A methodology to improve public transport system

The quality of pedestrian routes of access to public transport system (PTS) is an important aspect for the choice of transport mode, that can be evaluated also using some indicators as accessibility, comfort, frequency, etc... The policies for urban sustainable mobility must reflect the design and management of mass transit systems, but also the judgment of users in term of quality and perception of PTS. The purpose is reassess slow mobility encouraging the intermodal mobility between pedestrian and public transport. So the walking can be considered as alternative mode of urban transport and a moment of break from the chaos of modern life. It’s role should be considered as an important element for a new model of structuring the city. Using Geomatics it has developed a methodology for the assessment of accessibility to the PTS, that takes into account the quality of pedestrian path to reach the bus stop. Distance between bus-stops, human energy expended to reach the stops of the PTS etc.. are some elements analyzed in this study. The qualitative and quantitative data of the pedestrian network access have been managed in a Geographic Information System (GIS), proving a valuable tool that can handle a large amount of spatial and heterogeneous data. The results can be of support both at the planning /strategic level that also to the users, if inserted in the context of Web-GIS, making it competitive the integration between pedestrian mobility and PTS

A methodology for the incorporation of social inclusion into transport policy

4-8 July 2004. Istanbul, Turke

The Use of Value Capture for Transport Projects in China: Opportunities and Challenges

Value capture (VC) could be a useful tool to address the huge demand for public transport infrastructure funding in China. This research identifies the opportunities and challenges faced by VC implementation in China and explains how local governments and local transit agencies dealt with the regulatory barriers. The findings of this research offer insights including: (1) macro environment, regulatory framework, and supportive policy environment provide opportunities to adopt VC projects, while the risk of acquiring land vale cannot be isolated from the global political and economic situations; (2) the regulatory challenges of land transactions and lack of property tax system restrict the application of VC; (3) evidence from the case study of Shenzhen demonstrates that local government may creatively deal with the regulatory challenges to do VC and benefit local community; (4) institutional capacity is vital to implement VC. The analysis of Shenzhen experience can provide a reference for other Chinese cities to implement VC.fals

ADB–OECD Study on Enhancing Financial Accessibility for SMEs: Lessons from Recent Crises

During the era of global financial uncertainty, stable access to appropriate funding sources has been much harder for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The global financial crisis impacted SMEs and entrepreneurs disproportionately, exacerbating their traditional financing constraints. The financial conditions of many SMEs were weakened by the drop in demand for goods and services and the credit tightening. The sovereign debt crisis that hit several European countries contributed to further deterioration in bank lending activities, which negatively affected private sector development. The global regulatory response to financial crises, such as the Basel Capital Accord, while designed to reduce systemic risks may also constrain bank lending to SMEs. In particular, Basel III requires banks to have tighter risk management as well as greater capital and liquidity. Resulting asset preference and deleveraging of banks, particularly European banks with significant presence in Asia, could limit the availability of funding for SMEs in Asia and the Pacific. Lessons from the recent financial crises have motivated many countries to consider SME access to finance beyond conventional bank credit and to diversify their national financial system. Improving SME access to finance is a policy priority at the country and global level. Poor access to finance is a critical inhibiting factor to the survival and growth potential of SMEs. Financial inclusion is thus key to the development of the SME sector, which is a driver of job creation and social cohesion and takes a pivotal role in scaling up national economies. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have recognized that it is crucial to develop a comprehensive range of policy options on SME finance, including innovative financing models. With this in mind, sharing Asian and OECD experiences on SME financing would result in insightful discussions on improving SME access to finance at a time of global financial uncertainty. Based on intensive discussions in two workshops organized by ADB in Manila on 6–7 March 2013 and by OECD in Paris on 21 October 2013, the two organizations together compiled this study report on enhancing financial accessibility for SMEs, especially focusing on lessons from the past and recent crises in Asia and OECD countries. The report takes a comparative look at ADB and OECD experiences, and aims to identify promising policy solutions for creating an SME base that is resilient to crisis, from a viewpoint of access to finance, and which can help drive growth and development

Public Participation GIS for sustainable urban mobility planning: methods, applications and challenges

Sustainable mobility planning is a new approach to planning, and as such it requires new methods of public participation, data collection and data aggregation. In the article we present an overview of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) methods with potential use in sustainable urban mobility planning. We present the methods using examples from two recent case studies conducted in Polish cities of Poznań and Łodź. Sustainable urban mobility planning is a cyclical process, and each stage has different data and participatory requirements. Consequently, we situate the PPGIS methods in appropriate stages of planning, based on potential benefits they may bring into the planning process. We discuss key issues related to participant recruitment and provide guidelines for planners interested in implementing methods presented in the paper. The article outlines future research directions stressing the need for systematic case study evaluation

Investigation to enhance sustainable improvements in high speed rail transport

Transport systems are essential for the life of modern societies and economies. A sustainable transport system can shape a sustainable development pattern and socio-economic attributes of urban centres and regions. The use of private cars and trucks is increasing in most countries, creating more congestion, accidents, pollution and energy consumption. Many governments desire to achieve growth in public transport to overcome these adverse trends. A massive shift toward an environmentally sound type of transport is crucial and railways are deemed to be one of the most sustainable modes. All over the world the railway industry is involved in a renewal to reform and up-date rail, prompted largely by environmental concerns. The trend is to develop speed-competitive systems to expand transportation capacity. The focus of the current research, which is at its commencing stages, is to investigate the opportunities to apply an alternative approach to railway operations to overcome the difficulty of high speed transport in servicing larger amounts of demand, while achieving minimum point to point travel time, in a viable and integrated environment for both passenger and freight services. The expected outcome of the research project is to present a framework that may be used to identify and evaluate the most cost-effective transport solution to service not only major cities, but also regional centres along an interregional rail corridor, thus providing greater benefits on local economies and to build a spine for future development

Social exclusion and transport policy

This paper is a review of social inclusion in the specification by central government of policy instruments for local government. It forms part of the scooping study on Accessibility and User Needs in Transport (AUNT) funded by the EPSRC Sustainable Urban Environment programme. The aim of the study is to produce rigorous methodologies to develop and test sustainable policies and practices that will deliver effective socially inclusive design and operation in urban transport and the public realm from the macro down to the micro level. In particular, this paper forms part of a work package to develop a tool and modelling techniques that can be used to identify the areas and sectors that have high levels of social exclusion, and then facilitate the testing of policy options to assess the extent to which they meet user needs and increase social inclusion. The paper begins with a review of key government documents regarding social exclusion and transport, before going on to discuss how social inclusion is incorporated into local government transport policy

The development of accessibility indicators for distance learning programs

A study was undertaken to explore program policies and practices related to the accessibility of American distance learning courses to qualified students with disabilities. A literature review was conducted, a draft list of accessibility indicators was created, examples of applications of the indicators in existing distance learning programs were collected, the indicators were systematically applied to one distance learning program, input from a variety of distance learning programs was used to further refine the indicators, and these programs were encouraged to adopt the indicators and make use of resources provided by the project. Results of this exploratory work suggest that incorporating accessibility considerations into policies, procedures and communications of a program requires consideration of the unique needs of students, course designers, instructors and evaluators; involves approval and implementation at a variety of administrative levels; and is an ongoing process that may be implemented in incremental steps

Does Accessibility Planning address what matters? A review of current practice and practitioner perspectives

'Accessibility' has become commonplace in transport planning and as such there is a plethora of interpretations of what accessibility means, what constitutes a good measure of accessibility, and how this might be applied in practice. This paper presents an overview of approaches to measuring accessibility and presents a case study of Accessibility Planning in England — one approach to formalising the concept of accessibility. Results of semi-structured interviews with local authority officers are discussed to establish whether current approaches, allow their desired outcomes to be met. This approach demonstrates where there might be gaps between measured or modelled accessibility and the perceptions of the individuals. Findings suggest that while the process is deemed useful in raising the profile of accessibility issues, measures of accessibility do not necessarily easily translate into quantifying benefits of those improvements that are perceived by practitioners to improve accessibility and reduce transport disadvantage