A computerized household activity scheduling survey

Household activity scheduling is widely regarded as the underlying mechanism through which people respond to emerging travel demand management policies. Despite this, very little fundamental research has been conducted into the underlying scheduling process to improve our understanding and ability forecast travel. The experimental survey approach presented in this paper attempts to fill this gap. At the core of the survey is a Computerized Household Activity Scheduling (CHASE) software program. The program is unique in that it runs for a week long period during which time all adult household members login daily to record their scheduling decisions as they occur over time. An up-front interview is used to define a household's activity agenda and mode availability. A sample of 41 households (66 adults and 14 children) was used to assess the performance of the survey. Analysis focuses on times to completion, daily scheduling steps, activity-travel patterns, and scheduling time horizons. Overall, the results show that the computer-based survey design was successful in gathering an array of information on the underlying process, while minimizing the burden on respondents. The survey was also capable of tracing traditionally observed activity-travel outcomes over a multi-day period with minimal fatigue effects. The paper concludes with a detailed discussion on future survey design, including issues of instrument bias, use of the Internet, and improved tracing of spatial behaviour. Future use of the survey methodology to enhance activity-travel diary surveys and stated responses experiments is also discussed. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Exploring traffic flow databases using space-time plots and data cubes

Local departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations have been collecting traffic data for many decades. However, these data are rarely exploited to their full potential. In this paper, we describe an exploratory visualization toolkit for large traffic flow databases. The visualization toolkit is based on the concept of the traffic cube: an extension of the data cube in data mining. The traffic cube organizes traffic flow data across different spatial and temporal dimensions and with respect to user-specified aggregation levels. The toolkit allows the user to perform data cube operations to select, summarize and cross-tabulate the traffic data prior to visualization as two-dimensional space-time plots. We demonstrate a prototype system using MATLAB, ArcGIS and MS Access database software. Example visualizations of a large database of hourly traffic flows along major highways in the state of Utah (USA) over a 10-year period illustrate the potential for the toolkit to reveal patterns about traffic flows and trends hidden in the database.     

Nature of influence of out‐of‐vehicle time‐related attributes on transit attractiveness: a random parameters logit model analysis

This paper describes the nature of the impacts of walking distances and waiting time on transit use. The relative trade‐offs of walking and transfer components with other transit service attributes are also discussed. A total of 449 completed stated‐preference interviews were collected; with six observations from each respondent, the total number of observations was 2694. This data set was used to estimate the coefficients in different utility functions using a random parameters logit model. The results demonstrated that walking distances to and from transit stops have important and significant nonlinear negative influences on the attractiveness of transit. Transfer waiting time was also shown to have a significant nonlinear negative impact on transit attractiveness. The random parameters logit model had a better model fit than the standard logit model. Some of the findings obtained here are novel, while others are consistent with previous works. These findings have implications for both theory and practice. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An investigation of commuting trip timing and mode choice in the Greater Toronto Area: Application of a joint discrete-continuous model

The trip timing and mode choice are two critical decisions of individual commuters mostly define peak period traffic congestion in urban areas. Due to the increasing evidence in many North American cities that the duration of the congested peak travelling periods is expanding (peak spreading), it becomes necessary and natural to investigate these two commuting decisions jointly. In addition to being considered jointly with mode choice decisions, trip timing must also be modelled as a continuous variable in order to precisely capture peak spreading trends in a policy sensitive transportation demand model. However, in the literature to date, these two fundamental decisions have largely been treated separately or in some cases as integrated discrete decisions for joint investigation. In this paper, a discrete-continuous econometric model is used to investigate the joint decisions of trip timing and mode choice for commuting trips in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The joint model, with a multinomial logit model for mode choice and a continuous time hazard model for trip timing, allows for unrestricted correlation between the unobserved factors influencing these two decisions. Models are estimated by occupation groups using 2001 travel survey data for the GTA. Across all occupation groups, strong correlations between unobserved factors influencing mode choice and trip timing are found. Furthermore, the estimated model proves that it sufficiently captures the peak spreading phenomenon and is capable of being applied within the activity-based travel demand model framework.     

Using Incentives to Reduce Bycatch and Discarding: Results Under the West Coast Catch Share Program

Abstract

Catch share management was implemented in the bottom trawl sector of the West Coast Groundfish fishery in 2011 to address a range of issues including high bycatch and discard rates. The catch share program was designed to remove the incentives to discard through full catch accounting, tradeable quotas, increased flexibility in fishing, and penalties for catch overages. We assess the effectiveness of the program in meeting its environmental objectives by comparing discard weights, proportions, and variability from 2004–2010 with 2011–2016. We analyzed these metrics for species managed using quota, including historically overfished stocks, as well as for non-quota species caught in the fishery. Discard amounts decreased over time for all species and declined to historic lows after the implementation of the program, remaining low through 2016 with much less inter-annual variability. Mean annual discards of two highly-targeted quota species, sablefish and Dover sole, showed the greatest decreases, falling by 97 and 86%, respectively. The discard proportion of overfished quota species fell by 50% on average. The unanticipated decline in discards of non-quota species as well as the decreased variability in discard amounts for all species indicate that the incentives produced by catch share management provided additional ecosystem benefits.     

Longitudinal analysis of activity generation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

Transportation - This paper presents a longitudinal analysis of activity generation behaviour in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) between 1996 and 2016 for various activity types: work,...     

Factors that affect the ability of people with disabilities to walk or wheel to destinations in their community: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

It is essential that the pedestrian environment accommodates all users so they can participate in everything the community has to offer. However, people with disabilities (PWDs) often find it difficult to navigate this environment because of physical and social accessibility factors. While we know a great deal about which factors act as barriers and facilitators to mobility, we do not know enough about how they influence navigation (i.e. planning a route, en route decisions, and route learning) or how they can be improved. A scoping review was conducted to identify these factors, assess their implications, and suggest future directions. In total, 3394 studies were found and screened, 163 full-text articles were reviewed, and 37 articles met the inclusion criteria for the final review. These studies focused on those with visual impairments, navigating crosswalks, and the cognitive elements of navigation. Future research is needed that includes more types of disabilities, considers the navigational process from planning to arrival, and evaluates interventions.     

城市环境中共享（街道）空间概念演变综述

通过综述城市设计与交通工程学科文献,从新西兰视角明确共享空间概念的起源和演变。综述过程包括研究公众期望变化背景下的公共道路空间的功能与使用以及如何与一些相互关联的街道设计方法(如交通稳静化和自适应道路)联系起来。这些方法从机动车时代初期就被用于最小化机动车影响。应用于城市活动中心的公共道路环境中的共享空间概念,正逐渐被城市规划师、交通工程师和管理部门所接受。共享空间不同于传统道路,它鼓励通过少量物理隔离使全体道路使用者合理地使用同一道路空间。为了以安全有效的方式实现共享空间,在设计上需要通过促进步行与骑行活动来降低机动车主导性,同时应将道路空间作为场所来利用而非仅仅出于其机动性与可达性目的。基于交通稳静化街道与共享空间在基础概念上的差异,认为共享空间由一些设计要素组成,若缺少这些要素,公共街道将难以对全体道路使用者发挥其真正的共享空间功能。     

Calibration of large-scale transport planning models: a structured approach

Transportation - Traditionally, transport planning model systems are estimated and calibrated in an unstructured way, which does not allow for interactions among included parameters to be...