The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) and eight other leading university transportation centers, functioning together as the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium (MNTRC), have begun operating under a $3.49 million Federal Transit Administration grant distributed through the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA).

The federal funds will be used for research, education, and other projects that help improve public transportation, matched with funds from local departments of transportation and other sources.

The nine MNTRC universities include:

* MTI, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, lead institute for the consortium;

* Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center and the Intelligent Cyberphysical Systems Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ;

* Howard University Transportation Safety Data and Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC;

* Four members of the Michigan-Ohio University Transportation Center, led by the University of Detroit-Mercy, Detroit, MI, with Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH; Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI; and University of Toledo, Toledo, OH;

* Nevada University Transportation Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV; and

* Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute’s Bus Research and Testing Center, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Among the research projects to be completed within the MNTRC are:

* Analysis of Bus Transit Crashes in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area, in which Howard University will identify predominant causal human factors of bus crashes; 

* Assessing Socioeconomic Impacts of Transit Systems on the Small Regional Community and Improving Service Quality of Transit Authorities in Small Urban Areas, in which Bowling Green State University will identify the leading causes of low transit ridership, evaluate the operating efficiency of the current public transit system relative to other benchmark systems, and assess the various impacts of transit on the local community welfare;

* Evaluation of New and Modified Bus Models, in which Penn State’s Larson Institute will use RITA funding to meet the secretary of transportation’s strategic goal for safety by engineering and testing vehicles, equipment, and infrastructure;

* A Study of Factors that Inhibit and Enable Effective Development of Sustainable Regional Transit Systems in Southeastern Michigan, in which Detroit-Mercy will analyze the factors that inhibit and enable the effective planning, development, and operation of regional transit systems in southeastern Michigan; and

* Transit Users’ Perceptions of Bike-Friendly Policy Impacts on Accessibility to Transit Services: The First and Last Mile Bridge, in which Penn State will partner with MTI to assess the extent to which geographic access to public transit services is greater as a result of particular facilities and policies.

“The consortium will be a resource to help the Federal Transit Administration provide safe, reliable, convenient, and environmentally friendly transportation that is affordable for all people,” said David Klinikowski, director of bus research and testing at Penn State.

The research project reports will continue to be available for download from the MTI website as consortium leader, as well as through public meetings, symposia, professional conferences, and other distribution outlets.

Besides research, the MNTRC universities will continue to offer a variety of education and workforce development programs, including multi-disciplinary and more traditional undergraduate, masters, and doctoral-level degree programs.

Mineta Institute Reviews Bus Attacks in Israel
Also, MTI has released a new report on bus security that presents 16 case studies of attacks against Israeli bus targets between 2000 and 2005. The purpose of this document is to help public transportation professionals understand the possibility of terrorist attacks against bus transit and the effectiveness of mitigation efforts.

The report, Security Awareness for Public Bus Security: Case Studies of Suicide Attacks Against the Israeli Public Bus System, includes statistical data from MTI’s proprietary Database on Terrorist and Serious Criminal Attacks Against Public Surface Transportation. This database lists 2,287 attacks against public surface transportation between Jan. 1, 1970, and Nov. 1, 2011, in which 7,581 people were killed and 29,212 were injured. Sixty-five percent of these attacks targeted buses, bus stations, and bus stops.

According to MTI’s findings, suicide delivery was the dominant method of attack. In 12 cases, devices were worn by or carried by the attacker; one case involved detonation of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device by a suicide driver alongside a bus; and bombs concealed in bags or other items left behind were responsible in three cases.

The report also shows that—in eight of the attacks that were considered failures or only partial successes—security measures and awareness played a role in stopping the attack or mitigating its consequences. In seven of those cases, poor attacker techniques and bomb-making were also factors.

Primary topics addressed by the report include:

* Which security measures were effective against suicide and non-suicide attacks?
* Which terrorist bombs were most and least lethal?
* Which terrorist methods of delivering bombs were most and least lethal?

MTI said it undertook the research project through a collaboration with an expert on Israeli security.

“The 16 cases were selected not because they are statistically representative, but because they provide a variety of interesting observations,” the report states. “They include both lethal and non-lethal attacks, attacks where security measures were effective or were not followed or were ineffective, and attacks in which the attackers’ tactics and/or devices were lethal or failed or reduced the lethality of the attacks.”

The 104-page report includes 64 maps, photographs, and other figures that illustrate each case study. It is available for free PDF download here.