Tierra Bills |
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Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Public Policy
UCLA |
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Panelist: Algorithms and Data for Equity
Tech Vision Talk: Confronting Data Bias in Travel Demand Modeling Abstract: Should regions invest in more buses on transit routes, or new bus routes to provide greater transportation accessibility for vulnerable communities? What mix of transportation improvements will offer the greatest boost in accessibility for travelers who most need it? Such questions can be addressed using travel demand analysis tools. Regional travel demand models, which are used to inform transportation decisions, are empirical models traditionally estimated using household travel surveys, and increasingly calibrated and validated using emerging “big” transportation datasets. Yet, lack of representation of vulnerable travelers in such datasets (including low income, un/underemployed, and transit dependent travelers) is well documented in the literature. This raises questions of confidence in travel modeling tools, particularly with supporting equitable transportation planning goals. This presentation will summarize various biases in travel data that arise due to underrepresentation of vulnerable populations, how they may come to be, and how such biases can influence travel modeling outcomes.
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Biography
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Tierra joined UCLA after spending 2 and ½ years as an Assistant Professor as Wayne State University and 3 years as a Michigan Society Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Prior to her fellowship at UMich, Dr. Bills worked as a Research Scientist at IBM Research Africa for 3 year, in Nairobi Kenya. Dr. Bills’ research focuses on investigating the social impacts of transportation investments. She develops advanced travel demand models to investigate fine-grained transportation equity effects, for the purpose of designing transportation systems that will provide more equitable returns to society. Dr. Bills holds a B.S in Civil Engineering Technology from Florida A&M University (‘08), and M.S (’09) and PhD (’13) degrees in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
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