The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has set June 15 as the deadline for receiving problem statements for the Fiscal Year 2011 program. These submittals identify research needs for TCRP and form the basis for selection of the annual TCRP research program.

The TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Committee will select the research problem statements for the FY 2011 program in the fall of 2010. For problems selected by the TOPS Committee, requests for proposals will be issued, and contractors will be selected through a competitive proposal process.

TCRP focuses on research that is consistent with, and supportive of, its strategic priorities and the Federal Transit Administration’s strategic research goals, which include increasing community livability and improving the performance of public transit operations and systems through coordination technologies, project planning and development, and transit asset maintenance.

The program also has established five strategic priorities:
* Place the Transit Customer First;
* Enable Transit to Operate in a Technologically Advanced Society;
* Continuously Improve Public Transportation
* Flourish in the Multimodal Environment; and
* Revitalize Transit Organizations.

Problem statements may be submitted electronically, with the document sent as an e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word format. A list of TCRP projects may be found online.

Three New Publications Available
The Transportation Research Board released the following TCRP publications just before the end of 2009:

Report 132, Assessment of Hybrid-Electric Transit Bus Technology, explores decision-making guidelines coupled with a comprehensive life cycle cost (LCC) model designed to assist transit managers in evaluating, selecting, and implementing hybrid-electric technology options for transit buses. The LCC model allows the user to compare total life cycle costs across several cost categories for up to six different purchase scenarios. The LCC model is available on a CD-ROM (CRP-CD-71), with the printed version of the report, and is available online for download as an ISO image or the individual files of the ISO image.

Report 136, Guidebook for Rural Demand-Response Transportation: Measuring, Assessing, and Improving Performance, examines the diversity of demand-response transportation (DRT) services and examines definitions of performance data and performance measures. The report also highlights the typology of rural DRT systems, offering examples of performance data from more than 20 representative rural systems.

R-137, Improving Pedestrian and Motorist Safety Along Light Rail Alignments, considers pedestrian and motorist behaviors that contribute to light rail transit (LRT) safety, along with mitigating measures designed to improve safety along LRT alignments. The report also includes suggestions to facilitate the compilation of accident data in a coordinated and homogeneous manner across LRT systems. Finally, the report provides a catalog of existing and innovative safety devices, safety treatments, and practices along LRT alignments. Appendices B through E of TCRP Report 137 were published as TCRP Web-Only Document 42.

Free copies of these and other TCRP reports are available for download here.

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