Self Evaluation of TRB Committee(3rd draft)

Group 1 - Transportation Systems Planning and Administration SELF-EVALUATION OF COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES

Please complete the entire form. It is understood that all committees are not equally involved in all possible activities and there may be "not applicable" sections. Diversity amongst committees is valuable. Other committees in Group 1 will be able to learn from your shared experiences.

COMMITTEE NAME AND NUMBER: Public Transportation Planning and Development – A1E02

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON: Patricia V. McLaughlin

DATE: March 8, 1998

Committee Scope (from TRB directory): Evaluation of marketing and patronage, service, price policy, product planning, promotion policy, social services, changes in employment and recreational patterns and related factors.

A. Date that committee last considered scope? As part of 1997-98 Strategic Plan

Does the current scope statement accurately reflect the committee’s activities?

Encompasses some aspects of committee’s current work but does not reflect cross-cutting activities of committee in fostering new thinking on public transportation – specifically its relationship to land use and need for development of innovative service approaches. This is considered a core competency. Also includes some individual activities (marketing, price policy, social services) that are now being performed by topic-specific spin-off committees within the Section.

Should the scope be modified? Yes
C. What changes are proposed and why are these changes necessary? Add: The committee’s scope is to examine, discuss and disseminate public transportation ideas and issues from the planning, development and implementation perspectives. (rationale: updated Committee Mission Statement). Modify: The Committee considers emerging trends, new ideas and innovations as they influence public transportation planning and development as it relates to the larger, intermodal environment. The Committee considers impact of factors such as land use, technologies, marketing and patronage, pricing, service innovations, public policy, tools and techniques for product planning~~promotion policy~~, and changes in the planning environment, including employment, ~~and recreation~~ activity patterns and related factors.
2. Committee Goals

Current Goals.

Identify, articulate and stimulate follow-up activities on emerging trends, new ideas and innovations.
Foster topics for future research
Assist in defining public transportation’s role(s) and direction within the overall transportation system

Coordinate and partner with other TRB committees, organizations and governmental entities to accomplish the Committee’s overall mission.

Identify planned (up to 2 years) activities to achieve stated goals.

Broaden Committee’s base by adding at least one member representing a state or regional planning organization.
Continue to develop a research agenda of both "state of the art" and practical topics of importance to the current operation and future development of public transportation. Specifically:

Prepare an annual set of updated Committee research statements for TRB
Continue to improve the number and quality of submitted papers by monitoring and refining the current paper review guidance process, encouraging paper review teams to develop consolidated paper feedback and continuing to develop annual Calls for Papers, co-sponsored with other TRB committees, where possible
Continue to develop at least one or two TCRP problem statements each year for submittal to TRB
Incorporate at least one TCRP project into a TRB Annual Meeting session
Prepare one committee or "state of the art" session for each Annual Meeting.
Continue Newsline as our on-going tool for quarterly outside communication on innovations and ideas in public transportation
Develop potential topics for the biennial, mid-year Public Transit Committees Conference

Increase intergroup liaison, including:

Coordinate Committee member involvement in ITE, ASCE, AASHTO and APA activities related to Committee interests (for example, public transportation and land use, transit mitigation measurement, pricing strategies and multi-modal decision-making).
Establish specific Committee members as "friends" of related committees (for example, Bus Transit, Planning Methods, Paratransit, Ridesharing, Statewide Multimodal Planning, Strategic Management, Management and Productivity, Statewide Multimodal Planning, and Intergovernmental Relations and Policy Processes) for potential joint topics and investigations, as well as preventing overlaps or gaps in topics.

Increase Committee communication throughout the year by using technology -- fax, conference calls, teleconferencing -- as well as encouraging Committee attendance at the annual, mid-year conference of the Planning Committees

Identify envisioned (3 -5 years) activities to achieve stated goals.

Continue and expand activities outlined above
Identify 5-10 year trends in public transportation and recruit committee members and friends with interest and expertise in those fields and topics.
Take the lead in establishing specific linkages with Section A and Section F committees to explore intermodal topics of mutual interest.
Develop an inventory of trends in transportation in conjunction with the Committee on Strategic Management

Publish a Newsline retrospective through TRB to record the past decade’s trends and experiences in public transportation development.

3. Committee Organization and Membership

A. Number of members at current time? 23

Geographical distribution (how current membership is distributed across the nation and worldwide).

North America:

Eastern United States: 11 Members

Midwestern United States: 3 Members

Western United States: 7 Members

Canada 1 Member

Europe 3 Corresponding Members

Professional category distribution (how current membership is distributed across professional affiliations).

Academic/Research 6 Members

Consulting 6 Members

Transit Agencies 7 Members

State/Federal Government 4 Members

D. Number of friends listed as associated with the committee? 50

E. Level of individual member involvement (high, medium, low). 30% High; 60% Medium; 10% Low

F. Committee morale (high, medium low). High

List subcommittees and their chairs

Strategic Planning: Rich Bickel

Publications: Ed Beimborn

Newsline: George Smerk

Paper Review: Please list number of papers reviewed by committee during the past 2 years.

1998 - 23 papers

1997 - 16 papers

5. Interaction with Other TRB Committees and Technical Societies

List other TRB committees which your committee maintains a formal liaison representation.

A1DO6 Transportation Programming, Planning and Systems Evaluation

A1DO5 Transportation Planning Needs and Requirements of Small and Medium-sized Communities

A1D01 Statewide Multimodal Planning

A1DO4 Public Involvement in Transportation

List outside organizations which your committee maintains ongoing liaison representation.

Federal Transit Administration

American Public Transit Association

Shared activities during the past year (examples should include co-sponsoring sessions, information exchange, research, etc.).

Sponsorship: FTA Workshop on Future Direction of Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) Program – Annual Meeting

Co-sponsored Sessions at Annual Meeting:

The Major Investment Study at Five (with Committee on Intergovernmental Relations and Policy Processes and Committee on Environmental analysis in Transportation)
Transit Planning and Quality of Service: An International Perspective (with Task Force on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service)

Transit Governance (with Committee on Intergovernmental Relations and Policy Processes)

6. Business Meeting Attendance A. Annual business meeting attendance: 17 Members 21 Guests

B. Summer business meeting attendance: not applicable

7. Annual Meeting Sessions Sponsored A. Number of annual meeting paper sessions sponsored? 2

B. Number of annual meeting conference sessions sponsored? 3

Identify Additional Activities Sponsored During the Past Year.

Published 4 Issues of Newsline

Identify Additional Activities Scheduled for the Next Year.

Additional Co-sponsored Sessions

Chair Attendance at Section A and F Mid-Year Meetings

10. Technology Transfer

A. Is the committee planning to publish documents within the next two years? No

B. Workshops proposed. None

C. Conferences Proposed. Year 2000 Mid-year Conference on New Paradigms in Public Transportation (Co-sponsor in conjunction with Section A and F Mid-Year Meetings)
11. Research Needs (Developing Area in Group 1)

Please list your most recent submissions of Research Problem Statements (RPS).

The Major Investment Study at Five – Practice, Results, Effectiveness and Change
Planning and Managing Multimodal Facilities

Plus additional Synthesis topics

B. Number of Research Problem Statements developed in the last year? Two

C. Number of Research Problem Statements under development? Three

D. Number of Research Problem Statements funded during last three years?

One – Options to Attract Auto Users to Public Transit (TCRP Topic H-3)

Please Detail the Proposed General Committee Directions for the Next Three Years

Over the next three years, the committee will focus increasingly on public transportation’s role in the multimodal, intermodal environment. We will specifically be interested in tools for transit agency involvement in transportation decision-making in a multimodal environment by taking an active role in the Highway Capacity Manual update and Task Force on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service and in fostering development of a toolbox of quick-response transit planning and evaluation techniques. The Committee will jointly explore models of public transportation decision-making and management structures (both national and international) in conjunction with relevant TRB committees. We will become increasingly involved through Committee and liaison memberships, in disseminating state DOT models for supporting public transit operations and public transit considerations in advanced public transportation information networks. In addition, through the Committee’s ongoing direct linkage with the Federal Transit Administration (through FTA membership on the committee), we will continue to assist FTA and TRB by sponsoring special conferences and workshops conducted by FTA at TRB events in areas within the committee’s scope. Finally, the Committee will continue and expand its work on innovative service provision options. 13. General Remarks and Comments Offered by the Committee A. Should your committee continue in its present form with its present title? Yes

B. Should it be reoriented, restructured, or retitled? No

If yes, please explain. C. Should it be merged with one or more other committees? No
If yes, please explain. D. Does the existing Section under which the committee is organized consist of the proper committees and is its title appropriate? Yes

E. Any other comments considered appropriate by the committee.