Transportation Planning Research at Florida State University
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning offers transportation planning education at both the doctoral and master's degree levels. Our graduate students have received a number of prestigious external awards and fellowships in recent years, including Eisenhower Graduate Fellowships, American Public Transportation Association Felowships, and Eno Foundation Fellowships.
Faculty, doctoral students, and master's students also conduct transportation research on a variety of topics, but two themes unify much of this research: Alternative Transportation and the Modern City and Transportation, Land Use, and Accessibility. Research on Alternative Transportation and the Modern City examines ways to make transit and non-motorized transportation modes more useful to travelers and more economically viable in today's increasingly decentralized urban environments. Research on Transportation, Land Use, and Accessibility looks explicitly at connections between the way we plan and organize transportation systems and the pattern of urban development in order to improve the usefulness of transportation systems. Transportation research in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University also extends beyond these two thematic areas to include a wide variety of topics covering aspects of nearly all surface transportation modes and their relationship to all aspects of the urban built and social environment.
Transportation Planning Faculty
Jeffrey Brown, Ph.D. UCLA
Michael Duncan, Ph.D. UC Berkeley
Gregory Thompson, Ph.D. UC Irvine (Emeritus)
Transportation Planning Doctoral Students
Tuna Batuhan
Torsha Bhattacharya
Michal Jaroszynski
Luis Enrique Ramos
Recent Faculty and Student Research Projects
Analyzing the effects of transit network change in a decentralized, mid-sized US metropolitan area on transit agency performance and transit riders: a case study of Tallahassee, Florida (2013).
This research examines the effects of major transit network structural change on transit agency performance (ridership, productivity, cost effectiveness) and transit riders (transit dependents and choice riders) in a decentralized, mid-sized (population between 250,000 and 1 million) US metropolitan area. Star Metro, the local transit agency in Tallahassee, Florida restructured its transit network from a CBD (central business district)-radial pattern to a decentralized multi-destination network structure in summer 2011, providing a unique opportunity for a before-and-after examination of a major change in service structure on both transit agency performance and transit-dependent and choice rider patrons.
Understanding Demand for a Multi-Destination, Multi-Modal Transit Network in an American Metropolitan Area: Lessons for Increasing Choice Ridership While Maintaining Transit Dependent Ridership (2011)
This study examines the factors underlying transit demand in the multi-destination, integrated bus and rail transit network for Atlanta, Georgia.
The Influence of Service Planning Decisions on Rail Transit Success or Failure (2009)
Some United States metropolitan areas with rail transit systems enjoy ridership and productivity success while others do not. This study examines the experiences of 11 U.S. metropolitan areas with between one million and five million persons to better understand why some areas are successful and others are not. A particular focus is the role of service planning decisions in facilitating transit success.
Selected Recent Student Professional (Studio) Projects
Master's degree students frequently complete transportation-centered projects as part of their degree capstone. Below are a few of the recent reports.