Memorial Program Archive

Rachel Elmkies, AICP, is an urban planner and data analyst focusing on the intersection of land use, transportation, and affordable housing. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Hunter College and a Master's in Regional Planning from Cornell University. Rachel was a Senior Policy Fellow at Desegregate CT/Regional Plan Association and a member of the Cornell Legal Constructs Lab. Currently, she is a volunteer geospatial analyst for the National Zoning Atlas. Her fellowship research focus is on expanding micromobility and shared mobility outside New York City.

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Growing Shared Mobility & Micromobility (SMMM) Outside NYC

Bradley Hershenson is an Information Science PhD student at the University at Albany studying cyber security, emergency preparedness, and homeland security, with research interests in transportation policy, urban planning, micromobility, and environmental sustainability. Bradley’s research focus is on identifying and understanding cultural trends and ridership patterns in underrepresented biking populations and exploring potential investments to improve the cycling experience in various communities. 

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Youth Cycling in NYC A Means for Commuting and Recreation

Jessie Ho is in the PhD program at the SUNY Buffalo Department of Civil Engineering, with a concentration in Transportation Engineering. Recognizing transportation as a vital aspect of modern life, Jessie believes in the common goal of achieving sustainability. Her research focuses on community contributions to mapping regional knowledge. Her research focus is on evaluating the practicality and implications of using an open-source mapping network as the transportation network for the New York Best Practice Model. 

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NYMTC Transportation Conformity Determination

Andrés Castelo Rebeil is a Master of Regional Planning student at Cornell University with a passion for active transportation and mass transit. After obtaining his civil engineering bachelor’s degree at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico, Andrés worked in the private and public sector supervising traffic calming infrastructure projects to improve pedestrian safety in residential areas. His research focus is on identifying best practices to improve suburban traffic safety and education programs.

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Equitable Traffic Safety Programs in the NYMTC Suburban Counties

Julia Amaral is a Brazilian Ph.D. student in Transportation Engineering in the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment (CITE) at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Before joining the Ph.D. program, she obtained her master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from Universidade de São Paulo, where she also completed her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Her main research interests are urban freight and passenger transportation. Her goal is to enhance transportation efficiency in cities, improving livability and reducing environmental impacts. Besides her academic work, Julia is the president of the Women in Transportation (WTS) student chapter at her university, and she volunteers giving online physics classes to low-income teenagers in Brazil.

In grad school, Julia has been involved in several multidisciplinary research projects in which she had the opportunity to broaden her experience and knowledge in transportation. She has participated in several stages of research including data collection, behavioral modeling, processing of archival GPS data, development of state-of-the-art simulation tools, among others.

Julia’s September 11th memorial program project focuses on helping NYMTC to update the Socioeconomic and Demographic (SED) forecasting and Zonal Allocation Process (ZAP) models for the New York Metropolitan Region. She will research and evaluate new methods found in the literature and in practice on other MPOs. The ultimate objective is to recommend enhancements or alternatives to the existing SED and ZAP models that would enable NYMTC’s staff to independently develop future forecasts.

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Analysis of Socioeconomic and Demographics Methodologies and Forecasting Solutions

Fabian Barch is a PhD Candidate in Sociology of Education at New York University. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Education Studies and French from Washington University in St. Louis. He has been a part of multiple research teams which used large data to better understand how work conditions relate to teacher job satisfaction, and to explore racial disparities in exclusionary school discipline practices. His doctoral research explores the relationship between students’ experiences with housing instability and their academic performance. His research interests center around questions of equity and access to public goods.

Fabian’s September 11th program internship is with the Regional & Strategic Planning subdivision’s Strategic Planning Unit, helping to identify and develop racial equity performance measures. This work continues the efforts of the Equity & Inclusion in Planning Working Group to expand on the agency’s commitment to improve transportation outcomes for all communities. The project seeks to further develop the Department of Transportation’s ability to track the impacts of their equity efforts, and to help maintain accountability in transportation planning.

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Establishing Community Context

Cristina Mejia Cancelado is pursuing a Master of Urban Planning at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Cristina is a lawyer from Universidad de los Andes (Bogota, Colombia) with a minor in public policy and Economics and she has experience in Colombia's public sector and in consulting. She worked at the National Planning Department as an assistant to the Deputy Director for Land Use Planning and then she was an assistant to the Deputy Minister of Rural Development for strategic projects. Later, Cristina joined Steer a transport consulting firm in which she worked in several types of project that gave her a grasp of transport sector, land use planning and urban planning as a whole. Some projects in which she worked are TOD railway public transportation projects, the institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Transport, the adaptation of UK project formulation methodologies to the Latin American context, and electromobility projects in various countries in Latin-America. She’s very interested on how to mainstream the gender and inclusion perspective to transport projects to create more inclusive cities.

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Coordinated Street Furniture Franchise

Tao Liang is pursuing a Master of Transportation Planning and Engineering degree at NYU. Before graduate school, he worked as an architect in China for three years. His research interest is urban data analysis, using data augmented approaches to identify city problems and optimize design solutions. Tao will be an integral staff member responsible for researching and completing a project entitled “Infrastructure is Public Space: Building Healthy, Resilient and Sustainable Corridors” for which he will assist NYCDOT staff in formulating the Healthy Corridor Index in the context of environmental health; access internal and external resources; perform data management regarding safety, mobility, and accessibility; conduct research on socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental sustainability topics; execute accompanying overlap mapping; and prepare designs, graphic representations, and presentations.

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Healthy Corridor Index

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David Anton is a second-year student of the Masters in Public Administration at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Prior to his graduate studies, David acted as policy advisor for Argentina’s Federal Government in the areas of transit planning and affordability. He also acted as policy advisor for Argentina’s Presidency of the G20 Economic Forum, supporting the harmonization of regulations concerning public-private partnerships for infrastructure development among country members. David also has experience in the private sector, conducting economic and financial valuation of infrastructure assets as part of Compass Lexecon’s International Arbitration Practice. He graduated with a BA in Economics in 2015 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina.

At SIPA, David became increasingly interested in topics related to revitalizing cities and assessing the socioeconomic impacts of infrastructure projects and urban policy interventions. He also interned with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and worked on a capstone project with Daimler Trucks North America, advising the firm on how to work with local governments in adapting freight transport regulations.

David’s September 11th Scholar Project is at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), where he is studying the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the agency’s Socioeconomic and Demographic Forecasts and Travel Demand models. The project is focused on how the increase in telework due to the pandemic will have long-term implications in the location of job opportunities across the New York Metropolitan Area and changing commuting patterns.

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COVID 19 Impacts on Socioeconomic, Demographic and Travel Demand Forecasts

Seth Kerr is pursuing a Master of Urban Planning degree at NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Before graduate school, he served as a United States Army Officer specializing in medical logistics for eight years. During his service, Seth spent six years living in Kenya and Germany. He enjoyed riding transit systems worldwide and fulfilled his dream of riding the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan.

Seth is passionate about infrastructure and climate resiliency. He has a special interest in improving sustainable transportation options and believes wholeheartedly in the power of the humble, underrated bus. Bus Rapid Transit is captivating to Seth, and he would love to bring more dedicated busways to NYC, or ITDP rated BRT systems to US cities.

Seth’s September 11th project focuses on helping NYMTC improve its federal aid-eligible infrastructure condition monitoring and financial forecasting processes. He has had the opportunity to benchmark MPOs and State DOTs across the country for best practices. Seth will also help NYMTC develop an internal checklist for the Regional Transportation Plan financial forecasting process.

Next year for his last year of graduate school, Seth will serve as a John D. Solomon Fellow with New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM).

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Infrastructure Condition Monitoring and Revenue/Expenditure Forecasting

Niloufar Nouri started her PhD in civil engineering program at the City College of New York in 2014. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree in environmental engineering in her home country Iran. Her doctoral research activity lies in the intersection of resilient infrastructure systems and data-driven environmental risk assessment. Along with her PhD studies, she worked as an adjunct lecturer at CUNY Bronx Community College. Niloufar has been involved in various data-oriented projects while working as a research scientist at NOAA-CESSRT. She has a solid background in big data analysis using Python and R.

Niloufar’s September 11th Memorial program research will be on evaluating new methods of collecting travel data and identifying how such methods can complement traditional travel surveys. She will identify potential alternative travel data sources such as cellular data and Location Based Services (LBS) and will analyze their methodology, statistical properties, strengths and limitations.

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The Future of Travel Surveys

Carla Tejada is a Ph.D. student in Transportation Engineering at the City College of New York. Before joining the City College of New York, Carla obtained a master’s degree in Logistics and Supply Chain from the University of Maryland at College Park and a graduate certificate in Supply Chain Management from MIT. She also spent several years in the industry in companies such as DHL Express and SONY. 

Carla’s September 11th program internship is with The New York City Department of Transportation with the Pedestrian Unit (NYCDOT). NYC is the city with the highest number of pedestrian trips in the United States. Carla’s work focuses on developing a Pedestrian Network Flow Model that will allow the Unit to identify pedestrian generators, dense walking areas, and walking trip flow within New York City. This model will provide information to the New York City Comprehensive Pedestrian Map that will help create more rationality in the decision-making process within NYC streets.

Carla’s research interest is in commercial freight logistics and planning, multimodal interactions in the urban scenario, and network modeling and optimization. Her dissertation focuses on e-commerce and the interactions that urban deliveries have with people and the urban environment.

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Modelling Pedestrian Demand in New York City

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Gabrielle O’Grady is a second year M.S. student studying Sustainability in the Urban Environment at the City College of New York.  The interdisciplinary program recognizes the multi-faceted considerations needed to design sustainable and resilient urban infrastructure. Her studies involve coursework in architecture, engineering, science, and social science. She completed her Bachelors of Science degree on the dean’s list in biological sciences and chemistry at the University of Connecticut.

Post undergrad Gabrielle has worked in the medical field as a clinical research coordinator and as a patient access representative. This required listening to patients’ needs, strong organizational skills, data work, understanding of study protocol, and communication between the different players. Gabrielle enjoys design and painting, being active, traveling, and getting out in nature.

She aims to use her compassion, analytical skills, and design eye to be a part of New York City’s infrastructure planning. Gabrielle is most interested in helping create designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing, structurally sound, and functional, but are also environmentally responsible, socially conscientious, and accessible to all.

Most recently, Gabrielle has received her LEED Green Associate certification. She has interned at the CIUS Building Performance Laboratory where she has worked on large data sets from the Department of Education to recommend preventative maintenance strategies and improve buildings and their energy efficiencies. She has also worked in their Building Re-tuning Laboratory studying energy information systems (EIS) and building automation system (BAS) trend charts to support building re-tuning recommendations for operators.

Gabrielle’s September 11^th scholar project will be at New York City’s Department of Transportation in the Transportation Planning and Management Division. She will be working with the Mobility Management team and key stakeholders to produce the 2020 Mobility Management Resource Guide. The resource guide is a compilation of all accessible transportation information in the New York City region. It details amenities and infrastructure improvements to improve walking and rolling accessibility.  It also includes NYC DOT’s accessible programs and services and informs readers how to access them.

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Mobility Management Resource Guide Update

Yaxin Zhang is a third year Ph.D student in the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York.  Her specialization is transportation.  Prior to coming to CCNY, Yaxin began her undergraduate program at Taiyuan Industrial College in China where she studied polymer materials and engineering and then received a master’s degree in logistics and operations management from Cardiff University in the UK.

While studying at Cardiff University, Yaxin began to see “connections” that influence transportation performance such as the relationship between growth of e-commerce and traffic congestion. She also realized that awareness of “environmental, social and behavioral science issues are required in order to plan and manage transportation operations.”

The understanding of the multiple, connecting issues together with an “interest in making things work more efficiently” led Yaxin to her current studies at the Grove School.  Here she has been able to apply a variety of research methods, survey techniques, and analytical approaches. Her research area was mainly focus on e-commerce, city logistics and parking activity in New York City.

Yaxin’s September 11^th  internship is Analyzing and Monitoring Congestion and Transportation Performance Measures Using Big Data. In this role, she will assist NYMTC staff by using real-time probe data to produce more accurate analyses of congestion in the NYMTC planning area.  The project will focus on the use of The National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS), which is used in the computation of performance measures for both Transportation Performance Management (TPM) and the Congestion Management Process (CMP).

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Analyzing Freight Congestion and Transportation Performance Measures Using National Performance Measurement Research Data Set (NPMRDS)

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Amirhossein Baghestani is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering at the City College of New York. His September 11th Program internship is with NYMTC with the Technical Group. He acquired a Master of Science in Transportation Planning and Engineering from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, in 2013.

His research mainly focuses on travel behavior analysis, travel demand modeling, and discrete choice models, which has resulted in many scientific articles. Prior to joining CCNY, he worked as a Research Assistant in the transportation planning department of Tarahan Parse Research Institute for four years where he was involved in transportation projects such as travel demand modeling and comprehensive transportation studies.

His research topic is Sensitivity Analysis of New York Best Practice Model (BPM) Highway Attributes. The BPM is used to conduct federally-required Transportation Conformity Determinations and Regional Emissions Analyses. It is also used to assess the impact of transportation projects in the Regional Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Program on performance measures such as travel time, vehicle speed, and congestion. Amir will survey transportation project attributes that have been coded into the NYBPM and then will help evaluate and classify them by priority. He will also assist with model runs that will measure the impact of changing certain attributes on model outcomes and will evaluate the results and develop guidelines for project coding.

Nury Gutierrez is an incoming MS student in Sustainability in the Urban Environment, at the City College of New York. She graduated with a BA in Sociology from CCNY in 2017 and recently worked as a research assistant at the college for a social science study analyzing the potential impacts of rezoning and Business Improvement Districts in Inwood, New York. She also completed a nine-month internship in the management office of the Hazardous Materials-HAZMAT team for MTA New York City Transit in the Security Department. Prior to this, Nury obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Management in her home country of Colombia. She specialized in Natural Resources, Environment and Disaster Prevention Management. Nury’s September 11th Memorial Program research will be with NYMTC. She will work on Community Planning Initiatives to develop enhanced outreach and planning linkages with communities of concern throughout NYMTC’s planning area, as defined in NYMTC’s Title VI program. It will include grassroots outreach to local communities regarding key developments for the MPO; collaborating with municipal government officials, community-based organizations, advocates and other interested stakeholders; as well scheduling and executing community workshop meetings to identify planning issues and gather suggestions for improved outreach.

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Shirin Najafabadi is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering at the City College of New York. Her 9/11 program internship is with NYMTC and she will work closely with NYMTC Planning Group to work on “Vertical Integration of Land Use and Transportation Planning” project. NYMTC’s members introduced the idea of Coordinated Development Emphasis Areas (CDEAs) in Plan 2045, the recently adopted Regional Transportation Plan. These are areas within the NYMTC planning area, where land development and transportation investment planning are to be coordinated to achieve environmental sustainability, local economic revitalization, and improved quality of life. Her role is to research methods to establish the influence of NYMTC’s regional transportation plans on municipal land use planning decisions. Conversely, she will also research methods to help NYMTC ensure that municipal planning efforts are incorporated into the regional planning perspective.

Ms. Shirin Najafabadi has received her M.S. in Transportation Planning on May 2014 from the State University of New York at Albany, and has been admitted to the CCNY Ph.D. program through an extremely competitive selection process. Ms. Najafabadi’s record in transportation planning, modeling and analysis has been outstanding. Her research involves the application of mathematical optimization, machine learning and statistics to transportation problems.

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Vertical Integration Of Land Use and Transportation Planning

Siddharth Shah is a student in the Masters of Urban Planning at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. As part of the 9/11 Memorial Scholarship program, he will intern at the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) in their Research, Safety and Implementation team. At NYCDOT, his work will involve updating the Vision Zero Pedestrian Safety Borough Plans, first published in 2015, by analyzing the progress on the previous commitments and the impacts on pedestrian safety in Vision Zero priority locations. He shall simultaneously help the Research, Safety and Implementation team in their ongoing policy research to make the streets of New York City safer for all.

Mr. Shah obtained a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelors of Technology from CEPT University (India), where he received the convocation award for Academic Excellence. He has a broad interest in the built environment of cities with a focus on the areas of transportation, environment, and infrastructure in developed as well as developing economies.

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Bahman Moghimi is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering, at City College of New York. His 9/11 program in¬ternship is with NYMTC and he will work to do a full documentation and report discussing the impact of Transit Signal Priority on travel speeds, travel time, congestion, delay, air quality and also evaluate how it can impact on the bigger scale of transportation planning in the New York Metropolitan area. The overall internship process will be about surveying of the TSP projects done in NYMTC region, the TSP tactics used and how much they could reach the objective function, also studying planning tools of NYBPM, PPS-AQ and CMP and run the applications to find how these tools can potentially be used for TSP at the regional level, and furthermore, suggesting the potential scenarios to utilize the benefits of TSP in the NYBPM modeling process, performing a pilot test and prepare the final report on all of the findings.

Bahman Moghimi is a master graduate from Northeastern University in Boston where he received a Dean’s Fellowship award. He was working as a Research Assistant at Northeastern University for 2 years on the project; Self-Organizing Traffic Control and Signal Priority for Transit, prior joining to the CCNY for his PhD. His research is about actuated traffic signal control, transit signal priority, traffic simulation, data analysis, and transportation network analysis; thus far, he has published a lot of journal and conference papers in this research area.

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Transit Signal Priority and its Effect on Traffic Congestion and Air Quality

Mr. Patricio Vicuna studied for his B.Sc. in Statistics and Computer Science, M.Sc. in Operation Research, Advanced Diploma in Data Mining and Project Management, has been admitted into the PhD. Program in Civil Engineering in the field of Transportation at The City College of New York - CUNY (2012); his research is focused in the Development of a Decision Support Tool to Evaluate Transit Improvements Using a Metaheuristic based Model, his advisor is Professor Camille Kamga and co-advisor Dr. Kyriacos Mouskos.

Mr. Vicuna will be working on Automatic Vehicle Location Data Mining, Visualization, and Dashboard Functionality for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, under the supervision of Mrs. Susan McSherry.

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AVL Data Analysis

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Gauri Jumde, a Master’s of Urban Planning candidate at NYU, will also intern at NYMTC for the preparation of Regional Bicycle – Pedestrian Handbook. The project will result in a best practices document to illustrate successful projects in the NYMTC area that enhance mobility, safety, sustainability, and economic development. Gauri’s main responsibility will be to assist in defining the improvement strategies, provide the research on what is working, illustrate successful regional projects, describe the fund sources that were used, and possibly to describe how the project was conceived and the path to construction. This handbook will serve as a type of catalog that planners could use for reference when they are developing projects and applying for funding. Gauri’s supervisor at NYMTC is Larry McAuliffe, Manager of Sustainability.

Dan Wan is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering in CUNY. Her research interests are big data analysis, transit, signal control, and transport finance. For this internship, she will study riders’ perceptions of Select Bus Service (a form of Bus Rapid Transit) elements in New York City. The important ridership drivers will be identified. An analysis of how Select Bus Service elements affect bus operations will be finished to help NYCDOT and NYCT design future SBS routes. To complete this project, Dan needs to work closely with transit professionals, do on-broad survey, deal with real world data, and use some analysis tools. She will work with Transit Development Group in NYCDOT. Aaron Sugiura is her direct supervisor.

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Emily Heard, a MS Urban Planning candidate at Columbia University’s GSAPP, will perform her internship at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. Emily’s project will be the Long Island Community Planning Initiative for the East Side Access Project. Her work will include supporting the development of a Community Planning Initiative in anticipation of the significant impact that the MTA East Side Access project will likely have on specific Long Island communities in the interrelated areas of station access, parking and transit-oriented development. Emily will conduct one-on-one outreach to Long Island municipalities to develop these approaches and work directly with willing municipal officials; research the likely community impacts of the completion of the East Side Access project; and aid in the development of an organizational partnership for the initiative.

Homer Hill, a Masters in Urban Planning candidate at CUNY Hunter College, will perform his internship at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. Homer’s topic will be Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Reduction Implementation Planning, which will involve development of selected regional transportation strategies for reducing GHG emissions, including evaluation of potential strategies for implementation by NYMTC member agencies., a Masters in Urban Planning candidate at CUNY Hunter College, will perform his internship at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. Homer’s topic will be Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Reduction Implementation Planning, which will involve development of selected regional transportation strategies for reducing GHG emissions, including evaluation of potential strategies for implementation by NYMTC member agencies.

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Adam Davidson, a Ph.D. candidate at CSI in Earth and Environmental Sciences, will perform his internship at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council under the direction of NYMTC Sustainability Manager Larry McAuliffe. Adam’s topic will be Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Reduction Implementation Planning , which will involve development of selected regional transportation strategies for reducing GHG emissions, including evaluation of potential strategies for implementation by NYMTC member agencies and development of white papers that discuss the relative merits of the strategies, including amount of potential reduction, practical steps to implement the strategy, the cost of the strategy, and inclusion of case study information.

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A Plug-In Electric Vehicle Charging Network

Stanislav Parfenov, a master’s of science candidate in civil engineering at Polytechnic/NYU, will work in the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) Division of Traffic and Planning. His NYCDOT supervisor is Mike Marsico. The work will focus on effects of street closures on New York City’s street network through the development of dynamic and static simulation models, which will be based on datasets of newly created NYCDOT’s Traffic Information Management System supplemented by taxi GPS data from the NYC Traffic and Limousine Commission.

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Taxi Travel Estimation and Calibration Modeling Tool

Jeremy Safran, a master’s of urban planning candidate at NYU, will also intern at NYCDOT with the Transit Development Group within the Division of Traffic and Planning. His internship will assess bus lanes in New York City, including the assembly of data on a wide variety of bus lane features such as signage, design, color, regulation, and enforcement and on bus performance. The research will result in a best practices document that describes and interprets the findings. The goal of this effort is to assist DOT in implementing bus lane infrastructure that maximizes performance for both Select Bus Service and regular transit buses. Jeremy’s supervisor at NYCDOT is Eric Beaton.

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Bus Lanes in NYC: Design & Performance

Simin You, a Ph.D candidate in computer science at the Graduate Center, CUNY, will be interning with the NYCDOT Office of Research, Implementation, and Safety under the direction of Matthew Roe. Simin’s internship will focus on developing data management and analysis tools and consists of two major components: improving the existing Safety Data Viewer, and providing other management and analysis tools for transportation research and planning needs. Simin will also work closely with transportation professionals and get in touch with real world transportation data management and analysis problems. By applying state-of-the-art GIS and database management techniques, the research should result in efficient solutions to transportation problems, helping support the core missions of NYCDOT.

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Traffic Safety Data Viewer

Cyrus Naheedy’s internship is with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and his project’s focus is Regional Airport Ground Access Modeling. His work will be part of a larger study, the LaGuardia Airport Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis, which is being undertaken by The New York City Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Port Authority to analyze different approaches to improving transit access to LaGuardia and the surrounding communities . Cyrus will work closely with Port Authority staff to enhance the model into a more comprehensive tool that meets longer-term needs of the region. He will contribute to data preparation, model development/expansion, forecasting, and more complete implementation of the model in a transportation GIS environment.

Shuai Ren’s internship is with the NYCDOT Planning and Sustainability Division. It consists of several projects including Pop-up Cafés, City Benches, Play streets, and other data analyzing work. Her main responsibility will be to assist in the evaluation of a pilot program for pop-up cafes currently underway in Lower Manhattan and the launching of a more permanent program. Shuai will also contribute to the NYCDOT Public Benches Program to locate benches along transit routes by evaluating potential locations and assisting with public outreach.

Additional information on Project Descriptions

(1) Pop-up Cafés Pop-up Cafés provide outdoor public seating in the curb lane during the warm months and promote local businesses. Such cafés are popular in Europe, where narrow sidewalks prevent sidewalk cafés, and have recently been established in California, Pennsylvania, and Canada. In the summer of 2010, DOT partnered with two Lower Manhattan restaurants to pilot the city's first Pop-up Café. Building on this success, DOT expanded the program in 2011 by partnering with three additional restaurants and cafés to establish pop-ups. This program is currently a two year pilot, spanning 2011-2012. In 2011-12, DOT will be evaluating this pilots program’s success and developing and launching the permanent program in the agency.

(2) Public Benches The New York City Department of Transportation’s (NYCDOT) new City Bench program is designed to expand the availability of fixed public seating on New York City streets in order to support transit and walking, and to improve public health and the quality of life in New York City. DOT will coordinate with relevant agencies and city offices, such as the MTA, the Department of the Aging, and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services, as well as community stakeholders to locate benches along transit routes or to provide connections from transit stops to major destinations.

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Curbside Public Seating Platforms

Maxwell Sokol, an intern at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), will focus on developing an asset-based Infrastructure Needs Database, comprised of an inventory of all components of the transportation system for NYMTC’s 2015-2040 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The Database will incorporate condition assessments and cost estimates for upgrading the inventoried assets based on the requirements of the RTP, and will include the methodology and assumptions used for determining future costs. In developing the Database, he will be working with NYMTC staff and members to apply the principles and techniques of transportation asset management (TAM). The primary objectives of the project are to enhance the NYMTC data collection process and to assist in the development of the financial analysis for the RTP. The goal in developing a comprehensive, standardized database is to promote efficiency in resource allocation within and between asset classes, both for NYMTC’s long-term planning and short-term programming decisions.

Haiyun Lin participated in the Academic Initiative with independent research on the topic of “Keeping Up with the Trend – Improving the Residential Location Model for the New York Metropolitan Region.”

A residential location model is an essential element in integrated land use and transportation models because the urban landscape is shaped by the location decisions of countless households. Haiyun’s project focused on how to improve the residential location model by incorporating factors that are typically ignored in current models. More specifically, it analyzed how people’s past residential location experiences influence their current residential location choice preferences, and sought insights from the search process involved in making residential location choices. These findings can lead to proposed improvements on the existing residential location choice model as well as recommendations of additional questions to be asked within NYMTC’s current household travel survey framework.

To improve upon existing residential models, Haiyun’s research addressed the following questions: How does a person’s past location experience affect their preferences in the current location decision? How does the search process impact the location decision? 

Update

Haiyun Lin is finishing her Ph.D. dissertation in the Engineering Department of The City College of New York. She co-authored two research papers partially containing results from her September 11th Memorial Program projects. One of these two papers has been accepted for publication by the journal Environment and Planning; and the other is currently under second round review by Housing Studies. Haiyun also made several presentations at conferences based on research that had been at least partially funded through the September

Sandra Rothbard participated in the Academic Initiative by working at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey promoting community involvement in freight decision-making. Sandra’s supervisor at PANYNJ was Vince Mantero.

Freight movement is beginning to take its place as a lead issue for transportation planners. Like other transportation areas, freight deals with its own public involvement issues. Due to different levels of education and knowledge of goods movement (amongst the general public, public agencies and freight industry), there is a great deal of misunderstanding when plans and projects are proposed. Transparent and effective community involvement processes are few and far between, while physical plans for freight transportation often lack creativity and amenities for a surrounding community. As a complement to its Goods Movement Plan, the Planning and Regional Development Department within the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey requested research on the problems facing local communities with respect to freight planning and management. Sandra’s research led to a resource guide for the general public, public agencies and the freight industry that highlights ways to prevent and mitigate conflict.

Update

Sandra Rothbard graduated with a Master of Urban Planning degree from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University in 2010. Currently she is a Fellow in the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, where she is working on solid waste issues.

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Promoting Community Involvement in Freight Decision-Making

Judd Schechtman participated in the Academic Initiative by undertaking independent research on the topic of “Is Sprawl Still the Law? Linking Smart Growth to Transportation Capacity.” His faculty advisor was Robert Burchell and his professional advisor was Ed Buroughs, Commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Planning.

Judd’s project investigated the hypothesis that local land use laws and policies create barriers to intensification of land uses around existing infrastructure, and therefore impede climate stabilization and sustainability goals. The zoning laws and local plans for land use within a half mile of all MTA Metro-North Railroad commuter stations in Westchester County were analyzed for their compliance with sustainability and smart growth principles. They were measured and indexed according to newly developed and existing measures. Results indicate that zoning and other barriers do limit development in Transit-Oriented Developments, though the extent to which they do so varies widely. Although growing through transit-supportive land uses is an essential means to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, substantial urban form changes cannot likely be achieved without reform to the legal and incentive structure driving municipal land use decisions.

Update

Judd Schechtman is a Ph.D. candidate at the Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers. He reported 30 2009-2010 PARTICIPANTS Judd Schechtman continued Through the Academic Initiative, Alexander Wolk participated as an intern in the NYCDOT Division of Planning and Sustainability and worked on a Bus Management Plan for Lower Manhattan. Curb space is a valuable commodity throughout New York City. Lower Manhattan, a tourist and business district known for its congested streets, is no exception. With a daily influx of over a thousand MTA, commuter, intercity and tour buses, the availability of curbs for these vehicles is at a premium. With the impending opening of the World Trade Center Memorial and the gradual build-out of the East River Waterfront, competition for curb space will increase dramatically unless actions are taken to accommodate both increased demand for parking – particularly among tour bus operators – and a decreasing supply of parking due to area developments. The Bus Management Plan for Lower Manhattan included analysis on pricing strategies and payment options, procuring off-street lots, and considered broader integration challenges moving forward. Update Alex noted, “The September 11th Memorial Program for Regional Transportation Planning provided an invaluable experience working at the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) while offering a rare opportunity to directly contribute to research that shed light on transportation issues related to accessing the September 11th Memorial itself, and overall parking challenges in Lower Manhattan. My time at the DOT inspired me to pursue a career in public service and to continue to work on issues of vital importance to all New Yorkers. Currently, I am a project manager at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection working on initiatives to restore the health of the city’s most polluted waterways through innovative stormwater management programs.” Alexander Wolk Urban Planning and Public Service, New York University that he was very grateful to have been a part of the September 11th Memorial Program.

He noted that, “It meant a lot to me to participate in a program honoring the lives of the NYMTC staff lost in the attacks. As a born-and-bred New Yorker, the attacks impacted me in an especially poignant way. I am particularly moved by being able to give something back in the spirit of those lost.” He also indicated that the September 11th Memorial Program inspired him to focus his dissertation research on the New York metropolitan area, and helped make his work on transportation and land use theory relevant to practice. Judd enjoyed being a part of the professional and research community and participating in NYMTC and UTRC proceedings and conferences. 

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Is Sprawl Still the Law?

Timon Stasko conducted an independent research project entitled “School Bus Emission Reduction in New York City.” His advisors were Dr. Oliver Gao of Cornell University and Mark Simon of NYCDOT. This project analyzed the cost effectiveness of Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOCs), Passive Diesel Particulate Filters (PDPFs) and Active Diesel Particulate Filters (ADPFs) in reducing vehicular emissions, as well as early vehicle retirement. Due to a lack of sufficient data to accomplish the original plan to model fleet owner behavior for each of New York City’s school bus fleets, Timon developed a detailed cost effectiveness study instead. Factors influencing cost effectiveness, such as bus age and previous retrofits were examined, a sample fleet was assembled to resemble the combined New York City school bus fleet, and the potential for reducing its emissions was evaluated.

Update

Timon Stasko is a Ph.D. candidate, studying Transportation Systems Engineering in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. He has contributed to several research projects and has submitted a report to NYSDOT to inform their diesel retrofit strategy since they are facing clean diesel regulation similar to that which was implemented in New York City. Timon was able to draw upon the knowledge gained while working on the topic in the September 11th Memorial Program. Timon’s other research projects include locating bioenergy facilities, and supply chain optimization. He also recently worked with Ithaca Carshare to assess their impacts on vehicle ownership, parking demand, and mobility. In general, his research involves the application of mathematical optimization and statistics to transportation problems, with a focus on minimizing both financial costs and emissions. After he graduates, he would like to continue to work on similar problems. Timon was awarded UTRC Student of the Year (Council of University Transportation Centers Award) at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in January 2011.

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School Bus Emission Reduction in New York City

Alexander Wolk participated as an intern in the NYCDOT Division of Planning and Sustainability and worked on a Bus Management Plan for Lower Manhattan.

Curb space is a valuable commodity throughout New York City. Lower Manhattan, a tourist and business district known for its congested streets, is no exception. With a daily influx of over a thousand MTA, commuter, intercity and tour buses, the availability of curbs for these vehicles is at a premium. With the impending opening of the World Trade Center Memorial and the gradual build-out of the East River Waterfront, competition for curb space will increase dramatically unless actions are taken to accommodate both increased demand for parking – particularly among tour bus operators – and a decreasing supply of parking due to area developments. The Bus Management Plan for Lower Manhattan included analysis on pricing strategies and payment options, procuring off-street lots, and considered broader integration challenges moving forward.

Update

Alex noted, “The September 11th Memorial Program for Regional Transportation Planning provided an invaluable experience working at the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) while offering a rare opportunity to directly contribute to research that shed light on transportation issues related to accessing the September 11th Memorial itself, and overall parking challenges in Lower Manhattan. My time at the DOT inspired me to pursue a career in public service and to continue to work on issues of vital importance to all New Yorkers. Currently, I am a project manager at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection working on initiatives to restore the health of the city’s most polluted waterways through innovative stormwater management programs.”

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Bus Management Plan for Lower Manhattan

Evan Bialostozky developed an algorithm that detects transportation modes based on data from Global Postioning System (GPS)-based personal travel surveys. The algorithm determines mode of travel based on the input of a series data for date, time, latitude and longitude records. This data was generated by GPS loggers which were carried by survey respondents during their travels. In addition, Evan assisted the Technical Group in preparations for its Regional Household Travel Survey, a portion of which utilizes GPS-based personal travel surveys. Evan’s supervisor at NYMTC was Jorge Argote, Survey Manager.

Update 

Evan Bialostozky received his Master’s Degree from Hunter College in 2009 and currently works in the Operations Planning Department of MTA Bus.

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Development of a Mode Detection Algorithm for GPS-Based Personal Travel Surveys in NYC

Peter Feroe participated in an internship under the Academic Initiative with the Westchester County Department of Planning, focusing on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) opportunities in the I-287 Corridor. He was supervised by then Deputy Commissioner (now Commissioner) Ed Buroughs of Westchester County’s Department of Planning. His academic advisor was Professor Ingrid Gould Ellen of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

In his internship, Peter assisted the communities of Westchester in advancing the principles of TOD in the I-287 corridor in anticipation of the construction of a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route within the corridor as part of a potential major investment involving the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge. This effort included developing and making presentations to municipal officials on the subjects of BRT and TOD; launching a website; and creating an interactive catalog of route and station alternatives. Peter worked closely with the Tappan Zee Bridge project team, including representatives from NYSDOT; MTA Metro-North Railroad; the NYS Thruway Authority; Project for Public Spaces; Regional Plan Association; and ReConnecting America. 

Update

After graduating with a Master of Urban Planning degree from NYU’s Wagner School in 2009, Peter Feroe took a position with MTA Bus as a Sustainability Analyst. In his position, Peter works on the development, collection, analysis, organization and presentation of data and information related to sustainability in all aspects of bus operations (including fuels, vehicles, facilities, training and recycling). Through this work, he continues to contribute to regional transportation needs as well as helps to advance the United States DOT’s new livability goals.

Peter indicated that his experience in the September 11th Memorial Program helped him gain a more in-depth knowledge of the issues involved with transit operations and 26 service delivery. He feels that it also helped him to develop a better understanding of the interactions between a community and their transit systems, and has benefited his current work in advancing the livability goals.

Peter also noted that he takes pride in the work he performed as part of his September 11th Memorial Program. He felt that his project sponsor supported his project’s goals and integrated the work that he was doing into the other work of the department. “I truly felt like I was part of a team and was contributing not only to the completion of my project, but to the overall body of work of the department. In fact, much of my work is still being used on the department’s website, www.westchestergov. com/brt, in order to further educate the public.” He feels that his experience exceeded his expectations.

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Reshaping Westchester’s I-287 Corridor

Jennifer Lozano participated in an internship with MTA Capital Construction (MTA CC) to evaluate the outcome of workforce development initiatives and measure their success. Her supervisor was Regina Gramola of MTA CC. Jennifer was actively involved with the issue of workforce development and contributed to the development of several initiatives including technical lessons learned, mentoring, and professional development and training. She participated in designing evaluation and measurement techniques of the workforce development initiatives. Some of her responsibilities included interviewing MTA CC executive management regarding their objectives and proposed goals of each initiative; designing measurement techniques; and conducting the analysis.

Update

Currently Jennifer Lozano works with project executives, engineers, construction managers, architects, and consultants to guarantee the success of the #7 Subway Line Extension for MTA CC. She feels that this major investment will vastly change the footprint of New York City public transportation and “feels blessed to be a part of it.” Jennifer believes that the September 11th Memorial Program was the key gateway in this career opportunity, having given her the foundation and skills necessary to work on a project of such a large magnitude. She wrote, “As a young woman embarking on my career path in the transportation profession, I am committed to carrying on the memory of Ignatius Adanga, Charles Lesperance, and See Wong Shum through my work ethic, dedication to public transportation, and leadership skills.”

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September 11th Memorial Program For Regional Transportation Planning

Michael Silas conducted research into the effectiveness of policies to shift freight deliveries to the off-peak hours of the day. The objective of his research was to gain a better understanding of how to increase the participation in off-peak deliveries through the use of behavioral simulation and economic incentives. Secondary goals were to understand how different characteristics and market segments of receivers and carriers influence the participation of off-peak deliveries, and to understand how receivers and carriers interact when agreeing on the scheduling of deliveries in congested urban areas.

He developed a micro-simulation optimization framework to look at how sensitive delivery behavior is to economic incentives, using stated preference data from receivers and carriers in the New York City area. His advisors were Dr. José Holguín Veras of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Nathan Erlbaum of NYSDOT.

Update

Michael Silas earned his Ph.D. in the summer of 2009 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Michael’s dissertation was titled “An Investigation on Off-Hour Delivery Policy Design using Optimal Incentives and a Behavioral Micro-Simulation Approach.” He has extensive research experience in operations research, applied mathematics, statistics, economics, and freight transportation – all centered on policy analysis. Michael also worked on time-of day tolls and off-hour delivery research projects funded by the New Jersey DOT, the Port Authority, NYSDOT, and the United States DOT. Michael co-authored the UTRC’s Region 2’s Best Transportation Paper in 2007. Michael was awarded UTRC Student of the Year in January 2010. Currently, he works in Washington, DC, as a research analyst, adjunct professor, and transportation consultant. He supports the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Department of Transportation with risk analyses related to critical infrastructure.

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Simulation-Optimization Formulation for Design of Off-Peak Delivery Policies

Darrell Sonntag conducted independent research on the topic “Modeling the Temporal and Size Distributions of Diesel Particulate Matter Emissions.” His academic advisor was Dr. Oliver Gao of Cornell University and his professional advisor was Larry McAuliffe, NYMTC’s Sustainability Manager. Diesel particulate matter emissions are a serious health threat in the NYMTC region. However, little is known about important characteristics of particle emissions, including the size-distribution of fine and ultrafine particles. For his September 11th Memorial Program research, Darrell analyzed the size-distribution of particulate matter emissions from diesel transit buses and alternative fueled passenger cars. This research will help better understand the health risks from current and future transportation-source emissions in the NYMTC region.

Update

Darrell Sonntag graduated with his Ph.D. in February of 2010, and after a short post-doctoral appointment at Cornell University, took a position as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow and began work with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality in Washington DC. He is currently in this position and is conducting policy-focused research on the impact of potential emissions regulations on public health and the environment. Darrell indicated, “The memorial aspect of the internship helped me to appreciate my opportunities to study and apply knowledge to build a better and safer world. It gave me a stronger desire to do my best with the awarded funds to make a meaningful difference in the world. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to present my research at NYMTC headquarters. I felt that NYMTC really honored our work and was interested in what we had accomplished.”

Darrell feels that his professional advisor, Larry McAuliffe, provided valued assistance on conducting research and helped with his choice to conduct research that could influence “real-world decisions.” He conveyed that his opportunity gave him a broader perspective on the role of public transportation agencies in overcoming environmental challenges.

A review of his research conducted with September 11th Memorial Program funds appeared in the following journal article: Diane U. Keogh and Darrell Sonntag, Challenges and Approaches for Developing Ultrafine Particle Emission Inventories for Motor Vehicle and Bus Fleets, Atmosphere 2011, 2(2), 36-56. Darrell also had the opportunity to make several presentations which were at least partially based on his September 11th Memorial Program work at various conferences.

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Modeling the Temporal and Size-Distributions of Diesel Particulate Matter

Nicholas Tulach conducted independent research on the topic “The Tyranny of the Shovel: Exploring Changes in the Planning Process During Periods of Economic Crisis.” His academic advisor was Dr. Daniel Chatman of Rutgers and his professional advisor was Michael Flynn of NYCDOT. This research explored the lessons learned by local agencies from past financial crises in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The research addressed the following questions: What happens to decision making in periods of economic crises? Do these crises mark significant shifts in the local practice of planning? If so, in what ways?

Through a variety of primary and secondary sources reflecting New York City data, this research explored the themes of crisis, devolution, privatization, and public-private partnerships in terms of how they fluctuate under the effects of periodic economic crisis. Placing these crises in a political economic context allows an understanding of how privatization, public-private partnerships, and project prioritization are implemented as part of the transportation planning process, and how those changes connect to other scales of policy formulation such as the federal transportation reauthorization or the economic recovery plan.

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The Tyranny of the Shovel

Nancy Mahadeo interned with NYMTC’s staff. Her work focused on Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Strategies under the guidance of Larry McAuliffe, NYMTC’s Sustainability Manager. Nancy analyzed four mobile source emission reduction strategies to encourage use of hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and hydrogen and clean diesel technologies. She found that plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology was the most cost-effective strategy; hydrogen technology was too costly; and clean diesel involved the production of higher emissions of nitrogen oxides.

Update

Nancy Mahadeo is currently a program consultant at MaGrann Associates where she is helping to support home energy audits for existing residential programs. She also researches and evaluates software programs for state and utility program management and helps assess future lines of business. Prior to this position, she was an energy planning analyst for the Association for Energy Affordability, Inc. in the Bronx where she created a performance tracking system for the Weatherization Assistance Program in the downstate New York region.

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Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Strategies For the NYMTC Region

Gitakrishnan Ramadurai conducted an independent research project titled “Identification and Modeling of Next Generation Traveler Guidance Systems.” His advisors were Professor Satish Ukkusuri of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (now at Purdue University), and Todd Westhuis of NYSDOT. The objectives of the research were 1) to identify the characteristics and architecture of next generation traveler guidance systems; and 2) to develop modeling and algorithmic techniques to operationalize the identified architecture. The research from the study was developed into three independent research papers, each addressing an objective mentioned above. The final report represented a compilation of the three independent papers.

Update

After receiving his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009, Gita Ramadurai accepted a position as Assistant Professor in Transportation Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. He is a co-investigator in a project titled “Advanced Traveler Information Systems for Indian Cities – a first generation ATIS implementation for Indian traffic conditions.” He also indicated that his experience in the research project is helping him define solutions for a real world implementation in Chennai, India.

He reported that the September 11th Memorial Program helped him develop as a researcher and academician. He indicated that “The support from the program provided me the financial freedom to explore a research problem of my interest – Modeling for Next Generation Traveler Guidance Systems.” About his professional advisor, Gita indicated that “He provided me unique perspectives to the problem which I would not have realized if I had remained within an academic setting. Equally satisfying was the result that two academic research papers were published in journals from the work I had done as part of the program. I thank NYMTC and UTRC for implementing this program. I feel the cause behind the program was also inspiring and brought out the best from the participants. I hope 

Of note is that Gita’s doctoral work was recognized at the 2009 Annual INFORMS conference in San Diego on October 10, 2009, when he received the Best Dissertation Award from the Transportation Science and Logistics Society

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Identification and Modeling of Next Generation Traveler Guidance Systems

Matthew Roe participated in an internship with NYCDOT, studying “Spatial Analysis and GIS Support for Sustainable Pedestrian Safety in New York City,” under the guidance of Seth Berman and Ann Marie Doherty. Matthew’s study was a GISdriven investigation into the geography of pedestrian safety, especially related to seniors, and the causes of pedestrian-vehicular crashes in New York City. Several major GIS tools and database-querying techniques were used for the analysis, including 1) spatial analysis, most usefully kernel-density analysis, which was used at the planning stages of the Safe Streets for Seniors project; 2) crash factor analysis and related investigations; and 3) enhancing data accessibility for project managers. Particular attention was paid to pedestrians over the age of 65, who comprise 40 percent of pedestrian deaths in New York City.

Matthew helped produce maps of the density of all senior pedestrian severe injuries and fatalities in New York City over a fiveyear period, which identified ‘hotspots’ with high concentrations of crashes, including several neighborhoods that had not previously been identified as problematic. While other techniques were applied to the senior pedestrian crash data, kernel density analysis provided the most consistent and applicable criteria, leading to the identification of twenty five high-priority areas for the Safe Streets for Seniors program. Five of these areas were investigated together with NYCDOT staff. This work and associated research laid the groundwork for broader pedestrian safety planning in New York City and helped to point the way to further research. Some of the resulting design treatments to address pedestrian safety include the installation of pedestrian refuge islands and neckdowns; leading pedestrian intervals for traffic signals; and (universally within the designated areas) pedestrian “Don’t Walk” clearance phases timed for a three-foot-per-second walking speed, the average for pedestrians over 65. As of 2011, improvements have been made at 13 of the 25 Safe Streets for Seniors locations.

Update

After graduation from Columbia University, Matthew Roe accepted a full-time position with NYCDOT as Planning and Research Manager in the agency’s Safety Office, where he continues to contribute to safety issues and needs, He is responsible for citywide safety planning, research, and data management, serving as project manager for the 2010 New York City Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan. His work also includes street design, project planning, and large-scale traffic monitoring, and he has managed two UTRC-funded studies undertaken on behalf of NYCDOT: “Pedestrian Fatality and Severe Injury Accidents in New York City;” and the “Effectiveness of Traffic Calming Measures.” In addition, his September 11th Memorial Program work was showcased in the June 2009 issue of UTC Spotlight, published by the University Transportation Centers Program within the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the United States DOT.

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Spatial Analysis and GIS Support for Sustainable Pedestrian Safety

Brian Ross interned with NYMTC’s staff through the Academic Initiative, researching the Federal Transit Administration’s New Freedom grant program under the guidance of Nancy O’Connell, then Manager of Program Development for NYMTC. The New Freedom Program (Section 5317) is designed to improve transportation services for individuals with disabilities by providing them with alternatives to public transportation outside of what the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires.

Brian’s research identified a total of seven cities across the country that have had relative success with the New Freedom Program and interviewed representatives from each city to provide guidance to NYMTC on how best to proceed with its subsequent grant solicitation effort. Three overall themes – outreach/ education, funding, and oversight – surfaced from these conversations.

Update

Currently, Brian Ross serves as Operations Analyst at MTA Bridges and Tunnels, focusing on performance, administration and budget for the Operations Department – the largest in the agency. In this role, he gathers and analyzes data for management reports, operational studies and special projects, helping improve operating and budget performance for the agency.

Prior to this position, Brian worked as Community Initiatives Manager, Million- TreesNYC for the New York Restoration Project (NYRP). Brian administered the MillionTreesNYC Tree Giveaway Grant program, which under his guidance gave away 4,200 trees – the largest annual number to date. Brian also managed several stewardship grants, and served as co-chair on the Million- TreesNYC Stewardship subcommittee, helping strategize those efforts citywide in conjunction with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and other non-profit partners.

Brian is also working for UTRC, serving as a Research Assistant on a study funded through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and NYSDOT. He is helping explore the feasibility of reducing the use of garbage trucks in New York City through the use of pneumatic-tube technology. 24

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Successes and Challenges with the FTA New Freedom Program: Guidance for the NYMTC region

Amit Arora studied parking regulations and supply/ demand issues in and around NYMTC’s planning area. This research topic was proposed by the Metropolitan Mobility Network, an advisory working group which advises NYMTC on transportation demand management (TDM) issues in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region. Amit examined 22 municipalities to understand how parking requirements and policies vary across the region, and gathered information about innovative practices in the region and around the country. She received guidance on her project from two advisors, Dr. Dan Chatman of Rutgers University, and Jan Khan, Regional Planning Manager for NYMTC.

Amit’s research created an inventory of existing parking regulations and ordinances, analyzed policies and identified innovative parking practices from case studies primarily in the New York metropolitan region, but also elsewhere in the United States. Her research also examined planners’ and developers’ perspectives on parking. Amit‘s interviews with planners indicated that parking supply was inadequate and also found a shortage in supply of spaces in commuter lots and downtown areas, possibly because commuter lots are either free or are relatively inexpensive. Amit also found that some municipalities have adopted innovative parking practices in their ordinances, which can be implemented and replicated in other municipalities.

Update

Amit Arora is presently working as a National Professional Officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the area of road safety and injury prevention and is based out of WHO’s India Country Office in New Delhi, India.

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Inventory of parking provisions in the NYMTC Region

Richard Barone worked with Munnesh Patel and Kuo-Ann Chiao of NYMTC’s Technical Group to develop a five part strategy to formalize data management practices at NYMTC. He analyzed data handling practices and developed recommendations for improvements. The end-goal of this project was to develop a regional transportation data repository that could be used by agencies, civic groups and citizens.

Richard examined various data needs and issues associated with the use of these data for NYMTC’s planning processes and developed strategies to improve its data handling capabilities. His paper addressed data management concerns by reviewing and critically evaluating NYMTC’s data practices, while taking into consideration the additional data collection and visualization requirements that had been set forth by federal regulations and developing a long-term strategy to utilize state-of-theart tools and emerging technology.

Richard also examined NYMTC’s website and suggested the use of various emerging technologies and ways to improve accessibility and organization of information within the website.

Update

After completing the September 11th Memorial Program in 2007, Richard Barone began working for Regional Plan Association (RPA) as a research and policy planner for transportation. 19 His work at RPA has been multi-modal, spanning urban transit systems, highways (specifically goods movement), seaports and airports. Richard’s primary task has included multi-year research assignments to plan for the infrastructure needs of the region, and then engaging in advocacy to promote recommendations. Over the years, Richard has also acted as facilitator at numerous working sessions with the public on transportation projects and other planning topics. He recently co-authored “Upgrading to World Class: The Future of the New York Region’s Airports,” which included forecasting future demand for the New York-New Jersey airport system, researching various options to increase airport capacity and/or manage demand, and then recommending what must be done to accommodate the projected growth in air travel. He has remained connected to UTRC, particularly as a member of the team studying multimodal goods movement on the I-278 Corridor. Richard recently became the Director of Transportation Programs at RPA

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Regional Strategic Data Assessment

Xiaoqiang (Jason) Chen examined the relationship between the built environment and time-of-day ridership patterns at subway stations in New York City. He analyzed how these daily activity patterns vary from station to station, and the relationship between these patterns and land uses surrounding the stations. He then developed a method to forecast the time-of-day ridership patterns for subway stations in New York City. His advisors were Dr. Cynthia Chen of The City College of New York, and James Barry of MTA New York City Transit.

Jason’s research examined how subway ridership evolved over a 24 hour day, developed a methodology to classify the station’s time-of-day ridership pattern and to forecast the time-of- day ridership patterns for subway stations in New York City. He focused on several key research questions, including:

• How does ridership distribution differ over a 24 hour period for different stations and can any patterns be identified?
• What is the connection between the time-of-day ridership pattern and local features such as population, employment, and land use, and what are some network position effects such as general travel cost to Central Business District (CBD)?
• How can time-of-day ridership patterns for a particular station be reliably predicted?

The project also investigated the spatial distribution of subway station ridership in New York City on weekdays and weekends.

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New York City Subway Ridership Time of Day Pattern

Li Chen worked on the West Side Manhattan Traffic and Transportation Study at NYCDOT, where she was supervised by Michael Griffith. This study examined traffic, pedestrian, bicycle and goods movement, safety, and land use issues in a rapidly evolving area on the edge of the region’s central business district. She was involved in many different aspects of this project, including organizing public outreach meetings and data collection activities, and analyzing changes in the area’s demography, traffic, and land uses. Her methodology was to assess existing (2006) and future (2016) conditions, identify issues and define transportation problems and deficiencies, and to develop short-term (1-3 years), medium- term (5-7 years) and long-term (8–10 years) improvement measures through consultation with communities.

Update

Currently, Li Chen is pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering at The City College, City University of New York. Her doctoral research topics include cost estimation and risk analysis of transportation capital projects, and evaluation of safety countermeasures and traffic calming measures. She wrote a paper entitled “Incorporating Risk of Cost Overruns into Transportation Capital Projects Decision- Making,” with Professor Joseph Berechman; it was published in the Journal of Transport Economics and Policy (JTEP) in January, 2011. During the 2009-2010 academic year, she worked on the project “Effectiveness of Traffic Calming Measures,” sponsored by the New York City Department of Transportation; her major task was the statistical analysis of the effectiveness of the various traffic calming measures and safety countermeasures in New York City. Her paper “Evaluating the Safety Impact of Bike Lanes in New York City” has been accepted by the American Journal of Public Health, and she is also working on other papers evaluating safety countermeasures in reducing pedestrian and vehicle crashes.

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West Side Manhattan Traffic and Transportation Study

Wei Li studied transportation services for the region’s aging population. She gathered data on the characteristics of transit services for seniors in Westchester County through interviews and data analysis. Her research was supervised by her academic advisor, Professor Cynthia Chen, and by Joel Ettinger, Executive Director of NYMTC, who also served as her professional advisor. Her report was titled: “A Typology of Senior Transportation Services in Westchester County.”

The research objectives and tasks of this study were to identify all the services available for the senior population within Westchester County; select and describe the essential supply characteristics of these services; identify limitations and obstacles of existing services; and identify innovative senior transportation programs and possible directions for future efforts. The methodology utilized a survey which was conducted in 35 Westchester County municipalities.

Wei Li’s analysis showed that all the existing programs (fixed route public transit, paratransit, and community transportation services) played important roles in seniors’ daily travel, but that there were limitations and obstacles to each. Recommendations were based on overcoming or minimizing these obstacles. It was advised that efforts for public transit service should focus on attracting more senior riders by diverting them from driving to public transit, modifying routes or adding stops favored by seniors, and educating non-users on bus use. For paratransit, simplification of the procedures for eligibility was recommended as well as providing door-to-door or curb-to- curb service. For community programs, an expansion of programs was recommended.

Update

Wei Li has reported that her experiences in the September 11th Memorial Program have greatly encouraged her to pursue transportation forecasting using more systematic tools and statistical methodologies. She is now a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Statistics and Biostatistics at Rutgers University and has been involved in various types of inter-disciplinary research projects with statistical tools. These projects include conducting violation and crash recidivism analysis among drivers in New Jersey; building predictive modeling for safe landings of aircrafts; longitudinal study on treatment effects for patients with depression/anxiety disorders; and methodology development on non-parametric statistical testing. She has also served as a consultant in the Office of Statistical Consulting at Rutgers, helping and collaborating with clients from different fields. Wei hopes to pursue more study in solving inter-disciplinary problems via statistical analysis in the future, and also to contribute in the development of theories and methodologies.

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A Typology of Senior Transportation Services in Westchester County

Jeevanjot Singh conducted research on time-of-day pricing strategies for the Westchester County Bee-Line System transit network. Her study’s purpose was to produce realistic demand and cost functions that could be used by Westchester County to develop better transit policies for elderly and disabled populations. Her report, “Variable Fares for Elderly and Handicapped Transit Riders: An Analysis of Westchester County,” explored alternatives with variable fare options for peak and off peak periods. Her analysis compared various fare levels, as well as a comparison of price elasticities at other transit agencies around the country. Ms. Singh’s research was supervised by her academic advisor, Dr. Kaan Ozbay, and by a professional advisor, Patricia Chemka, now Deputy Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Public Works and Transportation.

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Analysis of time-of-day pricing in optimizing bus transit service in Westchester County, NY

Dan Wan is a PhD candidate in the Civil Engineering Department at the City College of New York. She received her M.S. and B.S. in Transportation Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in March, 2012 and July, 2009 respectively. Her undergraduate and postgraduate studies have prepared her with knowledge in Traffic Impact Analysis, Transportation Planning, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Urban Study.

Dan has participated in several transportation projects which greatly improved the traffic efficiency and safety of those involved cities of China. Her intended research areas in UTRC would be related to public transportation and traffic system

David Dayu Zhang worked with NYMTC staff to research key transportation issues facing the region and to plan regional conferences to address these issues. Under the guidance of NYMTC Executive Director Joel Ettinger, he examined four critical areas related to NYMTC’s shared regional vision: Bus Rapid Transit; safe routes to school; Transit-Oriented Development; and transit for older adults. He helped NYMTC plan the first in a series of policy conferences to provide a forum at which the region’s stakeholders could discuss specific issues and learn more about what other regions are doing to address them. The conference, entitled Good to Go, highlighted transportation options for older adults; it was held on September 26, 2007 at NYU. Mr. Zhang collaborated with NYMTC staff, AARP, and the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at the NYU Wagner School to help organize this event.

Update

About his experiences in the September 11th Memorial Program, David wrote, “During the program at NYMTC, I developed myself professionally to better understand the mechanisms of the public sector, and the role of the metropolitan planning organization in this region. I was able to attend meetings at different levels, and meet with different groups of visitors and delegations from the region and even around the world. Besides my work on emerging transportation challenges, I was also able to learn from working with different groups within NYMTC. I worked with the Technical Group, for example, on land use model development and evaluation, which benefited me a lot. This project involved helping evaluate three existing models and developing an RFP for land use model enhancements. This program has been enormously helpful for me both educationally and professionally.” After he completed the September 11th Memorial Program and graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Science in Urban Planning, Mr. Zhang worked for the New York City Office of Management and Budget as a senior analyst for two years. In 2008, Mr. Zhang returned to his home country of China, and is currently working as a vice president for CITIC Securities in Beijing.

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Regional Decision Making/Conference Planning