PUBP 715, Transportation Systems
SYLLABUS – Fall 2003
Basic Course Information
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Time: |
Thursday, |
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Sections: |
001
– GMU 002
– Via interactive television using ( 621
– Via interactive television using ( BIS
489.621 – Via interactive television ( |
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Instructor: |
Jonathan L. Gifford |
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Telephone |
703-993-2275 |
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Fax: |
801-749-9198 |
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E-mail: |
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Office hours: |
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Course Description
This course is about transportation systems. It examines their history and development, their contribution to society and impact on it, the institutions and practices that govern their planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning, the policy and managerial challenges that they pose, and the tools and techniques available for addressing them.
Transportation is a service that contributes substantially to the well being of advanced economies. Personal mobility, whether by bicycle, car, bus or aircraft, occupies a significant part of almost every citizen’s day. And virtually all household goods—furniture, food, appliances and clothing—are the result of often complex chains of supply, production and distribution in which transportation plays a critical part.
The resource requirements and byproducts of transportation also pose sobering environmental challenges for society. Landscape, noise, energy dependence, air and water quality, and perhaps even global climate are all profoundly affected by society’s choices about transportation. The safety and security of the transportation system is also tremendously important to quality of life and economic efficiency.
Master’s in Transportation Policy, Operations & Logistics
This course is the first course in the Master of Arts in Transportation Policy, Operations & Logistics. As such, it introduces provides a general introduction transportation systems and their policy, operational and logistical dimensions. More information about the program can be found at http://tpol.gmu.edu.
Requirements
Paper No. 1 – System Description and Evaluation (15% of grade)
Complete a “Transportation Policy, Operations or Logistics
Description and Evaluation,” approximately 500 words in length, plus appendices
if desired (due in week 5), describing and evaluating a transportation activity
with which you are familiar. Your description and evaluation should take a
systems perspective, that is, it should not be simply a “user’s eye” view of
the activity but rather synoptic or societal. You should clearly state the
evaluation criteria you are using. It should generally focus on the activities
of one organization, for example, VDOT’s traffic sign
management, or the City of
You should utilize any of Sussman’s “Key Points” that are germane. Also, your paper should be objective, examining both the pros and cons of any point of view expressed, and clearly state the criteria being used to evaluate the system. Source material and evidence should be cited. Note the general guidelines for papers below.
Two Critiques (15% each)
Prepare
two critiques of assigned readings of your choice. Each critique should be an
essay of about 1200-1500 words in length that briefly summarizes the reading
and then gives your assessment of it. Roughly speaking, about half of the critique
should be dedicated to summarizing the major points of the reading. The balance
of the essay should contain your assessment, including your judgment or
interpretation of the significance of the reading, how it relates to the
broader themes of the course, its balance and objectivity, completeness, and
whether its claims are backed by appropriate evidence. The key point of the
critique is to assess what in the reading is important for the transportation
policy, operations and logistics professional.
Not all readings are eligible for written critiques. Critiques may be of any
reading designated with a double dagger (‡) in the assigned reading schedule.
Critiques are due on the day of the class meeting on
which they are assigned – regardless of whether the actual class schedule
slips.
Paper No. 2 (35%)
Write a 2000- to 2500-word paper about a problem or issue of your choice related to transportation policy, operations or logistics, due in week 12. The paper should have an analytical focus, which means that it should have a central analytical question and apply specific criteria to the analysis of that question. Papers that simply describe a problem or situation are not acceptable.
You will probably need to rely on a wide range of sources, including the academic literature, subject area experts, industry and trade publications, and promotional and marketing materials by vendors. Some of these may be from the Internet. You should carefully identify and cite source material. Note the general paper guidelines below.
Presentation (10%)
Present a critique of the readings for one week as part of a class discussion of the material. Assignments for the specific week’s readings will be made at the beginning of the semester. Peer reviews for the presentations will be completed by students observing the participation, using the attached “Speech Evaluation Form.” Peer evaluations will be provided to the presenter(s) and not reviewed by the instructor. The instructor will also complete a “Speech Evaluation Form” for the presenter(s), which he will use for grading the assignment.
Class Participation (10%)
Participate in class discussions demonstrating command of assigned material and the ability to relate the concepts to other transportation issues.
Note: Students who are unable to attend classes during which graded work is to be submitted or presented will be asked to provide appropriate documentation of the reason for their absence.
Resubmitting Papers
Students may resubmit papers to be re-graded, subject to the following conditions:
1) Resubmissions are accepted up to 1 week after papers are returned
2) Resubmitted papers must …
a) … be a substantive rewrite; papers should have been grammatically correct the first time.
b)
… follow a visit (virtually or
in person) the
c) … include a writer’s memo discussing how the paper is improved, and why it’s worth my time to reread it. This needn’t be more than a half page or so.
d) … include the original submission and grading sheet.
3) You may also include additional revisions of papers from the semester in an end-of-semester portfolio, which must be submitted in week 14, the last class. The same rules apply regarding the writer’s memo and including earlier submissions.
Text Materials
There principal textbooks are:
- Sussman, J. (2000) Introduction to Transportation
Systems (
- Meyer, J. R., Gómez-Ibánez, J. A., Tye, W. B. & Winston, C. (1999) Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy: A Handbook in Honor of John R. Meyer (Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution Press).
Additional readings will be available in photocopy or through the university’s electronic reserves system. (http://oscr.gmu.edu/).
Instructor
The course instructor is
Recent research areas include: technical standard setting
through consortia; policy objectives and general requirements for deploying
signal preemption and priority systems in the greater
He earned his B.S. in civil engineering at
General Paper Guidelines
1) Student papers should be original work specifically undertaken for the purpose of this course. If a student is utilizing his own work undertaken as part of a job, for another course, or from other extracurricular activity, he must specify that in a preface or footnote. If a paper relies substantially on work undertaken for extracurricular activities, the student should seek explicit instructor approval.
2) Papers are graded on the basis of three distinct sets of criteria: 1) the quality of the content, 2) their structure and organization, and 3) their “mechanics,” which refers to their proper use of grammar, citation, punctuation, and so forth. A sample “grading criteria” sheet is attached.
3) Paper Length. Word counts specified for papers are exclusive of footnotes, endnotes, or appendix material. Please note the word count on the cover page.
4) Papers must be typed.
5)
Papers should have a cover page, but do
not put papers in covers, binders or any other kind of package.
6) No late assignments will be accepted without the instructor’s prior approval.
7) The
instructor may ask to review your source material. Do not discard it for at
least a month after your final paper is turned in.
8)
Plagiarism.
Inappropriate use of others’ work without attribution is plagiarism and
violates
9) Finding and evaluating source material. Remember that some sources are more credible than others, and it’s up to you the researcher to evaluate the credibility of a source and the particular facts, ideas or positions it advances. All sources are not created equal!
10) Style
a) The
term “style” refers to the way a paper treats headings, footnotes, bibliographic
citations, illustrations, tables, etc. In professional writing, it is important
to be aware of style and to follow the appropriate style guidelines for what
you are writing. The Hacker text is a style guide used across the
b) In addition, papers for this course require the following: (i) include source information for all figures and tables; and (ii) include a bibliography of all source material at the end of your paper if you have source material that has not appeared in your footnotes.
c) The use of source material from the internet or other electronic forms is increasingly common. If you use such material, you must cite it correctly. Refer to Hacker for appropriate citation guidelines.