Over the course of the past two years, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) Principals have reached consensus on five shared goals which serve as the framework for making decisions on future investments in the region’s transportation network, and reflect broad agreement on the need for regional approaches to complex issues facing the region: Build the case for obtaining resources to implement regional investments; Enhance the regional environment; Improve the regional economy; Improve the regional quality of life; Provide convenient, flexible transportation access within the region.

These Shared goals require greater definition and prioritization. Furthermore, the specific mechanisms for fostering coordination and cooperation on each of these shared goals have not yet been identified and clearly linked to each of the goals.

The study proposes a twelve-month research and inquiry initiative that would serve the following purposes: Help the Principal members of NYMTC characterize more clearly each of the five shared goals; Aid in defining and reaching consensus around objectives to be derived from each of the goals; Establish a group of measures of success that could be tracked to demonstrate whether the shared goals and objectives are being met and are achieving their desired outcomes; Identify the key trends – politically, demographically, socio-economically, technologically – that are likely to have an impact on the shared goals and objectives, and the manner in which they are most likely to prove achievable;; and, Develop recommendations for integrating the shared goals and objectives into the region’s formal transportation planning process.