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
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.
June 4, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Mitigation v. Adaptation, Transportation and Land-Use Planning to Combat Climate Change" 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.
May 21, 2020	2020 Garrett Morgan Sustainable Transportation Competition Much like Garrett Augstus Morgan, who, despite his humble beginnings as the son of slaves, recognized the importance of education, ideation, and entrepreneurship, we too are living in a time of great innovation. Most recently in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we’ve seen businesses adapt to ensure the safety of their employees and communities. Most significantly we’ve seen individuals and whole communities rally behind essential workers like nurses, service industry workers, and transit workers to ensure that they can continue to provide those critical services and keep all of us moving. And that is what we do in transportation: keep things moving. Regardless of this pandemic our industry is always teeming with new ideas focused on sustainability, traffic reduction, active transit, and others. And that’s where this competition comes into play by highlighting the significant creativity and innovation of these incredible students who put together projects despite the challenges associated with their schools closing as a result of COVID-19. Congratulations to the winners: In 3rd place and the winners of an official award plaque and $200 is American Indian Child Resource Center for their project ‘Day and Night,’ which looks into hybrid electric and solar charging stations for devices and double as light sources around transit stations! Congratulations! In 2nd place and the winners of an official award plaque and $300 is Aptos Middle School for their project ‘Eco Drive,’ which proposes a bioethanol powered car with CO2 absorbing components. Congratulations! Finally, in 1st place and the winners of $1,000 cash prize, a plaque, and a special recognition from our Trustees (drumroll) is California Montessori Project- Capitol Campus for their project ‘Fast. Easy. Smart: A Sustainable AV Plan for Cities,’ which proposes a system for the deployment of autonomous vehicles that meets societal needs as well as safety and environmental concerns.
May 14, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "COVID-19 & State-Generated Transportation Funds in California" 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 View Recording. View Slides.
April 9, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Transit and COVID-19: How its impact differs from other emergencies" - Online 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. View Recording. Additional Q&A
March 19, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Sexual Harassment on Public Transit: The University Student Experience" - Online 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. View Recording. View Slides.
February 25, 2020	Overview of Two New and Growing California Housing Datasets - Online The purpose of this webinar is to introduce university researchers to two new and growing datasets at the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The two datasets that will be covered on the webinar are described below: • Housing Element Annual Progress Report (APR): Includes information about the entire pipeline of development in each locality (i.e., development applications, approved entitlements, building permits issued and certificates of occupancy). This dataset also includes project identifiers (e.g., APNs, address), projected household income levels that will be served, and number of units in the developments. The presenter will review the new APR form (attached to this email). For more information about the Housing Element APR, please visit the Regional Housing Needs Allocation and Housing Elements webpage and click on the “Annual Progress Reports” located in the middle of the page. • Housing Element Site Inventory: The HCD is working on a more structured format to collect information from cities and counties. This format will allow cities and counties to consistently report location and projected density of parcels that are included in their Housing Element to accommodate their share of the Regional housing needs allocation. View Recording.
January 30, 2020	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Texting While Driving, Is Hands-free Really Safer" 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. View Recording . View Slides.
November 14, 2019	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "From White Lines to Green Lanes, How Does Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) Compare Against a Ride Feedback App?" - Online 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.” View Recording. View Slides.
September 19, 2019	MTI Research Snaps Webinar: "Will CA's Green Goal for ZEVs Cut Revenue Along with Greenhouse Gas Emissions?" 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.