Rapid Way Research Articles

Broad support vs. deep opposition: The politics of bus rapid transit in low- and middle-income countries

It is no secret that decision-making around mass transit infrastructure can be highly political. Transport policy research, however, has tended to view political dynamics mainly as barriers. There is a need to better understand how and under what conditions political interests and institutions can enable mass transit projects, especially in cities which are not yet locked into car-centric transport systems. This paper addresses this gap with new inductive evidence from 32 expert interviews on the politics of bus rapid transit (BRT) in low- and middle-income countries. It develops two novel analytical frameworks, one on the politics of system adoption and another on the politics of system durability. The first framework highlights how BRT proposals often pitch broad but shallow political support against narrow yet deep political opposition. This renders them inherently contentious. Proposals move forward when their implementation generates political benefits for powerful decisionmakers. The second framework challenges the conventional view that BRT systems prove durable when their operations perform well. Instead, it posits that systems endure when their operations mitigate or adapt to adverse political feedback. The paper offers a novel holistic perspective on how to understand the politics of BRT, and presents a critical intervention in the BRT literature which has tended to focus on isolated political dynamics, such as the need for a local champion or resistance from paratransit operators.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) network arrangement system in the City of Jakarta

The city of Jakarta has grown very rapidly with more than 18.6 million private vehicles passing through it. Around 47.5 million people move in Jakarta and its surroundings, only 24 percent use public transportation. This trend of using transportation that is fast and uncontrollable, but not many people use public transportation. The purpose of this research is to provide direction to the public and the government so that the use of pedestrian-oriented public transportation and mass public transportation through the application of the TOD concept. This research method is descriptive argumentative in nature supported by data sources and processed qualitatively. The results of this study show that the application of TOD to mass transportation systems in Jakarta that currently exist or exist such as Commuter line stops or stations, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Trans Jakarta Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rapid Transit (LRT) has provided convenience and comfort for its users, as well as regional arrangement, passenger flow, and integration between mode. The conclusion of this study is that the TOD system that has been built can connect the downtown area with connected buffer areas via the BRT, MRT and LRT. This transportation system was developed managed by Jabodetabek Transportation Management Agency (PT. BPTJ).

Study of Trans Siginjai shelter coverage on corridor I and II in Jambi City of Indonesia

In order to meet mobility needs and prevent congestion, the government introduced and began operating Trans Siginjai Jambi in 2017. The low load factor value, however, indicates that its utilization is currently not optimal in supporting the mobility of people in Jambi City. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a closed transportation system, which bus shelters is become one of the main infrastructures to support its operation. The lack of bus shelters will influence the bus accessibility and the number of passengers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine how bus stop services of Trans Siginjai have served community movements in Jambi City’s Corridor I and Corridor II. Comparative descriptive analysis and geographical analysis are utilized in this study to perform coverage analysis. The findings of this investigation demonstrate that up to 8 stops in Corridor I and up to 10 stops in Corridor II fail to adhere to the distance requirements. Trans Siginjai only cover 16.99% of the area and only 21.18% of residential areas along the both corridors. In order to improve the accessibility, more bus stops are required, especially in the dense settlement area.

Analisis Faktor-faktor Pelayanan Trans Jogja Berdasarkan Persepsi Pengguna Sepeda Motor

In 2021, the population of motorized vehicles in DIY reached 3 million units of which 85% were motorcycles. The growth in the number of motorized vehicles results in increased congestion, pollution, and traffic accidents. To overcome transportation problems in Yogyakarta, in 2008 the government operated BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) based public transportation, Trans Jogja. However, various studies have shown that the load factor of Trans Jogja is very low. This study was conducted to see the characteristics of motorcyclist and latent factors of public transportation services that are prioritized by motorcycle users to switch modes to Trans Jogja.
 Primary data was obtained online and offline from 455 motorcycle users by answering a research questionnaire consisting of four sections, namely sociodemographic characteristics, travel characteristics and service factors that are prioritized to switch to Trans Jogja. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive methods, crosstab and factor analysis with SPSS.
 The results of the crosstab analysis show that the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents that correlate with the number of motorcycle ownership are age, income, pocket money, number of family members.Based on the factor analysis of public transport services prioritized by motorcycle users to switch to Trans Jogja, 4 latent factors were obtained, namely Trans Jogja service performance, transit experience, bus facilities and fees and parking.
 
 Keywords: Motorcycle, Trans Jogja, mode shift, factor analysis

WorldPoint: Finger Pointing as a Rapid and Natural Trigger for In-the-Wild Mobile Interactions

Pointing with one's finger is a natural and rapid way to denote an area or object of interest. It is routinely used in human-human interaction to increase both the speed and accuracy of communication, but it is rarely utilized in human-computer interactions. In this work, we use the recent inclusion of wide-angle, rear-facing smartphone cameras, along with hardware-accelerated machine learning, to enable real-time, infrastructure-free, finger-pointing interactions on today's mobile phones. We envision users raising their hands to point in front of their phones as a "wake gesture". This can then be coupled with a voice command to trigger advanced functionality. For example, while composing an email, a user can point at a document on a table and say "attach". Our interaction technique requires no navigation away from the current app and is both faster and more privacy-preserving than the current method of taking a photo.

Personality and the Intention to use Bus Rapid Transit on Pandemic COVID-19: The role of environmental concern as a mediator

Personality and the Intention to use Bus Rapid Transit on Pandemic COVID-19: The role of environmental concern as a mediator

Probabilistic wind uplift resistance framework for the relative evaluation of wood-frame load paths

Past failure risk analyses of wind-impacted wood-frame structural load paths have tended to consider simplified resistance models that account for a few key load path connections, in which connection capacity distributions are generally based on benchmark experimental results. However, recent post-storm reconnaissance studies have demonstrated that connections in the load path of light wood-frame structures are themselves composed of multiple elements with many configurations and possible failure modes. This study presents a flexible approach for modeling wind uplift resistance in wood-frame load paths that includes a more exhaustive set of potential failure points yet is computationally efficient and readily adaptable to various load paths composed of different assemblages of structural members and connections. In this framework, ultimate capacities of connections and wood members are either based on design equations provided in the National Design Specification for Wood Construction or another applicable standard or computed from a comparable mechanics-based model. Analytical capacity estimates for roof sheathing, roof-to-wall connections, and wall-to-slab-foundation connections accord well with the range of published experimental results for these connections. Capacities of connections that act in parallel are summed to transform the load path into an analogous load chain of series components. System-level wind uplift resistance, defined by the weakest component in series, is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation. By providing a more complete description of resistance than previous simplified models have done while avoiding the expense of a detailed finite-element or other solid mechanics model, the method proposed here holds promise as a rapid, consistent, and accurate way to quantify wind resistance in any arbitrary wood-frame load path, with applications including insurance risk analysis, hybrid data science frameworks utilizing post-storm reconnaissance data, and estimation of hazard intensity from structural damage observations.

Efficiency Analysis of Tramways in the Metropolitan Areas in South Korea: Focusing on the Daejeon Metropolitan Area

This study aims to present the meaningful implications of introducing a tramway as a new mode of transportation in the Daejeon Metropolitan Area, a major metropolitan area in South Korea. An efficiency comparison by data envelopment analysis (DEA) was carried out, using variables selected from the 2021 Public Transportation Investigation by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (KTSA) (2021), and the ‘Guidelines for selecting new transportation means’ announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport in 2021. As a result, the efficiency of public transportation in major metropolitan areas outside of the capital region was higher than in the capital metropolitan area. In particular, the Daejeon Metropolitan Area ranked high in efficiency compared to other major metropolitan areas with similar conditions. In the V-super efficiency results of the efficiency model based on the input of operational costs for each new mode of transportation, considering variable returns to scale (VRS), the bus rapid transit (BRT) ranked first, the tramway second, and the bimodal tram third. Regarding construction cost input, the tramway ranked first, the bimodal tram second, and BRT third.

Improving corneal nerve segmentation using tolerance Dice loss function

AbstractIn vivo confocal microscopy is a technique that allows to acquire images of the corneal layers in a rapid and noninvasive way. Analysis of sub-basal nerve allows obtaining important clinical information regarding the eye and the human body’s health. To obtain that information, it is necessary to correctly identify and trace the nerve fibers. Manual analysis is time-consuming and subjective. Numerous automatic algorithms have been proposed to overcome these problems, but none have been included in clinical practice yet. In this work, we take advantage of deep learning techniques. We present an analysis of the performances obtained through UNet (baseline) to which various architectural solutions have been added to boost performance. The variation of the tracing results is also analyzed according to the use of different loss functions, one of which is introduced here: It considers a tolerance margin (Dice with tolerance). The investigated configurations have been shown to be capable of improving the tracing of corneal nerve fibers. The model with attention modules and atrous-spatial pyramid pooling modules showed the greatest improvement compared to the baseline, increasing in the evaluation score from 86.51 to 90.21%. Furthermore, the proposed loss function further increases the results (achieving 92.44%).

User Preference Analysis for an Integrated System of Bus Rapid Transit and On-Demand Shared Mobility Services in Amman, Jordan

Amman, the capital of Jordan, has experienced significant traffic congestion due to the rise in private vehicle ownership and limited public transportation services. A Stated Preference (SP) survey was conducted to determine public transportation users’ willingness to use the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service. Another survey assessed the demand for an on-demand transit bus service with flexible and moderate costs, particularly for individuals far from the main BRT stations who need to reach them. Two models, Multinomial Logit (MNL) and Mixed Logit (ML), were utilized to understand user preferences for work-related trips. The study findings indicate that the cost of the trip and the waiting time are the two primary factors influencing public transport users’ choices. Furthermore, sociodemographic factors, such as age, income, household size, and current status, were found to have a significant impact. The results reveal that approximately 71% of participants would utilize an integrated public transportation system comprising BRT and on-demand services. The findings underscore the potential benefits of an integrated public transport system in addressing Amman’s traffic congestion. By combining BRT and on-demand services, the city can offer residents comfortable, affordable, and efficient transportation options, thus effectively mitigating congestion.

The effect of bus rapid transit on local home prices

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems have become increasingly common in US cities. BRT stations provide a local amenity by improving transportation options for local residents, but may also represent a local nuisance due to noise or displacement of other road users. We estimate whether BRT is priced into local real estate by studying a recently opened BRT project in Vancouver, Washington. We use a difference-in-difference method with both hedonic and repeat sales estimators to test for a price effect. We estimate a 5%–7% price premium for homes located within a 20 min walk of a BRT station. Overall, BRT generated new real estate value that exceeded the project’s construction costs by a factor of six. We discuss how government could leverage future residential property value increases to fund construction of BRT projects.

GPS-based incident detection algorithm for two-lane bus rapid transit systems: case study of Istanbul Metrobus

GPS-based incident detection algorithm for two-lane bus rapid transit systems: case study of Istanbul Metrobus

Social networks and their added value to companies' promotion. Case study: Tucano Coffee Timisoara

This study aims to analyse two aspects regarding promotion in social media. The first aspect is the degree of increase in the sales of Tucano Coffee Timisoara products through the promotion of contests and giveaways in social media. The second aspect is represented by the influence of the organization of social media events on the increase in sales of Tucano Coffee Timisoara products. The case study is represented by Tucano Coffee Timisoara due to the fact that more and more people choose this coffee shop in exchange for other dates being the activity of continuous posts in social media. The study used a qualitative and quantitative approach with a methodology of content analysis of the Instagram page of the company Tucano Coffee Timisoara monitored over a period of 3 months, incorporating a literature study and a method of collecting documentary data. The emphasis is placed especially on the importance of product promotion on social networks. The results of this study indicate that the sales of the company's products increase in a rapid way if in the marketing strategy there is an increased attention and care on the social media pages that each company owns. It is also necessary that the activity of the social media pages is in accordance with the followers' preferences.

Short‐term origin‐destination demand forecasting in bus rapid transit based on dual attentive multi‐scale convolutional network

AbstractThe short‐term origin‐destination (OD) forecast in bus rapid transit (BRT) can provide future OD demand, which means that transport plan personnel can take measures in advance, such as adjusting the departure schedule, to avoid congestion. This emphasizes the importance of accurate and stable OD forecasting in real‐time. Deep learning methods have been widely applied due to their superior performance in capturing dynamic spatiotemporal and nonlinear features. However, current methods based on deep learning and data‐driven cannot simultaneously address the problems of data availability and sparsity, and their ability to capture dynamic spatiotemporal patterns is insufficient, which cannot provide satisfactory accuracy and stability. To address these problems, this paper proposes a method for forecasting the OD demand in BRT based on dual attention multi‐scale convolutional network (DAMSCN). Considering the three temporal properties of OD, that is, closeness, period and trend dependencies. DAMSCN uses multi‐scale convolution (MSC), dual attention mechanism (DAt) and stacked convolutional long short‐term memory networks (ConvLSTM) to model the three kinds of properties. The MSC module converts sparse OD information into dense useful features to solve the problem of data sparsity. The DAt and ConvLSTM module model the dependencies relationship in the spatial and temporal dimensions, which can improve the spatiotemporal features extraction ability. DAMSCN also combine inflow information to enhance data availability. The three properties are dynamically aggregated and further integrated with external influences (e.g. weather conditions etc.) to obtain the final forecasting result. The accuracy and stability are evaluated on the Xiamen BRT (XMBRT) and Shanghai Metro datasets (SHMetro). The experimental results show that the DAMSCN is superior to other method. Compared to the best baseline, on the XMBRT, MAE decreased by 8.60%, and RMSE decreased by 4.81%. On the SHMetro, MAE decreased by 7.22%, and RMSE decreased by 8.96%.

Spatiotemporal capacity estimation of bus rapid transit system based on dwell time analysis

The performance study of an urban transport system, particularly a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), must report on its operations and reliability. Such study of BRTS comprises numerous facets, including capacity, which directly influences how the system practically operates and serves the commuters. Hubballi-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System (HDBRTS) has been operational since 2018. A performance study is necessary to evaluate the performance of HDBRTS, which aids in its upgradation and improvement. The current research uses the experimental technique through an innovative and inspired basis to comment on the HDBRTS's performance by estimating the corridor's operational capacity at different spatial and temporal fluctuations. The selected route of the HDBRTS comprises combined segregated (exclusive traffic environment) and unsegregated (mixed traffic environment) stretches. The current study mainly conducted a video graphics-based survey to acquire the necessary data on identified spatial and temporal trends at various HDBRTS bus stations. The essential data gathered consists of Dwell Time (DT)-based data at each station, summarising the total time a bus takes to serve passengers at a station. DT is inversely proportional to the capacity of the particular bus station, which is related to the Failure Rate (FR). FR values of all the bus stations of the route were analyzed using DT, and then capacity values were calculated at different spatiotemporal patterns. Study results show that the busiest stations of the identified routes with critical DT values have FR values in the range of 1–2%, contradicting previous studies. The variations in the capacity of the stations, both spatially and temporally, were graphically represented with the minimum capacity of the segregated stretch as 36 buses/hr and the unsegregated stretch as 31 buses/hr. Finally, the Level Of Service (LOS) of the chosen study corridor was developed using the K-Means clustering algorithm and validated using the Silhouette Coefficient technique. The silhouette coefficient values obtained range from 0.52 to 0.74, indicating a reasonable structure.

PENGARUH EKSISTENSI TRANSPORTASI UMUM BUS RAPID TRANSIT MAMMINASATA TERHADAP DAYA TARIK ANGKOT DI KOTA MAKASSAR

This research was conducted to find out: 1) Description of the existence of the mamminasata bus rapid transit public transportation, 2) Description of the attractiveness of public transportation in the city of Makassar, 3) how does the existence of the mamminasata rapid transit bus affect the attractiveness of public transportation in the city of Makassar. The research method used in this study is a descriptive quantitative approach method. The research variables consist of the existence of the mamminasata rapit transit bus(Variable X) and the attractiveness of public transportation (Variable Y). The techniques used for data collection are observation, questionnaires or questionnaires as well as documentation. The data analysis technique used is descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. Based on the research results, it is known that: 1) The description of the existence of the Mamminasata rapid transit bus (variable X) in the "doubtful" category determines the results of data acquisition from filling out the questionnaire which is presented based on indicators of security, safety, comfort, affordability, repair, service. There were 81 respondents who answered doubtfully from a sample of 100 respondents. This shows that overall the existence of bus rapid transit is still in doubt. 2) The description of the attractiveness of public transportation in Makassar City (variable Y) is in the "doubtful" category. In the data obtained from filling out the research questionnaire based on the comfort of the indicators, the feeling of being comfortable clean, accessibility, facilities and infrastructure. There were 62 respondents who answered in doubt, this shows that those who dominated the filling out of the research questionnaire were in doubt. Therefore, the attractiveness of public transportation in the city of Makassar is included in the "low" category, why is that? "Low" transportation in the city of Makassar is included in the"low" category, why is that? Which shows the level of influence that is "low"

B-247 Rapid and Field-deployable Microchip-based Real-time PCR for Hepatitis B Virus DNA Detection

Abstract Background Hepatitis B is one of the most common infectious diseases with global significance, seriously causing chronic liver complications and a heavy health burden in developing countries. There is no doubt that real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been a golden standard for monitoring the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) level in clinical health management. However, the conventional PCR protocol cannot fulfill the field test requirement in some resource-poor areas due to its drawbacks, such as huge size, long turnaround time, and demand for professional laboratory facilities. For solving these problems, a portable microfluidic chip-based PCR detection system was developed to enable the nucleic acid test in a flexible, rapid, and economical way. With the efficient temperature control module and advanced optical path design, this novel panel can achieve fast thermal circulation with a 30°C/s heating rate and multiple fluorescent detection with a throughput of 6 samples at a time. Methods In this study, we assessed the detection performance of the system using a commercial HBV nucleic acid detection kit. The reproducibility, limit-of-detection (LoD), and linearity were validated by reference samples with gradient concentrations. We evaluated the clinical sensitivity and specificity of the microdevice by a total of 200 extracted serum samples (100 positive and 100 negative cases). The analytical results were compared with a traditional PCR device with FDA certification. Results The variation coefficients of the microdevice for reference samples with different concentrations are 1.78%, 1.98%, and 1.50% (n = 10), respectively. The field-deployable PCR system can provide the HBV DNA assay with a detection limit of 300 IU/ml, whose reaction time was approximately 67 mins rather than the 108 mins performed by the comparator. During the establishment of the standard curve, this fast PCR test shows a strong linear correlation (R2 = 0.9919) between targeted gene concentration and dilution factor. Additionally, among the 200 clinical samples, we used the microchip-based system to rapidly complete quantitative detection for each sample with high sensitivity of 100% (100/100) and specificity of 100% (100/100), which is critically consistent with the traditional PCR method. Conclusion Hence, the point-of-care microfluidic PCR system exhibits great feasibility in offering timely, accurate, and reliable molecular diagnosis for early epidemic disease screening and therapeutic guidance of chronic infections.

Assessing the Social Costs of Mixed Transport Systems with a Dominance of Motorcycles

When undertaking strategic planning to identify potential options for a detailed assessment, it is important to compare the total costs of existing mixed transport systems with the introduction of different new public transport (PT) modes. Hence, this study develops a social cost model for situation of mixed transport system which has a dominance of motorcycles where a new PT technology (e.g. Bus Rapid Transit - BRT, Monorail or elevated Metro) or an exclusive bus lane is being considered. The innovative aspects of this research are to develop equations to estimate the average operating speed of each mode and to the allocation of infrastructure costs to several transport modes sharing the facilities in motorcycle dominated mixed traffic environments. Based on a four-lane per direction mixed traffic corridor in Hanoi, Vietnam, the results show the lowest average social cost (ASC) mixed transport systems for different ranges of demand. Moreover, all mixed traffic options with BRT, Monorail, elevated Metro or exclusive bus lanes are better than the existing situation in terms of ASC and it is suggested that their feasibility is examined in a detailed assessment. The mixed transport social cost model can be modified to suit other local conditions where conventional bus, car and motorcycle share facilities and a new PT mode is operated. Additionally, transport planners and decision makers in such local situations, which are particularly common in South East Asia, can draw on the findings of this study.

Ultrathin polyorganosilica membranes synthesized by oxygen-plasma treatment of polysiloxanes for H2/CO2 separation

Oxygen plasma treatment of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) induces an ultrathin polyorganosilica (POSi) layer (<10 nm) on top of a PDMS membrane, leading to excellent H2/gas separation properties and providing a rapid and scalable way to fabricate robust silica membranes compared with conventional high-temperature and time-consuming sol-gel methods. Here, we thoroughly investigate POSi membranes derived from poly (dimethylsiloxane-co-methylhydroxidesiloxane) (poly (DMS-co-MHOS)) containing -SiOH groups that can be more easily converted to silica networks than the -SiCH3 in PDMS. The effect of the polysiloxane structure and plasma treatment conditions (including plasma generating powers, oxygen flowrate, chamber pressure, and treatment time) on the silica chemistry, structure, and H2/CO2 separation properties are systematically determined to derive structure/property relationships. An optimized membrane exhibits H2 permeance of 880 GPU and H2/CO2 selectivity of 67 at 150 °C, superior to state-of-the-art polymeric membranes. The membrane retains H2/CO2 selectivity as high as 46 when challenged with simulated syngas containing 2.8 mol% water vapor at 150 °C, demonstrating the potential of these POSi membranes for practical applications.

Vertical Immobilization Method for Time-Lapse Microscopy Analysis in Filamentous Cyanobacteria.

A main event in bacterial cell division is the septation process, where the protein FtsZ is the key element. FtsZ polymerizes forming a ring-like structure (Z-ring) in the middle of the cell that serves as a scaffold for other division proteins. Super-resolution microscopy in bacterial models Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis showed that the Z-ring is discontinuous, while live cell imaging studies demonstrated that FtsZ moves along the ring by a mechanism known as treadmilling. To study the dynamics of FtsZ in vivo, a special cell placement in a vertical position is necessary for imaging the complete structure of the ring in the XY plane. In the case of FtsZ imaging in multicellular cyanobacteria, such as Anabaena sp. PCC7120, maintaining the filaments in a vertical position is challenging because of the size of the cells and the filaments' length. In this article, we describe a method that allows the vertical immobilization of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 filaments using low melting point agarose and syringes, to record the Z-ring in a mutant that expresses a FtsZ-sfGFP fusion protein. This method is a rapid and inexpensive way to register protein dynamics at the division site using confocal microscopy.