The National Academies Press

Currently Skimming:

Summary
Pages 1-18

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.

From page 1... ... A plan for the purpose existed, but it failed utterly when few transit drivers reported to work, transit equipment proved inadequate and was left unprotected, and communications and incident control were nonexistent. Emergency plans that inadequately represent transit or are poorly executed risk significant loss of life, particularly among those who are dependent on transit for evac uation out of harm's way. Read the entire page →
From page 2... ... Transit is defined broadly to include bus and rail systems, paratransit and demand-responsive transit, commuter and intercity rail, and ferries, whether publicly operated or privately con tracted. Highways and their capacity are considered as well because many transit systems provide only bus service and must share the highways with private vehicles in an emergency evacuation. Read the entire page →
From page 3... ... Federal law requires that local emergency planning officials develop emergency plans that include provi sions for evacuation and mass departure routes and, since 2006, for assist ing populations with special needs, primarily persons with disabilities. Following the confusion that marked the response to Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Read the entire page →
From page 4... ... catastrophic mass evacuation plans, and DHS grant funds may now be used for this purpose. What Factors Affect Transit's Role in Emergency Evacuations? Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... The extent to which transit can be a successful partner in an evacuation depends first on whether a good local emergency response and evacua tion plan is in place. As shown in Figure S-2, the major factors affecting a local area's ability to plan for and respond to an emergency include the type of incident (advance-notice or no-notice) Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... To address the question of the extent to which transit is incorporated into local emergency evacuation plans, as well as the other parts of its charge, the committee conducted a literature review; performed a summary assess ment of publicly available, online emergency response and evacuation plans for the largest urbanized areas; and carried out five in-depth case studies. Finding: The majority of the emergency operations plans for large urban ized areas are only partially sufficient in describing in specific and measur able terms how a major evacuation could be conducted successfully, and few focus on the role of transit. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, DHS and the U.S. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... USDOT rated state and local emergency plans in the Gulf Coast region "effective" for highway evacuations, and most urban area plans included transit and designated pickup points for carless evacuees. The plan assessment conducted for this study, which was focused specifically on the role of transit in emergency evacuation, found that 11 of the 16 urbanized areas for which emergency evacuation plans were available online mentioned transit, but few provided details about its role. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... Many transit agencies are regional authorities pro viding service across jurisdictions and thus have a regional perspective, but their primary mission is not emergency planning or evacuation. Local governments are attempting to fill the gap, but a clear decision-making framework for doing so is lacking, guidance on how to proceed is limited, and funds to defray the costs are insufficient. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... Recommendation 2b: Federal funding should be provided for the development of regional evacuation plans that include transit and other public transportation providers. Grant recipients should be required to report on their progress and meet milestones and timetables. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... Finding: In those areas where transit is a full partner in local emergency evacuation plans, transit agencies have been involved in the develop ment of such plans and are part of the designated emergency command structure. The case studies conducted by the committee revealed that those tran sit agencies most involved in emergency evacuation are an integral part of local emergency evacuation plans and the decision-making structure in an emergency. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Recommendation 3: Transit agencies should participate with emergency management agencies and departments of transporta tion when evacuation plans are developed and should be full part ners in the command structure established to handle emergency response and evacuation. Box S-2 details the planning requirements for fully incorporating transit into emergency evacuation plans; none of the sites visited by the commit tee meet all these requirements. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... • nclude transit agencies and school districts and private school bus transportation I providers in area tabletop exercises and drills for emergency evacuation plans. Response • nsure that transit agencies are represented in the chain of command at incident E command posts and report to EOCs when the latter are activated to provide resource support. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... • onsider transit agency employees, who are being asked to play a major role in an C emergency evacuation, as essential personnel, along with personnel who provide police, fire, and emergency medical services. Recovery • oordinate with emergency managers, public safety planners, and other transit C providers to return carless evacuees to their original locations or destinations if possible. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... during an emergency. However, these groups are inadequately addressed in most local emergency evacuation plans. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... Ambulatory but carless low-income populations can use fixed-route transit service, whereas the elderly, disabled, or medically homebound are likely to require the use of sparsely available paratransit service with accessible equipment and trained operators. Finally, many of these groups may be widely dispersed across an urbanized area, further straining limited transit resources. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... Recognizing the limits of paratransit ser vices, emergency managers in Chicago have encouraged complementary self-help measures, including an innovative program involving building managers in the CBD to identify disabled workers and plan for how they would be evacuated in an emergency. How Can the Potential Role of Transit in Emergency Evacuation Be Enhanced? Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... "Bricks and mortar" capacity enhancements might include not only adding redundancy to both transit and highway systems but also removing critical traffic bottlenecks on major evacuation routes. Such projects are sometimes controversial and must compete with other budgetary priorities for funding. Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... Such models should be extended to include transit buses in traffic projections and developed for use in more urban areas. Research is also needed to enhance understanding of the spatial dimensions of the demand for and supply of transit services in an evacuation. Read the entire page →

From page 1...

... A plan for the purpose existed, but it failed utterly when few transit drivers reported to work, transit equipment proved inadequate and was left unprotected, and communications and incident control were nonexistent. Emergency plans that inadequately represent transit or are poorly executed risk significant loss of life, particularly among those who are dependent on transit for evac uation out of harm's way.

Summary Pages 1-18

Summary
Pages 1-18