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About TAL

The Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) of the University of Toronto, established in 2020 with University of Toronto funding from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Dean’s Strategic Fund, is headed by UTTRI associated faculty Professor Amer Shalaby, an expert in urban public transit.

The Transit Analytics Lab brings together:

  • Transportation and technology researchers from across the University of Toronto;
  • Transit systems in the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area; and
  • Private sector software providers.

The Transit Analytics Lab builds on the strength of UTTRI, one of Canada’s largest transportation research institutes and a recognized world leader in developing analytical tools and models of transport demand and performance.

It aims to undertake a wide range of activities including research and development, creation of a data analytics platform, workshops, an international symposium, education, and professional development training.

It will facilitate:

  • Fostering innovation in transit data-driven tools (analytics) using advanced methods of data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, simulation and statistics;
  • Developing standards & integration methods to accelerate the advancement of transit analytics;
  • Training of U of T students (across the university) in advanced data-driven methods and their application to public transit decision-making;
  • Exposing the professional community through knowledge transfer activities to advanced analytics; and
  • Establishing U of T as a national and international leader in transit data analytics.

News

Events

Public Transit Short Courses, August 13-15, 2024

Details and registration links will be posted soon at Mobility Network.

Rail analytics and simulation research explored at workshop

Rail analytics and simulation research explored at workshop

TAL hosted “Workshop on Rail Analytics and Simulation Research” on January 26, 2023. Speakers included TAL’s Professor Amer Shalaby, Dr. Brendon Hemily, Dr. Siva Srikukenthiran, Dr. Diego Da Silva, Dr. Willem Klumpenhouwer, Peter Lai, Aidan Grenville, and Metrolinx’s Kenny Ling.

Explore the shared presentation decks, resources, and references, and watch the event video recording.

TAL researchers at TRB 102nd Annual Meeting

TAL researchers at the TRB 102nd Annual Meeting

group shot of TAL researchers at TRB 2023
(L-R) Diego Da Silva, Aidan Grenville, Kareem Othman, Willem Klumpenhouwer, Amer Shalaby, Alaa Itani, Washington, DC, January 2023.

Some TAL team members delivered presentations in lectern sessions and participated in poster sessions to showcase recent research at TAL. See Mobility Network post for more details.

TAL Senior Advisor Dr. Brendon Hemily was recognized by TRB Public Transportation Group for distinguished services. See Mobility Network post for more details.

Ansarilari, Hu pass PhD exams

Ansarilari, Hu pass PhD exams

Congratulations ribbon graphic

Zahra Ansarilari and Wenxun Hu successfully passed their PhD exams in 2022. Their theses were titled “Transit Time Optimization in Transit Scheduling” and “Adaptive Transit Signal Priority Algorithms for Optimizing Bus Reliability and Travel Time using Deep Reinforcement Learning,” respectively.

TAL is proud to have been a part of their journey and we look forward to seeing the impact of their research.

Congratulations to Dr. Ansarilari and Dr. Hu on this significant accomplishment!

TAL teams up with TransitCenter on Transit Equity Dashboard

TAL teams up with TransitCenter on Transit Equity Dashboard

colourful map visualization of transit equity data

TAL researchers Amer Shalaby, Willem Klumpenhouwer, Rick Liu, Diego da Silva, and Lisa Li were part of the team working with TransitCenter on a transit accessibility and equity dashboard. The team calculated accessibility measures to various opportunities in seven major US urban areas.

View the Transit Equity Dashboard.

Shalaby discusses research innovations in delay and disruption management,” Researching Transit podcast, August, 2021

Listen to the podcast.

Klumpenhouwer comments on High Frequency Rail proposed for Toronto to Quebec Corridors, July 2021

Read more about Klumpenhouwer’s comments and the High Frequency Rail proposal.

“The State of Demand-Responsive Transit in Canada: Final Report” by Dr. Willem Klumpenhouwer, July 2020

Read or download “The State of Demand-Responsive Transit in Canada: Final Report,” by Willem Klumpenhouwer. Prepared by the Transit Analytics Lab with support from Mitacs and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, July 2020.

Itani, Shalaby featured in “Is there a better way for transit systems to deal with service disruptions?” August 2020

Read “Is there a better way for transit systems to deal with service disruption?” by Tyler Irving, University of Toronto Engineering News, August 5, 2020.

Itani wins WTS Toronto area chapter scholarship, December 2020

Read more about Itani and the awards from Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).

Shalaby honoured for Excellence in Innovation, 2019

Professor Amer Shalaby was awarded the 2019 ThinkTransit Award of Excellence in Innovation at the ThinkTransit Technology Conference in Tampa, Florida, April 14-17, 2019. 

Read more about this honour. View a video interview with Shalaby.

TAL team members participate in Statistics Canada Hackathon on Urban Transit Data, March 2019

Read more about the Urban Transit Data Hackathon.

Public Transit Short Courses, August 15-17, 2023

Details and registration links will be posted soon at Mobility Network.

Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) Research Day, June 27, 2023

The Transit Analytics Lab will host its third annual Research Day virtually on June 27, 2023.

The day’s program and registration will be announced closer to the date on the Mobility Network website.

Jacqueline Darwood presents “Improving safety and security in transit systems,” February 28, 2023, 3-4PM

The Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) at Mobility Network hosted the virtual seminar “Improving safety and security in transit systems” by Jacqueline Darwood, Program Director, Transit Expansion at City of Toronto, on February 28, 2023.

Read more about the seminar and access the video recording at Mobility Network.

Workshop on Rail Analytics and Simulation Research at the University of Toronto Mobility Network, January 26, 2023, 9AM-12:30PM

Workshop details posted at Mobility Network.

Public Transit Short Courses, August 9-11, 2022

Details and registration links are posted at 2022 Public Transit Short Courses.

Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) Research Day, July 6, 2022

The Transit Analytics Lab hosted its second annual Research Day virtually on July 6, 2022.

The day’s program featured sessions on transit analytics related to planning and scheduling; operations analytics to improve rail performance; transit analytics applications from the field; and transit analytics to support policy and equity.

TAL’s Director, Professor Amer Shalaby, and Dr. Brendon Hemily, Senior Advisor, moderated the day’s sessions.

Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) Research Day, July 6, 2021

Program, presentation files and video recordings of presentations.

Webinar: Research at the Transit Analytics Lab: Leveraging Twitter Data to Support Transit Planning & Operations, March 4, 2021

Presenters Professor Amer Shalaby (TAL Director) and Dr. Brendon Hemily (TAL Senior Advisor) provided an overview of the activities of the Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) at the University of Toronto,  and shared some cutting-edge research on the use of social media data. 

This webinar was presented by ITS Canada and hosted by its APTS Technical Committee. 

Video recording posted by ITS Canada on YouTube.

TransitData 2020, International Symposium on the Use of Public Transit Automated Data for Planning and Operations, August 11-13, 2020

The 6th annual TransitData International Symposium on the use of public transit automated data for planning and operations was held virtually August 11-13, 2020. The event was hosted by the Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) at the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI), and the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and co-chaired by Professor Amer Shalaby and Dr. Brendon Hemily.

TransitData 2020 Symposium website. 

Read more about TransitData 2020.

Workshop on the Use of Transit ITS Data for Planning and Management, December 2, 2021

The Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) hosted its first workshop on the Use of Transit ITS Data for Planning and Management on December 2, 2020. The event brought together U of T researchers and practitioners from across Ontario to discuss the uses of transit data in various planning and management applications. The workshop highlighted the priorities and challenges of the local industry, which help inform TAL’s research and development agenda and its educational/training programs.

Watch recorded sessions via the Workshop on the Use of Transit ITS Data for Planning and Management, December 2, 2020, YouTube playlist.

Read more about this workshop.

Tweets by @TAL_UofT

TAL Research

TAL’s Objectives

Graphic of TAL research objectives on route map

TAL’s Research Program

TAL research program shown in grid by mode icon

Funded Research

An Integrated Approach to Transit System Evolution 2021-2022

Principal Investigator Professor Chris Higgins. SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant.

Stochastic Optimization Approach for the Multi Depot Vehicle Scheduling Problem, 2021

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. Trapeze and MITACS (Accelerate).

Evaluation of the Automated Transit Shuttle Pilot in Toronto, 2020-2022

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. City of Toronto.

Transit Analytics Lab, 2020-2023

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Dean’s Strategic Fund.

Synthesizing the State of Practice of On-Demand Transit in Canada, 2020

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. OSPE and MITACS (Accelerate).

Nexus Based Integrated Flow Management of Overcrowded Transit Hubs (Research Contract), 2019-2024

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. Huawei Technologies Canada Co., Ltd.

Advanced Transit Signal Priority with Deep Learning (Research Contract), 2019-2024

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. Huawei Technologies Canada Co., Ltd.

Social-Semantic Analysis of Social Media Interactions to Assess Customer Satisfaction in Transit Agencies, 2019-2021

Professors Tamer El-Diraby and Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigators. Calgary Transit, CUTRIC and NSERC (CRD Grant).

UTTRI Technical Support for the City of Toronto Vehicle for Hire Bylaw Review, 2019

Professor Eric Miller, Principal Investigator. City of Toronto, Research Contract.

Mobilizing Justice: Bridging Social Equity and Emerging Mobility Technologies, 2019

Professor Steven Farber, Principal Investigator. SSHRC (Connections Grant).

Integrating the User Perception and Experience into the Planning of Automated and Connected Electric Shuttle Services in Canada, 2019-2020

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. CUTRIC and MITACS (Accelerate).

Automated and Transformative Transportation Systems: Building the Analytical Foundation, 2019-2022

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. City of Toronto, Region of York and NSERC (Alliance Grant).

Methods and Tools to Strengthen Transit System Resilience, 2019-2024

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. NSERC (Discovery Grant).

Pedestrian Movement and Crowd Flow Models: State of the Art, 2019

Professor Amer Shalaby, Principal Investigator. Arup Canada Inc., Research Contract.

Transportation Justice in the Era of Automated Technologies and Integrated Mobility Systems, 2018-2020

Professors Amer Shalaby and Steven Farber, Principal Investigators. University of Toronto (XSeed Grant).

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

  1. Shalaby, A., Hu, M. Corby, A. Wong and D. Zhou, 2021. “Transit Signal Priority: Research and Practice Review and Future Needs” in Handbook of Public Transport Research, Graham Currie (Editor), Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
  2. Shalaby, A., Li and E. Diab, 2021. “Rail Transit Disruption Management: A Comprehensive Review of Strategies and Approaches” in Handbook of Public Transport Research, Graham Currie (Editor), Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Papers

  1. Kasraian, D., L. Li, S. Raghav, A. Shalaby, and E. J. Miller. Regional Transport Accessibility and Residential Property Values: The Case Study of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Published online (January 2023), Journal of Case Studies on Transport Policy.
  2. Xi, H., Y. Tang, T. Waller and A. Shalaby, “Modeling, Equilibrium and Demand Management for Mobility and Delivery Services in Mobility-as-a-Service Ecosystems”, accepted (November 14, 2022), Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering.
  3. Klumpenhouwer, W., and A. Shalaby. Using Delay Logs and Machine Learning to Support Passenger Railway operations. Published online (September 2022). Journal of Transportation Research Record.
  4. Othman, K., A. Shalaby, and B. Abdulhai. Dynamic Bus Lanes Versus Exclusive Bus Lanes: Comprehensive Comparative Analysis of Urban Corridor Performance. Published online (June 2022). Journal of Transportation Research Record.
  5. Li, W., A. Shalaby, K.N. Habib. Exploring the Correlation Between Ride-hailing and Multimodal Transit Ridership in Toronto. Published online (June 2022). Transportation Journal.
  6. Da Silva, D., W. Klumpenhouwer, A. Karner, M. Robinson, R. Liu, A. Shalaby. Living on a Fare: Modeling and Quantifying the Effects of Fare Budgets on Transit Access and Equity. Published online (May 2022). Journal of Transport Geography.
  7. Ansarilari A., M. Mahmoodi Nesheli, M. Bodur, A. Shalaby. Transfer Time Optimisation in Public Transit Networks: Assessment of Alternative Models. Published online (April 2022). Transportmetrica A: Transport Science.
  8. Nesheli MM., S. Srikukenthiran, A. Shalaby. An Optimization Model for Planning Limited-stop Transit Operations. Public Transport, 14(1):63-83.
  9. Pu Y.S., S. Srikukenthiran, E. Morrow, A. Shalaby, W. Klumpenhouwer. Capacity analysis of a passenger rail hub using integrated railway and pedestrian simulation. Urban Rail Transit, 8:1-15.
  10. Kabbani O., W. Klumpenhouwer, T. El-Diraby, A. Shalaby. What do riders say and where? The detection and analysis of eyewitness transit tweets. Published online (January 2022). Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems.
  11. Itani, A. and A. Shalaby, 2021. Assessing the Bus Bridging Effectiveness on the Operational Resilience of the Subway Service in Toronto. Accepted (February 18, 2021) and published online (April 26, 2021), Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
  12. Li, W., A. Shalaby and K. Habib, 2021. Exploring the Correlation between Ride-hailing and Multimodal Transit Ridership in Toronto. Accepted (April 5, 2021) and published online (April 24, 2021), Transportation.
  13. Nesheli, M., Li, M. Palm and A. Shalaby, 2021. Driverless Shuttle Pilots: Lessons for Automated Transit Technology Deployment. Accepted (March 15, 2021) and published online (April 1, 2021), Case Studies on Transport Policy.
  14. Aboudina, A., E. Diab and A. Shalaby, 2021. Predictive Analytics of Streetcar Bunching Occurrence Time for Real-Time Applications. Accepted (December 23, 2020) and published online (January 29, 2021), Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
  15. Li, Z., Shalaby, M. Roorda and B. Mao, 2021. Urban Rail Service Design for Collaborative Passenger and Freight Transport. Accepted (December 15, 2020) and published online (January 25, 2021), Transportation Research Part E, 147.
  16. Liu, R., M. Palm, Shalaby and S. Farber, 2020. A Social Equity Lens on Bus Bridging and Ride-hailing Responses to Unplanned Subway Disruptions. Accepted (September 28, 2020) and published online (October 5, 2020), Journal of Transport Geography, 88.
  17. Palm, M., M. Young, S. Farber and A. Shalaby, 2020. Equity Analysis and New Mobility Technologies: Toward Meaningful Interventions. Journal of Planning Literature, 36(1):31-45.
  18. Diab, E., D. Kasraian, E. Miller and A. Shalaby, 2020. The Rise and Fall of Transit Ridership across Canada: Understanding the Determinants. Transport Policy, 96:101-112.
  19. Aboudina, A., Itani, E. Diab, S. Srikukenthiran and A. Shalaby, 2020. Evaluation of Bus Bridging Scenarios for Railway Service Disruption Management: A Users’ Delay Modelling Tool. Accepted (May 30, 2020) and published online (July 22, 2020), Public Transport: Planning and Operations.
  20. Palm, M., A. Shalaby and S. Farber, 2020. Social Equity and Bus On-time Performance in Canada’s Largest City. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2674(11):329-342.
  21. Kwong, I., M. Nourinejad and A. Shalaby, 2020. Existing Problems of Transit Signal Priority on Streetcar Routes. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2674(10):861-873.
  22. Kamel, I., A. Shalaby and B. Abdulhai, 2020. A Modelling Platform for Optimizing Time-Dependent Transit Fares in Large-Scale Multimodal Networks. Transport Policy, 92:38-54.
  23. Li, L., D. Kasraian and A. Shalaby, 2020. Empirical Analysis of Long-run Elasticities and Asymmetric Effects of Transit Demand Determinants. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2674(8):274-284.
  24. Itani, A., S. Srikukenthiran and A. Shalaby, 2020. Capacity-Constrained Bus Bridging Optimization Framework. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2674(5):600-612.
  25. Devitt, G., M. Nesheli, E. Diab and A. Shalaby, 2020. An Empirical Performance Analysis of Bus Speed and Delay at Intersections for Emerging Spot Improvement Programs. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2674(3):57-68.
  26. Chung, E., M. Nesheli and A. Shalaby, 2020. Transit Holding Control Model for Real-time Connection Protection. ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems, 146(4).
  27. Diab, E. and A. Shalaby, 2020. Metro Transit System Resilience: Understanding the Impacts of Outdoor Tracks and Weather Conditions on Metro System Interruptions. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 14(9):657-670.
  28. King, D., A. Aboudina and A. Shalaby, 2020. Evaluating Transit Network Resilience through Graph Theory and Demand-Elastic Measures: Case Study of the Toronto Transit System.  Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, 12(7):924-944.
  29. Kamel, I., A. Shalaby and B. Abdulhai, 2020. Integrated Simulation-Based Dynamic Traffic and Transit Assignment Model for Large-Scale Network. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 47(8):898-907.
  30. El-Diraby, T., A. Shalaby and Hosseini, 2019. Linking Social, Semantic and Sentiment Analyses to Support Modeling Transit Customers’ Satisfaction: Towards Formal Study of Opinion Dynamics. Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society, 49.
  31. Nguyen, P., E. Diab and A. Shalaby, 2019. Understanding the Factors that Influence the Probability and Time to Streetcar Bunching Incidents. Public Transport: Planning and Operations, 11(2):299-320.
  32. Omrani, R., A. Shalaby, G. Nikolic and A. Hadayeghi, 2019. Development and Implementation of a Multi-Level Roadway Segmentation Methodology.  Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673(12):570-583.
  33. Itani, I., Aboudina, E. Diab, S. Srikukenthiran and A. Shalaby, 2019. Managing Unplanned Rail Disruptions: Policy Implications and Guidelines towards an Effective Bus Bridging Strategy. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673(4):473-489.
  34. Diab, E., D. Kasraian, E. Miller and A. Shalaby, 2019. Current State of Practice in Transit Ridership Prediction: Results from a Survey of Canadian Transit Agencies. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673(8):179-191.
  35. Byon, Y.J., A. Shalaby, B. Abdulhai, C.S. Cho, H. Yeo and S. El-Tantawy, 2019. Traffic Condition Monitoring with SCAAT Kalman Filter-based Data Fusion. KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 23(2):810-820.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers

  1. Da Silva, D., F. Elsaid and A. Shalaby, January 2023. Constructing Origin-Destination Demand Matrix using Wi-Fi and AFC gate count Data: A Case study of Toronto’s Subway Network. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  2. Xin, M. and A. Shalaby, January 2023. Investigation of the Interaction between Urban Rail Ridership and Network Topology Characteristics using Temporal Lagged and Reciprocal Effects: A Case Study of Chengdu, China. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  3. Grenville, A., W. Klumpenhouwer, N. Chui and A. Shalaby, January 2023. Methods for Analyzing System Performance and User Experience Using WiFi Connection Data. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  4. DeGuzman, C., T. Mostafa, B. Donmez, B. Abdulhai, A. Shalaby and J. Niece, January 2023. Predictors of Intention to Use an Automated Shuttle Service in Mixed Traffic in Toronto, Canada. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  5. Chen, J., A. Shalaby, T. Li, H. Liu, Y. Bo and F. Lin, January 2023. Panel Regression Analysis of Disruption Frequency of Urban Rail Transit Systems. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  6. Al-Sahar, S., W. Klumpenhouwer, A. Shalaby and T. El-Diraby, January 2023. Using Twitter to Gauge Customer Satisfaction Response to a Major Transit Service Change in Calgary, Canada. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  7. Itani, A., W. Klumpenhouwer, B. Hemily and A. Shalaby, January 2023. Guiding Principles for Planning Bus Transit Networks of Integrated On-demand and Scheduled Services. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  8. Liu, R. and A. Shalaby. Impact of Transit Delays on Equity Seeking Groups in Toronto – A Time-Expanded Graph Approach, January 2023. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  9. Othman, K., A. Shalaby and B. Abdulhai, January 2023. Novel Transit Management Strategies: Driver Advisory Systems with Cooperative Space and Time Priorities. 102nd Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  10. Meredith-Karam, P., S. Srikukenthiran, J. Vaughan, E.J. Miller, A. Shalaby. Integrating Activity-Based Modelling with Agent-Based Transit Assignment. Proceedings of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference 2021 CSCE21 Hydrotechnical and Transportation Track.
  11. Aboudina, A., E. Diab and A. Shalaby, January 2021. When Will They Bunch Next? Predictive Analytics of Streetcar Bunching Occurrence Time for Real-Time Applications.  100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  12. Klumpenhouwer, W., Shalaby and L. Weissling, January 2021. The State of Demand-Responsive Transit in Canada. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington D.C.
  13. Liu, R., M. Palm, Shalaby and S. Farber, 2021. A Social Equity Lens on Bus Bridging and Ride-hailing Responses to Unplanned Subway Disruptions. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  14. Kabbani, O., W. Klumpenhouwer, Shalaby and T. El-Diraby, January 2021. What do Riders Say and Where? The Detection and Analysis of Eyewitness Transit Tweets. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  15. Williams, R. and A. Shalaby, January 2021. A Framework for Reliability-Sensitive Real-Time Bus Travel Time Prediction. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  16. Abdelwahab, B., M. Palm, Shalaby and S. Farber, January 2021. Ridesharing Equity: the Role of Ridesharing in Providing Access to Employment – A Case Study of Toronto, Canada. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  17. Itani, A. and A. Shalaby, January 2021. Assessing the Bus Bridging Effectiveness on the Operational Resilience of the Subway Service in Toronto. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  18. Xin, M., Shalaby, S. Feng and H. Zhao, January 2021. Impacts of COVID-19 on Urban Rail Transit Ridership: Application of the Synthetic Control Method to 22 World Cities. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  19. Hu, W., Chen, H. Ishihara, I. Taha, A. Shalaby and B. Abdulhai, January 2021. Two-Way Transit Signal Priority for Optimizing Transit Reliability and Speed. 100th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  20. Itani, A., S. Srikukenthiran and A. Shalaby, January 2020. Capacity-Constrained Bus Bridging Optimization Framework. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  21. Devitt, G., M. Nesheli, E. Diab and A. Shalaby, January 2020. An Empirical Performance Analysis of Bus Speed and Delay at Intersections for Emerging Spot Improvement Programs. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  22. Ansarilari, Z., M. Nesheli, M. Bodur, A. Shalaby and S. Srikukenthiran, January 2020. Improving Transfer Time Optimization Modelling for Public Transit Systems. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  23. Diab, E., D. Kasraian, E. Miller and A. Shalaby, January 2020. The Rise and Fall of Transit Ridership across Canada: Understanding the Determinants. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  24. Li, W., A. Shalaby and K. Habib, January 2020. Exploring the Ridership Impacts of Ride-hailing on Multimodal Public Transit in Toronto. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  25. Hu, W., A. Shalaby and B. Abdulhai, January 2020. Dual-Objective Transit Signal Priority for Improving Speed and Reliability of High-Frequency Lines: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  26. Palm, M., A. Shalaby and S. Farber, January 2020. Whose Buses Run on Time? The Social Equity of Bus On-time Performance in Canada’s Largest City. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  27. Li, L., D. Kasraian and A. Shalaby, January 2020. Transit Demand Determinants: An Empirical Analysis of Long-run Elasticities and Asymmetric Effects. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  28. Kwong, I., M. Nourinejad and A. Shalaby, January 2020. Existing Problems of Transit Signal Priority on Streetcar Routes. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  29. Li, Z., A. Shalaby, M. Roorda and B. Mao, January 2020. Urban Rail Service Design for Collaborative Passenger and Freight Transport. 99th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  30. Hoy, A., S. Srikukenthiran, E. Morrow and A. Shalaby, January 2019. A Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Models in the Context of Subway Stations. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  31. Jami, A., J. Petrunić, K. Mlakar, J. Goodfield and A. Shalaby, January 2019. Greenhouse Gas Emission Modelling for the Transit Sector. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  32. Diab, E., S. Akbari, K. Habib and A. Shalaby, January 2019. Mode Choice in Commuter Rail Catchment Areas: Recent Trends and Role of Policy Interventions in the Greater Toronto Area. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  33. Itani, I., Aboudina, E. Diab, S. Srikukenthiran and A. Shalaby, January 2019. Managing Unplanned Rail Disruptions: Policy Implications and Guidelines Towards an Effective Bus Bridging Strategy. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  34. Kamel, I., S. Hasnine, A. Shalaby, K. Habib and B. Abdulhai, January 2019. Evaluating Time-based Transit Fares: Integrated Model of Departure Time and Travel Mode Choice within a Dynamic Multimodal Assignment Framework. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  35. Diab, E., D. Kasraian, E. Miller and A. Shalaby, January 2019. Current State of Practice in Transit Ridership Prediction: Results from a Survey of Canadian Transit Agencies. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  36. Omrani, R., A. Shalaby, G. Nikolic and A. Hadayeghi, January 2019. Development and Implementation of a Multi-Level Roadway Segmentation Methodology. 98th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Reports

Klumpenhouwer, Willem, “The State of Demand-Responsive Transit in Canada: Final Report,” prepared by the Transit Analytics Lab with support from Mitacs and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, July 2020.

TAL People

Leadership

Postdoctoral Fellows

head shot of Professor Amer Shalaby

Amer Shalaby

Director

TAL Director Dr. Amer Shalaby is Professor and Bahen/Tanenbaum Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto, and Co-Director of the Centre for Automated and Transformative Transportation Systems (CATTS). Dr. Shalaby is specialized in transit planning and operations, intelligent transportation systems, and transportation planning for large-scale events and mega cities. His research program has been sponsored by many organizations from both the public and private sectors. Read here to know more about Prof. Shalaby. 

head shot of Dr. Brendon Hemily

Brendon Hemily

Senior Advisor

Dr. Brendon Hemily is an independent transit consultant with 35 years of international transit experience. He focuses on best practices and innovation in the transit industry, in the areas of policy, management, planning, and the effective use of advanced technology. Prior to 2000, Brendon worked at the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), where he was responsible for all of CUTA’s research, statistical, and technical services.

head shot of Dr. Siva Srikukenthiran

Siva Srikukenthiran

Advisor

Dr. Siva Srikukenthiran is the Chief Data Scientist at Ratio.City. He previously was a Research Associate at the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute, where he managed research programmes in transit simulation, schedule optimization and travel survey data collection, and developed software systems for survey data collection and transit network simulation. He has a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto.

head shot of Dr. Willem Klumpenhouwer

Willem Klumpenhouwer

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Willem Klumpenhouwer’s research focuses on the performance of transit systems, including passenger rail, transit reliability, demand-responsive transit systems, transit accessibility and equity, and visualization. Willem has a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Calgary where he studied the stochastic movement of buses and the optimal time point placement on bus routes. He also holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Theoretical Physics from the University of Guelph.

head shot of Diego Silva 2

Diego Silva

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Diego Silva’s research bridges transportation and artificial intelligence for large-scale data analysis. He is interested in connecting the cutting-edge computational methods to build better and reliable mobility in cities. Diego has a PhD in Computer Science from the Federal University of ABC/ Brazil. Diego is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor at the U of T Grappling Club, and he loves to play soccer.

Affiliated Professors

Head shot of Merve Bodur

Merve Bodur

Asst Professor head shot of Dr. Tamer El-Diraby

Tamer El-Diraby

Professor head shot of Dr. Steven Farberg

Steven Farber

Assoc Professor professor standing in front of colourful bookshelves

Eric J. Miller

Professor head shot of Khandker Nurul Habib

Khandker Nurul Habib

PROFESSOR

Graduate Students – Current

head shot of Roger Chen

Roger Chen

Roger Chen is an MASc candidate at the University of Toronto’s Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering. He received his BASc in Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo, specializing in transportation and statistics. His research is currently focused on using machine learning and statistical models to investigate transit ridership and performance trends following COVID-19. He enjoys playing the clarinet and travelling.

head shot of Feras El Said

Feras El Said

Feras is a PhD student at the University of Toronto Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering. His current research focuses on developing models and control strategies to streamline passenger and train flows via the application of traffic flow theory, simulation, and reinforcement learning. He received his BEng in Civil Engineering from An-Najah National University, Palestine, and his MASc from Concordia University, Canada. Feras enjoys nature, biking, table tennis, BBQ, coffee, and reading.

head shot of Alaa Itani outside on U of T grounds

Alaa Itani

Alaa is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering. Her research interest is in the field of bus-hailing and flexible transit services. Alaa holds an MASc from the University of Toronto where her research focused on managing unplanned subway disruptions and she holds a BE in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the American University of Beirut.

head shot of Kareem Othman

Kareem Othman

Kareem Othman is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering working under the co-supervision of Professor Amer Shalaby and Professor Baher Abdulhai. His research interests include transit management, adaptive arterial control, connected vehicles, and autonomous vehicles. He holds BASc and MASc degrees from Cairo University. Kareem enjoys playing and watching football.

head shot of Jilin Song 3

Jilin Song

Jilin is a PhD student at the University of Toronto Department of Civil & Engineering. He has a BASc in Civil Engineering from University of British Columbia and an MSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley. Jilin’s research focuses on workforce planning in public transportation. He enjoys traveling and checking out maps.

head shot of Jack Tattersall

Jack Tattersall

Jack is a Master’s student interested in public transit operations and planning, particularly fare and service integration, regional mass transit networks, and railway operations. He completed his undergrad at the University of Toronto in Civil Engineering in 2022.

head shot of Jiahao Wang

Jiahao Wang

Jiahao Wang is a PhD student at the University of Toronto Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering. He received an MSc in computer science from University of Ottawa, and a BEng in computer science from Sichuan University. His current research focuses on transit management optimization using deep learning and reinforcement learning methods. He enjoys skiing and playing guitar.

head shot of Chandler White

Chandler White

Chandler is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering. He has a BASc in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia. He was involved heavily in the UBC ITE Student Chapter, and later the UT-ITE. Chandler’s PhD research focusses on pedestrian modelling and multi-modal coordination on urban rail transit lines.

Graduate Students – Past

head shot of Rami Al-Sahar

Rami Al-Sahar

CivMin MASc 2021Rami’s research focuses on social media analytics and understanding the perception of public transit riders. Rami has an MEng in Structural Engineering from the University of Western Ontario and a BASc in Civil Engineering from Kuwait University. In his free time, Rami loves doing all things sports, especially soccer.

head shot of Zahra Ansarilari

Zahra Ansarilari

CivMin PhD 2022Zahra’s research focuses on improving public transit services. There are so many aspects regarding public transit that need to be enhanced; Zahra is working on minimizing transfer times through optimization models and machine learning approaches. She enjoys playing piano and exploring different parts of cities by walking, biking and public transit.

head shot of Jinyi Chen

Jinyi Chen

PhD 2022Jinyi was a direct doctoral student at Southeast University and a visiting doctoral student at the University of Toronto Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering. She has a BASc in transportation engineering from Chang’an University. Jinyi’s research interests include efficiency and resilience of urban rail transit system, passenger traffic congestion propagation, operation and management under operational failures, etc. She likes running, singing and travelling.

head shot of Xun Hu

Wen Xun Hu

CivMin PhD 2022Wen Xun’s research focuses on the optimization of transit performance using machine learning methods. She likes reading, collecting stones, and travelling.

head shot of Lisa Li

Lisa Li

CivMin MASc 2021Lisa’s research focuses on understanding people’s travel behaviour and need for information provision using data from a transit trip planning app. She holds a BASc in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto. In her free time, Lisa enjoys drawing, swimming, and getting lost in a book.

head shot of Rick Liu

Rick Liu

CivMin MASc 2022Rick’s research interests include transit equity, transit redundancy and responses to transit disruptions. He also completed his BASc at the University of Toronto. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, hiking, and playing the PC game “Cities: Skylines.”

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