Representation of women in the transportation workforce is stunningly low. What would happen to our mobility with more women driving transportation policies, planning, operations, and maintenance? During TRB's 6th International Conference on Women's Issues on Transportation, panelists discussed best practices for recruitment, support, and advancement of women in the transportation sector. In this webinar, conference speakers continued their discussion about workforce challenges and overcoming them; approaches to attract, retain and advance women in transportation, and how these leaders see COVID-19 changing the workforce and work environment.

Featuring: 

• Dr. Hilary Nixon, MTI Deputy Executive Director (moderator)
• Laurie Berman, Director (retired), California Department of Transportation
• Flora Castillo, President, Pivot Strategies, LLC
• Jodi Godfrey, Senior Research Associate, Mobility Policy Research Program & Transit Safety & Workforce Development Programs, Transportation Research, University of South Florida
• Debra A. Johnson, General Manager/ CEO, Regional Transportation District (Denver)

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every facet of modern day life, single-handedly altering the way we communicate and engage with our colleagues and social support networks. Though face-to-face interaction has significantly decreased, or even become nonexistent, one thing has remained clear – the link between continuous communication, a healthy workforce, and productivity. This workshop, focused on effective interpersonal communication in a virtual world, presented techniques to adjust communication style, content, and frequency to maintain a personal touch. Best practices for building and solidifying relationships using a variety of mediums (phone, chat, video, etc.) was documented and breakout rooms will be used to facilitate an interactive exchange, allowing participants to share their experience and communicate in a safe space.

*This webinar was intended for our partners at Caltrans (all Caltrans employees welcome), but if you or your organization is interested in hosting a similar event, please contact irma.garcia@sjsu.edu.

Ransomware, data breaches, phishing incidents and other cyber threats are on the rise, including among public transit agencies. Such threats leave the transportation sector—one of 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose disruption would have a debilitating effect on our nation’s security—in a vulnerable position. Decision makers need to be prepared to upgrade, patch, and secure transit systems to ensure that this essential service remains safe and operational. Yet new MTI research found that only 60% of transit agencies have many of the basic policies or personnel in place to respond to a cyber incident. In recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness month, MTI researchers discussed this critical research and the policy recommendations needed to understand, mitigate, and respond to cyber threats.

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Historically, cities have often been planned by and for white men. Studies show that women often have different needs and travel patterns, and different concerns about safety, particularly when walking, biking, and taking transit. Our panel has explored the experience of women traveling within and to downtown San José, how the current transportation options do and do not serve them, and identifed solutions to make our streets safer in order to create a transportation system that truly serves everyone.

WTS for the Downtown Transportation Plan Speaker Series focused on Women’s Perspectives on Transportation in Downtown San José. These are engaging conversations with San José community leaders and thought partners that are sparking innovative thinking around the future of San Jose’s downtown transportation.

Understanding how women travel in San José and in the Downtown area will be key to building a transportation system that works for everyone. This panel brought together experts in the transportation field in conversation with local community members:

• Dr. Asha W. Agrawal, Mineta Transportation Institute, San Jose State University
• Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, University of California at Los Angeles
• Marcia Cohen, San José Senior Commission
• Victoria Partido, San José Community Leader
• Lola Torney, Valley Transportation Authority

Silicon Valley is committed to California’s goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by 15% in the next three decades. To investigate local support for this initiative, MTI researchers—in collaboration with Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) and the Santa Clara Department of Public Health—surveyed 1,009 Santa Clara County residents, recruited via location-based targeted advertisements, about their travel behavior and attitudes. This webinar based on the report, Surveying Silicon Valley Cycling, Travel Behavior, and Travel Attitudes, discussed survey findings on a range of transportation modes (driving, public transportation, walking, and more), with an emphasis on cycling.

This webinar discussed the Caltrans-funded study investigating trends in the primary pavement materials’ unit price over time and developed guidelines for selecting unit price values for future maintenance and rehabilitation in life cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Researchers collected 20 years of California socio-economic data, including oil price, population, and other key variables to identify correlations with pavement materials’ unit price. Researchers predicted future values through time-series analysis (auto regressive integrated moving average: ARIMA) and used them to estimate future prices. Additionally, they collected unit price records of the primary pavement materials for the same time period and categorized them by project size. Using this data, researchers predicted future price values and then used a case study to compare the results with the prices in the current LCCA procedure.

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This research webinar covered research from Characteristics of Effective Metropolitan-Areawide Public Transit, which evaluates ten metropolitan areas in Australia, Canada, and Europe with highly effective regional transit. This research identified key traits that are correlated with high public transit usage, including:

• the “behind the scenes” or political and institutional characteristics;
• the customer-apparent transit service features; and
• funding and willingness to subsidize transit.

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The COVID-19 pandemic threatens every aspect of transportation funding in California. State revenues from federal, state, regional, and local taxes and fees are all at risk.  Since California’s shelter-in-place order went into effect in March, the state has already faced plummeting revenues from gasoline taxes, tolls, transit fares, and sales taxes. These revenue sources will most likely continue to be severely threatened in the coming months and possibly even years. 

Panelists discussed the opportunities for every level of government to help recover transportation revenues in our uncertain future. Can we rely on our traditional mix of revenue sources? Will the COVID-19 crisis stimulate innovation in transportation finance? 

These and other revenue options were discussed at the 11th Annual Norman Y. Mineta National Transportation Policy Summit.

View Recording.

View e-program. 

Recent extreme weather events in California—wildfires, droughts, and flooding—make abundantly clear the need to plan effective responses to both the causes and consequences of climate change. New Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) research, Harmonizing Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Transportation and Land-Use Planning in California Cities, analyzed the climate plans for 23 California cities in addition to interviewing 25 local, regional, and state officials working on climate planning.  Identified transportation and land-use (TLU) strategies that both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and successfully prepare communities to be less severely impacted by climate change remains a challenge. The study assessed existing city plans and identified the potential pitfalls between mitigation and adaptation. Then, it establishes methods the state can implement to help cities effectively incorporate integrated TLU actions.

View Recording.

View Slides. 

The COVID-19 public health emergency drastically changed every aspect of California life, including reducing personal travel by as much as half in many regions. As a result, transportation revenues plummeted because user fees produce a large share of resources needed to operate California’s transportation system. This research used simple spreadsheet models to estimate the impact of different scenarios for economic recovery from the COVID- 19 pandemic on state-generated transportation revenues. The model covers the package of SB1 gasoline and diesel taxes, as well as two fees levied on vehicles.

Panelist(s): Drs. Martin "Marty" Wachs and Asha Weinstein Agrawal with Ms. Hannah King

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COVID-19 is a contagious disease in the same family as SARS, and with similar properties to H1N1/swine flu. Yet COVID-19 caused community sheltering in place and drops in farebox revenues, and sales and gas taxes. The webinar has discussed what makes COVID-19 different and what to expect in recovery.

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Additional Q&A

Sexual harassment is, sadly, a routine experience for transit users. New MTI research explores San Jose State University (SJSU) students' experiences and perceptions related to sexual harassment and assault when using public transit. The report, Crime and Harassment on Public Transportation: A Survey of SJSU Students Set in International Context, found that twice as many women as men reported verbal and non-verbal harassment, but that both genders indicate harassment as a deterrent to using public transit. Fully 63% of SJSU students reported some form of harassment during transit journeys. The SJSU experience was then compared to findings from a global study surveying college students in 18 cities across six continents. These and other findings, as well as the researchers' recommendations,were discussed in the webinar.

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In light of recommendations from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the event was cancelled.

In light of new recommendations from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the event has been postponed.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) describes a shift away from personally-owned modes of transportation and towards mobility provided as a shared service.  MaaS is quickly gaining momentum around the world, holding the promise of making personal mobility more affordable for families and the communities they live in.

MaaS disrupts and inspires traditional transportation players, private ventures and city officials at the same time.  But to ensure MaaS meets its full potential, it must be informed by a variety of views and serve multiple goals.​

MaaS-A-Con brings together innovators, practitioners and advocates to experience the technologies and best-practices that can make MaaS a reality in our communities. MTI co-sponsored this inaugural conference in San Francisco, CA.

MTI hosted Bachrodt Elementary's second grade class at San Jose State University (SJSU) for a day of transit safety activities and university exploration. The students traveled to SJSU using public transit, where they received a tour of the university campus, Spartan Recreation and Aquatics Center, and the library. In between tours the students partook in a hand-on, STEM activity that taught them the principles of the scientific process.

Initiated by Metro’s Women and Girls Governing Council and endorsed by Metro CEO Phil Washington, the “Understanding How Women Travel” study was launched.  Over the course of nine months, a comprehensive and creative approach was taken to better understand women’s mobility in LA county; framed by core social justice principles and methods, both traditional and non – traditional data collection methods were used to effectively capture “hard – to – reach” populations and embody the project’s intersectional approach to gender.  This innovative study and its findings, have laid the foundation for bridging the gender equity gap for our current and future female riders. 

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Put together by one of our Mineta Summer Transprotation Institute alumna and her Robotics class/ team, Leland High School puts on a career talk about careers in STEM, featuring Dr. Buford Furman MTI Research Associate and SJSU professor.

Hands-free texting is a popular way around a hefty fine in 48 states and often viewed as safe behind the wheel. However, MTI research found that while participants perceived an increased level of safety while using hands-free interfaces, response times and drift did not significantly differ from those manually texting. In conversation with Dr. Francesca Favaro, the webinar discussed how this seemingly convenient solution to texting and driving bans might do little to limit distracted driving.

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MTI was proud to co-sponsor the CUTC 2020 Awards Banquet, which celebrates one of the most important benefits of federal investment in university transportation research-- the outstanding students and faculty who contribute to transportation research and education through this important program! Approximately 300 distinguished transportation leaders, representing academia, the transportation industry, and government were in attendance. 

Mineta Transportation Institute researchers convened a workshop on "Surface Transportation Supply Chain Security," bringing together subject matter experts from international, federal and state governments and the private sector, and academic researchers. The goal of the conference was to understand the current state of the practice in surface transportation supply chain security, and to consider areas of needed research to address new and developing challenges. Areas of focus included risk estimation, geopolitical aspects, and modal relations. The keynote speaker was Professor Joseph Szyliowicz of the University of Denver, with presentations on geopolitical challenges by Capt. Manual Raras, USCG (Ret.), security planning by Cdr. Romulus Matthews, USCG, and maritime management cybersecurity by LCdr. Robert Cole, USCG. Power outage and the supply chain was presented by Col. Mitch Medigovich, USNG (Ret.), deputy director of the California Office of Emergency Services. Challenges of cargo security and port management was presented by Kevin Krick of Matson Lines. Cybersecurity and future challenges for supply chain security was presented by Ash Padwal of Allied Telesis. Jan Benini, retired from the US Department of Transportation, provided the dinner speech on the work of the Asia Pacific International Cooperation Group in supply chain security. Gzim Ocakoglu, European Union representative to the United States, discussed the strategies employed by European nations to achieve supply chain security. Discussants for the workshop included Daniel Goodrich, Senior Transportation Security Scientist at MTI; Herby Lissade, Deputy Director, Caltrans; Cdr. Greg Callaghan, USCG; and Professor Len Lira, USA (Ret.). Professor Frannie Edwards, deputy director of the National Transportation Security Center, was the facilitator for the event. The outcome of the workshop was the creation of a blueprint for future research in surface transportation supply chain security.

With new bike infrastructure rolling out in cities across the U.S., how is bike infrastructure evaluated by both cyclists and experts? Enter the popular and widely used "Level of Traffic Stress" (LTS), but how does this method measure up against popular bike review apps like Ride Report? Join us in a conversation with MTI researchers, Dr. Kevin Fang, Dr. Daniel Rodriguez, and Chester Harvey to discuss the validity of LTS when compared to results from Ride Report and their findings from "Evaluating Alternative Measures of Bicycling Level of Traffic Stress Using Crowdsourced Route Satisfaction Data.”

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Thirty years ago the San Andreas Fault ruptured near Loma Prieta Peak, creating the largest urban earthquake in over 80 years. The M 6.9 earthquake took 63 lives and injured another 3,757. Many of those due to the destroyed urban infrastructure, such as the Cypress structure on I-880 in Oakland, and the collapse of homes in San Francisco's Marina District. These catastrophes provided civil engineers and public policy leaders with a multitude of lessons to apply in the event of another "Killer Quake."
MTI and San Jose State University's (SJSU) College of Engineerin welcomed Dr. Anne Wein, US Geological Survey, Operations Research Analyst, who delivered the pivotal keynote address. Dr. Frances Edwards, MTI's Deputy Director of the National Transportation Security Center, chaired the discussion with Dr. Steven Vukazich of SJSU's Material and Civil Engineering Departments and Ash Padwal Chief Risk Officer of Allied Telesis leading panels on changes over the last 30 years that have enhanced seismic safety, as well as future developments needed to improve the Bay Area's earthquake resilience.

California is in the midst of several ambitious shifts in its transportation infrastructure, funding, and vehicle fleet composition. Governor Jerry Brown set a target of reaching 5 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030. Such a rapid increase of electric cars would mean fewer drivers paying fuel taxes, the state’s largest source of transportation revenue. But, in 2017 the passage of SB1 added annual road improvement fees, some of which vary with the value of the vehicles. Researchers compared the revenue lost to the state because electric vehicles with revenue gained by the new fees and found surprising results. The switch to electric vehicles will not necessarily reduce the state’s future revenue for transportation programs. 

View Recording. 

View Report.

6th International Conference on Women’s Issues in Transportation

“Insights, Inclusion, and Impact:
Framing the Future for Women in Transportation”

Tuesday September 10-13, 2019

Beckman Center
100 Academy Way
Irvine, California 92617
949-721-2200

Organized by
Transportation Research Board

The 2019 WIiT conference, sixth in a series that began in 1978, will focus on women's issues related to all aspects of travel and transportation. The 2014 conference, under the theme Bridging the Gap, explored and addressed the gender differences in access to transportation and mobility, responsiveness of transport systems to needs and preferences of women, transportation safety, personal security, and participation of women in decision-making and wealth creation in the transportation sector. The 2019 conference will pick up similar themes, this time guided by an evaluative framework of three lenses: insights, inclusion and impact.

TC Sessions: Mobility presented a day of programming with the best founders, investors and technologists who are hell-bent on inventing a future Henry Ford could have never imagined.TechCrunch’s editors challenged the assumptions and break through the hype to help attendees understand the current state of the mobility revolution and define who will be in the driver’s seat when the future is realized.

View recording. 

View images.

A Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) report explores the “rules of the road” around the use of emerging “personal transportation devices.” Also known as “micromobility,” the number and use of these devices has exploded in recent years, highlighted by the arrival of electric scooters in cities over the past couple of years. The report explores to the degree states, cities, and college campuses are or are not regulating these new devices. This webinar with the authors reviews their findings and discussed recommendations from their recent report.

Speakers
Brianne Eby, Policy Analyst, Eno Center for Transportation

Kevin Fang, Assistant Professor, Sonoma State University

Kevin is an Assistant Professor of Geography, Environment, and Planning at Sonoma State University and a Research Associate at the Mineta Transportation Center. His research centers on sustainable transportation alternatives, including recent work on skateboarding for transportation and cycling, and current work on emerging “micromobility” modes of travel. In particular, Kevin is interested in the characteristics and behavior of alternative modes and their users, as well as to the degree land use enables or precludes their use.

Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Professor, San Jose State University

Asha Weinstein Agrawal works at San José State University, where she is Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute’s National Transportation Finance Center and MTI’s Education Director, as well as a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning. Her research agenda is guided by a commitment to the principles of sustainability and equity: what planning and policy tools can communities adopt to encourage environmentally-friendly travel and improve accessibility for people struggling with poverty or other disadvantages? She has explored this question most deeply through two substantive areas – transportation finance policy and the travel behavior of pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders. (More info, including publications, is here.)

Over 75% of US seniors currently live in suburban and rural areas, living patterns that have only intensified over the past 40 years, in spite of occasional press reports to the contrary. Over 90% of those seniors are active drivers well into their 80’s; they have fashioned their lives around the flexibility and access offered by a car even as their transit use has dropped precipitously--travel patterns all but dictated by the places in which they live. Yet seniors walk for an increasing percent of all trips as they age. Sandra Rosenbloom argues that we have to keep older drivers in their cars as long as safely possible and retrofit the suburban communities in which older people are aging-in-place to provide meaningful transportation and housing options to those who can’t or don’t continue to drive.

With recent changes made to California's high-speed rail plan and concerns over future projects, USHSR brought leading professionals, industry leaders, and government officials to Los Angeles for the West Coast Rails Conference. 

Location: The conference takes place at MTA Headquarters - One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90012.