Author Archives: Stephanie Lewis

OneBusAway and its Implementation in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico: Strategies to Transform Travel Behavior and Reduce Congestion

Thursday, August 28, 2025 This webinar highlights the activities and results of a three-phase project that involved implementing the open-source platform OneBusAway in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. This platform provides real-time information for public transportation users. It collects data to enhance the planning and execution of strategies designed to increase ridership and reduce congestion within transportation…

Deploying Bus Bypasses in Dense, Congested Cities

Tuesday, June 17, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) Simulations of idealized urban arterials reveal how a bus bypass, or queue jump, can worsen travel conditions for cars and buses. Problems occur when bypass operations affect a critical bottleneck, where queues form and grow long. To expedite bus movements through an intersection, a bypass’…

Using Disaggregate Vehicle Data to Investigate How Ride-Hailing Services Influence Personal Vehicle Use and Ownership

Thursday, May 8, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) A number of research studies have found that ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have increased the total amount of driving within metropolitan areas. In this study, we examined how the rollout of Uber across the Boston region affected auto use and ownership by analyzing…

Access Management Curriculum for University Planning and Engineering Programs

Wednesday, April 9, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) Extensive research has been conducted on roadway access management and smart growth planning, highlighting the benefits of these integrated practices for safety, congestion management, and livability. There is a growing recognition of the importance of context-sensitive plans and projects that meet the needs of all…

City-level Network Decongestion with Connected and Automated Vehicles

Tuesday, March 25, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) play a pivotal role in alleviating urban road network congestion. This study adopts a macroscopic approach to identify strategies for using CAVs to ease traffic congestion and reduce energy consumption. Specifically, this study proposes an Area Transmission Model (ATM) based…

Efficient Smartphone Sensor Analysis for Behavioral Profiling in Transportation Research: A Case Study of Driver and Passenger Classification

Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) The widespread use of smartphones and wearables in transportation research has enabled cost-effective, non-intrusive methods to improve safety and efficiency. Smartphone sensors, including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and GPS, have been used to study behaviors such as texting while driving and differentiating between drivers and passengers. Understanding…

Dynamic Prediction of Taxis and TNCs Demand with Multi-Task Learning

Thursday, March 6, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) Taxi and Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) are important components of the urban transportation system. An accurate short-term forecast of passenger demand can help operators better allocate taxi or TNC services to achieve a supply-demand balance in real time. As a result, drivers can improve the…

Predicting Travel and Congestion in Post-Pandemic America

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) The COVID‐19 pandemic has had a profound impact on travel behavior, particularly in the realm of public transportation. This presentation discusses the findings of a study on the long‐term effects of the pandemic on the transportation system, with a focus on transit ridership and congestion…

Financial Incentives to Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled

Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) This research explored the viability and effectiveness of positive financial incentives with the objective of promoting the use of transit and micromobility alternatives to private automobiles to ameliorate traffic congestion. A way of mitigating traffic congestion is the reduction of vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). The reduction…

From Taxis to Ridehailing: Examining Differences for Drivers and Passengers

Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET) This research analyzes gender issues for female drivers and passengers of transportation network companies (TNCs) and taxis. Between August 2023 and May 2024, the researchers conducted driver and rider focus groups (n=8 drivers and n=8 passengers); a driver survey (n=170); a TNC user/non-user survey (n=440,…