Analysis of Metro-Link Performance in Saint Louis, Missouri

2005 ◽  
Vol 1930 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-78
Author(s):  
Edson L. Tennyson
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
The United States ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Transit System ◽  
Saint Louis ◽  
Rail Line ◽  
Precipitous Decline ◽  
Bus Service ◽  
Transit Use ◽  
The Cost

In 1946 St. Louis Public Service Company, Missouri, the eighth largest transit system in the United States, was a highly respected metropolitan operation. In 1993 the St. Louis transit system was no longer among the 30 largest systems. The precipitous decline paralleled a 61% decline in the city of St. Louis population, offset by only modest suburban population growth. In an effort to restore transit viability to the St. Louis metropolitan area, an 18-mi light rail transit line was inaugurated in 1993. Using abandoned railroad facilities, including a downtown tunnel and Mississippi River bridge, the new light rail line connected Lambert Airport in Missouri with East St. Louis, Illinois. The results were immediate and positive. Patronage exceeded comfortable car capacity. More cars were acquired. Voters in Illinois and Missouri approved funding to expand light rail 17 mi into Illinois and 8 mi into suburban Missouri. Transit use increased 40%. Light rail carried 49% of the region's transit passenger miles in only 25% of the area. The cost of service slowed its inexorable rise as light rail moved people for 25 cents per passenger mile, down from 51 cents by bus in 1993. With fewer trunk lines and more feeder routes, bus service costs increased to 80 cents per passenger mile. Casualties declined significantly. St. Louis again has a functional transit system.

Assessing Transit Changes in Columbus, Ohio, and Sacramento, California

2005 ◽  
Vol 1930 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Schumann
Keyword(s):  
Federal Funding ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Rail Transit ◽  
Transit System ◽  
Transit Systems ◽  
Bus Transit ◽  
The Past ◽  
Voter Approval ◽  
Capital Funding ◽  
Bus Service

This paper compares the changes experienced by transit systems in two state capitals of similar size: Columbus, Ohio, and Sacramento, California. Over the past two decades, Sacramento added a light rail transit (LRT) starter line and experienced significant ridership growth on its multimodal rail and bus system, while Columbus remained all-bus and experienced a decline in patronage. Reasons underlying the divergent performances of these two systems are analyzed and discussed. It is concluded that, in Sacramento, willing political leadership took good advantage of a one-time opportunity for federal funding to build an LRT starter line; that adding LRT made transit more visible and effective and encouraged voter approval of additional local operating and capital funding; and that all of this resulted in a synergy that attracted more riders to the total LRT and bus transit system and led to extension of the rail system to a third corridor in 2003. Although planning for LRT was begun in Columbus during these same years, a serious interruption in the flow of local funds hampered transit development, required cuts in bus service, and prevented development of that region's planned LRT line. Columbus currently has an LRT project in preliminary engineering, and recent reports suggest a consensus to proceed may be emerging.

Light Rail Lite or Cost-Effective Improvements to Bus Service?

2005 ◽  
Vol 1927 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Hess ◽  
Brian D. Taylor ◽  
Allison C. Yoh
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Rapid Transit ◽  
Service Characteristics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Bus Service ◽  
The Cost

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is growing rapidly in popularity because it is viewed widely as an efficient and effective means to improve both transit service and patronage. This paper argues that two distinct views of BRT are emerging: ( a) BRT as a new form of high-speed, rubber-tired, rail-like rapid transit and ( b) BRT as a cost-effective way to upgrade both the quality and image of traditional fixed-route bus service. These two views carry different price tags because the cost of planning, constructing, and operating BRT depends on the complexity of new service features and on rises for BRT that offer service characteristics approaching those of light rail. This study fills a gap in the literature on the costs of BRT by examining in detail component costs–-actual costs for recently implemented services and projected costs for planned new services–-for a sample of BRT systems in North American cities. The study examined BRT costs of 14 planned and recently opened BRT systems to determine how the wide range of BRT service and technology configurations affect costs. The study found that although some of the most successful and popular new BRT systems are high-quality services operating in mixed traffic and implemented at relatively low cost, most BRT projects on the drawing boards are more elaborate, more expensive systems than many currently in service. Most new BRT projects emphasize elaborate LRT-type improvements to lines and stations in one or a few corridors rather than less splashy improvements (such as next-bus monitors, signal preemption, queue-jump lanes, and so forth) affecting more lines and modes in local transit networks. Among the 14 systems examined here, most could be characterized as light rail lite.

scholarly journals Optimization Model for Rail Line Crossover Design Considering the Cost of Delay

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110624
Author(s):  
Willem Trommelen ◽  
Konstantinos Gkiotsalitis ◽  
Eric C. van Berkum
Keyword(s):  
Nonlinear Model ◽  
Optimization Model ◽  
Fixed Number ◽  
Crossover Design ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Optimal Selection ◽  
Rail Line ◽  
Additional Costs ◽  
The Cost

In this study, we introduce a method to optimally select the crossover locations of an independent rail line from a set of possible crossover locations considering a fixed number of crossovers that must be used in the design. This optimal selection aims to minimize the cost of passenger delay. Previous research showed that including passenger delay in the decision of rail design choices could be beneficial from economic and societal perspectives. However, those studies were only able to evaluate a few alternatives, because the degraded schedules had to be determined manually. In this research, we introduced an integer nonlinear model to find the best crossover design. We further developed an algorithm to evaluate a set of crossovers and determine the cost of delays for all segments on a rail line given a set of potential disruptions. The monetized cost of passenger delays was used to analyze the tradeoff between the unreliability costs emerging from the delay of passengers in the case of disruptions, and the total number of required crossovers. Our model was applied on a light rail line in Bergen (Norway) resulting in 10% reduction in relation to passenger delays without increasing the number of crossovers; thus, ensuring that there were no additional costs.

Corrosion Control of Modern Light Rail Transit (LRT) Systems

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Berman ◽  
Quentin P. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Rail Transit ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Light Rail Transit ◽  
Corrosion Control ◽  
Transit System ◽  
Transit Systems

Since the introduction of electrified transit systems in the United States there has been a number of advancements in the field of corrosion control related to light rail transit (LRT) systems. Modern day direct current (dc) powered LRT systems have been designed with a variety of corrosion control features built-in. Most of the research into corrosion control and the mitigation of stray currents known as electrolysis in the early days of electrified transit systems first appeared extensively in papers prepared and presented by personnel of the National Bureau of Standards. This research has led to better protection against corrosion of transit systems and nearby structures throughout the years. Due to the ever increasing number of transit systems being built or upgraded, it’s essential to incorporate the installation, testing and monitoring of corrosion control measures in these transit systems. By integrating these corrosion control features into the design of LRT systems and subsystems, it will help to prevent premature corrosion failures on LRT fixed facilities and other structures. This paper identifies the main causes of corrosion and how corrosion control can be implemented into the design of LRT systems to prevent damage to the transit system and other structures.

Development of Crash Energy Management for Light Rail Vehicles

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Kirkpatrick ◽  
Robert A. MacNeill ◽  
Glenn Gough ◽  
Emil Hice
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Energy Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vehicle Design ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Transit System ◽  
Rail Vehicle ◽  
Design Methodologies ◽  
Rail Vehicles ◽  
Rail Industry

Rail vehicle safety standards for the United States have historically placed emphasis on static structural strength requirements to ensure safety. The primary requirements to ensure crash safety of light rail vehicles were static load cases including car body buff loads, collision post loads, corner post loads, etc. More recent developments for light rail vehicles in the United States have included crash energy management design methodologies. This is consistent with the trend in other modes of transportation applying modern crashworthiness engineering. The challenges of incorporating crash energy management into light rail vehicles are the lack of crashworthiness standards for the light rail industry, the introduction of new design methodologies, and the concerns of compatibility of new and older equipment. This issue of compatibility in vehicle designs would often inhibit introduction of innovations and potential safety improvements within an existing light rail transit system. However, there are ongoing efforts to address each of these challenges. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has a committee working on the development of a new safety standard for light rail vehicles. Light rail vehicle manufacturers are increasingly using modern crashworthiness design principles. In addition, modern crash analysis methodologies allow for the assessment of vehicle incompatibilities in the design process. In this paper, the developments of crash energy management strategies in the light rail industry are discussed. These include the ongoing standards development efforts and the application of crash energy management principles in recent light rail vehicle design efforts. Examples will be provided for the use of crash analyses in a vehicle design. The interaction of the crash and static analyses will be discussed and examples of both compatible and incompatible collision scenarios will be presented.

scholarly journals Development of a Key Performance Indicator System to Benchmark Relative Paratransit Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 2650 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Morse ◽  
Mark Trompet ◽  
Alexander Barron ◽  
Daniel J. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicator ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indicator System ◽  
Key Performance Indicator ◽  
Cost Efficiencies ◽  
Bus Service ◽  
Transit Agencies ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Group Facilitators

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. U.S. transit agencies are therefore required to offer eligible customers services that complement the mobility opportunities provided to the general public on fixed-route public transit. Although these paratransit services are necessary and just, they represent a proportionally large cost to agencies: approximately eight times the cost per boarding compared with fixed-route bus service. To be able to identify opportunities for cost efficiencies and to further improve the quality of paratransit services offered, the 20 agencies of the American Bus Benchmarking Group decided to benchmark their relative performance in paratransit management and operations. A key performance indicator system was developed, and associated data items were defined in detail to ensure comparability of agencies’ performance and hence ensure the usefulness of the benchmarking program. The scope of this system went beyond the data already provided to the National Transit Database, both in amount and in granularity of data collected as well as the detail of definitions. The challenges, respective solutions, and other lessons identified during 4 years of paratransit benchmarking development led by Imperial College London, the American Bus Benchmarking Group facilitators, are described. The paper provides transit agencies and authorities as well as benchmarking practitioners and academics an opportunity to apply these lessons for the further benefit of paratransit services and their customers around the United States.

Demonstrating Nutrient Cost Gradients: A Brooklyn Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 244-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Karp ◽  
Gary Wong ◽  
Marguerite Orsi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Food Selection ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Caloric Density ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Introduction: Foods dense in micronutrients are generally more expensive than those with higher energy content. These cost-differentials may put low-income families at risk of diminished micronutrient intake. Objectives: We sought to determine differences in the cost for iron, folate, and choline in foods available for purchase in a low-income community when assessed for energy content and serving size. Methods: Sixty-nine foods listed in the menu plans provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for low-income families were considered, in 10 domains. The cost and micronutrient content for-energy and per-serving of these foods were determined for the three micronutrients. Exact Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparisons of energy costs; Spearman rho tests for comparisons of micronutrient content. Ninety families were interviewed in a pediatric clinic to assess the impact of food cost on food selection. Results: Significant differences between domains were shown for energy density with both cost-for-energy (p < 0.001) and cost-per-serving (p < 0.05) comparisons. All three micronutrient contents were significantly correlated with cost-for-energy (p < 0.01). Both iron and choline contents were significantly correlated with cost-per-serving (p < 0.05). Of the 90 families, 38 (42 %) worried about food costs; 40 (44 %) had chosen foods of high caloric density in response to that fear, and 29 of 40 families experiencing both worry and making such food selection. Conclusion: Adjustments to USDA meal plans using cost-for-energy analysis showed differentials for both energy and micronutrients. These differentials were reduced using cost-per-serving analysis, but were not eliminated. A substantial proportion of low-income families are vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies.

Use of cold tolerant eucalyptus species as a partial replacement for southern mixed hardwoods

TAPPI Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER W. HART ◽  
DALE E. NUTTER
Keyword(s):  
Potential Method ◽  
The United States ◽  
Partial Replacement ◽  
Growth Time ◽  
Eucalyptus Species ◽  
Cold Tolerant ◽  
Hardwood Pulp ◽  
Time Required ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Operational Data

During the last several years, the increasing cost and decreasing availability of mixed southern hardwoods have resulted in financial and production difficulties for southern U.S. mills that use a significant percentage of hardwood kraft pulp. Traditionally, in the United States, hardwoods are not plantation grown because of the growth time required to produce a quality tree suitable for pulping. One potential method of mitigating the cost and supply issues associated with the use of native hardwoods is to grow eucalyptus in plantations for the sole purpose of producing hardwood pulp. However, most of the eucalyptus species used in pulping elsewhere in the world are not capable of surviving in the southern U.S. climate. This study examines the potential of seven different cold-tolerant eucalyptus species to be used as replacements for, or supplements to, mixed southern hardwoods. The laboratory pulping and bleaching aspects of these seven species are discussed, along with pertinent mill operational data. Selected mill trial data also are reviewed.

The Unusual Cruelty of Nursing Homes Behind Bars

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 264-271
Author(s):  
Rachel E. López
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Trained Staff ◽  
State Prisons ◽  
The Cost

The elderly prison population continues to rise along with higher rates of dementia behind bars. To maintain the detention of this elderly population, federal and state prisons are creating long-term care units, which in turn carry a heavy financial burden. Prisons are thus gearing up to become nursing homes, but without the proper trained staff and adequate financial support. The costs both to taxpayers and to human dignity are only now becoming clear. This article squarely addresses the second dimension of this carceral practice, that is the cost to human dignity. Namely, it sets out why indefinitely incarcerating someone with dementia or other neurocognitive disorders violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. This conclusion derives from the confluence of two lines of U.S. Supreme Court precedent. First, in Madison v. Alabama, the Court recently held that executing someone (in Madison’s case someone with dementia) who cannot rationally understand their sentence amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Second, in line with Miller v. Alabama, which puts life without parole (LWOP) sentences in the same class as death sentences due to their irrevocability, this holding should be extended to LWOP sentences. Put another way, this article explains why being condemned to life is equivalent to death for someone whose neurodegenerative disease is so severe that they cannot rationally understand their punishment.

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