A systematic review of disability’s treatment in the active school travel and children’s independent mobility literatures

While various forms of social difference (e.g. gender, age, race/ethnicity, and class) have been engaged in the active school travel (AST) and children’s independent mobility (CIM) literatures, one form has gone largely unconsidered: disability. Disregard for disability within these literatures is troubling, as it leaves children’s experiences of disability associated with independent mobility and school travel unquestioned, which in turn helps to allow their experiences of exclusion to persist. This paper presents a systematic review of the AST and CIM literatures that was undertaken with a view to providing insight into three questions. (1) To what extent is disability considered in the literatures in comparison to other forms of social difference? (2) How is disability engaged? (3) How could disability be approached differently such that experiences of children (and their households) living with disability are better accounted for moving forward (e.g. provided with equitable travel/mobility options)? Following a detailed consideration of the systematic review process, this paper presents figures and tables showing the extent to which disability has been considered in the two literatures in relation to other forms of social difference. To show how transport scholars and others are engaging disability, 29 studies were identified for in-depth, qualitative review. These studies are summarized and then discussed in relation to their geographic focus, the forms of disability they considered, their treatment of children’s perspective and agency, and the disability perspectives they employed. It is suggested that disability and its relationships with other forms of social difference, as well as the largely unquestioned normalcy of children’s disability experiences, warrant further inquiry within the AST and CIM literatures. We propose that drawing upon a critical ableist studies perspective may be useful for any such inquiry due to its focus on ableism and normalcy, as well as its recognition of the complex intersectionality of disability experiences.     

Research on vibration characteristics of L-shaped plate using a mobility power flow approach

L-shaped plates have become an important focuses in structural vibration research. To determine their vibration characteristics, this paper applied a mobility power flow method. Firstly, the L-shaped plate was divided into two substructures to simplify analysis. The coupled bending moment was then deduced by applying a continuous vibration property on the common edge. Next, the response on any point of the plate and the input and transmitted power flow formulas were calculated. Numerical simulations showed the distribution of the coupled bending moment and the response of the whole structure. The validity of this method was verified by the SEA approach.     

圆柱壳结构振动功率流和主动力幅值的控制研究

以输入结构的总功率流和所需主动力幅值为控制目标函数,对输入圆柱壳结构振动功率流的主动控制进行了研究,并分析了几个重要参数对壳体结构振动功率流控制效果的影响.利用导纳函数求解结构响应,构造目标函数为二次型函数形式,利用哈密尔顿二次型最小值理论给出最优控制力前馈控制表达式.     

迁居居民活动—出行行为选择机理研究

迁居居民日常活动—出行模式不仅是短期决策下的行为响应,更是长期生活中习惯、态度等因素的作用结果.本文基于时间地理学和计划行为理论,应用迁居居民活动日志调查数据,从外部时空制约和行为习惯两个方面考虑迁居居民出行行为的动态调整过程,构建了迁居居民活动—出行行为选择机理的结构方程模型.结果表明,在迁居事件作用下,居民活动—出行行为发生了巨大调整.具体而言,居民活动—出行调整过程中存在显著的层级决策序列,通勤活动的调整优于非通勤活动,且会制约着非通勤的安排,进而影响到不同类型的非通勤活动间的交互关系.其次,居民行为选择还受过去态度及偏好的正向引导作用,习惯影响次之,且迁居前各行为间存在的交互模式会进一步传递到现活动安排中,主要凸显在非通勤上.与此同时,外部时空制约和主观因素同时作用于现出行行为上时,外部制约会通过态度或习惯的影响来调整活动和出行模式,以维持或重构日常生活支持网.     

Social inclusivity through public transportation: a strategic approach to improve quality of life in developing countries

Welfare services such as healthcare and education are commonly recognised as determinants of physical quality of life indices during the early phases of development in the third world. In order to benefit from these services, it is important that the general public have the mobility means to access welfare provision centres. However, very low vehicle ownership under the conditions of low per‐capita incomes and large shares of population living in deep rural areas prevent the masses from accessing such services, thereby retarding the process of social development, which is reflected in the very poor physical quality of life indices in low‐income countries. Public transportation could offer a viable and affordable solution to this apparent ambivalence. It could permit mobility for poor masses in spite of low per‐capita vehicle ownership enabled by the national income levels. The present research demonstrates this strategic niche through an econometric examination of the evolution of the physical quality of life indices such as maternal mortality, infant mortality and literacy as against the healthcare, education and affordable mobility proxies in post‐independent Sri Lanka. The country, which was then referred to as Ceylon, is often cited as a rare example of achieving social inclusion and reduced marginalisation and thereby a high social welfare standing, in spite of relatively poor per‐capita income levels. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grouping travelers on the basis of their different car and transit levels of use

Market segmentation studies in travel behavior research are ordinarily based on socioeconomic characteristics and personality traits. This study explores the usefulness of a different approach, where the actual overall mobility levels across different ground transportation modes, along with desired changes in the use of cars and transit, are used as clustering variables. Using a given mode can in fact influence the personal representation of that mode, which in turn has been proven to be a key element in transport behaviours. We form such multimodality-based clusters from two field studies, one involving employees of the French transportation research institute INRETS and the other a representative sample of residents of the US San Francisco Bay Area. We find that strong users of a given mode would like to bring more balance to their “modal consumptions” by decreasing the use of this mode more than the average, and increasing the use of the alternative mode. However, concerning ground transport travel budgets, the desire to travel more (or less) overall seems less strongly related to the composition of the modal balance. The US dataset shows also a greater latent demand for travel than the French one. Socioeconomic characteristics of the clusters could not explain the patterns that were found, confirming the importance of taking into account multimodality issues in travel behavior research. Some policy implications from these findings are finally reported.

Studying travel-related individual assessments and desires by combining hierarchically structured ordinal variables

Ordinal measures are frequently encountered in travel behavior research. This paper presents a new method for combining them when a hierarchical structure of the data can be presumed. This method is applied to study the subjective assessment of the amount of travel by different transportation modes among a group of French clerical workers, along with the desire to increase or decrease the use of such modes. Some advantages of this approach over traditional data reduction technique such as factor analysis when applied to ordinal data are then illustrated. In this study, combining evidence from several variables sheds light on the observed moderately negative relationship between the personal assessment of the amount of travel and the desire to increase or decrease it, thus integrating previous partial (univariate) results. We find a latent demand for travel, thus contributing to clarify the behavioral mechanisms behind the induced traffic phenomenon. Categorizing the above relationship by transportation mode shows a desire for a less environmental-friendly mix of modes (i.e., a greater desire to use heavy motorized modes and a lower desire to use two-wheeled modes), whenever the respondents do not feel to travel extensively. This result, combined with previous theoretical investigations concerning the determinants of the desire to alter trips consumption levels, shows the importance of making people aware of how much they travel.

Policy implementation of multi-modal (shared) mobility: review of a supply-demand value proposition canvas

ABSTRACT

Urban mobility options have increased in recent years, assisted by the widespread availability of smart device software apps, geo-positioning technology, and convenient electronic financial transactions. Multi-modal shared mobility consists of public transit systems and shared mobilities that support first/last mile travel, denoting the capability of Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and to stimulate additional non-private car travel demand. This paper reviews the supply and demand sides of implementation of multi-modal shared mobility. It found that an abundance of shared modes of car, bike, and e-scooter that are linked to public transport, can improve transport accessibility to meet specific public preferences, reduce social inequality, and minimise dilemmas from the demand side. This study introduces government policy innovations and other supporting system to improve the implementation of multi-modal shared mobility. Government policies play a key role in supporting shared mobility and technology development. However, governments do not have much information about new products such as shared mobility, which creates difficulties in subsidising multi-modal shared mobility services and potentially leads to policy failures around shared mobility schemes. This study suggests that policy entrepreneurship in collaboration with other partners, policy innovation, and the notions of merit goods and second-best policymaking can enable policy initiatives towards multi-modal shared mobility and provide supporting arguments if policies encounter failures. Implementing multi-modal shared mobility requires a collaborative partnership for a paradigm shift: service providers and government must jointly set a merit-based business model, with the support of organisations to achieve improved infrastructure provision, and smart technology applications. The findings will assist the community, business providers and government policymakers to promote multi-modal shared mobility as a pathway towards more efficient, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsive mobility solutions.     

Sustainable mobility: Policy design and implementation in three Norwegian cities

The paper explores barriers for designing and implementing policies for the transition to more environmentally sustainable urban mobility, and strategies for overcoming these barriers in three Norwegian cities. Empirical data has been collected by interviewing key informants and analysing relevant documents. The findings show that there is broad political support for placing sustainable mobility high on the political agenda. Challenges appear when policy measures are designed and implemented. Cultural, legal, political, organisational, financial and knowledge-related barriers are identified. Many similar barriers are identified in the three case cities, but differences also appear. The results indicate that the size of the cities as well as the type of policy packages implemented are important factors, impacting both the type and strength of barriers. Several strategies for overcoming barriers have been implemented in the three case cities with success. The implementation of policy packages with a combination of “push” and “pull” measures is perhaps the most important strategy. In addition, using communication strategically and allowing for trials and step-by-step introduction of policy measures are success factors. Better methods for stakeholder involvement and planning tools for bicyclists and pedestrians may increase the acceptance of policy measures and speed up the transition toward sustainable mobility.     

Smart charging management for shared autonomous electric vehicle fleets: A Puget Sound case study

Increasingly, experts are forecasting the future of transportation to be shared, autonomous and electric. As shared autonomous electric vehicle (SAEV) fleets roll out to the market, the electricity consumed by the fleet will have significant impacts on energy demand and, in turn, drive variation in energy cost and reliability, especially if the charging is unmanaged. This research proposes a smart charging (SC) framework to identify benefits of active SAEV charging management that strategically shifts electricity demand away from high-priced peak hours or towards renewable generation periods. Time of use (TOU), real time pricing (RTP), and solar generation electricity scenarios are tested using an agent-based simulation to study (1) the impact of battery capacity and charging infrastructure type on SAEV fleet performance and operational costs under SC management; (2) the cost reduction potential of SC considering energy price fluctuation, uncertainty, and seasonal variation; (3) the charging infrastructure requirements; and (4) the system efficiency of powering SAEVs with solar generation. A case study from the Puget Sound region demonstrates the proposed SC algorithm using trip patterns from the regional travel demand model and local energy prices. Results suggest that in the absence of electricity price signals, SAEV charging demand is likely to peak the evening, when regional electricity use patterns already indicate high demand. Under SC management, EVs with larger battery sizes are more responsive to low-electricity cost charging opportunities, and have greater potential to reduce total energy related costs (electricity plus charging infrastructure) for a SAEV fleet, especially under RTP structure.