1. Classification of Transit Systems 2. Bus Transit System 3. Trolleybus System 4. Rail Transit Systems 5. Tramway/Streetcar and Light Rail Transit LRT 6. Rapid Transit or Metro 7. Automated Guided Transit Systems 8. Regional and Commuter Rail 9. Special Technology Transit Systems 10. Transit Line Scheduling 11. Transit Planning and Selection of Transit Modes 12. Present and Future Role of Urba...

The study results reported here are part of a larger research project that developed a manual for practitioners to improve safety at rail transit platform/train and platform/guideway interfaces. As part of that effort, passenger injury incident data was collected from five rail transit systems, and interviews were conducted with safety officers at other rail transit systems in the US and Canada...

In the United States, Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems have become a popular transportation alternative. Minnesota built its first light rail system in 2004 with the Hiawatha Line and additional projects are underway in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. While light rail systems are attractive to commuters, they are expensive to construct and careful planning is ongoing to ensure their effectiv...

The type and magnitude of loads passing through the track superstructure have a great impact on both the design and the performance of concrete sleepers and fastening systems. To date, the majority of North American research focusing on quantifying rail infrastructure loading conditions has been conducted on heavy-haul freight railroads. However, the results and recommendations from these studi...

The long trends of fuel price increase along with increasing transit ridership over the past few decades has been established by past transit research. However, in 2008, there has been a drastic drop in the prices of oil, which has had significant effects on consumption patterns of gasoline. The objectives of this paper are two folds; firstly to ascertain the nature of the gasoline-transit ride...

In recent years, with half the world’s population living in towns and cities and most of them relying heavily on public transport to meet their mobility needs, efficient and effective public transport operations have become critical to sustainable economic and social development. Nowadays, Light Rail Transit Systems are considered to be the most promising technological approach to satisfy these...

There is ongoing debate over the relative advantages of rail and bus transit investments. Rail critics assert that cities which expand their bus transit systems exhibit better performance than those that expand rail systems. This study examines those claims. It compares public transport performance in U.S. urban areas that expanded rail transit with urban areas that expanded bus transit from th...

Close to 500 persons, including government officials, transit system operators, city planners, car builders, suppliers, and consultants, came to Boston Aug. 28-31 for a "National Conference on Light Rail Transit." Although the size of the crowd was evidence of light rail's growing popularity (RA, Aug. 8, p. 36), the conference also heard warnings about trends that could hamper the growth of lig...

This study seeks to examine transit’s role in promoting social equity by assessing the before-after impacts of recent transit changes in the Twin Cities, including the opening of the Hiawatha light-rail line, on job accessibility among workers of different wage categories. Geospatial, descriptive, and regression analyses find that proximity to light-rail stations and bus stops offering direct r...