Flexible transport services: A new market opportunity for public transport

The term Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) has been increasingly applied in the last 10 years to a niche market that replaces or feeds (usually via small low floor buses or taxis) conventional transport where demand is low and often spread over a large area. More recently, the concept of DRT as a niche market has been broadened to include a wider range of flexible, demand-responsive transport services and is increasingly referred to as Flexible Transport Services (FTSs). The contention of this paper is that well-implemented FTS has the potential to revitalise bus-based public transport services which are traditionally based on fixed networks with variable geographical coverage and levels of service.     

A GIS‐based traffic analysis zone design: implementation and evaluation

The purpose of this paper is to implement an efficient method for GIS‐based traffic analysis zone (TAZ) design in order to evaluate and validate such a method. The method was developed by the authors.

Moran's I spatial autocorrelation coefficient and sample variance are used for evaluating the generated TAZs using the Champaign‐Urbana, IL region as a case study. Sensitivity analysis is also conducted to explore the fluctuations in TAZ generation outcomes. The evaluation, the validation as well as the TAZ design have been implemented with ARC/INFO GIS software on a UNIX workstation platform.     

Wetlands protection: The regulatory role of the U.S. army corps of engineers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers administers the only nationwide regulatory program that controls development activities in U.S. waters and wetlands. This article examines the statutory authorities, jurisdictional limitations, and evolution of the current Corps regulations, which express a strong policy to protect wetlands, estuaries, and tidal waters from unnecessary dredging, filling, or other alteration. The article explains the organization and procedures of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and examines in detail several precedential permit cases which have developed and implemented the Corps “wetlands policy.”; The article also evaluates current and potential policies underlying the regulatory efforts of the Corps of Engineers.     

Geographic information system design for network equilibrium-based travel demand models

Travel demand analyses are useful for transportation planning and policy development in a study area. However, travel demand modeling faces two obstacles. First, standard practice solves the four travel components (trip generation, trip distribution, modal split and network assignment) in a sequential manner. This can result in inconsistencies and non-convergence. Second, the data required are often complex and difficult to manage. Recent advances in formal methods for network equilibrium-based travel demand modeling and computational platforms for spatial data handling can overcome these obstacles. In this paper we report on the development of a prototype geographic information system (GIS) design to support network equilibrium-based travel demand models. The GIS design has several key features, including: (i) realistic representation of the multimodal transportation network, (ii) increased likelihood of database integrity after updates, (iii) effective user interfaces, and (iv) efficient implementation of network equilibrium solution algorithms.     

Reducing car dependence in the heart of Europe: lessons from Germany,Austria, and Switzerland

Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, and Zurich – the largest cities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland – have significantly reduced the car share of trips over the past 25 years in spite of high motorisation rates. The key to their success has been a coordinated package of mutually reinforcing transport and land-use policies that have made car use slower, less convenient, and more costly, while increasing the safety, convenience, and feasibility of walking, cycling, and public transport. The mix of policies implemented in each city has been somewhat different. The German cities have done far more to promote cycling, while Zurich and Vienna offer more public transport service per capita at lower fares. All five of the cities have implemented roughly the same policies to promote walking, foster compact mixed-use development, and discourage car use. Of the car-restrictive policies, parking management has been by far the most important. The five case study cities demonstrate that it is possible to reduce car dependence even in affluent societies with high levels of car ownership and high expectations for quality of travel.     

ITS Solutions and Accident Risks: Prospective and Limitations

Abstract

This article investigates the prospective and limitations in the application of potential intelligent transport system (ITS) functions to reduce accident risks, using a cause‐treatment relationship. The main causes of road accidents are described and appropriate ITS solutions (including advanced driver assistance systems and advanced traveller information systems) are presented as countermeasures. Anticipated impacts are discussed and indicate that several ITS have the potential of improving road safety and addressing specific accident causes. However, attention is required on particular aspects of their implementation as they may trigger adverse effects by imposing behavioural adaptation risks, and overestimation and over‐reliance on system capabilities. Further, user acceptability and strategic implementation issues are paramount to the successful introduction of these systems.     

Visibility mapping in New York's coastal zone: A case study of alternative methods

Abstract

Most scenery evaluation methodologies incorporate visibility extent. In New York's coastal zone, visibility mapping for planning and project studies is complicated by low topographic relief, and diverse configurations of water edge and upland surface character. A generalized visibility model has been developed, including macrolandscape, observer, and sight‐line recording. Based on a prior shorescape study of New York's coast, the Lake Ontario Port Bay site was selected to test alternative visibility methods. Within the study site, four “landscape control points”; were chosen which provided extensive views of representative land and water forms, and surface types. For each control point, four families of visibility mapping approaches were applied: primary (field observation); secondary (topographic maps and vertical air photo analysis); tertiary (physical topographic model); and quaternary (digital terrain computer model). Major study conclusions are: the methods require different resources; all methods readily produced visibility maps; all methods, except secondary, could be used to produce perspective scenes for subsequent content evaluation; all methods except primary omitted one or more elements of the general visibility model; all methods should incorporate field work due to critical viewer environment conditions; sensitivity analysis in each method produced ambiguous zones; each view map was different, particularly in the background. An integrated, multi‐approach strategy would appear desirable for most planning and project applications.     

Aquaculture Parks in the Coastal Zone: A Review of Legal and Policy Issues in the Gulf of Mexico State Waters

The goal of this study is to apply industrial park concepts to the development of aquaculture parks in public waters. The objectives are to identify the permitting process, relevant agencies, and legislation needed to facilitate development. Gulf of Mexico states are surveyed: private parks exist in Florida, but no public parks have developed yet; plans for parks exist in Mississippi, but lack of funding prevents development; no regulations prohibit parks in Alabama, although none currently exist; Texas regulations hinder development of parks; and an experimental park has been proposed in Louisiana, but regulatory gaps have delayed permit issuance.     

Performance evaluation of the inside intersection median-turn lane markings on the mobility and safety performance of signalized intersections in the Philippines and Japan

Signalized intersections are one of the key elements that play a vital role at road networks. The efficiency and safety levels of intersections can affect the operational performance of the whole system. In general, turning traffic, especially median-turning, has always been considered as the most problematic movement in the operation of intersections. This becomes more critical with high turning demand where exclusive turning lanes (single or double) can be assigned to provide larger capacities for these movements and to reduce conflicts with through traffic. However, improper treatment of median-turn lanes could create cross-maneuvering behavior which may limit the expected increase in capacity and create safety issues. Median-turning lane markings are commonly provided at intersections in Japan to guide drivers while turning which is expected to reduce the conflicts among turning traffic. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, exclusive median-turn lanes are installed at intersections without proper treatment which may contribute to the low mobility and safety levels. Therefore, this study evaluated the impact of inside intersection lane markings on the operation of median-turn lanes in terms of mobility and safety. The vehicle maneuver, speed and interactions between the turning traffic were utilized as essential components for the assessment. The empirical analysis shows that conflicting trajectories were present on double turn lanes without median-turn lane markings in the Philippines, which resulted to serious conflicts among the turning vehicles and negatively influenced the turning speed and saturation flow rate of the turn lanes. On the other hand, the turn lane markings in Japan, provided a positive impact to mobility and safety of the turning lanes. Moreover, it was also found that the geometric characteristics and traffic signal phasing scheme highly affects the capacity and safety condition of signalized intersections.     

差异中的同一:中美文化价值观比较——基于一项对美国民众的大型国际调研

个人主义与集体主义是描述中关文化价值观差异的一对核心概念.通过运用8个涉及中国传统文化价值观的问题测量,发现多数美国民众把国家、家庭、父母放在优先于个人的位置,同时他们对以“集体主义”为核心的中国传统文化价值观给予了较高认同.由此证明个人主义并不是衡量和描述美国人文化价值观的唯一指针,而在国家公共外交中,如何抓住中美两国文化的“相似性”,“求同存异”是新时期中国国家形象国际传播的有效之路.