All Research Products

The National Center for Sustainable Transportation's primary output from research is reports and white papers. Many projects also produce a Project Brief to summarize and highlight the policy and/or research findings and implications. NCST research also produces journal articles, conference papers, books, dissertations, theses, presentations, and posters. The NCST has also created various tools that can be used by policymakers and practitioners, such as models, calculators, and planning tools.

Challenges Are Present, But California Transit Agencies Are Open to Open-loop

Research Product Type
Policy Brief
Researchers from the University of California, Davis gathered surveys from a small sample of transit agencies (N = 21) and found that agencies are interested in open-loop payments, agencies and passengers would likely support it, but that it also presents challenges for agencies and passengers. This policy brief summarizes the findings from that research and provides policy implications.

Dataset: Survey and analysis of transportation affordable programs in California

Research Product Type
Data
This is the dataset for project "Improving Access and Efficiency to Transportation Affordable Programs in California" (UCD-CT-FAST-079). This study explores opportunities for improving access to transportation affordable programs by gathering insights from existing income-qualified transportation benefits.

Mitigating Extreme Heat Exposure Using Advanced and Novel Materials and Improved Pedestrian Infrastructure Design: A Systematic Literature Review and Survey of Agencies

Research Product Type
Research Report
This report systematically reviewed the growing literature related to the application of advanced and novel materials (ANMs) and green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) to reduce urban heat island (UHI) effects and implemented a survey of urban planners and public works engineers to assess the current and planned use of these strategies and identify barriers to implementation.

Survey and Analysis of Transportation Affordable Programs in California

Research Product Type
Research Report
This study explores opportunities for improving access to transportation affordable programs by gathering insights from existing income qualified transportation benefits. Researchers compare examples of these programs to design features of existing non-transportation benefits to characterize opportunities for increased coordination and standardization.

Travel and the Built Environment in Rural Communities

Research Product Type
Policy Brief
This policy brief summarizes findings from the University of Vermont project where researchers sought to answer the question: is the relationship between travel and the built environment the same in urban and rural areas.

Total Cost of Ownership Spreadsheet Tool

Research Product Type
Calculator
The Total Cost of Ownership Spreadsheet Tool (TCOST) is a Microsoft Excel-based calculator that simplifies and integrates the main functions, data, and outputs of pre-existing models (MOVES-Matrix and the GREET Model) and other external sources of economic data.

Integrated Modeling Program and Total Cost of Ownership Calculator for Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty Battery Electric Trucks in Regional Freight Use-Case Deployments

Research Product Type
Research Report
This report outlines the technical development and application of the Total Cost of Ownership Spreadsheet Tool (TCOST), a Microsoft Excel-based calculator that simplifies and integrates the main functions, data, and outputs of pre-existing models (MOVES-Matrix and the GREET Model) and other external sources of economic data.

US-Mexico Second-Hand Electric Vehicle Trade: Battery Circularity and End-of-Life Policy Implications

Research Product Type
Research Report
This research undertook a battery material flow analysis, life cycle assessment of SHVs traded from the US to Mexico, and a qualitive analysis of environmental and transport justice implications of SHV trade. The research finds that SHVs disproportionately contribute to waste battery generation in Mexico, and that second-hand EVs are frequently retired early due to a lack of repairability.

EVALUATE: Electric Vehicle Assessment and Leveraging of Unified models toward AbatemenT of Emissions, Phase I

Research Product Type
Research Report
This research explores electric vehicle (EV) and grid interactions with a focus on CO2 emissions through integrating models and data that characterize: vehicle energy consumption, travel demands, vehicle charging, and temporal emission profiles associated with electric power generation dispatch. This convergence research helps quantify the relative emissions of light duty vehicle use and charging during various times of day to enable comparison of EV modes against one another and against conventional vehicle baselines.

Evaluation of Rural Travel Constraints and Travel Burdens in the U.S. and in Rural Zero-Car Households

Research Product Type
Research Report
This study evaluates differences in travel burdens and the factors that drive them in rural and urban contexts in the United States. Using the 2017 National Household Transportation Survey, the authors first evaluate differences in travel burdens across rural versus urban communities, including i) the magnitude of travel burdens, ii) who experiences travel burdens, and iii) the individual and environmental factors that are associated with travel burdens.

Can Smart Growth Reduce Vehicle Travel in Rural Communities?

Research Product Type
Research Report
In this report, travel behavior data from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Household Travel Survey is combined with detailed built environment data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Location Database to evaluate the relationships between personal and built environment factors and sustainable travel behaviors including vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and mode choice.

Local and State Government Procurement to Reduce Transportation Infrastructure Environmental Impacts

Research Product Type
White Paper
Green Public Procurement is to be understood as a set of policies, actions and practices that leverage acquisitions to address all types of environmental challenges. This white paper lays out the case and a recommended approach for establishing public procurement programs to reduce, as fast as possible, the environmental impacts of keeping and improving transportation infrastructure functionality.