Improved driver responses at intersections with red signal countdown timers

Traffic Signal Countdown Timers (TSCTs) are innovative, practical and cost effective technologies with the potential to improve efficiency at signalized intersections. The purpose of these devices is to assist motorists in decision-making at signalized intersections with real-time signal duration information. This study focused specifically on driver responses in the presence of a Red Signal Countdown Timer (RSCT). A Linear Mixed Effect (LME) model was developed to predict the effect of RSCT on the headway of the first vehicle waiting on a red signal. The model predicted 0.72 s reduction in the headway of the first queued vehicle resulting from the presence of RSCT, while the observed difference in mean headway was 0.82 s. This result is suggestive of a reduction in start-up lost time at signalized intersections, i.e., an improvement in signalized intersection efficiency when an RSCT is present.     

A bi-level model for single-line rail timetable design with consideration of demand and capacity

This paper proposes a bi-level model to solve the timetable design problem for an urban rail line. The upper level model aims at determining the headways between trains to minimize total passenger cost, which includes not only the usual perceived travel time cost, but also penalties during travel. With the headways given by the upper level model, passengers’ arrival times at their origin stops are determined by the lower level model, in which the cost-minimizing behavior of each passenger is taken into account. To make the model more realistic, explicit capacity constraints of individual trains are considered. With these constraints, passengers cannot board a full train, but wait in queues for the next coming train. A two-stage genetic algorithm incorporating the method of successive averages is introduced to solve the bi-level model. Two hypothetical examples and a real world case are employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed bi-level model and algorithm. Results show that the bi-level model performs well in reducing total passenger cost, especially in reducing waiting time cost and penalties. And the section loading-rates of trains in the optimized timetable are more balanced than the even-headway timetable. The sensitivity analyses show that passenger’s desired arrival time interval at destination and crowding penalty factor have a high influence on the optimal solution. And with the dispersing of passengers' desired arrival time intervals or the increase of crowding penalty factor, the section loading-rates of trains become more balanced.     

汽车ACC跟随控制策略研究

提出了ACC车辆与前车之间的速度一位移关系以及分别以车距控制和相对车速控制为目标的2种LQR模型，并根据两车的速度一位移关系的不同实现2种模型之间的转换，以生成符合驾驶员操作行为的ACC车辆控制目标，建立了实现控制目标的车速控制模型。仿真计算表明控制策略满足乘坐舒适性和保持安全车距的要求。     

A copula-based approach to accommodate the dependence among microscopic traffic variables

Developing microscopic traffic simulation models requires the knowledge of probability distributions of microscopic traffic variables. Although previous studies have proposed extensive mathematical distributions for describing traffic variables (e.g., speed, headway, vehicle length, etc.), these studies usually consider microscopic traffic observations to be independent variables and distributions for these variables are investigated separately. As a result, some traditional approaches consider microscopic traffic variables as independent inputs to the traffic simulation process and these methods may ignore the possible dependence among different traffic variables.The objectives of this paper are to investigate the dependence structure among microscopic traffic variables and to examine the applicability of the copula approach to the joint modeling of these variables. Copulas are functions that relate multivariate distribution functions of random variables to their one-dimensional marginal distribution functions. The concept of copulas has been well recognized in the statistics field and recently has been introduced in transportation studies. The proposed copula approach is applied to the 24-h traffic data collected on IH-35 in Austin, Texas. The preliminary data analysis indicates that there exists dependence among microscopic traffic variables. Moreover, the modeling and simulation results suggest that copula models can adequately accommodate and accurately reproduce the dependence structure revealed by the traffic observations. Overall, the findings in this paper provide a framework for generating multiple microscopic traffic variables simultaneously by considering their dependence.     

Mixed‐mode travel demand forecasting techniques

From an extensive review of literature covering 34 cases where mixed‐mode policies had been used, ranging from strategic area wide to local studies, it was concluded that none of the techniques adopted had adequately dealt with the particular problem of mixed modes.

Two philosophies were identified, a market research approach and formal simulation modelling. The latter ranged from coarse zonal diversion curve models, to individual based multi modal split models. The limited information given in the reports prevented making practical comparisons between the models.

Monte‐Carlo simulation was used in order to look in more depth at the multi‐modal choice model structures encountered in the review. It was found that the multi‐nomial logit, which is the most commonly used model, was quite robust but performed badly when modal costs were highly correlated, a case which may occur far too often.     

Dynamic bus holding strategies for schedule reliability: Optimal linear control and performance analysis

As is well known, bus systems are naturally unstable. Without control, buses on a single line tend to bunch, reducing their punctuality in meeting a schedule. Although conventional schedule-based strategies that hold buses at control points can alleviate this problem these methods require too much slack, which slows buses. This delays on-board passengers and increases operating costs.It is shown that dynamic holding strategies based on headways alone cannot help buses adhere to a schedule. Therefore, a family of dynamic holding strategies that use bus arrival deviations from a virtual schedule at the control points is proposed. The virtual schedule is introduced whether the system is run with a published schedule or not. It is shown that with this approach, buses can both closely adhere to a published schedule and maintain regular headways without too much slack.A one-parameter version of the method can be optimized in closed form. This simple method is shown to be near-optimal. To put it in practice, the only data needed in real time are the arrival times of the current bus and the preceding bus at the control point relative to the virtual schedule. The simple method was found to require about 40% less slack than the conventional schedule-based method. When used only to regulate headways it outperforms headway-based methods.     

Research on minimum headway between EMU and common passenger train on passenger dedicated lineEI北大核心

Research purposes: The minimum headway of trains is an important technical standard in the railway survey and design. The common passenger train running on passenger dedicated line (PDL) has big influence on the headway between trains. This paper mainly analyzes the type of coach, passenger train composition and train operation control system, and presents the calculation method and model for the headway between the EMU and common passenger train for providing the reference to the survey and design of passenger dedicated line. Research conclusions: Based on the technologies of the train control system level 2 (CTCS-2), the train running monitor and record device (LKJ) and the ground signals, the analyses and calculations were made for the minimum headways between trains into the Yuncheng North Station of Datong-Xi'an PDL by using the calculation model. The calculations show the 3 minutes headway of the arrival-running through, the 3 minutes headway of the arrival-arrival and the 3 minutes headway of the running through-departure between the common passenger train and the EMU can be realized. And the 5 minutes headway of the departure-departure between the EMU and the common passenger train can be realized.     

Assessing systematic sources of variation in public transport elasticities: Some comparative warnings

There is an extensive and continually growing body of empirical evidence on the sensitivity of potential and actual users of public transport to fare and service levels. The sources of the evidence are disparate in terms of methods, data collection strategy, data paradigms, trip purpose, location, time period, and attribute definition. In this paper, we draw on a data set we have been compiling since 2003 that contains over 1100 elasticity items associated with prices and services of public transport, and car modes. The focus herein is on direct elasticities associated with public transport choice and demand, and the systematic sources of influence on the variations in the mean estimates for fares, in-vehicle time, and headway obtained from 319 studies. The major influences on variations in mean estimates of public transport elasticities are the time of day (peak, all day vs. off-peak), the data paradigm (especially combined SP/RP vs. revealed preference (RP)), whether an average fare or class of tickets is included, the unit of analysis (trips vs. vkm), specific trip purposes, country, and specific-mode (i.e., bus and train) in contrast to the generic class of public transport.     

基于事件的控制技术在地铁列车运行中的应用

研究移动闭塞条件下地铁列车的运行规律,建立地铁列车运行模型,将基于事件的控制技术应用到地铁列车控制中。引入运动参考变量,求出在以站间最小运行时间为目标的单列列车控制中,列车运行速度、加速度关于列车走行距离的表达式,根据列车走行距离实时调整规划列车的运行。研究移动闭塞条件下地铁列车间的控制,采用基于事件的控制技术和编队思想降低列车间的最小追踪允许间隔,在保证不撞车以及尽量减少站外停车的前提下,提高地铁线路的通过能力,并且能够方便地实现系统的重新配置以及各子系统间的协调协作。以相邻的3列列车运行为例,研究在移动闭塞条件下后续列车的控制策略,根据列车的走行距离以及前后列车间所要求保留的安全距离,动态调整列车的运行速度、加速度。仿真结果表明,运用基于事件的控制技术来控制列车的运行,可提高列车的正点率到95%。     

广深Ⅰ、Ⅱ线东莞站到达间隔时间的探讨

针对广深线东莞站到达间隔时间为5.2min,是全线能力限制点的问题,探讨了三种缩短到达间隔时间的改进措施:单红灯防护方式、增设进路信号机和黄闪黄信号升级。