Research Interests:

Dr. Thompson joined the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in August 1988 after receiving his Ph.D. in Social Science from the University of California at Irvine and serving for a year as an advanced research fellow at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Thompson’s research interests focus on the role of public transportation in societies dominated by the automobile. He uses quantitative, case study, and historical methods in examining the efficacy and welfare consequences of alternative plans and policies intended to reverse the secular decline in demand for public transportation services. Prior to obtaining his doctorate, Thompson worked as a transit planner in Edmonton and San Diego and participated in the development of modern light rail transit system in both metropolitan areas. Edmonton was the first all-bus city in North America to adopt light rail, and San Diego was the first all-bus city in the United States to do so. He currently is chair of the research sub-committee of the Committee on Light Rail Transit in the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science. He also is a member of the Committee on Public Transportation and Development and the Committee on Rail Transit of the Transportation Research Board. Dr. Thompson chairs the City of Tallahassee’s Transit Advisory Committee.