Evaluation of pedestrian crosswalk level of service (LOS) in perspective of type of land-use

In India pedestrians usually cross the road at mid-block crosswalks due to ease of access to their destination or the development of adjacent land use types such as shopping, business areas, school and residential areas. The behaviour of pedestrian will change with respect to different land use type and this change in behaviour of pedestrian further reflects change in perceived level of service (LOS). So, it is important to evaluate the quality of service of such crossing facilities with respect to different land-use type under mixed traffic conditions. In this framework, pedestrian perceived LOS were collected with respect to different land-use type such as shopping, residential and business areas. The ordered probit (OP) model was developed by using NLOGIT software package, with number of vehicles encountered, road crossing difficulty as well as safety considered as primary factors along with pedestrian individual factors (gender and age), land-use type and roadway geometry. From the model results, it has been concluded that perceived safety, crossing difficulty, land-use condition, number of vehicles encountered, median width and number of lanes have significant effect on pedestrian perceived LOS at unprotected (un-signalized) mid-block crosswalks in mixed traffic scenario. The inferences of these results highlights the importance of land use planning in designing a new set of pedestrian access facilities for unprotected mid-block crosswalks under mixed traffic conditions. Also the study results would be useful for evaluating pedestrian accessibility taking into account different land-use type and planning required degree of segregation with vehicular movement at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations.     

Analyzing the impact of a planned transit-oriented development on mode share and traffic conditions

ABSTRACT

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a popular planning strategy used to maximize accessibility to transit for various trip purposes. The quantitative effects of TOD on travel mode shift and traffic congestion have not been extensively tested in the current literature. This paper utilizes a seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) mode share model and a mesoscopic dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) model to analyze the impact of a planned TOD in Maryland. The proposed model aims at improving the understanding of the quantitative impacts of such a TOD on mode share and traffic congestion. The main result of the mode share model indicates that the increase in transit ridership for a transit accessible shopping center is not that significant. Local traffic conditions will deteriorate due to a lack of investment in road infrastructure planned for the TOD area. The proposed method could be a valuable tool for other indicative land development or transportation policy analyses.     

Influence of coordinated traffic lights parameters on roadside pollutant concentrations

The paper examines the effects of coordinated traffic lights on CO and C₆H₆ roadside concentrations in an urban area of Palermo in Southern Italy. Traffic loop detectors and one pollution-monitoring are used to collect data for use in DRACULA traffic microsimulator software. CO and C₆H₆ roadside concentrations associated with varying cycle and offset times of the coordinated traffic lights are estimated using a neural network. Two functions were set up describing the relations of pollutant concentrations in term of cycle and offset time.     

Does Bus Rapid Transit Influence Urban Land Development and Property Values: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of bus rapid transit (BRT) systems over the past few decades across developed and developing world cities, the impacts across these systems on the urban spatial development and property markets have not been comprehensively studied. The current paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by reviewing the methodologies, underlying theories, and findings presented in the individual academic studies on BRT land-use and price impacts, mostly drawing on those that have focused on Latin American and Asian systems. The review shows that the land-use and value impacts have been less uniform across systems compared to such operational performance metrics as speed and travel time improvements. While predominantly relying on cross-sectional modeling techniques, the approaches used to evaluate land-use changes induced by the transit systems are not uniform either, with only some studies explicitly measuring changes in types of land use as opposed to simply land or rental price. The study also concludes that more rigorous evaluation is needed as to whether the BRT systems have improved accessibility for the populations that inhabited the corridors previously or whether, instead, the desired land value increases have in fact resulted in significant population displacement.     

中原城市群道路交通与土地利用互动关系研究

文章运用系统分析法及文献资料法分析了中原城市群土地利用与道路交通的特点以及二者的互动关系。分析认为:中原城市群的建设用地矛盾突出,土地利用集约化程度不高;道路交通条件的改善促使本地土地价格上涨,加速了城市边缘区土地的开发;土地的开发利用,产生了巨大的交通需求,道路交通的增长不能完全满足高强度土地开发利用的需求。     

Automated vehicles: exploring possible consequences of government (non)intervention for congestion and accessibility

ABSTRACT

Academic research on automated vehicles (AVs) has to date been dominated by the fields of engineering and computer science. Questions of how this potentially transformative technology should be governed remain under-researched and tend to concentrate on governing the technology’s early development. We respond in this paper by exploring the possible longer-term effect of government (lack of) intervention.

The paper tests the hypothesis that a “laissez-faire” governance approach is likely to produce less desirable outcomes in a scenario of mass uptake of AVs than would a well-planned set of government interventions. This is done using two prominent themes in transport policy – traffic flow and accessibility – in a scenario of high market penetration of Level-5 automated vehicles in capitalist market economies. The evidence used is drawn from a literature review and from the findings of a set of workshops with stakeholders.

We suggest that a laissez-faire approach will lead to an increase in traffic volume as a result of a growing population of “drivers” and a probable increase in kilometres driven per passenger. At the same time, the hoped-for increases in network efficiency commonly claimed are not guaranteed to come about without appropriate government intervention. The likely consequence is an increase in congestion. And, with respect to accessibility, it is likely that the benefits of AVs will be enjoyed by wealthier individuals and that the wider impacts of AV use (including sprawl) may lead to a deterioration in accessibility for those who depend on walking, cycling or collective transport.

We consider the range of possible government intervention in five categories: Planning/land-use; Regulation/policy; Infrastructure/technology; Service provision; and Economic instruments. For each category, we set out a series of interventions that might be used by governments (at city, region or state level) to manage congestion or protect accessibility in the AV scenario described. Many of these (e.g. road pricing) are already part of the policy mix but some (e.g. ban empty running of AVs) would be new. We find that all interventions applicable to the management of traffic flow would also be expected to contribute to the management of accessibility; we define a small number of additional interventions aimed at protecting the accessibility of priority groups.

Our general finding is that the adoption of a package of these interventions could be expected to lead to better performance against generic traffic-flow and accessibility objectives than would a laissez-faire approach, though questions of extent of application remain.

In our conclusions, we contrast laissez-faire with both anticipatory governance and “precautionary” governance and acknowledge the political difficulty associated with acting in the context of uncertainty. We point out that AVs do not represent the first emerging technology to offer both opportunities and risks and challenge governments at all levels to acknowledge the extent of their potential influence and, in particular, to examine methodically the options available to them and the potential consequences of pursuing them.     

Applying measures of modelling quality to a national time series: a benchmark for transport demand models

ABSTRACT

In current urban planning practice, macroscopic transport demand and assignment models are essential for the evaluation of mid- and long-term land use developments and infrastructure investments. The credibility of their projections strongly depends on their ability to reproduce present day traffic volumes. Obviously, a simplified model of reality will display some shortcomings, and the effect of these is asserted by quality measures that quantify the divergence from observed traffic volumes. There is, however, only rough guidance regarding acceptable ranges of these measures. Most of the literature on this subject approach these ranges from below, by discussing measures attained by operational models and using these as a benchmark, or by using the adverse effects of modelling errors to derive a minimum quality level. On the contrary, this study suggests upper limits for quality measures by analysing year-on-year variations in traffic volumes that result from changing land use and infrastructure.     

A discrete-convex programming approach to the simultaneous optimization of land use and transportation

Three design problems are discussed in this article. First, it is shown that the network design problem with congestion reduces to an all-or nothing traffic assignment problem under some assumptions on the congestion function and the investment cost function. Second, the land use design problem is formulated as an extension of the Koopmans-Beckmann problem and a heuristic is proposed to solve this problem. Third, it is shown that the seemingly more complex problem of designing jointly a land-use plan and a transportation network reduces to a pure land-use design problem. All that is needed to solve the joint optimization problem is a shortest path algorithm and a heuristic to solve the land use design problem. Computational experience is reported for each algorithm.     

What transportation modeling needs from a GIS: a conceptual framework

Both the geographic information system (GIS) and transportation modeling environments have seen continually developing analytic concepts and techniques. However, these developments have seldom resulted in the integration of GISs and transportation models. This paper explores the potential inherent in merging of these environments through a systematic investigation of the fundamental basis of integration. To do this, the traditional four step transportation modeling process is extended to include input and output steps. We then define functional components for GIS data handling — data management, manipulation, and analysis. The steps of modeling are matched against the list of GIS data handling functions within a matrix‐based framework. GIS functions that enhance a land‐use based urban transportation modeling process are then categorized. Conclusions are drawn and directions for future developments are discussed.     

A logit-based model for measuring the effects of transportation infrastructure on land value

Mutual interactions between transportation and land use have long been debated. Despite progress made in computational technology, the study of these interactions is not adequately developed. The most important aspect of such interactions is given by the changes in land values due to changes in transportation infrastructures. We consider the behavioural features of these interactions along with the constraints on the land and/or zoning restrictions and propose a reliable model for the first time to predict land value changes with respect to changes in transportation facilities and accessibility. The proposed model is a logit-based mathematical programming methodology where the relative price of land is predicted with respect to transportation accessibility, neighbourhood amenities, location premium, availability of land, and zoning regulations. A real-world case study is used to exhibit the applicability of the proposed methodology and demonstrate the efficacy of the algorithms and procedures.     

Microscopic simulation of transit operations: policy studies with the MISTRANSIT application programming interface

Abstract

Microscopic traffic simulators are the most advanced tools for representing the movement of vehicles on a transport network. However, the energy spent in traffic microsimulation has been mainly oriented to cars. Little interest has been devoted to more sophisticated models for simulating transit systems. Commercial software has some options to incorporate the operation of transit vehicles, but they are insufficient to properly consider a real public transport system. This paper develops an Application Programming Interface, called MIcroscopic Simulation of TRANSIT (MISTRANSIT), using the commercial microsimulator PARAllel MICroscopic Simulation. MISTRANSIT makes advances in three ways: public transport vehicles can have new characteristics; passengers are incorporated and traced as individual objects; and specific models represent the interaction between passengers and vehicles at stops. This paper presents the modelling approach as well as various experiments to illustrate the feasibility of MISTRANSIT for studying policy operations of transit systems.     

Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands,Denmark and Germany

Abstract

This article shows how the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have made bicycling a safe, convenient and practical way to get around their cities. The analysis relies on national aggregate data as well as case studies of large and small cities in each country. The key to achieving high levels of cycling appears to be the provision of separate cycling facilities along heavily travelled roads and at intersections, combined with traffic calming of most residential neighbourhoods. Extensive cycling rights of way in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are complemented by ample bike parking, full integration with public transport, comprehensive traffic education and training of both cyclists and motorists, and a wide range of promotional events intended to generate enthusiasm and wide public support for cycling. In addition to their many pro‐bike policies and programmes, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany make driving expensive as well as inconvenient in central cities through a host of taxes and restrictions on car ownership, use and parking. Moreover, strict land‐use policies foster compact, mixed‐use developments that generate shorter and thus more bikeable trips. It is the coordinated implementation of this multi‐faceted, mutually reinforcing set of policies that best explains the success of these three countries in promoting cycling. For comparison, the article portrays the marginal status of cycling in the UK and the USA, where only about 1% of trips are by bike.     

Exploring the propensity to perform social activities: a social network approach

Conceptual and empirical models of the propensity to perform social activity–travel behavior are described, which incorporate the influence of individuals’ social context, namely their social networks. More explicitly, the conceptual model develops the concepts of egocentric social networks, social activities, and social episodes, and defines the three sets of aspects that influence the propensity to perform social activities: individuals’ personal attributes, social network composition, and information and communication technology interaction with social network members. Using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique and data recently collected in Toronto, the empirical model tests the effect of these three aspects on the propensity to perform social activities. Results suggest that the social networks framework provides useful insights into the role of physical space, social activity types, communication and information technology use, and the importance of “with whom” the activity was performed with. Overall, explicitly incorporating social networks into the activity–travel behavior modeling framework provides a promising framework to understand social activities and key aspects of the underlying behavioral process. Juan Antonio Carrasco a PhD candidate in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto, holds a MSc degree in Transportation Engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His doctoral research explores the relationships between social networks, activity–travel behavior, and ICTs. His research interests also include microsimulation, land use-transportation, and econometric modeling. Eric J. Miller is Bahen-Tanenbaum Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto where he is also Director of the Joint Program in Transportation. His research interests include integrated land-use/transportation modeling, activity-based travel modeling, microsimulation and sustainable transportation planning.     

Accessibility appraisal of land-use/transport policy strategies: More than just adding up travel-time savings

We examine the accessibility benefits associated with some land-use policy strategies for the Netherlands that anticipate on expected climate change. A disaggregate logsum accessibility measure using the Dutch national land-use/transport interaction model TIGRIS XL is used to compute changes in consumer surplus. The measure provides an elegant and convenient solution to measure the full accessibility benefits from land-use and/or transport policies, when discrete choice travel-demand models are available that already produce logsums. It accounts for both changes in generalised transport costs and changes in destination utility, and is thus capable of providing the accessibility benefits from changes in the distribution of activities, due to transport or land-use policies. The case study shows that logsum accessibility benefits from land-use policy strategies can be quite large compared to investment programmes for road and public transport infrastructure, largely due to changes in trip production and destination utility, which are not measured in the standard rule-of-half benefit measure.     

The advantages of a high density,mixed land use,linear urban development

This paper describes the land use and transport characteristics of a strip of urban development located along the northern shore of Hong Kong Island. The strip of land, with an area of 22.5 sq. km, is 17 km long and has an average width of 1.3 km. It has a population of approximately one million and provides over 700,000 jobs. Despite its small size, it accommodates the CBD, residential districts, shopping complexes as well as most of the civic/institutional facilities that a city needs. Its urban form is linear not by design but by default – the topography of the area has constrained the development from spreading sideways. Surprisingly however, apart from economy in land utilization, it is considered to possess three other good qualities: high accessibility enjoyed by residents; few roads and commercially viable public transport. Its travel characteristics are analyzed, using results of a home interview survey conducted by the Government in 1992. In addition, various statistics published by the Government and public transport authorities are also used in the analysis.     

A demand model for recreational travel

A model is developed to describe and to predict the patterns of regional recreational travel. The model is designed in such a manner to allow its calibration and use without the need to conduct extensive travel surveys in a large region. To allow its use for prediction, the model is based on a causal structure and attempts to derive recreational travel demand from behavioural variables. The main hypothesis of the model is that the amount of recreational travel a recreation area attracts is affected by the accessibility of this area to points of demand potential and by its attractiveness relative to the recreation areas.

The calibration is founded on actual data on recreational travel to national forests in California, U.S.A. It is found in the calibration that accessibility to demand potential is the single most important determinant of recreational travel attraction. A simple relationship is derived to relate travel to each national forest to the relative accessibility of the forest. The model is calibrated and statistically validated.

It is suggested that when constructing travel demand models simplicity be sought, even at the risk of the loss of some explanatory power. In the calibration of such models statistical significant is more important than the ability to reproduce observed patterns.     

A land use and transportation integration method for land use allocation and transportation strategies in China

In this paper, we will first review literature of the land use and transportation interaction and then develop a new land use allocation methodology called Three Stages-Two-Feedback Method (Integration Method) for both land use allocation and the transportation policy options with a practical implementation. Then we apply this method in an urban general planning project in China with more than 1.2 million populations. In this project, we evaluated three land use allocation strategies and three transportation policy options using two application tools (with and without feedbacks) using this method implemented in a land use planning system UPlan and a transportation planning system Emme. The results show that the use of the feedback method (Application Two) results in a vehicle distance reduction and the increase in the service coverage area of transit bus stops at the same time. Due to the use of transportation accessibility and the congestion measures with a MSA implementation, the accessibility measure shows a convergent process over iterations. This nice feature can be used for alternative comparisons. Future research subjects are also discussed.     

Trip chaining propensity and tour mode choice of out-of-home workers: evidence from a mid-sized Canadian city

Suburban development patterns, flexible work hours, and increasing participation in out-of-home activities are making the travel patterns of individuals more complex, and complex trip chaining could be a major barrier to the shift from drive-alone to public transport. This study introduces a cohort-based approach to analyse trip tour behaviors, in order to better understand and model their relationships to socio-demographics, trip attributes, and land use patterns. Specifically, it employs worker population cohorts with homogenous activity patterns to explore differences and similarities in tour frequency, trip chaining, and tour mode choices, all of which are required for travel demand modeling. The paper shows how modeling of these important tour variables may be improved, for integration into an activity-based modeling framework. Using data from the Space–Time Activity Research (STAR) survey for Halifax, Canada, five clusters of workers were identified from their activity travel patterns. These were labeled as extended workers, 8 to 4 workers, shorter work-day workers, 7 to 3 workers, and 9 to 5 workers. The number of home-based tours per day for all clusters were modeled using a Poisson regression model. Trip chaining was then modeled using an Ordered Probit model, and tour mode choice was modeled using a Multinomial logit (MNL) model. Statistical analysis showed that socio-demographic characteristics and tour attributes are significant predictors of travel behavior, consistent with existing literature. Urban form characteristics also have a significant influence on non-workers’ travel behavior and tour complexity. The findings of this study will assist in the future evaluation of transportation projects, and in land-use policymaking.

     

Computing dynamic user equilibria for large-scale transportation networks

In this paper, we present an approach for determining dynamic user equilibria. The method is suitable for disaggregated microscopic and mesoscopic simulation-based models. It is a modification of the convex-simplex method, which disposes with the line search step, and controls the subset of travelers to be re-routed at each step while updating the link travel times after each assignment. To guarantee finite termination, a suitable stopping criterion is adopted. The proposed method is implemented within TRANSIMS, the Transportation Analysis and Simulation System, as a two-stage process that employs a combined use of link performance functions and a microsimulator in order to design a framework suitable for application to real transportation systems. To demonstrate this capability, we apply the developed methodology to a large-scale network, Bignet, which is part of the transportation city network of Portland, Oregon; and a medium-scale network, Blacksburg, Virginia; and provide some comparative analyses. Our results exhibit that an improved distribution of travelers is obtained while consuming less than 17–33% of the effort required by the current version of TRANSIMS.     

Metropolitan sprawl measurement and its impacts on commuting trips and road emissions

This study measures urban form as indicators of metropolitan sprawl and explores its impact on commuting trips and NO_x and CO₂ emissions from road traffic in all metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and four groups’ MSAs separated by population in the continental United States. Encompassing all MSAs, the study adds the accessibility factor to four existing factors: density, land use mix, centeredness, and street connectivity. The study establishes multivariate regression models between urban form, commuting trips, and emissions from road traffic while controlling for socioeconomic conditions. The study shows that urban form index and five urban form factors have a statistically significant association with commuting trips, NO_x and CO₂ emissions from road traffic. In four MSA groups as determined by MSA population size, higher values of urban form factors (i.e., lower sprawl) are statistically associated with more walking commuters. On the other hand, higher values of urban form factors are associated with fewer commuting vehicles per household in large MSAs with the moderate effect, a lower average commuting drive time in medium and small MSAs, and more commuters using public transportation in medium and large MSAs. This study provides an urban form index covering all metropolitan areas in the continental United States by adding another urban form factor, and the findings show that urban form factors have different effects on mode choices, drive time, and emission from road traffic depending on the MSA population size.