Camille Fink

Rail Transit Security in an International Context Lessons from Four Cities

Open, accessible urban public transportation systems have become increasingly frequent targets for terrorists in recent years. This article draws from a series of interviews with transit officials responsible for the security of rail transit systems, as well as architects and engineers responsible for designing and operating these systems in four world cities: London, Paris, Tokyo, and Madrid. The findings show that transit security is, not surprisingly, a major and growing concern of transit operators in these cities. Collectively, the interviewees report drawing on a broad mix of strategies to respond to terrorism and, in the process, struggle mightily to balance the trade-offs between increased security on one hand and openness and attractiveness of their systems on the other. Accordingly, coordination between transit agencies and police/intelligence agencies has become a crucial component of security planning.

Explaining transit ridership: What has the evidence shown?

Abstract What explains transit ridership? The answer to this simple question is both obvious and complex. Public transit systems carry large shares of person travel in older, larger metropolitan areas around the globe, but in most places, old and new, large and small, transit is losing market share to private vehicles. A host of factors no doubt influence transit ridership, including fares, routing, service frequency, stop/station accessibility, safety, private vehicle ownership levels, population density, land use, parking availability, and cost. But the relative importance of these factors and the ways they influence one another is less well understood. At the same time, the relationships between these factors and transit ridership are central to public policy debates about transportation system investments and the pricing and deployment of transit services. The research explaining transit ridership is surprisingly uneven, spanning a variety of methodological approaches, data sources, and variables that produce, perhaps not surprisingly, somewhat ambiguous, contradictory, and inconsistent results. Yet the factors affecting transit ridership are not simply matters of academic interest. Public investment in transit is waxing in response to the many problems of auto dependence, worsening traffic congestion, rising fuel prices, vehicle emissions, and so on. What can be done to increase patronage and better leverage these investments? To address this question, this paper reviews research on transit use, critiques the sometimes significant weaknesses in much of the previous work on this topic, draws conclusions from the more rigorous studies about which factors most influence transit use, and presents recommendations for future research.

Crashes on and near college campuses: : a comparative analysis of pedestrian and bicyclist safety

Problem, research strategy, and findings: College campuses are multimodal settings with very high levels of walking and biking in conjunction with high levels of vehicular traffic, which increases risks for bicyclists and pedestrians. In this study, we examine crash data (both police reported and self-reported) and urban form data from three U.S. campuses to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of crashes on the campuses and their immediate periphery. To account for underreporting of pedestrian and bicycle crashes, we developed and circulated an online survey, which helped identify collision hotspots across the three campuses. We then studied these locations to determine their characteristics, generate a typology of campus danger zones, and recommend design and policy changes that could improve pedestrian and cycling safety. We find a significant underreporting of crashes, and unequal spatial and temporal distributions of campus crashes. We identify three particular types of danger zones for pedestrians and cyclists: campus activity hubs, campus access hubs, and through traffic hubs. Injuries tended to be more serious for those crashes taking place on campus peripheries. Takeaway for practice: The intermingling of motorized and non-motorized modes creates significant opportunities for crashes. Planners should be aware of the existing underreporting and give special attention to the three types of danger zones. In addition to the recommendations of the literature for the creation of campus master plans for walking and biking, campuses should conduct safety audits and surveys to identify hotspots and consider specific design improvements for each of the three danger zones to lessen modal conflict.

Responding to Security Threats in the Post-9/11 Era: A Portrait of U.S. Urban Public Transit

The 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, and subsequent public transit system attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, dramatically elevated concerns about the security of open, accessible transit systems. Accordingly, the authors report on a survey of 113 U.S. transit systems regarding their post-9/11 policies and practices. Sixteen of the 80 surveyed systems with rail service and/or enclosed bus or ferry terminals reported receiving a credible threat (e.g., bomb, chemical, biological, fire attacks) in the previous year, with most threats concentrated on just a few of the largest systems. Not surprisingly, attention to transit security increased significantly after 9/11, partly in response to federal mandates. Although attention to policing, security technologies, and public education all increased since 9/11, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) strategies increased the most. Despite measurable programmatic progress, however, many respondents believe that meaningfully securing urban transit systems remains a daunting, perhaps insurmountable, challenge.

From Policy and Response to System Design and Operations: Inter-Governmental Transit Security Planning in the U.S.

The events of September 11th, 2001, brought the issue of transportation security and terrorism to the forefront of civil society. Transit security is especially challenging because of the nature of transit systems as open and accessible public places and the need to keep these systems running quickly and efficiently; transit officials cannot employ many of the security strategies used in aviation security. This paper examines the recent developments in transit security planning in the U.S. using two sources of data: 1) interviews with officials from federal agencies, a national transit industry organization, and local transit agencies, and 2) a nationwide survey of transit operators. The findings show that transit security remains a major concern for operators who must work to balance security needs with operations and management goals. Interagency coordination has become a crucial element of security planning. In addition, environmental design and public outreach and education—two strategies that received much less attention pre-September 11th—have emerged as much more important in transit security planning.