Exploring temporal fluctuations of daily cycling demand on Dutch cycle paths: the influence of weather on cycling

In the pursuit of sustainable mobility policy makers are giving more attention to cycling. The potential of cycling is shown in countries like the Netherlands, where cycling covers 25 % of all person trips. However, the effect of policy interventions on cycling demand is difficult to measure, not least caused by difficulties to control for changing context variables like weather conditions. According to several authors weather has a strong influence on cycling demand, but quantitative studies about the relationship are scarce. We therefore further explored this relationship, with the aim of contributing to the development of a generic demand model with which trend and coincidence in bicycle flows might be unraveled. The study is based on time-series between 1987 and 2003 of daily bicycle flows, collected on 16 cycle paths near two cities in the Netherlands. The regression analyses show that, not surprisingly, recreational demand is much more sensitive to weather than utilitarian demand. Most daily fluctuations (80 %) are described by weather conditions, and no less than 70 % of the remaining variation is locally constrained. The regression can therefore mainly be improved by incorporating path specific, as yet unknown, variables. We used the regression results to calculate weather-inclusive bicycle flow predictions and found indications of a downward trend in recreational demand. This trend has been off-set in the observed flows by more favorable weather conditions over the years considered.     

默默的竞争者

既没有一级城市，也没有超级大港，山东省很少能像广东或江苏那样受到众人瞩目。但是人们却远远低估了山东省的重要性，Tom Miller在青岛为您报道。[编按]     

无人驾驶地铁均衡发展

介绍了北美、欧洲和日本等国家无人驾驶地铁技术的现状及发展情况。     

I want to ride it where I like: measuring design preferences in cycling infrastructure

Transportation - Sidewalk cyclists are a major concern to planners in many cities around the world: they are considerable in numbers, and increase the risk of injury not only to pedestrians but...     

Travel patterns in Dutch metropolitan cities: The importance of external trips

Using a variety of data sources, decentralisation of population and employment in four Dutch urban areas (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) over the last 20 years, is analysed. It is found that suburbanisation, plus an ever growing car share, has increased the number of external journeys related to the metropolitan cities enormously. With the use of the 1982 National Travel Survey, current travel patterns in and around the metropolitan cities are studied: the importance of external trips for urban transport planning shows clearly. They account for about half the number of city related car trips, and for nearly three quarters of the total vehicle kilometres of travel within the city.(requests for reprints)     

Implementing Road User Charging: The Lessons Learnt from Hong Kong,Cambridge and Central London

Abstract

This paper studies the possibility of increasing shipping of fruit and vegetables from Almería (southeast of Spain) to Port Vendres‐Perpignan (southeast of France). Almería is one of the areas of vegetables production largest in the world and Perpignan is one of the most important customers of Almería. After analysing the potential volume of shipping, we estimate a mode choice model which allows us to study the sensitivity of final clients (horticultural operators) to future change in the variables which condition the choice between transport by sea or by land. This will also help us to calculate the market share of each system as a function of foreseeable change in the variables.     

Investigating the predictive performance of computational process activity-based transportation models

The aim of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of computational process activity-based models, by identifying factors that influence the predictive performance of A Learning-based Transportation Oriented Simulation System model. Therefore, the work activity process model, which includes six decision steps, is investigated. The manner of execution in the process model contains two features, activation dependency and attribute interdependence. Activation dependency branches the execution of the simulation while attribute interdependence involves the inclusion of the decision outcome of a decision step as an attribute to subsequent decision steps. The model is experimented with by running the simulation in four settings. The performance of the models is assessed at three validation levels: the classifier or decision step level, the activity pattern sequence level and the origin–destination matrix level. The results of the validation analysis reveal more understanding of the model. Benchmarks and factors affecting the predictive performance of computational activity-based models are identified.     

The evolution of urban traffic control: changing policy and technology

Abstract

The history of urban traffic control (UTC) throughout the past century has been a continued race to keep pace with ever more complex policy objectives and consistently increasing vehicle demand. Many benefits can be observed from an efficient UTC system, such as reduced congestion, increased economic efficiency and improved road safety and air quality.

There have been significant advances in vehicle detection and communication technologies which have enabled a series of step changes in the capabilities of UTC systems, from early (fixed time) signal plans to modern integrated systems. A variety of UTC systems have been implemented throughout the world, each with individual strengths and weaknesses; this paper seeks to compare the leading commercial systems (and some less well known systems) to highlight the key characteristics and differences before assessing whether the current UTC systems are capable of meeting modern transport policy obligations and desires.

This paper then moves on to consider current and future transport policy and the technological landscape in which UTC will need to operate over the coming decades, where technological advancements are expected to move UTC from an era of limited data availability to an era of data abundance.     

A Multiple Criteria Decision‐Making Approach for Prioritizing Accident Hotspots in the Absence of Crash Data

Abstract

In an efficient transportation system, traffic safety is an important issue and it is influenced by many factors. In a country like Iran, until now safety improvements are mainly concentrated on road engineering activities, without much attention for vehicle technology or driving behaviour. One important aspect of road safety engineering activities is the so‐called treatment of hotspots or dangerous accident locations. Until recently, accident hotspots were identified and remedied by the esxperts’ personal judgements and a handful of statistics without taking into account other important factors such as geometric and traffic conditions of the road network. This paper therefore aims to define and identify the criteria for accident hotspots, then giving a value to each criterion in order to develop a model to prioritize accident hotspots when traffic accident data is not available. To do this, the ‘Delphi’ method has been adopted and a prioritization model is produced by the use of a ‘Multiple Criteria Decision‐Making’ method. The procedure is illustrated on a collection of 20 road sections in Iran. In addition, the model is validated against an existing database of road sections containing safe locations and hotspots. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on the proposed method.     

Book Review: Airline Marketing and Management

Abstract

Public transport policy in the Madrid Metropolitan Area is often deemed as a success. In 1985, an important reform was carried out in order to create a new administrative authority to coordinate all public transport modes and establish a single fare for all of them. This reform prompted a huge growth in public transport usage, even though it reduced the funding coverage ratio of the transport system. Since then, Madrid’s public transport system has been undergoing an increasing level of subsidization, which might jeopardize the financial viability of the city public transport system in the future. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the evolution of the public transport funding policy in Madrid in recent years. We found that the increasing level of subsidy can hardly be explained on the basis of equity issues. Moreover, we claim that there is still room for a funding policy that makes the efficiency of the system compatible with its financial sustainability.