Over the course of this century, public transit sys tems in the U.S. have lost most of the market share of metropolitan travel to private vehicles. The two principal markets that remain fo r public transit systems are downtown commuters and transit dependents-people who are too young, too old. too poor, or physically unable to drive. Despite the fa ct that transit dependents are the steadiest customers fo r most public transit sys tems. transit policy has tended to fo cus on recapturing lost markets through expanded suburban bus, express bus, and fued rail systems. Such efforts have collectively proven expensive and only marginally effective. At the same time, comparatively less attention and fe wer resources tend to be devoted to improving well-patronized transit service in low income, central-city areas serving a high proportion of transit dependents. This paper explores this issue through an examination of both the evolving demographics of public transit ridership, and the reasons for shifts in transit policies toward attracting automobile users onto buses and trains. We conclude that the growing dissonance between the quality of service provided to inner-city residents who depend on local buses and the level of public resources being spent to attract new transit riders is both economically inefficient and socially inequitable. In light of this. we propose that transportation planners concerned with social justice (and economic efficiency) should re-examine current public transit policies and plans.

The purpose of this study was to test the torque generating capabilities of three commercially available neuromuscular electrical stimulators (NMES) having different current characteristics.Twenty healthy adults were positioned in sitting on an isokinetic dynamometer. Maximum voluntary isometric knee extension torque was determined. Subsequently, two 10-sec, maximally tolerated contractions were elicited with each machine. The order of stimulation was randomized and there were 2-minute rest periods between contractions. Electrically elicited torque values were expressed as a percentage of the maximal voluntary isometric torque WMVIT).Analysis of variance with one repeated measure showed a significant difference among %MVIT produced by the stimulators. NMES 2 (Nemectrodyn 7) produced significantly less %MVIT than either NMES 1 (Electrostim 180-2) or NMES 3 (Chattanooga VMS). In all but three cases, NMES 2's maximal current output was reached. Although all three devices were capable of producing %MVIT that has been shown to be sufficient for strengthening, it appears that NMES 2 does not have the capacity to provide "overload" as strength increases.

The cost of producing public-transit service is not uniform but varies by trip type (e.g., local or express), trip length, time of travel, and direction of travel, among other factors. However, the models employed by public-transit operators to estimate costs typically do not account for this variation. The exclusion of cost variability in most transit-cost-allocation models has long been noted in the literature, particularly with respect to time-of-day variations in costs. This analysis addresses many of the limitations of cost-allocation models typically used in practice by developing a set of models that account for marginal variations in vehicle-passenger capacity, capital costs, and time-of-day costs. FY 1994 capital and operating data are used for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). This analysis is unique in that it combines a number of previously and separately proposed improvements to cost-allocation models. In comparison with the model currently used by the Los Angeles MTA, it was found that the models developed for this analysis estimate ( a) higher peak costs and off-peak costs, ( b) significant cost variation by mode, and ( c) lower costs for incremental additions in service. The focus is on the limitations of the rudimentary cost-allocation models employed by most transit operators and not on the Los Angeles MTA per se. This analysis found that an array of factors addressed separately in the literature can be incorporated simultaneously and practically into a usable cost-allocation model to provide transit systems with far better information about the highly variable costs of producing service.

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In 2010, California replaced its state sales tax on gasoline with an annually adjusted per gallon excise tax designed to produce as much revenue each year as the sales tax did previously. This gas tax swap was intended to ( a) relieve the state’s general fund during a period of fiscal emergency by circumventing the narrowly defined transportation purposes for which gasoline sales tax revenues could be legally spent and ( b) protect the existing revenue streams for transportation purposes. Experience to date reveals that this experiment has not met its objectives because of unanticipated volatility in the revenue stream resulting from dramatic fuel price fluctuations. Although the new revenues are protected from diversion to nontransportation uses, the unpredictability of such revenue presents many challenges for state transportation planning and programming. Other states considering similar shifts to price-based transportation taxes to address the continuing decline in purchasing power from fixed-rate fuel excise taxes may draw valuable lessons from the California experience.