Analysing improvements to on-street public transport systems: a mesoscopic model approach

Light rail transit and bus rapid transit have shown to be efficient and cost-effective in improving public transport systems in cities around the world. As these systems comprise various elements, which can be tailored to any given setting, e.g. pre-board fare-collection, holding strategies and other advanced public transport systems (APTS), the attractiveness of such systems depends heavily on their implementation. In the early planning stage it is advantageous to deploy simple and transparent models to evaluate possible ways of implementation. For this purpose, the present study develops a mesoscopic model which makes it possible to evaluate public transport operations in details, including dwell times, intelligent traffic signal timings and holding strategies while modelling impacts from other traffic using statistical distributional data thereby ensuring simplicity in use and fast computational times. This makes it appropriate for analysing the impacts of improvements to public transport operations, individually or in combination, in early planning stages. The paper presents a joint measure of reliability for such evaluations based on passengers’ perceived travel time by considering headway time regularity and running time variability, i.e. taking into account waiting time and in-vehicle time. The approach was applied on a case study by assessing the effects of implementing segregated infrastructure and APTS elements, individually and in combination. The results showed that the reliability of on-street public transport operations mainly depends on APTS elements, and especially holding strategies, whereas pure infrastructure improvements induced travel time reductions. The results further suggested that synergy effects can be obtained by planning on-street public transport coherently in terms of reduced travel times and increased reliability

Determinants of continuance intention of user on smartphone-based traveller information systems in the greater Klang Valley

In these modern-days, the use of mobile traveller information service is pivotal in the efficient and effective running of the transportation system for an urban area. The role of urban facilities managers in urban transportation planning is to develop a plan to provide drivers with real-time traveller information services to enable regional economic growth and transition. Existing research in the mobile information traveller information services area has not deeply investigated the determinants of continuance intention to use smartphone-based traveller information systems (STIS). The purpose of this study is to attempt to do so by investigating STIS users’ continuance intention at the post-adoption phase. This study developed and validated an extended framework based on the expectation-confirmation model (ECM). The 280 STIS users from the Klang Valley highways and major streets participated in the study. The extended ECM results revealed that STIS users’ continuance intention is determined by perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness of continued STIS use, followed by satisfaction with STIS use. In this study, satisfaction and perceived usefulness are determined primarily by confirmation of expectation from participants’ previous use, except for the perceived enjoyment. The findings of this study have implications for the transportation sectors in planning their strategies to increase users’ continuance intention to use STIS services. Most of the current literature in mobile information services studies focused only on pre-adoption and have paid little attention to user’s continuance intention, especially in the context of smartphone apps or electronic information in the transportation system services. This study fills the theoretical and practical gaps by focusing on the post-adoption phase and developed an extended framework based on the ECM to explain the STIS continuance intention context. In addition, the topic is timely, as mobile information services have been flourishing in the current worldwide transportation sector services

Horizontal collaboration in the freight transport sector: barrier and decision-making frameworks

Abstract In the freight transport sector, competing companies horizontally collaborate through establishing Collaborative Transport Networks (CTNs). Fruitful implementation of CTNs will leverage environmental and socio-economic goals of sustainable development in the freight transport sector. The benefits of CTNs in horizontal collaborative settings have been widely demonstrated through several modelling approaches. However, in practice, the real applications of CTNs have been challenging and most did not achieve satisfactory performances. Some studies have addressed this issue by identifying different barriers to CTN implementation. However, a conceptual framework for the barriers is not well-established. In addition, the literature lacks a decision-making framework for the CTN implementation which considers the different barriers. To address this gap, this paper conducted a literature review of the barriers to CTN implementation. In total, 31 different barriers were identified. A conceptual barrier framework is developed by grouping the 31 barriers into five categories: the business model, information sharing, the human factors, the Collaborative Decision Support Systems (CDSSs), and the market. The paper additionally proposes a stage-gate model integrating the conceptual barrier framework into the CTN implementation decision-making process. The current work contributes to the existing literature by developing both theoretical and practical understandings of the barriers to implementing CTNs and will support decision makers in CTN implementation to maximize the CTN benefits and minimize the risk of CTN failure

Internet of Things. Information Processing in an Increasingly Connected World

This open access book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the First IFIP International Cross-Domain Conference on Internet of Things, IFIPIoT 2018, held at the 24th IFIP World Computer Congress, WCC 2018, in Poznan, Poland, in September 2018. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 24 submissions. Also included in this volume are 4 WCC 2018 plenary contributions, an invited talk and a position paper from the IFIP domain committee on IoT. The papers cover a wide range of topics from a technology to a business perspective and include among others hardware, software and management aspects, process innovation, privacy, power consumption, architecture, applications

High-Speed Projects in the United States: Identifying the Elements for Success-Part 1, MTI Report 05-01

For almost half a century, high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) has held the promise of fast, convenient, and environmentally sound travel for distances between 40 and 600 miles. While a number of HSGT systems have been developed and deployed in Asia and Europe, none has come close to being implemented in the United States. Yet this is not for lack of trying. There have been several efforts around the country, most of which have failed, some of which are still in the early stages, and a few of which might come to pass. The goal of this study was to identify lessons learned for successfully developing and implementing high-speed rail (HSR) in the United States. Through a broad literature review, interviews, and three specific case studies—Florida, California, and the Pacific Northwest—this study articulates those lessons and presents themes for future consideration

Performance assessment of urban precinct design: a scoping study

Executive Summary: Significant advances have been made over the past decade in the development of scientifically and industry accepted tools for the performance assessment of buildings in terms of energy, carbon, water, indoor environment quality etc. For resilient, sustainable low carbon urban development to be realised in the 21st century, however, will require several radical transitions in design performance beyond the scale of individual buildings. One of these involves the creation and application of leading edge tools (not widely available to built environment professions and practitioners) capable of being applied to an assessment of performance across all stages of development at a precinct scale (neighbourhood, community and district) in either greenfield, brownfield or greyfield settings. A core aspect here is the development of a new way of modelling precincts, referred to as Precinct Information Modelling (PIM) that provides for transparent sharing and linking of precinct object information across the development life cycle together with consistent, accurate and reliable access to reference data, including that associated with the urban context of the precinct. Neighbourhoods are the ‘building blocks’ of our cities and represent the scale at which urban design needs to make its contribution to city performance: as productive, liveable, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive places (COAG 2009). Neighbourhood design constitutes a major area for innovation as part of an urban design protocol established by the federal government (Department of Infrastructure and Transport 2011, see Figure 1). The ability to efficiently and effectively assess urban design performance at a neighbourhood level is in its infancy. This study was undertaken by Swinburne University of Technology, University of New South Wales, CSIRO and buildingSMART Australasia on behalf of the CRC for Low Carbon Living

CORPORATE MOBILITY REVIEW; How Business can Shape Mobility

This research is based around months of conversation with business leaders across major sectors of the Australian economy. It constitutes a business-led response to the challenge of mobility which is increasingly constraining the productivity and viability of Australian business. As part of the Sustainable Mobility Project, corporate involvement in mobility is investigated at all scales—from the smallest changes in company policy, to strategic new ventures in research and development. An extensive review of the literature is conducted to identify global trends and best practice in corporate mobility management. Transport challenges affecting a range of stakeholders like employees, customers, visitors and suppliers are discussed and various mobility initiatives evaluated. Mobility issues like flexible work, location policy and precinct-level travel management are also considered, before looking to new futures in urban passenger transportation and related opportunities for business participation. This literature review is coupled with an interview program conducted in Q4 2016 on ten organisations across unique industry sectors. Concurrent stakeholder engagement with Sustainable Business Australia member companies provided valuable ongoing feedback and ensured that emerging ideas could be adequately tested. The findings revealed a divergence across the business community’s involvement in mobility. Whilst some companies had a coherent strategy in place operationalised through worthwhile initiatives, others paid lip service to mobility issues and failed to translate the challenges they identified into action. There were some exceptional, forward-thinking leaders innovating to enter the future mobility marketplace with visions and targets set until the end of the century. Based on these findings, recommendations were then developed for businesses across sectors with the aim of generating dialogue and debate amongst the business community. These include: (1) collaborate across three dimensions—vertically within one’s own value chain with suppliers and customers, horizontally with competitors and other sectors, and orthogonally with government and industry associations; (2) challenge the status quo—whether it be on work practices, company culture or mobility solutions to lead new thinking across the organisation; (3) devise a mobility management plan—regularly survey stakeholders across the business (employees, customers, visitors and suppliers) on a range of indicators to understand their mobility requirements, and use this data to inform mobility initiative development; and (4) innovate to compete in the new mobility paradigm, adapting the company business model and seizing new opportunities as markets evolve. The key lesson here is that there are ample opportunities for business to shape mobility and that it is never too early (nor disadvantageous) to start the conversation