
For further information about the research,
please contact Dr. Fengxiang Qiao by telephone
at (713) 313-1915 or by e-mail at
qiao_fg@tsu.edu.
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