PUBLIC POLICY AND TRANSPORTATION INNOVATION: THE ROLE OF DEMONSTRATION

A number of efforts by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) to "demonstrate" promising innovations in urban transportation is reviewed. It is maintained that government frequently confuses the concept of a demonstration with that of an experiment. Implementation of an innovation is an experiment if there is a substantial liklihood that the outcome will be a surprise. Experiments have uncertain timetables, and ideally should be carried out away from the glare of publicity. Government officials are under intense pressure, however, to oversell the readiness of new technologies, to insist on tight deadlines, and to seek high visibiliity. It is emphasized that this is not to say that all government demonstration are doomed to failure. Several key UMTA demonostrations that illustrate the range of its experience are examined, and effort is made to explain why even a "failure" may have substantial diffusion efforts.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1316083
• Corporate Authors:

  Policy Studies Organization

  University of Illinois, 361 Lincoln Hall
  Urbana, IL  United States  61801
• Authors:
  • Myers, S
• Publication Date: 1977

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 62-74
• Serial:
  • Policy Studies Journal
  • Volume: 6
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
  • ISSN: 0190-292X
  • EISSN: 1541-0072
  • Serial URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1541-0072

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Case studies; Demonstration projects; Experiments; Federal government; Innovation
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Old TRIS Terms: Demonstration
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00451441
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 30 1985 12:00AM