Public Transport Improvements Research Articles

Workplace Parking Levies: The answer to funding large scale local transport improvements in the UK?

Despite positive experiences in Australia of utilising area wide workplace parking place charges to pay for public transport improvement, only one UK local authority, to date, Nottingham City Council has chosen to implement a Work Place Parking Levy scheme (WPL). This scheme intends to allocate the revenue raised to fund (amongst other things) two new tram lines.Acceptance by the public and the business community are seen as key barriers to implementing a WPL. The two major criticisms of the Nottingham scheme prior to its implementation were that a WPL would discourage business investment and thus damage the economy while its intended impact on traffic congestion would be minimal.Therefore a detailed assessment of the Nottingham WPL scheme's performance is essential in order to facilitate transferability of this approach to other UK and European Cities and thus bring WPL into the mainstream for funding transport improvements.This paper outlines the barriers to implementation of the Nottingham WPL scheme, and the rationale behind the chosen use of revenue and how the scheme's performance will be evaluated as a transport demand management measure, as well as some initial performance monitoring data following the first year of operation.The results to date are discussed with a view to identifying any early indications as to whether traffic congestion and business investment has been impacted by the scheme's introduction.

General procedure for long-term energy-environmental planning for transportation sector of developing countries with limited data based on LEAP (long-range energy alternative planning) and EnergyPLAN

Energy-environmental planning for transportation sector requires extensive data for energy carriers types, production, and consumption as well as vehicle technologies. However, in developing countries, where private transportation sector is growing at an enormous rate and energy-environmental planning is needed the most, the required relevant data are usually limited or unavailable. The objective of this study is to develop a general procedure for long-term energy-environmental planning for transportation sector in developing countries to manage GC (gasoline consumption) for LDVs (light duty vehicle), based on historical data for POP (population) and GDP (gross domestic product). The general procedure is applied to Iran, as a developing country, and several scenarios are examined. For planning purposes up to 2025, based on historical data, the Grey model is used for the needed POP and GDP forecasts, and four ANNs (artificial neural network) are designed and used for forecasts of VP (vehicle population), TV (traffic volume), VKT (average private vehicles kilometers traveled/capita), and GC up to 2025. The scenarios examined include (a) S-BAU (business as usual), (b) S-GDP (GDP growth), (c) S-PUB (public transportation improvement), and (d) S-EV (utilization of electric vehicle). Energy models LEAP (long-range energy alternative planning) and EnergyPLAN are employed for annual and hourly analyses, respectively. The results show that S-PUB is the most effective scenario for reduction in GC, environmental emissions, and resource depletion.

Wpływ członkostwa Polski w Unii Europejskiej na przemiany publicznego transportu zbiorowego w Poznaniu

Transportation is one of the domains of economy in which Poland, due to its accession to the EU in 2004, is obliged to adhere to the EU law. Sustainable development has been the paramount objective of the EU sectoral policies and thus the EU is the driving force in undertakings which aim at sustainable development of transportation. EU transportation policy encourages development of economic, safe and eco-friendly transportation. For this reason, the EU strongly supports all undertakings which lead to the improvement of public transportation in agglomerations. Well-organised and dependable public transportation definitely improves the quality of city life and it may contribute to the reduction of crowd and improvement of the environment.The tendency to modernise comprehensively urban systems of public transportation has arrived to Poland from Western Europe. The processes have been initiated by the possibility of subsidising public transportation projects thanks to substantial amount of money from the EU funds. The money allotted for implementation of cohesion policy and regional development policy has clearly changed the image of public transportation in many Polish cities. By dint of these policies, it has become possible to initiate long-delayed investments, i.e. not only the purchase of a fleet of new trams and buses, but also modernisation and development of transportation infrastructure.For Poznań, the first decade of Poland’s EU membership has turned out to be a period of modernisation of the system of public transportation and possibility to buy modern low-floor trams and busses. Curiously, a company from the Wielkopolska voivodeship has won the tender to deliver the fleet three times, thereby strengthening its position on the market. Moreover, three new tram lines have been constructed. The first one, which crosses the city centre, has contributed to the optimization of the tram network and the revitalization of urban spaces. The second one has been built on the outskirts of the city and owing to the fact that in almost half of its length it passes through the tunnel, it is separated from the road traffic. The third one ensures fast and direct transport from the Northern districts of Poznań to the vicinity of main railway station.Apart from that, Poznań has undergone the following changes concerning the organisation of public transportation: separation of the organiser and the carrier of transportation; integration of railway, tram and bus transportation both in the city area and within the agglomeration; introduction of the flexible tariff and modern system of fees. Currently, the authorities of Poznań are planning subsequent investments in the development of public transportation, which can be subsidised in the new budget perspective of the EU.

Controlling Urban Sprawl with Integrated Approach of Space-transport Development Strategies

Urban sprawl phenomenon has been a huge issue since 20th century characterized by a rapid and unbalanced settlement development with transportation network particularly in a suburban area. The improvement of public transport system is a major requirement to minimize urban sprawl. Academic researchers have explained the linkage strategy between transportation network and urban planning. However, insufficient empirical verification has been made to control this phenomenon by using the integrated approach of space-transport development. This paper focuses on analyzing the improvement of public transport supply incorporated with settlement development. The improvement of public transport (PT) is designed by planning Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Light Rapid Transit (LRT), and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. The impact of PT improvement has affected on the settlement development. Setting balance between employment and population density is designed as alternative of urban spatial strategy. These approaches are necessary in order to analyze and evaluate the many alternatives to overcome this situation. The result reveals that the requirement to integrate the space-transport development strategy in order to control the settlement development in the suburb has to be done to reduce 10% of travel time and to increase double the usage possibility to public transport mode. The strategies should be done in the further research with considering on impact assessment and the residents preferences intended to determine the preferred and strategic option for them.

World Expo 2010 Promotes the Reduction in Carbon Emissions of Urban Transport

Transport sector is one of the main sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Comprehensive countermeasures are needed in cities to mitigate transport GHG emissions. After reviewing green traffic measures that implemented by Shanghai since bidding for Expo 2010, this paper analyzes the achievement that Shanghai has made in carbon mitigation. The results showed that travel demand management and the constrcution public transportation infrastructure promoted by the event played a vital role in promoting mode shift to form public transport oriented traffic system. Carbon emission intensity of Shanghais urban transport declined steadily from 1.66 kg/trip to 1.55 kg/trip. The CO2 reduction attributable to mode shifts amounted to 4.99 million tons. It demonstrated that Shanghai Expo has promoted the city in carbon emission reduction through public transport improvement, new energy vehicles innovation, car growth restriction measures and green commuting initiate.

Public Transportation Improvement Validation Model for Metropolitan City Karachi

Any metropolitan city is identified by its effective operational transportation modes. In between that, public transportation plays vital role for getting the proper scale of the economy and in all aspects. Lesser the rate of vehicle ownership increases the improvement rate in public transport system. But the system should be linked with the effective controlled strategy that resembles with the meaningful and user friendly environment. Choice of mode of transport is selected by the road user which in turn dependent on the facilities provided in the passenger cars. Unfortunately the system of public transportation is diversified due to number of reasons. This not only predominates the Enforcement action but transforms the Engineering measures as well. According to the survey, more than 80% road users are the direct passengers of Buses and Mini buses. Not only that, they are forced to use more than two vehicles during the whole day for their complete trip accommodation. Apart from that, users are not satisfied with the existing network due to several reasons. These include improper route network, illegal work imposition, imbalanced fare collection, adverse vehicle condition, lack of Engineering and Enforcement measures etc. This paper focuses on the main legendary actions that need to be adopted by concerned stakeholders for the effective public transportation system. For the sake of reason, a detailed public opinion survey has been done in which number of associated matters is discussed and recommendations are formulated based on the analyzed results in the paper. The thematic idea of the paper also covers the balanced between the improvement in existing condition and bringing the new innovative solutions that are more realistic to the nature of local users of Karachi city.

Estimating Public Transportation Demand for Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

Nakhon Ratchasima was one of the two cities selected by German International Cooperation (GIZ) and Thailand's Pollution Control Department (PCD) to develop a draft of activities toward a Clean Air Plan. Identified as one of the most crucial source of pollution, traffic and transportation activities became one of the main focal points in this study. Focusing on promoting the use of public transportation, the study team investigated service characteristics, quality, ridership and trends in mode share in Greater Nakhon Ratchasima. It identified the role of public transport relative to other modes and current trends in mode share. This paper presents survey techniques with limited staff and time resource in survey and rational estimation. Against the operators' low ridership claim, the study team estimated rather promising passenger volume that could support decent quality public transport. The strengths and weaknesses of the current system were highlighted along with data gaps. The study team proposed a comprehensive but indicative range of practical short term public transport improvement and complementary options. Other supplement transportation management plan were also developed including traffic direction and parking regulations. The ending results would be reduction in travel time, pollution and energy consumption.

A Comparative Study of Public and Academic Attitudes to TDM Measures: Evidence from Nanjing

In recent years, the governments of many big cities in China have showed considerable interest in the TDM measures. However, the attitudes of key stakeholder groups with respect to the TDM measures, such as the public, academic community and government policymaker, are different. This has brought a large obstacle to the promotion and implementation of the TDM measures. This paper provides a survey undertaken in Nanjing concerning the attitudes to three TDM measures including congestion pricing, parking charges and public transport improvements. And some key issues with regard to the comparative analyses of public and academic attitudes were conducted, such as opinions of congestion and traffic related pollution in Nanjing, perceived effectiveness and acceptance of single and combined TDM measures and so on. The results of this research are aimed at providing a reliable reference for the implementation of TDM measures.

Environmental co-benefits of public transportation improvement initiative: the case of Trans-Jogja bus system in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Many parts of the world have increasingly experienced the impacts of climate change. Data shows that transportation sector is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. In line with this issue, more cities in developing countries have taken innovative initiatives to create sustainable urban mobility by, among others, revitalising the role of their public transport systems. However, the objectives vary widely and are often aimed at solving local problems rather than tackling global warming. Meanwhile, studies have suggested the potential of gaining both local and global benefits simultaneously if the policies taken are focused directly on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the intended benefit. This paper attempts to confirm this by looking at the impact of a conventional policy-making process. It estimates the environmental co-benefits potentials of both air quality improvement and CO2 emission reduction generated by an urban public transport improvement project. It takes Trans-Jogja bus system initiative introduced in Yogyakarta Special Region Province, Indonesia, as the case study. This case study is relevant considering that the project was originally aimed at simply improving the city's public transport quality. In other words, the intended benefit was solving local problem whereas GHG emissions reduction was perceived as the co-benefit. Finally, it provides insights regarding the obstacles and opportunities to advance the environmental co-benefits.

Percepção Populacional dos Efeitos Socioeconômicos do Geoturismo:o Caso de São José de Itaboraí (Itaboraí, Estado do Rio de Janeiro)

The Parque Paleontológico de São José de Itaboraí was established in 1995 with the goal of geoconservation. Currently the institution is suffering a revitalization process which may increase the geotourism and contribute to the socioeconomic development of the area. However, the tourism activity, in a sustainable manner, has to present low environmental impacts. In this context we analyze the public understanding of the possible socioeconomic effects of geotourism. The locals mentioned the possibility of increased trade and jobs in the Parque Paleontológico de São José de Itaboraí to meet geotourism. They said that the access roads to the paleontological park, public transport, education and sanitation need improvements. They also indicated the litter as the main environmental impact of the geotourism activity. This study analyzes geoconservation and musealization strategies for the geological heritage, territorial planning and management, educational programs and the socioeconomic importance of geotourism.

Dimensions and determinants of expert and public attitudes to sustainable transport policies and technologies

This paper investigates (a) attitudes to sustainable transport and how these differ between experts and non-experts, and (b) factors that influence these attitudes and their relevant importance in explaining why such differences occur. Attitudes of experts (N=53) and British public (N=40) were compared using open-ended questionnaires, attitude scales, analytic hierarchy process and preference ranking. Both samples prioritised reduction in transport demand in qualitative measures. In quantitative measures, however, experts preferred techno-economic measures while the public prioritised behaviour change and public transport improvement. Some options for sustainable transport also varied with individuals’ values, suggesting that expertise alone does not fully account for variation in attitudes. Different perspectives and values imply a need for a broader definition of expertise in transport policy-making, and that the public may not accept transport policies/technologies designed by experts – underlining the importance of early public engagement.

A Stated Preference (SP) Study on Individuals’ Transportation Decisions, Focused on Marmaray Project in İstanbul

Istanbul is one of the most famous megacities in the world and is the third largest metropolitan area in Europe. It can be deemed as an alpha world city and is the unique city in the world, where Asia and Europe collide. The city is the cultural, economic, financial center and urban agglomeration of Turkey, where a plethora of public transport improvements have been exerted and still some policies and improvements are ahead. Marmaray project (Including undersea rail tunnel, connecting Asia and Europe) is the most important example of the mentioned improvements. Therefore, in this paper, the project and its effects on individuals’ transportation behavior will be studied by conducting a Stated Preference (SP) survey.

Influencing Intercity Mode Choice Behavior in Libya

Libya is one of the rich developing countries out of oil revenues. The discovery of oil contributed to a dramatic change and a burden on all public utilities and facilities, especially the transportation system. Increased traffic congestion, road accidents on intercity highways, and environment pollution have been the negative impacts. The time is ripe for a policy to simultaneously improve intercity public transport and control car ownership. The current study is to identify trip-influential parameters and their countermeasures to shift travel modes. The shift may be caused by a reduction in airplane and intercity bus travel time and cost. The suitability of intercity mode choice models and travel reasons are to investigate. The collection of data is conducted through revealed and stated preference surveys handed out to intercity travelers between four major cities in Libya. Their demographic details are highly important. Based on such details, mode choice behavior and discrete choice models will be developed. The results are hoped to assist decision-makers on all levels to allocate resources wisely to public transportation improvement.

Do Public Transport Improvements Increase Agglomeration Economies? A Review of Literature and an Agenda for Research

Public transport improvements may increase economic productivity if they enable the growth and densification of cities, downtowns, or industrial clusters and thereby increase external agglomeration economies. It has been argued that the potential agglomeration benefits are large; if so, understanding them better would be useful in making funding decisions about public transport improvements. We reviewed theoretical and empirical literature on agglomeration as well as a small number of articles on transportation's role in agglomeration. The theoretical literature is useful in understanding possible avenues by which transportation improvements might affect agglomeration, although there is little discussion of public transport specifically. Relevant empirical studies tend to focus on metropolitan regions and use a generalized measure of transportation cost. But public transport impacts on agglomeration are likely to be different from road investment impacts. We identified several ways of conducting research building on this literature that would help evaluate the agglomeration impacts of public transport proposals: tracing the links between transport, agglomeration, and productivity; better motivating research using theories of agglomeration mechanisms; taking scale and redistribution into account; exploring the functional form of agglomeration economies; accounting for endogeneity in model structure; and considering development context.

Robust models for the utilization of public bus transport services in Malaysia

Unless public transportation is efficient, affordable, clean, comfortable and convenient, people would otherwise resort to drive to their destinations. The increased in the number of private vehicles on the road in Malaysia testifies to the preference of driving to work or places of leisure for many reasons. It could also quite easily point to the ailing public transport industry save for a few developed countries that are endowed with an enviable public transport system. The overall improvement of public transportation augmented with selective restrictions of private vehicle use would invariably improve the utilization of public transportation. This article proposes a conceptual model to assess perceived Bus transport utilization. It uses a categorical survey method to identify the preferences of Bus commuters to assess utilization. This conceptual model also allows managers to identify cost effective strategies within the model that are readily implementable within a relatively short duration to improve the utilization. In addition, the model is flexible enough to allow customization by management to improve the utilization within its own set of constraints. Key words: Public bus transport, utilization, reliability of schedule, safety and comfort, information service, season ticket, ticket pricing.

The challenge of sustainable mobility in urban planning and development: a comparative study of the Copenhagen and Hangzhou metropolitan areas

The theme of this article is how the challenge of sustainable mobility has been dealt with in urban planning and urban development in the metropolitan areas of Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hangzhou (China). The two metropolises have followed different trajectories in their land use and transport infrastructure development since the 1990s. Land use policies in Copenhagen have to some extent been explicitly geared towards limiting traffic growth, to a less extent in Hangzhou. In both cities, public transport improvements have been combined with road capacity increases. The trajectories of the two city regions reflect the dominating ideas among planners and public decision-makers, as well as a number of different economic, political, social, topographical and cultural conditions.

An integral evaluation of dieselisation policies for households’ cars

Reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the transport sector is a priority for Great Britain and other European countries as part of their agreements made in the Kyoto protocol and the Voluntary Agreement. To achieve these goals, it has been proposed to increase the market share of diesel vehicles which are more efficient than petrol ones. Based on partial approaches, previous research concluded that increasing the share of diesel vehicles will decrease CO2 emissions (see Al-Hinti et al., 2007; Jeong et al., 2009; Zervas, 2006). Unlike these approaches, I use an integral approach based on discrete choice models to analyse diesel vehicle penetration in a broader context of transport in Great Britain. I provide for the first time, empirical evidence which is in line with Bonilla's (2009) argument that only improvements in vehicle efficiency will not be enough to achieve their goals of mitigation of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The model shows the technical limitations that the penetration of diesel vehicles faces and that a combination of improvements in public transportation and taxes on fuel prices is the most effective policy combination to reduce the total amount of energy consumption and CO2 emissions among the analysed dieselisation polices.

Public Transport Integration into Urban Planning

Growth of towns is a result of citizen’s social and physical division. Urban planners and scientists have increased the number of links between urban transport and urban development. Public transport has been in the focus of attention as a sustainable and environmentally sensitive transport that brings environmental benefit and possibility to serve mobility needs of citizens without private cars and reduces social division. The article identifies the main factors that affect the use of public transport in town: land use planning; local government policy; extent of economic resources; implementation of modern technologies; social tendencies. Analysis of the scientific literature has revealed four main models of towns of sustainable urban forms: neo-traditional development, urban restrictions, compact town and ecological town. Vilnius has the formed urban and mono-functional structure with a high imbalance between residential and work places which conditions a high mobility of inhabitants as well as high concentration of transport flows on limited-density street networks between the western residential areas and the central part of the City where the main workplaces are located. It presents the provisions of the Vilnius City Master Plan 2015 concerning the public transport improvement. The article also assesses developments in the public transport network in 2003–2009 resulting from changes in individual routes with regard to passenger time necessary for traveling. Modelling is carried out with the help of VISUM software. Citizens of Buivydiškės and Santariškės are mostly affected by the developments, while the situation in Pavilnys, Aukštieji Paneriai and Tarandė has changed only slightly.

Oil Rich Countries and Sustainable Mobility: Challenges in Tabriz

Tabriz is a typical example of the medium sized and developing cities in oil rich countries. The city is a growing economic centre and urban agglomeration of Iran where a number of transport improvements and policy challenges are ahead. The very low level of fuel prices coupled with the insufficient public transport has brought about road based transportation patterns particularly encouraging the private vehicle trips. Obviously, any timely attempt to re-arrange the fuel and car taxes in line with the public transport improvements will achieve better sustainable mobility aims. Therefore, this paper investigates the current transportation problems and further discusses the future policy challenges within a framework of sustainable mobility through utilizing the results of a preliminary survey conducted to evaluate the citizens’ perceptions and responses to the current policy making and planning issues in Tabriz.

On their road to sustainability?: The challenge of sustainable mobility in urban planning and development in two Scandinavian capital regions

The metropolitan areas of Copenhagen (Denmark) and Oslo (Norway) both aim to facilitate economic development, opportunities for choice and growth in the building stock while limiting negative environmental consequences. Since the 1990s, the rate of consumption of land for urban development has been lower than the economic growth rate in both city regions. Land use policies in Oslo and to some extent in Copenhagen have been explicitly geared towards limiting traffic growth. In both cities, public transport improvements have been combined with road capacity increases. Traffic growth has therefore only been weakly decoupled from economic growth. In both city regions, lack of coordination between sectors, levels and administrative territories is conceived a barrier to sustainability.