ASCE Seattle Section Meeting October 14th 2015 

Please join us for the Seattle Section's October Section Meeting! It will be at Mirabella. This month will be a joint meeting with WTS and ITE. There will be time for networking/social, followed by dinner and a presentation.

5:30 Networking/Social
6:00 Dinner 
7:00 Program 

Speaker: Mark Hallenbeck

Mark Hallenbeck is the Director of the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC) at the University of Washington (UW.) He is also the Associate Director for Outreach at for the Region 10 University Transportation Center (PacTrans.)  Mark has been with TRAC for 30 years. He currently teaches Intelligent Transportation Systems and Urban Transportation Planning in Civil Engineering at the UW.  Much of Mark’s research involves the collection, use, summarization, and reporting of data that describe transportation system use and performance, and then using that information to work with the public and decision makers as they make major transportation and land use investment decisions. He is currently working with multiple agencies in the region to examine how “big data” and new technology can be used to improve regional mobility, while examining how changing mobility options are effecting land use decisions.

Presentation: Use of ORCA Data for Improved Transit Planning

Transit agencies are increasingly taking advantage of electronic fare collection to speed vehicle boarding, decrease route travel times, improve revenue controls, and provide convenience to customers. In the Puget Sound region, over 60 percent of transit fares are currently paid with the ORCA regional electronic fare card. When combined with other readily available information, the transaction records from electronic fare cards provide an extremely robust description of actual travel behavior for key transit rider populations. Analysis of these data yields a cost effective, ongoing business intelligence and management system, although, use of ORCA data requires very careful attention to rider privacy, which does limit some analyses which can be performed.

This presentation will discuss the current status of a joint project between WSDOT, Sound Transit, the PSRC, and the UW as we explore the wide variety of uses for which ORCA card data can be used.  The presentation will describe the analyses we will be performing, and will solicit ideas for additional analyses from the audience.  For example, we intend to develop time of day and day of week origin/destination matrices of actual transit travel patterns.  These patterns should be very helpful for route planning and model calibration.  The list of possible uses is long.  The list of entertaining data analysis issues (like potential bias problems) is also long.  Come learn about them and share your own ideas with Mark!  

Early Bird Rates end after Wednesday, October 7th.

Registration closes Monday, October 12th.

Dinner entrees:

Dinner will be a dinner buffet chosen by Mirabella’s Chef, to include 2 entrees,1 vegetable, 1 starch, 1 salad, dinner rolls and dessert. Vegetarian and gluten free entrees are available upon request.

If you have any food allergies or require special accommodations, please contact Katie Sultani-Wright at <kvswright@glosten.com> or enter information during registration.

Register Now!