<p>NYMTC?s Princ ipals reached consensus on f ive Shared Goals to guide regional t ransport a t ion investment deci s ionmaking. The Shared Goa l s ref l ect broad agreement on the need f o r reg iona l approaches to compl e x issues facing the region. The Shared Goal s a re : ? Buil d t h e case for obt ai ni ng resources to impleme n t reg ional investmen t s; ? Enhance t h e regional environme n t ; ? Improve the reg ional e conomy; ? Improve the r egional qual i t y o f l ife; a n d ? Provide conveni en t , f lexible t r a nsportation access wi t h in the r egion. The agreement on the Shared Goa l s represented an impor tant organizat ional achievement , but the Pr inc ipal s recognized t h a t the goal s requi red gre a te r def i n i t ion to p rovide an overal l f ramework for NYMTC?s p l ann ing process . To t h i s end, the NYU/Wagner Rudin Center Team was asked to conduct this s tudy, the goal s o f which were (1) t o h e l p the Pri n c ipal members of NYMTC charact e r i z e more clearly each of the f ive Shared Goals and the outcome s they are intended to generate; (2) to e s t abli sh measures o f succe s s tha t could be tracked to a s c e r t a in how well the Shared Goal s and r e l a ted outcomes were being achi eved; (3) to ident ify the key t rends ? pol i t i c a l , demographic, so c io-economic, technological ? t h a t a r e l ikely t o h ave an imp a c t o n the Shared Goals and out come s , a n d the manner in which the goal s and out come s a r e t h e refore mos t l i k ely to prove achievable; and (4) to develop recommendations for i n tegrat ing the Sha red Goals and outcome s i n to t h e forma l regiona l t ransport a t ion plann ing p roces s .</p>