"Light Rail Without Wires: A Dream Come True?" a 2004 article by John D. Swanson of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 153, "Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations," has been added to the Research Center best practices database. The report offers guidelines for providing access to rapid transit stations, describes a station access planning process, and provides a high-level station access planning tool.

The Wall Street Journal’s April 30 opinion piece, “The New Earmarkers: Cost Analysis for Transit Projects Gives Way to ‘Social Equity’”, demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Federal Transit Administration evaluates proposed transit projects under its New Starts grant program.  The piece implies that proposed rules issued earlier this year would “do away with … comparative cost analysis” and would instead give more weight in the evaluation process to “social equity and environmental considerations.”  This assertion is wrong on both counts.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas is located in the very southernmost region of the continental U.S.  This area is composed of three counties with 3,643 square miles which contains a population of over 1.2 million inhabitants.1 This land area is larger in square miles than two states (DE and RI), and has a population larger than eight states (WY, VT, ND, AK, SD, DE, MT, RI). If the distances weren’t enough of a problem for transit providers, there is the dispersion of the population over those 3,600 square miles. Dispersion occurs as a result of small, very poor housing communities called colonias.

Four documents related to pedestrians and walkability have been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Sacramento Regional Transit's draft TransitRenewal 2012-2017 Sevice Implementation for TransitAction has been added to the Research Center best practices database. The document aims to position the transit district's network to sustainably meet future transit demand within its service area.

A 2009 report prepared by the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute, Center for Urban Transportation Research, on behalf of the Federal Transit Administration has been added the Resource Center best practices database.  "Bus Rapid Transit and Development: Policies and Practices that Affect Development Around Transit" explores the relationship between land use and bus rapid transit (BRT) system development in comparison to other fixed-guideway modes such as heavy and light rail.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) are sponsoring webinar on "New Tools in Scenario Planning: Denver Region's Metro Vision 2040 Update."  The webinar will be held April 5 from 1:30 to 3pm EST.