Impact of information technology on public transport fares data

The work described was undertaken as part of the CASSIOPE project in the EC DRIVE programme. A range of fare collection procedures in public transport is described, and the importance of these for data collection by operators is stressed. It is suggested that such data management could be standardized and to this end four case studies were carried out in different European cities. Data models were built for each city, and these models are merged into a preliminary version of a generalized model. The need and uses for such a fare collection data model is explained.     

Alternative fuels for transportation

The alternatives to the oil based fuels for transportation are considered and analysed. These are the synthetic fuels, made from coal, the liquid petroleum gases of propane and butane, compressed natural gas and methanol. The problems associated with the use of electric vehicles are discussed; the main problem being that of range.

The possible use of hydrogen as a fuel is analysed in some detail. Since its supply can be tied directly to nuclear energy sources, rather than hydrocarbon feed stocks, it could be an alternative in the long term. The main problems of the storage of hydrogen on the vehicle and of its propensity to “back‐fire” into the engine intake are discussed. The first can be ameliorated and the second eliminated by dual fuelling; with petrol. It is advocated that the on‐board storage of hydrogen be by the use of hydrides for private cars. However, it is expected that it may be as liquid hydrogen for some forms of transport and will certainly be in this form for aircraft.     

Witkar: Amsterdam's self-drive hire city car

A small electrically powered city car has been developed for self-drive hire in the centre of Amsterdam; 35 of these cars are now available to hire from 5 stations in the city centre. The. system has been designed for fully automatic control, including direct debit of hirers' accounts at the Amsterdam Savings Bank. The system, which was conceived in 1969 by an industrial designer and former city councillor to reduce traffic in central Amsterdam, failed to win the support of the City Council and has since been developed by a specially formed co-operative society. The co-operative managed to raise loans of US$ 250,000 for the first phase which has now been completed. This included the design and construction of the vehicles, the purchase of a mini-computer for the central control system, development of the control software and construction of the first five stations. A further 10 stations are scheduled for operation by the end of 1976, by which time the fleet should be extended to 100 vehicles. The ultimate target is 150 stations and 1000 vehicles.     

Investigating effects of asphalt pavement conditions on traffic accidents in Tennessee based on the pavement management system (PMS)

Pavement maintenance is essential for ensuring good riding quality and avoiding traffic congestion, air pollution, and accidents. Improving road safety is one of the most important objectives for pavement management systems. This study utilized the Tennessee Pavement Management System (PMS) and Accident History Database (AHD) to investigate the relationship between accident frequency and pavement distress variables. Focusing on four urban interstates with asphalt pavements, divided median types, and 55 mph speed limits, 21 Negative Binomial Regression models were developed for predicting various types of traffic accident frequencies based on different pavement condition variables, including rut depth (RD), International Roughness Index (IRI), and Present Serviceability Index (PSI). The modeling results indicated that the RD models did not perform well, except for predicting accidents at night and accidents under rain weather conditions; whereas, IRI and PSI were always significant prediction variables in all types of accident models. Comparing the models goodness‐of‐fit results, it was found that the PSI models had a better performance in crash frequency prediction than the RD models and IRI models. This study suggests that the PSI accident prediction models should be considered as a comprehensive approach to integrate the highway safety factors into the pavement management system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.