A fractional perspective to the modelling of Lisbon’s public transportation network

Transportation - Urban growth originates multiscale spatial patterns, such as those of transportation networks. Here, the public transportation network (PTN) of the city of Lisbon is analysed from...     

Service design for public transportation to address the issue of females’ fear of crime

Transportation - In conjunction with their gender, how does the current design of public transport services affect female passengers’ feelings of safety and fear when using the service? This...     

Correction to: Shared school transportation: determinants of carpooling as children’s school travel mode in California

Transportation - In the online published article, in figure 2 a value is missing in column 4. The correct figure is given in this correction. The original article has been corrected.     

Shared school transportation: determinants of carpooling as children’s school travel mode in California

Transportation - Carpooling has potential as an alternative mode of school transportation along with other viable options, especially at a time when technology continues to increase our reliance...     

Educating parents to support children’s road safety: a review of the literature

ABSTRACT

This narrative review synthesised the limited work that has been carried out into road safety education targeting parents. Parent education appeared to have a positive impact on child safety seat use and children’s bike helmet use, but results regarding the impact of parent education on pedestrian safety were mixed. The review highlighted important gaps in the literature. A key gap being identifying effective ways to engage parents of low socioeconomic and ethnic minority backgrounds. Further, another gap is understanding effective ways to engage and support parents of children with additional needs to build their children’s road safety skills. There is some evidence that parent education has a positive impact on these “at-risk” groups, but little work on how to engage with these groups and the type of parent education required.     

Developing socially inclusive transportation policy: transferring the United Kingdom policy approach to the State of Victoria?

The role of transport disadvantage in the social exclusion of low income and marginalised households and communities has received increasing academic and policy interest over the last 10 years or so. Against a backdrop of studies that have predominantly considered this issue within various national contexts, this paper offers a unique opportunity to compare different national context. The paper is informed by a commissioned study for the State of Victoria Department of Transport (Lucas, Study of transport exclusion in the state of Victoria: It doesn’t have to be this way, 2008), which wished to draw lessons from the United Kingdom in order to promote a similar policy agenda for the State. It is the authors’ contention that the issue of transport-related social exclusion is likely receive growing international policy recognition in the context of global recession, associated local job losses and reduced disposable incomes, as well as the ageing structure of most Western societies. The paper seeks to disseminate the important findings of our study about the potential for policy transfer to other national and local contexts to a wider academic, policy and practitioner audience.     

Justice in transport as justice in accessibility: applying Walzer’s ‘Spheres of Justice’ to the transport sector

This paper seeks to provide a theoretical basis for a distributive approach to transport. Using the theory developed by Michael Walzer in his ??Spheres of Justice?? (1983), I argue that the transport good, defined as accessibility, should be distributed in a so-called separate sphere, i.e. independent from the way in which other key goods, like money or power, are allocated. I subsequently explore what kind of justice principle could guide the distribution of the transport good, once a separate sphere would be established. This preliminary exploration results in the elimination of a number of widely supported distributive principles, and in the tentative identification of a criterion matching the particularities of the transport good. The explorations in the paper are not intended as final answers, but rather seek to open the debate about the need for an explicit distributive transport policy and the distributive principle that should guide such a policy.     

An analysis of children’s leisure activity engagement: examining the day of week, location, physical activity level, and fixity dimensions

This paper presents a detailed analysis of discretionary leisure activity engagement by children. Children’s leisure activity engagement is of much interest to transportation professionals from an activity-based travel demand modeling perspective, to child development professionals from a sociological perspective, and to health professionals from an active lifestyle perspective that can help prevent obesity and other medical ailments from an early age. Using data from the 2002 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this paper presents a detailed analysis of children’s discretionary activity engagement by day of week (weekend versus weekday), location (in-home versus out-of-home), type of activity (physically active versus passive), and nature of activity (structured versus unstructured). A mixed multiple discrete-continuous extreme value model formulation is adopted to account for the fact that children may participate in multiple activities and allocate positive time duration to each of the activities chosen. It is found that children participate at the highest rate and for the longest duration in passive unstructured leisure activities inside the home. Children in households with parents who are employed, higher income, or higher education were found to participate in structured outdoor activities at higher rates. The child activity modeling framework and methodology presented in this paper lends itself for incorporation into larger activity-based travel model systems where it is imperative that children’s activity-travel patterns be explicitly modeled—both from a child health and well-being policy perspective and from a travel forecasting perspective.

Children’s mode choice for the school trip: the role of distance and school location in walking to school

Rising levels of childhood obesity in the United States and a 75% decline in the proportion of children walking to school in the past 30 years have focused attention on school travel. This paper uses data from the US Department of Transportation’s 2001 National Household Travel Survey to analyze the factors affecting mode choice for elementary and middle school children. The analysis shows that walk travel time is the most policy-relevant factor affecting the decision to walk to school with an estimated direct elasticity of −0.75. If policymakers want to increase walking rates, these findings suggest that current policies, such as Safe Routes to School, which do not affect the spatial distribution of schools and residences will not be enough to change travel behavior. The final part of the paper uses the mode choice model to test how a land use strategy—community schools—might affect walking to school. The results show that community schools have the potential to increase walking rates but would require large changes from current land use, school, and transportation planning practices.

Implementing the maximum likelihood methodology to measure a driver’s critical gap

Most of the capacity calculation procedures for two-way stop-controlled (TWSC) intersections are based on gap acceptance models. Critical gap is one of the major parameters for gap acceptance models. The accuracy of capacity estimation is mainly determined by the accuracy of the critical gap. This paper focuses on the implementation of the maximum likelihood technique to measure a driver’s critical gap using field data. A methodology to define gap events is proposed, so that the accepted gaps and maximum rejected gaps required by the maximum likelihood technique could be obtained. Specific issues regarding multi-lane situations and major street right turn movement are discussed. Special conditions observed during the research are addressed when the proposed method cannot be applied directly, such as the existence of a mid-block refuge area where minor street drivers can seek gaps in a two-stage process, pedestrian blockage, and downstream queue spill back. The proposed method was adopted in measuring critical gap under US conditions during a research project, described by Kyte et al. (1996). ©     

An analysis of the social context of children’s weekend discretionary activity participation

This paper examines the discretionary time-use of children, including the social context of children’s participations. Specifically, the paper examines participation and time investment in in-home leisure as well as five different types of out-of-home discretionary activities: (1) shopping, (2) social, (3) meals, (4) passive recreation (i.e., physically inactive recreation, such as going to the movies or a concert), and (5) active recreation (i.e., physically active recreation, such as playing tennis or running). The social context of children’s activity participation is also examined by focusing on the accompanying individuals in children’s activity engagement. The accompanying arrangement is classified into one of six categories: (1) alone, (2) with mother and no one else, (3) with father and no one else, (4) with both mother and father, and no one else, (5) with other individuals, but no parents, and (6) with other individuals and one or both parents. The utility-theoretic Multiple Discrete-Continuous Extreme Value (MDCEV) is employed to model time-use in one or more activity purpose–company type combinations. The data used in the analysis is drawn from the 2002 Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the U.S. Panel Study Income Dynamics (PSID). The results from the model can be used to examine the time-use choices of children, as well as to assess the potential impacts of urban and societal policies on children’s activity participation and time-use decisions. Our findings also emphasize the need to collect, in future travel surveys, more extensive and higher quality data capturing the intra- and inter-household interactions between individuals (including children). To our knowledge, the research in this paper is the first transportation-related study to rigorously and comprehensively analyze the social dimension of children’s activity participation.

The effects of the 2013 floods on Germany’s freight traffic

This article analyzes the spatio-temporal effect of the 2013 floods on freight traffic in Germany by using automatic traffic counter data. The methodology uses a proven time-series outlier detection and identification technique to endogenously determine if a counter was affected during the flood and estimate the magnitude and duration of the change in the number of vehicles passing through it. This is the first paper able to quantify climate-related variations in traffic across all the counters of a national network. Results show variations on 10% of all counters and 23% of all main roads. Results allow us to trace the configuration of disrupted and detour routes, recovery times, and the total effect on the network. Our findings serve as an input to other studies on the impact of exogenous events on the transport system and contribute towards the formulation of public policies to improve road resilience.     

Eco-driver training within the City of Calgary’s municipal fleet: Monitoring the impact

This article highlights eco-driving as an available policy option to reduce climate altering GHG emissions. Recognizing the need to reduce the environmental impact of its fleet operations, the City of Calgary is a leader in developing programs and policies that aim to reduce GHG emissions and associated pollutants resulting from the use of fossil fuels. Among local action taken against climate change, the City sought to quantify CO₂ emissions reductions from their municipal fleet as a result of eco-driver training, with a specific focus on engine idling. Fifteen drivers from the Development & Building Approvals Business Unit had in-vehicle monitoring technology (CarChips®) installed into their vehicles as part of a three-phase research process. The results show that gasoline and hybrid vehicles decreased average idling between 4% and 10% per vehicle per day, leading to an average emissions decrease of 1.7 kg of CO₂ per vehicle per day.     

A systematic review of disability’s treatment in the active school travel and children’s independent mobility literatures

While various forms of social difference (e.g. gender, age, race/ethnicity, and class) have been engaged in the active school travel (AST) and children’s independent mobility (CIM) literatures, one form has gone largely unconsidered: disability. Disregard for disability within these literatures is troubling, as it leaves children’s experiences of disability associated with independent mobility and school travel unquestioned, which in turn helps to allow their experiences of exclusion to persist. This paper presents a systematic review of the AST and CIM literatures that was undertaken with a view to providing insight into three questions. (1) To what extent is disability considered in the literatures in comparison to other forms of social difference? (2) How is disability engaged? (3) How could disability be approached differently such that experiences of children (and their households) living with disability are better accounted for moving forward (e.g. provided with equitable travel/mobility options)? Following a detailed consideration of the systematic review process, this paper presents figures and tables showing the extent to which disability has been considered in the two literatures in relation to other forms of social difference. To show how transport scholars and others are engaging disability, 29 studies were identified for in-depth, qualitative review. These studies are summarized and then discussed in relation to their geographic focus, the forms of disability they considered, their treatment of children’s perspective and agency, and the disability perspectives they employed. It is suggested that disability and its relationships with other forms of social difference, as well as the largely unquestioned normalcy of children’s disability experiences, warrant further inquiry within the AST and CIM literatures. We propose that drawing upon a critical ableist studies perspective may be useful for any such inquiry due to its focus on ableism and normalcy, as well as its recognition of the complex intersectionality of disability experiences.     

Improvement of external transport cost evaluation in the context of Lithuania’s integration into the European Union

This paper starts by reviewing the main components of social marginal costs and environmental costs in the context of transport, and it draws on the experience in Europe concerning the means by which these costs can be valued. That experience is then translated to the situation in Lithuania, where many of the same issues are now being debated. A multicriteria method is proposed to internalize these costs, both from the perspective of the state and of the carriers. Costs need to be raised substantially if the social and environmental factors are to be paid for by the transport users, and such action would bring Lithuania closer to the best practice currently in operation in the European Union.     

Do partners influence each other’s travel patterns? A new approach to study the role of social norms

To better understand the role of social norms in relation to people’s travel behavior this study addresses the question whether and to what extent partners in two-partner households influence each other’s travel patterns. For example, is the male household head more likely to start using the bicycle if the female household head also uses the bicycle (and vice versa)? While this is a straightforward question, it has, to the best of the author’s knowledge, not been explored in previous research. Using data from 958 couples from the German Mobility panel, the bidirectional effects between the travel patterns of male and female household heads are explored. To this end, the relatively new method of latent class transition analysis is used. The results show that, over time, travel pattern membership of the male household head influences travel pattern membership of the female household head and vice versa. Given that the effects are controlled for a range of individual and shared household characteristics, these results suggest that social norms at the household level play an important role. The paper concludes with an outlook on how the developed framework can be extended in the future.     

Fit-for-duty test for estimation of drivers’ sleepiness level: Eye movements improve the sleep/wake predictor

Driver sleepiness contributes to a considerable proportion of road accidents, and a fit-for-duty test able to measure a driver’s sleepiness level might improve traffic safety. The aim of this study was to develop a fit-for-duty test based on eye movement measurements and on the sleep/wake predictor model (SWP, which predicts the sleepiness level) and evaluate the ability to predict severe sleepiness during real road driving. Twenty-four drivers participated in an experimental study which took place partly in the laboratory, where the fit-for-duty data were acquired, and partly on the road, where the drivers sleepiness was assessed. A series of four measurements were conducted over a 24-h period during different stages of sleepiness. Two separate analyses were performed; a variance analysis and a feature selection followed by classification analysis. In the first analysis it was found that the SWP and several eye movement features involving anti-saccades, pro-saccades, smooth pursuit, pupillometry and fixation stability varied significantly with different stages of sleep deprivation. In the second analysis, a feature set was determined based on floating forward selection. The correlation coefficient between a linear combination of the acquired features and subjective sleepiness (Karolinska sleepiness scale, KSS) was found to be R = 0.73 and the correct classification rate of drivers who reached high levels of sleepiness (KSS ⩾ 8) in the subsequent driving session was 82.4% (sensitivity = 80.0%, specificity = 84.2% and AUC = 0.86). Future improvements of a fit-for-duty test should focus on how to account for individual differences and situational/contextual factors in the test, and whether it is possible to maintain high sensitive/specificity with a shorter test that can be used in a real-life environment, e.g. on professional drivers.     

Is in-cabin exposure to carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter amplified by the vehicle’s self-pollution potential? Quantifying the rate of exhaust intrusion

In-cabin exposure has increased in recent years due to longer commute and/or prolonged times in cars. The intrusion of the vehicle’s own exhaust into the passenger’s compartment has been recognized as a process that amplifies in-cabin passenger exposure. Quantifying its contribution is hampered by uncertainties associated with its measurement method such as trace tests and the lack of data regarding certain critical physical parameters, particularly those pertaining to air exchange rate (AER) and particulate matter deposition rate (DR). In this study, we present a hybrid methodology combining field measurements with a single-zone mass balance to estimate these parameters as well as the source term that represents vehicle self-pollution. In- and out-vehicle carbon monoxide (CO) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) were monitored concurrently in test vehicles under idle and moving conditions using several common ventilation modes. In addition to defining a hybrid methodology to characterize the underlying physical parameters, this study found that vehicle self-pollution can account for approximately 15 and 30% of CO and PM_2.5 exposure experienced by vehicle occupants respectively. Vehicle self-exhaust intrusion may constitute a significant PM exposure route for vehicle-based occupations or commuters with prolonged time in vehicles.     

Competitiveness prioritisation of container ports in Asia under the background of China’s Belt and Road initiative

ABSTRACT

The understanding of the competitiveness of different ports under the background of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) is critical for drafting appropriate plans and taking suitable actions to select the best port in the logistics supply chains. A novel Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA) was proposed for the evaluation of port competitiveness. In the developed MADA method, the interval Analytic Hierarchy Process and the projection method was combined for the evaluation of port competitiveness. Three container ports in Asia including Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore were studied under the background of China’s BRI. The results demonstrate that the port of Singapore is the most competitive at the initial stage of China’s BRI, followed by Hong Kong and Shanghai in the descending order. The results were validated by sum weighted method and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution method, and sensitivity analysis was also carried out. The competitiveness of the three ports in the next ten years were also studied with the consideration of the influences of China’s BRI, and the results reveal that Shanghai port can even exceed Hong Kong port and Singapore port if it can effectively take the advantage s of China’s BRI.