Effect of advanced traveler information systems and road pricing in a network with non-recurrent congestion

The effect of the application of advanced transport information system (ATIS) and road pricing is studied in a transportation system under non-recurrent congestion. A stochastic network deterministic user equilibrium model (SNDUE) with elastic demand is formulated and used to evaluate the welfare and private impacts of different market penetrations of ATIS, together with road pricing for a simple network. Both marginal first-best road pricing and a second-best fixed road pricing are considered. The incentives of private users to use ATIS are analyzed and the characteristics of optimum tolls as a function of ATIS market penetration are shown. We conclude that ATIS is an efficient and necessary tool to reduce the effects of non-recurrent incidents in a transportation network, especially when non-recurrent congestion causes a significant deterioration of operational conditions of the network. If the impact of non-recurrent incidents on free flow costs is small or is reduced only to congestion effects, the use of road pricing would be more efficient. Social benefits obtained when jointly implementing ATIS and road pricing are practically the same whether first-best or second-best road pricing is used. Considering the private costs perceived by the network users, and the benefits experienced by equipped users, the maximum level of market penetration achieved could be limited because private benefits disappear after certain market penetration is obtained.     

Characterizing European high speed train stations using intermodal time and entropy metrics

This paper presents a quantitative method for characterizing high speed train stations in terms of passenger intermodality. The aim of the procedure is two-fold: firstly, the method is to be used as an objective measure for comparing stations in order to detect suboptimal points and improve the performance of stations as nodal points; secondly, the method provides a means to embed intermodality into regional accessibility models, allowing comprehensive modelling at lower scales. The empirical base of the work comprises data from 27 European high speed rail stations, which is deemed an appropriate statistical sample for the whole European rail network. Using the entropy metric, we found that several different patterns emerged: there was a clear hierarchy of stations which was linked to their respective roles within the system, while strong constraints impeded stations from performing optimally as true intermodal nodes.     

Tradeoffs in incremental changes towards pedestrian-friendly environments: Physical activity and pollution exposure

A microsimulation of individuals’ activities is used in the context of a risk analysis framework to assess the impacts of hypothesized changes to the built environment on personal energy expenditure and on inhalation of air pollutants. Uncertainty is assessed using Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analyzes. We find both simulated individuals that augment and others that reduce their energy expenditure and inhalation dose of pollutants, with median increases displaying larger magnitudes than the decreases. Up to 75% of the population has significant increases in energy expenditure and pollutant inhalation. We also find, however, high uncertainty associated with the estimates. Results differ considerably depending on the travel mode choice model used in the simulation.     

PACDIN statement of methods

PAntograph–Catenary Dynamic Interaction (PACDIN) is a code developed by the vehicle technology research centre (CITV) of the Universitat Politècnica de València in collaboration with the railway company Talgo S.L. The model of the catenary is a finite element model using absolute nodal coordinates. It is based on a general formulation that can be applied for analysing a wide range of catenary configurations, including stitch wire, transitions or non-straight path tracks. The formulation is fully non-linear and includes large deformations, dropper slackening and contact interaction. The model is linearised when deformations are small, as in the case of the benchmark dynamic analysis. The results of the PACDIN code show a good agreement with the average results of other benchmark codes.     

On-road emissions from urban buses with SCR + Urea and EGR + DPF systems using diesel and biodiesel

Due to growing concerns about NO_x and particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel engines, stricter regulations are being introduced requiring advanced emission control technology. In response the diesel industry has begun testing various emission control technologies and applying them. To assess vehicle renewal policies of bus companies, two exhaust after-treatment technologies are compared: the combination of a diesel particulate filter and an exhaust gas re-circulation system and the combination of a selective catalytic reduction and urea. On-board emission measurements were conducted under real-world driving conditions on a specific bus route in the city of Madrid.     

Capitalization of BRT network expansions effects into prices of non-expansion areas

A before and after hedonic model is used to determine the property value impacts on properties already served by the transit system caused by extensions to Bogotá’s bus rapid transit system. Asking prices of residential properties belonging to an intervention area (N = 1407 before, 1570 after) or a control area (N = 267 before, 732 after) and offered for sale between 2001 and 2006 are used to determine capitalization of the enhanced regional access provided by the extension. Properties offered during the year the extension was inaugurated and in subsequent years have asking prices that are between 13% and 14% higher than prices for properties in the control area, after adjusting for structural, neighborhood and regional accessibility characteristics of each property. Furthermore, the appreciation is similar for properties within 500 m and properties between 500 m and 1 km of the BRT.     

Optimal design and benefits of a short turning strategy for a bus corridor

We develop a short turning model using demand information from station to station within a single bus line-single period setting, aimed at increasing the service frequency on the more loaded sections to deal with spatial concentration of demand considering both operators’ and users’ costs. We find analytical expressions for optimal values of the design variables, namely frequencies (inside and outside the short cycle), capacity of vehicles and the position of the short turn limit stations. These expressions are used to analyze the influence of different parameters in the final solution. The design variables and the corresponding cost components for operators and users (waiting and in-vehicle times) are compared against an optimized normal operation scheme (single frequency). Applications on actual transit corridors exhibiting different demand profiles are conducted, calculating the optimal values for the design variables and the resulting benefits for each case. Results show the typical demand configurations that are better served using a short turn strategy.     

Designing robust rapid transit networks with alternative routes

The aim of this paper is to propose a model for the design of a robust rapid transit network. In this paper, a network is said to be robust when the effect of disruption on total trip coverage is minimized. The proposed model is constrained by three different kinds of flow conditions. These constraints will yield a network that provides several alternative routes for given origin–destination pairs, therefore increasing robustness. The paper includes computational experiments which show how the introduction of robustness influences network design. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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 <Emphasis Type="Italic">Santiago Panel</Emphasis>: measuring the effects of implementing Transantiago

Although panels offer significant advantages over cross sectional data especially in terms of evaluating the effects of significant policy changes, there are precious few examples of panels built around an important change to an urban transport system. For this reason we took the opportunity of the introduction of Transantiago, a radically new public transport system for Santiago de Chile in February 2007, to form a panel, the first wave of which was taken in December 2006. The final objective was to use this Santiago Panel to estimate mode choice models considering both inertia and policy effects. This document describes both the design and construction of the panel, and presents some results based on an analysis of its four waves; for example, we registered a high percentage of mode change (55.1%) attributable to the introduction of the new system. The panel can claim the highest response rate (or lowest attrition) reported in the literature (95% in the second wave, 92% in the third one, and 85% in the forth one). This hints at the possibility of developing sophisticated models to evaluate the effects of a system shock in the presence of inertia in decision making.