NOVEMBER 2020
USC Graduate Kavina Patel Combines STEM and Humanities
for a Full Picture of the NYC Subway    
When USC Urban Planning
Master’s student Kavina Patel saw the stunning photos of New York transit station areas taken by Professor Emeritus Martin Krieger of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, she was inspired to find a way to connect them with her passion for the inter-relationships between transportation, community, and city development. After twenty years of systematically photographing Los Angeles, Krieger’s curiosity was piqued by the discussions of transit-oriented development in urban planning and real estate development. With an interest in capturing the identities of the individual stations and the unique impact experienced by each, he began photographing the century-old New York City subway system and accumulated an abundance of photographs from the ends of all the lines. By using these photographs to show a visual interactive story, Patel could show the amalgamation of community subcultures and the relationship between these distinctive communities and transportation system accessibility.  

Patel’s five-part story map project mapped a total of approximately 500 of Krieger’s photos from select areas around subway stations in New York and New Jersey, highlighting the surrounding cultures and their interaction and integration with their public transit systems.
METRANS Industry Outlook Convenes Industry Perspectives 
to COVID-19 
This year’s METRANS Industry Outlook featured perspectives from leaders in transit, port, and aviation regarding their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual METRANS event was held virtually for the first time this year, which increased audience participation to include more global participants in addition to the traditional concentrations of Southern California participants. 

Panelists for the October 1, 2020 Industry Outlook event were Michael Christensen, Deputy Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance for Los Angeles World Ports; Phillip A. Washington, Chief Executive Officer for LA Metro; and Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach. The meeting addressed the enormous drop in passenger travel that nearly emptied the airports and transit systems both globally and within the California region. The freight sector fared better than aviation and transit at the start of quarantine, but imports are still down and the current spike in e-commerce has not been offset by the general reduction seen in consumer demand.
CITT Assesses the COVID-19 Supply Chain in First Virtual Town Hall  
The Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) held its annual Town Hall meeting on Tuesday October 6, 2020 with the theme A COVID-19 Supply Chain Report Card: Balancing Perception and Reality. Since its inception in 1999, the CITT Town Hall has delivered a dialogue-driven opportunity for transportation and supply chain stakeholders to discuss pertinent transportation and trade-related issues.

This Town Hall was the first all-digital meeting for CITT, combining video content and simultaneous livestreams. CITT/METRANS Event Coordinator Alix Traver stated, “Because we had to move to a virtual event, we were able to expand throughout the U.S. and internationally. Thus, we ended up with not only our longstanding and loyal local audience, but also with registrations from interested parties across the U.S. as well as from Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia.” The event’s ability to extend its reach to a larger and global audience shows that among the difficulties brought on by the pandemic, there are also newfound opportunities in connectivity and technological advancement.
METRANS, PSR, NCST Host Dessouky and Hu for Cost Sharing Mechanisms for Ridesharing Webinar
On October 22, METRANS, the Pacific Southwest University Transportation Center (PSR), and the National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST) launched the third research seminar in the Fall 2020 webinar series. The National Center for Sustainable Transportation is a national transportation center that provides national leadership in advancing environmentally sustainable transportation through cutting-edge research, direct policy engagement, and education of our future leaders.

At “Cost-Sharing Mechanisms for Ridesharing,” Dr. Maged Dessouky and Shichun Hu showcased their ongoing research. Dessouky is a Dean’s Professor and Chair of the Epstein Department of Industrial Systems Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, at USC. Hu is a USC Ph.D. student studying industrial and systems engineering.
RESEARCH
PSR Researcher Maged Dessouky Examines Cost-Sharing Mechanisms to Encourage Ridesharing
In a PSR-funded study, Maged Dessouky, the Dean’s Professor and Chair of the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California, seeks to increase incentives toward ridesharing by determining a just cost and discovering a method of cost-allocation that benefits both drivers and passengers. The report, “Cost-Sharing Mechanisms for Ridesharing,” was co-authored by USC Assistant Professor Phebe Vayanos and USC Doctoral Research Assistant Shichun Hu. They stress the importance of a fair cost-sharing mechanism for all participants involved in order for constructive ride-share to endure. The creation of a sustainable ride-sharing population has promising implications for the environment and for regions that struggle with congestion and vehicle delay.  
CSULB’s Researchers James Miles and Thomas Strybel Evaluate the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles
Automation continues to impact transportation, compelling the industry to consider how to implement transformative mobility developments in a safe and efficient manner. While fully autonomous vehicles, vehicles having the ability to safely reach a destination without human intervention, are highly anticipated, current technology allows only partial automation, and requires an engaged driver’s input for safe operation. The need for drivers to maintain vigilance and be prepared to take over driving with partial automation systems raises the question of their safety in comparison to manual driving. At California State University, Long Beach, Psychology Associate Professor James Miles and Professor Emeritus Thomas Strybel studied the safety of highly automated driving systems (HADS) for human- driver takeover performance in comparison with conventional manual driving in their PSR-funded project, “Evaluation of Autonomous Vehicles and Smart Technologies for Their Impact on Traffic Safety and Traffic Congestion.”  
Recently Completed Research Project
METRANS researchers from our member institutions have recently completed the following project in the three topical areas of: integrated management of freight and passenger systems, sustainable and efficient urban freight transportation, and urban mobility. To learn more about specific projects, please click on the title to access the research briefs and reports.
UPCOMING EVENT
PSR Fall 2020 Webinar Series:
Mentoring for Success in a Virtual World

featuring USC Clinical Professor Rebecca Weintraub

Friday, November 15th at 4 pm PT
The METRANS Transportation Center was established in 1998 as the first University Transportation Center in Southern California. METRANS is a joint partnership of the University of Southern California (USC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

METRANS' mission is to solve transportation problems of large metropolitan regions through interdisciplinary research, education and outreach. Its three primary objectives are: (1) fostering independent, high quality research to solve the nation's transportation problems; (2) training the next generation transportation workforce; and (3) disseminating information, best practices, and technology to the professional community