Urban Transport Issues Research Articles

Growth of cycling in Brisbane during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic drew considerable attention to urban transport issues. Many people turned to active transport as a means of achieving social distancing and avoiding infection on buses and trains, which led to an increase in cycling. This article recounts a qualitative study conducted in Brisbane, Australia, which explores the motivations behind people’s decision to take up cycling during the pandemic. Can this behaviour be sustained and scaled-up after the pandemic? To analyse the process of change, the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) was adopted. The research revealed that the decision to switch to cycling was driven by several factors, including enjoyment, convenience, improved physical and mental health, and, to a much lesser extent, cost savings and environmental benefits. The availability of cycling infrastructure and support from others were also important factors. While most participants appeared committed to continuing cycling in the future, the lines between the stages of change were not always clear.

Design and evaluation of hollow frame structures for the development of urban-centric two-passenger electric vehicles

This paper focuses on the design and evaluation of hollow frame structures for the development of two-passenger electric vehicles targeted for urban use. The primary problem addressed is the lack of focused research on efficient, lightweight, and safe electric vehicle frame designs, particularly for urban transportation needs. Through 3D simulation and Finite Element Analysis (FEA), this paper successfully develops a hollow frame design with dimensions of 2,148×800×640 mm and a weight of 40.77 kg that meets strength and stiffness criteria. The analysis shows that the design has an adequate safety margin with a safety factor of 2.053e+01. ASTM A36 steel is chosen as the material, balancing strength, stiffness, and cost. The results offer an innovative and practical solution to urban transportation issues, with broad potential applications in the electric vehicle industry. In particular, this study focuses on the specialized needs of urban-centric, two-passenger electric vehicles. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) used here serves as a robust validation method, effectively reducing the need for extensive physical testing. This accelerates the R&D process and opens possibilities for future studies on alternative materials and dynamic loading conditions. The study's limitations and future research directions are also discussed. Moreover, the study's computational methods offer an eco-friendly alternative to traditional physical prototypes. This aligns with sustainability goals and provides methodologies for future studies. With rising urban populations, the demand for efficient vehicles is increasing. This study paves the way for city-focused, two-passenger electric cars that meet modern urban needs and sustainability goals

Assessing Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Elements at Earlier-Built Transit Stations

Urban inaccessibility is part of urban transportation issues. TOD is a solution to promote accessibility, and land use planning is part of TOD principles. This paper shares the outcome of a study that focuses on the interrelationship of land use and TOD and evaluates the core areas of two earlier-built transit stations before TOD was put forward in Malaysia. Thematic analysis was employed together with site investigations, and results demonstrated the essential requirement of integrating land use planning in TOD and the performance of two transit stations which embrace some of the critical principles of TOD.

Review of Urban Transportation in India

Cities play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. The development of cities largely depends upon their physical, social, and institutional infrastructure. In this context, the importance of intraurban transportation is paramount. This article provides an overview of urban transport issues in India. Rather than covering every aspect of urban transportation, it primarily focuses on those areas that are important from a policy point of view. The article first reviews the trends of vehicular growth and availability of transport infrastructure in Indian cities. This is followed by a discussion on the nature and magnitude of urban transport problems such as congestion, pollution, and road accidents. Building on this background, the article proposes policy measures to improve urban transportation in India.Indian cities cannot afford to cater only to private cars and two-wheelers and there has to be a general recognition that policy should be designed in such a way that it reduces the need to travel by personalized modes and boosts public transport system. This requires both an increase in quantity as well as quality of public transport and effective use of demand as well as supply-side management measures. At the same time, people should be encouraged to walk and cycle and government should support investments that make cycling and walking safer.

Assessment of Urban Mobility via a Pressure-State-Response (PSR) Model with the IVIF-AHP and FCE Methods: A Case Study of Beijing, China

Urban transportation issues continue to emerge and evolve as a result of rapid urbanization, and the systematic and scientific assessment of urban mobility is becoming increasingly essential. In this work, a Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model with 25 indicators was established to reflect the status of urban mobility. Then, the importance of indicators was determined with the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IVIF-AHP) method, and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) method was applied to assess the overall status of urban mobility. The validity of the proposed model was demonstrated using the mobility system of Beijing as a case study, and the pressure, state, and response scores were calculated. The proposed assessment model can help to improve urban transportation monitoring and can also provide a scientific foundation for future urban transportation policymaking, planning, and traffic management, thereby further ensuring the sustainable development of urban transportation systems.

Urban Transportation Problems and Issues in Homs-Syria

Cities in the north middle east are known for their past and old valuable heritage, with a complex master plan of each one. Homs city is Syria is one of them, it has a history dates back to 2000B.C. with a unique formation of the city. However, the urban area of Homs has a very distinctive characteristics, but unfortunately it suffers from the transportation system operated. The congested and unorganized planning process have led the city to a complete mess and disorders, for all categories of its inhabitants. This study analysis the components of the transportation system, and identifies the greatest issues and problems the inhabitants suffer from, by locating the driving forces and the causes of these issues, and generally asses the quality of the system itself. Therefore, a holistic approach is proposed to improve the transportation system, and suggests some key plans to shift the city to a higher level of development. By locating the strength points, and detect the benefits of these strength points and exploit them. By evaluating the road network and create a new system that mitigates the negative environmental impacts (emissions, noise…) and reduce the crowded gathering of inhabitants, which caused a severe stress in their daily life. Overall, an attempt of implementing a new transportation system to contribute in the development process, and opens the possibility to develop other systems of the city in a sustainable framework..

B-DRIVE: A blockchain based distributed IoT network for smart urban transportation

In this paper, I present B-DRIVE—a blockchain-based distributed IoT (Internet of Things) network for smart urban transportation. The network is designed to connect a large fleet of IoT devices, installed on various vehicles and roadside infrastructures, to distributed data storage centers, called as Full-Nodes, to log and disseminate sensor generated data. It connects devices from around the city to multiple Full-Nodes to log timestamped data into the blockchain. These sensors vary from GPS (Global Positioning System), air quality meter, gyrometer to speed cameras in order to facilitate efficient urban mobility. The three identified hardware layers that comprise the network are the IoT layer, Storage layer, and User layer. They consist of Moving/Static-Nodes, Full-Nodes, and Smart devices, respectively. The Moving/Static-Nodes are primarily made up of moving vehicles and road-side infrastructures, respectively, thus acting as various data sources. Whereas, Full-Nodes and Smart devices are institutions and mobile phones, acting as data handler/disseminator and navigator/data visualizer, respectively. The data, or data blocks, received by Full-Nodes get appended into Full and Running-Blockchain, meant for specific purposes. The network is designed to be free from any block mining activity. It provides open access to anonymous sensor data to end-users, especially scientists, policy-makers and entrepreneurs, to develop innovative urban transportation solutions. It is believed that a system like B-DRIVE, along with existing VANETs (Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks), is capable of answering some of the current urban transportation issues around traffic congestion, navigation, and vehicle parking. Other applications of blockchain data could vary from user activity mapping to VGI (volunteered geographic information) data quality assessment. Two identified limitations of the presented architecture are the low processing power of current IoT devices and the lack of urban IoT infrastructure.

【基調講演】省エネルギー・消費者行動分野 人々に行動を変えてもらうためには？まちづくり・交通問題への社会心理学の応用事例

【基調講演】省エネルギー・消費者行動分野 人々に行動を変えてもらうためには？まちづくり・交通問題への社会心理学の応用事例

An overview of the transportation issues in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

The explosive growth of population in Sabah has caused the rise of private vehicle ownership and utilizations which give significant defects on transportation and environmental conditions, especially in the central city of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu. As the demand in transportation increased, traffic congestion occurs due to the abundance of a private vehicle on the road while the improvement of traffic facilities is weak and slow. Traffic congestion is an urban mobility problem that worsens traffic flow and eventually, causing economic hindrance to happen. In order to overcome this problem, a good plan, systematic and safe transportation system should be developed. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to study and understand the transportation system in Kota Kinabalu and the feasibility of existing transportation plans for Kota Kinabalu. This paper outlines an overview of the existing transportation system available in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, the issues encountered, as well as the impacts regarding the current city transport system. In summary, urban transportation relies on proper planning by experts based on passenger experience to find proper solutions to complex urban transport issues in Kota Kinabalu.

Twitter to Transport: Geo-Spatial Sentiment Analysis of Traffic Tweets to Discover People’s Feelings for Urban Transportation Issues

Twitter to Transport: Geo-Spatial Sentiment Analysis of Traffic Tweets to Discover People’s Feelings for Urban Transportation Issues

Development of transport infrastructure organization model for modern cities with growing effectiveness

The article thoroughly studies the urbanization and transport development process and its relationship with various social and economic processes taking place in cities. It also addresses the influence that this process has on the development of urban citizens’ needs. It has been proved that cities generate new needs. It has also been determined that one of the most important human needs in an urban environment is the need for movement and transportation. Relevant urban transportation issues and challenges are defined. The authors provide a rationale for the need to develop new methods and models of organizing transport infrastructure in modern cities with growing effectiveness. They analyze studies on the development of transport systems and transport infrastructure taking into account advanced paradigms and concepts of urban planning. Basic consumer criteria that must be present in modern transport infrastructure are listed. It has been proved that the main infrastructure element in the organization of the planning structure of a city is a city block, and the efficiency of the entire urban transport system depends on the development of its transport infrastructure. The structure of a city block as an assembly unit of the urban environment is analyzed in terms of provision with transport. A new form of city block organization is proposed. The city block structure is formally described. A new definition for a “basic city block” is introduced. A transport infrastructure organization method and model for cities with growing effectiveness are developed. The authors make conclusions as to the uniqueness of this approach, which lies in the fact that it became possible to organize transport and urban infrastructure with account for the growing needs of users, ensure the expansion of the planning structure of transport networks as per the anticipatory occurrence of new transportation methods in the conditions of deficient urban space. Further prospects of the development of the suggested approach are defined.

Developing a sustainable urban transport policy in the & eld of supply in the face of the latest challenges

Transport of urban goods has a signifi cant impact on the lives of residents and the functioning of the local economy. At the same time, it creates numerous problems related to the impact on the environment and the surroundings. Thus, the distribution of goods in the city has a signifi cant impact on the lives of residents and tourists' impressions. Due to the fact that 25 percent EU emissions from transport come from urban areas, cities play a key role in mitigating the negative eff ects of transport. Many cities are currently implementing Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) that focus on people's mobility. In most cases, the distribution of goods is not mentioned in the SUMP or is mentioned briefl y. In the absence of clear guidelines for resolving urban transport issues, some cities have adopted various strategic documents and measures. In the absence of standardization of documents, it is diffi cult to compare them and determine the level of city advancement in the implementation of urban logistics measures. To overcome this problem, the EC initiated the concept of Sustainable Urban Logistics Plan (SULP). The article presents the structure and plan of implementing SULP.

Perceptions of Green and Smart Urban Transport Issues in Romanian Cities: A Preliminary Exploratory Analysis

Perceptions of Green and Smart Urban Transport Issues in Romanian Cities: A Preliminary Exploratory Analysis

A novel integrated suspension tilting system for narrow urban vehicles

Narrow vehicles are proposed to resolve urban transportation issues such as congestion, parking, fuel consumption and pollution. They are characterized by a high ratio of centre of gravity height over track width. Such vehicles are vulnerable to rollover and stability issues when negotiating curves at a normal operating speed. Therefore, the tilting capability is crucial to such vehicles. Existing solutions, which mechanically connect the wheel module on both sides and synchronize their movement, still have room for further improvement. The extra links for synchronization not only take up space on compact urban vehicles, but also introduce additional mass to the light-weighted body. The novel tilting mechanism introduced in this work utilizes hydraulics to replace mechanical connections to generate the tilting motion. An interconnected hydro-pneumatic suspension system is adopted to provide the desired bump and roll stiffness for narrow urban vehicle applications. Two independently controlled hydraulic pumps are connected to the hydraulic suspensions to provide the tilting, as well as riding height change capabilities. The integration of the tilting system with suspension reduces the system weight and packing size, both of which are vital to the success of narrow urban vehicles. All the functionalities are illustrated, modelled and examined in the simulation studies, which prove the feasibility of the proposed system on narrow urban vehicle applications resulting in more functionalities with lower complexity and weight.

Microtransit Service as an Innovative Countermeasure for the Tangled Urban Transportation Issues in Emerging Economies .

Microtransit Service as an Innovative Countermeasure for the Tangled Urban Transportation Issues in Emerging Economies .

Green Logistics: Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Logistics

Green Logistics: Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Logistics

Assessing knowledge and awareness of the sustainable urban freight transport among Swedish local authority policy planners

Sustainable freight distribution is of growing interest for many local authorities in urban areas. Numerous policy measures on urban freight transport have been taken throughout Europe during the last decade. This paper presents the results of a study on the state of urban freight transport policies and planning among Swedish local authorities. Results are compared with existing research in the European context in order to find possible links between the freight transport awareness and the successes or failures of measures addressing urban freight transport issues. A questionnaire sent to all Swedish municipalities was combined with a literature study, to map the state of policy and planning within the freight transport as well as the knowledge and awareness of the area. The importance of adequate knowledge and personnel resources in municipalities as well as communication, information dissemination and knowledge exchange is discussed. The empirical data confirm the lack of coordination, sufficient resources and effective knowledge transfer among stakeholders in urban freight transport.

Infrastructure and Its Role in Brazil's Development Process

Infrastructural issues have moved to the very heart of the policy agenda in Brazil, having been brought into focus by the build up to the FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics. This paper opens with a brief historical review of infrastructure in Brazil, beginning with the 19th Century and the rise of concession contracts and the subsequent decision to nationalize infrastructure and administer the sector through state enterprises throughout most of the 20th century. The analysis then focuses on the reversal of this policy in the late 20th and early 21st century and the decision to grant the private sector, through concession contracts and Public Private Partnerships, a major role in the development of new infrastructural projects and the takeover of existing assets. Following this overview, Section 2 examines contemporary infrastructure challenges facing Brazil and the success of attempts to address them. The first component of the section comprises an econometric analysis of the relationship between growth and infrastructural spending. The analysis hints at the constraints implied by recent patterns of infrastructural investment. The second component of this section sets the current infrastructural challenge in slightly broader context, taking into account issues such as quality and reliability of infrastructure. This section also considers the implications of relying on concession contracts to deal with infrastructure needs. Next, Section 3 reviews the implications of the PAC infrastructure investment program launched under the Lula administration, and continued under its successor, the Rousseff administration. We highlight the constraints - institutional, regulatory, financial and political - which have shaped the PAC’s evolution and which have prevented it from living fully up to expectations. Section 3 argues that the drivers of supply (as well as demand) for infrastructure are very complex and quite sector-specific. Bearing this in mind Section 4 aims to add depth to the analysis by reviewing in more detail the experiences of the urban transportation sector. The choice of this sector for enhanced focus stems in part from the strong relevance which, we feel, it has for other developing or emerging economies, notably in Africa. In addition, the social unrest which initiated in Brazil in mid-2013 has had, as its focus, concerns centering on urban transportation issues. The broader international relevance of Brazil’s experience - especially from an African perspective - forms the basis for the conclusions, set out in Section 5.

Urban Transport Issues in Cotonou: Analysis and Perspectives

This paper analyzed the urban mobility and mode of transportation within Cotonou, by diagnosing the current problems of transport through the role of each transports actors, demographic. Based on the survey which highlights the characteristics '' household-mobility in Cotonou, this research revealed, on one hand, the large gap between the transport infrastructures and the transport demand, and in the other hand, the exceptional case of mobility in this metropolitan area, where the motorcycles largely dominate the other mode of transport in the city, including public buses which implementation has failed. In the end, some recommendations have been made and proposals formulated in aim to respond efficiently to the urban transport problem in Cotonou.

Urban Form and Household Activity‐Travel Behavior

ABSTRACT Cities and metropolitan regions face several challenges including urban sprawl, auto dependence and congestion, and related environmental and human health effects. Examining the spatial characteristics of daily household activity‐travel behavior holds important implications for understanding and addressing urban transportation issues. Research of this sort can inform development of urban land use policy that encourages the use of local opportunities, potentially leading to reduced motorized travel. This article examines the potential household activity‐travel response to a planned metropolitan polycentric hierarchy of activity centers. Behavioral observations have been drawn from an activity‐travel survey conducted in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area during the mid‐1990s. Evidence presented from exploratory analysis indicates an urban/suburban differential, with less daily travel and smaller activity spaces for urban households. Investigation of the travel reduction potential of the proposed land‐use strategy suggests that location effects could be offset by adjustments to household sociodemographic and mobility characteristics.