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Published by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) in partnership with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).
Fall 2009 Issue
The following are the top stories from the Fall 2009 issue. Not all of the content that appears in the print edition is available online. To order a free subscription to the magazine, click on the link to the right.
Mass Transit’s Reversal of Fortune
Even As Ridership Surges,
Economic Crisis Ravages Agencies’ Budgets
By Josh Stephens
 |
At some point in the past year, nurses in St. Louis discovered that they couldn’t get to their nursing home, where they cared for Alzheimer’s patients. Hipsters studying at Pratt had to fish out an extra quarter to get to the loft party in Williamsburg. And suburbanites in Aurora resigned themselves to waiting a few more years before they could take the train to work in downtown Denver. Read More
Also See:
Proponents Say Transit Should Be a Free Ride
Agencies Sell the Environmental Benefits of Transit
Transit Operators Zip Up Deals With Car-Sharing Services
Signs of the Times
Digital Billboards Light Up Roadsides and Raise
Revenue Potential, Safety Concerns
By Mark Solof
 |
They’re bright, brash and get noticed. Digital billboards, using the LED flat-panel technology that has overtaken the home TV market, are showing up in growing numbers along many of the nation’s major highways. Read More
Cab-Share Services Make Deals on Wheels
Websites Play Matchmaker
for Riders Going the Same Way
By Eric Goldwyn
 |
Standing near the Manhattan Bridgeone night, Jonathan McKinney debated whether to spend $15 for a cab back to his Brooklyn apartment or $2 to ride the subway. In a perfect world, the answer would have been something in between. Read More
Car-Respondence
Equipping Autos to “Talk” to Each Other
Yields Significant Safety Innovations
By Karl Vilacoba
 |
Connected vehicle technologies—sometimes referred to as IntelliDrive or vehicle infrastructure integration technologies, among other terms—enable autos to communicate with each other and their surroundings. Some experts believe the emerging technology’s impact on safety, mobility and the environment will transform the driving experience in the years to come.
Read More
Is a 'True Reauthorization on the Way?'
With New Federal Transportation Funding Bill
Pending, Policy Expert Heartened by Range of Debate
By Karl Vilacoba
 |
Following his participation in a recent North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority symposium on transportation financing, Eno Transportation Foundation President and CEO Stephen Van Beek discussed where America’s policies are headed and how current economic realities are likely to shape them in this InTransition Q&A. Read More
Research Exchange
Research Exchange gathers brief summaries of ongoing or recently completed research about critical topics in transportation. Topics covered in this issue include the national security risk of a major oil supply disruption, the dangers hybrid cars pose for the blind, auto traffic produced by transit-oriented developments and several more. Read More
Also in this Issue
Winter 2009 Issue
Putting Parking into Reverse
Professor’s Theories Influence Cities
to Reconsider Pervasive Free Parking
By Josh Stephens
 |
By some estimates, the only thing Ferraris, Hummers and Priuses have in common is that 95 percent of the time they’re all going nowhere. Though idleness would seem to be the most benign aspect of America’s automotive fleet, UCLA Planning Professor Donald Shoup has written 733 pages that say otherwise. Read More
The Bus Route to Redevelopment
Evidence that BRT Systems
Can Spur Transit-Oriented Development
By Darius Sollohub and Mark Solof
 |
Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue is coming back. The city’s historic main street is undergoing a revival after suffering from decades of disinvestment that left numerous empty storefronts, vacant lots and hulking, underused buildings. The catalyst for the revival is the completion of a 9-mile, $200 million bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Read More
Also See:
The Light Rail-BRT Debate
Reinventing the Wheel
Designers Worldwide Focus on Gas-Free
Alternative Transportation Systems
By Karl Vilacoba
 |
If necessity is the mother of invention, then big oil’s unpopularity is the mother of the unconventional. From hybrid cars to podcars, scientists around the world are developing transportation technologies that cut down greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on petroleum. Read More
Green Is the New Blacktop
Companies, Cities Experiment
with Eco-Friendly Surface Materials
By Chris Gaetano
 |
They’re the roads less traveled, although perhaps not for long. Environmentally friendly pavements, while not widely used in the U.S. today, have been the subject of increased attention over the last few years, and their success is beginning to make believers—and buyers—in cities around the world. Read More
Persepectives: Transportation & the Economic Meltdown
Policy Expert Shares Views on Crisis
By Karl Vilacoba
 |
To Todd Litman, the financial crisis has its roots in one of those inalienable rights laid out by the Declaration of Independence—the ever-elusive “pursuit of happiness.” Litman, executive director of the Victoria (Canada) Transport Policy Institute (VTPI), recently thought back to a time when families lived snugly in 1,200-square-foot homes, mom and dad shared a car, the kids split a bedroom and walked a couple of safe blocks to school. Read More
Research Exchange
Research Exchange gathers brief summaries of ongoing or recently completed research about critical topics in transportation. Topics covered in this issue include supermarket accessibility in the city, faith-based organizations as transit providers, the impact of changing last call times on crash rates and several more. Read More
Also in this Issue
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Questions, comments, press releases and feedback should be directed to Managing Editor Karl Vilacoba at intransitionmag@njtpa.org or by calling
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