Tel Aviv is a rapidly changing city. Since its establishment only a century ago, the city has developed into an innovation hub, rich with culture and architectural history. Part of its hasty evolution from the land of sand dunes to the current metropolis was the construction of the Tel Aviv New Central Bus Station, the largest bus station in the world at the time of completion. Almost three decades after Israeli Architect Ram Karmi designed the station, it opened in 1993, already nicknamed the “white elephant” due to its scale and lack of integration into the surrounding neighborhood of Neve Sha’anan. The New Central Bus Station never met the architect’s intended vision of “a city under a roof” and has significantly transformed over the years, as an attempt to create purpose within the large mass. Neve Sha’anan, in south Tel Aviv, is the poorest area of the city, ridden with homelessness, prostitution and drug addiction. It is also the home to the majority of the African refugee and asylum seeker community i Israel, making up less than half a percent of the population of the country. The small community has been the target of recent refugee policy reforms, which frame them as “infiltrators” or “labor migrants.” 1 The New Central Bus Station fractures the urban environment of Neve Sha’anan and causes spatial disorientation of a community already faced with cultural marginalization. Through an analysis of the impact that top down decision making causing cultural conflict has on architecture and place making, this thesis sets to develop a solution for intervention, which considers the users and urban context as a source for re-configuring existing infrastructure. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

<p> In the spring of 1983, when this project was in its most preliminary stages, a simple hypothesis was put forward. This hypothesis suggested that auto users would react to rising retail gasoline prices by switching to an alternative mode of transportation, such as public transit. It was thought that, since any increase in fuel costs could be spread out among all transit users, public transit would become an attractive alternative to the private automobile in an individual's transportation mode decision as retail gasoline prices increased. Therefore, a positive relationship was anticipated-to exist between public transit ridership and retail gasoline prices. </p> <p> Having established the hypothesis to be investigated, an extensive review of current literature associated with the hypothesis was completed. This review presented conflicting opinions concerning the hypothesis, and also suggested that other variables were more important than the price of retail gasoline in affecting an individual's transportation mode decision. </p> <p> Unfortunately, the literature review did not suggest any relevant method of analysis for this project. It was decided that, for reasons to be discussed later, linear regression would be the method of analysis. The results of the application of a number of linear regression models to data obtained for the Hamilton study area indicated that no definitive statement could be made with respect to the hypothesis of this project. This lack of significant results was attributed to extraneous variance created by certain variables that could not be controlled. </p> <p> However, as a contribution to knowledge, this project provides a basis on which future studies can be built. If the extraneous variance that is discussed in this project can be eliminated in future studies, then- it may be possible to obtain more significant results with respect to the hypothesis that public transit ridership is positively related to retail gasoline prices. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Conventional transportation demand management approaches have had limited success in reducing automobile dependency. As a result, it has become increasingly important to understand the decision-making processes involved in determining travel behaviour. The purpose of this dissertation is to extend research on urban form and travel behaviour beyond adult travel by examining teen travelers aged 13-19 in the Greater Toronto Area. Data from the Transportation Tomorrow Survey (TTS) survey are used to study four main research questions: 1) How has teen mode choice changed from 1986 to 2006? 2) How do these choices vary as teens transition from the 13-15 age group to being of driving age (16-19)? 3) How do these choices vary across the different urban and suburban regions of the GTA? 4) What are some of the differences between teen travel and adult travel? The issue is further probed through the collection of quantitative and qualitative travel data from first year students at the University of Toronto, and a series of focus groups held in locations in the GTA. The first year survey explores attitudes towards different modes in relation to the locational attributes of the respondent‘s hometown neighbourhood. The focus group sessions involve interviews with 26 teen and a take-home parental questionnaire. Results show that across the GTA, active transportation has decreased while auto passenger mode shares have increased. Younger teens walk more and older teens take transit more for both school and discretionary travel. Jurisdictions with better transit supply and orientation have higher transit mode shares for school trips, but discretionary trips have low transit mode shares. Walk mode shares for both school and discretionary travel are similar across all jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are urban or suburban. Additionally, the survey participants' narratives illustrate that the desire to travel actively and independently is strong. However, the reality of the final travel choice is determined by the presence of supportive infrastructure that facilitates active mode choices while shaping perceptions and attitudes formed as a result of daily travel experiences. Findings illustrate the relevance of qualitative work in advancing transportation research--particularly in understanding human travel decisions.

Conventional transportation demand management approaches have had limited success in reducing automobile dependency. As a result, it has become increasingly important to understand the decision-making processes involved in determining travel behaviour. The purpose of this dissertation is to extend research on urban form and travel behaviour beyond adult travel by examining teen travelers aged 13-19 in the Greater Toronto Area. Data from the Transportation Tomorrow Survey (TTS) survey are used to study four main research questions: 1) How has teen mode choice changed from 1986 to 2006? 2) How do these choices vary as teens transition from the 13-15 age group to being of driving age (16-19)? 3) How do these choices vary across the different urban and suburban regions of the GTA? 4) What are some of the differences between teen travel and adult travel? The issue is further probed through the collection of quantitative and qualitative travel data from first year students at the University of Toronto, and a series of focus groups held in locations in the GTA. The first year survey explores attitudes towards different modes in relation to the locational attributes of the respondent‘s hometown neighbourhood. The focus group sessions involve interviews with 26 teen and a take-home parental questionnaire. Results show that across the GTA, active transportation has decreased while auto passenger mode shares have increased. Younger teens walk more and older teens take transit more for both school and discretionary travel. Jurisdictions with better transit supply and orientation have higher transit mode shares for school trips, but discretionary trips have low transit mode shares. Walk mode shares for both school and discretionary travel are similar across all jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are urban or suburban. Additionally, the survey participants' narratives illustrate that the desire to travel actively and independently is strong. However, the reality of the final travel choice is determined by the presence of supportive infrastructure that facilitates active mode choices while shaping perceptions and attitudes formed as a result of daily travel experiences. Findings illustrate the relevance of qualitative work in advancing transportation research--particularly in understanding human travel decisions.

Objective: To describe the effect of mindfulness on perceived health, perceptions of transit walking and transit walking behaviours by using qualitative and quantitative methods in hopes of assessing the feasibility of future mindfulness interventions in transit users. Method: Fifty-three residents of Kitchener-Waterloo were recruited at transit stops and public buildings. All participants took part in a cross-sectional mixed-methods telephone survey, including qualitative questions designed by the researcher, quantitative questions from validated surveys and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Both a qualitative measure and a quantitative measure of transit mindfulness were used. Four participants who scored low on transit mindfulness but walked more than 30 minutes per day took part in a qualitative interview. Results: Walking to transit was perceived to be a good way to get exercise, but participants thought that the value of this exercise depends on the distance walked. Although the majority of study participants were mindful of the value of walking to transit they did not attain enough exercise doing so. Most observed associations between mindfulness, perceptions of transit walking, transit walking behaviours and perceived health were positive but did not reach significance, likely due to issues of statistical power and small sample size. Of the tested covariates age and gender appeared to influence the observed positive associations. Conclusions: There is potential for successful mindfulness interventions with transit users who are older or female, especially when increased levels of transit walking are encouraged. Younger males could be targeted in future interventions, targeting their lack of mindfulness and adequate transit walking. Future research on mindfulness should focus on creating measures that can be used to measure mindfulness in daily life and also retain the Buddhist definition of mindfulness in-the-moment. Reliance on self-report measures should be avoided. The results of this study could be useful at the local level to design research that examines perceptions of transit and transit-related exercise as light rail is implemented to replace bus transit.

Objective: To describe the effect of mindfulness on perceived health, perceptions of transit walking and transit walking behaviours by using qualitative and quantitative methods in hopes of assessing the feasibility of future mindfulness interventions in transit users. Method: Fifty-three residents of Kitchener-Waterloo were recruited at transit stops and public buildings. All participants took part in a cross-sectional mixed-methods telephone survey, including qualitative questions designed by the researcher, quantitative questions from validated surveys and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Both a qualitative measure and a quantitative measure of transit mindfulness were used. Four participants who scored low on transit mindfulness but walked more than 30 minutes per day took part in a qualitative interview. Results: Walking to transit was perceived to be a good way to get exercise, but participants thought that the value of this exercise depends on the distance walked. Although the majority of study participants were mindful of the value of walking to transit they did not attain enough exercise doing so. Most observed associations between mindfulness, perceptions of transit walking, transit walking behaviours and perceived health were positive but did not reach significance, likely due to issues of statistical power and small sample size. Of the tested covariates age and gender appeared to influence the observed positive associations. Conclusions: There is potential for successful mindfulness interventions with transit users who are older or female, especially when increased levels of transit walking are encouraged. Younger males could be targeted in future interventions, targeting their lack of mindfulness and adequate transit walking. Future research on mindfulness should focus on creating measures that can be used to measure mindfulness in daily life and also retain the Buddhist definition of mindfulness in-the-moment. Reliance on self-report measures should be avoided. The results of this study could be useful at the local level to design research that examines perceptions of transit and transit-related exercise as light rail is implemented to replace bus transit.

The Regional Municipality of York introduced a new bus service known as VIVA in 2005. Although it has been deemed a success by many, it remains to be seen to what degree transit use was affected by its introduction. This study shows that transit ridership in York jumped substantially immediately after the implementation of VIVA. Furthermore, it is determined that the majority of new transit users in York are making home-based work or post-secondary school trips. To evaluate this, home-based work and post-secondary school generalized extreme value discrete choice models are estimated. Improvements in transit service are found to have a greater impact on transit mode share than increases in congestion for both work and post-secondary school trips. It is also, however, concluded that transit improvements played a relatively small role in the considerable shift to transit amongst post-secondary students.

The Freight on Transit Delphi Study was conducted to explore the concept of freight on transit – using public transit vehicles and infrastructure for transporting things other than people. Three rounds of web based surveys were conducted with a panel of 34 transportation experts to explore the main issues related to freight and transit integration and to build and evaluate potential freight on transit operations. Survey results were consistent with previous investigations and suggest that organizational disputes are a larger barrier to implementation than technical challenges. Traditional Delphi questions were used to determine the most important positive impacts, negative impacts, and challenges of moving freight on transit networks while survey responses combined with scenario building techniques were used to build and evaluate five potential freight on transit operating strategies using public transit networks in the GTHA.

The Regional Municipality of York introduced a new bus service known as VIVA in 2005. Although it has been deemed a success by many, it remains to be seen to what degree transit use was affected by its introduction. This study shows that transit ridership in York jumped substantially immediately after the implementation of VIVA. Furthermore, it is determined that the majority of new transit users in York are making home-based work or post-secondary school trips. To evaluate this, home-based work and post-secondary school generalized extreme value discrete choice models are estimated. Improvements in transit service are found to have a greater impact on transit mode share than increases in congestion for both work and post-secondary school trips. It is also, however, concluded that transit improvements played a relatively small role in the considerable shift to transit amongst post-secondary students.