Dea van Lierop

ABRACADABRA in the hands of teachers: The effectiveness of a web-based literacy intervention in grade 1 language arts programs

This study explored how teacher variations in use of a web-technology of known effectiveness, affected growth in literacy. Teachers used ABRACADACABRA (ABRA) (http://grover.concordia.ca/abra/version1/abracadabra.html), in Grade 1 Language Arts classes. Children (N=60) across three classrooms were exposed to ABRA activities and a control class followed the regular provincial literacy program. Interventions were run by briefly-trained teachers for a total of 16h. Each teacher chose to use the program in qualitatively distinct ways that corresponded to the first three stages of Sandholtz, Ringstaff, and Dwyers (1997) technology integration model, namely: Entry, Adoption and Adaptation. Growth in literacy between pre- and post-test revealed significant differences associated with technology integration style across all measures of literacy and related language skills. The largest and most-widespread effects were evident for the Adaptation group that linked technology content to wider learning themes in the classroom. In terms of overall growth in standardised literacy scores across all six such measures used, Adaptation proved to be 60% more effective than Adoption. Results suggest that explorations of exactly how teachers use technology have important implications for practice as well as for the interpretation of field-based studies of the effectiveness of educational technology.

Non-stop equity: Assessing daily intersections between transit accessibility and social disparity across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA)

Public transportation systems generate economic benefits that can potentially reduce social disparities between populations when such benefits are distributed evenly within a region. However, the achievement of equity in the allocation of public resources is not easy to accomplish for land use and transportation planning agencies. This research seeks to determine whether people residing in socially disadvantaged areas in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Canada, experience the same levels of transit accessibility as those living in other areas over the course of a day. Comparisons are presented in terms of regional accessibility, trends by social decile, spatial distribution of accessibility during the day, and travel time impacts. Findings suggest that residents in socially disadvantaged areas have equitable if not better transit accessibility to jobs than socially advantaged groups, and this is reflected in shorter travel times. However, the degree and impact of this advantage varies over the course of the day. Findings from this research can be of interest to transportation planners, engineers, and policy makers as it highlights deficiencies with current equity assessment practices that do not take into account variation in transit services over a 24-h time period.

What influences satisfaction and loyalty in public transport? A review of the literature

ABSTRACT Public transport ridership retention is a challenge for many cities. To develop comprehensive strategies aimed at retaining riders, it is necessary to understand the aspects of public transport that influence users to become loyal to the system. This paper analyses relevant literature regarding the causes of satisfaction and loyalty in public transport. We find that the service factors most associated with satisfaction are on-board cleanliness and comfort, courteous and helpful behaviour from operators, safety, as well as punctuality and frequency of service. On the other hand, loyalty is associated with users’ perceptions of value-for-money, on-board safety and cleanliness, interactions with personnel and the image and commitment to public transport that users feels. Furthermore, the results elucidate that the concept of loyalty is best defined based on users’ intentions to continue using the service, their willingness to recommend it to others, their overall satisfaction, but also and most importantly, their image of and involvement with public transport. Public transport users who have a positive image of the agency and consider public transport an integral component of city life are more likely to demonstrate loyalty and act like ambassadors for public transport agencies.

A New Market Segmentation Approach: Evidence from Two Canadian Cities

Traditionally, transit market research has categorized passengers into two distinct groups: captive riders and choice riders. Market analyses that depend on such broad categories are likely to overlook important details about the needs and desires of their customer base. This study attempts to better understand the complexities of the different groups who take transit by using information from five years of customer satisfaction questionnaires collected by two Canadian transit providers. Employing a series of clustering techniques, the analysis reveals that nine market segments are present across different modes in both transit agencies. Three different overarching groups of transit users are identified based on income and vehicle access: choice users (~69%), captive users (~18%), and captive-by-choice users (~13%). The groups are consistent across transit modes and in different geographical regions and are generalizable enough to be widely applicable as a conceptual framework for segmenting and understanding public transit users.

Talking TOD: learning about transit-oriented development in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands

Abstract City and regional governments in North America and the Netherlands are implementing transit-oriented development (TOD) policies to provide residents with accessible and compact communities that are socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable. Through 13 in-depth semi-structured interviews with planners and transportation professionals in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, this study attempts to identify the factors that practitioners in these regions determine to be essential for the post-development success of TOD. Our analysis reveals that seven key elements contribute to the success of TOD which are approached differently by planners in the three regions. The study concludes by suggesting ways in which professionals could integrate land use and transportation projects based on planning for flexibility, accessibility, and collaboration.

Chasing Sustainability: Do New Transit-Oriented Development Residents Adopt More Sustainable Modes of Transportation?

One of the solutions suggested for mitigating the detrimental effect of motor vehicles on society is to implement transit-oriented development (TOD). This type of development is intended to reduce automobile use and urban sprawl as well as to provide communities with more socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable neighborhoods that offer a variety of mobility choices. This study attempted to find out whether new residents adopted more sustainable modes of transportation after their relocation to a TOD. The analysis determined which factors influenced travel mode switching decisions by specifying a multilevel multinomial logistic regression model. Data for the analysis were drawn from a travel behavior survey conducted on residents in seven North American TODs in 2013. The results showed that newcomers adopted more sustainable travel modes for amenities and leisure trips after they relocated to a TOD but that they were less likely to do so for work and shopping trips. To encourage more sustainable travel modes, the study findings suggested that transit incentives coupled with workplace parking charges needed to be considered. Factors that were found to increase the probability that new TOD residents would switch to a more sustainable mode of transportation included their awareness of the environmental impact of each travel mode, the ease with which it was possible to walk through the neighborhood and to various destinations, and the proximity to transit stops. However, larger household size, homeownership, and the addition of a new car had negative impacts. The findings provided new insights into TOD planning and its link to travel behavior; these insights could benefit planners, engineers, and policy makers who have adopted the TOD approach to development with the goal of mitigating car usage.

Bicycle Education for Children: Evaluation of a Program in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The promotion of bicycle use by school-aged children is one way to encourage more active lifestyles. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an on- and off-bicycle education program for school-aged children in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to understand how education influences the cycling behavior and attitudes of children and parents. Qualitative measures and descriptive statistics were used to analyze pre- and postprogram survey results from children who participated in the program and their parents. Results showed that children’s knowledge of bicycle safety increased and that participants made significant improvements in their knowledge of bicycle-specific street signs (before = 83%, after = 92%) and hand signals (before = 68%, after = 96%). Children also became more confident. Before the program, 75% of participants stated that to ride a bicycle was not difficult for them. After the program, this percentage increased to 92%. The parents of the participants also reported improvements in their children’s cycling abilities, and 55% stated that they would allow their children to participate in an organized cycle-to-school program. In addition, half of the parents included in the postprogram survey stated that their behavior, attitudes, or both, toward cycling had become more positive as a result of their child’s involvement in the bicycle education program. To encourage cycling in any region, bicycle educators and advocacy groups can develop school-based bicycle education programs as well as cycle-to-school programs. City planners should consider implementation of policies that encourage the development of bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming measures, especially near schools, to encourage parents to allow their children to bicycle to school.

Examining the Relationship Between Commuting and it’s Impact on Overall Life Satisfaction

Commuting to work and school can be viewed as an unpleasant and necessary task. However, some people enjoy their commutes and be satisfied with it. Trip satisfaction can have a positive impact on overall life satisfaction of individual. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between individuals’ satisfaction with their commuting trips and its impact on overall life satisfaction. This study is based on the results of the 2015/2016 McGill Commuter Survey, a university-wide travel survey in which students, staff and faculty described their commuting experiences to McGill University, located in Montreal, Canada. Using a Factor-Cluster analysis, the study reveals that there is a relationship between trip satisfaction and the impact of commuting on overall life satisfaction. One result of the study shows that cyclists and pedestrians who have the highest overall trip satisfaction, report that their life satisfaction is most impacted by their commute, and have the highest overall life satisfaction. Also, for all mode users, one or two clusters exhibit lower trip satisfaction, report that satisfaction with their commute does not greatly influence their life satisfaction, and claim having access to and using fewer modes relative to other users of the same mode. These results, in addition to the results that active mode users have high life and trip satisfaction, suggest that building well-connected multi-modal networks that incorporate active transportation can improve the travel experience of all commuters and impact their overall life satisfaction.

The Path of Least Resistance

The financing and implementation of transportation projects are more likely to be successful with the support of local communities. Hence, for cities and transportation agencies to develop strategies that will improve public acceptability and reduce resistance to funding transportation projects, it is important to understand differences in the levels of local support. This study used a factor-cluster analysis to segment a university population, to understand current levels of support toward transportation investments, and seek out important allies to endorse public and active transportation projects. The results of the study reveal five clusters of individuals with varying opinions toward transportation investments and distinct motivations. Strong advocates are the greatest allies for promoting public and active transportation investments. They support financing public and active transportation projects, and are well positioned to endorse the necessity and advantages of such investments. Highway and transit funders are motivated by their dissatisfaction with the current transportation system. Cycling advocates are valuable in publicizing the benefits of expanding the bicycle network. Infrequent commuters do not travel to the university as often as the other groups, and are supportive of transportation investments in general. Despite the overall positive opinion toward investing in public and active transportation projects, there is a minority of funding opponents who are generally against financing transportation projects. The results of this study will be helpful for policy makers intending to communicate the benefits of transportation projects to various community groups.

Perceived Reality: Understanding the Relationship Between Customer Perceptions and Operational Characteristics

Ensuring that customers are satisfied with public transit is important, and traditionally transit agencies have assessed customer satisfaction by using questionnaires designed to collect information about users’ personal characteristics and perceptions of service. However, these questionnaires assess only individuals’ perceptions of transit services, without accounting for the service that users actually experienced. With that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the drivers of public transit satisfaction for users on the basis of an analysis of customer satisfaction questionnaires, as well as operations data obtained from automatic vehicle location and automatic passenger counter systems for an express bus route in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The goal of the paper is to understand what the main factors influencing customer satisfaction in this context are. The paper questions whether using operations data in parallel with passengers’ perception data is useful in understanding customer satisfaction. With a series of logit models, it is found that actual crowding and users’ reported satisfaction with crowding are associated with how transit users perceive overall satisfaction with the bus service. Furthermore, the models reveal that car access, age, past use, and users’ perceptions of frequency, onboard safety, and cleanliness are also positively associated with overall satisfaction. This study could be useful for public transit planners as it provides new insight into how data derived from customer satisfaction surveys and bus operations can be used to identify which modifiable components of the service can be prioritized to effectively increase riders’ overall satisfaction.