INTERACTIVE WEB-BASED MAPPING FOR
TITLE VI ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC TRANSIT
SYSTEM DATA MANAGEMENT
Nicholas Lownes, PhD, PE
October 16, 2013
Organization





Context
Motivation
t-HUB
Application Example
Looking forward
CONNECTICUT
Population 3.5 million
Land Area 5,500 mi2 (14,300 km2)
MINNEAPOLIS
METRO
AREA
SE QUEENSLAND
METRO
AREA
Population
Population 3.4
3.05million
million
2) 2)
Land
Land Area
Area 6,300
8,700 mi
mi22(8,800
(22,400kmkm
SEATTLE METRO AREA
Population 3.5 million
Land Area 5,900 mi2 (14,400 km2)
MELBOURNE METRO AREA
Population 4.2 million
Land Area 3,400 mi2 (8,800 km2)
Connecticut’s 14 Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs)
And their 18+ fixed route bus transit agencies…
Title VI Reporting
5303 & 5304
Depends
5310 /5311
Large
RPOs
DOT
Non-profits
Subrecipients
5
FTA
Enhanced
Mob/Rural
Planning
Direct and
Primary
report to FTA
Bus Fac./Good
repair
UZA Formula
5307
5337, 5339
Large
Operators
Small and Rural
Operators/RPOs
Transit
Districts
Towns
Report to
primary
Connecticut is
aging…
…and
Urbanizing
Motivation
Why is a university research team interested in
Title VI compliance?
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?
9

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
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
Support Social Policy
Provision of service to those who cannot take
private auto (captive riders)
Provide minimum level of accessibility to all
members of society.
Provide Efficient Transport
Give opportunity to choose between private
auto and public transport.
Reduce auto congestion in congested corridors
at peak times by making transit attractive.
Contribute to a sustainable city
Public transport is an essential
part of urban structure.
Source: HiTrans (2005)
Replace auto as primary mode
of travel.
Stimulate non-auto activity
and community development.
Value of Access
11

Cost of owning an additional
vehicle:
$6,200/year (Bailey, 2007)
 $8,000 – 10,000 K/year
(AAA, 2013)
Gas
Maintenance
Tires
A “thrifty” family of four in
the U.S. spends about $6,500
on food every year (USDA
2013)
Ownership Costs (Dollars/Year)


Operating Costs (Cents/mile)
Insurance
Lic/Reg/Tax
Depreciation
14.45
4.97
1.0
1,029
600
3,571
Total Cost (Dollars/Year )
15,000 mi/yr
8,263
Equity in connectivity
12

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
Note: Numbers on map represent aggregate number of
LIHCO households in each block group for a total of 1,241
Targeted access
13
0.4
0.35
LIHCO
0.3
0.25
0.2
R² = 0.1406
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0
0.5
Low Income Job Accessibility
1
0.4
0.35
LIHCO
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
R² = 0.1221
0.05
0
0
Hart and Lownes (in press), Transportation Research Record
5
Late Night Service Frequency
10
Low-income, high vehicle ownership
households correlated to a lack of job
access and late night service.
t-HUB
Vision:
Statewide public transit system data hub
Web Application
User edit features
Level the GIS playing field
Connecticut Transport Data Hub (t-HUB)
15
Emergency
Response
The Public
Transport
Network
Title VI
Rider
Survey
Data
Active
Transport
Mgmt
Land Use
Public
Health
A web application for Connecticut transit planners, operators and analysts
A multi-disciplinary team
16
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Nicholas Lownes (CEE faculty)
Kelly Bertolaccini (PhD student)
Sina Kahrobaei (MS student)
DATABASE DESIGN
Dong-Guk Shin (CSE faculty)
Timothy Becker (PhD student)
TRANSPORTATION DATABASES
Eric Jackson (CTSRC Director)
Timothy Becker (PhD student)
GIS DEVELOPMENT
Jeffrey Osleeb (Geography faculty)
Curtis Denton (PhD candidate)
Michael Howser (Director, CTSDC)
T-HUB architecture
Source: Timothy Becker
Agency
•Agency
Fare Attributes
•Fare ID
Routes
•Agency
•Route ID
Fare Rules
•Contains
•Destination Zone
•Fare ID
•Origin Zone
•Route ID
Trips
Shapes
•Shape ID
Calendar
•Service ID
•Days & Times
•Block
•Direction
•Route ID
•Service ID
•Shape ID
•Trip ID
Stop Times
•Stop ID
•Trip ID
Frequencies
•Trip ID
Calendar Dates
•Service ID
•Seasons/holidays
Stops
•Stop ID
•Zone
Transfers
•From stop ID
•To stop ID
GTFS File Structure
Source: Curtis Denton
t-HUB Tools Vision
MSSQL
drv,srv,
uid,pwd,
conn,
SQL, V
conn
exe
File_Tools
GZIP, ZIP, CSV
Reading &
Writing
close
Analysis_
Tools
csv
Quantifying
Functions &
Algorithms
gzip
zip
ACS5YR2
MSSQL
LEHD2
MSSQL
GTFS2
MSSQL
mssql_conn
acsfiveyr_files
mssql_conn
lehd_files
mssql_conn
gtfs_files
stats
trans
seg
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!
Questions?
Nick Lownes
nlownes@engr.uconn.edu
Thank you to:
- Center for Transportation and Livable Systems
- New England University Transportation Center
- Connecticut DOT
- University of Connecticut