The purpose of this synthesis was to document the state of the practice in terms of public participation strategies to inform and engage the public for transit-related activities to provide ideas and insights into practices and techniques that agencies have found to be most successful, as well as to explore challenges faced. Specific techniques and the methods by which transit agencies execute public involvement strategies are seen as constantly evolving and bounded only by the creativity of practitioners. Results of a cross-section survey of transportation/transit agencies with an 82% response rate revealed diverse public participation strategies without a standard or prescribed method of implementation. Six transit agency case studies across a wide range of agency sizes, project types, and locations served are presented and offer examples of what the agencies’ identified as successful public involvement. These are the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Westside Subway Extension; Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Route 79 Metro Extra Bus Service; Laketran, Ohio’s stakeholder outreach activities to find new funding solutions; Port Authority of Allegheny County’s Transit Development Planning; Sunset Empire Transportation District’s growing ridership by means of strategic community partnerships and empowering employees; and Pierce Transit’s PT Tomorrow Planning. (Author/publisher) This report is available online at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_syn_89.pdf
Abstract