FTA announces course on transit project planning

The National Transit Institute at Rutgers University will sponsor a course Sept. 18-20 on transit ridership forecasting, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced last week.

The course, which will use the FTA's Simplified Trips-on-Project Software package (STOPS), will be held in Miami, according to an FTA press release.

The agency developed the course to provide training on STOPS and its use in  planning transit projects. FTA released STOPS in September 2013 as an optional ridership-forecasting method for sponsors of New Starts and Small Starts projects.

The updated version of the course will feature STOPS version 2.5, scheduled for release in the next few months. Topics addressed during the course include how STOPS works; how to use STOPS for individual projects; and how to use ridership forecasts to prepare a narrative about the benefit of transit projects.

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