LRT Line Research Articles

In light of transit: Documenting the scales of urban change along the LRT line in Hamilton, Ontario

AbstractLarge‐scale transit projects, such as light rail, are transformational for cities due to their ability to attract investment, curb sprawl, and intensify urban areas. In part because of enhancements to the public realm and improved connectivity, areas along new transit lines witness significant growth and investment, making them less affordable for residents already there. However, very little research has examined experiences of transit‐induced gentrification, particularly at the early stages of a new transit project. The purpose of this article is to document these experiences from the perspective of those living along the planned LRT corridor in Hamilton, Ontario. Importantly, our research was conducted before construction started. Through in‐depth interviews with residents living within 800 m of the planned LRT route, we found disparate experiences of change and ongoing housing affordability concerns on an individual, neighbourhood, and city scale. Many Hamilton residents express a need for more community engagement and transparency in the decision‐making process. We detail these experiences and offer policy recommendations to inhibit further housing insecurity and displacement in light of the LRT development.

ESTIMATING VALUE UPLIFT FROM TRANSIT INVESTMENTS IN SUBANG JAYA, SELANGOR USING DIFFERENCE-IN-DIFFERENCE METHOD

It is generally believed that public transport investment such as urban rail transit systems can improve accessibility, particularly in larger and denser metropolitan areas. The improved accessibility provided by urban rail transit systems can drive up the value of surrounding land or property due to increased buyer demand. Based on this general belief, the study estimates the impact of the Kelana Jaya LRT line extension on residential property values in Subang Jaya, Selangor. Using Difference-in-Difference (DID) method with transaction-based data of 1,006 terraced properties, it is estimated that a typical terraced unit located within 0.8 km of the nearest LRT station and be sold during the construction phase of the project and after the system became operational would fetch a respective premium of approximately 4.7% and 5.3%, or RM31,490 and RM35,510 on average. It is also estimated that the overall impact on the price of terraced properties located within 0.8 km from the nearest LRT station in Subang Jaya, amounts to nearly RM11.6 million. An interesting accounting implication arising from this potential revenue is that it could provide a significant financial incentive to fully or partially fund urban rail transit projects in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area.

INTERMODAL CONNECTIVITY AT KAMPUNG RAMBUTAN BUS TERMINAL

Transportation as a means of development is an important and strategic factor in the running of the economy. It can be seen from the high demand for transportation services. Jakarta Capital City, which is a metropolitan area, has a high need for transportation, especially public transportation. The high demand of transportation is because the average population of DKI Jakarta is carry out economic activities as a businessman or office worker, plus people commuting from supporting areas such as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi to work, study or other activity in Jakarta. As a solution to transportation needs, the Jakarta Provincial Government is currently building several mass transportations, one of which is the Light Rail Transit or LRT from Bogor and Cibubur to Central Jakarta. This LRT line is passing through the Kampung Rambutan Terminal in East Jakarta and is planning to have a station connected to the bus terminal. This development is expected to be a solution to the need for integration of the LRT with the feeder mode in the Terminal. Based on this, this study will discuss the LRT connectivity with integrated modes at the Kampung Rambutan Terminal. The method used is quantitative descriptive study with the support of primary and secondary data. From the results of the analysis, it is known that the level of connectivity in terms of the time required shows quite good results, while the level of connectivity in terms of facilities also shows good results, this can be seen from the acquisition of the highest graph with an adequate value of 57%. In general, it can be concluded that the LRT connectivity with existing modes at the Kampung Rambutan Terminal is quite good.

Evaluating Parking Characteristics of Park-and-Ride Facility at Gombak LRT Terminal Station

Malaysia has been experiencing a rapid increase in the number of private vehicles each year. This has increased in the use of private vehicles for various trip purposes especially work trips. Park-and-ride (PnR) is one of the travel demand management measures that would help to reduce traffic congestion and sustain urban mobility. The success of a park-and-ride facility, however, depends on many factors besides parking characteristics at the public transit stations. This paper evaluates the parking characteristics at one of the rail-based PnR stations of an LRT line. The parking characteristics at the selected rail station were evaluated by applying both a parking utilization survey and a pre-designed questionnaire survey. The parking utilization survey was administered by targeting all the parking spaces at each level of the parking building and a questionnaire survey by targeting a pre-determined sample of parking users. A total of 295 questionnaires were proportionately distributed to the parking users at each level of the PnR facility. The analysis reveals maximum utilization of the parking facility especially during morning and late afternoon hours representing a high proportion of work trip commuters. This finding was well supported when compared with the results from the questionnaire data analysis. There were no clear differences in the parking characteristics between the findings of this study and that of other studies. However, the parking behavior and the pattern of the parkers differ conspicuously from that of other studies. A few recommendations were drawn to overcome the unavailability of parking spaces.

How Public Transportation Use Social Media Platform during Covid-19: Study on Jakarta Public Transportations’ Twitter Accounts?

This study aims to analyze the social media functions of Jakarta public transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze four twitter accounts of Jakarta public transportation consisting of LRT, MRT, BRT, and Commuter Line. The method in this study uses qualitative content analysis and Nvivo 12 Plus analysis tool. Based on the content analysis, the information that has given during the pandemic includes COVID-19, transportation information, risk information, and community information during the pandemic period. We have divided the function of twitter account into five categories: First, providing information related to some schedule changes, and functions before and during pandemic. Second, reporting situation, this category shall convey information on the condition of corridors, and terminals. Third, communication of risks, related to health and service standards during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a campaign for transport users in Jakarta to be aware of the surrounding conditions. Fourth, providing mental assistance, this function shall be in the form of COVID-19 prevention through the provision of disinfectant boxes, the use of hand sanitizers, and the provision of health counseling, and the fifth is service information.

Social and economic impacts of public transportation on adjacent communities: The case of the Addis Ababa light rail transit

The Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit (AALRT) was launched in 2015 and is the first modern urban rail transit system in Ethiopia as well as in Sub Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study is to assess the socio-economic effects of the AALRT on communities around the system. Six stations were systematically selected on East-West line, and random sampling was used to collect survey data from residents living within a 1 km radius from each of the selected stations. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis by developing social and economic indicators. The analysis results show that there are positive impacts of the AALRT on adjacent residential communities such as a reduction of transport cost and travel time, as well increasing travel distance (coverage) and number of home renters around the LRT stations. In contrast, the negative impacts of the LRT were identified as separation of the adjacent residential communities and long walking distance to access the opposite side of the LRT. In some neighborhoods, the LRT line segregated residents living in the opposite sides of the line as the result of the infrastructure built above the ground. The negative impacts can be mitigated by undertaking the detailed study of the socio-economic impacts on adjacent communities before and after the implementation of AALRT. Building the line on the existing streets or underground is likely to reduce the segregation of adjacent residential communities.

Energy saving in metro systems: Simultaneous optimization of stationary energy storage systems and speed profiles

High electric energy consumption is one of the main challenges of metro systems, which the operators deal with. Among several energy saving methods, this paper focuses on the simultaneous application of speed profile optimization and energy storage systems, to efficiently utilize regenerative braking energy. With this approach, a substantial reduction in energy was achieved for the case study of Mashhad LRT Line 1. In addition, because of the simultaneous utilization of the schemes, the required capacity of stationary energy storage systems was decreased in comparison with the case of normal (not optimized) speed profile. To demonstrate the validity of the proposed method, two procedures were done. First, the optimization of stationary supercapacitor energy storage systems was performed by using experimental results (real world, not optimized speed profiles) so that the total input energy would be minimized. In the second procedure, the optimal speed profiles were determined and optimum energy storage was recomputed. The results show a significant reduction of energy in the latter procedure, as well as lower energy storage system costs.

Leveraging Transit Investments to Enhance Walkability and Bikeability Along the Green Line in Calgary ( breakout presentation )

Background The Green Line is one of The City of Calgary’s largest ever infrastructure projects, adding over 40 kilometres of LRT line to the city’s existing LRT network. This infrastructure investment has led The City of Calgary to update and develop planning policy documents to guide redevelopment at key stations along the Green Line. Aims (1) Provide an overview of the Green Line project; (2) Educate attendees on how The City of Calgary has leveraged the investment of the Green Line to enhance walkability and bikeability in three unique neighbourhood contexts; (3) Contrast and compare plan area contexts and challenges to enhancing walkability and bikeability through policy, and; (4) Highlight indirect contributions to walkability and bikeability through built form policy. Summary The presentation will delve into different approaches The City of Calgary has taken to enhance walkability and bikeability in transit oriented developments based on each plan context and existing attributes. This includes policies that directly address to walking and cycling as well as policies regarding that indirectly impact walking/biking through the built form. Three local area plans will be examined: (1) Inglewood: reinvigorating and retrofitting an older inner-city character neighbourhood with historical resources. Policy in Inglewood focuses on redeveloping underdeveloped parcels while maintaining historic buildings and enhancing the 9 Avenue Main Street; (2) Ogden: retrofitting a lower-density established community to encourage active modes. Policy in Ogden will focus around key open space linkages and how the enhancement of local services in neighbourhood nodes will increase walkability and bikeability in Ogden, and; (3) South Hill: creating a new urban village on primarily undeveloped inner city City-owned lands. South Hill's policy focuses on how key infrastructure construction in the short term will lead to the establishment of an urban village with public spaces, and a High Street oriented to attract transit users, pedestrians and cyclists.

Modeling maximum surface settlement due to EPBM tunneling by various soft computing techniques

There are various methods to predict the settlement caused by shallow tunneling, with each method having particular strengths and weaknesses. However, the most important weakness of common methods is the failure to consider all parameters contributing into the settlement. Nowadays, earth pressure balance machines (EPBMs) are commonly applied for tunneling into soft grounds. In this tunneling method, many parameters affect resultant surface settlement, it difficult to estimate the settlement by traditional methods. Soft computing, however, can be devised to cope with such engineering limitations. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of the soft computing methods of neuro-genetic system (NGS), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and gene expression programming (GEP) to predict maximum surface settlement (S max) caused by tunneling in Shanghai Subway LRT Line 2 project. For this purpose, S max is considered as a function of geometric, strength and operational factors, with the factors combined using different methods to reconstruct different models. The results showed that the models with operational factors outperformed other models. Among tested methods, ANFIS and NGS presented the best and the worst forecasts, respectively. With respect to the results of this research, it can be said that, despite the fact that GEP had lower accuracy in comparison to ANFIS, it represented the most suitable method to estimate S max , because of providing useful mathematical equations.

Parking Space Occupancy at Rail Stations in Klang Valley

The development of Klang Valley Integrated Rapid Transit system in Klang Valley, Malaysia has been quickly gaining momentum during the recent years. There will be two new MRT lines (MRT Line 1 and MRT Line 2) and one new LRT line (LRT Line 3) extended from the current integrated rail transit system by year 2020 with more than 90 new rail stations. With the substantial addition of potential rail passengers, there are doubts whether the existing Park and Ride facilities in Klang Valley are able to accommodate the future parking space demand at rail stations. This research studies the parking occupancy at various Park and Ride facilities in Klang Valley namely Taman Jaya, Asia Jaya, Taman Paramount, Taman Bahagia and Kelana Jaya by applying the non-conventional method utilizing Google Earth imageries. Results showed that the parking occupancy rate at these LRT stations were 100% or more before the commencement of LRT extension (Kelana Jaya and Ampang Lines) in 2016 and in the range of 36% to 100% after the commencement of LRT extension due to the additionally built car parks and changes in parking pattern with dispersed passenger traffic.

Future Parking Demand at Rail Stations in Klang Valley

Klang Valley, Malaysia is currently undergoing a massive development of rail transportation system expansion where the current integrated rail transit system will see new extensions of two MRT lines and an LRT line by year 2020. By year 2017, the first MRT line will be ready to run with 31 new rail stations connected to the current passenger rail network. The existing Park and Ride facilities in Klang Valley are commonly known as being unable to sufficiently cater for the current parking space demand. Therefore, with the expansion of many additional rail stations which are rapidly under construction, there are doubts that the future parking space at rail stations will be able to accommodate the sudden rise of rail passengers. Although the authorities are increasing parking bays at various locations, will the future parking demand at rail stations be sufficient? This paper studies the factors influencing parking demand in terms of population, car ownership, new car registrations and passenger rail ridership and estimating the future parking demand using Linear Regression method. Result shows that the forecasted parking demand at rail stations after the implementation of the first new MRT system in 2017 is 2.7 times more than in 2014.

Evaluation of land use density, diversity and ridership of Rail Based Public Transportation System

Abstract The government of Malaysia nowadays is heavily investing on both rail and road-based public transportation projects in and around Klang Valley (KV). The investment is expected to induce a change in the travel mode of the users from private transport to public transport. Research showed that multiple external factors affect transit usage. The common factors were urban form, employment levels, per-capita income, parking strategies, passenger ridership, population density and age. This paper focuses on the evaluation of land use density, diversity and passenger ridership at LRT stations along Kelana Jaya and Ampang LRT line. The results of the land use characteristics around the LRT stations for the rail-based public transport system are shown in this paper. Determination of LRT stations with different density, diversity and passenger ridership is highlighted in this paper.

Calculation of maximum surface settlement induced by EPB shield tunnelling and introducing most effective parameter

This study aims to predict ground surface settlement due to shallow tunneling and introduce the most affecting parameters on this phenomenon. Based on data collected from Shanghai LRT Line 2 project undertaken by TBM-EPB method, this research has considered the tunnel’s geometric, strength, and operational factors as the dependent variables. At first, multiple regression (MR) method was used to propose equations based on various parameters. The results indicated the dependency of surface settlement on many parameters so that the interactions among different parameters make it impossible to use MR method as it leads to equations of poor accuracy. As such, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), was used to evaluate its capabilities in terms of predicting surface settlement. Among generated ANFIS models, the model with all input parameters considered produced the best prediction, so as its associated R2 in the test phase was obtained to be 0.957. The equations and models in which operational factors were taken into consideration gave better prediction results indicating larger relative effect of such factors. For sensitivity analysis of ANFIS model, cosine amplitude method (CAM) was employed; among other dependent variables, fill factor of grouting (n) and grouting pressure (P) were identified as the most affecting parameters.

Social capital and local public transportation in Japan

Local public transportation except in metropolitan areas in Japan faces operating difficulties due to business deficits. In recent years, central and local governments have taken social benefits into account to support local public transportation, but social benefits calculated in their cost-benefit analyses seem to be insufficient to evaluate them. Especially since the great earthquake in 2011, Japanese people have begun to rethink the importance of network and trust in neighborhoods, which can be called as ‘social capital,’ based on mobility. Therefore, focusing on ‘social capital,’ this paper tries to find the role of local public transportation beyond social benefits. Specifically, it makes an empirical analysis on the relationship between the indexes of ‘social capital’ and local bus services using cross section data. As a result, network and participation indexes standing for ‘social capital’ in each prefecture positively correlate with the level of local bus services. Also, according to our survey research in Toyama, introduction of a new LRT line is likely to have considerably changed the activities of residents along the line and has tended to promote more opportunities to come into contact with others than before. Those studies shed light on the role of public transportation from the standpoint of ‘social capital.’

Tailoring empirical research on transit access premiums for planning applications

Existing studies on transit access premiums focus primarily on hypothesis testing and methodological sophistication. There is a disconnect between the study efforts and the practice of transit-oriented planning and policy making. This paper aims at building this connection through a case study of Wuhan, China. The study applies established conceptual frameworks and analytical procedures in the field to 1) examine the spatial extent of rail transit impacts on housing market; 2) estimate transit access premiums and their spatial distribution in the station area; and 3) simulate revenue streams to illustrate the potential of transit value capture. The empirical results show that in Wuhan the influence area extends to 700m for light rail transit (LRT Line 1), 900–1000m for metro rail (MRT Lines 2 and 4). The distance ranges differ from the conventionally accepted value of 400m and the value of 500–600m currently considered by Wuhan local planning agencies. This empirical knowledge enables transit planners to modify transit catchment areas for the interest of enhancing ridership forecasting and service planning.The Wuhan case study reports average transit capitalization rates of 2.87%, 3.71%, and 4.37% for LRT Line 1, MRT Line 2, and MRT Line 4, respectively. These capitalization rates translate to average premium values of 318.14, 383.02, and 400.23 yuan per-square meter within the corresponding influence areas for the respective three lines. This location-specific knowledge on housing market responses to transit access supports the local government to formulate and fine-tune location-specific plans and policies; for example, the density bonus regulation currently practiced by Wuhan municipal government. The simulation shows that a 0.5% capture rate could generate more than 153 million yuan from the existing housing stock (in year 2013) inside the influence areas of the three transit lines in Wuhan. In the full build-out scenario under Wuhan's current TOD density regulation, the captured value is 222 million yuan. The captured value could help reduce transit operation deficits. Planning practice and policy making should move from being experience-driven to evidence-based. Empirical research is essential to identify and provide the needed evidence for more efficient TOD regulation and value capture.

Rail line length in a crosstown corridor with many‐to‐many demand

AbstractAn analytical model that determines the optimal location and length of rail line along a crosstown transportation corridor with the objective of minimizing the total transportation cost is presented. A general, many‐to‐many passenger demand pattern is considered. The objective function, which includes the rail and bus riding costs, rail and bus operating costs, rail fleet costs and rail line costs, is minimized by using the classical optimization method with the aid of a computer program developed for the model. The model is applied to the Northwest‐South transportation corridor in Calgary, Alberta, and the sensitivity of the optimal rail line location and length to the unit cost and demand parameters at their reasonable ranges is tested. It is found that although the total passenger demand, unit rail line cost, and unit bus operating cost have greater influence than the unit bus and rail riding costs, and unit rail fleet and operating costs, the optimal line length is generally insensitive to all these parameters. It is also found that the length of the existing LRT line in the corridor is comparable to the optimal line length obtained from the model, but the existing line should be extended further south in order to meet the heavier demand in that direction optimally.