SEPTEMBER 2021
Over the past year, the METRANS team has implemented several changes to the newsletter's design, format, content, and frequency. The objective behind these efforts is to share the latest updates on research and outreach projects in a digestible format for our readers.

Please take a moment to participate in our survey and provide feedback on how we are doing!
NEWS & UPDATES
PSR PARTNER UPDATES
Transfers Magazine released its Spring 2021 Issue, featuring the following contributions by USC Professor Marlon Boarnet, ASU Assistant Professor Hue-Tam Jamme, UC Davis Assistant Professor Jesus Barajas, ASU Assistant Professor Mikhail Chester, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's President and CEO Raphael Bostic, and more.
UCLA students recently completed their PSR-sponsored capstone projects on topics ranging from Los Angeles' slow streets to daylighting public fund streams. Read more!
RESEARCH
PSR Researchers Develop a Commute Model
to Contextualize Rideshare and E-Hailing Services 
Given the existing research gap and the uncertainty of the impacts of rideshare/e-hailing on equity, the environment, and efficiency, a research project entitled “Modeling e-hailing and car-pooling services in a coupled morning-evening commute framework” was funded by the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center (PSR). The research team was a unique collaboration between University of California, Davis and the University of Southern California, including USC Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Jong-Shi Pang; UC Davis Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Michael H. Zhang; USC Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Maged M. Dessouky; and USC doctoral student Wei Gu. This study provided an often-rare opportunity to benefit from a more diverse set of resources and collaborative work, made possible by the PSR research network.
Transit-Oriented Developments May Be the Answer to Southern California’s Housing Crisis:
PSR Researchers Examine the Barriers to Affordable Housing
and Opportunities Offered by TODs
Examining the nature and extent of the housing crisis in California reveals a host of possible causes: short-sighted development and lack of land use-transportation integration; low-density urban housing developments; increasing gentrification, and uneven funding and investment opportunities. In a study funded by the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center (PSR), USC Professor Emeritus and former James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning Tridib Banerjee; UC Irvine Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy Ajay Garde; and Program Director of the USC Center for Economic Development Deepak Bahl examined the barriers to affordable housing as well as opportunities to reduce these barriers through Transit Oriented Developments (TOD). TODs provide convenient, affordable, and reliable mixed use residential developments. The study is titled Increasing Access, Mobility, and Shelter Opportunities for Disadvantaged Populations: Affordable Housing in Transit-Oriented Developments.
Recently Completed Research Projects
METRANS researchers from our member institutions have recently completed the following project in the three topical areas of: integrated management of freight and passenger systems, sustainable and efficient urban freight transportation, and urban mobility. To learn more about specific projects, please click on the title to access the research briefs and reports.

Thomas O'Brien (CSULB), "Geospatial Approaches to Enhancing MPO Community Engagement" | PSR-20-SP98
UPCOMING EVENTS
A joint project between University of Antwerp,
METRANS Transportation Consortium, and Pharma.Aero

September 7-11th
Fall 2021 Speaker Series:
September 22nd at 12 pm
The METRANS Transportation Consortium was established in 1998 as the first University Transportation Center in Southern California. METRANS is a joint partnership of the University of Southern California (USC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

METRANS' mission is to solve metropolitan transportation problems of large through interdisciplinary research, education and outreach. Its three primary objectives are: (1) fostering independent, high quality research to solve the nation's transportation problems; (2) training the next generation transportation workforce; and (3) disseminating information, best practices, and technology to the professional community.
METRANS | metrans.org Stay Connected