About

Providing innovative public transit is crucial for ensuring that people around the world—whether in large or small cities, suburbs, or rural areas—have a high quality of life. But many questions remain about transit and its potential to address societal challenges, and many opportunities exist to improve efficiency and innovation. Skilled experts are also needed to take new knowledge and solutions and put them into practice.

The Global Transit Innovations (GTI) program aims to find these answers and educate the next generation of transit leaders and practitioners. GTI was established by CTS in partnership with Yingling Fan, a McKnight Land-Grant Professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, who will serve as GTI director.

GTI is built on the collective strength of individual relationships and the groundwork laid by prior research collaboration among the researchers. Currently, GTI has faculty contributors from five different countries: Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, China, and the United States.

What is public transit?

GTI defines public transit broadly as any shared passenger transport services that are available for use by the general public.  By this definition, transit modes not only include the traditional ones such as buses (city buses, bus rapid transit, commuter buses, etc.), trains (light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, monorail, streetcar, high-speed rail, etc.), and ferries, bus also include contemporary Dial-a-Ride, car sharing, and bicycle sharing services.

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Contact

Yingling Fan
GTI Director
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
295E Humphrey Center
301 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
612-626-2930
yingling@umn.edu

Dawn Hood
Program Director
Center for Transportation Studies
University of Minnesota
200 Transportation & Safety Bldg.
511 Washington Ave. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-626-1536
spanh001@umn.edu