Effects of Whistle-Blowing Bans on Accidents at Gated Rail-Highway Crossings: The Northeastern Illinois Experience

This paper examines the effect of whistle-blowing bans on accidents at gated rail-highway public crossings in the Chicago metropolitan region. The statistical analysis show that it is rather misleading to unconditionally associate whistle bans with accident incidence and higher collision frequencies of rail-highway crossings while ignoring other factors or combinations of factors that are probably more relevant to the operational characteristics of the crossings. A deeper one delves into the interactive effects of crossing-specific characteristics on the number of accidents, the more the impact of individual factors becomes confounded so that interaction effects may even negate the effects of individual factors

Freight Planning for the Dolton and Riverdale Gateway: Grade Separation

This document looks at the potential for grade separation at the ten at-grade rail crossings in or near the villages of Dolton and Riverdale, Cook County, Illinois. Cook County is approximately 22 miles (35 km) south of downtown Chicago. Association of American Railroads (AAR) site descriptions are provided including traffic control devices used at the sites, operational information, and crash history. The at-grade rail crossings are analyzed based on criteria in the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's), Federal Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Handbook. Prioritization of crossings for grade separation are provided by FHWA criteria met: trains by annual average daily traffic (AADT) product, freight gross tons, vehicle delay, and expected accident frequencies

Statewide Intercity Passenger Transportation in Illinois

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of life in the United States. For travel, the changes have been vast, whether for private vehicle use or public transit use. For the intercity bus industry, the pandemic changed operations in meaningful ways that have yet to return to previous levels \u2013 whether on the service or the demand side. This study set out to measure both the supply and the demand for intercity routes; however, the fluctuations in supply levels made that virtually impossible to quantify. This study does, however, provide an overview of the history and current funding processes for intercity bus questions while performing modeling that shows where the greatest demand is for intercity bus services, both entirely within the State of Illinois and for routes that leave the state\u2019s borders. This study also provides considerable information about how feeder services improve connectivity to longer intercity bus routes, on a county-by-county level. This study also interviews other state DOTs to gain insight into their use of 5311(f) intercity bus funding that the Federal Transit Administration provides. The industry at the moment is plagued by increasing costs, shortages of staff, and funding levels that have not kept up with those increasing costs. Due to a perceived difficulty in procuring this funding from the State of Illinois, some providers have avoided attempting to utilize this funding in Illinois entirely, choosing to pursue providing service in other states, some of which provide additional services to intercity bus operators. Investments in intercity bus marketing could also assist efforts to move passengers around the state

Mitigating Excessive Idling of Transit Buses

In recent years much media attention has been paid to research developments related to three types of diesel vehicles: school buses, long-haul trucks, and transit buses. Transit bus emissions studies often gain attention because the public wants to know whether transit agencies are spending public dollars efficiently and with concern for public health. The public health and environmental effects of transit bus idling and strategies to mitigate idling practices need to be understood. Most transit bus idling is considered nondiscretionary and occurs while a bus is stuck in traffic or making a stop along its route. However, in some scenarios transit buses idle unnecessarily. Although many solutions exist to limit idling, these solutions have not garnered much interest from transit agencies, researchers, or lawmakers. This paper will review the causes and effects of transit bus idling and examine the potential costs and benefits of using idling reduction technologies and policies on the bus fleet of a large metropolitan transit agency in the Midwest to limit fuel consumption and emissions. The paper is organized as follows: Economic, environmental, and health effects of diesel emissions are discussed in the introductory section, as is current anti-idling public policy. The research methodology is described, and causes of excessive bus idling at the Chicago Transit Authority in Illinois are discussed, as are potential solutions. Idling reduction technologies are examined to determine which provides the greatest economic and environmental benefit for the lowest cost. The paper concludes with specific recommendations for the Chicago Transit Authority

Approach of Environmental Justice to Evaluate the Equitable Distribution of a Transit Capital Improvement Program

Environmental justice is a concept that is progressively gaining attention in the public policy arena. In its simplest form environmental justice is the notion that all populations should benefit equitably from investments financially supported by the public sector. Traditionally, public transit systems serve a diverse set of populations, and therefore equity is an important issue that transit agencies encounter. A methodology developed to evaluate equitable distribution of a transit capital improvement program is presented. Environmental justice neighborhoods are identified by demographic and economic data aggregated at the census-tract level. The neighborhoods are defined on the basis of previous equity studies and guidance materials produced by the federal government. With geographic information systems, perceived benefits of each capital project are mapped onto a layer of census tracts. Finally, the capital budget is allocated to various census tracts on the basis of spatial locations of perceived benefits each project will produce. Numerous tabular and spatial results can be generated from the methodology, such as funding ratios between environmental justice neighborhoods and non-environmental justice neighborhoods. Because of the long-term nature of capital investments, time series data should be collected and analyzed. This will allow for measuring the significance of funding ratio fluctuations in current-year programs. Ultimately, the methodology can become a decision-making aid to help transit agencies prioritize capital projects. Application of the methodology to the Chicago Transit Authority, in Chicago, Illinois, provides a context for the reader to understand the potential applications (planning- and service-related) in a better manner

Individual and Neighborhood Determinants of Perceptions of Bus and Train Safety in Chicago, Illinois: Application of Hierarchical Linear Modeling

Individuals decide to use public transit in part on the basis of their perception of transit safety, which is determined by various individual and environmental factors. This paper adopts a multilevel approach to analyze how perceptions of bus and train safety in Chicago, Illinois, vary as a function of person-level characteristics—gender, age, ethnicity, income, and frequency of transit ridership—and neighborhood-level characteristics—perceived neighborhood disorder, population density, and level of poverty. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied to a unique data set that combines data from three different sources: Chicago Transit Authority data on individual-level perceptions of transit safety and individual demographics, Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy data on perceptions of neighborhood disorder at the zip code level, and U.S. Census zip code–level demographic data. Findings show that the individual- and zip code–level effects differ depending on whether the estimation predicts bus or train safety perceptions. Additionally, while higher-income individuals and African Americans report lower levels of perceived bus safety, there is an additional zip code effect: low-density and high-poverty areas and neighborhoods with high levels of disorder have significantly lower levels of perceived bus safety. Management and policy implications of the study for both the transit agency and the community in which service is being offered are discussed

Costs and benefits of employment transportation for low-wage workers: An assessment of job access public transportation services

This paper focuses on an evaluation of public transportation-based employment transportation (ET) services to transport low-wage workers to jobs in the US. We make an attempt to capture a more comprehensive range of intended and unintended outcomes of ET services than those traditionally considered in the case of public transportation services. Using primary data from 23 locations across the country, we present a framework to evaluate how transportation improvements, in interaction with labor markets, can affect users’ short-run economic welfare, users’ long-run human capital accumulation and non-users’ short-run economic welfare. These services were partially funded by a specialized program – the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program – which was consolidated into larger transit funding programs by recent legislation. In the sites examined, we found that low wage users benefited from self-reported increased access to jobs, improvements in earnings potential, as well as from savings in transport cost and time. Simulations show the potential of users to accrue long-term worklife benefits. At the same time, users may have accrued changes in leisure time as a result of transitioning from unemployment to employment, and generated a range of societal impacts on three classes of non-users: the general tax-paying public, the general commuting public in the service operating area and other low-wage workers in local labor markets

Developing an Information Management System for Public and Specialized Transportation Providers of Illinois A Web-Based, Interactive System

Transportation coordination involves service coordination, planning coordination, and financial coordination. A scan of the literature indicates that transportation coordination efforts are hampered by a lack of understanding about existing services, turf issues, and inadequate funding. One solution to address this problem is by providing comprehensive information management systems (IMS) to all stakeholder groups that are part of the regional and state transportation arena. Various federal programs acknowledge the importance of coordination and make it a mandatory precursor to applying for funding. The level of coordination required for successful application for funding from these programs makes the need for such information systems extremely important. The Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago is developing a web-based interactive IMS (TRANPRO) for the public and specialized transportation services in Illinois; the IMS features a provider inventory and other service-related information along with the requisite demographic information. The TRANPRO IMS includes public and specialized transportation data in the form of projects funded by Sections 5307, 5311, and 5310; the Downstate Operating Assistance Program; Job Access and Reverse Commute; New Freedom grants; and Title IIIB and Title XX programs for seniors as well as other known human-service transportation providers operating within the state. This paper explains the development of the IMS, the data assimilated, and the various uses of the system to facilitate coordinated planning, mobility management, and help with the grant application process. TRANPRO will benefit different stakeholder groups, including the administrators of funding programs (for example, the department of transportation), human-service transportation coordinators, mobility managers, and other stakeholders in coordination of services

Extreme weather, public transport ridership and moderating effect of bus stop shelters

This paper examines how extreme weather conditions influence urban public transport ridership with a particular focus on the role of bus stop shelters. Using bus ridership data from the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, we find that extreme weather such as very high and low temperatures, and heavy rainfall reduces public transport ridership, while bus stop shelters have a modest effect on mitigating ridership losses resulting from these adverse weather conditions. The moderating effect of shelters is more pronounced on weekdays, and for bus stops with lower service frequency and fewer transfers. Our research also shows that the installation of bus shelters correlates with a variety of factors including service frequency, land use types, and local socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Overall, our findings suggest that public transport amenities with weather-proof attributes have the potential to retain and attract more ridership on extreme weather days