The Impact of Urban Transportation Investment on Property Values: Evidence from the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit

Introduction The introduction of mass rapid transit (MRT) system could play an important role in establishing a sustainable transport system in Kuala Lumpur city. Multi-goal integration in the transport development plan of the city is necessary to leverage on the expensive infrastructure investment. This study models the potential carbon savings and public health co-benefits from air pollution, traffic injury and physical activity brought by the two upcoming MRT lines in Kuala Lumpur. Methods A transport survey was carried out to estimate the current travel patterns, and age and gender distribution of likely users of the scheme around the first MRT line in Kuala Lumpur. Changes in health from the MRT use was compared against a counterfactual scenario of no scheme using comparative risk assessment. Air pollution was modelled based on reduction in PM2.5. Injuries were modelled based on changes to distance and constant risks for all modes. Physical activity was modelled based on walking to access the MRT stops. Results A net total of 196,595 tCO2 equivalent could be removed from traffic emissions by the two MRT lines. At the same time, 0.19 µg/m3 of PM2.5 could be reduced in the atmosphere, bringing down 5 deaths and 112 DALYs among the population in the vicinity. Due to the less kilometres travelled on roads, 27 attributed traffic injury deaths with 1,984 DALYs could be avoided among the MRT users. Walking in the first and last miles of using MRT could further reduce 82 deaths with 2,525 DALYs from increased overall physical activity. Altogether, a total of 114 deaths with 4,621 DALYs could be avoided from the implementation of the two MRT lines. Conclusion The MRT infrastructure could entail a large carbon emission savings from the transport sector to be part of the climate change mitigation. Overall, the biggest health co-benefits brought by the two MRT lines is the reduction in burden of disease from the increased overall physical activity in the urban population.

The continuing growth of population density in urban areas around the world has placed greater emphasis on the utilisation and development of underground space to meet the increasing demands of the city. Due to limited land space available in downtown areas, many cities in the world are also embarking on integration of major construction projects of metro infrastructure, commercial developments and residential estates, etc., to meet the growing demand of infrastructure In land-scarce Singapore, the development of a comprehensive and well-integrated public transport network is important to achieve a people-centric, world-class transport system. To enhance the connectivity of a rail network, interchange stations and underground linkways are constructed to connect the various lines so that transfers between mass rapid transit (MRT) lines can be seamless. Hence, it is becoming more challenging to construct a new MRT line in the vicinity of existing MRT lines without impacting the operations of existing MRT lines. The prime aim of this study is to present the ways to overcome the challenges in construction of secant bored piles (SBPs) above the existing underground MRT linkway (15 m below ground) and adjacent to the existing underground MRT East West Line station. The paper presents four different techniques applied to construct the SBP wall in the sandy soil since the conventional method of construction was not applicable to the site condition. The new techniques were successful as the SBP wall was constructed while keeping the vibrations and movement to the existing MRT structures within the allowable limits. From this venture, it can be concluded that it is possible to install SBPs in sandy soils without any significant impact on adjacent structures and construction timeline. The experience gained from this endeavour will be invaluable and can serve as lessons learnt for SBP works in the densely populated area and in the vicinity of existing sensitive structures which is increasingly becoming unavoidable.

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Dhaka city is experiencing tremendous growth in traffic. Until recently, the city’s demand for traffic was entirely served by public buses, a mix of motorized and non-motorized paratransit, and private personalized transport. The first ever rail-based metro, mass rapid transit (MRT), namely MRT Line 6, was partially inaugurated on 28 December 2022. Authority expects that there will be visible modal shift. However, MRT systems in many Asian and European countries are attracting much lower private motorists than what is expected. Moreover, in Dhaka, a unique mix in road-based transport with public transit and varieties of paratransit and private personalized vehicles intensifies the uncertainties involved in modal shift. Therefore, based on a field survey done before four (04) months of the partial inauguration of MRT Line 6, this study intends to explore the modal shift potentials of different mode users to a completely new mode and the modal choice factors. The analysis of the results finds overall, 75% of all mode users are willing to shift, while para and public transit users are comparatively more willing than private personalized vehicle users. However, such willingness comes up with one or more conditions: comfort, reasonable fare, reduced total travel time, less crowd, etc. The study finds that affordability, availability, and accessibility factors have an influence on their modal shift behavior. Also, results from binary logistic model identify significant impact of several sociodemographic, trip- and accessibility-related factors influencing modal shift choice. Findings from this study explain the optimism regarding MRT by different mode users and inform the decision-makers about their course of actions including different interventions, strict and carrot approaches to hold on to the potential shifters and attract more.

Public transport is integral to the development of cities. It promotes economic development, mitigates environmental degradation, and fosters a sense of social cohesion. Notwithstanding, one can understand a place’s culture, geography, history, languages, and sociopolitical structures by studying the naming practices in public transport, such as bus routes and train stations, among others. This article studies the naming conventions in Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, which serves millions of commuters daily, and alludes to the importance of public transport in urban spaces. The paper analyses MRT station names, which can be regarded as toponyms, of the North South and Downtown lines according to two aspects: firstly, by conducting a linguistic analysis of the languages used in naming these MRT stations and, secondly, by applying toponymic classifications from current research in grouping the MRT stations themselves. Ultimately, the study compares the naming practices of Singapore’s oldest and second newest MRT lines using a sociolinguistic and historical toponomastics mixed methods approach, studying the MRT station names based on social categories as well as using historical sources to account for the linguistic and historical meaning of these toponyms. This work is aimed at providing scholars and a general audience with a better understanding of Singapore’s language, culture, and society through the analysis of the naming practices of the MRT station names, unique toponyms in the urban transport of the Lion City.

Indoor air pollutants and microbes in mass rapid transit (MRT) trains of north-western area of Bangkok, Thailand: Impact on indoor air quality and human health

Public transport plays an integral role in urban centres by promoting economic development, mitigating environmental degradation and fostering social cohesion. It also enables users to experience the socio-cultural and linguistic diversity of a locality. Public transport is important to the cosmopolitan city-state of Singapore: its public transport system, which is ranked among the best in the world, is used by over 7.54 million passengers daily. Nevertheless, not much is known about how the linguistic landscapes, soundscapes and place names are tied to public transport use and encounters. This study analyses Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station names, effectively toponyms (place names) in their own right. Specifically, it focuses on the East West and North South Lines, two of Singapore’s oldest MRT lines. Besides tracing the (initially) tumultuous history of the MRT system, the paper studies the languages used in the MRT stations of both lines. It argues that place names, taken together with the sights and sounds of the MRT, are part of everyday multilingualism, or the linguistic dynamism when different linguistic groups occupy public spaces. This paper also explores some of the linguistic, socio-political and policy making considerations behind the MRT stations through a critical toponymic perspective. From the viewpoint of the special issue’s interests, the paper contributes to understanding the historicisation of Singapore’s rail system and its contesting political and economic choices when developing the MRT.

Many large cities rely on Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) to increase passenger mobility. For efficiency, MRT stations should be arranged to attract maximal number of travelers. It is therefore important to develop methods for estimating MRT ridership forecasting models, which are important for policies on land use development or new MRT lines. Direct ridership models (DRMs) at the station level are superior in estimating the benefits of transit-oriented development policies. In this paper, a principal component regression (PCR) is proposed to overcome the issue of multicollinearity that widely occurs in multivariate regression analyses for DRM modeling, especially the ordinary least squares regression. Based on the analysis of 72 MRT stations in Wuhan, China, four principal components are obtained to explain the potential linkage to MRT ridership, which include built-environment related factors, jobs-housing spatial structure related factors, station attributes, and the large compound. Nineteen significant determinants have been identified, among which the four factors of office building area, land use mix, the number of restaurants, and financial institutions are the most influential factors. Built-environment-related factors exert more significant impact on MRT ridership than others. The distance to city center and the number of bus lines around stations have negative association with MRT demand. The proposed PCR-based DRM provides insights for forecasting transit demand brought about by new metro lines and forecasting the consequences of land use development.

Analysis of the impact of the MRT system on accessibility in Singapore using an integrated GIS tool

大眾捷運系統是現代都市發展中相當重要的建設，城市許多相關的發展都受到捷運系統的影響，正如房地產市場也是如此，住宅若鄰近捷運系統會提高其價值，因此，本研究便探討大眾捷運對於周邊房地產價格的影響。 本研究分別利用台北捷運板南線龍山寺站至市政府站間各捷運站的乘客進出人數與其各車站周邊土地的公告現值和本路線經過的各行政區房價指數經文獻分析、數據比較、量化方法各種方法，探討捷運系統對周邊房地產價格的影響，再印證到上海地鐵的發展脈絡，探討捷運場站周邊房地產市場的發展歷程。經過分析後歸納出幾點結論，一區內捷運場站對周邊房地產價格的效益會互相抵銷；而捷運場站周邊商業或住宅物件的價格反應歷程也有所不同，經實證分析的研究後發現，當大眾捷運系統出現後，周邊的商業用地產物件在價格上的正向反應程度比住宅型物件大，由於捷運系統也會為周邊居住環境帶來一些負面的影響，但對於商業使用的地產物件而言，大眾捷運系統的出現帶來的大量的人潮，便增加了此類型物件的獲利能力，使其價值提升，而由於這種現象也會使車站周邊的土地利用轉為商業使用，住宅物件則往車站外圍移動；而捷運車站的設立也會產生郊區化的情況，在捷運站周圍出現新的生活圈，捷運出現在郊區後會吸引商家進入，因此，提升了周圍的生活機能，民眾負擔不起市中心的房價會轉而往郊區移動；此外，台北市和上海市在政經體制和發展歷程不同的背景之下，這兩都市的房地產發展歷程也有所差異，因此 可以說捷運系統的安排也支配著房價的起伏。

Property value capture for development of mass rapid transit: Case study from Hanoi

Parallel shuttle bus service design for planned mass rapid transit shutdown: The Singapore experience

Since the transportation sector is one of the main contributors of GHG emissions in Indonesia, having a clear direction of climate policy is very important. Developing mass rapid transit (MRT) as the climate policy in urban transportation is urgently needed since it can encourage people to use public transport. However, some policies seem conflicting, either encouraging or discouraging people to use public transport. Therefore, balancing conflicting policies is important. Fuel subsidy is such policy that hampers potential impacts of the MRT being currently under construction in one of the most congested cities in the world, Jakarta. Describing the current transport policies in Jakarta as well as the current commuters’ behavior on transport mode choices is a basis to deliver the appropriate policies. Repeated choice experiments for private vehicle commuters in Jakarta on preferences if they would be willing to shift to MRT once it becomes available have been conducted before and after the removal of the fuel subsidy. The mixed logit models revealed that the scale of impacts on probability to shift for MRT due to subsidy removal is significant compared to the best available feasible options for MRT service improvements. Moreover, after the actual implementation of the fuel subsidy removal, more motorcycle commuters are willing to shift compared to the hypothetical scenario of the fuel subsidy removal. Shifting from using cars or motorcycles to MRT also can reduce the CO2 emission. Under the assumptions that MRT will be operated by electric-based systems and the CO2 emission is negligible, the shifting of commuters from cars and motorcycles can reduce the CO2 emission by 10.52 % per year, using the year 2013 as the base year. Moreover, because of the fuel subsidy removal, the reduction of CO2 emission will be higher, up to 13.28 % per year.

To mitigate ever-growing traffic congestion in Dhaka city, the Government of Bangladesh is implementing the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project. The MRT Project consists of several metro rail routes in the city, some of these routes are elevated rail, while some are planned to be partly elevated and partly underground. Construction of MRT Line 6 consisting of elevated rail is in progress, while the second route (MRT Line 1) being planned for construction consists of some underground portions. Bangladesh, located near the plate boundaries of the Indian Plate colliding with the Eurasian Plate, possesses significant seismic hazard. According to the latest updated version of the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC-2020), Dhaka city has a seismic zone coefficient of 0.20 (maximum considered earthquake) for rock sites. For local soil conditions, ground motions may exceed 0.25 g. This paper considers a site near Kamalapur Railway station, the Railway Hub in Dhaka city, where MRT Line 1 will end. The seismic response of a typical cross-section of subway tunnel is analyzed using the finite element software PLAXIS 2D. Time history analysis under 2D plane strain conditions is conducted for various intensity levels of earthquake motion incorporating site effects.KeywordsSubway tunnelSeismic responseSite amplificationDhaka MRTFEM

The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project involves the construction of an urban passenger transport system, i.e., Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, together with the existing urban rail network, will form the backbone of the public transport system in the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley region in Malaysia. The first MRT line implemented is the 47 km Kajang Line, of which 9.5 km is underground tunnels with seven underground stations. Construction of the line began on 8 July 2011 and achieved the full line opening on 17 July 2017. The second MRT line―Putrajaya Line―began fully operations on 16 March 2023, stretches from Sungai Buloh to Serdang and ends at Putrajaya for a length of 57.7 km, of which 13.5 km is underground tunnels with 10 new underground stations. Like all other metro underground stations/tunnels designed as part of the urban city, the KVMRT underground construction faces challenges from a technical (engineering design and construction) as well as social (environmental and land related) point of view. Needless to say, underground construction in Klang Valley is intensified with the inherent geotechnical challenges presented by complex ground conditions ranging from hard granite, heterogeneous Kenny Hill formation and extreme karstic limestone with fully developed weathered profiles to soft recent deposits including alluvium and mine tailing that is under‐consolidated in places due to past mining activities. The development of this large‐scale infrastructure project has not only opened up tremendous works and new frontier for tunnelling and geotechnical engineering in Malaysia, but it also provided a wealth of information of unique geotechnical challenges/accomplishments as well as technology breakthrough and design innovation in underground engineering. This article discusses some aspects of geotechnical challenges and interesting lessons learnt as well as numerous innovations embedded into this highly complex urban underground construction project.