Promotion Of Public Transport Research Articles

Traffic flow rate on Kigali roads: a case of national roads (RN1 and RN3)

Traffic flow study plays a key important in various functionalities of cities all over the world. The study of traffic flow is also viewed as an essential facility of the country when it wants to establish traffic operations patterns in the progress of road planning. Blockages are accountable for a sequence of harmful effects such as loss of time, scheduling difficulties, carbon dioxide production, and risks of accidents as well as external expenses. Besides, inadequate transportation facilities and increased traffic volume hamper urban development, especially in developing nations. The objective of the study was to assess the traffic flow state in two selected national roads of Kigali city. The traffic data were collected from 5 am to 8 pm on two National Roads (RN1 and RN3). The relationship between density and flow rate was analyzed using the fundamental diagram of traffic flow. It was found that the peak hours were from 6 am to 8 am and 5 pm to 8 pm. The highest number of vehicles counted were motorcycles due to shortcuts taken to reduce travel time. The results on RN3 revealed a proportion increase of traffic flow and density in the free-flow regime from 0 to maximum flow of 3346.6 veh/h correspondent to a critical density of 114.9 veh/km. However, in the congested zone regime, there was a decrease in traffic flow and an increase in density. It was found that the curve of flow versus density tended to increase on-road RN1. This study proposed the promotion of public transport and e-commerce as strategies to mitigate the congestion. Also, further research may be carried out on all roads of Kigali city, to provide the level of congestion useful for traffic deviation accordingly.

Evaluating Performance of Public Transport Networks by Using Public Transport Criteria Matrix Analytic Hierarchy Process Models—Case Study of Stonnington, Bayswater, and Cockburn Public Transport Network

To mitigate car traffic problems, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) issued a document that provides guidelines for sustainable development and the promotion of public transport. The efficiency of the policies and strategies needs to be evaluated to improve the performance of public transportation networks. To assess the performance of a public transport network, it is first necessary to select evaluation criteria. Based on existing indicators, this research proposes a public transport criteria matrix that includes the basic public transport infrastructure level, public transport service level, economic benefit level, and sustainable development level. A public transport criteria matrix AHP model is established to assess the performance of public transport networks. The established model selects appropriate evaluation criteria based on existing performance standards. It is applied to study the Stonnington, Bayswater, and Cockburn public transport network, representing a series of land use and transport policy backgrounds. The local public transport authorities can apply the established transport criteria matrix AHP model to monitor the performance of a public transport network and provide guidance for its improvement.

Simulating the performance of integrated bus priority setups with microscopic traffic mockup experiments

Traffic planning should focus on the promotion of public transport to ensure sustainability. Buses have a vital role to play in this as they optimize the use of limited road space by carrying more passengers, compared to personal vehicles. This study is aimed at systematically simulating the impacts of various bus priority measures with respect to existing conditions by evaluating travel time savings, various traffic performance indicators and reliability benefits to address transportation challenges such as delays. The results obtained from the developed simulation experiments in VISSIM and the comparison with the field traffic behavior confirmed that the developed models accurately represent the actual traffic nature with less than 10% margin of error. The evaluation of the validated bus priority models showed that the priority schemes reduce bus delays by a minimum of 21.32% at intersections and some of the strategies can easily be incorporated with less investment. Because of the simulated priority attributes, the modal shift assessment result showed that 62% of other mode users have high tendency to shift to buses; except for private car users in which 66% of the users have low mode shifting interest. Policy makers and transport planners should implement priority measures to reduce delays, improve service management and reliability, as they are low-cost with highly efficient traffic management that keep buses moving and boosting mobility in areas that attract many people.

English

Over the past decade, most of the metropolitan cities across the world have been witnessing a degrading trend in air quality index. Exhaust emission data observations show that promotion of public transport could be a potential way out of this gridlock. Due to environmental concerns, numerous public transport authorities harbor a great interest in introducing zero emission electric buses. A shift from conventional diesel buses to electric buses comes with several benefits in terms of reduction in local pollution, noise, and fuel consumption. This paper proposes the relevant vehicle technologies, powertrain, and charging systems, which, in combination, provides a comprehensive methodology to design an Electric Bus that can be deployed in metropolitan cities to mitigate emission concerns.

Intergroup Comparison of Personalities in the Preferred Pricing of Public Transport in Rush Hours: Data Revisited

Public authorities and administrations in the developed world are trying to reduce air pollution through the introduction and promotion of public transport. Typically, passengers are charged flat fares. However, with passenger numbers rising, this flat rate pricing model ceases to be sustainable, and a new trend arises—to charge more during traffic peaks as an incentive to even the load and travel outside of rush hours. However, it can be also argued that prices should be lower during rush hours due to poorer service quality—public transportation tends to be crowded and slow. Our on-line questionnaire did not discuss the logic of pricing models, having only measured the preferences of Czech university students (N = 256). The objective was to investigate whether there is a difference in demographic factors or in personality traits between respondents preferring a lower, flat, or higher pricing model. One-way analysis of variance was used for the intergroup comparison. The majority of respondents prefer flat pricing; higher pricing was the least preferred of the three considered models. The main findings were that men, narcissists and people who tend to find fault with others (i.e. lower in one facet of agreeableness) were in favor of higher prices during rush hours. In particular, the latter finding may be useful for policy makers, as it suggests that there ought to be no or only a little tension after higher rush hours prices are introduced.

The CO2 emission changes in China's transportation sector during 1992-2015: a structural decomposition analysis.

Based on a structural decomposition approach, the present paper simultaneously analyzes seven driving factors and forty sectors, which contribute to CO2 emission changes for China's transportation sector during 1992-2015. Based on the analysis of the driving factors, the total output and the energy intensity are found to be the primary positive and negative factor, respectively. From the sector analysis, top five sectors causing the increase of the transportation CO2 emissions are identified. Particularly, information transmission, computer services and software sector (no. 28); construction sector (no. 26); transportation sector (no. 27); chemical sector (no. 12); and leasing and business service sector (no. 33) are the five most relevant contributions to the increase of CO2 emissions of the transportation sector during 2002-2015. As a view to suppress CO2 emission growth, besides the promotion of public transportation, low-carbon emission energy, and energy-saving technologies, policymakers should pay attention to the impacts of key sectors on transportation.

Public Transport Promotion and Mobility-as-a-Service

Public Transport Promotion and Mobility-as-a-Service

Effectiveness of Ring Roads in Reducing Traffic Congestion in Cities for Long Run: Big Almaty Ring Road Case Study

It is common to increase road capacity by constructing ring roads to reduce traffic congestion in city areas, although this is often found to be ineffective in the long run. Accordingly, this study investigates various traffic congestion management approaches and their effectiveness in major cities, and explores an identical transport problem in Almaty, Kazakhstan: The Big Almaty Ring Road (BAKAD). Several case examples from the existing literature are examined in which various approaches were taken for managing traffic congestion problems, and these approaches are classified into three concepts. The first concept comprises heavy engineering measures such as ring road development, new road construction, expansion of existing roads, etc. Such measures can initially reduce traffic congestion, but often become ineffective with time due to the generation of induced traffic. Many cities have taken Push and Pull measures that ensure more efficient use of existing capacity and have initiated environmentally friendly alternative transportation modes such as decreased car usage; promotion of public transport, biking and walking; minimization of the necessity of people’s movement by changing urban land use patterns; and so on. These approaches have been found to be effective in providing sustainable transportation solutions and are classified as concept 2. Nevertheless, Push and Pull measures might not be enough for managing traffic congestion, and it might be necessary to increase the road capacity through heavy engineering measures, especially if the city experiences heavy transit traffic. This combined approach is categorized as concept 3. Consequently, the BAKAD project is examined under the umbrella of three concepts, and recommendations are provided based on the findings from the experience of different cities and interviews with experts from Almaty city. Both the results and recommendations developed are relevant for this specific case only, and are not necessarily transferable.

Location, location, relocation: how the relocation of offices from suburbs to the inner city impacts commuting on foot and by bike

PurposeIn recent decades there has been increasing focus on the development of compact and accessible urban environments, in part based on the reasoning that this can help to reduce the transportation requirements of city residents. Travel intensive land uses such as office workplaces are often offered incentives from policy makers to relocate to central locations well served by public transport (transit oriented development). To date, the academic literature on integrated transport and land use planning has largely been focused on the reduction of private car usage and promotion of public transport. This paper adds a complementary dimension, testing the hypothesis that intra-city workplace relocation towards city centres promotes walking and bicycling.MethodsThis paper uses a comparative case study method. Employee travel surveys were conducted before and after the 2015 relocation of an office workplace in Trondheim, Norway from urban periphery to city centre. Three similar office relocation cases in Trondheim and Oslo (post-2000) are used for comparison to the case study. Changes in travel distance, time, costs, optimal route and potential for walking and bicycling in the case study are considered alongside actual changes in transport mode.ResultsWalking and bicycling levels have a clear inverse relationship with distance to the city centre, due in large part to reduced commuting distances and increased parking costs following relocation. For the case study, the modal share of walking and cycling increased by a factor of 2.5 and 2.8 respectively. Relocation similarly led to a tripling in the number of case study employees who have a commute distance of less than 6 km, the employees’ median acceptable cycling distance. Active commuting levels from the former and current workplace locations match closely with the share of active commuting in the Norwegian National Travel Survey data for the corresponding neighbourhoods.ConclusionAlthough the function of workplaces and their employees can vary significantly within a city neighbourhood, travel behaviour is to a large extent determined by supply variables like time and cost. Central workplace locations with good public transport accessibility are shown to create significantly improved opportunities for walking, cycling and public transport commuting compared to peripheral workplaces with little competition to workplace accessibility by car.

ESTIMATION AND PREDICTION OF THE EFFECT OF ALTERNATIVE ENGINE TECHNOLOGIES AND POLICY MEASURES ON THE AIR QUALITY IN ST. PETERSBURG IN 2010–2030

Problems related to the quality of life in big cities are increasingly relevant, especially with regard to environmental issues. Motor transport is responsible for pollutant emissions and noise that decisively affect life in modern cities. In this context, evaluating, monitoring and forecasting urban environmental quality in short-term and long-term perspective has become an important issue for decision making and planning of sustainable cities. Computational model COPERT was applied in the study to obtain long-term projections of road transport-related emission rates for pollutants and greenhouse gases. Three scenarios for St. Petersburg considering the population size, vehicle fleet structure, travel behavior, and fuel consumption are developed. It is shown that the greatest effect in emission reduction can be achieved through modernization of the vehicle fleet. Additional environmental protection measures such as an increase in the share of alternative fuels and promotion of public transportation are expected to result in an additional decline of pollutants and GHG emissions by 7–20% and 5–7%, respectively, in comparison with the Basic Scenario.

Simulation experiments and validation for considering bus priority treatments in small cites: The case of Hawassa city, Ethiopia

In this paper, the development of network and intersection simulation models using microsimulation tool, along with validation of the models is studied. The validated microscopic simulation models can be utilized for further evaluation of various traffic operational conditions, such as bus priority measures for improving bus service performance. Traffic planning should put emphasis on the promotion of public transport to ensure sustainability. In planning transport setups, computer models ensure the analysis of different alternative public transport options like bus priority treatments. Various traffic performance indicators like; headway, delay, queue length, travel speed and travel time were considered during the validation of the simulation models. The obtained results from the developed simulation experiments and the statistical comparison with the field traffic behavior assured that the models accurately represent the actual traffic nature with less than 10% margin of error. The simulation experiment results show that the City’s road corridors can accurately be created in microsimulation tools before conducting an impact analysis for alternative transportation strategies.Keywords: Microscopic simulation, microsimulation tool, public transport, traffic performance indicators, validation

2368 - Ideas for Improving Health Impacts of Urban Transport in Vietnamese Cities

Background In Vietnamese megacities motorcyclists account for a modal share of over 80%. The existing fleet relies mainly on combustion engines, which leaves not only the high number of motorcyclists widely unprotected against high pollution levels in the streets, but also causes high exposures for all other inhabitants, especially when considering the high number of roadside activities, which are found in typical activity patterns in Vietnam. On the other hand, the current transport systems provide such a high utilization of road infrastructure, that they can’t be improved by many typical measures from transport planning and traffic engineering, which are currently implemented in other countries worldwide to reduce emission or improve health. For example, promotion of public transport by bus or implementation of green waves was found to potentially impair the transport systems in Vietnam in short term. Methods Based on this situation and in-depth analyses in traffic engineering and transport planning in Vietnamese traffic situations, first workshops and initial exposure monitoring have been conducted in Vietnam to identify all necessary fields of action to be addressed by guidelines for a more health-oriented design of urban transport systems on the one hand and a more health-oriented usage of transport systems on the other hand. An interdisciplinary Vietnamese-German project team, that covers all stages from the design of transport systems, via human behavior and the resulting transport demand to its effects on pollution levels and exposures as well as other risks and the ability to quantify the impacts on human health is established. Results Based on initial fieldwork and surveys, nine working areas from the field of traffic and transport have been identified and assigned to experts for upcoming detailed research. All research areas are set up to assess measures from the respective field regarding health impacts from at least, (major) accidents, (minor) injuries, air pollution, stress, radiation/noise, fitness and accessibility as well as regarding other established goals of traffic management. Conclusions The ongoing work in Vietnam shows strong indications that health-oriented design and use of transport systems has significant impacts on human health and can contribute to the fulfillment of other traffic and transport related goals at the same time. While the awareness of planners and users of transport systems to improve the own health or the health of others is still low, fieldwork indicated that small shifts in awareness, guidance or general transport planning practice can have very significant impacts.

Assessment of spatio-temporal changes in terrestrial carbon sequestration due to Kochi metro rail project in India

Major infrastructure projects can cause sizeable reduction in the urban tree cover thereby affecting terrestrial carbon sequestration potential of cities. This study investigated the spatio-temporal changes occurred in terrestrial carbon sequestration due to the metro rail project at Kochi city in India during the years 2013 to 2015. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) estimated from IRS-P6 LISS IV satellite sensor data was used to detect the tree cover change and for the quantification of carbon stock. An urban carbon storage equation was used to estimate the carbon content from NDVI values. Stock difference approach was used to estimate the change in carbon sequestration due to the construction of metro rail. Results indicated reduction of 14.51ha of tree cover area within a distance of 60m from the center-line of metro rail during the study period. Study found that 2316 tCO2e was emitted as a result of cutting urban trees for the metro rail. Such an emission was overlooked while estimating the emission reduction due to the promotion of public transport. This study points to the need for estimating the impacts of major urban infrastructure projects to the global climate in addition to assessing their mostly localized environmental impacts.

The marginalization of walking, the Achilles’ heel of sustainable mobility policies in Oran (Algeria)

Oran’s agglomeration has resulted in an important peripheral urbanisation over the last two decades, followed by a considerable increase of distances travelled and an explosion of passenger car use as the principal transportation mode, to the detriment of public transport use and walking. A political will has emerged to promote public transport use by the implementation of a multimodal public transport system (bus, tram, and metro). Unfortunately, this policy has failed to address sustainable mobility development and the promotion of soft mobility, where walking, as a pillar of urban mobility, is marginalized in public spaces development. This paper aims to analyze the negative impact of the increase of passenger car use on the modal reversal of daily practice displacements and on public spaces development. Likewise, it examines the areas earmarked for walking in the new projects of public transport promotion through the study of the first tram line project in Oran, Algeria.

Monitoring and source apportionment of trace elements in PM2.5: Implications for local air quality management

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) samples were collected simultaneously every hour in Beijing between April 2014 and April 2015 at five sites. Thirteen trace elements (TEs) in PM2.5 were analyzed by online X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The annual average PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 76.8 to 102.7 μg m−3. TEs accounted for 5.9%–8.7% of the total PM2.5 mass with Cl, S, K, and Si as the most dominant elements. Spearman correlation coefficients of PM2.5 or TE concentrations between the background site and other sites showed that PM2.5 and some element loadings were affected by regional and local sources, whereas Cr, Si, and Ni were attributed to substantial local emissions. Temporal variations of TEs in PM2.5 were significant and provided information on source profiles. The PM2.5 concentrations were highest in autumn and lowest in summer. Mn and Cr showed similar variation. Fe, Ca, Si, and Ti tended to show higher concentrations in spring, whereas concentrations of S peaked in summer. Concentrations of Cl, K, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ni peaked in winter. PM2.5 and TE median concentrations were higher on Saturdays than on weekdays. The diurnal pattern of PM2.5 and TE median concentrations yielded similar bimodal patterns. Five dominant sources of PM2.5 mass were identified via positive matrix factorization (PMF). These sources included the regional and local secondary aerosols, traffic, coal burning, soil dust, and metal processing. Air quality management strategies, including regional environmental coordination and collaboration, reduction in secondary aerosol precursors, restrictive vehicle emission standards, promotion of public transport, and adoption of clean energy, should be strictly implemented. High time-resolution measurements of TEs provided detailed source profiles, which can greatly improve precision in interpreting source apportionment calculations; the PMF analysis of online XRF data is a powerful tool for local air quality management.

Public transport promotion policy on campus: evidence from Suranaree University in Thailand

This study aims to determine factors affecting quality of public transport service and public transport demand for students. The findings will be a tool to develop a policy promoting public and sustainable transportation. Applying second order confirmatory factor analysis, the study found that the most important factor on bus service quality was convenience, followed by service planning and bus network. The most important factors affecting the intention to increase bus usage were attitude, personal norm, and a lack of private vehicle. All three factors presented a positive effect on the intention to increase bus usage. A Factor with a negative impact was perceived behavior control of increasing bus usage. Socioeconomic factors, namely hometown, sex, and academic year did not have a direct influence on the intention to increase bus usage, but have an indirect effect through vehicle ownership. The study results could be used to establish an efficient policy to increase bus ridership.

Do driving restriction policies effectively motivate commuters to use public transportation?

Driving restriction policies have been implemented in some large Chinese cities to cope with severe urban smog pollution. We explored the roles of policy acceptance and other factors in commuters' transport mode decisions, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Tianjin, China. A structural equation model was developed to test eight hypotheses, two of which were rejected. The results indicate that a driving restriction policy alone cannot effectively motivate commuters to use public transport if the policymakers fail to improve public transport, enhance commuters' awareness of consequences, increase commuters' perceived behavior control, and encourage car owners to change driving behavior. Comparisons between car owners and non-owners indicated that car owners view driving restriction policy and public transport more negatively. These negative views could be a barrier for the promotion of public transport among car owners. In addition, attitude toward public transport was found to have positive correlation with commuting time.

Urban passenger transport energy saving and emission reduction potential: A case study for Tianjin, China

With rapid growth of the vehicle population, urban passenger transport in China is largely responsible for increases in energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and also atmospheric pollutants (NOx, CO, HC, PM). In this paper, we first develop an urban passenger transport energy saving and emission reduction potential evaluation model using the “Long Range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP)” tool; and then take Tianjin city as an empirical case to evaluate the reduction potential of final energy consumption, GHG emissions and pollutants emissions of Tianjin’s urban passenger transport sector between 2010 and 2040 under four scenarios, i.e. BAU (business as usual) scenario, PP (the 12th five-year plan policy) scenario, CP (comprehensive policy) scenario and HP (hybrid policy of PP and CP) scenario. The results show that due to the public transport promotion, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in 2040 can be reduced by 22% and 22.6% in the PP scenario, compared to BAU. The largest reductions in energy consumption, CO2 and atmospheric pollutants emissions can be achieved under CP scenario, in which vehicle population regulation is the most effective to be implemented. Emissions standard regulation is the most effective measure to reduce atmospheric pollutant emissions in all the scenarios and green energy promotion is especially effective to reduce NOx and PM.

Mobility perspective for a local city in Japan

Japan is now heading toward a population decrease and a highly aging society. The nationwide automobile dependency established over the past 50years has affected the country's road building policy and the formation of urban structure based on automobile usage. Now, Japan is facing serious mobility problems, especially among the elderly. This tendency is more prominent in local cities throughout the country. The solutions to improve mobility are found in three areas: the promotion of public transportation, bicycles, and compact cities.Utsunomiya City, a regional capital heavily dependent on automobile transportation, suffers from severe traffic congestion, a high traffic accident rate, high carbon dioxide emissions, and urban sprawl. In order to achieve the long-term objectives of becoming a sustainable city, it launched an ambitious mobility strategy. Utsunomiya City has been one of the front-runners in introducing a new light rail transit (LRT) system. The prospect of building the first modern LRT system in Japan is very promising at present. This paper attempts to look back at the history of LRT planning efforts and analyze the circumstances and background of various stakeholders and the perceptions of citizens. It also attempts to sort out the various issues and challenges that the city needs to solve in order to achieve the objective of becoming the first city to build a new LRT in Japan.Another solution to excessive automobile dependency is bicycles, which are a convenient and inexpensive transportation mode all over the world. In Japan, however, automobile-oriented transportation and urban policies have prevailed, leaving the bicycle long neglected. Still, recent years have seen the bicycle gain recognition as a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to the automobile, especially after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Utsunomiya City has been actively pursuing a mobility policy of bicycle utilization since 2003 and is regarded as one of the leaders in its promotion. The potential success in Utsunomiya to overcome automobile dependency will make it a model for many local cities in Japan that suffer from similar problems.

HOUSEHOLDS’ BEHAVIOUR AND ENVIRONMENTAL EMISSIONS IN A REGIONAL ECONOMY

Households have significant demand-side potential to drive reductions in atmospheric emissions, including both direct and indirect emissions. Our analysis focuses on the behaviour of a regional economy (Aragon, Spain) and its impact on greenhouse gases (GHG) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Using a CGE model, we simulate scenarios and evaluate the environmental impact of adopting changes considered in the Aragonese Climate Change and Clean Energy Strategy. Specifically, we analyse the impact of electricity savings and the promotion of public transport (bus or train) versus private car use. The results indicate that 1 MWh of saving in electricity consumption by households could reduce emissions of GHG by 0.112 kt of equivalent CO2 and 8.209 kg of SO2 with a shift in demand preferences and 0.022 kt of equivalent CO2 and 7.612 kg of SO2 with an efficiency improvement. Moreover, household changes in demand preferences regarding private/public transport, also contribute to reduce emissions.