Urban Public Transportation System: Ensuring Sustainability Through Mass Transit

This Power Point presentation includes general orientation; information on public transportation systems; pedestrain amenities; and road structure, including regulation and control, evolving urban development trend, and US role in transit development.

This paper is intended to show the general characteristics of Bogotá and its transportation system before the implementation of the Mobility Strategy set forth by the local administration starting in 1998. The paper is based on a city Datasheet prepared by the Office of the Mayor in 2000 and studies by Steer Davies Gleave for the Operational Design of the TransMilenio Bus Rapid Transit System.

Bogotá is developing an ambitious mobility strategy whose main objective is to initiate a structural change in transportation to improve livability and make the city more efficient and competitive. The strategy seeks transit priority, exploration of alternative transport modes and reduction of private automobile use. This paper summarizes some aspects of Bogotá's mobility strategy including the situation prior to its initiation, objectives and program formulation, resource mobilization, process description, goals achieved, sustainability, lessons learned and transferability.

TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit system in Bogotá, Columbia resulting from a successful public-private partnership. The system comprises specialized infrastructure including exclusive lanes for high capacity articulated buses, efficient private operation, advanced fare collection system, and a new public authority for planning, developing and controlling the system. TransMilenio started operations in December 2000. By April 2002 it moved 650,000 pass/day in 38 Km bus ways, 62 stations, 470 articulated buses and 300 feeder buses operating 125 Km routes. Extensions will continue in the next 16 years to cover 85% of the daily trips in the city. TransMilenio is a high quality and sustainable transport solution, at a very low cost for the tax payers and the direct users. This paper presents the situation of Bogotá, the overall mobility strategy in which the mass transit system is embedded, the components of TransMilenio, the implementation strategy, and the results after five months of operation.

The Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois (RTA) serves Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry, and Will Counties, which together are home to approximately 8 million residents in the Chicago area. The RTA provides regional planning, funding and oversight for the region's three transit operators: the Chicago Transit Authority (city bus and rail rapid transit), Metra (commuter rail), and Pace (suburban bus). The mission of the RTA is to ensure a financially sound, comprehensive and coordinated public transportation system for the region. The RTA interprets its role as a transit resource management agency. To accomplish this, it has developed several integrated planning programs that together address various issues facing an established metropolis with a mature transit system. First, the RTA is helping communities design their local centers in a transit-supportive manner through the Regional Technical Assistance Program. Second, county-wide and corridor planning studies explore and define transportation and land use alternatives for groups of communities anticipating major transportation improvements. Third, the Regional Transit Coordination Plan is now under way to improve coordination between the CTA, Metra, and Pace in order to enhance regional mobility by improving interagency transfers. Fourth, the RTA is leading the development of several Intelligent Transportation Systems to improve information provided to transit customers and use existing capacity better. Fifth, the Regional Transit Asset Management System is helping to keep track of assets and services throughout the region. Finally, the region's transit capital program emphasizes renewing and preserving the system in a state of good repair.

Metra is the commuter rail arm of the Regional Transportation Authority, providing commuter rail service along 545 route miles in the greater Chicago area. As part of the United States Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems initiative, Metra is implementing a Parking Management Guidance System (PMGS) pilot project. PMGS is intended to achieve greater efficiencies from the existing inventory of commuter parking by means of informing motorists of transit parking availability and facilities locations, thereby offering air quality and traffic congestion reduction benefits. The Project will be implemented in three phases. Phase I calls for site evaluations, completion of conceptual design plans, completion of Invitation for Bid specifications and preparation of a technical evaluation plan and user survey. Phase II includes PMGS procurement, construction and testing. Phase III calls for implementation of the technical evaluation and post-demonstration users survey. This paper summarizes the background of the project and outlines the activities of each phase.

This paper presents a high level view of the CORBA based system architecture design of the GCM Gateway TIS. It focuses on the perspective of ITS C2C interoperability. The object oriented Gateway external data model and the Gateway Publisher/Subscriber based data collection and distribution are introduced. The decision to utilize an object oriented DataBase Management Structure versus a relational DBMS is discussed. This paper also serves as a call for the development of CORBA oriented specifications of national ITS standards, which to this point have focused on DATEX. Based on our experience with CORBA as the foundation for the Gateway architecture we recommend CORBA be considered for future systems.

The dispersed urban form and irregular distribution of residential densities found in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, makes it highly reliant on transport but very difficult to service effectively with public transport. Various initiatives are being implemented by both the provincial and municipal governments of Gauteng to address this problem with an emphasis on the integration of land use and transport, and the promotion of public transport in particular. The objective of this paper is, firstly, to facilitate an understanding of the nature of the Province of Gauteng and which demonstrates the need for the promotion of public transport and, secondly, to briefly discuss some of the present actions done on a provincial-wide basis to create a better environment for sustainable transport.

The White Paper on National Land Passenger Transport Policy (1996) proposed a number of changes to the South African public transport system. These changes are based on the principle of regulated competition with the national goal of subsidiarity in mind. The National Land Transport Transition Act (NLTTA), Act 22 of 2000, is starting to give form to the changes as envisaged in the White Paper policy. As one of the key thrusts, the NLTTA places an obligation on all spheres of government to promote public transport and to facilitate the increased utilization of public transport. This Act also directs that it is a basic principle that the provisions of adequate public transport infrastructure, facilities and services must be given higher priority than private transport, inter alia by applying travel demand management measures to discourage private transport.

In considering the requirements defined by the Gauteng Spatial Development Framework, the existing rail system within the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (Approximately 100km of dual track) presented the ideal opportunity to restructure the existing fabric of the city. This is due to the following aspects: (1) It is a public transport facility, the focal point of an extensive metropolitan rail system, which is accessible to all disadvantaged communities; (2) It links with most of the major nodes of economic activity and job opportunities in the metropolitan area; (3) It links to most of the major community facilities in the metropolitan area, such as hospitals, schools, universities and technicons; (4) There are many opportunities for residential redevelopment, infill development, densification and upgrading in areas along the rail network that could provide for the future integration of historically segregated communities.

The paper briefly covers the background that has led to the current position and sets out the details of the ambitious programme for achieving a further step change in the image and quality of bus services in London, over and above the substantial improvements made in recent years.

LA County's population, employment and vehicles are projected to grow 28% to 37% by 2025. Due to urban sprawl and complex multidirectional travel pattern, the vehicle miles traveled are projected to increase by 53%. The 4000-mile freeway system in LA County's urbanized area cannot be expanded easily; therefore, more emphasis is given to alternative transportation solutions such as HOV-carpool lanes and improving transit services. Four primary alternatives (e.g., Vehicle Moving, People Moving, Financially Constrained, and Financially Unconstrained Alternatives) were tested. In addition, sensitivity tests beyond conventional solutions were applied to Constrained and Unconstrained Alternatives.

Planning for bus rapid transit systems is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. Especially in vast metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, such planning requires the bird's-eye perspective of aerial photography, and even the astronaut's eye perspective of satellite imaging. But no matter how large the overall scale, there is another kind of perspective which should not be overlooked: the sidewalk perspective of the bus rider. Indeed part of Metro Rapid's success can be attributed to the fact that the macro scale of operational planning was, from a very early stage, coupled with the human scale design of its graphics and its architecture.

Los Angeles public bus transportation has slowed significantly over the past decade. Recent studies indicate that half the time a bus is in service it is stopped, either at a traffic signal or a bus stop to board patrons. To improve bus speeds, the Los Angeles Metro Rapid Program was implemented in June 2000. Six months following implementation, the program was deemed a success. Operating speed, service quality, ridership, and customer response all exceeded objectives, with very little or no negative impact on the rest of the transportation system and other travel modes.

In the beginning of the 1980s, the Madrid region, like the rest of the country, was subject to several different tensions created by the following events: (1) The energy crisis that broke out at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s increased unemployment rates to levels above 20%; (2) The political model changed and the country began its transition to a democratic system from a strong central government to an organization into autonomous regions; and (3) In the beginning of the 1970s, the social structure changed as women began to play more important role in the labour force. This fact also changed certain mobility patterns and triggered a drop in birth rates. In addition, Madrid was going through other specific changes in regards to public transport: (1) Madrid's population began to decrease, the maximum of 3,228,057 inhabitants was reached in 1975, as people moved to the outskirts. The metropolitan ring did not have a railway network that was capable of handling the public transportation necessities required by the new metropolitan mobility structured and (2) There were two large public operators in the city of Madrid, one in charge of the underground network and the other the urban bus network. These operators were competitors, a fact that decreased the number of people who used the underground network for travelling owing to the transport network's lack of service and fare coordination and the better fares offered by the bus company.

The evolution of the population in Madrid, where the reduction in Madrid city's proportion of the regional total can be observed, from 75% in 1975 to 57% in 1996, and with the trend being towards a continued reduction. Thus, one could say that Madrid metropolitan area, with more than 5 million inhabitants, relatively high car ownership, high public transport modal split and rather traffic congestion, is involved in an ongoing maturity process, pointed up during the last years.

Sustainability has significant implications for transportation planning, because present transport activities tend to be highly resource-intensive, have numerous external costs, and frequently distribute impacts inequitably. Sustainability requires rethinking how we measure transportation. It focuses on access, which can often be improved with strategies that reduce the need to travel altogether, such as land use and improved communications. Sustainable transportation necessitates greater reliance on non-motorized transport for local travel, increased use of mass transportation in urban areas, and a reduction of personal automobile use. Mass transportation means are the most energy-efficient and most environmentally sound ways to move people. Among the benefits of mass transit are conserving energy and other resources; reducing pollution and its impact on the environment; and alleviating traffic congestion. Subsidized public mass transportation could improve inner city residents access to all metropolitan neighborhoods and help reduce reliance On automobiles. In the Indian scenario applied to the Mumbai city, there are permanent problems of congestion, increased travel time, commuter discomfort and environmental pollution. In a conscious effort to tackle these problems efficiently and also taking into account the issue of sustainability, this paper proposes an Integrated Mass Transportation system comprising the existing Central and Western Railway corridor, in conjunction with the two new components, namely, the Sky bus and the Battery-charged vehicle. The benefits of such an integrated system in attaining sustainability are investigated in this paper.

The World Trade Center act of terror destroyed not only several large and active buildings, but the infrastructure that connects them to each other and to the rest of the region. The instinctive response of the region is to build something again quickly and to fix the broken transportation systems. But, as the question of what to build and for whom surfaces, the nature of the fix of the infrastructure comes into question. This paper addresses applying strategic planning principles to this almost intractable problem. Those principles suggest looking both short and long term at needs and resources, and also demand that planners look at the changing environment in which they work. The towers were built on assumptions of the 1970s, and were fit into existing subways and rail systems. In rebuilding for the 2020s the strategic questions address how best to meet the needs of new cultures, economies and populations.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics that tells us that the entropy of the universe is forever increasing. It seems that he first law of major urban areas like New York is that traffic demand is always increasing. However, the physical infrastructure to serve the traffic, our highways, streets, bridges and tunnels cannot keep pace. There are significant economic consequences associated with this imbalance. This presentation will discuss the expanding role that Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are playing in the New York Metropolitan area.

It is obvious that public transportation's designated role is changing, and it is becoming a more important part of the society. Consideration of the measures being taken to address global environmental issues and the need to provide transportation services for the physically and/or mentally challenged in response to societal aging, as well as other aspects, make it clear that public transportation must not only be able to efficiently handle large volumes of traffic, but also function as an environmentally-friendly means of transportation responsive to user needs. Through the development and management of subway and municipal bus systems, the City of Osaka has done its best to create a metropolitan public transportation system. This paper describes the history of the railways and the current state and trends in railway transportation in the city; and possible changes in the future and the ideal subway development.

In the Kansai area (Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, Wakayama and Osaka) 57 transportation agencies and companies operate railway and bus services to provide urban transportation. Since it is difficult to construct new lines at enormous costs under severe finance conditions in Japan, the Osaka municipal transportation bureau introduced the "stored value card system" called `Surutto-Kansai' in response to the needs of the "cash-free" age. Through this system, the appropriate transit fare is automatically deducted from a prepaid card as it goes through an automated ticket gate. This prepaid card can be used not only for municipal transportation, but also for most private railways for getting on and off trains and buses in the Kansai region. By combining several fare systems into only one card system, passengers can enjoy great conveniences. Also, this is expected to contribute to the sustainability of the public transportation in the Kansai region.

The Osaka municipal subway system launched its service in 1933. Since then, the subway system has been expanded in its length and has constituted the city's major transportation network. Now, about 2.4 million passengers utilize this 115.6 km, seven-line subway network in a day. In 1993, "E-E-Ma-Chi Plan" was conceived as the barrier-free plan for existing stations. As a result of this plan, additional large-scale improvements were made, including the installation of escalators and elevators to enhance the convenience of passengers. This kind of comprehensive plan was a pioneering venture at that time. This paper describes the "Barrier-free Plan" and its background in detail.

With 40,000 employees, 14 Metro lines, 2 RER lines (the regional transit express), 2 tramway lines and 246 bus lines, the RATP, the Paris Mass Transit Authority, is the biggest mass transit company in Europe and one of the leading transit companies in the world. It serves an area of 12,000 square kilometres with 11 million residents and 5 million jobs. This area produces twenty-eight percent of the country's wealth. The RATP is a publicly owned company created in 1949. The company, which operates all transit modes, provides services in the hypocenter, and 3 counties in the near suburbs and 4 counties in the outer suburbs.

This PowerPoint presentation discusses general principles of the organization of public transport in France and provides a presentation of the situation in Ile-de-France, including (1) key figures; (2) main actors; (3) presentation of STIF (missions, organisation, budget); and (4) relationships between STIF and operating companies.

Operating since 1974, the Saeo Metro can be considered as a successful public transport system. Although working with a relatively short network, it attends 1.7 million entering passengers per working day. This report describes the urban scenery where the São Paulo Metro was implemented, their main technical and operational dimensions, characteristics and indicators; the tolls dedicated to keep up with users and citizens preferences and opinions. A significant chapter is dedicated to describe and to analyze the main factors that produce the service success and the relevant role played by innovations provided by the subway service in Metropolitan Transport.

In 1995 Sao Paulo, the third largest city in the world had two mass transit rail systems with entirely different historical origins that provided their passengers with contrasting levels of service. Sao Paulo Metro, modern and efficient subway network with the second highest passenger rider ship per route kilometer in the world carrying 2.2 million trips per day on 40 kilometers. This system was designed and built from scratch as a continuous project since 1968. A commuter type train system with mixed freight traffic on certain sections servicing 700 thousand passenger trips on 270 kilometers of routes on old trains with irregular service and overloaded conditions. This system included sections of track designed in the 19^th century as freight lines first as private and later as Sao Paulo State and Federal government companies. In the 90s both systems were merged into a new state-owned passenger mass transit company called CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos).

The Integrated Urban Transportation Plan — PITU 2020 is a planning process starting with the statement of a wish, shared by significant decision-maker agents, that expresses what it would be like to live in Sao Paulo, in 2020. Through the established objectives for the transport policy and the performance indicators, it analyses future scenarios, defining and testing strategies in order to, finally, identify the necessary interventions on transportation systems, as well as on the infrastructure existing or to implant in the Metropolitan Area.

Urban public transportation plays a vital role in sustaining the quality of life in Seoul, Korea. Urban public transportation carries about seventy five percent of the total trips made. This paper discusses land use, travel, and urban transportation patterns in Seoul. Current status of bus, subway and taxi is explained in detail. Contribution of public transportation in sustaining the quality of urban life in terms of air quality and mobility is discussed. Some important policy measures to boost use of public transportation are introduced and their impacts are discussed. Future public transportation policy direction that stresses integration of bus and subway, and urban and regional public transportation is also explained.

The high efficient speed rail (hereinafter referred to as HSR) system of Korea, which is called Korea Train Expren (RTX), is safer, faster, economical and environmentally than other transportation modes. The HSR is expected to enhance the quality of life in Korea Similar to other countries such as Japan, France, Germany and Spain, which have operating HSR Systems. The Seoul-Busan (so called Gyeong-Bu) high speed rail construction project (412km, 116min.) in Korea is to be opened by phase. The master plan was changed in 1998 to achieve early resolution of the traffic congestion of Seoul-Busan axis as well as the difficult national economic situation. This paper describes the integration of Urban Public Transportation around KTX Seoul Station.

Measures for subjecting vehicles to road pricing are under examination with the view of alleviating traffic congestion and enhancing the environment These measures are normally considered part of traffic demand management (TDM). As a means of subjecting vehicles to road pricing, the National Police Agency (NPA) of Japan is looking into methods of implementing a road pricing system through communication between the in-vehicle unit of a vehicle and roadside equipment, a system which makes the practical use of cameras, etc. By using optical communication as a communication medium, the NPA conducted a primary experiment in the field to confirm that the Advanced Mobile Information Systems (AMIS) unit communicates positively with infrared beacons installed on the roadside. Additionally, the experiment was to confirm whether or not the construction of an electronic road pricing system (ERP) is possible through the practical use of infrared beacons, which are one of the existing infrastructures. From this experiment, it was confirmed that the construction of an ERP system employing infrared beacons is technically possible. This paper reports the results of the Verification of the primary field experiment.

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the urban context in which public transportation exists in the City of Toronto. The context is defined in terms of the city's socioeconomic, land use and travel characteristics. Because cross-boundary trips constitute a significant portion of travel in the City of Toronto, this analysis also includes the surrounding 4 municipalities of the city, which together with the city are known as the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). The regional boundaries of the GTA's 5 municipalities are shown. The major freeways serving the GTA, and the subway and commuter rail networks are also shown. As shown, the subway runs only within the city of Toronto along three lines: Bloor-Danforth (east-west line), Yonge (the eastern north-south line) and University-Spadina (the western north-south line). The GO Rail commuter rail network consists of 6 lines, each originating outside the City of Toronto and terminating at the Union Station in downtown Toronto. The source of socioeconomic, land use and travel information used in the study is the 1996 Transportation Tomorrow Survey (TTS), which involved a 5.0% sample of households in the GTA.

Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and a major economic centre in North America. The new City of Toronto was created through an amalgamation in 1998, of the former city of Toronto, five other cities and boroughs, and the former regional government, Metro Toronto. It has a population of over 2.3 million inhabitants. However, the new amalgamated city of Toronto only represents the core of a much larger urbanized area, often referred to as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), which encompasses a population of over 5 million, spread over 100 kilometers along the shores of Lake Ontario, and extending 50 kilometers to the North. This paper will provide a brief overview of the complex nature of transit in the GTA region, identify a number of transit features that stand out as noteworthy in an international comparison, such as being presented in the conference organized by the ASCE, and conclude by presenting a number of significant challenges that face transit in the Greater Toronto region.

As noted elsewhere, ever since concern about automobile dependence emerged in the early 60s as a serious urban issue in North America, Toronto has been recognized for avoiding the pitfalls of massive expressway programs and developing instead, an efficient, safe, and intensively used system of public transportation. Notwithstanding Toronto's strong commitment to continuous transit improvement, warning signs have emerged lately to shake Torontonians' typically smug attitudes about their livable city and the quality of its transit system. Recent studies and surveys, for example, show a long-term decline in mode split even though, relative to transit investments, road improvements have been quite modest over the same time period. Between 1986 and 1996, for example, mode share for transit in the entire Greater Toronto Area declined from 16 percent to 13 percent of all 24-hour trips. Moreover, from a transit ridership high of about 463 million passengers in 1988, ridership declined in absolute terms by 16 percent to 388 million passengers during 1994.

The Metropolitan Washington Region includes Suburban Maryland, Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. Transportation planning is conducted at the state and regional level while land use planning is done locally. A recently approved planning framework that integrates long-range transportation and land use plans offers guidance on how to better balance land use and transportation within a multi-state region. Regional activity centers and clusters form the basis of this planning framework. The region is further challenged by increased travel demand, changing travel patterns and funding shortages. The next long-range transportation plan update offers opportunities to address these challenges.

WMATA bus, rail and paratransit ridership is growing at unprecedented levels. Ever increasing demand for transit services have placed a greater reliance on people and equipment reliability. Yet Metrobus and Metrorail are over 25 years old. This paper will discuss how WMATA is meeting the twin challenges of aging and growing pains to ensure mass transit sustainability in the Washington Metropolitan region. The WMATA goal is to provide reliable and comfortable service. Existing systems needs are addressed in an Infrastructure Renewal Program (TRP), an employee evaluation system based on WMATA's goals and a customer oriented initiatives program which includes keeping the public informed to what is going on in the metro system.

The Washington Metropolitan Region is experiencing unprecedented growth that will double transit demand in less than 25 years. This paper will trace some of the steps that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is following to plan for this increase in ridership. In the year 2000, the Transit Service Expansion Plan was developed to provide a framework for the overall future expansion. This included the extension of the Blue Line to Largo which is now under construction and an extension of the Orange Line to Louden County, which is now in the the final stage of developing the Environmental Impact Statement. A Core Capacity Study was also undertaken in the year 2000 to determine the improvements necessary to implement the Transit Service Expansion Plan. This study lays out various alternatives to reduce the anticipated crowding at the core 29 stations where 100% of all trains travel through and to improve service reliability through the five portal portions of the two track rail system that affect WMATA's rail operations.

hirty or forty years ago, the largest cities in the world included New York, London, and Tokyo. Today, those cities have been surpassed by Mumbai, Shanghai, Mexico City, and San Paulo, to name a few. This urbanization places enormous stress on these communities, and on their infrastructure.power, safe drinking water, housing, wastewater collection and treatment, industrial and office facilities, and, of course, transportation. The demand grows for transportation services and mobility induced by the population's needs of going to work, to school, to conduct business or leisure activities. This increasing demand poses a series of major challenges to transportation professionals around the world.

This PowerPoint presentation discuses the following points: (1) Public transport consumes 4 times loss enegy than the automobile; (2) In developed countries, public transport costs the community less than the automobile when density is greater than 20 inhabitants per hectare; and (3) In emerging or developing countries, public transport is 2 to 5 times less expensive than motorised private modes.

Today, I would like to talk with you about three topics — how transit programs in the U.S. are helping to create more livable, sustainable communities; what we are doing to enhance transit security in the United States; and FTA's preliminary thinking with regard to the upcoming reauthorization of our surface transportation programs.

This Power Point presentation discusses the professional capacity building efforts underway globally in the USA, Europe, and Pacific Rim.

An analysis of data of the past few decades from cities around the world indicates that history is repeating itself. Although there are significant differences in socioeconomic and technological characteristics among these cities, a remarkable similarity exists in the trend in urban transportation. The current growth in the use of automobiles in many cities of developing countries follows similar trends experienced in the U.S. and other developed countries several decades earlier. Even though there is much awareness and knowledge about sustainability, private vehicle ownership and use continue to grow at an increasing pace with rising personal incomes and desire to experience faster and more reliable transportation technology. Urban density, expressed in number of people and/or jobs per hectare, is the key indicator of the level of automobile ownership and use and of associated parameters of sustainability. As personal incomes rise, choice of residential and job location increases, causing a decrease in urban density and affecting the relative use of private transportation and public transit. There are policy options related to landuse, pricing, and technological factors that can profoundly influence long-term sustainability of urban transportation systems around the world. The basic implication of the analysis is that urban transportation sustainability cannot be achieved unless there are profound changes in urban structures and activities that can slow or reverse the growth in the use of private automobiles and can make transit and other modes as attractive and viable.

In industrialized countries, the process of urbanization has been largely completed, and the majority of population lives in urbanized areas. In developing countries, the same trend of population shift from rural to urban areas is still continuing. The resulting rapid growth of cities in recent decades has created problems of providing utilities and services, as well as maintaining satisfactory quality of life. The pressures of population growth on physical and environmental conditions in cities is one of the challenges of our urbanized civilization. Consequently, living conditions in cities affect the majority of population, as well as each country's economic prosperity. Experiences from recent decades show that a basic requirement for quality of life in cities, including economic, social and environmental conditions, depends on their sustainability, i.e., trends that provide for stable conditions in the future. To examine the conditions in cities and the role of transportation in them, it is useful to start with a view from a distance and considering the function of cities in society and the elements that affect their efficiency.

The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) International Mass Transportation Program (IMTP) was created by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21 ) to increase the global competitiveness of the United States transit industry. With this statutory objective in mine the IMTP provides tools and opportunities to inform and educate the transportation industry by improving access to international transportation data bases, and by creating a two-way flow of information and technology between the United States and other countries. This is a PowerPoint presentation.

Throughout the history of the world, transportation has maintained a vital role within societies. The degree of efficiency of moving people and goods from one location to another is crucial to the health of an economy and the development of a nation. A well-developed transportation system allows for the abundance and variety of goods and the high level of personal mobility indicative of a wealthy nation. Within the United States, in 1998, transportation accounted for 11.2 percent of the gross domestic product, and 19 percent of the average household expenditures nationwide.

Let's be honest here. Who among us wanted to be seen riding the bus when we were teenagers? Although the trend is beginning to change, we as Americans have long viewed public transit as a symbol of poverty. Obtaining a driver's license, not a bus pass, has always marked the sign of adolescent arrival. Why, then, has growth in transit ridership continuously outpaced growth in vehicle-miles traveled from 1997 to the present? In the future, what can we hope to do to keep this encouraging trend intact? The purpose of this paper is to provide some answers to these questions. Nothing is more certain than the fact that people resist change. By and large, we all do today what we did yesterday and the day before that. In the context of a typical American and his or her transportation choices, this means getting in a car and driving. This is not likely to change spontaneously. For public transit to keep increasing its modal share, people will have to be given incentives to make the switch from automobiles. In the coming years, transit operators should focus their efforts in three main categories: economic, environmental, and lifestyle incentives.