Abstract

This paper discusses possible contributions of psychologists to sustainable transportation. It is argued that in order to reach sustainable transportation, among others, behaviour changes of individual car users are needed. As transport policies will be more effective if they target important antecedents of travel behaviour, first, factors influencing such behaviour are discussed. It is argued that car use is very attractive and sometimes even necessary for many different reasons. This implies that a combination of policies is called for, each targeting different factors that support car use and hinder the use of more sustainable modes of transport. Next, the paper elaborates on policy strategies that may be employed to achieve sustainable transportation by changing car use. Increasing the attractiveness of sustainable transport modes by means of pull measures seems not sufficient to reduce the level of car use. Besides, car use should be made less attractive by means of push measures to force drivers to reconsider their travel behaviour. The acceptability of such policies may be increased by clearly communicating the aim of these policies, and the expected positive consequences (e.g., less congestion, improved environmental quality). Moreover, possible negative effects for individual freedom may be compensated by implementing additional policies aimed at facilitating the use of sustainable transport modes. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

The spatial and temporal distribution of built space supply plays an important role in shaping urban form and thus the general travel pattern in an urban area. Within an integrated framework, we are interested in modeling the decisions of a builder in terms of when, where, what type, and how much built-space to build. We present a multidimensional discrete-continuous model formulation for the built space supply decisions that are based on expected profit maximization. The framework is applied to estimate a model for supply of new office space in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for the duration of 1986 to 2006. To our knowledge, this work is the first that models the where, when, how much, and what type of office space to supply in a single econometric framework at a fairly disaggregate spatial zoning system. The results indicate a risk taker behaviour on the builders part, while market conditions and supply of resources (labour, construction cost etc.) are also found to be important factors in decision making.

Abstract

Traffic is the most widespread source of environmental noise. Railway noise has become increasingly common in urban areas in the past few decades. Therefore environmental requirements for railway operations regarding noise are becoming very strict and will become even tighter in future. In the present paper we present actual track- based field test performed on Slovenian Railways. The significant noise reduction (up to 30dBA) was achieved by the application of CHFC material on the rail using CL-E1 top anti noise system. Der Verkehr ist die am weitesten verbreitete Quelle von Umgebungslärm. Eisenbahnlärm nahm in den letzten Jahrzehnten in städtischen Gebieten immer mehr zu. Aus diesem Grund wurden die Umweltanforderungen für den Bahnverkehr bezüglich des Lärms immer strenger und werden in der Zukunft noch höher. In der vorliegenden Arbeit stellen wir den tatsächlichen Track-basierten Feldversuch auf der Slowenischen Bahn dar. Die deutliche Lärmreduzierung (bis 30 dBA)wurde durch die Anwendung von CHFC-Material auf der Schiene mithilfe des Cl-E1 Antirauschsystems erreicht. Document type: Article

Abstract

In the context of integrated transportation and other urban engineering infrastructure systems, there are many examples of markets, where consumers exhibit price-taking behaviour. While this behaviour is ubiquitous, the underlying mechanism can be captured in a single framework. Here, we present a microsimulation framework of a price-taker market that recognizes this generality and develop efficient algorithms for the associated market clearing problem. By abstracting the problem as a specific graph theoretic problem (i.e. maximum weighted bipartite graph), first we are able to exploit algorithms that are developed in graph theory. We then explore their appropriateness in terms of large-scale integrated urban microsimulations. Based on which, we further develop a generic and efficient clearing algorithm that takes advantage of the features specific to urban price-taker markets. This clearing solution is then used to operationalize two price-taker markets, from two different contexts, within a microsimulation of urban systems. The initial validation of results against the observed data generally shows a close match.

Abstract

A brand represents the essence of the value proposition an organisation extends to the market. It is crucial that brands are nurtured with the goal of trying to establish the brand in a top-of-mind awareness position among consumers. By means of a qualitative case study employing 25 interviews which were analysed by using Grounded Theory coding techniques, the most pertinent factors influencing the Corobrik brand were identified. The greatest challenge facing Corobrik is the growing residential sector. The study highlights how Corobrik has grappled and come to terms with the changing nature of its market, and how it has combined all functional areas, from production to distribution, marketing and finance, in promoting its brand.

Abstract

Recent court cases and news reports have focused on the effects of transit construction on business revenue and survival, yet the topic is underexplored in the scholarly literature. This paper examines whether transit construction negatively affected the revenue and survival of businesses along the second segment of the Los Angeles Metro Rail Red Line under Vermont and Hollywood Boulevards. Using National Establishment Time-Series business data, the research shows that business survival was significantly lower among businesses within 400 meters of stations, where cut and cover construction was used. A difference-in-differences technique was employed to determine whether revenue loss was the main mechanism by which businesses were displaced, but revenue loss was not found to be significant. The increased failure rate provides evidence that construction effects of mitigation programs for businesses should be standard practice when building new transit lines. Further research and data collection on business tenure are needed to understand the dynamics of business displacement around transit and to make such programs more effective.

Abstract

Tokyo’s railway station areas are models of transit-oriented design. To differentiate them from transit-oriented developments (TOD), the term rail integrated community (RIC) has been created to describe these high density, safe, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly developments around railway stations that act as community hubs, served by frequent, all-day, rail rapid transit and are accessed primarily on foot, by bicycle, or by public transit. Japanese private railways have been instrumental in creating these RICs. Though they receive little financial support from the government, private railways in Japan achieve profitability by diversifying into real estate, retail, and numerous other businesses. Tokyu Corporation is used as the case study to exemplify how government policy and socioeconomic context contributed to the successful private railway model. Ten indicators, such as ridership, population density and mode share are used to analyze two stations created by Tokyu to demonstrate how this model is manifested in Tokyu’s rail integrated communities.

Abstract

number of public codes exist for GPS (global positioning system) positioning and baseline determination in off-line mode. However, no software code exists for DGPS (differential GPS) exploiting correction factors at base stations, without relying on double difference information. In order to accomplish it, a methodology is introduced in MATLAB environment for DGPS using C/A (course acquisition) pseudoranges on single frequency L1 only to make it feasible for low-cost GPS receivers. The base station is at accurately surveyed reference point. Pseudoranges and geometric ranges are compared at base station to compute the correction factors. These correction factors are then handed over to rover for all valid satellites observed during an epoch. The rover takes it into account for its own true position determination for corresponding epoch. In order to validate the proposed algorithm, the rover is also placed at a pre-determined location. The proposed code is an appropriate and simple to use tool for post-processing of GPS raw data for accurate position determination of a rover e.g. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during post-mission analysis. Document type: Article

Abstract

The dynamic and stochastic vehicle routing problem (DSVRP) can be modelled as a stochastic program (SP). In a two-stage SP with recourse model, the first stage minimizes the a priori routing plan cost and the second stage minimizes the cost of corrective actions, performed to deal with changes in the inputs. To deal with the problem, approaches based either on stochastic modelling or on sampling can be applied. Sampling-based methods incorporate stochastic knowledge by generating scenarios set on realizations drawn from distributions. In this paper we proposed a robust solution approach for the capacitated DSVRP based on sampling strategies. We formulated the problem as a two-stage stochastic program model with recourse. In the first stage the a priori routing plan cost is minimized, whereas in the second stage the average of higher moments for the recourse cost calculated via a set of scenarios is minimized. The idea is to include higher moments in the second stage aiming to compute a robust a priori routing plan that minimizes transportation costs while permitting small changes in the demands without changing solution structure. Additionally, the approach allows managers to choose between optimality and robustness, that is, transportation costs and reconfiguration. The computational results on a generic dynamic benchmark dataset show that the robust routing plan can cover unmet demand while incurring little extra costs as compared to the preplanning. We observed that the plan of routes is more robust; that is, not only the expected real cost, but also the increment within the planned cost is lower. Document type: Article

Abstract

The increased availability of detailed trajectory data sets from naturalistic, observational, and simulation-based studies, is a key source for potential improvements in the development of detailed safety models that explicitly account for vehicle conflict interactions and various driving maneuvers. Despite the well-recognized research findings on both crash frequency estimation and traffic conflict analysis carried out over the last decades, only recently researchers have started to study and model the link between the two. This link is typically made by statistical association between aggregated conflicts and crashes, which still relies on crash data and ignores heterogeneity in the estimation procedure. More recently, an extreme value (EV) approach has been used to link the probability of a crash occurrence to the frequency of conflicts estimated from observed variability of crash proximity, using a probabilistic framework and without using crash records. In this study the Generalized Extreme Value distribution used in the block maxima (BM) approach and the Generalized Pareto Distribution used in the peak over threshold approach (POT), are tested and compared for the estimation of head-on collisions in passing maneuvers. The minimum time-to-collision with the opposite vehicle is used in both EV methods. Detailed trajectory data of the passing, passed and opposite vehicles from a fixed-based driving simulator experiment was used in this study. One hundred experienced drivers from different demographic strata participated in this experiment on a voluntary basis. Several two-lane rural highway layouts and traffic conditions were considered in the design of the driving simulator scenarios. Raw data was collected at a resolution of 0.1 s and included the longitudinal and lateral positions, speeds and accelerations of all vehicles in the scenario. From this raw data, both methods were tested for stationary and non-stationary models. The latter allowed not-only for a better modeling performance in estimating the number of expected crashes, but also for a quantified analysis of the detailed driving choices affecting the head-on crash probability during passing maneuvers. The estimation results showed that the BM approach yielded more stable results compared to the POT approach, but the latter was able to produce crash rate estimates more consistently sensitive to the covariates of interest. Finally, the estimated distributions were validated using a second set of data extracted from an additional driving simulator experiment. The results indicate that this is a promising approach for safety evaluation. On-going work of the authors will attempt to generalize this method to other safety measures related to passing maneuvers, test it for the detailed analysis of the effect of demographic factors on passing maneuvers' crash probability and for its usefulness in a traffic simulation environment.