Public transport policies in Europe: implementing bus rapid transit systems in major European cities

Policies promoting Bus Rapid Transit implementation in Europe might take advantage of its low budget requirements and high capacity to provide a much more efficient transport system.Postprint (published version

Enhancing the Existing Microscopic Simulation Modeling Practice for Express Lane Facilities

The implementation of managed lanes (MLs), also known as dynamically priced express lanes, to improve freeway traffic flow and personal throughput is on the rise. Congestion pricing is increasingly becoming a common strategy for congestion management, often requiring microscopic simulation during both planning and operational stages. VISSIM is a recognized microscopic simulation software used for analyzing the performance of managed lanes (MLs). This thesis addressed two important microscopic simulation issues that affect the evaluation results of MLs. One of the microscopic simulation issues that has not yet been addressed by previous studies is the required minimum managed lane routing decision (MLRD) distance upstream of the ingress point of MLs. Decision distance is an optimal upstream distance prior to the ingress at which drivers decide to use MLs and change lanes to orient on a side of MLs ingress. To answer this question, this study used a VISSIM model simulating I-295 proposed MLs in Jacksonville, Florida, United States (U.S), varying the MLRD point at regular intervals from 500 feet to 7,000 feet for different levels of service (LOS) input. Three measures of effectiveness (MOEs) - speed, the number of vehicles changing lanes, and following distance - were used for the analysis. These MOEs were measured in the 500 feet zone prior to the ingress. The results indicate that as the LOS deteriorates, speed decreases, the number of vehicles changing lanes increases, and the following distance decreases. When the LOS is constant, the increase in the MLRD distance from the ingress point was associated with the increase in the speed at the 500 feet zone prior to the ingress, less number of lane changes, and the increase in following vehicle gap. However, the MOEs approached constant values after reaching a certain MLRD distance. LOS D was used to determine the minimum MLRD distance to the ingress of the MLs. The determined minimum MLRD distances were 4,000 and 3,000 feet for 6 and 3 lane segments prior to the ingress point, respectively. Another issue addressed in this thesis is the managed lane evaluation (MLE) outputs, which include speed, travel time, density, and tolls. In computing the performance measures, the existing VISSIM managed lane evaluation (EVMLE) tool is designed to use the section starting at the point when vehicles are assigned to use MLs, also known as the MLRD point, which is located upstream of the ingress. The longer the MLRD distance from the ingress, the more the EVMLE tool uses the traffic conditions of the MLs traffic before entering the ML in its computations. This study evaluates the impact of the MLRD distance on the EVMLE outputs and presents a proposed algorithm that addresses the EVMLE shortcomings. In order to examine the influence of the MLRD distance on the outputs of the above-mentioned two algorithms, simulation scenarios of varying MLRD distances from 500 ft to 7,000 feet from the ingress were created. For demonstration purposes, only the speed was used to represent other performance measures. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was performed to determine whether there was a significant difference in the speed results with the change in the MLRD distance. According to the ANOVA results, the EVMLE tool produced ML speeds that are MLRD dependent, yielding lower speeds with an increased MLRD distance. On the other hand, the ML speed results from the proposed algorithm were fairly constant, regardless of the MLRD distance

Evaluation Of Lane Use Management Strategies

The limited funding available for roadway capacity expansion and the growing funding gap, in conjunction with the increasing congestion, creates a critical need for innovative lane use management options. Various cost-effective lane use management strategies have been implemented in the United States and worldwide to address these challenges. However, these strategies have their own costs, operational characteristics, and additional requirements for field deployment. Hence, there is a need for systematic methodologies to evaluate lane use management strategies. In this thesis, a systematic simulation-based methodology is proposed to evaluate lane use management strategies. It involves identifying traffic corridors that are suitable for lane use management strategies, and analyzing the strategies in terms of performance and financial feasibility. The state of Indiana is used as a case study for this purpose, and a set of traffic corridors is identified. From among them, a 10-mile stretch of the I-65 corridor south of downtown Indianapolis is selected as the study corridor using traffic analysis. The demand volumes for the study area are determined using subarea analysis. The performance of the traffic corridor is evaluated using a microsimulation-based analysis for alleviating congestion using three strategies: reversible lanes, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and ramp metering. Furthermore, an economic evaluation of these strategies is performed to determine the financial feasibility of their implementation. Results from the simulation based analysis indicate that the reversible lanes and ramp metering strategies improve traffic conditions on the freeway in the major flow direction. Implementation of the HOV lane strategy results in improved traffic flow conditions on the HOV lanes but aggravated congestion on the general purpose lanes. The HOV lane strategy is found to be economically infeasible due to low HOV volume on these lanes. The reversible lane and ramp metering strategies are found to be economically feasible with positive net present values (NPV), with the NPV for the reversible lane strategy being the highest. While reversible lanes, HOV lanes and ramp metering strategies are effective in mitigating congestion by optimizing lane usage, they do not generate additional revenue required to reduce the funding deficit. Inadequate funds and worsening congestion have prompted federal, state and local planning agencies to explore and implement various congestion pricing strategies. In this context, the high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes strategy is explored here. Equity concerns associated with pricing schemes in transportation systems have garnered increased attention in the recent past. Income inequity potentially exists under the HOT strategy whereby higher-income travelers may reap the benefits of HOT lane facilities. An income-based multi-toll pricing approach is proposed for a single HOT lane facility in a network to simultaneously maximize the toll revenue and address the income equity concern, while ensuring a minimum level-of-service on the HOT lanes and that the toll prices do not exceed thresholds specified by a regulatory entity. The problem is modeled as a bi-level optimization formulation. The upper level model seeks to maximize revenue for the tolling authority subject to pre-specified upper bounds on toll prices. The lower level model solves for the stochastic user equilibrium solution based on commuters\u27 objective of minimizing their generalized travel costs. Due to the computational intractability of the bi-level formulation, an approximate agent-based solution approach is used to determine the toll prices by considering the tolling authority and commuters as agents. Results from numerical experiments indicate that a multi-toll pricing scheme is more equitable and can yield higher revenues compared to a single toll price scheme across all travelers

Potential shift from transit to single occupancy vehicle due to adaptation of a high occupancy vehicle lane to a high occupancy toll lane

Modifying a high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane into a high occupancy/toll (HOT) lane generally involves allowing single occupant vehicles (SOVs) to travel on the free-flow HOV lane for a toll. This may entice some former transit riders to pay the toll to obtain the benefits of traveling in their own vehicle on the HOV lane. Thus, the introduction of a HOT lane has the potential to impact transit ridership, dramatically lowering the average vehicle occupancy of the lane. In 2003, surveys were distributed to park-and-ride bus passengers on the Katy Freeway and Northwest Freeway corridors in Houston. Passengers’ responses to questions regarding their trip characteristics, their socioeconomic characteristics, and stated preference scenarios were used to develop a mode choice model. To determine how transit passengers might react to a proposed HOT lane, HOT lane scenarios with varying tolls and travel time savings were simulated using this model. For all scenarios, only a small percentage of transit passengers were estimated to switch to driving alone on the HOV lane. Fewer people would switch during the peak period than during the off-peak period. Transit passengers shifting to SOV on the HOV lane would reduce the average vehicle occupancy (AVO) only about 1 percent to 2 percent. SOV drivers shifting from the general purpose lanes to the HOV lanes are likely to affect AVO much more. However, as long as free-flow conditions are maintained, this analysis shows that the HOV lane can be successfully adapted to a HOT lane and move more people, even if a few transit passengers choose to drive alone

The Effectiveness of The Implementation of ITACA

Since Putrajaya was officially proclaimed as the new Federal Administrative Centre of Malaysia, Perbadanan Putrajaya has been given a great responsibility to structure, organize and implement a development for this city for the convenience of its resident. To ensure that Putrajaya will be a modern and organized city, Perbadanan Putrajaya has introduced a traffic light system that is Intelligent Traffic Adaptive Control Agent (ITACA) System that will enable the traffic to be fully controlled by computer. It is noted as the bestway in traffic management system to minimize the congestion level at urban city as well as the best computerized traffic control in Asia. Implementation of ITACA allows the traffic at the implemented junction to flow smoothly and road user doesn't have to rush and cut queues while queuing at junction. When the traffic light system using a fully computerized control system, all the system will be integrate to be one central dynamic traffic control system that will be able to control from the Perbadanan Putrajaya Headquarters building as the control centre. This report described the detailed step and analysis regarding measure in determining the junction performance for both with and without ITACA system operation. The problem statement has been stated, the scope has been identified, and also the objectives have been listed out in order to be achieved in the final steps of this project. By conducting traffic survey and traffic analysis, it was determined thatjunctions with the implementation of ITACA system has a better performance compared to junctions without the system. This report also gives a better overview of ITACA system, the architecture of ITACA system, an overview of aaSIDRA software and also its applications which are applied and used in conducting traffic analysis