Biography
James (Jimmy) Cardenas is an assistant research scientist in the Transit Mobility Program at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. His research experience at TTI includes regional human services and public transit coordination planning, transit service data analysis and reporting, GTFS dataset creation and maintenance, geospatial analysis, case study research, survey research, and financial analysis.
Jimmy has led or contributed work to several coordinated public transit human services transportation plans in Texas. Jimmy also leads TxDOT-Public Transportation Division’s annual effort of collecting regional coordination planning metrics to measure progress across the state. Other efforts include an evaluation of the state’s previous regional planning metrics and a project to evaluate, recommend changes and update the state’s regional coordination planning website.
Jimmy has contributed work to several TCRP publications. He was a co-author for TCRP Research Report 192: Decision-Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities, authoring two chapters for the guidebook and authoring case studies. Jimmy has also authored a case study for TCRP Synthesis 134 – Customer-Focused Service Guarantees and Transparency Practices. More recently, he was a part of the research teams for TCRP Synthesis 164 Bus Rapid Transit Current State of the Practice, TCRP Synthesis 143 Managing the Transit Scheduling Workforce, and TCRP Synthesis 140 Comprehensive Bus Network Redesigns, providing literature review assistance, case study research, and survey analysis.
Education
- M.S., Community and Regional Planning, The University of Texas at Austin, 2015
- B.A., Urban Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010
Professional Affiliations
- Member, Austin Chapter, Young Professionals in Transportation
- Member, American Public Transportation Association
- Friend of Committee, Transportation Research Board
- AP050 Standing Committee on Bus Transit Systems
- AP025 Standing Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development
- AP090 Standing Committee on Transit Data
TTI Tenure / Total Industry Tenure
10 Years / 11 Years
Professional Interests
- Regional Transit Planning
- GTFS Data Creation
- Transportation and Land Use Planning
- Spatial Data Analysis
- Health, Safety and Social Issues in Transit
- Transportation Demand Analysis
- Environmental Planning
Selected Projects
Annual Statewide Regional Public Transportation Coordination Planning (RPTCP) Metrics (TxDOT-PTN). (Principal Investigator, 2022 – present). Annually lead the data collection and assessment effort for TxDOT-PTN’s RPTPC performance metrics. Texas contains 24 planning regions each with lead agencies responsible for ongoing coordination planning efforts. Goals and strategies from each coordinated public-transit and human services transportation plan is annually evaluated by a set of metrics for annual progress tracking and to inform Section 5304 planning funding allotments from the state. Coordination plans tie directly to Section 5310 funding for seniors and people with disabilities, as any projects funded must be included within a regional coordination plan.
Texas Statewide GTFS Assistance (TxDOT). (Principal Investigator, 2023-present). Led a research project focused on assisting state-funded rural and small urban transit agencies develop or update their GTFS-static datasets. The project involved a survey assessment of GTFS datasets and follow up data collection for the production of GTFS datasets.
El Paso County Urban and Rural Reporting Financial Analysis (El Paso County). (Principal Investigator, 2022-2023). Led a research project focused on forecasting anticipated revenue changes from reporting urban transit service to the Urban NTD. The project involved a literature review, a review of sub-allocation methodology with the local MPO and transit authority, an urban/rural service allocation analysis for all transit modes, and a financial analysis to forecast federal and state revenues from the adjusted rural and urban service reported.
Summary of the Current State of Affairs and Future Workplans for Statewide GTFS/GTFS-Flex (TxDOT). (Principal Investigator, 2021). Led an investigatory research project on the status of GTFS and GTFS-flex data for state-funded transit agencies in Texas. Project involved development and distribution of a survey, analysis of survey results, and developing scenario workplans for TxDOT to aid state-funded transit agencies that needed GTFS/GTFS-flex data creation.
PTN-128 System Transit Data Collection and Audit (TxDOT). (Contributing researcher, annual basis). Assist state-funded transit agencies to correctly report transit data to the online PTN-128 system. This involves an audit of hours, miles, trips, revenues, and expenses data and working with agencies to correct any discrepancies or errors.
Publications
TCRP Synthesis 171 Performance Metrics in Third Party Contracts for Bus Operations and Maintenance (TCRP). (Contributing researcher, 2022). Performed a statistical data analysis to identify and display current and past state of the practice for motorbus contracting using FTA NTD data. This data was also used to identify targeted case studies.
TCRP Synthesis 164 Bus Rapid Transit Current State of the Practice (TCRP). (Contributing author, 2021-2022). Assisted with researching and writing background of bus rapid transit section.
TCRP Synthesis 143: Managing the Transit Scheduling Workforce (TCRP). (Contributing author, 2018-2019). Authored a case study, assisted with the literature review, and contributed to survey data analysis and data visualization (mapping).
TCRP Synthesis 140: Comprehensive Bus Network Redesigns (TCRP). (Contributing author, 2018-2019). Analyzed survey results data from transit agencies related to comprehensive bus network redesigns.
TCRP Report 192: Decision Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities for Public Transportation. (Contributing author, 2015-2017). Authored two guidebook chapters and contributed to case study research.
Experience
- Assistant Research Scientist, Transit Mobility Program, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, December 2022 – Present
- Associate Transportation Researcher, Transit Mobility Program, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, September 2019 – Present
- Assistant Transportation Researcher, Transit Mobility Program, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, September 2015 – 2019
- Graduate Assistant Research, Transit Mobility Program, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, September 2014 – August 2015
- Planning Intern, Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, April 2014 – August 2014
- Strategic Planning Intern, VIA Metropolitan Transit, June 2009 – August 2009