Secretary Toks Omishakin of the California State Transportation Agency Visits USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy

When ridehailing (e.g., Uber, Lyft) became popular over ten years ago, scholars and transportation professionals wondered whether it would reduce or increase transit ridership. In short, is ridehailing a substitute or complement for public transit? Much more recently, a seemingly unrelated discussion has become popular: How can fare-free transit boost public transportation ridership compared to other policy tools? Our recent METRANS research sheds light on both questions. 

Our research team (USC Professor and METRANS Director Marlon Boarnet and USC urban planning Ph.D. students Qifan Shao and Clemens Pilgram) estimated a mode choice model using travel diary data for the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Previous METRANS Director and PSR researcher, Dr. Genevieve Giuliano, to serve as interim dean at USC's Sol Price School of Public Policy beginning July 1, 2024.



• Problem statement submissions to TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program now open!

Submit your problem statements for TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program by June 14. Research projects published in 2023 focused on transit capacity and quality, track design, workforce mental health, paratransit fleet configuration, bus rapid transit, and more. The TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Commission will select the research problem statements for the program this fall.

UCLA

• TransportationCamp LA 2024, June 8, 2024, Click here for more information.

TransportationCamp LA is an open venue for sharing and learning about the region’s transportation issues and successes. TransportationCamp LA aims to be an open, forward-thinking event that brings together people of all facets of the transportation world. This event is open to advocates, professionals, community members, and everyone passionate about mobility in Los Angeles and Southern California.

UC Irvine

• Transportation Research Seminar: Geographic Intelligence for Bridging Transportation Planning and Environmental Needs, May 22, 2024, Hybrid. Click here for more information and here to register.

U of Hawaii

•  Webinar: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge, Socioeconomics, and Nature-based Solutions to Build a Resilient Community – Lahaina as an Example, May 16, 2024, Zoom. Click here to register.

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 transportation problems of large metropolitan regions 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.