Does public transit improvement affect commuting behavior in Beijing, China? : A spatial multilevel approach

Developing countries like China have experienced substantial city transformations over the past decade. City transformations are characterized by transportation innovations that allow individuals to access to speedy commuting modes for work activities and offer potential influences on commuting behavior. This paper examines the potential effects of subway system expansion in Beijing on commuting behavior. Our methodological design controls for spatial effects by employing Bayesian multilevel binary logistic models with spatial random effects. Using cross-sectional individual surveys in Beijing, the results suggest that there is a significant rise in subway commuting trips while non-motorized and bus commuting trips are reduced with the new subway expansion. Model comparison results show evidence about the presence of spatial effects in influencing the role of built environment characteristics to play in the commuting behavior analysis

Modelling public transport accessibility with Monte Carlo stochastic simulations: A case study of Ostrava

Activity-based micro-scale simulation models for transport modelling provide better evaluations of public transport accessibility, enabling researchers to overcome the shortage of reliable real-world data. Current simulation systems face simplifications of personal behaviour, zonal patterns, non-optimisation of public transport trips (choice of the fastest option only), and do not work with real targets and their characteristics. The new TRAMsim system uses a Monte Carlo approach, which evaluates all possible public transport and walking origin-destination (O-D) trips for k-nearest stops within a given time interval, and selects appropriate variants according to the expected scenarios and parameters derived from local surveys. For the city of Ostrava, Czechia, two commuting models were compared based on simulated movements to reach (a) randomly selected large employers and (b) proportionally selected employers using an appropriate distance-decay impedance function derived from various combinations of conditions. The validation of these models confirms the relevance of the proportional gravity-based model. Multidimensional evaluation of the potential accessibility of employers elucidates issues in several localities, including a high number of transfers, high total commuting time, low variety of accessible employers and high pedestrian mode usage. The transport accessibility evaluation based on synthetic trips offers an improved understanding of local situations and helps to assess the impact of planned changes.Web of Science1124art. no. 709

The impact of location on housing prices: applying the Artificial Neural Network Model as an analytical tool.

The location of a residential property in a city directly affects its market price. Each location represents different values in variables such as accessibility, neighbourhood, traffic, socio-economic level and proximity to green areas, among others. In addition, that location has an influence on the choice and on the offer price of each residential property. The development of artificial intelligence, allows us to use alternative tools to the traditional methods of econometric modelling. This has led us to conduct a study of the residential property market in the city of Valencia (Spain). In this study, we will attempt to explain the aspects that determine the demand for housing and the behaviour of prices in the urban space. We used an artificial neutral network as a price forecasting tool, since this system shows a considerable improvement in the accuracy of ratings over traditional models. With the help of this system, we attempted to quantify the impact on residential property prices of issues such as accessibility, level of service standards of public utilities, quality of urban planning, environmental surroundings and other locational aspects.

PROSPECT OF THE TRANSIT-ORIENTED EVELOPMENT IN CHINA

Even though transit-oriented development (TOD) concept remains disputable in the United States (U.S.), it is almost universally accepted by the Chinese planning community. This is largely attributed to China’s national policy on prioritizing the public transit development. It should be recognized that, due to the existence of substantial differences between the U.S. and China in population density, land use intensity, personal income level, urban spatial structure, and propensity to use public transit, it is inappropriate for China to directly utilize the U.S. TOD-related planning parameters without making a proper adjustment. China needs to develop its own TOD-related planning parameters based on its concrete circumstances. At present, China has achieved great strides in TOD research and practices, yet still lacking a nationwide TOD inventory data base. Additionally, this paper makes several improvement recommendations for the TOD implementation in China.transit-oriented development, China, public transit, land use.

Mobility of the Chinese Urban Poor - A Case Study of Hefei City

In a rapid economic development environment with rising income, escalating motorization, and growing urbanization, it is natural for government policies to focus on solving congestion related problems caused by the increased car ownership and usage. The mobility needs of the urban poor have been traditionally neglected in policy and in practice, particularly in developing countries. This paper addresses the mobility challenges the urban poor are facing based on a household travel survey in the City of Hefei in China. It first presents travel behaviors, transportation costs and commuting problems of the urban poor. It then discusses the urban transportation policy implications and examines the prevailing trends of urban transportation policies and plans in Chinese cities. Policy recommendations are suggested to improve the mobility needs of the urban poor.Urban transportation, poverty, mobility

17-09 Assessing the Impact of Air Pollution on Public Health Along Transit Routes

Transportation sources account for a large proportion of the pollutants found in most urban areas. Also, transportation activity and intensity appear likely to contribute to the risk of respiratory disease occurrence. This research investigates the impacts of transportation, urban design and socioeconomic characteristics on the risk of air pollution-related respiratory diseases in two of the biggest MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) in the US, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Los Angeles at the block group (BG) level, by considering the US Environmental Protection Agency’s respiratory hazard quotient (RHQ) as the dependent variable. The researchers identify thirty candidate indicators of disease risk from previous studies and use them as independent variables in the model. The study applies a three-step modeling including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to reach the final model. The results of this study demonstrate strong spatial correlations in the variability in both MSAs which help explain the impact of the indicators such as socioeconomic characteristics, transit access to jobs, and automobile access on the risk of respiratory diseases. The populations living in areas with higher transit access to jobs in urbanized areas and greater automobile access in more rural areas appear more prone to respiratory diseases after controlling for demographic characteristics

Does government favor high end housing development around a representative TOD project

Facing the constraints on land use, energy resource and environment, Shenzhen has employed Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) for over a decade, with an expectation to transform its development pattern, including establishing efficient urban morphology with low cost, enhancing economic benefits of land use, preventing unreasonable urban sprawl, and encouraging public transit use. One particular pattern of TOD in Shenzhen is to bring up surrounding land development by urban rail transit. However, a representative TOD project - the first phase of Shenzhen NO.2 metro line which is one of the earliest TOD project in Shenzhen is underperforming owing to current lower ridership in several representative TOD stations than expected. But comparatively, residents in the nearby densely populated neighborhoods don't have easy accesses to rail transit like NO.2 metro line. The objective of the thesis is to explore why government planned a speculative TOD rail transit line through a reclamation zone and whether the government favors high end housing development around the project while not improving transit accesses to the densely populated neighborhoods nearby. Relevant planning documents of the project and the study area are reviewed to summarize the key guidelines and expectations for TOD of the study area. Moreover, based on Shenzhen TOD Guide and Standard, built environment of several TOD represented stations are evaluated quantitatively. Social demographics data are collected and analyzed by descriptive statistics, in order to define and assess transit equity in the research. Interviews of a government official from transportation department and a practitioner who led the projects are conducted so as to further understand the initial purpose of the TOD project, institutional and transit equity issues of the study area. Conclusions are drawn as what expectations of the TOD project are, what factors that result in high end housing development are, considerations for transit equity in study region, and what lessons the relevant agencies should learn with regard to the issues