Planning for implementation

Although the urban transportation planning process has evolved into the most sophisticated of all urban planning processes, the increasirig difficulty in implementing long-range transportation plans in urban areas today suggests basic questions concerning the process which deserve critical examination.Planning for implementation of urban transportation programs, particularly during periods of rapidly changing human values, requires a continuing re-evaluation of both technical and organizational strategies and their interrelationships.This paper raises some fundamental questions about the traditional activities and relationships that have characterized most urban transportation planning programs in the past. It also suggests a number of strategies, both technical and organizational, that may contribute to the implementation of plans and programs resulting from the transportation planning process.The first portion of this paper discusses the implications of not providing transportation services to match metropolitan growth. The experience of the Washington Metropolitan Area over the past decade is used to illustrate these implications.A discussion of organizational and institutional constraints upon the planning process follows. Then, the implications for the planning process are explored, and the scale of planning is reviewed as well as the need for monitoring the performance and impact of facilities.Next, the paper deals with the need to broaden the range of solutions to transportation problems, including consideration of economic and land development policies to reduce travel demand, as well as the provision of new facilities.Finally, techniques for involving decision-makers in the planning process are discussed. Examples of special project activities in the Washington area are used to illustrate these techniques and their value.     

A bus route evaluation model based on GIS and super-efficient data envelopment analysis

When compared to large cities in developed countries, the shares of public transportation in most Chinese cities are low. Increasing the competitiveness of urban public transportation remains an urgent problem. A capable evaluation method for public transportation is required to assist the development of urban transit systems. This paper focuses on the bus system. Being devoid of standard criteria, it is difficult to determine the efficiency of a transit system or any bus line using a single evaluation index. This paper proposes a comparative analysis to evaluate bus lines so as to filter out candidates for further optimization. From the viewpoints of transit planning, operation and quality of service, this paper establishes 10 subordinate evaluation indices and then uses geographical information system tools, global positioning system data and smart card data to assist the index definition and calculation. Super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is adopted for the proposed single factor and comprehensive evaluation models. Finally, the bus system in Shenzhen, China is used as a case study. The comparable significant results validate the capability of the proposed model.     

Reflections on citizen involvement in urban transportation planning: Towards a positive approach

The purpose of this paper is to explore an important and unique role which community participation and involvement can play in a revised transportation planning process. A review of diverse views about community participation, as well as a critique of the current urban transportation planning process, reveals that the former has played, primarily, ad hoc opportunistic and diverse roles, and that the latter is in desperate need for dynamic, subjective, impact information — required to assess attractive transportation systems. The contributions of several disciplines — economics, operations research, management science, political science, public administration, and others — are reviewed to assist in the development of a conceptual framework for a new community participation role, as a provider of key information to the planning process. An eclectic, experimental approach is recommended to explore the possibilities further.     

Mapping minibuses in Maputo and Nairobi: engaging paratransit in transportation planning in African cities

ABSTRACT

Often called paratransit because of their flexible stops, schedules and routes, minibuses make up the bulk of public transport in African cities. Despite their ubiquity and importance, these systems are poorly understood by transportation planners who tend to focus on large-scale urban infrastructure projects such as highways, commuter rail or bus rapid transit systems. The assumption within much of this planning is that these minibus systems are barriers to change and will become at most secondary “feeder” buses within large-scale projects, but structured plans detailing this vision are lacking. This paper argues that frequent failure to collect data and value important paratransit systems as a critical part of transportation in their own right is deeply problematic from the point of view of equity, access and inclusive and effective planning. We ask whether the growing number of bottom up mapping projects of minibus systems can disrupt this status quo. By comparing two mapping projects, Digital Matatus in Nairobi and the Mapa Dos Chapas in Maputo, we find that inclusive, collaborative mapping can help render these minibuses more visible in planning and provoke more grounded and inclusive “planning conversations” on multi-modal integration, passenger information and minibus upgrading, all key but relatively marginalised aspects of creating accessible, low emission, high quality and safe public transport in African cities.     

A planning methodology for intelligent urban transportation systems

Recent developments in intelligent transportation systems pose new challenges and opportunities for urban transportation planning. To meet these challenges and to exploit these opportunities, a framework for a new transportation planning methodology has been developed. The methodology operates in a computer environment, called PLANiTS (Planning and Analysis Integration for Intelligent Transportation Systems), designed to facilitate the entire planning process form problem identification, through idea generation and analysis, on to prioritization and programming. To assist in problem identification, PLANiTS provides graphic representation of current conditions, including traffic, air pollution, accidents, and projections of future conditions. A computerized knowledge base, containing information about possible strategies and their effects, and a model base, containing transportation and other analysis models, are used to guide the user in identifying potentially effective strategies and performing the appropriate analysis. To facilitate the use of these tools, PLANiTS provides computer support of group processes such as brainstorming, deliberation, and consensus seeking. PLANiTS is designed for use in urban transportation planning at the local, regional, and state levels; it is intended to support a variety of participants in the planning process including transportation professionals, decision makers in transportation agencies (often local elected officials), citizens, and interest groups. Recognizing that transportation planning is essentially a deliberative, political process, PLANiTS is designed to inform and facilitate, but not replace, the political decision-making process.     

The state-of-the-art in urban transportation planning or how we got here

This paper traces the development of urban transportation planning in the United States, focusing particularly on the influence that three previous conferences -Sagamore (1958), Hershey (1962), and Williamsburg (1965) - have had on the course of this development. Included also are comments on the current state of the art of urban transportation planning and observations as to its future direction.The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1934, which authorized the use of 1 percent funds for highway planning is identified as the progenitor of urban transportation planning in the U.S., and two reports based on information developed by the highway planning surveys first funded under the 1934 Act, Toll Roads and Free Roads (1939) and Interregional Highways (1944), are credited with preparing the ground for much of the urban transportation planning that was to follow.The rapid development of home interview survey techniques in the late 1940's and the full-scale introduction of computer technology in the Detroit Area Transportation Study are noted, as is the work of the National Committee on Urban Transportation, which was initiated in 1954 under sponsorship of the Automotive Safety Foundation. In addition to its substantial technical contributions, the NCUT, through its success in mobilizing the cooperative efforts of virtually every major group concerned with urban transportation, stimulated significant gains in Federal-State-local relationships and paved the way for increased Federal aid to cities in solving their local transportation problems.The impact of the 1956 and 1962 Federal-Aid Highway Acts on urban transportation planning is assessed. The substantial contributions, of the Hartford, Sagamore, Hershey, and Williamsburg conferences are discussed, as are their shortcomings. It is noted that many of our present concerns — environmental impacts, relationships between transportation and land use, need for cooperation among all levels of government, the multi-modal nature of urban transportation, and the need for citizen involvement, to name a few — were incorporated in the provisions of either one or another of the Federal-Aid statutes in the 1950's and 60's or appear in the recommendations of the several conferences. That these matters still concern us today is given as evidence that planning has not fully lived up to its promise and responsibility, that more rather than less planning is needed, and that, above all, new leadership to pick up where the old has left off must soon assert itself.     

An Internet-based geographic information system that integrates data,models and users for transportation applications

This paper is concerned with the development of an Internet-based geographic information system (GIS) that brings together spatio-temporal data, models and users in a single efficient framework to be used for a wide range of transportation applications – planning, engineering and operational. The functional requirements of the system are outlined taking into consideration the various enabling technologies, such as Internet tools, large-scale databases and distributed computing systems. Implementation issues as well as the necessary models needed to support the system are briefly discussed.     

Substituting operational control for physical capacity in urban transportation

This paper develops recommendations for improving in an evolutionary manner the performance of our urban ground transportation systems. The strengths and limitations of present static control technology and current computer traffic signal and freeway surveillance and control systems in urban areas are described. A taxonomy of possible information and control configurations in urban traffic operations is developed. The alternatives in the taxonomy are analysed and used as the basis for recommending specific real time information and control functions for improving, in an evolutionary manner, the performance of urban ground transportation systems. The recommended improvements would allow for the first time a meaningful substitution of operational control for physical (static) capacity increases in urban transportation.     

A time-dependent freight tour synthesis model

This paper introduces a model of urban freight demand that seeks to estimate tour flows from secondary data sources e.g., traffic counts, to bypass the need for expensive surveys. The model discussed in this paper, referred as Freight Tour Synthesis (FTS), enhances current techniques by incorporating the time-dependent tour-based behavior of freight vehicles, and the decision maker’s (e.g., metropolitan planning agency planner) preferences for different sources of information. The model, based on entropy maximization theory, estimates the most likely set of tour flows, given a set of freight trip generation estimates, a set of traffic counts per time interval, and total freight transportation cost in the network. The type of inputs used allows the assessment of changes in infrastructure, policy and land use. The ability of the model to replicate actual values is assessed using the Denver Region (CO) as a case study.     

Demand management as an element of transportation policy: using carrots and sticks to influence travel behavior

This paper describes the characteristics of transportation demand management. The origin of transportation demand management (TDM) as it has evolved in the US is related to federal policy initiatives that first focused on improving the efficiency of the urban transportation system through operational improvements, and then incorporated concerns such as air quality and energy conservation into the transportation planning process. The paper then examines the effectiveness of TDM actions, and concludes that those actions most likely to increase the “price” of travel for single occupant vehicle use will be most effective. The paper identifies several strategies for improving the effectiveness of TDM actions in the context of regional transportation planning, including: incorporating TDM as part of the solutions for regional transportation planning, linking TDM to land use decisions, making the costs of travel more apparent to the user, and making TDM implementation more palatable to the general public.     

Benefit-cost analysis for labor intensive transportation systems

Labor-intensive systems such as bikeways and pedestrian ways suffer in transportation planning in part because traditional benefit-cost analysis focuses on narrow, private transportation savings (e.g., reducing vehicle and time costs).Planners need benefit-cost frameworks which capture the community-wide effects of such innovative transportation systems — reduction in air pollution, less congestion, and increases in exercise and outdoor recreation. This study discusses practical methods for planners to include such categories in their analyses and applies these methods to two case studies. The analysis yields benefit-cost ratios which are much higher than those found in most public projects — suggesting negative returns to marginal automobiles in congested areas such as university campuses. The paper concludes with some suggested bikeway planning guidelines that emerge from expanded benefit-cost analysis.     

Energy savings in transport

A decade of increasing Federal attention to urban transportation needs has culminated in the 1970 Urban Mass Transportation Assistance Act. This Act is intended to provide 10 thousand million dollars over the next 12 years in Federal assistance money to urban public transportation systems. This paper examines the needs of selected U.S. cities as a basis for (1) understanding the vast, various and complex transportation needs of urban areas throughout the country, and (2) assessing the sufficiency of these funds. The sample cities have been placed into three broad categories based on the state of development of their transportation systems. In Category I cities, the essential need is to ensure the survival of bus systems for the use of non‐drivers, or to provide some other viable alternative to the automobile; in Category II cities, the primary needs are to relieve auto congestion and to improve public transportation components, while in Category III cities, the primary need is massive investment to improve and to extend public transportation facilities. It is concluded that the presently intended Federal funding level for transportation will not meet the financial requirements of the Category III cities.     

Urban transportation and equity: A case study of Beijing and Karachi

Development of mega cities of Pakistan and China has greatly been affected by the growth in urbanization and motorization. The uncontrolled rise in urbanization, motorization, exclusionary planning and disproportionate investment in transportation infrastructure has created a socio-economic imbalance, thereby challenging the issue of equity. This paper focuses on a comparative social equity assessment of urban development, characteristics of supply and demand of transportation and infrastructure systems and the impact of existing strategies over equity in the development of urban and transportation system of Beijing and Karachi. The paper concludes by suggesting some strategies for the development of sustainable and equitable urban transportation systems.     

Changes in the relationships between transport,communications and urban form

Transport, communications and urban form cover an overlapping area of rising academic and practical concern. This paper traces several of the many themes brought together under different professional banners, and shows how a confluence of interest is emerging.The themes are the developments in urban planning analysis, transport and time use studies, telecommunications and industrial location, all of which contribute to the area of locational effects of improved telecommunications technology, and are affected by alterations in the nature of work and the uses made of time by individuals. The convergence of geographical, planning, transportation and communication developments now requires explicit investigation, as the timings of technological and theoretical developments appear to coincide with the emergence of a significant need to do so. Some of the gaps between present knowledge and expertise that need to be filled are specified.These include the investigation of the testing and use of current land use integrated analyses for road and development assessment, investigation of the nature and characteristics of work and education which are most affected by telecommunications and computer support, development of longitudinal monitoring methods for overall urban development leading indicators, exploitation of newly-available cross-sectional household and city data sets in conjunction with historical data for longitudinal investigations and forward projections, accounting for altered family structure and activity patterns and the anticipation and assessment of probable further technological change, which can and will undermine many current long term commitments.     

Mapping spatial accessibility of public transportation network in an urban area – A case study of Shanghai Hongqiao Transportation Hub

Accessibility is a key metric when assessing the efficiency of an urban public transportation network. This research develops a methodology for evaluating spatial accessibility of a system with multiple transportation modes in an urban area, Shanghai Hongqiao Transportation Hub (SHTH) and its surrounding area. The method measured total traveling time as an accessibility indicator, which summed the time people spent on walking, waiting, transfer and transportation in a journey from the SHTH to destinations. Spatial accessibility was classified into five levels from very high to very low. The evaluation was conducted at a cell-by-cell basis under an overall scenario and three specific scenarios. Evaluation results were presented in a series of maps. The overall accessibility scenario shows a concentric-ring trend decreasing from the SHTH to the fringe of the study area. Areas along the metro lines generally have a much higher accessibility than those along the bus lines with some exceptions where bus routes play a more important role. Metro stations identified as either time-saving or time-consuming points are mainly distributed around the urban center. Some suggestions are proposed for improving accessibility of public transportation network in the study area. The results from this study provide a scientific basis and useful information for supporting decision-making on urban planning, and assisting dwellers to travel in a time-efficient manner. The methodology offers a simple, flexible way to the spatial evaluation, metro station identification and network modification of accessibility of public transportation systems with multiple transportation modes.     

A multivariate state space approach for urban traffic flow modeling and prediction

Urban traffic congestion is one of the most severe problems of everyday life in Metropolitan areas. In an effort to deal with this problem, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies have concentrated in recent years on dealing with urban congestion. One of the most critical aspects of ITS success is the provision of accurate real-time information and short-term predictions of traffic parameters such as traffic volumes, travel speeds and occupancies. The present paper concentrates on developing flexible and explicitly multivariate time-series state space models using core urban area loop detector data. Using 3-min volume measurements from urban arterial streets near downtown Athens, models were developed that feed on data from upstream detectors to improve on the predictions of downstream locations. The results clearly suggest that different model specifications are appropriate for different time periods of the day. Further, it also appears that the use of multivariate state space models improves on the prediction accuracy over univariate time series ones.     

Transportation agencies experiences with decision support systems for airport ground access planning

This article reports on a field investigation into the ways that transportation agencies use quantitative and qualitative information for making strategic decisions regarding airport ground access. The study analyzes the value of this information for planning airport ground access improvements at seven major international airport sites.The major finding of the research is that quantitative modeling for strategic decision support is very difficult, costly and time consuming. Modelers are confident that the models are accurate and reliable but executives generally lack confidence in the results. Transportation officials believe that the information supplied is flawed by a number of defects that minimize its value for strategic decision makers. The information defects described in this article provide an analysis of the structural difficulty of using quantitative modeling for transportation problems of strategic importance. To date, qualitative information is not frequently used, but some transportation agencies are considering its application to designing transportation services. Although this study is limited to airport ground access, the authors feel that this evidence, in conjunction with the evidence from other studies in the transportation area, dictates a need for wariness in the development of decision support systems for transportation planners. Developers of decision support systems for transportation planners must be aware of modeling costs and defects and consider how to improve the timeliness, relevance and credibility of information quantitative models provide transportation executives. Fundamentally it is important to recognize that decision makers tend, either singularly or in concert with other individuals or groups, to be the champions of a long-term vision for the community. When modeling produces inconsistent or wide ranging results that contradict their position, decision makers may not only discard modeling activities, but lose confidence in the models altogether. As a consequence, transportation planners are faced with the challenge of how to improve quantitative modeling. The most reliable and effective means for improvement is incorporation of qualitative techniques which provide greater understanding of customer perceptions and human behavior.     

Development of a transit network from a street map database with spatial analysis and dynamic segmentation

This paper presents an integrated transit-oriented travel demand modeling procedure within the framework of geographic information systems (GIS). Focusing on transit network development, this paper presents both the procedure and algorithm for automatically generating both link and line data for transit demand modeling from the conventional street network data using spatial analysis and dynamic segmentation. For this purpose, transit stop digitizing, topology and route system building, and the conversion of route and stop data into link and line data sets are performed. Using spatial analysis, such as the functionality to search arcs nearest from a given node, the nearest stops are identified along the associated links of the transit line, while the topological relation between links and line data sets can also be computed using dynamic segmentation. The advantage of this approach is that street map databases represented by a centerline can be directly used along with the existing legacy urban transportation planning systems (UTPS) type travel modeling packages and existing GIS without incurring the additional cost of purchasing a full-blown transportation GIS package. A small test network is adopted to demonstrate the process and the results. The authors anticipate that the procedure set forth in this paper will be useful to many cities and regional transit agencies in their transit demand modeling process within the integrated GIS-based computing environment.     

Urban transportation and the press: A survey of editorial opinion

The editorial opinions expressed in the news press can provide information on which issues are currently prominent concerns of the public, and on how public opinion may be aligned on those issues. A survey of all urban transportation-related editorials appearing in a sample of 155 U.S. newspapers during a period of 19 months in 1973–74 revealed that a number of issues related to transit financing, transit and highway investment, bicycles, and the transportation planning process were currently under debate in the urban press. This paper presents the survey's findings regarding the incidence and viewpoint of articles on these and other issues. Transit financing concerns clearly emerged as the most frequently discussed, and some agreement in editorial viewpoint was also found. The paper concludes with the authors' subjective observations on the scope and style of editorial discussion of urban transportation issues.This paper was prepared as background work for a recently-published essay on urban transportation problems (Kemp and Cheslow, 1976). The opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Urban Institute or its sponsors.     

Modelling discretionary travel in the presence of imperfect data

The use of mathematical models in transportation and regional planning is limited by the need to obtain reasonably accurate, complete data sets. In particular complete spatial coverage is required for the usual discrete origin-destination models. Because of the time and cost constraints of obtaining such data, those charged with decision making responsibilities may choose to do without information that could be provided by quantitative models. This paper presents a procedure for estimating origin-constrained flows in situations where complete data collection is difficult or impossible. To this end an abstract model of origin-constrained travel is formulated. The required urban fields are constructed using interpolation and/or approximation techniques applied to available data. The tractability of the general model is demonstrated in the case of estimating the energy consumed in travel to existing or proposed facilities. The ability of the model to function with incomplete data was tested by using it to predict travel to the major retail centers located in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Area.