NDSU Transit Researcher Named to National Project Committee

Jill Hough, program director for small urban and rural transit research with the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University, has been selected to serve on the oversight and project selection committee of the Transit Cooperative Research Program.

TCRP, authorized in 1991, is a research program designed to focus on the needs of transit operating agencies. It is sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration and carried out under an agreement among the National Academies of Science acting through the Transportation Research Board, the Transit Development Corporation, the educational and research arm of the American Public Transit Association, and the FTA.

As a member of the TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Committee, Hough will be involved in setting the research agenda for TCRP. The TOPS committee, composed of transit system managers, university representatives, suppliers and the FTA, selects projects from research topics submitted by the transit industry or developed to meet special research needs. Research topics come from a wide variety of areas including operations, services, engineering of facilities and equipment, maintenance, human resources, administration, and policy and planning.

Hough has 12 years of experience in transportation research. She serves as director of UGPTI's Small Urban & Rural Transit Center, which focuses on research, education and training for the public transportation industry. She has published reports and articles in the areas of low-volume roads, logistics and economic development and has worked on several projects with the U.S. Department of Transportation. She spent four months as interim director for the Federal Transit Administration's Transit Intelligent Vehicle Initiative in Washington, D.C.

She received bachelor of science and master of science degrees in agricultural economics at NDSU and is working on a doctorate degree in transportation technology and policy from the University of California-Davis.

Her first meeting with the TOPS committee was June 21 and 22 at Woods Hole, Mass.

SURTC Hosts Seminar, Completes Projects

Small Urban & Rural Transit Center recent activities have included sponsoring a seminar, hosting a steering committee meeting, completing projects and reports, and initiating new projects.

In a Sept. 9 seminar, Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, spoke of the continuing rapid increase in the number of personal vehicles in the world and the resulting increases in oil consumption and emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. He pointed out that most transportation trends in the United States are heading in the wrong directions, with increased use of heavier and less fuel efficient vehicles. He said a combination of strategies to reduce vehicle traffic, produce advanced vehicles and move to low-carbon fuels could reduce fuel consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The SURTC steering committee met at NDSU Sept. 24. Attendees included committee members from North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming and Washington, D.C., as well as David Sprynczynatyk, director of the North Dakota Department of Transportation, and Barbara Sisson, associate administrator of the Federal Transportation Administration. Participants shared experiences, discussed mutual problems and suggested areas for future SURTC projects. Areas of concern included revenue sources, driver safety training, insurance costs, affordable and easy-to-use scheduling software and integration of technology into rural transit.

SURTC recently completed a study on how well transit needs of the disadvantaged are being met in North Dakota. The survey showed that respondents are largely satisfied with transit services, but a higher percentage of disadvantaged North Dakotans reported transportation problems compared to the national average. The most requested improvements in service included increased service hours, lower fares, more convenient scheduling and reduced riding time.

Campus transit studies involving NDSU, Minnesota State University Moorhead and Concordia College were completed. The goal of the campus transit study was to design and develop an internal campus transit system interfacing with the city-wide transit system to better meet the needs of the expanding NDSU campus, including students, faculty and staff. The project was expanded to included MSUM and Concordia at the request of the Fargo-Moorhead Council of Governments. A report on the full project is coming soon.

Several new projects are under way, including North Dakota's Statewide Mobility Plan, analysis of demographic information, Transit and non-profit organizations, development of a best practices manual for transit managers, coordinated transportation, a James River Transit study, and an ITS technology tool kit for operators and service providers.

A transportation coordination meeting for public transportation stakeholders is scheduled for Nov. 20 in Bismarck.