- Campuses :
- Twin Cities
- Crookston
- Duluth
- Morris
- Rochester
- Other Locations
Roundtable, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, June 18, 2009.
Opening Remarks by Greg Lindsey, Professor and Associate Dean Greg Lindsey, Humphrey School.
Dr. Lindsey opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and having the participants and audience memers introduce themselves. He touched on how the research done in TechPlan has increasing benefits as the use of technology has the ability to maximize the societal benefits of transportation. He also discussed that the Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at the Humphrey School is increasing its transportation focus and has a growing depth of transportation faculty. He ended by thanking all of the attendees as well as the researchers on behalf of J. Brian Atwood, Dean of the Humphrey School.
Presentation session was moderated by Lee Munnich, Senior Fellow and Director, SLPP
Each presentation of research was started by presenting the audience with a discussion question for them to briefly discuss with their table mates in order to facilitate conversation about the upcoming presentations.
"The Impact of E-Shopping on Travel: Evidence from the Twin Cities," by Jason Cao, Assistant Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and Frank Douma, Assistant Director, State & Local Policy Program, Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Discussion Question: How does online product searching capacity and online shopping change our life? Are there any implications for stressed transportation systems?
Audience Response:
Presentation
This research considers what influences the decisions to do e-shopping versus in store shopping. The survey area included urban, suburban, and exurban areas in the Twin Cities to understand if there is a special influence on e-shopping, as well as to look at the effects of speed/availability of internet.
The survey demonstrated that shopping online increases trips to stores to either buy the product or to experience it in person and also increases deliveries. It also showed that with increased gas price people tend to decrease their trips to stores but there was no change in e-shopping.
Initial conclusions in this research showed that e-shopping likely has a complimentary relationship with store shopping but this relationship depends on location or stores, type or product, and access to internet.
Q: How much has travel patterns changed in the past few years with the increase of people participating in e-shopping?
A: There are more trips taken now due to e-shopping but the researchers think that this can be reduced as people become more comfortable with purchasing products online without experiencing the product in person first, although the researchers think that e-shopping and trips to stores will always have complimentary effect as opposed to a substitution effect.
Q: How do we put this research to good use?
A: The researchers state that they need to figure out the implications of making more deliveries and how to control them. Planners also need to know this information so they do not make the mistake of assuming that e-shopping and shopping in stores have a substitution effect when in fact they have complementary effect.
Q: Is e-shopping bad or good for society?
A: The researchers feel that it is still hard to see what the long term effects will be on society but it seems like single occasion trips are increasing and it is having an effect on the system.
"ITS and Transportation Safety: ITS and EMS System Data Integration to Improve Traffic Crash Emergency Response and Treatment," by Tom Horan, Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Claremont Information and Technology Institute, Claremont, California.
Discussion Question: If someone in your family was involved in a traffic accident in rural Minnesota, what would you be concerned about? That is, what would you be looking for to ensure that the best possible response was being taken and what information do you think would be critical to this service?
Audience Response:
Presentation
Previous research done by Dr. Horan in this area has shown that rural vehicle crashes are a huge public health phenomenon. The quality of service, expense, and response time are all issues that affect the survival and rehabilitation rate of victims. There is currently systems that EMS use and that trauma centers use but there is no system to link the data for all of the response personal to access.
This research group developed a “CrashHelp” program, based on conclusion made in previous research, which will compile data about crashes to all parties involved in the response. The system includes a map of where the accident occurred as well as the closest trauma centers, an incident profile including who the victims are, and response statistics for specific crash types.
The next step is to take this system to its actual users (EMS and trauma center workers) and get their feedback as well as to take this prototype to other states to integrate it into their response systems.
Q: Would this system work better in countries with social medical programs? Since one organization owns all the players?
A: The researchers respond by saying it probably would but we think that hospitals need to invest in systems like this to have higher success rates with rural crash victims.
Q: The Department of Defense has some systems like this for soldiers; could you build off of those systems?
A: The researchers can take some of that information although the problem is getting all of the players to participate in this system not necessarily getting data and the system working.
"Discussion Tools for Assessing Transportation Impacts of School Policy and School Choice," by Elizabeth Wilson, Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Discussion Question: How can you factor environmental considerations into seemingly unrelated transportation decisions?
Audience Response:
Presentation
Dr. Wilson’s research is a continuation from last cycle and considers the question of how school choice impacts transit options. Travel and environmental implications of school choice have not been looked at very closely before this work. Her research looks at the potential for technology to assist in educational transportation policies.
Her first survey in St. Paul demonstrated:
From these conclusions Wilson and her research team have begun to develop a tool that will effectively communicate bus and car emissions, travel costs, and school choice to parents and policy for local school districts. The goal of this tool is to better inform school administrations and parents of the effect that school choice has on the environment and the monetary costs of certain school choice and transportation options. An in progress version of this tool can be found at http://schooltransport.hhh.umn.edu. The next step is to translate this model from use in the Saint Paul school district to other cities and districts.
Q: Can this be a tool used to apply for national money to improve walkabilty (sidewalks, etcetera) in areas where driving children to school in personal vehicles is high?
A: Yes, Dr. Wilson thinks it can get to a point that will clearly demonstrate that there are areas in our cities that need funding to increase walkability and therefore cut down on personal vehicle emissions.
Q: Have you considered adding parameters to see factors for weather, number of busy roads that kids who should walk need to cross, etc.?
A: The research team have definitely thought about how all of those things have an impact on transportation mode but right now they are concentrating on getting the tool working and making sure it is as effective as possible for school districts.
“The Urban Partnership Agreement: A Comparative Study of Technology and Collaboration in Transportation Policy Implementation” by John Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Discussion Question: How can you create an effective program (that includes funding) at the federal level when every state/region is different and will handle the program differently?
Audience Response:
Presentation
Dr. Bryson’s research examines the collaboration throughout the UPA application process in Minnesota. Findings have demonstrated that the success of the UPA collaboration process have depended on factors such as initial conditions, people, organizations, processes, structures and the media.
This research examines cross sector collaboration and how technology can be problem solving tools. The approach was to compare the MN-UPA to the New York and Miami UPA programs. An advisory group was set up of key players in the UPA and interviews were conducted to collect data on how the collaboration worked between all groups. This research group is joined with Battelle who is looking at UPA as a whole, Battelle uses this groups framework for their research and adds a lot of data to the overall project.
There have been many key findings on the success of collaboration with the UPA; mainly that success depends on the initial conditions of the program and the key groups associated with the project. This research group still has to finish interviews, analyze the medias influence on the program, and is going to organize workshops to further investigate the key players roles in the UPA.
Q: How are people relating to the fact that this legislation will not continue in the Obama administration?
A: Dr. Bryson states that the criteria is there for Obama to use although it may not necessarily end up being UPA.
Closing Remarks from Frank Douma
Mr. Douma closes the Round Table by thanking everyone for making this third year of TechPlan successful and expresses that he thinks this Roundtable is the best one thus far. He specifically thanks CTS (Center for Transportation Studies), Lee Munnich for moderating, all of the reviewers, and the researchers. He also addresses the uniqueness in TechPlan because of its wide range of research areas even though they are all based in technology and transportation.
Humphrey School of Public Affairs | 130 Humphrey School, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455