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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
    <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
    <image>
      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>Funding on the Line? Understanding community preferences for value capture - the case of Melbourne ’s Suburban Rail Loop</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2701442</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Debates on land value capture (LVC) often lack empirical evidence on public acceptance of specific funding instruments. This study develops and applies a replicable adaptive choice-based conjoint (ACBC) survey framework to estimate community support and willingness to pay (WTP) for hypothecated levies to fund major public transport infrastructure. Using Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) as a case study, we administered a panel survey to respondents (n = 637) drawn from predefined catchment and matched control postcodes in September–October 2021, and estimated part-worth utilities using hierarchical Bayesian (HB) methods Respondents evaluated levy packages varying across four attributes: levy base (area-wide flat, distance-tiered, or value-uplift), payment term (fixed versus ongoing), delivery timing (0 to 3 years sooner), and price (annual amount chargable per household). Results show that while price is the dominant attribute, directionally consistent preferences for other attributes are still evident. Respondents strongly prefer fixed-term charges and demonstrate positive WTP for accelerating project delivery by one to two years. At the aggregate level, levy base differences are less certain, with credible intervals overlapping zero for all comparisons; however, area-wide flat levy designs show broader acceptance across distance bands, while support for value-uplift bases is sensitive to planned station proximity We further identify disparities in awareness, support, and willingness to pay: women, non-English-speaking respondents, and those uncertain of their property’s value show lower awareness or support, while non-owners and residents outside the project catchment exhibit lower willingness to pay and less support for the levy. More importantly, support levels measured after the conjoint tasks are contingent on specific levy designs, suggesting that public attitudes are highly sensitive to funding instrument design. Findings suggest that area-wide flat, fixed-term levies with a short delivery acceleration window are most likely to achieve broad community acceptance. Policymakers should account for heterogeneity in awareness and proximity when delineating beneficiary areas and designing communication strategies. The ACBC framework demonstrated in this paper is transferable to comparable infrastructure funding contexts, subject to adaptation for local institutional conditions.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 09:10:24 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2701442</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>The feasibility of suburban single-track laterally positioned light rail transit lines in the modern United States</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2692336</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In the first three decades of the twentieth century, single-track laterally positioned trolley infrastructure was responsible for most of the interurban and suburban transit traffic in the northeast United States. These designs are nowhere to be found in today’s light rail landscape in the United States, but they can be found in Europe. With the changing nature of suburbs in the Northeastern United States, where public rights-of-way are limited, light rail lines built to this design might again make sense. A feasibility study was conducted to determine if single tracking and/or lateral positioning of light rail lines are design choices that are practical under modern conditions. This article presents the outcomes of an expert panel discussion and modeling to determine that feasibility. This article also concludes with guidance on design implementation factors such as right-of-way width and design, safety devices and considerations, side roads and driveways, and applicable light rail service headways.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2026 17:04:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2692336</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Will you follow your job to the suburbs?</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2661796</link>
      <description><![CDATA[We examine how relocations from the center to the suburbs of establishments employing mainly skilled workers affect the composition and wages of their employees. Using data from the Paris metro area, we find that these relocations increase average commuting time by 19%. In response, firms compensate highly paid workers with 10 to 20% of their hourly wage per additional hour of commuting. Lower-paid workers receive no compensation and are more likely to leave. Consistent with workers valuing locational amenities, we find little increase in separation and no wage adjustment for increased commuting time when establishments relocate to more attractive neighborhoods.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:38:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2661796</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Feasibility and Impact of Automated Vehicles in Peri Urban Public Transport</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2682069</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study investigates the feasibility and potential impacts of deploying automated vehicles (AVs) as a public transport solution in a peri-urban area, using a case study of an existing bus route in Aveiro, Portugal. Five operational scenarios were compared: conventional diesel buses, full electrification, on-demand light AVs, automated minibuses, and a hybrid system. The methodology combined real-world data collection, scenario design, route optimization, emission assessment, and cost analysis. Results indicate that light AVs offer significant operational emission reductions (70-90% compared to electric buses) and cost savings compared to conventional systems. A hybrid model, combining electric buses for peak hours and light AVs for off-peak, emerged as the most promising solution, balancing cost efficiency and environmental impact. The study also suggests potential labour savings by replacing multiple drivers with a single remote operator overseeing several AVs, potentially mitigating driver shortages. However, the study acknowledges the need for realism regarding current AV industry profitability, emphasizing the substantial upfront costs and long-term perspective required for widespread, profitable AV deployment in public transport.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:01:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2682069</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Designing and testing microtransit routes to improve social inclusion: A pilot study in a suburban area</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2655659</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Suburbs are often characterized by a scarcity of mobility options to access services. Introducing microtransit is a promising way to improve public transport in suburbs, ensuring greater social inclusion and connecting isolated areas to main transit hubs. The paper aims to develop a multi-step GIS-based methodology for designing semi-flexible stop-based microtransit, having fixed routes and flexible routes (detours) and operating with real-time ride bookings (zero lead time). We considered a suburban area in Palermo, Italy, as study area. The identification of fixed and flexible routes was based on the forecasted passenger flows, through the estimate and the assignment of the daily origin-destination matrix for microtransit, also considering safety, spatial, and technical constraints. A small-scale pilot was carried out between November and December 2022 to test microtransit routes and the reliability of a mobile application to operate the service. A customer satisfaction and a willingness-to-pay survey were addressed to the users. The small-scale pilot showed that microtransit could improve public transportation in suburbs, being more accessible and reducing waiting times at stops. Particularly, the result of the design process led to a semi-flexible service accessible by 90 % of the resident population and with waiting times of less than 15 min in 76 % of the rides, lower than those currently experienced by bus users (20 min).]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:58:39 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2655659</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Partial lockdown strategies for suburban trains in Indian Railways</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2652396</link>
      <description><![CDATA[While the complete lockdown and closure of Railway transportation help control the spread of highly infectious diseases such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, COVID-19, and Monkeypox, it directly causes distress in people’s lives or indirectly. The study aims to develop a scientific partial lockdown approach to strategize the control of passenger traffic in the suburban train network of the Indian Railways. We use a stochastic agent-based model to understand the trade-off between various traffic levels in a railway network and the state’s health infrastructure. This problem is entirely new in the academic literature, but has gained a lot of importance due to sudden outbreaks of infectious diseases in the recent past. The study uses COVID-19 infection parameters in the Kharagpur-Howrah suburban train route in eastern India and allows various traffic levels for the agent-based simulation. The simulation calculated the impact of the resulting infection caseload due to existing infected people and additional train traffic for the first nine blocks along the route (strategy 1). Using further interventions such as age-specific restrictions, the simulation is redeployed to report the resulting caseloads against the existing healthcare capacity of these blocks (strategy 2). The study reveals that suburban train services in high-traffic areas like Kharagpur-2 increase infection cases by up to 0.77% among vulnerable populations. However, blocks with meager traffic, like Kolaghat, have meager variation. Age-wise movement restrictions, such as restricting children and citizens over 60, reduce caseloads. The optimal traffic levels for Kharagpur-2 were 40% and 50% compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, based on healthcare availability data.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:59:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2652396</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Open-Graded Friction Courses Suitable for Suburban Environments</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2679069</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) uses a 12.5-mm nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) open-graded friction course (OGFC) called FC-5 on multi-lane roads to enhance safety. However, FC-5 is susceptible to premature raveling on high-speed suburban roads due to increased lateral turning, braking and accelerating stresses. To address this issue, the project explored using a finer 9.5-mm NMAS OGFC gradation, a high polymer (HP) modified binder, an alternative friction course (AFC), and a 12.5-mm NMAS stone matrix asphalt (SMA) to improve durability with minimal impact on permeability for its potential use in suburban environments. A literature review was first conducted to review the application of OGFC in the United States and design factors that influence OGFC performance. Subsequently, the study compared 9.5-mm NMAS OGFC, 12.5-mm AFC, and 12.5-mm SMA mixtures with current FC-5 mixtures using two asphalt binder types through comprehensive laboratory testing. Results indicated that the 9.5-mm gradation and HP binder independently impacted OGFC performance in a positive manner and enhanced durability and friction without compromising permeability or rutting resistance. The AFC mixtures demonstrated better durability than FC-5 and 9.5-mm OGFC mixtures while maintaining reasonable drainability and permeability. Therefore, it is recommended that FDOT consider using a 9.5-mm OGFC mixture, AFC mixture, and/or HP binder in suburban areas to improve pavement durability while maintaining safety characteristics. The increased cost of utilizing 9.5-mm OGFC and AFC mixtures is approximately $2 per ton. The study provides mix design procedures and performance requirements for these mixtures. These recommendations aim to facilitate the implementation of 9.5-mm OGFC and AFC mixtures, maintaining construction practices consistent with FC-5 mixtures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 08:45:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2679069</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Estimation of Social Return on Investment in Regional Public Transportation of a Japanese Suburban Area</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2646004</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In many developed countries, the sustainability of public transportation has become a pressing issue particularly in suburban areas due to declining demand caused by population decrease and a shortage of drivers. This study applies Social Return on Investment (SROI) - a framework to promote stakeholder participation and mobilize resources—to public transportation and proposes an evaluation method for transportation in an era of decline. We focused on a community bus service introduced in a suburban area of Japan. A Theory of Change (ToC) was developed, and a questionnaire survey was conducted with support from a resident-led preparation committee. A total of 402 responses were collected, capturing perceived social, environmental, and economic impacts. We proposed an extended methodology for SROI that links the ToC conceptual framework with the SEM analytical framework. Using financial proxies from previous studies, the SROI was estimated at 26.2, indicating justification for investment in the community bus service.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:58:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2646004</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>How Common is Pedestrian Travel To, From, and Within Shopping Districts?</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2635324</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Growing interest in sustainable transportation systems and livable communities has created a need for more complete measures of pedestrian travel. Yet, many performance measures do not account for short pedestrian movements, such as walking between stores in a shopping district, walking from a street parking space to a building entrance, or walking from a bus stop to home. This study uses a 2009 intercept survey and the 2009 National Household Travel Survey to quantify pedestrian travel to, from, and within 20 San Francisco Bay Area shopping districts. Overall, walking was the primary travel mode for 21% of intercept survey and 10% of NHTS tours with stops in these shopping districts. However, detailed analysis of pedestrian movements showed that walking was common on respondent tours (52% of intercept survey tours included some walking) and that walking was used on the majority of trips within these shopping districts (65% of intercept survey trips and 71% of NHTS trips within the shopping districts were made by walking). In general, Urban Core and Suburban Main Street shopping districts had higher levels of pedestrian activity than Suburban Thoroughfare and Suburban Shopping Center shopping districts. The detailed analysis in this paper provides a more complete picture of pedestrian activity than is commonly shown by national and regional household survey summaries.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:30:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2635324</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Optimization of Peak-Period Passenger Flow Control and Train Operation on Suburban Metro Line</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2613213</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In order to alleviate the concentrated effect of passenger stranding during peak period on suburban metro lines, an optimisation strategy combining passenger flow control and train operation adjustment is proposed. Considering the constraints of train schedule, train hopping operation, and passenger flow projection, a nonlinear mixed-integer planning model is established to minimize the passenger travel delay time, the number of delays, and the number of train stops, and a hybrid adaptive large neighbourhood search algorithm and a particle swarm algorithm are designed to solve the problem. Finally, the experimental analysis is carried out on the Batong Line of the Beijing Metro, and the experimental results show that, in the case of oversaturation and unbalanced distribution of passenger demand in the peak period, adopting the co-optimisation strategy of passenger flow control and train operation, the total delay time of passenger travel is reduced by 24.1%, and the total number of delay times of passenger travel is reduced by 23.7%.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:28:23 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2613213</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Quantitative Method for Assessing the Quality of Intermodal/Interagency Connections and Service Integration at Suburban Rail Stations</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2663309</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Connections or transfers are an important part of public transport journeys. However, transfers can be an inconvenient part of a passenger’s journey compared with direct trips, especially when connecting between low-frequency routes such as commuter rail and suburban bus services. With long headways, a missed or badly timed connection can significantly lengthen one’s commute by up to a service’s headway. Transfer optimization has been considered and applied to varying degrees, but with most emphasis on station design and intra-agency timetable coordination rather than inter-agency timetable coordination. Most reliability metrics do not consider how connections are affected by delays on intersecting routes. In this paper, global best practices employed by railways and transport authorities to measure the performance of connections are reviewed. Regional public transport governance approaches supporting timetable coordination and service integration are also synthesized. A metric of connection convenience was developed inspired by the limited academic literature and best practices. The metric is then applied to evaluate the convenience and coordination of connections between GO Transit rail services and connecting bus services in Ontario, Canada, based on walking time between stops. This research is important for informing service integration policies seeking to improve multimodal and inter-agency connections. Agencies can use this metric along with transfer demand data to help prioritize services for improved scheduling such as application of timed transfer system pulsing and better interchange facilities.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:29:39 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2663309</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>On short-pitch rail corrugation of suburban express railway caused by localized rail-bending vibrations within the bogie wheelbase</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2627382</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Suburban express railways have developed rapidly in China in recent years. One suburban express line suffered from serious interior noise issues caused by short-pitch rail corrugation. Field investigations show that short-pitch rail corrugation occurred on different track forms. The wavelength of short-pitch rail corrugation on different track forms is almost the same and the dominating wavelengths are 50−63 mm in the 1/3 octave band, corresponding to the passing frequency of 630 Hz in the 1/3 octave band. Field measurements and numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the cause of the corrugation. The results indicate that the localized rail third-order bending vibration within the bogie wheelbase is the root cause of short-pitch rail corrugation. The damping ratio of this mode and the track decay rate are very low, resulting in this mode being easily excited. The rail welding irregularities are the main excitation source of the localized rail third-order bending vibration.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2026 09:33:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2627382</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Integrated physical and service network design of suburban rail under the coordination of urban rail</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2614554</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Motivated by a released official policy in China to promote the development of suburban rail within metropolitan areas, this paper investigates the suburban rail network design problem by integrating the physical network and the service network design, while considering a higher level of passenger satisfaction by assigning passengers to trains rather than to service routes widely adopted in previous works. The physical network design problem lies in determining the location of the suburban stations and suburban section tracks to be newly constructed, by considering the coordination of the existing urban rail network. The service network design problem aims to decide the newly operated service routes and the corresponding frequency and timetable of vehicles running on these service routes. We formulate the studied problem as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model, which minimises the weighted sum of the construction cost, operation costs, and generalised cost of passengers. Many practical requirements are considered to ensure the attractiveness of the computed solutions. A variable neighbourhood search-based (VNS-based) heuristic is designed to efficiently solve instances with different scales, including hypothetical instances and a practical-size real-world instance generated based on the Chongqing metropolitan in China.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:41:25 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2614554</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A Study of Suburban Arterial Safety Performance Based on Median Type</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2643336</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Suburban arterial roadways must serve two conflicting road functions: regional mobility and access to the abutting land. The potential for conflicts between traffic passing through and traffic accessing road from the neighboring areas could raise safety concerns. Selecting an adequate cross-section is among important decisions that road designers and traffic engineers consider when mitigating the mentioned conflict. The following three alternative treatments offer different access control levels: undivided cross-section with no median, two-way left-turn lane instead of a typical median, and non-traversable median. The frequency of access points and the selected median treatment option should be commensurate. Although it is known that access control usually leads to better safety performance, selecting median treatment under certain operational conditions requires careful considerations that must be associated with a properly selected speed limit. It is a challenging task that is not well covered in the existing literature. Drivers’ perception of crash risk affects their speed choice and, consequently, the speed limits selected by traffic engineers. On the other hand, the posted speed limits affect both drivers’ speed selection and road safety. Properly estimating this complex relationship is important for providing adequate guidance on median treatment selection. To properly compare the safety performance of different median treatments on suburban arterial roads, and to provide practical median treatment selection guidance for traffic engineers, this study analyzed roadway geometrics, traffic and crash data along 200 road segments across Indiana by applying simultaneous equations to address the endogeneity problem mentioned earlier. A comprehensive crash cost-oriented analysis framework was applied to help identify the most appropriate median treatment among the three types evaluated. Traffic volume, density of access points, speed limit, and median treatments on the road segments studied were found to significantly affect safety performance. It was also confirmed that the operational conditions affect the crash cost and, consequently, they influence the choice of the median treatment. The study results were used to generate a convenient set of tables and figures to support a median treatment selection. The results presented and implementation suggestions are meant to help end users economically assess the safety performance of median treatments on suburban arterials to select the best alternative.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:11:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2643336</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evaluation of e-scooter sharing as a feeder mode for public transport in suburban communities in Germany – A mixed methods approach</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2626059</link>
      <description><![CDATA[E-scooter-sharing is primarily offered in large cities, where e-scooters are frequently used as a feeder mode for public transport (first and last mile). Nevertheless, critics argue that these services may be redundant in well-connected urban areas and could offer greater value in suburban or peripheral regions, where first/last mile transport is often less flexible, the number of departures of feeder modes is lower and distances to stations are longer. This study evaluates the utilization potential of e-scooter-sharing and the challenges of implementing it in suburban communities in Germany by using a three-part mixed methods approach: we estimate demand through spatial analysis, engage stakeholders in focus groups to discuss implementation strategies, and analyze user behavior and movement patterns in a living lab, in which we test e-scooter-sharing in a suburban town over a two-month period. Results suggest utilization potential in intermodal commuting routes of young inhabitants, with insufficient cycling networks and financial difficulties being the main challenges of adoption. Cooperation between cities and providers is identified as the key to successful adaptation, for establishing parking regulations, and creating an integrated experience of public transport and e-scooter-sharing.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2025 08:49:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2626059</guid>
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