Anson Stewart, Deputy Director | MIT JTL Urban Mobility / Transit Lab, Research Scientist | MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Title

Computing New Dimensions for Use in Multimodal Access Metrics

Time

1:40pm - 3:00pm

Location

1605 Tilia, Room 1103, West Village

Abstract

Building on decades of academic research, multiple city and state DOTs and MPOs have adopted multimodal access measures, such as the number of jobs and other opportunities reachable in a 45-minute door-to-door commute. Cloud-based software platforms have resolved past technical barriers, enabling use of such measures in project selection, operations analysis, and equity assessment. This presentation highlights recent applications and advances of one such platform to incorporate new dimensions of access in addition to travel time, such as comfort and safety for cyclists, schedule variability and reliability for transit riders, and fare costs and monetary constraints.

Biographical Sketch

Anson F. Stewart works closely with transport professionals implementing innovative methods that center access to opportunities measures. He has served as Project Lead for Analysis and Research at Conveyal LLC since 2017. He also collaborates with various public transport authorities as a Research Scientist at MIT, where he completed PhD and masters degrees and now serves as Deputy Director of the MIT JTL Urban Mobility / Transit Lab. Anson has worked with public transit agencies in Los Angeles, London, and Santiago de Chile. As a 2010-2011 Thomas J. Watson Fellow, he spent a year in Latin America and Africa studying emerging bus rapid transit systems and their impacts on incumbent operators and the environment.