INTERACTIVE WEB-BASED MAPPING FOR TITLE VI ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM DATA MANAGEMENTNicholas Lownes, PhD, PEOctober 16, 2013

Organization Context Motivation t-HUB Application Example Looking forward

CONNECTICUTPopulation 3.5 millionLand Area 5,500 mi2 (14,300 km2)

SEATTLE METRO AREAPopulation 3.5 millionLand Area 5,900 mi2 (14,400 km2)

SE QUEENSLAND METRO AREAPopulation 3.05 millionLand Area 8,700 mi2 (22,400 km2)

MELBOURNE METRO AREAPopulation 4.2 millionLand Area 3,400 mi2 (8,800 km2)

MINNEAPOLIS METRO AREAPopulation 3.4 millionLand Area 6,300 mi2 (8,800 km2)

Connecticut’s 14 Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs)

And their 18+ fixed route bus transit agencies…

5

FTA

Non-profits

Small and Rural

Operators/RPOs

DOTLarge RPOs

Large Operator

s Transit Districts

Towns

Subrecipients

UZA Formula

5307Planning5303 & 5304

Enhanced Mob/Rural

5310 /5311

Bus Fac./Good

repair5337, 5339

Report to primary

Direct and Primary report to FTA

Depends

Title VI Reporting

Connecticut is aging…

…and Urbanizing

Why is a university research team interested in Title VI compliance?

Motivation

Motivation June 2011: Discussions with Transit Working

Group Title VI & data management pressing concerns

April 2012: Meeting with CTDOT Commissioner August 2012: Begin t-HUB prototype

development November 2012: First Title VI workshop

Lectures, breakouts and survey to ID needs February 2013: Second Title VI Workshop

t-HUB demo & feedback

Why measure equity? Quality of Life (Glaeser et al., 2009)

Higher crime rates in more unequal cities Higher likelihood of political unrest and uprisings People are more likely to report they are unhappy

when living in more unequal cities It’s the law

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

It is federal policy Executive Order 12898 on

Environmental Justice

9

Signing of the Civil Rights Act 1964

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lyndon_Johnson_signing_Civil_Rights_Act,_July_2,_1964.jpg

)

Title VI and network planning

Contribute to a sustainable cityPublic transport is an

essential part of urban structure.

Replace auto as primary mode of travel.

Stimulate non-auto activity and community

development.

Provide Efficient TransportGive opportunity to choose between

private auto and public transport.Reduce auto congestion in congested

corridors at peak times by making transit attractive.

Support Social PolicyProvision of service to those who cannot take private auto (captive

riders)

Provide minimum level of accessibility to all members of

society.

Source: HiTrans (2005)

Value of Access

Cost of owning an additional vehicle: $6,200/year (Bailey, 2007) $8,000 – 10,000 K/year

(AAA, 2013) A “thrifty” family of four in

the U.S. spends about $6,500 on food every year (USDA 2013)

Operating Costs (Cents/mile)

Gas 14.45Maintenan

ce 4.97Tires 1.0Ownership Costs

(Dollars/Year)Insurance 1,029Lic/Reg/

Tax 600Depreciati

on 3,571Total Cost

(Dollars/Year )15,000 mi/yr 8,263

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Equity in connectivity

LIHCO HH (Currie and Senbergs, 2007) 2+ vehicles and

$0-20K HH income

3+ vehicles and $20-30K HH income.

Focus on urban core – reasonable expectation of transit service

12

Note: Numbers on map represent aggregate number of LIHCO households in each block group for a total of 1,241

13

Targeted access

Hart and Lownes (in press), Transportation Research Record

Low-income, high vehicle ownership households correlated to a lack of job access and late night service.

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 10

0.050.1

0.150.2

0.250.3

0.350.4

R² = 0.140612604020584

Low Income Job Accessibility

LIH

CO

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

0.050.1

0.150.2

0.250.3

0.350.4

R² = 0.122079901772317

Late Night Service Frequency

LIH

CO

Vision:- Statewide public transit system data hub- Web Application- User edit features- Level the GIS playing field

t-HUB

Connecticut Transport Data Hub (t-HUB)

The Public

Transport

NetworkTitle VI

Public HealthLand

Use

Active Transport Mgmt

Emergency

Response

Rider Survey Data

15

A web application for Connecticut transit planners, operators and analysts

A multi-disciplinary teamPUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEMS

Nicholas Lownes (CEE faculty)

Kelly Bertolaccini (PhD student)

Sina Kahrobaei (MS student)

TRANSPORTATION DATABASES

Eric Jackson (CTSRC Director)Timothy Becker (PhD

student)

DATABASE DESIGN

Dong-Guk Shin (CSE faculty)Timothy Becker (PhD

student)

GIS DEVELOPMENT

Jeffrey Osleeb (Geography faculty)

Curtis Denton (PhD candidate)

Michael Howser (Director, CTSDC)

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T-HUB architectureSource: Timothy Becker

Trips •Block•Direction•Route ID•Service ID•Shape ID•Trip ID

Routes•Agency•Route ID

Agency•Agency

Stop Times

•Stop ID•Trip ID

Shapes •Shape ID

Stops•Stop ID•Zone

Fare Rules•Contains•Destination Zone•Fare ID•Origin Zone•Route ID

Fare Attributes

•Fare ID

Frequencies

•Trip IDTransfers

•From stop ID•To stop ID

Calendar•Service ID•Days & Times

Calendar Dates

•Service ID•Seasons/holidays

GTFS File StructureSource: Curtis Denton

t-HUB Tools Vision

GTFS2MSSQLmssql_conn

gtfs_files

ACS5YR2MSSQL

mssql_connacsfiveyr_files

LEHD2MSSQLmssql_connlehd_files

File_ToolsGZIP, ZIP, CSV

Reading &Writing

csvgzipzip

Analysis_Tools

Quantifying Functions &Algorithms

statstransseg

MSSQLdrv,srv,uid,pwd,

conn,SQL, V

connexe

close

Output

Input parameters

Identifying Minority-serving routes

Identifying Low Income routes

Identifying LEP-serving routes

Looking ahead O – D based accessibility metrics (TOI) CTDOT Service Equity Analysis Transit Service Analyses for RPOs Real-time data incorporation We will be at the poster session!

Nick Lownesnlownes@engr.uconn.edu

Questions?

Thank you to:- Center for Transportation and Livable Systems- New England University Transportation Center- Connecticut DOT- University of Connecticut