Georgia Institute of Technology School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

When Target proposed opening a 137,000 square foot store in Davis, California, some residents worried their city’s culture and economy was headed for disaster. It was to be the first-ever “big-box” retailer in a city known for its very strict planning guidelines that had kept such stores out of the community.

On GPB’s On Second Thought May 27, assistant professor Kari Watkins said Georgia needs the political will to invest in building bullet trains before the high-speed links will happen in the state. And that’s the hardest part.

Transportation planners have to forecast where you and thousands of your neighbors will go and decide what infrastructure your region needs to accommodate those demands. But the data they’re using today, in 2015, is probably a decade and a half old. So even though what you remember of your travels in 2000 is vastly different from your travels today, the 2000 version of you is who’s accounted for in 30-year regional transportation plans. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. alumna Josie Kressner has a plan to change all that.

Giving bus riders real-time information about when the bus will arrive actually does increase the number of people who choose to hop aboard. The boost mostly comes on high-volume routes. But overall, it could mean millions more dollars in revenues for public transit agencies.