Catalog

Public Transportation Systems

Civil and Environmental Engineering MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 17 lectures

This course discusses the evolution and role of urban public transportation modes, systems, and services, focusing on bus and rail. It covers various topics, including current practice and new methods for data collection and analysis, performance monitoring, route design, frequency determination, vehicle and crew scheduling, effect of pricing policy and service quality on ridership.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Lecture 1: Introduction
  2. 2 Lecture 2: Data Collection Techniques and Program Design
  3. 3 Lecture 3: Modal Characteristics and Roles
  4. 4 Lecture 4: Short-range Planning—Part 1
  5. 5 Lecture 5: Short-range Planning—Part 2
  6. 6 Lecture 6: Modal Capacities and Costs
  7. 7 Lecture 7: Cost Estimation
  8. 8 Lecture 8: Ridership Forecasting
  9. 9 Lecture 9: Performance Models
  10. 10 Lecture 10: Origin, Destination, and Transfer Inference
  11. 11 Lecture 13: Vehicle Scheduling
  12. 12 Lecture 17: Customer Information Strategies—Guest Lecture by John Attanucci
  13. 13 Lecture 19: Transit Signal Priority—Guest Lecture by Peter G. Furth
  14. 14 Lecture 20: Service Reliability
  15. 15 Lecture 21: Fare Policy, Structure, and Technology
  16. 16 Lecture 22: Workforce Planning
  17. 17 Lecture 24: Baumol's Disease—Guest Lecture by Frederick Salvucci

Course materials