Transport Modelling During Preparation of General Plans in Big Cities: Reasons and Challenges

Rapidly growing mobility of people in European cities attaches greater importance to the sustainable developmentconcept. The dynamics of European cities are however different. Cites such as Lithuanian, Slovakian and Polishones will rapidly increase traffic flows and car ownership at fast pace. Also in most of Western Europe, even if at lowerrates, private mobility is increasing. In some cities, however, car use and car ownership are finally decreasing, alsothanks to policies implemented. Of course, an increase of traffic flows poses problems in terms of street space, pollutionand liveability of cities. Sustainable integration of all kinds of transport into the urban development process is one ofthe most effective actions in the hands of city planners. The coordination between the planning of residential and businessdevelopment areas and the expansion of public transport and its hierarchical integration is however a difficult butnecessary exercise. Transport modelling tools, in particular, need important advancements to integrate transport andland use in simulations. This article analyses the main challenges in the use of transport models to support the constructionof city plans by means of two case studies of Milan and Vilnius. The analysis deals both with traditional aspects,such as the proper simulation of multimodal choices, the level of detail of zoning, the issues associated to the simulationof traffic management policies. Then, we will focus on two aspects still open: the integration of transport modelling andeconomic assessment or ranking of actions, and the inclusion of land use changes in the modelling

Influence of Revitalization on the Social and Economic Well-Being of Residents: Case Study of Lithuania

The lack of public spaces, recreational areas, and sports facilities in older city neighborhoods, as well as the importance of people’s social and economic well-being, have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Revitalization is used to update the physical environment of old neighborhoods; it improves not only the physical environment of the neighborhood, but also contributes to ensuring the social and economic well-being of the residents. The article aims to identify which typical revitalization project solutions, only referring to physical environmental improvement projects, improve the social and economic well-being of the residents. To achieve this goal, a statistical analysis of the Žirmūnai triangle residents was performed with obtained survey data. The hypothesized connections between typical revitalization solutions and changes in the social and economic well-being of the population were verified using Pearson’s Chi-Square test. The results showed that the public spaces, sports, and playgrounds provided by revitalization were directly related to the social and economic well-being of the residents. As a result of this typical revitalization solution, 17% of the residents experienced an improvement in their economic well-being, 17% of the residents got to know their neighbors, and 95% of the residents indicated that they enjoy living in the neighborhood

Route planning methodology of an advanced traveller information system in Vilnius city

As a subsystem of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), an Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS) disseminates real-time traffic information to travellers. To help them with making better decisions on choosing their routes, a strong need to predict traffic congestion and to disseminate the predicted congestion information relating to travellers can be seen. This paper describes a methodology used by drivers for calculating an optimal driven route in Vilnius. The paper discusses how ATIS systems will likely evolve the experience of Information Service Providers (ISP) and optimal route planning calculations. A few methods of route planning have been taken into account. The paper presents the following types of route calculation: 1) the shortest route; 2) the quickest route; 3) the quickest forecasted route according to historical traffic information. Also, the paper deals with the architecture of the WEB based information system for drivers in Vilnius and analyzes data on traffic workflow. Furthermore, a comprehensive route planning procedure that forecasts data on driving time considering historical traffic is followed

Calibration of Vilnius public transport model

The application of information technologies preconditions the optimisation of performance of transport systems: improvement of the performance quality, safety and efficiency of the overall system, increase in capacity, reduction of the trip duration without high financial investment into construction of the new technical infrastructure. The transport modelling is the only economical and sufficiently reliable way to carry out a forward assessment of the impact of the innovations to be applied on the overall system. The network of Vilnius public transport was built up on the data of 2002, and the year 2002 saw the last comprehensive surveys. Building up the PT network the data was taken from the VIDAS database, created in 2002 while drafting the special plan for Vilnius transport infrastructure (tram) development. The morning rush hour, when the passenger flows are maximum, was chosen for the modelling. Calibration of Vilnius PT network was carried out after selection of three possible methods: TSys-based, Headway-based and Timetable-based. In the timetable-based model Logit, Kirchhoff, BoxCox and Lochse distribution factors are inter-changed. Analysis of all coefficients received when modelling allows a conclusion that further modelling of the development of Vilnius public transport network should be based on Timetable-based model choosing Kirchhoff or BocCox distribution laws, whereof conformity to the basic averages of coefficients of the 2002 survey is respectively 0,82 and 0,81. This would facilitate adopting solutions to the development of the public transport systems and would increase their reliability. The calculated coefficients revealed that TSys-based methods were mostly removed from reality, and the average coefficient of failure to conform to the data of the 2002 survey is 0,24. This method did not give any data about the load on the stops, although the number of trips modelled with the help of this method was most proximate to the survey data, i.e. 0,69 %