An Evaluation of the Accessibility Benefits of Commuter Rail in Eastern Massachusetts using Spatial Hedonic Price Functions

We estimate spatial hedonic price functions to examine local and regional accessibility benefits of commuter rail service in Eastern Massachusetts, while controlling for proximity-related negative externalities and other confounding influences. The data include 1,860 single-family residential properties from four municipalities with commuter rail service, and three municipalities without commuter rail service. We find some evidence of the capitalization of accessibility to commuter rail stations. Two model specifications suggest that properties located in municipalities with commuter rail stations exhibit values that are between 9.6% and 10.1% higher than properties in municipalities without a commuter rail station. With a third model we detect weak evidence of the capitalization of auto access time or walking time to the stations, suggesting that properties located within a one-half mile buffer of a station have values that are 10.1% higher than properties located outside of this buffer area and that an additional minute of drive time from the station is related to a decrease of 1.6% in property values. Our results also indicate that proximity to commuter rail right-of-way has a significant negative effect on property values, which suggests that for every 1,000 ft. in distance from the commuter rail right-of-way, property values are between $732 and $2,897 higher, all else held equal. At the mean sample values, this result translates into an elasticity of between 0.03 and 0.13, depending on the functional form of the hedonic price equation.     

The effects of an acceleration advisory tool in vehicles for reduced fuel consumption and emissions

This study evaluates whether the use of an acceleration advisor leads to fuel savings, to determine the change in traffic-related emissions and to analyse changes in driving patterns on various routes. The acceleration advisor provides advice to drivers through resistance in the accelerator pedal when they try to accelerate rapidly. In a test carried out in Southern Sweden, the acceleration advisor was installed in four postal delivery vehicles. The driving pattern parameters show that strong acceleration was significantly reduced, which indicated that the drivers had complied with the advisor. On two of the three routes, the acceleration advisor had a positive effect on emissions. In general, no significant reduction in fuel consumption was observed when driving with the acceleration advisor activated.     

Benzene concentrations on board chemical tankers

Maritime transport of benzene is regulated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Two important guidelines for a ship’s crew in this matter are IMO circulars 1095 and 1220. The first one describes the minimum safety standards for ships carrying liquids in bulk containing benzene while circular 1220 deals with structural guidelines for new ships carrying liquids in bulk containing benzene, but also technical developments could help in improving safety and health protection on board chemical tankers carrying benzene in bulk. The aim of the present paper is to determine the benzene concentration in the working and living environment on board a modern chemical tanker carrying benzene in bulk, where all safety, technical and operational procedures described by IMO in the above-mentioned circulars are followed. During specific cargo operations, we measured the benzene concentrations on different locations on board by means of Radiello® passive diffusive samplers. Despite all measures taken, we found an important difference in benzene concentration between operations with a benzene cargo compared to operations without benzene on board, as well as inside and outside the accommodation. Moreover, even during discharge operations, where the emission is theoretically zero, we found an important increase in the benzene concentration. In addition, we found less favourable results for the engine room.     

Lightweight Occupancy Estimation on Freeways Using Extended Floating Car Data

Advanced traffic management systems rely heavily on technology to perform accurate estimations of the current state of the traffic as well as its short-term evolution. The objectives are improving traffic flow and enhancing road safety. Their success is based on accurate monitoring of two key variables, specifically speed and occupancy. The latter of the two has, to date, received significantly less attention from the scientific community. In this work we present a lightweight method to perform “on-line” occupancy estimation. We first propose three occupancy measurements calculated from data collected by a floating car: vehicle count, percentage of stop time, and headway. We then extend these discrete values to a continuous estimation of occupancy in space and time. The proposed estimators are based on a pairwise linear regression of each of the previously calculated measurements over certain references obtained from other floating cars or magnetic loop detectors. The method has been calibrated and validated under real traffic conditions and data. Despite the ease of implementation, the method is able to reproduce the occupancy values generated by the actual loop detectors, achieving promising results, with estimation errors down to 6.52%, even before multivehicle systems are considered.     

Does a high level of multimodality mean less car use? An exploration of multimodality trends in England

Some existing studies have suggested that a higher level of multimodality—the use of more than one transport mode within a given period of time—may be desirable to achieve societies less dependent on cars. The aim of this study was to investigate the trends in individual multimodality in England. In addition, we explored whether these trends were homogenous, i.e. similar between socio-economic characteristics, and whether changes in multimodality corresponded with changes in car use and the use of other transport modes. Our analyses showed that in contrast to reported trends in existing research, the level of multimodality in England decreased between 1995 and 2015. These trends stratified by income were diverging, which may imply that inequality in transport opportunities may be increasing. In contrast, the trends for age and gender were converging. In addition, we found that the car mode share remained fairly stable and absolute car use decreased since 2004, whilst multimodality decreased. This suggests that there is no necessary relationship between aggregate levels of car use and the average individual level of multimodality. Moreover, our analyses showed that these trends were very similarly independent of which indicator was applied. This indicates that for analysing trends in multimodality, the choice of indicator may not be that important, and indicators that are elementary to calculate and easy to interpret, e.g. number of modes used, highlight trends that are highly consistent with more sophisticated metrics. This paper finishes with a discussion of the implications of these findings.

     

The interurban DRAG-Spain model: The main factors of influence on road accidents in Spain

This paper presents the results of applying DRAG methodology to the identification of the main factors of influence on the number of injury and fatal accidents occurring on Spain’s interurban network. Nineteen independent variables have been included in the model grouped together under ten categories: exposure, infrastructure, weather, drivers, economic variables, vehicle stock, surveillance, speed and legislative measures. Highly interesting conclusions can be reached from the results on the basis of the different effects of a single variable on each of the accident types according to severity. The greatest influence revealed by the results is exposure, which together with inexperienced drivers, speed and an ageing vehicle stock, have a negative effect, while the increased surveillance on roads, the improvement in the technological features of vehicles and the proportion of high capacity networks have a positive effect, since the results obtained show a significant drop in accidents.     

Passengers’ activities during short trips on the London Underground

The present study considers underground passengers and investigates the ways in which they spend their time during a trip of average length or shorter. Using a structured procedure that had been refined after a preliminary study, more than 1,700 passengers were observed in London. The results showed that even when the length of travel is very short (2–6 stops), underground passengers engage in several occupations, especially those involving the use of mobile Information and Communication Technologies. These occupations depend on the specific spatial and temporal conditions of the travel, as well as on gender and age. These results should be useful in designing travel services that enhance passengers’ experiences; they also suggest a criterion for comparing trips using different transportation modes (i.e., looking at the time point during the trip at which the ratio of active versus passive occupations changes).     

Coastal Crisis: The Failure of Coastal Management in the Spanish Mediterranean Region

It is a fact that coastal zones in the Mediterranean are becoming progressively more seriously degraded. Instrumental to the phenomenon in Spain is the evident failure of the coastal management that the institutions have pursued for over three decades, both under the old, state-centralized model, and the new organizational model with the political division of land into autonomous regions. This failure can in part be explained not only by the inadequate tools the administration possesses to address the dynamism and complexity of the new economic activities that have sprung up along the coast, but also by incoherent sectoral policies. Finally, there has been no all-encompassing political strategy capable of dealing with coastal communities' demands for development and the need for the protection of ecosystems and their natural resources. All this has resulted not only in a deterioration of the area, but also in the discrediting of actions implemented by the institutions, and their plans and programs being perceived as an obstacle to economic development.     

Energy use in personal rapid transit building and running personal rapid transit in Sweden

Travel by a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system may be much more energy efficient than travel by conventional road transport. The difference could be so large that the energy invested in the PRT infrastructure may be equivalent to the fuel that is saved by previous car and bus riders in less than five years. We analyzed the propulsion energy requirements of a PRT system and made a first-order calculation of the energy cost of the infrastructure and maintenance. Operation of the PRT requires only half the energy required by buses and a quarter of the energy used by passenger cars per passenger kilometer. The energy used to build the PRT infrastructure in a city may be recovered in five years if 10% of the car drivers switch to the PRT.