Hokies present four projects at annual ‘Olympics of transportation research’

At a recent gathering of some of the top transportation professionals from across the United States and beyond, which one attendee called “the Olympics of transportation research,” Virginia Tech’s on-the-ground impact was hard to ignore.

Ralph Buehler, professor of urban affairs and planning, and his students presented four projects at the 2026 Transportation Research Board's annual meeting, held in January in Washington, D.C. The largest transportation research conference in the U.S., it brings together researchers, practitioners, and transportation agencies to share their latest work from all over the world.

With more than 1,400 transportation professionals from both the public and private sectors gathered — from the U.S. and state departments of transportation to companies like WSP Transportation, AECOM, and HNTB — it was a perfect place for Buehler and his students to showcase completed and ongoing research projects. 

“I think the key for this conference is that it is the largest of its kind, and brings together academics and practitioners,” said Buehler. “That allows for the transfer of knowledge between the two. Plus, it has global reach.”

Ph.D. candidate Vahid Bakhshi worked on two of the four presented projects. 

“It’s an opportunity to share our work with others and inform them of those efforts on real-world projects,” said Bakhshi.

The following projects were presented:

Enhancing Bikeshare Systems with E-bikes in Semi-hilly Cities: Insights from Washington, D.C.

Analyzing more than 6 million Capital Bikeshare rides, Bakhshi and his team looked for patterns to help understand e-bike vs. regular bike use. Users rode e-bikes more readily across diverse topographical areas of the city, regardless of elevation change. Users took longer rides as well, connecting more remote areas with less bikeshare station coverage. And they were more likely to use e-bikes during afternoon peak hours and after public transit use. Those on regular bikes tended to ride them within the same elevations, creating tighter, clustered ride patterns.

“We got some good feedback from other universities and practitioners working on similar projects,” said Bakhshi, noting that their primary limitation was a lack of trajectory data.

A faculty member from Kyushu University in Japan is interested in the work and had undertaken a similar project with a richer data set, which will lead to opportunities to collaborate and share.

Application of Correction Factors Improves Count Data Accuracy: Evidence from A Large Network of Bicycle and Pedestrian Counters

One major limitation in recent attempts to count how many non-car commuters exist in a city has been reliable counting of users from automated censors. Based on a research project for the National Park Service, together with  fellow researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Virginia Tech’s Shalazal Md Tushar, Ralph Buehler, Steven Hankey, and Bakhshi, worked to find ways to effectively correct errors from both over- and under-counting issues that can plague these sensors surrounding national park site locations in Washington, D.C.

“The main takeaway, and result of our work, is around better prioritization of investment in different infrastructure and trails,” said Bakhshi. “Making routes and trails a better place for bicyclists, pedestrians, and active transport users can provide better access to national park sites for visitors to enjoy.”

Public Transport and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis of Trends and Policies in Great Britain, Germany, the USA, Canada, and Australia

The presentation compared post-pandemic public transportation supply and demand across countries. This, first of its kind, international comparison of nation-level ridership trends during COVID, found that North America has not rebounded nearly as much in rail usage as its counterparts abroad — due partly to more and longer-persisting work-from-home rates as well as lower quality and less frequent public transport service. These conditions put more stress on governments to find alternate sources of funding in order to maintain operations.

Alexandria’s Journey into Fare Free Public Transit: Lessons Learned

The presentation highlighted Virginia Tech’s partnership with the City of Alexandria. Buehler and Alexandria Transportation Planning Division Chief Chris Ziemann dove into the city’s fare free transit experiment, along with Seema Singh of Cambridge Systematics Inc., in front of a standing-room-only crowd. 

“Fare free transit is the hot topic these days in transit,” said Ziemann. “Obviously, New York City is putting it in the headlines, but there are a lot of other, especially smaller cities, that are doing it.”

Ziemann had connected with Buehler a year before the conference and said he and his students had helped shape the research questions and analyze data. They met every other week throughout the collaboration.

“Ralph and Virginia Tech have been a really great partner in this,” said Ziemann. “He had a lot of great advice for how our fare free transit in Alexandria relates to the knowledge in the academic literature and other systems. Ralph helped shape the research questions and analyzed a lot of the ridership and survey data. I don’t think the paper would have been accepted without him.”