CALIBRATING THE INTERCITY HIGH SPEED RAIL (HSR) CHOICE MODEL FOR THE RICHMOND-WASHINGTON, D.C. CORRIDOR

This study aims to quantitatively investigate how the introduction of high-speed rail (HSR) influences traveler’s choice behavior. The study focuses on recalibrating the Florida-based HSR choice model to fit the intercity travel northward from Richmond, Virginia to Washington, D.C. The model takes a nested logit formulation and includes a binary marginal choice submodel to project travel behavior between aggregate ground and individual air transportation modes, and a trinomial conditional mode choice model to examine the travel behavior patterns within three ground transportation submodes: auto, bus, and rail. The data collected is based upon the base year 2008 market conditions, and the recalibrated model is used to forecast the year 2014 HSR levels of service. Empirical results show that reduced travel cost and other impedance factors stand to increase utility for HSR, even though the auto will continue to be the dominant travel mode.high speed rail, nested logit model, mode choice, Richmond, Washington D.C.

CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON URBAN MANAGEMENT IN LOS ANGELES

This paper reviews the Chinese immigration history in Los Angeles, with Chinatown representing its urbanization process and San Gabriel Valley representing its suburbanization process. These two processes are distinct and have different impacting factors. This empirical study also compares similarities and differences of the urban development patterns between the Chinese Americans and the mainstream white Americans. Furthermore, the paper examines the implications of Chinese immigration on local urban management from political, cultural, and socioeconomic aspects.urbanization, suburbanization, Los Angeles, Chinatown, San Gabriel Valley.

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.

URBAN PLANNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES: AN OVERVIEW

This paper gives an overview of the urban planning management system in Los Angeles, United States. This system consists of institutional subsystem, legal subsystem, operational subsystem, and technical subsystem. The City of Los Angeles Planning Department carries out its urban planning responsibilities in accordance with the General Plan Guidelines promulgated by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. The planning process has a good balance between government activities and citizen participations. The City’s advanced technical tools, including internet-based Zoning Information and Map Access System and online filing system, have fostered the public interaction with the planning process. The City is recommended to incorporate more market-based planning measures in the future.urban planning management system, general plan, zoning, subdivision

THE HIGH-SPEED RAIL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHEAST MEGAREGION OF THE UNITED STATES: A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS

This paper examines the high-speed rail (HSR) development issues in the Northeast Megaregion of the United States (U.S.). Due to chronic underinvestment and a myriad of other factors, the only operational HSR in the U.S., i.e., Amtrak’s Acela Express, is lagging behind the Japanese Shinkansen and other advanced HSR systems in the world in its operating performance and relative modal importance. This study adopts both regional and international perspectives to address this issue. The regional perspective conducts the passenger rail transportation deficiency analysis on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The international perspective introduces the Japanese railway privatization process and its consequences. Based on empirical research, this paper proposes a set of improvement strategies and draws conclusions.Northeast Megaregion, High-Speed rail, Amtrak, Shinkansen, Japan.

RICHMOND’S JOURNEY-TO-WORK TRANSIT TRIP-MAKING ANALYSIS

This paper uses the 2000 Census Transportation Planning Package data to conduct a journey-to-work transit trip-making analysis for the City of Richmond, Virginia. In spite of its low modal share, transit is critical to the City due to its unique demographics and high transit demand. Findings of statistical analyses suggest that factors impacting transit uses at place-of-residence and place-of-work are different. Nevertheless, they share one thing in common that it is essential to improve transit accessibility to workers, especially the ones whose households are below poverty status. The existing hub-and-spoke bus transit system is being challenged by the City’s suburbanization movement and declining downtown area. To accommodate this trend and unmet transit needs, this paper recommends strengthening the bus transit services in the urban fringe residential areas, rather than exclusively focusing on the suburb-downtown transit improvements.Public transportation, Social factors, Ridership, Urban areas

Household/zonal socioeconomic characteristics and tour making: case of Richmond/Tri-Cities Model Region in Virginia

This paper statistically assesses the impacts of household/zonal socio economic characteristics on tour making within the Richmond/Tri-Cities Model Region, Virginia, United States, based on the dataset made available through the 2009 Virginia National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Add-On Program. The tour analysis distinguishes nine tour types (three simple tours and six complex tours) stratified by aggregate tour purposes of work (including school and other subsistence activities), maintenance and discretionary. A series of regression model runs have yielded the following conclusions: First, at aggregate level, the number of drivers, median household income, household size, number of workers, and zonal walking modal share are statistically significant and positively impact tour frequency. Tour length and complexity are positively related to household income and number of vehicles, but negatively related to zonal walking modal share. Second, at an individual tour type level, each tour type's frequency/length/complexity is impacted by a different set of household/zonal socioeconomic characteristics. Zonal socioeconomic characteristics have little or no impacts on household tour making. It is recognized that many unknown factors may also have impacted tour activities, which require further in-depth studies in order to better explain complex tours.This paper statistically assesses the impacts of household/zonal socio economic characteristics on tour making within the Richmond/Tri-Cities Model Region, Virginia, United States, based on the dataset made available through the 2009 Virginia National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Add-On Program. The tour analysis distinguishes nine tour types (three simple tours and six complex tours) stratified by aggregate tour purposes of work (including school and other subsistence activities), maintenance and discretionary. A series of regression model runs have yielded the following conclusions: First, at aggregate level, the number of drivers, median household income, household size, number of workers, and zonal walking modal share are statistically significant and positively impact tour frequency. Tour length and complexity are positively related to household income and number of vehicles, but negatively related to zonal walking modal share. Second, at an individual tour type level, each tour type's frequency/length/complexity is impacted by a different set of household/zonal socioeconomic characteristics. Zonal socioeconomic characteristics have little or no impacts on household tour making. It is recognized that many unknown factors may also have impacted tour activities, which require further in-depth studies in order to better explain complex tours

Public Transit Agency\u27s Management Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like the rest of the USA, the Greater Richmond, Virginia (RVA) region severely suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic impacts in multiple areas. The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) took big hits in its system transit ridership in fiscal years (FY) 2020 and 2021. In response to this emergency, GRTC immediately implemented bold management strategies to protect its operators and riders, serve essential trips, adjust operating schedules, offer free transit services, and broaden funding sources. As a result of implementing these emergency management strategies, GRTC successfully overcame the pandemic crises and embarked on the road to full recovery in its transit operation, especially in its local-fixed route operation. The successful lessons from GRTC can also be transferable to other similar regions in the USA and beyond

The U.S. and Chinese Transportation Policies and Practices for the Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations: A Literature Review-based Comparative Study

Even though China has entered the aging society almost 20 years ago and passed elderly and disability-related laws, its transportation-related facilities and services for the elderly and disabled remain insufficient, which has seriously impacted its Transportation-Disadvantaged Populations’ travel and quality of life. Thus, it is necessary to examine other advanced countries’ best planning practices in specialized transportation services to assess their applicability to China. This paper first reviews the U.S. and Chinese laws, regulations, implementation measures and studies related to the elderly and disabled transportation. Afterwards, it conducts an analysis on the differences between the U.S. and China and assesses the transferability and applicability of the American transportation policies and practices for the transportation-disadvantaged populations to China. Through this comparative analysis, it is concluded that China may learn from the U.S. in establishing a sound legal framework, enhancing institutional coordination, providing financial subsidy, and conducting comprehensive elderly and disabled transportation planning, design, construction and operation. In the meantime, China’s institutional well-organization, implementation efficiency and social mobilization capability can also offer many useful lessons to the U.S

Gr\"obner-Shirshov bases for Rota-Baxter algebras

In this paper, we establish the Composition-Diamond lemma for associative nonunitary Rota-Baxter algebras with weight $\lambda$. As applications, we obtain a linear basis of a free commutative Rota-Baxter algebra without unity and show that every countably generated Rota-Baxter algebra with weight 0 can be embedded into a two-generated Rota-Baxter algebra.Comment: 24 page