Public Transport Management Research Articles

Design of Service Supervision and Subsidies Evaluation System for Urban Public Transport

In order to promote the sound development of urban public transport industry, government administration needs to enhance quality supervision of operational service to public transport enterprises, while taking scientific and effective strategy of financial subsidies. So service supervision and subsidies evaluation system for urban public transport are designed. First of all, system construction demand was analyzed based on enterprise operation cost accounting, subsidies evaluation and service quality supervision. And then the idea and workflow of system construction are proposed. Furthermore, public transport enterprises cost accounting, supervision and evaluation of public transport enterprise services, compensation scope and methods of financial subsidies to public transport enterprises, audit and evaluation of compensation mechanisms for financial subsidies are analyzed and researched separately. Based on the above, functional architecture of service supervision and subsidies evaluation system for urban public transport for government sector management is proposed. The system is composed of four function modules: basic database of public transport operation, cost of ticket revenue accounting system, service quality evaluation system, and subsidies compensation evaluation system. The ideas and methods are provided for service supervision and subsidies evaluation system for urban public transport and industry management information platform construction.

Study on Method of Bus Service Frequency Optimal ModelBased on Genetic Algorithm

Bus dispatching is the key to public transport management. To enhance the level of public transport dispatching managementis an important pathway of improving the service quality of urban public transport and attracting bus passengers. This paper made the sum of expenses paid by the passengers waiting for the bus, the sum of expenses paid by the passengers on the bus, the sum of expenses paid by passengers transferring public transport and the sum of expenses paid by variable operatoras target function to do both interests of passengers and enterprises. And introduce genetic algorithm to analysis of the model.

Evaluating City Bus Service Based on Zone of Tolerance of Expectation and Normalized Importance

Improving the quality of the city bus service is an important topic for public transportation management. One way of measuring this improvement is to measure the gap between the passengers’ expectation and their perception. The expectation can be divided into desired service and adequate service, and the difference between these two is the tolerant zone of expectation. The present study has two purposes. The first is to propose a model for evaluating service quality based on the zone of tolerance of expectation (ZSQ). The second is to build an analytical framework for prioritizing attributes (NIZSQ, normalized importance–ZSQ analysis) through a quadrant analysis based on ZSQ and normalized importance. This research took the Taipei city bus service as an example. The data were collected by means of questionnaires. Statistical analysis was adopted to test the hypotheses. The result showed that the top two priorities for improvement are those attributes that are relevant to the interaction with the passengers, and the support from operations management.

Design of Data Model for Urban Transport GIS

Constructing the data model for public transportation by integrating the spatial and the non-spatial information, is the basis of reasonable plan and effective management of urban public transport. This paper presents a transit data model based on geographic information systems (GIS) technology, which utilizes arc-node networks, and manages the foundational bus data with point, link, polygon and record features. In this model, a transport network is generated and maintained in a dynamic manner, and hence supports planning, construction, management, operation and optimization functions for transit facilities and routes, as well as day-to-day transactions. Public transportation GIS established on this model foundation will remarkably upgrade the construction level and the urban service ability.

New Zealand public transport procurement strategies in a new legislative environment

In 2003 and 2004 there were major changes to the legislative environment in New Zealand, with the enactment of the Land Transport Management Act, 2003 which formed the New Zealand Transport Agency. The Transport Agency has a statutory role of assisting and advising approved organisations (usually local government) and approving procurement procedures. Following the introduction of the Land Transport Management Act a review of existing public transport legislation took place leading to the introduction of the Public Transport Management Act early in 2009. This paper discusses the role of procurement strategies in obtaining value for money objectives for public transport services within the new legislative environment. A case study of Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Procurement Strategy for bus and ferry services is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of strategic thinking.

The 2008 New Zealand public transport management act: Rationale, key provisions, and parallels with the United Kingdom

In January 2009, following a lengthy industry review and consultation process, the New Zealand Public Transport Management Act (PTMA) came into force. The Act allows Regional Transport Authorities, as the primary procurers of public transport services, to place either a control or a contracting requirement upon services that are registered as commercial requiring no subsidy. The imposition of either the control or the contracting requirement is designed to facilitate greater system integration, improve service continuity and enhance services to the customer, andallow the Authority to invest in key strategic projects, such as integrated fares and ticketing, so as to grow patronage. The PTMA’s other objective is to ensure improved value for public subsidies. Recent years have seen significant subsidy inflation for seemingly little commensurate benefits. The Act will allow the Regional Transport Authority to achieve greater value for money through improved farebox, a shift to longer, larger contracts to increase competition in the market, a more appropriate allocation of risk, and the removal of the ability of operators to ‘game’ the current system by using strategically placed commercial services as barriers to competition. Similar concerns have also stimulated new legislation in the UK and this paper illustrates the parallels in the environment and proposed response.

Mobility and Protected Areas in the Alps

Of the 95 million annual tourists estimated in the Alps (confirmed by the Working Group Transport of the Alpine Convention, October 2008), around 80-85% use their private car to reach the desired destination, thus deepening the impact of traffic on man and nature in the Alpine Space. Public transport could be a solution for decreasing the negative effects of traffic in line with the goals of the Alpine Convention, but public transport is in direct competition with the advantages of using a private car. The Alpine Convention aims at reducing the negative effects and risks of transport. It is considering all possible modes of transport and how best to combine them, working on the principles of precaution and identifying the causer and proposes a coordinated transport policy of the parties to the Convention. In recent years there has been a paradigm change for access to protected areas, when these areas invested in planning and management, not only in the parks and protected areas themselves but also in means of transport for the visitors right from the start of the journey to their destinations. The development of special packages and offers for visiting protected areas by public transport is one of the most effective instruments for motivating visitors to change their attitude towards the use of private transport. In line with its basic orientation towards protection, transport and management in parks and protected areas is an important issue for the sustainable use and development of parks and protected areas as well for controlling the flow of visitors through the park. In addition to this basic interest of parks and protected areas in sustainable development, public transport management allows the park administrations to involve the local population in the park management and creates ownership as well as deeper understanding for the basic principles of sustainable development of a region. Local people can provide transport services to the visitors with small buses, collective taxis or alternative means of transport such as horse-drawn carriages. If the packages are to succeed in motivating visitors to travel by public transport, they have to be affordable, attractive and widely advertised. Partners in projects involving long-distance travel are often the railway companies, tourist organizations, communities and regions who are called upon to offer a mobility to the clients for the entire length of their journey. This guarantee includes travel from the starting point to the destination as well as once they have arrived. Increasingly such a two-stage guarantee is seen not only as an exceptional offer to visitors but is also becoming a crucial marketing element for destinations, parks and protected areas.

Re-scaling network governance. The evolution of public transport management in two Swiss agglomerations

Résumé This article analyses the up-scaling of territorial governance in the two Swiss agglomerations of Zurich and Bern. It focuses on the evolution, over the last half century, of the governance schemes established to manage a territorial network crucial to the functional integration of urban regions in Switzerland : urban public transport. Historical data is used to demonstrate that a shift in the territorial scope of urban public transport management has indeed taken place during the time period under scrutiny. However, specific political configurations as well as infrastructural settings have led to remarkable differences in the territorial management of urban public transport between the two agglomerations. This is especially striking, given the similarities of the initial governance scheme, as well as the dynamics of territorial restructuring that are comparable across the two places. We conclude that, while an up-scaling of territorial governance has occurred in both agglomerations, the different trajectories are the result of a process in which infrastructural pre-conditions combine with political conflicts to produce diverging forms of area-wide territorial governance.

CHOSEN ASPECTS OF MUNICIPAL TRANSPORT OPERATION ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE CITY OF LUBLIN

The paper presents some aspects of operation of municipal transport system in the city of Lublin (Poland). Organization of Lublin Municipal Transport Company was described, its efficiency and perspectives of development. Particular attention was paid to the rules of adjustment to the EU requirements, and to the influence of demographic and social factors. Infrastructure of public transport in Lublin was analyzed (busses, trolley‐busses, bus stations, fixed objects and bus stops), as well as configuration of bus and trolley‐bus lines. Some specific proposals were also put forward regarding development solutions: development plan of trolley‐bus traction, plan of inter‐connection bus station, development plan of bus traction, introduction of advanced IT solutions into the public transport management and natural gas (CNG) fuelling of the city busses. Keywords: urban transport, urban transport problems.

Towards efficient management of public transportation in the city of Nairobi through application of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)

Transport is crucial for sustainable development of any city. Today, cities in developing countries often devote a substantial proportion of the total expenditures to their transport systems. However, because of high motorisation rates, these cities are unable to cope with increasing demands for more road space. The city of Nairobi finds itself in a similar situation. In order for the city of Nairobi to cope with increasing travel demand by private and public transport users, new transport solutions need to be found. This calls for the adoption of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). The paper discusses the role that ITS can play in the proper management of public transportation in Nairobi. The limitations of the application of ITS in the management of urban traffic in the city are also examined. It is argued that the future of traffic management in Nairobi like in many other cities around the world has to be electronic. This is because the city is experiencing rapid population growth and urban sprawl. This rapid expansion has led to severe traffic congestion and other transport-related problems in the CBD.

Public vs private management of public utilities – The case of urban public transport in Europe

This paper analyses the determinants of the performance differential between the private and public management of urban public transport in Europe. Our analysis supports the view that private management is associated with a lower operating cost. We show, however, that the size of the costs' differential can depend on the interaction of the local authorities' capacity for expertise and the private operators' autonomy margin. In particular, we show that, in certain situations, there might be little difference in operating costs. Thus, in terms of total costs (production and transaction costs), no systematic advantages should be expected from private management.

The Economy of the Italian Regions in the Year 2006

The Economy of the Italian Regions in the year 2006 analyzes the evolution of production, labour market, financial aggregates and regional public finances in the four main Italian territorial areas. Topics analyzed focus on structural change in the Italian economy; trends in Mezzogiorno's exports; the evolution of local markets for university-level education after the introduction of a three-year degree; and the composition of households' financial assets and liabilities. Also examined are regional regulation in the commerce sector and the management of local public transportation. Two final points of focus relate to local public finances: the degree of regional taxation flexibility, and the main peculiarities of the five special statute regions.

Economic Developments in the Italian Regions in 2005

The Economy of the Italian Regions in the year 2005 analyzes the evolution of production, labour market, financial aggregates and regional public finances in the four main Italian territorial areas. Topics analyzed focus on structural change in the Italian economy; trends in Mezzogiorno's exports; the evolution of local markets for university-level education after the introduction of a three-year degree; and the composition of households' financial assets and liabilities. Also examined are regional regulation in the commerce sector and the management of local public transportation. Two final points of focus relate to local public finances: the degree of regional taxation flexibility, and the main peculiarities of the five special statute regions.

Landscape improvement impacts on roadside safety in Texas

Environmental psychologists suggest that appropriately landscaped roadside scenes may have a reducing influence on travel-related stress or may improve attention, yet there is very little data available that establishes the nature of the relationship between roadside landscaping and driver safety. Traditional transportation researchers suggest that aesthetic enhancements are a problematic component of the roadside landscape because of the severity of vehicle/tree collisions and a perception that roadside aesthetics can distract the driver causing safety risk. Costly planning processes arise as members of the local communities debate with public utility and transportation management staff on the subject of appropriate roadside landscaping. To test the effect of landscape improvements on driver performance, this study used a comparison of before-and-after crashes as a quantitative measure of roadside greening. Researchers examined 61 road sections in Texas that were landscape designed as either urban arterials or state highways. The hypothesis tested was to determine whether landscape-improved sections of the roadway were safer compared to the same road section before landscape improvements at 10 sites were very well controlled as study sites. The findings of this study show a significant decrease in crash rate after landscape improvements were implemented at the 95% confidence level on 10 urban arterial or highway sites in Texas. The contribution of this study is to further investigate the effect that landscape features are having on driver behavior which appear to be associated with positive changes in safety result from design. However, these findings need further research to verify a relationship between driver's visual perception according to travelway corridor landscape treatments.

An application of road pricing schemes to urban expressways in Seoul

This paper reviews the impact of road pricing schemes on urban expressways located in the metropolitan area, and examines efficiency and equity issues associated with various road pricing strategies. Focusing on an expressway section located in the southern part of Seoul, four alternative pricing schemes are investigated: a fast and intertwined regular (FAIR) lane system; a high occupancy toll (HOT) lane system; a congestion pricing (CP) system; and a toll collection system to raise revenue for road maintenance (Toll Road). A multi-class assignment technique embedded in EMME/2 was applied to each of the alternatives in order to estimate their impacts. On efficiency and equity grounds, we conclude that the CP option is the most beneficial alternative for the expressway. This strategy is the most favorable in terms of efficiency (speed gains and trip reductions) and horizontal equity considerations. Although it is inferior to the FAIR lane and HOT options in terms of vertical equity, its lower average bus speeds do not appear to represent a serious disadvantage. The second highest amount of revenue is collected from the toll option, and if that revenue is reinvested in an appropriate way, it may be closer to an envy-free condition attained by the FAIR lane option. The study suggests that electronic toll collection (ETC) systems should be adopted for toll collection because they offer the most value in relation to implementation costs (assuming revenues are spent to improve public transportation and road management). Alternatively, a mechanism can be adopted whereby road users participate in the allocation of toll revenues.

Using Hypermedia to Improve Safety in Underground Metropolitan Transportation

One of the main concerns in the organization and management of public transportation is passenger safety before an emergency. This is even more critical in the case of subway transportation, where risks are higher in the case of fire. Handling a critical emergency is a stressing task, in which large amounts of information must be used in order to make the right decision in a very short time. In this paper, we describe a pioneering application of hypermedia technology consisting of the integration of all the information needed to handle emergencies in a large hypermedia document. It reduces the response time remarkably by integrating text, graphics, sound, video and 3D models in a user-friendly interface. The authors and the Safety Office of Metro Valencia, the public transportation company of Valencia, developed it jointly between 1998 and 2000. We outline some of the technical decisions made during the project, as well as some of the lessons learned concerning the development of large hypermedia projects.

Decision Support Systems for Public Transport Management: The Athens Public Transport Authority Project

This article reports on an implementation study of a computerised decision support system for public transport management for the Athens Public Transport Authority (APTA). The study analysed the current situation, specified user requirements, determined system functionality, designed the system architecture, organised the project and, finally, planned dissemination activities. The decision support system covers the main public transport management activities of APTA - transport service provision, economic and financial planning, passenger complaints and suggestions, and personnel management - offering its users the possibility to study the potential effects of their decisions before implementation. To achieve this, the system will consist of a data warehousing system, for the integrated management of a wide variety of data sources, and of online analytical processing tools, for information analysis and scenario testing. The system architecture has been designed to offer robustness, flexibility, rich functionality and open connectivity. The system aims to help APTA reduce operational costs and provide a better transport service, attracting more passengers to public transport and reducing, in the process, congestion and pollution.

Urban mobility in the developing world

Mobility and accessibility are declining rapidly in most of the developing world. The issues that affect levels of mobility and possibilities for its improvement are varied. They include the rapid pace of motorization, conditions of local demand that far exceed the capacity of facilities, the incompatibility of urban structure with increased motorization, a stronger transport–land use relationship than in developed cities, lack of adequate road maintenance and limited agreement among responsible officials as to appropriate forms of approach to the problem. The rapid rise of motorization presents the question: At what level will it begin to attenuate for given economic and regulatory conditions? Analysts have taken various approaches to this problem, but so far the results are not encouraging. Developing cities have shown significant leadership in vehicle use restrictions, new technologies, privatization, transit management, transit service innovation, transportation pricing and other actions. Only a few, however, have made important strides toward solving the problem. Developing cities have lessons to learn from developed cities as regards roles of new technologies, forms of institutional management and the long term consequences of different de facto policies toward the automobile. These experiences, however, especially in the last category, need to be interpreted very carefully in order to provide useful guidance to cities with, for he most part, entirely different historical experiences in transportation. Continued progress in meeting the needs of the mobility problem in developing cities will focus on: (a) highway building, hopefully used as an opportunity to rationalize access, (b) public transport management improvements, (c) pricing improvements, (d) traffic management, and (e) possibly an emphasis on rail rapid transit based on new revenue techniques.

Computer-Aided Planning Of Rural Train RunsIn Lower Saxony

Computer-Aided Planning Of Rural Train RunsIn Lower Saxony

Modeling Approach for Transit Rolling-Stock Deterioration Prediction

An effective public transportation management system (PTMS) requires accurate and efficient models for the prediction of rolling-stock conditions. If the state of any given rolling-stock unit is known, its future condition can be predicted from the corresponding deterioration curves. The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to evaluate and model the relative importance of factors causing deterioration of rolling stock and, second, to provide projections of future condition to be used in transit capital programming. A methodology was developed for the estimating of rolling-stock deterioration models from condition rating data. Using a rolling-stock inspection data set from Indiana, the capabilities of the proposed methodology are empirically demonstrated. This ordered probit-based methodology provides models that are intuitively appealing, fundamentally sound, and a useful and easy-to-use tool in projecting future rolling-stock condition. The models presented in this paper are a part of the public transit management system being developed in Indiana for determining optimal rolling-stock maintenance, repair, and replacement strategies.