Decision Support Systems for Public Transport Management: The Athens Public Transport Authority Project

This article reports on an implementation study of a computerised decision support system for public transport management for the Athens Public Transport Authority (APTA). The study analysed the current situation, specified user requirements, determined system functionality, designed the system architecture, organised the project and, finally, planned dissemination activities. The decision support system covers the main public transport management activities of APTA - transport service provision, economic and financial planning, passenger complaints and suggestions, and personnel management - offering its users the possibility to study the potential effects of their decisions before implementation. To achieve this, the system will consist of a data warehousing system, for the integrated management of a wide variety of data sources, and of online analytical processing tools, for information analysis and scenario testing. The system architecture has been designed to offer robustness, flexibility, rich functionality and open connectivity. The system aims to help APTA reduce operational costs and provide a better transport service, attracting more passengers to public transport and reducing, in the process, congestion and pollution.     

Multimodal travel groups and attitudes: A latent class cluster analysis of Dutch travelers

For developing sustainable travel policies, it may be helpful to identify multimodal travelers, that is, travelers who make use of more than one mode of transport within a given period of time. Of special interest is identifying car drivers who also use public transport and/or bicycle, as this group is more likely to respond to policies that stimulate the use of those modes. It is suggested in the literature that this group may have less biased perceptions and different attitudes towards those modes. This supposition is examined in this paper by conducting a latent class cluster analysis, which identifies (multi)modal travel groups based on the self-reported frequency of mode use. Simultaneously, a membership function is estimated to predict the probability of belonging to each of the five identified (multi)modal travel groups, as a function of attitudinal variables in addition to structural variables. The results indicate that the (near) solo car drivers indeed have more negative attitudes towards public transport and bicycle, while frequent car drivers who also use public transport have less negative public transport attitudes. Although the results suggest that in four of the five identified travel groups, attitudes are congruent with travel mode use, this is not the case for the group who uses public transport most often. This group has relatively favorable car attitudes, and given that many young, low-income travelers belong to this group, it may be expected that at least part of this group will start using car more often once they can afford it. Based on the results, challenges for sustainable policies are formulated for each of the identified (multi)modal travel groups.     

Commuters’ behavior towards upgraded bus services in Greater Beirut: Implications for greenhouse gas emissions,social welfare and transport policy

Climate change is one of the most critical environmental challenges faced in the world today. The transportation sector alone contributes to 22% of carbon emissions, of which 80% are contributed by road transportation. In this paper we investigate the potential private car greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and social welfare gains resulting from upgrading the bus service in the Greater Beirut Area. To this end, a stated preference (SP) survey on mode switching from private car to bus was conducted in this area and analyzed by means of a mixed logit model. We then used the model outputs to simulate aggregate switching behavior in the study area and the attendant welfare and environmental gains and private car GHG emissions reductions under various alternative scenarios of bus service upgrade. We recommend a bundle of realistic bus service improvements in the short term that will result in a reasonable shift to buses and measurable reduction in private car emissions. We argue that such improvements will need to be comprehensive in scope and include both improvements in bus level of service attributes (access/egress time, headway, in-vehicle travel time, and number of transfers) and the provision of amenities, including air-conditioning and Wi-Fi. Moreover, such a service needs to be cheaply priced to achieve reasonably high levels of switching behavior. With a comprehensively overhauled bus service, one would expect that bus ridership would increase for commuting purposes at first, and once the habit for it is formed, for travel purposes other than commuting, hence dramatically broadening the scope of private car GHG emissions reduction. This said, this study demonstrates the limits of focused sectorial policies in targeting and reducing private car GHG emissions, and highlights the need for combining behavioral interventions with other measures, most notably technological innovations, in order for the contribution of this sector to GHG emissions mitigation to be sizable.     

Shifting from car to active transport: A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions

IntroductionA promising way to stimulate physical activity is to promote the choice for active modes of transport (walking and cycling). Over the past years, several interventions and policies have been implemented to stimulate this mode shift. However, information concerning the effectiveness of these interventions and policies is still limited. The aim of the present study was to systematically review the effectiveness of interventions designed to stimulate a shift from car use to cycling or walking and to obtain insight into the intervention tools that have been used to promote and/or implement these interventions.MethodsFive databases were searched and articles published in English, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish were included. Only studies that focussed on a mode shift from car use towards active transport in a general adult population, which were published in peer reviewed journals and which investigated effectiveness were included. Intervention tools used were categorized by using the model of Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, as either legal, economic (subsidy, reward system, penalty), communicative (written materials, behavioural tools) and physical tools (providing bicycles, providing better bicycle facilities at work, adjustment of the environment).ResultsNineteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Studies included described work-place-based interventions, architectural and urbanistic adjustments, population-wide interventions, and bicycle-renting systems. Nearly all studies (except three) showed positive effects concerning a mode shift. Most of the included studies used more than one intervention tool and the tools used differed between types of interventions. However, information about the statistical significance of these results was often lacking and the study methodologies used were not of high quality.ConclusionNearly all studies showed results in a positive direction. However, the quality of the included studies was mostly low and intervention characteristics were poorly described.     

高速铁路施工安全质量管理实践

介绍全面质量管理理论和8项管理原则,结合高速铁路施工情况,提出高速铁路安全质量管理原则、＂分级管理＂模式和＂四方控制＂机制,总结高速铁路施工安全质量管理实践经验,认为其核心是充分发挥高层领导、工程建设指挥部、监理单位、施工单位等各自特点的管理方式,介绍安全质量管理应用的具体案例。     

6S现场管理在货车检修生产中的应用

6S现场管理是针对企业生产现场管理的有效方法,符合铁路倡导人本管理的精神。结合铁路货车检修生产实际,指出应用6S现场管理方法的主要内容和关键要点。     

摩托车油耗试验新国家标准学习与研究

GB 15744—2008《摩托车燃油消耗量限值及测量方法》和GB 16486—2008《轻便摩托车燃油消耗量限值及测量方法》2项新国家标准已经出版发行,今年7月1日正式实施。新国标中试验方法、数据处理、油耗限值与老国标相比变化较大,新标准试验方法和数据处理更科学、细致和严格,同时试验技术难度加大,成本提高。     

国际货运代理业应当尽快实施收益管理

收益管理作为一项先进的管理技术,在国际货运代理业尚未得到充分应用。现以国际货运代理业中最重要的业务之一——国际集装箱运输代理业务为例,探讨国际货运代理业可否实行收益管理,并从可行性、必要性和紧迫性等三个方面,进行较为详细的分析和论述,得出国际货运代理业开展收益管理不仅是可行的,而且是十分必要的,同时也是急待实施的结论,从而为国际货运代理业实施收益管理提供理论支持。     

海上巡逻救助飞机若干问题探讨

根据海上巡逻搜救任务对巡逻救助飞机在安全系数、操作性能、搜救能力、适应程度等方面的要求,论证了采用专业飞机执行海上巡逻救助任务的必要性;通过巡逻搜救飞机和船舶在应急反应时间、搜寻范围、救助能力以及成本费用对比,提出了巡逻搜救飞机的适用条件和船机配合执行任务的模式;通过对巡逻搜救飞机和机场自建-自用、建设-托管、租赁-使用三种模式的优缺点和费用的分析,提出了巡逻搜救飞机的机场建设的管理模式。     

基于ANSYS的刚性悬挂振动特性分析

通过对刚性悬挂的简化,在一些基本假设的基础上,建立了刚性悬挂的有限元模型。进行了静力分析和模态分析,得到了悬臂长度大小对汇流排整体变形的影响,合理选择可改善汇流排终端几跨的跨中挠度,并分析了悬臂的大小、之字值和悬挂刚度对刚性悬挂振动特性的影响。