Past Webinars

MTI organizes or participates in several transportation-related webinars each year. You can find leading transportation experts at all of these webinars, making them an excellent resource for professional and research insights.

Dates	Events
November 4, 2020	Make the Connection: Next Stop Your Career - Online WTS-SF Bay Area and the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) of San Jose State University hosted "Make the Connection: Next Stop Your Career." At this event, Bay Area university students studying transportation (all disciplines) were introduced to the many wonderful professional organizations in our region, including: Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) American Planning Association (APA) American Public Works Association (APWA) Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP) Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Latinos in Transit (LiT) Young Professionals in Transportation (YPT)
October 29, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "How Prepared Is Transit for a Cyber Attack?" - Online 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. View Recording. View Slides.
October 19, 2020	Women’s Perspectives on Transportation in Downtown San José 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
October 7, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Carpooling for Cash and Congestion-clearing" - Online Traffic congestion is a serious challenge for transportation professionals. It is also linked to negative environmental impacts, economic drawbacks, and a reduced quality of life. As successful urban areas expand, so do roads, and congestion increases. Unfortunately, no long-term solutions have been found, and many commuters are reluctant to alter their traditional driving habits in favor of carpooling. A recent case study, however, found that at $15 a day, half of people driving on a busy road would be willing to travel as passengers and another 23% would be willing to serve as drivers. Congestion-clearing Payments to Passengers looks at a long-standing bottleneck location on Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay, California and suggests a potential solution for the continuing problem of traffic congestion. View Recording. View Slides.
September 24, 2020	Surveying Silicon Valley Cyclists - Online 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.
September 17, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "See the USA in Your Chevrolet: The American Road Trip Reconsidered" - Online Road trips, often understood as an embodiment of American freedom, are an essential summertime activity for millions even amidst a global pandemic. New research and recent events, however, complicate the vision of the great American road trip by revealing how it has been shaped by democratic ideals, commercial interest, and nostalgia. Reexamining the road trip through a historical lens can inform the work of transportation professionals – especially in the context of the mobility revolution, social justice reform, and pandemic shutdowns. View Recording. View Slides.
August 25, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Predicting Future Highway Maintenance and Rehabilitation Costs" - Online 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. View Recording. View Slides.
August 20, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Rising to the Transportation Challenge—Students Applying STEM Solutions to Improve Transit" - Online With the Fresno State Transportation Challenge, K-8 students in the Central Valley learn about transportation while making a positive impact in their communities. This interdisciplinary program, led by Fresno State Transportation Institute founder Professor Aly Tawfik, opens up exciting paths to careers in transportation. This webinar documented the challenges and best practices for leveraging university resources to effectively engage youth. View Recording. View Slides.
July 30, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Lessons Learned From Public Transit Success in Metropolitan Areas" 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. View Recording. View Slides.
June 26, 2020	11th Annual Mineta National Transportation Policy Summit presents 'Paying for Transportation in California: Does COVID-19 Change Everything?' 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.