A preliminary proposal for urban and transportation planning in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake

The purpose of this paper is to propose information of use in the reconstruction of urban transport and infrastructure in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake. In particular, knowledge of urban planning and transportation planning is summarized to help in drawing up physical plans.     

Modeling the relationships among urban passenger travel carbon dioxide emissions,transportation demand and supply,population density,and proxy policy variables

To support the development of policies that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by encouraging reduced travel and increased use of efficient transportation modes, it is necessary to better understand the explanatory effects that transportation, population density, and policy variables have on passenger travel related CO₂ emissions. This study presents the development of a model of CO₂ emissions per capita as a function of various explanatory variables using data on 146 urbanized areas in the United States. The model takes into account selectivity bias resulting from the fact that adopting policies aimed at reducing emissions in an urbanized area may be partly driven by the presence of environmental concerns in that area. The results indicate that population density, transit share, freeway lane-miles per capita, private vehicle occupancy, and average travel time have a statistically significant explanatory effect on passenger travel related CO₂ emissions. In addition, the presence of automobile emissions inspection programs, which serves as a proxy indicator of other policies addressing environmental concerns and which could influence travelers in making environmentally favorable travel choices, markedly changes the manner in which transportation variables explain CO₂ emission levels.     

Speed variation during peak and off-peak hours on urban arterials in Shanghai

Increased speed variation on urban arterials is associated with reductions in both operational performance and safety. Traffic flow, mean speed, traffic control parameters and geometric design features are known to affect speed variation. An exploratory study of the relationships among these variables could provide a foundation for improving the operational and safety performance of urban arterials, however, such a study has been hampered by problems in measuring speeds. The measurement of speed has traditionally been accomplished using spot speed collection methods such as radar, laser and loop detectors. These methods can cover only limited locations, and consequently are not able to capture speed distributions along an entire network, or even throughout any single road segment. In Shanghai, it is possible to acquire the speed distribution of any roadway segment, over any period of interest, by capturing data from Shanghai’s 50,000+ taxis equipped with Global Positional Systems (GPS). These data, hereafter called Floating Car Data, were used to calculate mean speed and speed variation on 234 road segments from eight urban arterials in downtown Shanghai. Hierarchical models with random variables were developed to account for spatial correlations among segments within each arterial and heterogeneities among arterials. Considering that traffic demand changes throughout the day, AM peak, Noon off-peak, and PM peak hours were studied separately. Results showed that increases in number of lanes and number of access points, the presence of bus stops and increases in mean speed were all associated with increased speed variation, and that increases in traffic volume and traffic signal green times were associated with reduced speed variation. These findings can be used by engineers to minimize speed differences during the road network planning stage and continuing through the traffic management phase.     

Real-time automatic rescheduling strategy for an urban rail line by integrating the information of fault handling

In the operation of urban rails, faults are inevitable, which leads to deviation between the actual timetable and the planned timetable. In nowadays, timetable rescheduling strategies rarely integrate the information of fault handling. In this paper, we develop a real-time automatic rescheduling strategy, which integrates the dynamic information of fault handling. The rescheduled timetable is obtained by a mathematical optimization model, the constraints set of which is automatically generated and adjusted as more information of fault handling is feedback. Compared with the experience-based rescheduling methods, the automatic rescheduling strategy reacts more quickly, and uses the information of fault handling more efficiently. A simulation system for testing the automatic rescheduling strategy is built, which uses the data of the Beijing Yizhuang metro line. Via testing on the simulation system, the effectiveness and efficiency of the automatic rescheduling strategy are validated.     

Urban transportation in Chinese cities: An efficiency assessment

We use 2008 data for 34 Chinese cities to compare urban transportation systems. The results show stronger eastern and central cities focusing more on high capacity and less on sustainable modes of transportation, while western cities do the opposite. Chinese cities with more sustainable transportation are also more likely to have lower gross domestic product per capita, be smaller, are less urbanized and have higher bus usage. This model needs to change to align with China’s new policy priorities.     

城市高架轨道交通景观评价体系研究

研究目的:目前国内对于城市高架轨道景观评价的研究尚处于探索阶段,还没有成熟的指标体系及评价方法,为此需首要建立一套较为客观、简捷、实用,又能得到专家和公众认同的景观评价体系。研究方法:本文选用“目标—指标层次结构”模式,就是AHP层次分析方法,从动态景观和静态景观2个方面去构建城市高架轨道交通景观评价体系,并以重庆轻轨2号线中的2个有代表性的区段景观,对该体系进行验证。研究结论:经实例验证,本文建立的城市高架轨道交通景观评价体系能够具体体现出高架轨道景观的差异性,并能反映具体差异点及差异程度。可明确量化地反映高架轨道交通的景观评价等级和其中单项指标的景观等级,并具有可比性,其结果能准确、客观地反映城市高架轨道交通景观的实际情况,方法简单易行,具有实用性。     

城市景观设计的新理念

从城市环境的现状和影响城市环境的因素入手，对城市景观设计中应具备的生态观和审美观进行分析，根据分析的结果，提出一套适合城市发展需要景观设计的新思路、新理念。     

高架桥下交叉路口交通放行时间和空间资源的综合利用

本文对高架桥下交叉口的时空资源进行了分析综合利用,提出了一种多相位半幅路权系统。该系统通过对高架桥下交叉口路面的道路渠划,把各种交通流通过交叉口路面的道路划分为上下两个半幅路面,并使半幅车道数大于进口处的车道数;由信号机控制信号灯以半幅路面路权为单位放行交通流,巧妙安排相位和相位顺序;在整幅放行前的前半幅路权放行时,可以使车流缓慢、安全地分流在较多的放行车道上排成车队形式;待后半幅路权放行时,以多路车队形式集中通过路口。缩短过路时间,提高通行效率,充分利用时间和空间资源。     

Urban form,travel time,and cost relationships with tour complexity and mode choice

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate how relative associations between travel time, costs, and land use patterns where people live and work impact modal choice and trip chaining patterns in the Central Puget Sound (Seattle) region. By using a tour-based modeling framework and highly detailed land use and travel data, this study attempts to add detail on the specific land use changes necessary to address different types of travel, and to develop a comparative framework by which the relative impact of travel time and urban form changes can be assessed. A discrete choice modeling framework adjusted for demographic factors and assessed the relative effect of travel time, costs, and urban form on mode choice and trip chaining characteristics for the three tour types. The tour based modeling approach increased the ability to understand the relative contribution of urban form, time, and costs in explaining mode choice and tour complexity for home and work related travel. Urban form at residential and employment locations, and travel time and cost were significant predictors of travel choice. Travel time was the strongest predictor of mode choice while urban form the strongest predictor of the number of stops within a tour. Results show that reductions in highway travel time are associated with less transit use and walking. Land use patterns where respondents work predicted mode choice for mid day and journey to work travel.

Simulation of city bus performance based on actual urban driving cycle in China

This paper establishes the simulation model of a city bus on the basis of the EQ6110 bus prototype and its experimental data. According to the actual urban driving cycle, the fuel economy and the traction performance of the EQ6110 city bus have been simulated, and factors such as the driving cycle, the loss of power to engine accessories, the gear-shifting strategy, the fuel shut-off strategy of the engine, etc., which influence on the bus’s fuel economy, are also quantitatively analyzed. Some conclusions are drawn as follows: (1) driving cycles have a great influence on the fuel economy of a city bus; (2) under the typical urban driving cycle of the public bus in China, the engine fuel shut-off strategy can save about 1 to 1.5 percent of the fuel consumption; and (3) the optimized gear-shifting rules can save 6.7 percent of the fuel consumption. Experimental results verify that the fuel economy for the EQ6110 public bus is improved by 7.2 pecent over the actual Wuhan urban driving cycle of the current public bus in China.