Increase In Car Ownership Research Articles

Non-parametric Multi-criteria Optimisation of Park and Ride Facility Locations

A significant increase in car ownership has been recognised as one of the main reasons for traffic congestion, especially in city centres. Park-and-ride (P&R) facilities are often included as parts of a multimode transportation strategy, featuring car parks where users can switch to public transportation to carry on their journeys; they have thus long been used as an effective solution to mitigating congestion issues without affecting traffic demand. Feasible locations of park-and-ride facilities are thus of crucial importance not only for users, but also local authorities and the environment. Many factors of different importance affect the optimal locations of P&R facilities, which further complicates the process of decision making. In order to systemise the process of criteria weighting, a non-parametric approach is thus used in this paper to test three key aspects of the P&R facility localisation process. These are user coverage, accessibility from major roads, and area availability. An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to develop a resilient weighting system that can be updated for each case, and the case study used in this research is the Iraqi city of Kerbala. The results show that that the AHP method is a powerful technique for evaluating and comparing the influence of multiple factors on each other and on the final outcome. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings, practical implications, research limitations and future research directions.

Book Review

Over the last few decades there has been a growing attention for the role of innovation in society.. Innovation plays an important role in the transport sector as well: the transportation sector manifests itself as a sector of continuous technological innovation. We even observe a certain fascination when it comes to the role of technology. And it is indisputable that technology has contributed to a more efficient use of energy, materials and capital. As a result, the demand of transport has increased rapidly over the last few decades, as is reflected in an increased car ownership and the increased number of passenger and freight kms. But it is also clear that this development goes hand in hand with substantial negative side effects (such as emissions and congestion).

Sustainable Policy Evaluation of Vehicle Exhaust Control—Empirical Data from China’s Air Pollution Control

With the increase of car ownership, mobile pollution has become an important source of air pollution, which makes it more difficult for China to control air pollution. In order to control mobile pollution from automobile exhaust, China has taken a series of comprehensive measures. The paper studies the emission reduction effect from the perspective of flow pollution and stock pollution. First of all, the paper uses the actual emission data of motor vehicles to study the emission reduction effect by gasoline and diesel vehicles. The results show that: (1) Fuel price, fuel tax (except diesel), and emission and gasoline standards have an emission reduction effect on gasoline vehicle exhaust control, while the restriction has no effect. (2) In gasoline cars, the emission reduction effect in the Middle East is more significant than in the West, and the effect in the West is better than that in the Middle East. (3) As for diesel vehicles, the effect of policy in the West is superior to the East. Further, the east is better than in the middle. Secondly, based on the actual emission data of Chinese motor vehicles, the paper simulates the change value of stock pollution from automobile exhaust under different policies, and concludes that the economic effect of policy depends on the ecological absorption rate and discount rate. When the net discount value NPV is positive, the government should do its best to interfere with the emission of automobile exhaust. When the net discount value NPV is negative, the government doesn’t have to interfere with the emission of automobile exhaust.

Does body fat change with car ownership rates? A longitudinal survey of gender differences

Durable goods provide conventional proxies for household wealth, which, in turn, may increase the tendency to consume healthier food products and engage in leisure-time physical exercise. Higher car ownership levels, on the other hand, may reduce the tendency to participate in utilitarian, non-exercise-related physical activities such as walking to work and biking to do errands. Based on a recent longitudinal two-year Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) survey, we examine the correlation between the number of cars owned by households and household members' body mass index (BMI) for adult female and male respondents below the workforce retirement age. Results indicate that projected BMI of native Israeli Jewish females and Jewish immigrants from Asian-African countries drops significantly, while compared with baseline native Jewish Israelis, the projected BMI decrease among Arab females is attenuated significantly with increased car ownership levels. These outcomes suggest that programs aimed at alleviating poverty may have the additional benefit of promoting obesity-reducing activities, particularly among the population of native Jewish Israeli females and immigrants from Asian African countries.

Modeling Future Energy Demand and CO2 Emissions of Passenger Cars in Indonesia at the Provincial Level

The high energy demand and CO2 emissions in the road transport sector in Indonesia are mainly caused by the use of passenger cars. This situation is predicted to continue due to the increase in car ownership. Scenarios are arranged to examine the potential reductions in energy demand and CO2 emissions in comparison with the business as usual (BAU) condition between 2016 and 2050 by controlling car intensity (fuel economy) and activity (vehicle-km). The intensity is controlled through the introduction of new car technologies, while the activity is controlled through the enactment of fuel taxes. This study aims to analyze the energy demand and CO2 emissions of passenger cars in Indonesia not only for a period in the past (2010–2015) but also based on projections through to 2050, by employing a provincially disaggregated bottom-up model. The provincially disaggregated model shows more accurate estimations for passenger car energy demands. The results suggest that energy demand and CO2 emissions in 2050 will be 50 million liter gasoline equivalent (LGE) and 110 million tons of CO2, respectively. The five provinces with the highest CO2 emissions in 2050 are projected to be West Java, Banten, East Java, Central Java, and South Sulawesi. The projected analysis for 2050 shows that new car technology and fuel tax scenarios can reduce energy demand from the BAU condition by 7.72% and 3.18% and CO2 emissions by 15.96% and 3.18%, respectively.

Life cycle assessment of end-of-life vehicle recycling in China: a comparative study of environmental burden and benefit

ABSTRACTThe continuous increase in car ownership in recent years has led to a sharp increase in the number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). In this paper, life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to establish a mathematical computation model and nested iterative inventory data in order to assess the environmental impact of recycling a passenger ELV. The model was used to calculate and analyse the environmental burden caused by dismantling, reverse logistics, and recycling and to assess the environmental benefit of recycled materials, remanufactured engines, and recovered energy. The results showed that human toxicity potential was the only factor that had a higher environmental burden than benefit, with a difference of approximately 36%. The incineration of automotive shredder residues was the main contributing factor, accounting for 79% of the total contribution. Moreover, aluminium recycling and plastic recycling contributed the most to abiotic depletion potential and photochemical ozone creation potentials, respectively.

Life events, poverty, and car ownership in the United States: A mobility biography approach

What causes families to buy or give up a car in the U.S.? Following the mobility biography approach, we use a nationally representative panel data set, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), to examine the role of life events and changes in the built environment and compare the effect that these events have on changes in car ownership. We find that coupling, graduating from college, and the birth or adoption of a child all are associated with increases in car ownership, while breaking up is associated with decreases in car ownership. Moving to or away from transit-rich, dense, walkable neighborhoods matters but only when one moves to a very different type of neighborhood. We also find that life events have a stronger association with gaining a car for non-poor families than for families in poverty. Life events are windows of opportunity when families reevaluate their travel patterns. Interventions at these critical junctures could be an expedient way to decrease car ownership and its attendant problems, especially when combined with improving alternatives to the automobile.

An adaptive hybrid model for short-term urban traffic flow prediction

With the rapid increase in car ownership, urban transport systems are challenged by the overwhelming traffic demand and congestion. Dynamic prediction of traffic flows is of considerable significance for congestion mitigation and demand management. Real-time and precise prediction models are capable of analyzing traffic flow characteristics, predicting traffic flow trends, and motivating reasonable inductive actions. Considering the periodicity and variability of traffic flow and limitations of single prediction models, an adaptive hybrid model for predicting short-term traffic flow was proposed in this study. Firstly, the linear Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) method and non-linear Wavelet Neural Network (WNN) method were used to predict traffic flow. Then, outputs of the two individual models were analyzed and combined by fuzzy logic and the weighted result was regarded as the final predicted traffic volume of the hybrid model. The results indicate that the hybrid model can offer better performance in predicting short-term traffic flow than the two single models either in stable or in fluctuating conditions. The relative error is within ±10%, showing that the proposed hybrid model is both accurate and reliable.

Research on autocorrelation and cross-correlation analyses in vehicular nodes positioning

In recent years, the massive increase in car ownership has led to a dramatic increase of traffic accidents, especially in the case of multi-vehicle chain collisions. However, most researches of col...

Proactive highway traffic control with intelligent multi-objective optimisation algorithm

The great increase in car ownership has led to the daily recurrence of traffic congestion. Thus, traffic mobility, safety and emission concerns have become the most serious challenges for transportation researchers. To mitigate traffic congestion, a variety of proactive traffic-control strategies, such as ramp metering (RM), have been intensively investigated and deployed. With the aim of improving freeway traffic conditions, RM regulates the on-ramp flows dynamically in response to dynamic road conditions. However, most early RM strategies focus on optimising the traffic from one single aspect. This paper presents an RM control algorithm that predicts and evaluates the RM-controlled future traffic states. The impact of RM control was evaluated using a macroscopic traffic-flow model. The designed RM control algorithm possesses a multi-objective optimisation module, which improves the traffic network from the aspects of mobility, safety and emissions. The designed algorithm is evaluated through simulation and calibrated using field data collected over an 11 km major freeway stretch in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The comparison of the proposed algorithm-controlled scenario and the uncontrolled scenario shows that the proposed RM control algorithm can effectively relieve traffic congestion, improve safety and reduce carbon emissions concurrently.

Family car ownership and activity in young people: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses using the International Children's Accelerometry Database

BackgroundUbiquitous car ownership may be negatively affecting children's activity and health. We aimed to assess the associations between household car ownership and children's inactivity and body-mass index (BMI), and between change in household car ownership and changes in children's inactivity and BMI. MethodsWe used pooled data from five cohort studies (UK, Australia, and Brazil) with valid exposure or outcome data and from four studies (UK, Australia) with longitudinal data within the International Children's Accelerometry Database (ICAD). Main outcome measures were average daily children's sedentary time (SED) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during 4 or more days assessed with accelerometery, and BMI z-score (and changes in these measures). Main exposure was household car ownership (none [9·0%, reference], one [29·7%], two or more [61·3%]) and change in ownership (no change [84·2% reference]), decrease [7·7%], increase [8·1%]). Associations were examined using mixed-effects linear regression with random intercepts, adjusted for sex, maternal education, country, BMI z-score (where relevant), and (change in) age and wear time. FindingsMean age of participants in the cohort studies (n=4193, 53·4% female) was 10·4 years (SD 2·0) and mean follow-up of participants in the longitudinal studies (1333, 54·5%) was 3·3 years (SD 1·1). Cross-sectionally, household car ownership was associated with higher SED (vs none): (1 car β 14·1 min per day, p=0·0002; ≥2 cars 12·8, p=0·0008), lower MVPA (−8·9, p<0·0001; −9·0, p<0·0001), and lower BMI z-score (−0·1, p=0·63; −0·3, p=0·022). An interaction with country (p=0·050) was observed for SED, suggesting stronger associations with a clear dose–response in Brazilian participants; no differences were observed between UK and Australian participants. Longitudinal analyses showed no associations for increased car ownership. A decrease in car ownership (93·1% households with ≥2 cars at baseline) was associated with greater decreases in MVPA (vs no change −8·5 min per day, p=0·002), but not with change in SED or BMI z-score. There was no difference in effect by country. InterpretationChildren living in households with car access are more sedentary and less active than those without. However, decreasing car access was associated with a decrease in MVPA, potentially related to changes in economic or family circumstances or reduced access to activity spaces. Decreasing car access and use are important public health targets (eg, reducing air pollution), but its potential impact on children's activity opportunities should be explored. FundingThe pooling of the data was funded through a grant from the National Prevention Research Initiative (grant no G0701877).

A Multilevel Analysis of Perceived Noise Pollution, Geographic Contexts and Mental Health in Beijing.

With rapid urbanization and increase in car ownership, ambient noise pollution resulting from diversified sources (e.g., road traffic, railway, commercial services) has become a severe environmental problem in the populated areas in China. However, research on the spatial variation of noise pollution and its potential effects on urban residents’ mental health has to date been quite scarce in developing countries like China. Using a health survey conducted in Beijing in 2017, we for the first time investigated the spatial distributions of multiple noise pollution perceived by residents in Beijing, including road traffic noise, railway (or subway) noise, commercial noise, and housing renovation (or construction) noise. Our results indicate that there is geographic variability in noise pollution at the neighborhood scale, and road traffic and housing renovation/construction are the principal sources of noise pollution in Beijing. We then employed Bayesian multilevel logistic models to examine the associations between diversified noise pollution and urban residents’ mental health symptoms, including anxiety, stress, fatigue, headache, and sleep disturbance, while controlling for a wide range of confounding factors such as socio-demographics, objective built environment characteristics, social environment and geographic context. The results show that perceived higher noise-pollution exposure is significantly associated with worse mental health, while physical environment variables seem to contribute little to variations in self-reported mental disorders, except for proximity to the main road. Social factors or socio-demographic attributes, such as age and income, are significant covariates of urban residents’ mental health, while the social environment (i.e., community attachment) and housing satisfaction are significantly correlated with anxiety and stress. This study provides empirical evidence on the noise-health relationships in the Chinese context and sheds light on the policy implications for environmental pollution mitigation and healthy city development in China.

Providing quantified evidence to policy makers for promoting bike-sharing in heavily air-polluted cities: A mode choice model and policy simulation for Taiyuan-China

Developing countries are facing increasing challenges to make urban mobility sustainable and to tackle the continuously growing air pollution and congestion caused by the rapid increase in car ownership. As part of a broad strategy to achieve sustainable urban mobility, bike-sharing services could contribute to car usage decrease, especially for short-distance trips. However, most of the developing countries have limited quantified evidence regarding the factors affecting bike-sharing choice and this hinders policy makers from effectively promoting bike-sharing usage. The case study city is Taiyuan, which operates one of the most in demand bike-sharing schemes in China. This research investigates the factors affecting mode choice behavior with a focus on bike-sharing, and explores the effectiveness of different policy options aiming at increasing bike-sharing ridership. Nested logit and mixed nested logit models are developed using both stated preference and revealed preference data. Policy effectiveness is studied by examining modal split changes. The results reveal the significant negative impact of air pollution on bike-sharing choice. Nevertheless, improving air quality is found to be less effective in promoting bike-sharing ridership than improving bike-sharing service itself (e.g. through access time saving, travel cost saving); although it is more effective in suppressing private car usage.

Commuting behavior in emerging urban areas: Findings of a revealed-preferences and stated-intentions survey in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

As an emerging Eastern European country, Romania has demonstrated continuous economic development since the change in its political system in 1989. This has led to increased car ownership and extensive car usage in the country as well as rapid and uncontrolled land usage and expansion of urban areas. The proposed study aims at determining individual and alternative-specific variables that influence citizens' choice of the transportation mode for commuting trips. Data used in the proposed analysis were obtained by means of a computer-assisted telephonic interview survey conducted in the metropolitan area of Cluj-Napoca in July 2015. The one-time retrospective survey assumed an alternative ticketing policy for public transport, and subsequently, a methodology for simultaneously evaluating revealed-preference and stated-intentions mode choices was adopted to evaluate the willingness of commuters to adopt such a policy. As no such study had previously been performed in Romania, this work serves to fill a void in available literature by revealing the role of demographic, socioeconomic, and attitudinal characteristics along with transport supply and built environment in explaining commuting patterns in the country. As age influences the desires and priorities concerning travel behavior, the proposed study sheds light on how generational differences serve to influence urban transport towards sustainability through non-coercive interventions in post-communist transitional societies.

Urban regeneration in Qatar: A comprehensive planning strategy for the transport oriented development of Al-Waab

Since the 1970s the State of Qatar has witnessed a radical transformation from fishing and pearling to an oil based economy. The nation is also developing a multifaceted economy. This vision has encouraged Qatar to implement a rapid improvement of: (a) its national infrastructure (roadways and public transit systems) and (b) Doha’s built environment. In turn, this urban transformation has caused: (i) high population growth, (ii) an increase in car ownership and (iii) disorderly urban growth, or sprawls, which are causing major environmental, social and economic problems. In 2009, Qatar’s National Vision (QNV-2030) was finalised with the main goal of defining the strategies for the progress of Qatar, in order to allow the country to be able to: (i) sustain its own needs, (ii) provide high standards of living for the current inhabitants as well as for its future generations and (iii) focus on economic, environmental, human and social development (the ‘four pillars’ from QNV-2030). In order to align with QNV-2030, the 2013 Qatar Rail Development Program (QRDP) envisioned the execution of a modern metro system: a network consisting of four main lines and 100 train stations. Concurrently, Qatar National Master Plan supports the adoption of urban planning strategies toward reducing the use of cars and the proliferation of sprawls through the regeneration and development of urban villages around transit systems, also named as ‘Transit Oriented Developments’ (TODs). This paper focuses on the case of the vital transit village of Al-Waab. The exploration focuses on: (i) a review of the relevant literature, (ii) an analysis of the site and (iii) the formulation of an integrated planning-strategy for the regeneration and development of Al-Waab’s TOD. The recommended approach for Al-Waab’s TOD is based on: (a) creating a compact, mixed use urban village, (b) providing sustainable multimodal transportation systems, (c) minimising cars’ use and (d) preserving cultural values (ie religion).

The impact of free-floating carsharing on car ownership: Early-stage findings from London

Free-floating carsharing is a rapidly growing urban mobility service. It has emerged at commercial scale more recently than traditional ‘round-trip’ carsharing, and at present its growth trajectory is steeper. The evidence base regarding its impacts on sustainable transport indicators is, however, less well-developed. This issue is topical for a variety of reasons, including the importance of public policy to the success of this form of carsharing.The research objective of this study is to establish the early-stage impact of free-floating carsharing on private car ownership. We report findings from a point in time three months following the initiation of a free-floating carsharing service in London (UK). We investigate characteristics of FFCS users that are associated with having one's car ownership impacted, as well as the distinction between deterrence of increased car ownership and sale/disposal of a previously owned private car.We find that 37% (n=347; 95% confidence interval:±5%) of users indicate that free-floating carsharing has impacted their ownership of private cars. Of this 37%, a large majority (83%) indicated that the mechanism of impact was that they decided not to buy a car that they otherwise would have purchased. 11% reported that they had disposed of a car in the past three months, and 6% stated that they will sell a private car within the next three months.The average income and education level of users are both higher than for the general population. Within the population of service-users, multivariate analysis demonstrates that, net of confounding effects, heavier (more-frequent) service-users are more likely to indicate impacts on car ownership, and that being highly-educated and higher-income than other users were both (independently) associated with maintaining one's car ownership level. Additional findings are presented that relate car ownership impacts to further demographic characteristics as well as behavioural indicators.Our findings should be interpreted to pertain to the ‘early adopter’ cohort of FFCS users, and as free-floating carsharing services mature and grow further research will be needed to ascertain how user characteristics, behaviour and impacts are evolving.

Review of Cement Concrete Pavement of Noise Reduction Method

In recent years, with the rapid development of the economy, a sharp increase in car ownership in China, the rapid increase in cities traffic volume. Meanwhile, the effect on the normal life, work, study, rest and environment of residents along grows increasingly fierce both in extent and scope. Cement Concrete Pavement noise reduction measures seem more urgent. In this paper, introducing the current commonly used cement pavement noise reduction measures, and discussing the research and development direction of cement concrete pavement noise reduction measures.

增购还是换购？—汽车用户、需求解析

随着汽车保有量不断提升，中国乘用车市场正逐步由一个成长型市场向成熟市场过度。未来中国增换购市场会成为汽车新的增长点。那么增购和换购人群有什么特征？他们何时会考虑出手买车？再次购车时有何需求？增购和换购车型有何差异？这对于汽车厂商具有重要意义。以往研究着重从增换购这个总体市场去研究分析，而没有再深入分析增购和换购的差异。根据调查结果显示，增购和换购市场用户、需求等都有明显的差异。本文在增换购市场的基础上进行细分，具体研究增购和换购的差异。 With the increase of car ownership, passenger cars market of China is in a transition from a growing market to a mature market. Repurchases of passenger cars market will become a new increasing point in China in the future. Then what are the characteristics of repurchase people? When will they repurchase a car? What do they need when they repurchase a car? What are the differences between buying one more car and changing a new car? These questions are important for car manufacturers. Previous studies focused on the overall repurchase market and had no in-depth analysis of the differences between buying one more car and changing a new car. According to the survey results, there are significant differences between buying one more car and changing a new car. So this study focuses on the difference between buying one more car and changing a new car.

The Spatial Impact of Commuting on Income: a Spatial Microsimulation Approach

The Irish economic boom resulted in a substantial increase in car-ownership and commuting. These trends were particularly noticeable in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), with an unprecedented increase in employment levels and private car registrations. While employment dropped by an overall 6 % during the recent economic recession, the already increasing process of suburbanisation around Irish main cities continued. The commuting belt around Dublin extended beyond the GDA with a substantial number of individuals commuting long distances. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of both monetary and non-monetary commuting costs on the distribution of employment income in Ireland. The Census of Population is the only nationwide source of information on commuting patterns in Ireland. However, this data set does not include information on individual income. In contrast, SMILE (Simulation Model for the Irish Local Economy) contains employment income data for each individual in Ireland. Using data from the Census of Population of Ireland, discrete choice models of commuting mode choice are estimated for three sub-samples of the Irish population based on residential and employment location and the subjective value of travel time (SVTT) is calculated. The SVTT is then combined with the SMILE data to produce a geo-referenced, attribute rich dataset containing commuting, income, demographic and socio-economic data. Results show that the monetary and non-monetary costs of commuting are highest among those living and working in the GDA.

The impact of car ownership and public transport usage on cancer screening coverage: Empirical evidence using a spatial analysis in England

A spatial analysis has been conducted in England, with the aim to examine the impact of car ownership and public transport usage on breast and cervical cancer screening coverage. District-level cancer screening coverage data (in proportions) and UK census data have been collected and linked. Their effects on cancer screening coverage were modelled by using both non-spatial and spatial models to control for spatial correlation.Significant spatial correlation has been observed and thus spatial model is preferred. It is found that increased car ownership is significantly associated with improved breast and cervical cancer screening coverage. Public transport usage is inversely associated with breast cancer screening coverage; but positively associated with cervical cancer screening. An area with higher median age is associated with higher screening coverage. The effects of other socio-economic factors such as deprivation and economic activity have also been explored with expected results. Some regional differences have been observed, possibly due to unobserved factors.Relevant transport and public health policies are thus required for improved coverage. While restricting access to cars may lead to various benefits in public health, it may also result in worse cancer screening uptake. It is thus recommended that careful consideration should be taken before implementing policy interventions.