Examining the influence of multidestination service orientation on transit service productivity: a multivariate analysis

Between 1990 and 2000, U.S. transit agencies added service and increased ridership, but the ridership increase failed to keep pace with the service increase. The result was a decline in service effectiveness (or productivity). This marks the continuation of a long-running and often-studied trend. The scholarly literature attributes this phenomenon, at least in part, to transit agency decisions to decentralize their service rather than focus on serving the traditional CBD market. Many scholars argue that a decentralized service orientation is both ineffective and inefficient because it attracts few riders and requires large per-rider subsidies. This research tests whether a non-traditional, decentralized service orientation, called multidestination service, results in reduced service productivity. Contrary to what the literature suggests, we find that MSAs whose transit agencies pursued a multidestination service orientation did not experience lower productivity. These results indicate that policies that have encouraged the growth of decentralized transit services have not necessarily been detrimental to the industry.

快速公交(BRT)线路布局优化研究

快速公交（BRT）是国际上公交发展的新模式。保证系统得以推广,同时应以低成本、显著见效为原则建设快速公交系统,因此对快速公交线路布局进行优化也是不可忽视的。为了探讨现有公共交通线网结构下如何优化BRT线路的布设问题．本文时快速公交线路布设的内部条件和外部条件进行了分析,并在此基础上依据快速公交的发展特点．以乘客的总出行时耗最小和车公里成本投入最小为目标,建立快速公交布局优化的模型．并且给出了优化目标和相应约束条件的函数表达式。通过事例分析对BRT线路布设优化算法进行说明．从而得知优化模型具有较高的应用价值。     

城市公交线网规划综合评价方法研究

首先建立科学的城市公交线网规划综合评价流程和指标体系。然后在主成分分析法原理的基础上,提出应用主成分分析法对公交线网规划进行综合评价的操作步骤。最后借助统计分析软件SPSS实施综合评价,并与专家咨询法、模糊分析法等常用综合评价方法对比分析评价结果。     

非线性优化AHP法在公交服务水平评价中应用

本文应用非线性优化AHP法确定指标权重系数,改进了传统AHP法的不足之处,针对评价指标的模糊性,建立城市公交服务水平模糊综合评价模型,并通过实例分析和计算,验证了该方法的可行性和实用性。     

以公交为导向的城市土地开发模式探讨

城市土地开发模式的变革对城市交通系统的产生了新的要求,同时城市交通系统也会反作用于城市形态和用地开发.文章首先探讨了城市交通与土地开发的互动关系,并从内涵、基本结构和规划原则等方面对基于公交导向的土地开发模式（Transit Oriented Development,简称TOD）进行了初步探究.然后以新加坡、香港新市和波特兰及巴西库里蒂巴为例进行TOD模式实践剖析,体现TOD模式优越性与可持续性,最后总结了我国城市发展TOD的问题并给出了实施建议.     

公交服务水平评价的Fuzzy Logic模型

本文在充分考虑评价对象的复杂性和评价指标的模糊性的基础上,提出了城市公交服务水平的多目标、多级综合评判方法的Fuzzy Logic模型。该模型通过熵权法确定指标权重,有效避免因个人主观因素对参数指标权重的影响,避免了传统评价方法的主观片面性。最后以某市公共交通为例,依据实际运营资料,提出评价指标体系,并利用已建立的模型进行了案例分析,分析模型的正确枉及评价方法的可行性,效果良好。     

A volatile relationship: The effect of changing gasoline prices on public support for mass transit

The determinants of public opinion toward public transit is a little-researched topic, though a better understanding of what makes consumers willing to support transit may reveal which attributes of transit consumers value most. One determinant of people’s willingness to support investments in mass transit may be the price of fuel for transit’s principal competition, the private automobile. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the cost of gasoline and stated willingness to invest public money in mass transit improvements. I hypothesize that fuel price volatility—in addition to price itself—is a determinant of support for more mass transit funding, controlling for other factors. As the price of gasoline becomes more uncertain, the public should, all else equal, support investment in mass transportation, a form of transportation that may provide some measure of protection from the price of fuel. Results suggest a strong effect of price volatility on consumers’ willingness to support transit expenditures.     

Driving to save time or saving time to drive? The enduring appeal of the private car

Use of the private car is often viewed as highly problematic. It is regularly associated with global physical, social and ecological harms such as climate change and the high incidence of lifestyle diseases, including heart disease. Attempts to address these problems generally include provision for day-to-day physical mobility based on alternatives to the private car. Labelled alternative transport, these modes include public transport, walking and cycling. Yet the private car continues as the preferred way to travel in many cities. A deeper understanding of this preference can reveal under explored sites of resistance to alternative transport modes.This paper contributes to these understandings by examining the role the car as a time saving device plays in sustaining automobility. Its central proposition is that individual decisions to drive are not necessarily motivated by the desire to save time. The paper draws on empirical evidence on the journey to work in Australia’s largest city, Sydney. Using a systematic process of trip substitution analysis, a group of people were identified who could use alternative transport to get to work in the same amount of time it currently takes them to drive. These people then participated in a series of in-depth interviews where deeper attachments and motivations for private car use were explored.This approach has enabled development of the multi-layered understanding that informs the central proposition that individual decisions to drive are not necessarily motivated by the desire to save time. Instead, automobility is sustained by appeals to flexibility and autonomy, as well as the interminable pull of the sensory experience provided by the cocoon of the car. This way of thinking about resistance to alternative transport exposes a series of inconsistencies between the expectations of those planning for, and those anticipated to one day use, alternative transport.     

Competition and public service obligations in European aviation markets

This paper analyzes the effect of universal service policies on the airline markets of five European Union countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) in the period 2002–2010. Results show that airfare discount schemes for island residents raise demand and positively affect competition and the number of flights at the route level. These effects are evident in France and Italy, but are particularly marked in Spain. By contrast, public service obligations (PSOs) reduce competition on the protected routes, while their effect on the number of flights differs depending on national regulations. In Spain, routes protected with PSOs have greater flight frequencies than those on unprotected routes of similar characteristics, but in France, Italy and the UK the opposite result is found. The empirical model also finds that on routes with low-cost airlines market concentration is smaller and there is a larger number of flights. This result is relevant for the design of universal service policy, since in recent years low-cost airlines have entered a number of thin routes and have increased access to air transportation.     

Evaluating the effects of bus design on passenger flow: Is agent-based simulation a feasible approach?

In this paper, we propose an agent-based simulation approach that is capable of simulating the flow of passengers on board buses and at bus stops. The intention is that it will be applied during vehicle development to analyze how vehicle design affects passenger flow, and thus also how it affects system performance such as dwell time. In turn, this could aid the developers in making design decisions early in the development process. Besides introducing the simulation tool itself, the paper explores the realism of the data generated by the tool. A number of passenger flow experiments featuring a full-scale bus mockup and 50 participants were carried out. The setup of these experiments mirrored a number of ‘bus journeys’ (regarding vehicle design, number of passengers boarding/alighting at each stop and so on) that had previously been simulated using the simulation tool. When the data from the simulations were compared with the data from the passenger flow experiments, it could be concluded that the tool is indeed able to generate realistic passenger flows, although with some errors when a large number of passengers board/alight. The simulated dwell times were rationally affected by the tested bus layout aspects. It was concluded that the tool makes it possible to evaluate how variations in bus layouts affect passenger flow, providing data of sufficiently high quality to be useful in early phases of vehicle design.