New highways and land use change: Results from a quasi-experimental research design

Understanding links from new highway construction or capacity expansion to regional growth patterns is crucial for transportation planners and policy makers. In this paper, we incorporate a lagged adjustment regional growth model into a quasi-experimental research design to examine the association between new highway investments and land use change in three California counties. Our study areas provide a mix of urban, small town, and exurban highway projects in order to explore the different effects across project types and geographic contexts. The central finding of this research is that while improvements in surface transportation infrastructure can have large impacts on growth patterns, the nature of the effect depends on the context of the highway investment.     

Informing the public of transportation–land use connections

The lack of relevant information is a significant barrier when policy makers try to motivate local communities in regional transportation–land use planning. This article demonstrates a workable approach to overcoming this information gap. Large data sets and research results are preprocessed to provide the information on regional transportation–land use connections. Web-based open source geo-spatial technologies are employed to reduce the cost of information dissemination while maintaining a high level of accessibility. Maps and graphs are dynamically generated to ensure that relevant information is delivered in easy-to-understand formats. Two illustrative examples are presented in this article to show how local planners can possibly benefit from this approach when developing stories of community growth, accessibility, mobility, and transportation–land use connections in a regional context.     

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.     

Alternative systems for urban transport in India

This paper is in the context of studying alternative systems of urban transport in India to determine the costs and performance not only for public transport systems but also for the total transport scenario (i.e. for all vehicles) such that the economic costs are inclusive of costs of time (conservatively), accidents and pollution. In view of inherent deficiencies and delays associated with a traditional transport planning process and its implementation, the paper develops quick response land-use transport planning models for Indian cities to enable integrated, cost-efficient strategies to be evolved, recognizing that urban transport is a function of urban size, form, structure, socio-economic base, etc. A simple statistically significant demand model identified from a basis of appropriate data represents the recommended demand model for Indian cities. This model can be then conveniently used to project trip volume for any Indian city in a future year. A simple gravity model is used to generate the trip assignment for hypothesized city sizes, forms and structures. The results provide a fairly reasonable approximation for the major corridor trip volumes and lengths in the context of the transport requirement for the metropolitan cities in India in 2001 and 2011 A.D. The GOI Study Group arising from the investigations reported in this paper and the discounted cash-flow method of analysis made clear overall recommendations in February 1987 for cities of various populations.     

The Bid-rent Land Use Model of the simple,efficient, elegant,and effective model of land use and transportation

Integrated land use/transportation forecasting models add significant policy and infrastructure alternatives analysis capabilities to the urban planning process. The financial, time, and staff requirements to develop these models has put them beyond the reach of most small to medium sized urban areas. This paper presents the land use allocation submodel of the Simple, Efficient, Elegant, and Effective model of land use and transportation (SE³M), an integrated land use and transportation forecasting model founded upon Economic Base Theory and Bid-rent Theory. The Bid-rent Land Use Model (BLUM) is an agent based, spatial competition model utilizing unique utility curves for willingness to pay and incomes for budget constrained abilities to pay for each agent. The model structure, estimation, calibration, implementation, and validation are presented. With a single year of land use data available, the validation approach used the Kappa Index of Agreement to spatially check model outputs against base year control data while controlling for agreement by chance. The U.S. territory of Guam is used as the case study/proof of concept implementation for this model framework. Once calibrated, BLUM could solve the spatial competition problem on Guam in less than two minutes of processing time with over 90% accuracy.     

Comparing the impact of future airline network change on emissions in India and the United States

In this paper we use simulation to analyze how flight routing network structure may change in different world regions, and how this might impact future traffic growth and emissions. We compare models of the domestic Indian and US air transportation systems, representing developing and mature air transportation systems respectively. We explicitly model passenger and airline decision-making, capturing passenger demand effects and airline operational responses, including airline network change. The models are applied to simulate air transportation system growth for networks of 49 airports in each country from 2005 to 2050. In India, the percentage of connecting passengers simulated decreases significantly (from over 40% in 2005 to under 10% in 2050), indicating that a shift in network structure towards increased point-to-point routing can be expected. In contrast, very little network change is simulated for the US airport set modeled. The simulated impact of network change on system CO₂ emissions is very small, although in the case of India it could enable a large increase in demand, and therefore a significant reduction in emissions per passenger (by nearly 25%). NO_x emissions at major hub airports are also estimated, and could initially reduce relative to a case in which network change is not simulated (by nearly 25% in the case of Mumbai in 2025). This effect, however, is significantly reduced by 2050 because of frequency competition effects. We conclude that network effects are important when estimating CO₂ emissions per passenger and local air quality effects at hub airports in developing air transportation systems.     

Activity–travel behaviour of non-workers from Bangalore City in India

This paper presents exploratory and statistical analyses of the activity–travel behaviour of non-workers in Bangalore city in India. The study summarises the socio-demographic characteristics as well as the activity–travel behaviour of non-workers using a primary activity–travel survey data collected by the authors. Where possible, the research also compares the analysis findings with the case studies on activity–travel behaviour of non-workers, carried out in developed and developing countries. This gives an opportunity to understand the differences/similarities in the activity–travel behaviour of non-workers across diverse socio-cultural settings. The preliminary exploratory analysis shed light on the differences in activity participation, trip chaining, time-of-day preference for trip departure, and mode use behaviour of non-workers in Bangalore city. Statistical models were developed for investigating the effects of individual and household socio-demographics, land use parameters, and travel context attributes on activity participation, trip chaining, time-of-day choice, and mode choice decisions of non-workers. A few important results of the analysis are the influence of viewing television at home on out-of-home activity participation and trip-chaining behaviour, and the impact of in-home maintenance activity duration on time-of-day choice. Further, based on the findings of the initial analyses, an attempt has been made in this study to develop an integrated model that links time allocation, time-of-day choice, and trip chaining behaviour of non-workers. The study also discusses the implications of the research findings for transportation planning and policy for Bangalore city.     

The crisis for transportation planning modelling

The paper considers the performance of land‐use transportation study techniques over the past ten years. Although primarily viewed from a U.K. perspective the paper reviews matters of principle which are of international relevance. The changing context and tasks for modelling are reviewed and the current role and applications of such models considered. The capability of established models to meet these changing requirements is examined. Attention is drawn to model specification and the ability of models both to represent new policies and to predict traveller responses to them. Also relevant is the ‘behavioural’ theme and the way in which survey technique conditions the data obtained.

Particular emphasis is placed on the accuracy of modelling, both in the representation of base year travel patterns and in the forecast mode. The inherent uncertainty concerning input data is discussed and the frequent failures to establish model validity are noted.

Three crises for U.K. transportation planning practice are identified: the ageing of data bases, the accuracy and validity of models and the current changes to the institutional context of transport planning in the U.K. Some potential remedies for the first two difficulties are proposed. It is concluded that only the last ‘crisis’ represents a real threat to the application of rational methods in transportation planning.     

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 multiobjective land development optimization model: the case of New Castle County,Delaware

This paper develops a multiobjective optimization model to consider transportation impacts of the future development of land. The output of the model is the best location and type of land use that has minimal negative transportation effects and uses the maximum available public transportation infrastructure. It provides tools for both planners and transportation engineers and enables them to consider different scenarios of possible policies and land development. Since multiple objectives and their nonlinear structures are considered, the model is solved using mixed integer nonlinear programming. The final results are shown in both tabular and graphical format. The effectiveness of the model is applied to the northern part of New Castle County, Delaware. The results show that the model successfully finds the best locations for both residential and commercial land uses in order to meet several criteria discussed in the paper.     

The transportation systems of Buenos Aires, Chicago and São Paulo: City centers, infrastructure and policy analysis

We compare the passenger transportation systems of Buenos Aires, Chicago and São Paulo. The selected cities represent distinctive combinations of land-use, infrastructure, and evolution of transport policy. Analysis is centered on accessibility to downtown areas, where transportation processes converge in an environment where space is scarce. In two of the three cities institutional arrays that legally establish unified decision making have shown little capacity to launch fare or physical coordination between modes. In two of the three cities the concentration of public transportation supply to historical downtowns has not been an attraction factor, and downtown uses have expanded to less accessible areas. Gentrification in Chicago is also another process showing that land use changes are related to many factors, transportation being only one of them, and not always a necessary one. In all three cases the use of railways, as a set of inherited infrastructures, has seen an increase whose magnitude suggests a link to modal reassignment due to increasing congestion. Scarcity of space in old downtown areas is being counteracted through more intense use, or through the expansion of vertical space for transportation operations.     

Travel mode choices in small cities of China: A case study of Changting

The existing literature on urban transportation planning in China focuses primarily on large cities and neglects small cities. This paper aims to fill part of the knowledge gap by examining travel mode choice in Changting, a small city that has been experiencing fast spatial expansion and growing transportation problems. Using survey data collected from 1470 respondents on weekdays and weekends, the study investigates the relationship between mode choice and individuals’ socio-economic characteristics, trip characteristics, attitudes, and home and workplace built environments. While more than 35 percent of survey respondents are car owners, walk, bicycle, e-bike, and motorcycle still account for over 85 percent of trips made during peak hours. E-bike and motorcycle are the dominant means of travel on weekdays, but many people shift to walking and cycling on weekends, making non-motorized and semi-motorized travel especially important for non-commuting trips. Results of multinomial logistic regression show that: (1) job-housing balance might exert different effects on mode choice in different types of urban areas; (2) negative attitude towards e-bike and motorcycle is associated with more walking and cycling; and (3) land use diversity of workplace is related to commuting mode choice on weekdays, while land use diversities of both residential and activity places do not significantly affect mode choice on weekends. Our findings imply that planning and design for small cities needs to differentiate land use and transportation strategies in various types of areas, and to launch outreach programs to shift people’s mode choice from motorized travel to walking and cycling.     

城市绿色交通建设与发展策略综述

绿色交通系统对改善城市交通拥堵,减少交通能耗、环境污染,提高城市的宜居性等方面有着积极的推动作用。文章从城市规划和土地利用开发、交通需求管理、交通基础设施建设等方面阐述了城市绿色交通的建设与发展策略,为发展、建设城市绿色交通提供思路。     

Development of a neighborhood commute mode share model using nationally-available data

Transportation - Practitioners often use demand models to predict how neighborhood-level land use, infrastructure, demographic, and other changes may impact transportation systems. Few of the...     

Evaluation of transit proximity effects on residential land prices: an empirical study in Austin,Texas

The Austin MetroRail line in Texas, U.S.A. began operations in 2010 and since then transit-oriented development projects have been fuelled around train stations. Traditional location theory holds that proximity to a transit station should be capitalized into land prices, and numerous empirical studies have demonstrated the effects with mixed results. However, to date no empirical study has investigated this relationship between the newly built rail line and land prices in Austin. This study fills the research gap and suggests a positive effect associated with transit proximity by employing spatial hedonic models. This study also contributes to the existing literature especially in the context of Texas cities where there is a lack of relevant research on transit-capitalization-related topics, and provides insights for decision-makers with different perspectives regarding further rail investment or transportation financing strategies such as value capture programs.     

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.     

Land Transport Policy and Public Transport in Singapore

Singapore has a sophisticated and efficient system of land transport to serve a growing demand for transportation. Constrained by limited space, a comprehensive set of land transport policies has been in place to balance the growth in transport demand and the effectiveness and efficiency of the land transport system. A multi-pronged approach has been used to achieve the objective of a world-class transportation system. These include integration of urban and transport planning, expansion of the road network and improvement of the transport infrastructure, harnessing the latest technology in network and traffic management, managing vehicle ownership and usage, and improvement and regulations of public transport (Ministry of Transport (MOT) (2003) Policy and Regulations, Land Transport, Available: www.mot.gov.sg, Date of Access: 15 September 2003). Singapore was the first country in the world to introduce various new techniques, notably the Area License Scheme (ALS) in 1975 and the Vehicle Quota System (VQS) in 1990. An Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system replaced the ALS in 1998 to take the role of congestion management, the experience of which has also drawn particular attention from many large cities in the world. In 2003, the world’s first and only fully automatic heavy rail Mass Rapid Transit system was opened to the public, marking a new chapter in Singapore’s innovative approach to solving its land transport problem. This paper reviews the land transport policy implemented in Singapore and pays special emphasis to its public transportation systems.     

Incorporating sustainability assessment in transportation planning: an urban transportation vehicle-based approach

Environmental assessments are on the critical path for the development of land, infrastructure and transportation systems. These assessments are based on planning methods which, in turn, are subject to continuous enhancement. The substantial impacts of transportation on environment, society and economy strongly urge the incorporation of sustainability into transportation planning. Two major developments that enhance transportation sustainability are new fuels and vehicle power systems. Traditional planning ignores technology including the large differences among conventional, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and buses. The introduction of alternative fuel vehicles is likely to change the traditional transportation planning process because different characteristics need to be taken into account. In this study a sustainability framework is developed that enables assessment of transportation vehicle characteristics. Identified indicators are grouped in five sustainability dimensions (Environment, Technology, Energy, Economy and Users). Our methodology joins life cycle impacts and a set of quantified indicators to assess the sustainability performance of seven popular light-duty vehicles and two types of transit buses. Bus Rapid Transit receives the highest sustainability index and the pickup truck the lowest. Hybrid electric vehicles are found to have the highest sustainability index among all other passenger vehicles. A sensitivity analysis shows the proposed sustainability dimensions produce robust sustainability assessment for several weighting scenarios. The results are both technology and policy sensitive, thus useful for both short- and long-term planning.