Train design features affecting boarding and alighting of passengers

Accurately predicting train dwell time is critical to running an effective and efficient service. With high‐density passenger services, large numbers of passengers must be able to board and alight the train quickly – and within scheduled dwell times. Using a specially constructed train mock‐up in a pedestrian movement laboratory, the experiments outlined in this paper examine the impact of train carriage design factors such as door width, seat type, platform edge doors and horizontal gap on the time taken by passengers to board and alight. The findings illustrate that the effectiveness of design features depends on whether there are a majority of passengers boarding or alighting. An optimum door width should be between 1.7 and 1.8 m. The use of a central pole and platform edge doors produced no major effects, but a 200 mm horizontal gap could increase the movement of passengers. There is no clear effect of the type of seats and neither the standbacks between 50, 300 and 500 mm. Further research will look for the relationship between the dwell time and the characteristics of passengers such as personal space. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On passenger saturation flow in public transport doors

In previous studies the authors have shown passengers’ boarding and alighting times for the Transantiago system obtained at the Pedestrian Accessibility and Movement Environment Laboratory (PAMELA) of University College London. Following this line of research, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate the existence of pedestrian saturation flows in public transport doors and show some values of this variable under different conditions. The methodology to achieve this aim was real-scale experiments performed in both PAMELA and the Human Dynamics Laboratory at Universidad de los Andes in Santiago de Chile. Different groups of people getting off a mock-up of a public transport vehicle were recorded by means of video cameras. The videos were then visually processed to find values of passenger saturation flow according to door configurations. The variables studied were the vertical gap between the platform and the vehicle chassis and the width of the door. Results indicate that it is possible to define values of passenger saturation flows for different characteristics of public transport doors. These values proved to be statistically sensitive to both the vertical gap and the width of the door. In addition, results indicate that there seems to be both a vertical gap and a door width for which the flow of passenger reaches its optimum rate.     

Impacts of weather on public transport ridership: Results from mining data from different sources

The existing studies concerning the influence of weather on public transport have mainly focused on the impacts of average weather conditions on the aggregate ridership of public transit. Not much research has examined these impacts at disaggregate levels. This study aims to fill this gap by accounting for intra-day variations in weather as well as public transport ridership and investigating the effect of weather on the travel behavior of individual public transit users. We have collected smart card data for public transit and meteorological records from Shenzhen, China for the entire month of September 2014. The data allow us to establish association between the system-wide public transit ridership and weather condition on not only daily, but also hourly basis and for each metro station. In addition, with the detailed trip records of individual card holders, the travel pattern by public transit are constructed for card holders and this pattern is linked to the weather conditions he/she has experienced. Multivariate modeling approach is applied to analyze the influence of weather on public transit ridership and the travel behavior of regular transit users. Results show that some weather elements have more influence than others on public transportation. Metro stations located in urban areas are more vulnerable to outdoor weather in regard to ridership. Regular transit users are found to be rather resilient to changes in weather conditions. Findings contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between everyday weather and public transit travels and also provide valuable information for short-term scheduling in transit management.     

Built environment and mode choice relationship for commute travel in the city of Rajkot,India

Metropolitan areas around the world are looking for sustainable strategies to reduce use of private automobiles, energy consumption and emissions, often achieved by built environment interventions that encourage use of sustainable modes of transport. This study contributes by providing the empirical evidence on the relation between built environment and mode choice in context of Indian city of Rajkot. Using personal interview data and data available from Rajkot Municipal Corporation it is observed that there is a strong tendency among Rajkot residents to preselect their residential location to suit their modal preferences. This is especially true for non-motorized transport users. Among the built environment variables, access to destination and land use related indicators also have significant influence on mode choice. The study Infers that the land use policy should focus on accessibility and mixing of diverse uses, and transport supply will have to be location based to support non-motorized and public transport travel.     

All work and no play? The role of instrumental and affective factors in work and leisure journeys by different travel modes

This paper examines the relative importance that people attach to various instrumental and affective journey attributes when travelling either for work or for a leisure day trip and presents how journeys by various travel modes score on these attributes. Although not a comparative paper, data are presented for two studies which used some identical measurements: one on commuter journeys and one on leisure journeys. The results show that for work journeys, respondents tend to attach more importance to instrumental aspects, and especially to convenience than to affective factors. For leisure journeys, however, respondents appear to attach almost equal importance to instrumental and affective aspects, particularly flexibility, convenience, relaxation, a sense of freedom and ‘no stress’. Each study also examines (i) how regular users’ evaluate their own mode and (ii) how car users perceive the performance of alternative modes compared to their importance ratings. This ‘gap’ analysis reveals on which modes and for which attributes the greatest deficiencies in performance lie. The data for both the work and leisure studies shows that for car users, alternative transport modes are inferior on the salient attributes such as convenience and flexibility even though car users rate modes such as walking and cycling as performing well, if not better, on less important attributes such as the environment, health and even excitement. Nevertheless, for those who cycle and walk regularly, satisfaction with their own travel mode as measured by the gap between importance and performance on salient attributes is better than for those who mostly use the car. Conclusions are made as to how greater attention to affective factors may improve our understanding of mode choice.     

Demi-flexible operating policies to promote the performance of public transit in low-demand areas

The efforts of providing attractive transport service to residents in sparse communities have previously focused on operating flexible transit services. This paper identifies a new category of transit policies, called demi-flexible operating policies, to fill the gap between flexible transit services and conventional fixed-route systems. The passenger cost function is defined as the performance measure of transit systems and the analytic work is performed based on a real-world flag-stop transit service, in which we compare its system performance with another two comparable systems, the fixed-route and flex-route services, at expected and unexpected demand levels in order to be closer to reality. In addition, the dynamic-station policy is introduced to assist the flex-route service to better deal with unexpectedly high demand. Experiments demonstrate the unique advantages of demi-flexible operating policies in providing affordable, efficient, and reliable transport service in low-demand operating environments and this work is helpful to optimize the unifying framework for designing public transit in suburban and rural areas.     

Effect of environmental awareness on electric bicycle users’ mode choices

Travellers’ environmental awareness can affect their mode choices. The primary objective of this study is to identify the effect of electric bicycle (e-bike) users’ environmental awareness on their mode choice when the use of e-bikes is prohibited in urban areas in China. The data were collected via a questionnaire survey administered at ten locations in Nanjing, China. Using mixed multinomial logit (MMNL) models, we examined the relationship between the e-bike users’ mode choice and their environmental awareness, combined with socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and trip attributes. The results show that the level of environmental awareness, gender, age, education, income, the ownership of car and conventional bike, and trip distance affect e-bike users’ choices significantly. Those with a high level of environmental awareness are more likely to choose zero-emission transport modes. A stratified analysis reveals that the effect of environmental awareness is associated with their original transport mode choice prior to their use of the e-bike. With a high level of environmental awareness, original car users tend to opt for moderate- or zero-emission modes; original bus and metro users incline to choose a zero-emission mode or their original mode; and few original cyclists and walkers favour moderate- or high-emission modes. The results of the current study provide transport authorities with insights to establish sustainable urban transportation management policies and strategies to increase the share of zero- and low-emission transport modes.     

Measuring the influence of bus service quality on the perception of users

Encouraging the use of public transport is a key policy goal in many countries. Therefore, public transport should offer the level of quality that accommodates the demands of current users, and importantly, the desires of potential users. This study investigates the influence of the perceived quality of bus service on the perception of both current and potential users. The study draws upon data from 512 questionnaires distributed across Belfast City in the UK. The study utilises a binary logistic regression model to quantify the relationships between the perceived quality of 29 bus indicators (independent) and the perceptions of users towards the overall bus service (dependent). Eleven significant indicators are reported to have significant influence on the perception of users. These indicators are utilised to propose scenarios for optimising the quality of bus service with the perceptions of current and potential users.     

Urban spatial location advantage: The dual of the transportation problem and its implications for land-use and transport planning

Numerous recent studies have investigated the relationship between the location of jobs and housing in urban areas and how this relates to urban commuting patterns. Few have utilised the dual of the transportation problem of linear programming (TPLP) to provide insights into these relationships Accordingly, this analysis utilises the TPLP to determine dual variable values (shadow prices) for a study area in Dublin, Ireland. The approach determines the pattern of relative location advantage for the peak and off-peak travel periods and for public and private transport for 1991 and 2001. The results are set against the expected results for hypothetical urban structures. The results show that the pattern of relative location advantage has altered sharply over the study period for off-peak trip-making but has remained more or less the same for trip-making in the peak period. For the off-peak period, the pattern of relative location advantage has shifted from the central area to the periphery specifically for private transport trips; for public transport, the pattern has remained focused on the city centre. This indicates that private transport users can react more quickly to changes in the distribution of land-use activities than their public transport counterparts due to the relatively fixed nature of the latter mode. This implies that the public transport network needs to be reorganized to better reflect the revised pattern of trip-making specifically for the off-peak period. The results demonstrate the value of using the approach for providing information about the spatial organisation of land uses within cities and where future development may be targeted.     

The effects of activity-travel context and individual attitudes on car-sharing decisions under travel time uncertainty: A hybrid choice modeling approach

People’s daily decision to use car-sharing rather than other transport modes for conducting a specific activity has been investigated recently in assessing the market potential of car-sharing systems. Most studies have estimated transport mode choice models with an extended choice set using attributes such as average travel time and costs. However, car-sharing systems have some distinctive features: users have to reserve a car in advance and pay time-based costs for using the car. Therefore, the effects of activity-travel context and travel time uncertainty require further consideration in models that predict car-sharing demand. Moreover, the relationships between individual latent attitudes and the intention to use car-sharing have not yet been investigated in much detail. In contributing to the research on car-sharing, the present study is designed to examine the effects of activity-travel context and individual latent attitudes on short-term car-sharing decisions under travel time uncertainty. The effects of all these factors were simultaneously estimated using a hybrid choice modeling framework. The data used in this study was collected in the Netherlands, 2015 using a stated choice experiment. Hypothetical choice situations were designed to collect respondents’ intention to use a shared-car for their travel to work. A total of 791 respondents completed the experiment. The estimation results suggest that time constraints, lack of spontaneity and a larger variation in travel times have significant negative effects on people’s intention to use a shared-car. Furthermore, this intention is significantly associated with latent attitudes about pro-environmental preferences, the symbolic value of cars, and privacy-seeking.     

Time-dependent area-based pricing for multimodal systems with heterogeneous users in an agent-based environment

In this paper, we investigate an area-based pricing scheme for congested multimodal urban networks with the consideration of user heterogeneity. We propose a time-dependent pricing scheme where the tolls are iteratively adjusted through a Proportional–Integral type feedback controller, based on the level of vehicular traffic congestion and traveler’s behavioral adaptation to the cost of pricing. The level of congestion is described at the network level by a Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram, which has been recently applied to develop network-level traffic management strategies. Within this dynamic congestion pricing scheme, we differentiate two groups of users with respect to their value-of-time (which related to income levels). We then integrate incentives, such as improving public transport services or return part of the toll to some users, to motivate mode shift and increase the efficiency of pricing and to attain equitable savings for all users. A case study of a medium size network is carried out using an agent-based simulator. The developed pricing scheme demonstrates high efficiency in congestion reduction. Comparing to pricing schemes that utilize similar control mechanisms in literature which do not treat the adaptivity of users, the proposed pricing scheme shows higher flexibility in toll adjustment and a smooth behavioral stabilization in long-term operation. Significant differences in behavioral responses are found between the two user groups, highlighting the importance of equity treatment in the design of congestion pricing schemes. By integrating incentive programs for public transport using the collected toll revenue, more efficient pricing strategies can be developed where savings in travel time outweigh the cost of pricing, achieving substantial welfare gain.     

Transportation network improvement and tolling strategies: The issue of intergeneration equity

Existing transportation network design studies focus on optimizing the network for a certain future time but without explicitly defining the time dimension within the formulation. This study extends the consideration by formulating the time-dependent network design problem. With this extension, one can plan for the optimal infrastructure improvement timetable, the associated financial arrangement, and tolling scheme over the planning horizon. In addition, this extension enables the pursuit of important considerations that are otherwise difficult, if at all possible, with the traditional timeless approach. Through the time-dependent framework, this study examines the issue of intergeneration equity according to the user and social perspectives. Basically, should the present generation build the full-blown network, or should users at the time pay for future incremental upgrades? Using a gap function to measure the degree of intergeneration equity achieved, this study illustrates that there are tradeoffs between societal and individual perspectives. Nevertheless, this study suggests ways whereby the planner can trade the level of equity to be attained with the overall network performance. In this way, some gradual measures can be introduced to the network design to compromise between these two perspectives.     

Does transport help people to gain employment? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the empirical evidence

ABSTRACT

The role of transport in providing access to employment has received considerable attention. Since transport policies may be motivated by assumed effects on employment probability outcomes, it is important to establish the nature of the relationship between transport and employment outcomes. While the majority of the empirical evidence suggests a positive association, it is not conclusive or consistent and often shows mixed results. To address this confusion, our study has systematically reviewed this evidence base and synthesised it through meta-analysis. We first identified 93 studies that quantitatively assessed the impact of transport on employment outcomes. By systematically merging the empirical evidence, this study establishes a positive association between transport and employment outcomes, with varying effects for four identified categories of transport measures (or combinations thereof): car ownership, public transport access, commute times, and job accessibility levels. This positive association persists in studies that control for endogeneity between transport and employment, but a larger evidence base is needed to establish a more robust relationship, in particular for cities and smaller (rural) areas outside the US-context and with regard to public transport. We then selected 20 methodologically comparable studies for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Our meta-regression models clearly demonstrate that car ownership significantly increases individual employment probabilities, in particular among welfare recipients. Young drivers benefit from access to household cars when these are not in use by their parents, and they are more sensitive to the time and cost implications of longer commutes. While our systematic review suggests that better access to public transport and higher levels of job accessibility increases employment probabilities, meta-regression analysis requires more consistent transport measures. The findings in this study are important for policymakers in that they imply that job seekers may benefit from public policies targeted at improving their access to public transport, in particular for people without access to cars and in areas with fewer job opportunities.     

A comparison of users’ characteristics between station-based bikesharing system and free-floating bikesharing system: case study in Hangzhou,China

The paper takes station-based bikesharing system (SBS) with docks and dockless free-floating bikesharing system (FBS) as two targets to dig out the relationship between users and use frequency of the services for each scheme, and how the relationship varies from scheme to scheme. To achieve this, studies are carried out focusing on three questions: “who are using these two bicycle services?”; “what are the factors influencing the use frequency of both bicycle systems?”; and “which specific level of the factors influencing the use frequency of both bicycle schemes?” To collect data from users, a survey was designed containing questions for user attributes and service experience and conducted jointly on-line and on-site at four locations with mixed land use in Hangzhou, China. Analysis results show that SBS and FBS have similar user structure but different factors influence use frequency. Based on analysis results, from the user perspective, SBS’s strength is to have good quality with low cost while FBS is more flexible and free to use. Finally, recommendations for SBS are to involve more technology to expand its range to aided bikes for senior citizens and open the access for a mobile renting system, whereas for FBS, it is critical to get government cooperation and for operators to add parking area restrictions into the cellphone application, and create an on-line platform where users can find all the free-floating bike information.

     

Using AHP to measure the perception gap between current and potential users of bus services

Abstract

This study develops a multicriteria evaluation of user perception towards bus transit services and measures the gap in the perceptions held by current and potential users. A review of the transport quality literature indicates that both preference and satisfaction measures have been implemented to provide a comprehensive perception-based evaluation of bus quality. Although attempts have been made to evaluate user perception through a separate analysis of each (preference and/or satisfaction), the application of multicriteria quality measures are limited. A multicriteria quality measure not only offers more than just information on the daily experience of users but also knowledge of the internal process of quality evaluation (drivers/barriers). The multicriteria measure utilises the data of 512 questionnaires, whereby user perceptions were expressed through judgments of importance and satisfaction based on a set of 29 quality indicators classified into six attributes. Firstly, the study develops analytical hierarchy process (AHP) models to measure user preference. Secondly, a weighted perception index (WPI) of both preference and satisfaction is developed through a multicriteria model. Finally, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is conducted to identify the level of variation in the perception of both current and potential users towards bus service quality. The results show that although both current and potential users place a higher importance towards the same indicators, they do not share the same pattern of preferences (values and/or order). In addition, the study found that the interaction between preferences and satisfaction generated new patterns of subjective evaluation, and that these patterns vary significantly by user category.     

The role of paratransit: some reflections based on the experience of residents’ coach services in Hong Kong

Paratransit refers to urban transport services “somewhere between private passenger transport and conventional public transport in terms of cost and quality of service” [Rimmer (1980), Paratransit: A commentary. Environ. Plan. A 12, 937–944]. Since the 1980s, a new form of paratransit—residents’ coach, which provides exclusive transport services to residents living in private housing estates—has emerged in Hong Kong. What was the background underlying the emergence and subsequent growth of residents’ coach services? Also, what was the role of residents’ coach in the public transport system of Hong Kong? With the completion of more railway extensions, should residents’ coach services be replaced? If so, what are the potential impacts on people’s life? This paper addresses the above research questions through a large-scale questionnaire survey that examined not only people’s modal choice but also their residential choice, socio-economic background and attitudes. The findings suggest that transport policy makers should pay more attention to examine new forms of paratransit and the ways of integrating them into the overall public transport system, both spatially and temporally. It is only through the development of an efficient and multi-modal transport system can the maximum potential of paratransit in filling the transport gap between conventional mass transit and private cars be realized.     

Index numbers for monitoring transit service quality

The measurement of transit service quality is very important for guaranteeing a transport supply characterized by satisfactory service levels for the passengers. Even more important is the monitoring of the levels of service quality over time, which can be very useful to determine if the goals established by the transport planners are being met or exceeded. The status and evolution of transit service quality can be monitored through periodic and regular updating of the opinions expressed by the passengers about the service during the well-known Customer Satisfaction Surveys, allowing the effect of policies to be evaluated and specific interventions to be introduced. In this work, just the issue of monitoring service quality based on users’ opinions is approached, and the index numbers usually applied in the economic and industrial field are proposed for this purpose. Index numbers permit to study the fluctuations or variations of a variable or more variables over time, providing a powerful measurement for making comparisons and predictions of the analyzed concept. The index numbers were calculated on the basis of data collected from Customer Satisfaction Surveys addressed to the passengers of the metropolitan public service of Granada (Spain). The analyzed time period has been established from 2007 to 2013. Interesting results derive from the calculation of the index numbers. Since both perceptions and importance rates are considered in this methodology, the results can inform, not only on the satisfaction tendencies but also on the trend on customers’ priorities, which is actually the expected quality. Therefore, policies could more efficiently be designed to adjust the service to the users’ real needs.     

Development and Deployment of Public Transport Policy and Planning in Taiwan

Over the past decade, the escalating roadway congestion and environmental deterioration due to heavy use of private vehicles have provoked the Taiwan government to realize the importance of public transport systems. Under the “carrot-and-stick” rationales, the government has formulated public transport policies and exercised a series of related initiatives by providing sufficient and higher quality of public transport services so as to attract more private vehicle users. In this paper, the planning philosophy and policy formulation of Taiwan’s public transport development are highlighted. The most important initiatives, including the Five-year Enhancement of Mass Transportation Program and the upgrading public transport schemes in the National Development Plan are examined. Based on previous experience and lessons, we point out the most challenging issues that the government will encounter. Suggestions for the future of public transport planning are also addressed.     

Inferring patterns in the multi-week activity sequences of public transport users

The public transport networks of dense cities such as London serve passengers with widely different travel patterns. In line with the diverse lives of urban dwellers, activities and journeys are combined within days and across days in diverse sequences. From personalized customer information, to improved travel demand models, understanding this type of heterogeneity among transit users is relevant to a number of applications core to public transport agencies’ function. In this study, passenger heterogeneity is investigated based on a longitudinal representation of each user’s multi-week activity sequence derived from smart card data. We propose a methodology leveraging this representation to identify clusters of users with similar activity sequence structure. The methodology is applied to a large sample (n = 33,026) from London’s public transport network, in which each passenger is represented by a continuous 4-week activity sequence. The application reveals 11 clusters, each characterized by a distinct sequence structure. Socio-demographic information available for a small sample of users (n = 1973) is combined to smart card transactions to analyze associations between the identified patterns and demographic attributes including passenger age, occupation, household composition and income, and vehicle ownership. The analysis reveals that significant connections exist between the demographic attributes of users and activity patterns identified exclusively from fare transactions.     

Rescuing the captive [mode] user: an alternative approach to transport market segmentation

The prevailing approach to transport market segmentation which identifies two distinct groups, “captive” and “choice” users, has widely been used by professionals and scholars despite the ambiguity associated with these terms. Furthermore, conflicting interpretations from the point of view of decision makers and individuals may result in negative policy implications where the needs of captive users are neglected in favour of attracting new users. This study attempts to address these concerns by proposing an alternative segmentation framework that could be applied to any mode of transport, in any regional context, by users and decision makers alike to better guide the development of transport policies. Using the results of a large-scale transportation survey, a series of clustering techniques are employed to derive this alternative approach for segmenting walkers, cyclists, transit and automobile users. The main factors considered in the final clustering analysis are the level of trip satisfaction and practicality. The analysis yielded four market segments: captivity, utilitarianism, dedication and convenience. Using this theoretical framework to understand the distribution of travellers among market segments is essential in identifying distinct and appropriate policy interventions to improve trip conditions. It is hoped that the segmentation approach and policy framework proposed here will encourage a better balance between pragmatic and idealistic goals in transportation policy.