Feeder Service Research Articles

Understanding captive user behavior in the competition between BRT and motorcycle taxis

Transit-dependent users, far from being captives, may have other transportation alternatives. In some developing countries, depending on the characteristics of the city, instead of cycling or walking, captive users opt for informal services to commute. Although they are less safe and possibly less comfortable than regulated BRT services, demand for informal services such as motorcycle taxis has grown in recent years, affecting the self-sustainability of some BRT systems. This research aims to provide a richer explanation of the choice process between the BRT feeder service and motorcycle taxis in the context of the City of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Initially, we analyzed a set of effect indicators by diverging stacked bar charts, and then we used a hybrid discrete choice model to incorporate comfort and safety perceptions, in addition to the tangible attributes traditionally used. We found that safety perception, which varies by gender, age and income, is a key variable in modeling the choice process. Based on an empirical chart analysis and the modeling results, we proposed some policies aimed at changing user choices to stimulate the demand for BRT feeder system.

Simultaneous optimization of re-phasing, reconfiguration and DG placement in distribution networks using BF-SD algorithm

Phase unbalancing is a problem in distribution networks that causes feeder service tripping and reduces the network quality. Re-phasing is the strategy used for phase balancing. Moreover, the power loss reduction is a significant problem in distribution networks. A common solution for power loss reduction is reconfiguration. Besides, optimal DG placement can reduce power loss and improve voltage profile. In this paper, a new method is proposed for simultaneous optimization of re-phasing, reconfiguration, and DG placement in distribution networks to reduce phase unbalancing and power loss and improve voltage profile. As there are four dissimilar objective functions, the objectives are made fuzzy and integrated as the fuzzy multi-objective function. Finally, the optimization is done by using ‎Bacterial Foraging with Spiral Dynamic‎ (BF-SD) algorithm. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, it is applied to IEEE 123-node test feeder.

Effect of Development of Rural Roads and Feeder Service on Trip Characteristics of Households: A Case Study

Over the last decade, India has made significant progress regarding the development of rural roads through a program called as ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’. With improved road infrastructure, small feeder vehicles like tempos and trekkers have started operating in many rural areas. The present paper reports an investigation on the change in trip characteristics of households due to the development of rural road and/or introduction of feeder service (informal service-by private operators). Three geographical areas served by PMGSY roads and/or feeder service in West Midnapore district of West Bengal are considered in the case study. The work indicates that development of rural roads has resulted in an increase in trip rates for all the categories (i.e. work, education and others) made by different categories of household (i.e. farmer, labour, service, business and others). Trip rates are also found to increase for all categories of the household after starting of the feeder service. The feeder service is found to attract predominantly bicycle users from all categories of the household.

An analysis on transit pick-up points for vulnerable people during hurricane evacuation: A case study of New Orleans

In emergency evacuation there is always a need for transit for those who do not have access to private transportation or cannot walk to safety. Particularly affected among this section of society are the poor, the disabled, and the elderly. Several cities have established prepositioned pick-up points to serve this section of the population but the number and location of the pick-up points have usually been decided using professional judgment or based on experience from past storms. As the vulnerable section of the population typically have low mobility, getting transit pick-up points close to areas of greatest need is important in order to provide better service, improve the efficiency of evacuation, and even decrease the loss of life. In this study, the spatial distribution of the population is estimated using a modified dasymetric mapping method, which estimates population distribution in terms of 30m × 30m land parcels. In each parcel, the vulnerable population is estimated from the proportion of disabled, aged, and zero car-owning persons in the area as determined from census data. Using Orleans parish in New Orleans as a case study and assuming a catchment area of ½ mile around each of the 17 existing pick-up points, the number of vulnerable persons served by the existing system was estimated. To determine whether the 17 pick-up points could be better located to serve the vulnerable optimally, the set of all eligible pick-up sites were first identified and then the pick-up points serving the greatest need were identified using integer linear programming. The results show that the 17 optimally located pick-up points triple the vulnerable population that could be served. On the question of whether 17 is the right number of pick-up points to employ, analysis shows there is a steadily decreasing average value served per pick-up point as the number of pick-up point increases. At some stage it would probably no longer be efficient to create additional pick-up points but provide a feeder service from small demand to larger demand pick-up points or link smaller demand pick-up points on a route to serve several pick-up points with a single service.

FEEDER MODE CHOICE SELECTION BEHAVIOURAL MODELLING: THE CASE OF KTM KOMUTER, KUALA LUMPUR

Transit oriented development propagates the use of feeder services such as buses, taxis and paratransit to support the main rail trunks (Taylor, 1982; Limtanakool et.al, 2006; Alshalalfah & Shalaby, 2007). This paper attempts at explaining the preferences of passengers of a Malaysian rail service towards feeder buses, factors influencing their choices and recommendations to encourage the KTM Komuter passengers to switch mode to feeder services instead of driving theirprivate vehicles to and from stations. Using on-board intercept survey method, some results of 200 samples were analysed for the research. Findings showed that 76% of the passengers did not prefer to use the feeder. As such, the chi-square analysis did not find any socio-demographic factors such as gender, income, level of study, employment types, to be significant in explaining this mode switching behaviour. Some trip characteristics such as vehicle ownership, frequency andlength of using the KTM Komuter service also did not significantly influence the passengers' preference in using the feeder bus service. Other factors were then examined, including stations’ characteristics, users’ access and egress behaviours, travel time and distance. Therefore, in order to encourage the KTM Komuter users in using the feeder bus service, several recommendations such as providing an efficient, reliable frequency and catchment areas of feeder bus services were made.

FEEDER MODE CHOICE SELECTION BEHAVIOURAL MODELLING: THE CASE OF KTM KOMUTER, KUALA LUMPUR

Transit oriented development propagates the use of feeder services such as buses, taxis and paratransit to support the main rail trunks (Taylor, 1982; Limtanakool et.al, 2006; Alshalalfah & Shalaby, 2007). This paper attempts at explaining the preferences of passengers of a Malaysian rail service towards feeder buses, factors influencing their choices and recommendations to encourage the KTM Komuter passengers to switch mode to feeder services instead of driving theirprivate vehicles to and from stations. Using on-board intercept survey method, some results of 200 samples were analysed for the research. Findings showed that 76% of the passengers did not prefer to use the feeder. As such, the chi-square analysis did not find any socio-demographic factors such as gender, income, level of study, employment types, to be significant in explaining this mode switching behaviour. Some trip characteristics such as vehicle ownership, frequency andlength of using the KTM Komuter service also did not significantly influence the passengers' preference in using the feeder bus service. Other factors were then examined, including stations’ characteristics, users’ access and egress behaviours, travel time and distance. Therefore, in order to encourage the KTM Komuter users in using the feeder bus service, several recommendations such as providing an efficient, reliable frequency and catchment areas of feeder bus services were made.

A Frequency-Based Assignment Model under Day-to-Day Information Evolution of Oversaturated Conditions on a Feeder Bus Service

Day-to-day information is increasingly being implemented in transit networks worldwide. Feeder bus service (FBS) plays a vital role in a public transit network by providing feeder access to hubs and rails. As a feeder service, a space-time path for frequent passengers is decided by its dynamic strategy procedure, in which a day-to-day information self-learning mechanism is identified and analyzed from our survey data. We formulate a frequency-based assignment model considering day-to-day evolution under oversaturated conditions, which takes into account the residual capacity of bus and the comfort feelings of sitting or standing. The core of our proposed model is to allocate the passengers on each segment belonging to their own paths according to multi-utilities transformed from the time values and parametric demands, such as frequency, bus capacity, seat comfort, and stop layout. The assignment method, albeit general, allows us to formulate an equivalent optimization problem in terms of interaction between the FBS’ operation and frequent passengers’ rational behaviors. Finally, a real application case is generated to test the ability of the modeling framework capturing the theoretical consequents, serving the passengers’ dynamic externalities.

Cascading feeder vessels and the rationalisation of small container ports

Small container ports rely on feeder services from hub ports to provide access to unitised trade flows for their hinterlands. They generally possess limited water depth and handling facilities, as investments required to handle larger vessels are not justified by their low container throughput. This paper questions the future of small ports due to larger vessels cascading down as a result of ever-larger vessels on the major trade lanes.The paper uses vessel call data to identify all world ports currently served by sub-1000 TEU vessels. Data on the dimensions of the vessel fleet and order book are analysed in conjunction with accessibility constraints at these small ports. Results show that with 15% of the sub-1000 TEU fleet currently laid up and very few on order, larger feeders with deeper drafts seem certain to serve at least some of these routes. But with 90 container ports (21%) having berth depth of less than 9.1m and the need to accommodate design drafts of at least 8.7m, larger vessels will threaten the viability of these ports unless they commit significant investment. A geographical analysis is also conducted, mapping the distribution of small ports across the globe and classifying coastal, estuary, river and island locations, as well as identifying clusters of small ports that could in future be served by second-tier hubs, such as Southeast Asia and the Baltic Sea.Findings suggest that, just as container ports at the larger end of the scale were rationalised as flows concentrated at major hubs, several drivers exist for the same process to occur at small ports. Consequently, the paper asks how small ports and local shippers will cope, whether such ports lose their connections entirely, if local shippers must pay for an additional handling cost to tranship a second time from large feeder to small feeder, or whether they rely on overland transport links.

Impact of para-transit travel time reliability on urban mobility: a case study

This study investigates how poor para-transit travel time reliability fuel the mode shift towards private vehicle ownership in the medium size Indian city. The case study is the city of Bardoli in Gujarat, India, where motorised shared three-wheelers (MSTWs) operate as a para-transit system under a high degree of travel time uncertainty in the absence of formal public bus transit system. The traffic stream on the six study corridors was simulated in VISSIM environment. The multi-linear regression analysis was employed to estimate MSTW travel time reliability. Results show that the proposed bus transit system but reliable could add on overall mode shift as much as 24%. The maximum mode shifts estimated even 100% from MSTW and 33% of car users. The MSTW is preferred as feeder service (63.4%) and not as an alternative to the public transit system. The delay in improving MSTW reliability and implementation of bus transit would cause acceleration in mode shift towards private vehicles.

GTFS Bus Stop Mapping to the OSM Network

Abstract: Due to budget constraints public transportation (PT) can no longer be deployed in regions where it attracts insufficient customers. Novel techniques like demand-responsive collective transportation (DRT) are evaluated to cut costs. This requires detailed simulations that are able to predict travel demand and include trip execution. Simulating facilities acting as feeder services to time-table based PT services requires detailed and accurate information about the PT infrastructure on a network. However, there are no public data sources that combine network and PT infrastructure data with the preferred level of detail. A newly developed bus stop mapping technique is presented. It uses the OpenStreetMap (OSM) and General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) open data sources, which are maintained independently. Merging the data into a single database requires alignment. Developing bus stop mapping algorithms is challenging due to (i) inaccurate location data, (ii) inconsistent data sources and (iii) the vastly interconnected PT network and services. Due to the inaccuracy in the GTFS stop locations and in the OSM network, pure geometric considerations might lead to multiple candidate solutions to map a stop to the network. The new technique handles all GTFS trips at once and operates under the assumption that PT operators minimize the total distance driven to complete all trips.

Feeder mode choice analysis for public bus transit system: a case study

Accessibility of public transit system is minimal in developing countries due to the lack of feeder services. The present study used multinomial logit models to analyse the feeder mode choice modelling in Ahmedabad City in India. The prediction accuracy of the proposed model was 53.6%, which was greater than the proportional by chance accuracy criteria of 49.5%. The results revealed that increase in the level of service variables, i.e., travel time and travel cost, the respondents willingness from feeder modes to a present private mode. The findings revealed that as the estimated coefficients for a monthly income of users for three wheelers as a feeder mode has 0.641 times the chance of preferring over minibus while preferences of the bicycle as feeder mode have 0.817 more chances to use the minibus. The proposed methodology can be applied for feeder mode choice of same sized metropolitan cities.

Route Design Model of Feeder Bus Service for Urban Rail Transit Stations

As an important part of urban public transportation systems, the feeder bus fills a service gap left by rail transit, effectively extending the range of rail transit’s service and solving the problem of short‐distance travel and interchanges. By defining the potential demand of feeder bus services and considering its relationship with the traffic demands of corresponding staging areas, the distance between road and rail transit, and the repetition factor of road bus lines, this paper established a potential demand model of roads by opening feeder bus services and applying a logit model for passenger flow distribution. Based on a circular route model, a route starting and ending at urban rail transit stations was generated, and a genetic algorithm was then applied to solve it. The Wei‐Fang community of Shanghai was selected as the test area. Per the model and algorithm, the feeder route length was conformed to a functional orientation of short‐distance travel and the feeder service of a feeder bus; the route mostly covered where conventional bus lines were fewer, which is a finding that is in agreement with the actual situation; the feasibility of the model and algorithm was verified.

Feeder mode choice analysis for public bus transit system: a case study

Accessibility of public transit system is minimal in developing countries due to the lack of feeder services. The present study used multinomial logit models to analyse the feeder mode choice modelling in Ahmedabad City in India. The prediction accuracy of the proposed model was 53.6%, which was greater than the proportional by chance accuracy criteria of 49.5%. The results revealed that increase in the level of service variables, i.e., travel time and travel cost, the respondents willingness from feeder modes to a present private mode. The findings revealed that as the estimated coefficients for a monthly income of users for three wheelers as a feeder mode has 0.641 times the chance of preferring over minibus while preferences of the bicycle as feeder mode have 0.817 more chances to use the minibus. The proposed methodology can be applied for feeder mode choice of same sized metropolitan cities.

THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF GWADAR PORT: AN ECONOMIC HUB FOR MARITIME TRADE

Gwadar Port is the mega project of ongoing developmental projects in Balochistan which is shaping the economy of the World. The port is creating opportunities and possibilities for promoting regional and international shipping and it will resuscitate trade links between China and CARs being the closest route to warm waters. Gwadar Port has vast region to influence; stretching up to several breakaway states of the former Soviet Union in the north, to Iran, the Gulf, the Middle East and East Africa in the west, to India and Sri Lanka in the south. Moreover, this deep port is serving the Gulf and East African ports with fast feeder services. It has deep-water sea complementary to Karachi and Bin Qasim ports for enhancing cargo shipments and therefore it will be a mother port for Asia in the coming years.

Last-Mile Transit Service with Urban Infrastructure Data

In this article, we propose a transit service Feeder to tackle the last-mile problem, that is, passengers’ destinations lay beyond a walking distance from a public transit station. Feeder utilizes ridesharing-based vehicles (e.g., minibus) to deliver passengers from existing transit stations to selected stops closer to their destinations. We infer real-time passenger demand (e.g., exiting stations and times) for Feeder design by utilizing extreme-scale urban infrastructures, which consist of 10 million cellphones, 27 thousand vehicles, and 17 thousand smartcard readers for 16 million smartcards in a Chinese city, Shenzhen. Regarding these numerous devices as pervasive sensors, we mine both online and offline data for a two-end Feeder service: a back-end Feeder server to calculate service schedules and front-end customized Feeder devices in vehicles for real-time schedule downloading. We implement Feeder using a fleet of vehicles with customized hardware in a subway station of Shenzhen by collecting data for 30 days. The evaluation results show that compared to the ground truth, Feeder reduces last-mile distances by 68% and travel time by 56%, on average.

Assessing the potential of bus rapid transit-led network restructuring for enhancing affordable access to employment – The case of Johannesburg's Corridors of Freedom

Bus rapid transit (BRT) systems are often implemented as a means toward achieving regulatory reform in the transport sector. This often involves simultaneous formalisation of informal paratransit operators, and restructuring of public transport networks into centrally planned trunk-feeder systems. Such interventions might radically affect passenger access and social inclusion in ways that are as yet poorly understood. The paper uses a new accessibility metric called access envelopes to examine the potential impacts of various restructuring options on passengers' wage earning potential at job opportunities across space. The Corridors of Freedom initiative of the City of Johannesburg is used as a case study of a BRT-led restructuring exercise with land use and transport components. The study finds that it is hard to improve on the accessibility provided by the current near-ubiquitous informal minibus-taxi network. The only way that BRT implementation can improve access and affordability in the short run is by offering a fully integrated trunk with feeder services. Should such feeder services be supplied via a hybrid formal-informal approach, an integrated and progressive fare policy is critical to maintaining affordable access for poor passengers. A laissez-fare approach where taxis are allowed to provide ad hoc feeder services without any fare integration, is likely to decrease affordable access.

Intention of Paratransit Drivers to Operate as Feeder Service of Public Bus in Phnom Penh

Intention of Paratransit Drivers to Operate as Feeder Service of Public Bus in Phnom Penh

Optimal feeder service plan design of cargo express train in railway hub

The feeder service plan (FSP) of cargo express train aims to utilize the train resources in railway hub in a more cost-effective way. So far in China, the feeder service operating mode with hump yard (FSOMH) in railway hub cannot meet freight transport demand, because of their low level of service. To improve the level of service of cargo express trains, a new feeder service operating mode with hump yard and railway logistics centre (FSOMHR) is proposed in this paper. A mixed integer programming model is also presented, which is based on a service network in railway hub. This model aims to minimize the cost of the cargo express train organization and number of local trains. In addition, the service time constraint and capacity constraint of service arcs are considered. The case study based on Hangzhou railway hub shows that the proposed solution method yields a better FSP. Under the FSOMHR, the departure volume of railcars increases by 58.70%, compared to FSOMH.

Port connectivity in a logistic network: The case of Bohai Bay, China

While traditional port literature uses origin and destination pairs in global shipping networks, recent developments of dry ports in the hinterland, feeder service networks, and heavy foreign trade traffic make the ports in Bohai Bay a unique case in the analysis of inter-port connectivity and competitiveness. Using an integrated port connectivity index to define the above features, the advantages and challenges of individual ports can be assessed in a dynamic interconnected environment. The model can provide unbiased port development strategies for each port to ensure long-term sustainability.

Role of Air Cargo and Road Feeder Services for Regional Airports – Case Studies from the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract Although airports play an important role the global and European economies, according to the new guidelines of the EU Commission on the new state aid rules for a competitive aviation industry (EC, 2014), it will be more difficult for unprofitable airports, to get financial public subsidies in the future. The Commission noted that the majority of regional airports experience severe problems to cover their operative costs, resulting from among other things from overlapping of airports’ catchment areas. The main objective of the above mentioned measures is not to close the regional airports, but to motivate them to operate on cost efficient, profitable and more flexible basis, stating however that and that the most inefficient airports will be still closed. In order face upcoming challenges, the regional airports shall reconsider their future development plans. Traditionally, the airports including small and regional airports focus on the passenger traffic and thus, the possible benefits and opportunities of the air cargo market are totally underestimated or even completely ignored. Most regional airports in the Baltic Sea region act totally isolated and do not have a clear picture of the current situation on the international air cargo market today, its future perspectives and sustainable development plans remain basically hidden. There are some examples when trying to meet the market demand, the regional airports have made huge, but unfortunately unjustified investments, e.g. improving airport infrastructure, runways, etc. However, the airports’ infrastructural investments alone cannot fulfil the expected “remedy” role for the airports’ sustainability. This paper aims at investigating the positioning and the role of the regional airports in the current hub-and-spoke network, focusing on the relevance and potential of the air cargo sector for the regional airports development. The optional freight value proposition for the development of the regional airports and their possible participation in the air cargo market as a supplement instrument to generate additional revenue also by means of so-called “air trucking” services will be presented and discussed.