This article revisits the relationship between urban form and excess commuting by analyzing 206 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. Using the most recent Census Transportation Planning Products, we revalidated the importance of using multidimensional indices when examining excess commuting across metropolitan areas. We found that higher levels of polycentricity aggravate cross-commuting, while higher central city dominance improves excess commuting. In addition, our results indicate the significant impact of sprawl or jobs–housing dispersal on excess commuting. These findings shed light on the multidimensional relationship between urban form and excess commuting.

Public health risks such as obesity are influenced by numerous personal characteristics, but the local spatial structure such as an area’s built environment can also affect the obesity rate. This study analyzes and discusses how a greenbelt plan as a tool of urban containment policy has an effect on obesity. This study conducted spatial econometric regression models with five factors (13 variables) including transportation, socio-economic, public health, region, and policy factors. The relationship was analyzed between two policy effects of a greenbelt (i.e., a green buffer zone) and obesity. The variables for two policy effects of greenbelt zones are the size of the greenbelt and the inside and outside areas of the greenbelt. The results indicate that the two variables have negative effects on obesity. The results of the analyses in this study have several policy implications. Greenbelts play a role as an urban growth management policy, leading to a reduced obesity rate due to the influence of the transportation mode. In addition, greenbelts can also reduce the obesity rate because they provide recreation spaces for people.

This paper examines extraboard operations and management at TriMet, the transit provider for the Portland Oregon metropolitan area. The extraboard consists of a pool of operators who fill open work resulting from absences and other causes. The paper first examines the general performance of the extraboard in filling open work, drawing on seven years of daily operations data from three bus garages. It then presents statistical analyses focusing on open work patterns and the effects of selected work rules on operator utilization and service delivery. Lastly, suggestions are made for improving the efficiency of extraboard operations. viii

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