Bus Terminals Research Articles

SAFETY OF WOMEN AND GIRLS AGAINST VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN PUBLIC SPACES IN CHITUNGWIZA, HARARE, ZIMBABWE

Introduction: No one should be subjected to any form of violence publicly or privately. The level of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Zimbabwe remains high and a barrier to women’s active participation in development. At least >68% of women in the Sothern African Development Community have experienced some form of GBV during their life time. The research aimed at promoting full recognition, realization and protection of the rights of women and girls against all forms of gender-based violence and threats, by advocating for women friendly and safe community environments. Methods: Simple random sampling was used to administer the questionnaires to women and girls, boys and men in the community. Cluster sampling by age and gender was employed first and followed by a random selection within the clusters for focus group participants. Purposive sampling was also used. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, structured interviews and observation were utilised. Results: Women and girls experienced physical, sexual, psychological and verbal abuse violence in public spaces. Public spaces included bus termini/ ranks, aboard public transport, at market places, shopping centres, beer halls, at stadiums, in the streets and along bushy pathways in and around the communities. Female respondents were harassed without recourse although acutely aware of procedures of reporting cases of violence to the police. Most women experienced police stations as being far away. Normally, authorities did nothing to the perpetrators of domestic violence. Conclusion: Ensuring women and girls safety in public spaces was recommended as government priority area. Streetlights erection, provision of running water in homes, more public toilets construction, establishment of viable reporting mechanisms for violence and sexual harassment were needed. Women wanted law enforcers and local service providers trained on gender sensitivity and taking reported cases seriously. Guarantying the exercise of right freedom of movement, permitting women to carry out their activities without fear is needed.

Flexibility Quantification and the Potential for Its Usage in the Case of Electric Bus Depots with Unidirectional Charging

One of the crucial steps for a successful integration of electric bus fleets into the existing electric power systems is the active and intelligent usage of their flexibility. This is important not only for reducing the eventual negative effects on the power grid but also for reducing energy and infrastructure costs. The first step in the optimal usage of flexibility is its quantification, which allows the maximum provision of flexibility without any negative effects for the fleet operation. This paper explores the available flexibility of large-scale electric bus fleets with a concept of centralized and unidirectional depot charging. An assessment of available positive and negative flexibility was conducted based on the data from two real bus depots in the city of Hamburg, Germany. The analysis shows the biggest flexibility potential was in the period from 16:00 h to 24:00 h, and the smallest one was in the periods from 08:00 h to 16:00 h, as well as from 02:00 h to 08:00 h. The paper also gives an overview of the possible markets for flexibility commercialization in Germany, which can provide an additional economic benefit for the fleet operators. A further analysis of the impact of parameters such as the timeline (working day or weekend), charging concept, ambient temperature, and electrical preconditioning provides an additional understanding of available flexibility.

Smart Bus Terminus: Sustainable Urban Public Transport Solution Through BIM and GIS Integrated Approach

Smart city / digital city is engaging in Big Data which will be utilized in monitoring and optimizing the urban systems to minimize resource consumption and maximize the quality of life. To implement the concept of “smart cities”, smart city components, design innovation and prototypes must be studied in detail which will be beneficial in understanding the features. India is moving towards becoming one of the developed nations, the source of revenue is highly dependent on public contributions, especially through the transportation sector. The population of India is majorly comprised of the middle-class income category. Their livelihood mainly depends on the regional level jobs and for commute, they prefer public transportation especially Buses. For lodging these buses that are huge in number, Bus Terminus become an integral infrastructure component. In Indian cities, the existing bus terminus appears to be poorly designed and highly congested irrespective of their sizes. Interventions of modern methodologies to improve the conditions in the existing bus terminus in various Indian cities and reconstructing them is of utmost priority for urban planners and policymakers to reach sustainable cities. The objective of adopting smart innovative solutions in Bus Terminus is to reduce pollution, congestion of traffic, improve safety, time optimization and cost reduction. Modern bus terminus must accommodate some key features such as green buildings and utilization of eco-friendly materials for construction, incorporating real-time response, installing solar panels for energy efficiency and power generation, waste segregation and recycling, the hybrid modal form of transport i.e., both traditional and electric vehicles, etc. In the present study, the attempt has been made to develop an artistic view of a “Smart Bus Terminus” prototype that can be adopted at regional and global levels. Autodesk REVIT Architecture and AutoCAD have been used to design and create 3D models; Geographical Information System tools have been adopted for the recommendation of site selection.

Real-time dispatching of operating buses during unplanned disruptions to urban rail transit system

Unplanned disruptions to urban rail systems can result in widespread confusion and severe delays, and running bus bridging service is a common solution. Currently, transit operators usually adopt experience-based response strategy in such a way that spare buses from bus terminals and parking lots are used to run bus bridging services. Such a response approach can be effective when there are spare buses available at nearby terminals/parking lots. However, in case spare buses are not available or enough, it could be beneficial to dispatch running buses from nearby operating bus lines to ensure efficient response while incurring minimal inconvenience to on-board passengers. While this approach could reduce metro users’ delays, it causes extra delays and dissatisfaction to affected bus riders. In this study, we investigate the optimal bus dispatching problem for responding to unplanned disruptions of urban rail transit system with two bus fleet sources: (1) spare buses at terminals and parking lots, and (2) running buses from nearby operating bus lines. To obtain the optimal dispatching scheme, we develop an integer programming model, which achieves a balance between the delays of metro users and that of bus riders. Considering of the high uncertainty of bus headways which could affect the performance of the above deterministic model, we further develop a robust optimization model to obtain more reliable bus dispatching schemes. Case studies based on the data sets in Shanghai are conducted. The results demonstrate that our approach can be carried out in real-time, and employing running buses from operating bus lines shows great potential in reducing affected users’ delays. In addition, the robust model offers a more reliable and competitive solution when the headway varies widely.

Assessment of the psychological dimension to open defecation in Ogun State

The possibility of faecal exposure increasing risk for COVID-19 infection makes imperative the need to interrogate current sanitation practices, as emerging studies indicate the possibility that the oral-faecal pathway could serve as an alternative to the respiratory and contact transmissions. This would help provide an analytical premise for planned improvement and greater precaution in ensuring human waste is safely contained, emptied, transported, and disposed or treated. This study adopts the RANT model (Risk, Attitude, Norm, and Toilet Management factors) in order to expatiate on the psychological determinants of open defecation by households who currently have toilets and either share them or use them separately. This is with a view to proffering suggestions on the sustainable measures for faecal waste management within Ogun state, Nigeria. Using a four-level multi-stage approach, questionnaires were administered to a total of 330 households within Ogun State, Nigeria. In the logistic modelling of the psychological factors explaining why households still defecate in the open, an indicator of the risk factor was more significant in the tendency of households, where toilets are shared, to still defecate in the open. Moreover, an indicator of the norm factor would explain why households who do not share toilets still defecate in the open. The study recommends the need to mainstream, and implement effectively, initiatives such as planning and landscaping of open spaces, bus terminals with adequate toilets, installations of signpost warning against open defecation, comprehensive water schemes in cities’ master plans of Ogun state, as a sustainable means of discouraging open defecation, and reducing the risk factors for COVID-19 infection and exposure to other infectious diseases.

Prioritizing Bus Routes for Electrification: GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Analysis Considering Operational, Environmental, and Social Benefits and Costs

Society today is enjoying an unprecedented level of human mobility but is also confronting environmental degradation resulting from fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The electrification of bus transit systems is recognized as one of the practical solutions to mitigate air pollution and other externalities of increased mobility. However, the implementation of an e-bus system requires the purchase of e-buses and the development of charging infrastructure. To reduce costs and maximize benefits, it is crucial to develop an integrated strategy during the planning stage. This study applies a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis approach to determine the candidate bus routes to convert from diesel-powered to electric-driven. This framework appraises not only the characteristics of bus routes but also the possibility of deploying charging infrastructures in bus terminals. Fourteen common criteria are used to evaluate the main considerations of bus electrification, including economic, environmental, and social benefits and costs. The analytic hierarchy process and the technique of order preference similarity to the ideal solution are employed to determine the criteria weights and the route ranking, respectively. The bus network of Twin Cities, MN, U.S., is used as a study case to present the proposed approach. Sensitivity analysis is included to identify the overall top 10 bus routes. The result shows that this method can use widely available open data to select top candidate routes that meet multiple criteria.

Maximum power extraction of hybrid photovoltaic ‐battery system with nonisolated single‐input and dual‐output DC‐DC converter: An efficient RFAMAO approach

The DC-DC converter is more significant for the integration of photovoltaic (PV) and battery. The design of the power converter is high complexity, because of the nonlinear characteristics, like supply voltage variations, switches, load current variations, and parasitic component fluctuation. This article proposes an efficient approach for increasing the maximum power of PV system and system efficiency. The proposed approach is the consolidation of Random Forest Algorithm (RFA) and Mexican Axolotl Optimization (MAO), hence it is called RFAMAO approach. The proposed approach utilized the single-input and dual-output boost converter to implement the maximum power point tracking of the system that improves the lesser voltage input power source, controllable higher voltage direct current bus and middle voltage output terminals. RFA is used to deal with the uncertainty caused by climate change. MAO is utilized to tune the control parameter of the system. The voltage-mode controlling strategy among the PV, battery, and standalone DC load depending on Digital Signal Processing and Control Engineering (DSPACE) is utilized for uninterruptible power flow management and constant DC load voltage maintenance. The proposed approach is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink, and its efficiency is compared with existing approaches. The oscillation around maximum power point (MPP) for case 1 of RFAMAO, modified shuffled frog leaping algorithm with fuzzy logic (MSFLA-FLC), fuzzy logic, and perturb and observe (P&O) is 2.69, 7.31, 20.54, and 29.12 W. The oscillation around MPP for case 2 of RFAMAO, MSFLA-FLC, fuzzy logic, and P&O is 2.57, 8.34, 18.56, and 27.65 W.

Manajemen Pelayanan Penumpang Di Terminal Bus

This paper is to find out the use of bus terminals in serving passengers by using a descriptive method with a qualitative approach and using data collection techniques with interviews, 13 informants with research results Bus terminal utilization of passenger services namely Determining Terminal Locations, arranging terminal supporting facilities, Flow arrangement traffic in the terminal supervision area, scheduling of officers in the terminal and evaluation of the terminal operating system. Obstacles encountered in passenger service to the effectiveness of using bus terminals include traffic facilities and infrastructure are still limited, traffic management has not functioned optimally, passenger public transport services are inadequate. Efforts carried out in the service effectiveness of bus terminal utilization on passenger services, namely Improving the waiting area service and the flow of public vehicles within the terminal, improving service in the arrival and departure of vehicles according to a predetermined schedule, Collecting passenger terminal services and Increasing the current flow settings crossing in the terminal surveillance area

Assessment of travelers’ fear of crime in intercity bus terminals: the case of Karandish terminal of Shiraz

Assessment of travelers’ fear of crime in intercity bus terminals: the case of Karandish terminal of Shiraz

Assessment of environmental pollution of heavy metals deposited on the leaves of trees at Yazd bus terminals.

There is a lack of information on the effect of urban transport activities in emitting heavy elements into the environment. This research assesses the concentrations of some heavy elements in the deposited atmospheric dust at Yazd bus terminals in Yazd, Iran. So, 34 falling dust samples were collected from the leaves of trees planted near the bus terminals. Following the digestion by nitric acid, the total concentrations of cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), chromium ‬(Cr), and manganese (Mn) were determined in the dust by atomic absorption spectrometry. The map representing the spatial distribution of the metals was plotted, and their sources were identified using Pearson's correlation coefficient, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis. The results indicated that the mean concentrations of the heavy metals in the dust deposited on the tree leaves were in the order of Cd < Co < Ni < Pb < Cu < Zn < Cr < Mn. The map representing the spatial distribution of the heavy metal concentrations illustrated that the abundance of metals in different stations varied with their location. Two main sources were detected for the heavy metals in the deposited dust. Co, Cd, Mn, and Ni had anthropogenic and lithogenic sources while Pb, Zn, Cr, and Cu were emitted by traffic and industrial activities. Enrichment factor, contamination factor, integrated pollution index, and risk index were estimated at low to extremely high levels of pollution in residential, commercial, green space, and environmental uses. Based on the results, the growth of industrialization and human activities contribute to the heavy metal contamination of the environment emitted into the atmosphere in Yazd.

Effectiveness of an intervention to reduce accidents in bus drivers.

Medical incapacity at the wheel is a small but significant factor in accident causation. To mitigate against this, in July 2017 a UK-based bus operator changed its medical assessment policy, requiring all future medicals to include a request to the General Practitioner (GP) for information about any conditions in the medical record which could affect fitness to drive. To evaluate the impact of the change in policy on accident rates. Accident data were obtained over a 5-year period, with information on age and length of service of drivers, from three bus depots. Monthly accident rates, before and after the change in policy were compared with the Wilcoxon matched pairs test, and a line of best fit/R2 obtained via a scatter graph. Although a general downward trend in accident rates was seen, there was no statistically significant difference between the overall accident rates in the 12 months before and after the policy change in July 2017 (P-value = 0.519, significance level P < 0.05). The downward trend in accident rates observed over the study period could not be attributed to the change of policy. However, this intervention warrants further scrutiny due to the potential consequences of passenger service vehicle accidents. Evidence suggests that professional awareness of the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency fitness to drive standards can be limited, so requesting GP input into driver medicals may raise awareness of these standards from an occupational health perspective.

Behavior and Non-Behavior Predictors of Seat Belt Use amongst Iranian Bus Passengers

Background: No behavior as much as the use of a seatbelt affects the reduction of the severity of injuries caused by driving accidents. So far, there has not been sufficient evidence of predictive factors regarding the use of seatbelts in bus passengers. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of seatbelt use in passengers of intercity buses. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 458 passengers of intercity bus terminals participated. The sampling method was multistage in this study. To collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed was used. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22 and logistic regression test. Results: The study population included 47% of men and 53% of women with an average age of 28.35 ± 6.1. Police stations, high bus speeds, night, and inappropriate weather conditions were among the situations in which the use of a seatbelts was more on the bus. The results of the logistic regression test in the third model showed that perceived barriers, law and supervision, subjective norms, environment, and bus type predict the use of seat belts significantly (P &lt;0.000). Conclusions: It seems that in addition to interventions designed to increase the knowledge and attitude of passengers and enhance the use of seatbelts on the bus, a special look is also needed at important people who influence the behavior of the people (subjective norms).

An evaluation of the productivity change in public transport sector using DEA-based model

This study aims to build a framework for measuring the productivity in the public transport sector through a data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique. This paper extends the Malmquist productivity index (MP1) and Luenberger productivity indicator (I.P1) evaluation with the concept of an input-oriented new slack model (NSM). NSM model measures the efficiency with the effect of slacks and satisfies unit invariance, radial and translation invariance properties. In particular, the purpose of the proposed extension is to obtain the overall productivity change in terms of technical change (Frontier Shift) and technical efficiency change (Catch-up Effect) for Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC) bus depots from 2008 to 2019. For this purpose, the number of buses, number of employers, fuel consumption and route distance arc are considered input variables, while passenger-kilometres occupied and vehicle utilisation are output variables. Finally, the result demonstrates that the average total factor productivity (TFP) growth of 46 depots using MPI and LPI over the study period is 1.956% and 1.409%, respectively. This study enables policy-maker and managers to evaluate the input to reach consistent output up to an optimum level and understand the process of improving the productivity level for the bus depots.

Visual Impairment and Risk of Self-Reported Road Traffic Crashes Among Bus Drivers in Bangladesh.

This study assesses the prevalence and the causes of visual impairment among bus drivers undergoing screening in Bangladesh and associations with self-reported crashes. Eye health screenings including refraction and questionnaires were conducted at 10 bus terminals in 7 districts of Bangladesh from June through August 2019. Presenting near and distance visual impairment and self-reported road traffic crashes were recorded. Among 700 participants, nearly 1 in 5 (n = 126, 18.0%) had presented visual acuity (VA) in the better-seeing eye ≤6/9, not meeting the vision standard of Bangladesh for bus drivers. A majority of drivers (n = 492, 70.3%) had near or distance refractive error, and most who failed to reach the driving standard (88.1%, n = 111) could be improved with readily available treatment, either glasses or cataract surgery. A history of 1 or more road traffic crashes while driving a bus or minibus was reported by 62 (8.97%) participants. In multivariable models, factors significantly associated with near or distance visual impairment included older age [odds ratio (OR) per year 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12-1.18, P < 0.0001] and having no driver's license (OR 1.80, 95% CI: 1.04-3.13, P = 0.037). Self-reported history of a motor vehicle crash was associated with near or distance visual impairment (OR 2.45, 95% CI: 1.09-5.49, P = 0.030), even when adjusting for other factors such as age and weekly miles are driven. Ensuring that bus drivers are screened to meet the required visual standards for driving while referring those who do not for treatment, can contribute to safer roads in this high-risk setting.

ANALISIS PENILAIAN PENGGUNA TERHADAP LAYANAN DI TERMINAL BUMIAYU DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE IMFORTANCE PERFORMANCE ANALISYS (IPA)

AbstractThe Bumiayu bus terminal is located north of the Langkap intersection, this type of terminal is a type-B terminal and every day this terminal is always crowded with passengers, especially in the afternoon. Bus transportation requires supporting infrastructure in the form of a bus terminal because whatever mode of transportation is used it will not work well if there is no infrastructure that supports it. Therefore, not only adequate infrastructure, bus terminals also need to have good and adequate service quality standards. The quality of terminal services can be determined by using the level of satisfaction of terminal service users. Based on the analysis of Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) First aid room facilities, information space and equality do not exist, meaning that they are not in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia No. 40 in 2015.Keywords: user rating, Bumiayu terminal, Importance Performance Analysis.

Multi-Depot Electric Bus Scheduling Considering Operational Constraint and Partial Charging: A Case Study in Shenzhen, China

Electric buses (e-buses) demonstrate great potential in improving urban air quality thanks to zero tailpipe emissions and thus being increasingly introduced to the public transportation systems. In the transit operation planning, a common requirement is that long-distance non-service travel of the buses among bus terminals should be avoided in the schedule as it is not cost-effective. In addition, e-buses should begin and end a day of operation at their base depots. Based on the unique route configurations in Shenzhen, the above two requirements add further constraint to the form of feasible schedules and make the e-bus scheduling problem more difficult. We call these two requirements the vehicle relocation constraint. This paper addresses a multi-depot e-bus scheduling problem considering the vehicle relocation constraint and partial charging. A mixed integer programming model is formulated with the aim to minimize the operational cost. A Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) heuristic is devised with novel destroy-and-repair operators to tackle the vehicle relocation constraint. Numerical experiments are conducted based on multi-route operation cases in Shenzhen to verify the model and effectiveness of the LNS heuristic. A few insights are derived on the decision of battery capacity, charging rate and deployment of the charging infrastructure.

A two-stage multi-objective stochastic optimization strategy to minimize cost for electric bus depot operators

The electrification of large-scale bus depots will bring challenges for bus depot operators (BDOs) aiming to minimize operational costs. A potential solution for BDOs managing electric buses (EBs) with large batteries that are capable of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operational functionalities, along with on-site generation facilities, is to actively participate in the energy market. This paper proposed a novel two-stage multi-objective stochastic optimization-based energy management system (EMS) for BDOs to trade energy in a day-ahead (DA) energy market while considering the expected cost of energy imbalances in the real-time (RT) market. The optimization model for charge–discharge scheduling is based on a mixed-integer linear programming approach. The uncertainties associated with the DA forecast are complemented by a stochastic model. Minimizing the cost of electricity and the penalty costs for battery capacity degradation are the objectives that need to be met simultaneously. The proposed EMS is evaluated using simulation studies considering a hypothetical bus depot in Australia. The effectiveness of the proposed EMS for overall financial savings is validated by comparing its performance with state-of-the-art scheduling strategies. Results show that the net energy cost for the proposed EMS is 38% lower compared to a deterministic scheduling strategy that does not allow V2G flexibilities, 33% lower compared to a deterministic scheduling strategy that allows V2G flexibilities and 17% lower compared to a stochastic scheduling strategy that minimizes overall costs.

Assessing the demand of route network for locating a bus terminus in a city – A case study of gandhipuram bus terminus (Coimbatore city)

Coimbatore is the second largest city in Tamilnadu. The bus terminus infrastructure in the city is not sufficient to handle the capacity of buses. Therefore, the Tamilnadu government has decided to construct new bus terminus at Vellalore. But when the route network between the existing bus terminus and the location of new bus terminus provides the inconvenient route behaviour for the passengers. This research work executes the route behaviour analysis for locating the efficient and accessible bus terminus inside the skirts of the city. The demand of various routes and the expectations of passengers has been analysed based on the questionnaire survey and the finalised route choice has been predicted based on the demand of the passengers and bus services.

Impacts of electrifying public transit on the electricity grid, from regional to state level analysis

Battery electrified public transit (BEPT), including buses and passenger ferries, is a promising solution to transport-related climate emissions and urban air pollution, but introduces potentially challenging large, coincident demand in the low-voltage distribution network. This paper presents a tool for estimating the energy and charging demand of electrified public transit using public data that is available in over 150 cities/states globally and demonstrates it in two case studies. The tool applies heuristic vehicle scheduling to existing public General Transit Feed Specification data to model the charging profiles and electricity consumption of BEPT for various charging regimes across different geographical scales. For the case study of New South Wales, Australia, the impacts of BEPT are most significant at the low-voltage network, where adding a battery-electric bus depot was found to increase the annual critical peak demand at the local zone substation in Summer by up to 17% while exacerbating demand during the daily evening peak period by 20–30%. Across the entire state of NSW, a full transition to BEPT increases annual electricity consumption by 1.28–1.34% and peak daily demand by 1–3%.

Evaluation of exposure to nano-sized particles among transport and vehicle service workers.

Exposure to fine and ultrafine particles from transport processes is a main consequence of emissions from engines, especially those with self-ignition. The particles released in these processes are a source of occupational and environmental particles exposure. The aim of this study was to assess the fine and nano-sized particles emission degree during work connected with transport and vehicle servicing. The tests were carried out at 3 workplaces of vehicles service and maintenance (a car repair workshop, a truck service hall, and a bus depot) during 1 work day in each of them. Measurements were performed using the following devices: DISCmini meters, GRIMM 1.109 optical counter and the DustTrak monitor. The number, surface area and mass concentration, and the number size distribution were analyzed. The mean number concentration (DISCmini) increased during the analyzed processes, ranging from 4×104 p/cm3 to 8×104 p/cm3, and the highest concentration was found in the car repair workshop. The particles mean diameters during the processes ranged 31-47 nm, depending on the process. An increase in the surface area concentration value was observed in correlation with the particles number, and its highest concentration (198 m2/cm3) was found during work in the car repair workshop. The number size distribution analysis (GRIMM 1.109) showed the maximum value of the number concentration for particles sized 60 nm. The mean mass concentrations increased during the tested processes by approx. 40-70%, as compared to the background. According to the measurement results, all the workplaces under study constituted a source of an increase in all analyzed parameters characterizing emissions of nano-sized particles. Such working environment conditions can be harmful to the exposed workers; therefore, at such workplaces solutions for minimizing workers' exposure, such as fume hoods or respiratory protection, should be used. Med Pr. 2021;72(5):489-500.