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Although Fairbanks currently has a system of buses providing public transportation, few residence consider the service a viable alternative to their daily commute because they do not find it convenient enough. As a solution to this, methods of improving accessibility and overall usefulness of the system must be researched and considered; primary topics of focus including what compels people to use mass-transit, what kind of systems work well in our climate, and what kind of things do planners take into consideration when designing layouts.


“The Chronicle of the Boston Transit System.” Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
< http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/history/ >
This short recap of the Boston transit system's history of development illustrates the hardships their system endured and how it prospered through the times. Though most of the information and technology is outdated at this point, much of the information is beneficial to someone looking to learn something from the history of other transit systems. It outlines the city's evolution of public transportation from the first horse drawn carriages to it's need for modern light and heavy rail systems.


“NYCSBS Project.” MTA Planning
< http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/sbs/ >
This is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority website for the state of New York. It outlines a plan for a select bus service (SBS) for the city. As my research project focuses on feasible transit options that Fairbanks might be able to take advantage of, I figured it a good idea to take a look at what kind of plans other communities with more more advanced and longer standing transit systems considering.


“Greening Public Transportation.” Green Living Idea's Oct. 27, 2007
< http://greenlivingideas.com/public-transportation/greening-public-transportation >
This article explains how public transportation can be beneficial for the environment and communities. It also defines the four main forms of mass transit. It contains information on how to make the use of public transportation more pleasant for commuters. It also has an argument for why the social benefits of public transportation justify government subsidies.


“10 Ways to Enhance Your Community: Unleash the Power of Public Transportation.” Public Transportation Takes Us There
< http://www.publictransportation.org/reports/asp/10ways.asp >
This article is loaded with information on how to make public transportation a priority in your community. It touches on what can make a system more appealing to commuters such as integrating stops and stations into the community by making them open, accessible and attractive. It mentions the federal Transportation and Equity Act for the 21st Century, an incentive program for commuters who use public transportation or vanpools, allowing them a tax-free monthly benefit of up to $100.


“Facts on Public Transportation.” Public Transportation Takes Us There
< http://www.publictransportation.org/facts/ >
This website is full of lots of facts and arguments on and for public transportation. It includes statistics for investment versus returns. It also has some interesting tidbits such as: “For every dollar spent, the average household spends 18 cents on transportation, and 94 percent of this goes to buying, maintaining and operating cars.” It contains statistics for how public transportation reduced fuel consumption.


Chang-Yen, Anna “Santa Barbara Panelists Say Transit Solutions are Local, not Federal.” MassTransit Jan 26th, 2009
< http://www.masstransitmag.com/web/online/Top-Transit-News/Santa-Barbara-Panelists-Say-Transit-Solutions-are-Local--not-Federal/3$7820 >
This article focuses on how transportation planners are improving the transit system in the Ventura County area. One idea they are trying to implement is the creation of a small sales tax to help fund their efforts toward improving their rail ways. This is important because figuring out how a community is going to pay for transit improvements is half the battle of actually getting them in the first place. However, I don't see the acceptance of a sales tax being that likely in Fairbanks either, it's still an interesting idea that could be modified to be desirable.


O'Dolan, Catriona “ONE-TICKET, Integrating transport in South East Scotland.” ELTIS European Local Transportation Information Service (2008)
< http://www.eltis.org/study_sheet.phtml?study_id=2024&lang1=en >
This is a case study describing what has turned out to be a very effective method for improving the usability of their mass-transit system. The method involved several different companies coming together in a partnership that enabled them all to offer one ticket that would give their customers service on any of their buses. This is important because it's a method that has proven to increase public usage of mass-transit. While this is not a very useful option to Fairbanks currently, with us pretty much only having city buses for getting around, it could come in handy when our system eventually evolves into something more robust with more transportation options.


Barnhart, Cynthia; Laporte, Gilbert “Transportation on Demand.” Transportation Published by Elsevier (2007) ISBN: 0444513469, 9780444513465
< http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DHM7U_d-E4gC&oi=fnd&pg=PA429&dq=Transportation+on+Demand&ots=7PopCviu4Q&sig=d62vpMDdwajdU_tlrtOCGkBcvB4 >
This chapter explains what transportation on demand is. It points out the most common types of TOD are dial-a-ride services, like taxis and van trams for the disabled, but also include emergency services like ambulances. Most of these service providers have a limited number of vehicles to do their jobs with so often times their routes change daily depending on demand. The problems faced by TOD are the same faced by all transportation systems: to serve as many people as possible, for as cheap as possible, while remaining convenient.


Hall, Randolph W. Handbook of Transportation Science Published by Springer (2003) ISBN 1402072465, 9781402072468
< http://books.google.com/books?id=xGXeWHXh-qIC&dq=Handbook+of+Transportation+Science&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=tKLbYJv4Q1&sig=xodAXjouHz1JQkiNjceq0JiWbr8&hl=en&ei=9tbLSa6mKImGsQOz_ZWwCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result >
This book approaches transportation as more than just a system of methods and technology, but as a science all in itself. According to this book, transportation, in all of it's forms, obey fundamental properties. This book defines those properties and describes how different forms of transportation relate to one another. It focuses on the fundamental concepts, methods, and principles behind the art of transportation.


Lam, William H. K.; Bell, Michael G. H. “Designing Public Transportation Network and Routes.” Advanced Modeling for Transit Operations and Service Planning Published by Emerald Group Publishing (2003) ISBN 0080442064, 9780080442068
< http://books.google.com/books?id=5SgeUWWv9FkC&pg=PA59&dq=Designing+Public+Transportation+Network+and+Routes >
This chapter has information on a suggested framework for planning a public transportation system. The main focus of the chapter is on route design and efficient route operation. The method involves defining all connection points, or nodes, in a given area and connecting them all in every way possible. All of these possibilities are then whittled down until the most efficient routes are found.


Tanneeru, Manav “U.S. cities scrambling to meet rising mass transit demands.” CNN (July 2008)
< http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/16/mass.transit/index.html >
This article described the troubles many communities around the US are facing when it comes to meeting mass transit demands. It says that as gas prices reached an all time high, so did ridership rates on all forms of public transportation. One interesting issue the article points out is what Cal Mersella, the head of the Denver, Colorado's transit system, calls a “paradox of public transportation.” It has to do with the fact that much funding for public transportation in most communities comes from sales taxes, and how due to the average American's recent trend of spending less money has resulted in less revenue for the transit companies, despite record ticket sales.


Mayerowitz, Scott “Can Mass Transit Rescue America?” ABC NEWS (June 2008)
< http://abcnews.go.com/Business/PainAtThePump/story?id=5058810 >
This article talks about how a well designed system of public transportation may be the best answer for saving the average American some gas money. The article claims that most people could save up to $1800 a year by giving up their cars and using mass transit to get to work instead. Unfortunately, this just is not an option for most Americans today. According to this article, such systems only make sense in densely populated areas in the first place, and even then seldom they get used. The article quotes a researcher from Rutgers University in New Jersey, Rick Remington, as saying, "It's got to be frequent service, it's got to be convenient, it's got to be fast and it's got to have the population density to support it." A commuter from Kansas City says she finally decided to utilize public transportation simply because she was tired of dealing with all the traffic, as opposed to just gas prices, which seems to be driving the recent surge of ticket sales in the cases of many other Americans.

*These last 3 are academic journal articles I found through EBSCOhost*

Hess, David “What is a clean bus? Object conflicts in the greening of urban transit.” Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy (March 2007) 3(1):45-58
This article focuses on the conflicts and controversies of greening urban transit. The primary interest of this article is that of emissions controlled diesel (ECD) versus compressed natural gas (CNG), which may be a better alternative for different areas and why that may be. I found this interesting because CNG is going to be a highly accessible resource in Fairbanks in a couple years, if pipeline plans continue as scheduled. Perhaps this would be a good thing for the FNSB transit system to consider looking into.


Chou, Jui-Sheng “Generalized linear model-based expert system for estimating the cost of transportation projects.” Expert Systems with Applications (April 2009) Part 1, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p4253-4267
This paper is intended to help transportation project managers avoid under estimating project cost. It discusses generalized linear models that were developed in order to continuously track project cost. Due to the fact that an overhaul of the current system in Fairbanks would likely require quite a few large scale transportation projects, understanding how to accurately predict cost would be in our best interest for thorough preparation.


Alder, Ben “Ticket to Ride.” Nation (February 2009) Vol. 288 Issue 6, p24-26
This article focuses on several of the benefits of mass-transit. The primary benefit being reduced impact on the environment. Other benefits covered include the creation of jobs for construction and operation of the transit systems. The author claims that these combined benefits would stimulate the economy.