Exploring Travelers’ Characteristics Affecting their Intention to Shift to Bike-Sharing Systems due to a Sophisticated Mobile App

Many cities have already installed bike-sharing systems for several years now, but especially in recent years with the rise of micro-mobility, many efforts are being made worldwide to improve the operation of these systems. Technology has an essential role to play in the success of micro-mobility schemes, including bike-sharing systems. In this paper, it is examined if a state-of-the-art mobile application (app) can contribute to increasing the usage levels of such a system. It is also seeking to identify groups of travelers, who are more likely to be affected by the sophisticated app. With this aim, a questionnaire survey was designed and addressed to the users of the bike-sharing system of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as to other residents of the city. Through a descriptive analysis, the most useful services that an app can provide are identified. Most importantly, two different types of predictive models (i.e., classification tree and binary logit model) were applied in order to identify groups of users who are more likely to shift to or to use the bike-sharing system due to the sophisticated app. The results of the two predictive models confirm that people of younger ages and those who are not currently users of the system are those most likely to be attracted to the system due to such an app. Other factors, such as car usage frequency, education, and income also appeared to have slight impact on travelers’ intention to use the system more often due to the app

Electric vehicles charging infrastructure location: a genetic algorithm approach

Abstract Introduction As part of the overall goal of carbon emissions reduction, European cities are expected to encourage the electrification of urban transport. In order to prepare themselves to welcome the increased number of electric vehicles circulating in the city networks in the near future, they are expected to deploy networks of public electric vehicle chargers. The Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Location Problem is an optimization problem that can be approached by linear programming, multi-objective optimization and genetic algorithms. Methods In the present paper, a genetic algorithm approach is presented. Since data from electric vehicles usage are still scarce, origin - destination data of conventional vehicles are used and the necessary assumptions to predict electric vehicles’ penetration in the years to come are made. The algorithm and a user-friendly tool have been developed in R and tested for the city of Thessaloniki. Results The results indicate that 15 stations would be required to cover 80% of the estimated electric vehicles charging demand in 2020 in the city of Thessaloniki and their optimal locations to install them are identified. Conclusions The tool that has been developed based on the genetic algorithm, is open source and freely available to interested users. The approach can be used to allocate charging stations at high-level, i.e. to zones, and the authors encourage its use by local authorities of other cities too, in Greece and worldwide, in order to deploy a plan for installing adequate charging infrastructure to cover future electric vehicles charging demand and reduce the electric vehicle “driver anxiety” (i.e. the driver’s concern of running out of battery) encouraging the widespread adoption of electromobility

Do businesses expect benefits from the existence of metro stations in their area? A case study in Thessaloniki, Greece

There is a great number of studies which have proved that a new or improved transport system has an important impact on land uses and real estate prices. While there are many studies which examine the effect of a new urban public transport system on the values of neighbouring properties, the number of researches which focus on the identification of the benefits that businesses can expect is rather limited. The objective of the present paper is to identify parameters which have a significant impact on the business revenue, as well as to quantify that impact, focusing on the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, where a metro system is under construction A questionnaire-based survey took place, addressed to business enterprise owners and professionals in the surrounding area of ten of the planned locations of Thessaloniki metro stations. The data collected by this survey were reinforced with additional attributes of the businesses, such as their distance from the nearest metro station, and a statistical analysis has been conducted, utilizing also regression modelling techniques The results indicate that more benefits can be expected for businesses which are located closer to the metro stations, especially in areas with limited parking availability. The benefits are estimated to be higher for the land use category that includes restaurants/café/bars. Models of that type can be very useful in cases of implementing alternative funding/financing methods, such as Value Capture. For the implementation of such methods it is very important to accurately estimate the benefits that all the parties involved in an investment will gain.</p

Investigating the implementation of potential strategies for enhancing urban mobility and a city logistics system on the island of Corfu

The aim of this paper is to identify potential strategies for establishing more sustainable transport systems, in the island of Corfu, Greece. Thus, it investigates the implementation of “intermediate” and “flexible” transport and logistics schemes, operated by eco-friendly vehicles, allowing Corfu Island to achieve high standards of energy efficiency and environmental quality. With an ultimate scope to achieve remarkable modal shift from private transport to eco and energy efficient sustainable services and significant rationalization of freight delivery services, the suggested strategies aim to achieve: reduction of private traffic, improvement of passengers’ local mobility, rationalization and optimization of freight distribution on the island. Interviews with people working in the transport related field are utilized as the main research instrument and shed light on the needs and requirements of a reorganized transport system for both passengers and goods in the island. The investigation conducted, shows that the island needs a reduction of car use, improvement of public transport services and logistic services optimization. Therefore, three potential measures are proposed and further analyzed

Do businesses expect benefits from the existence of metro stations in their area? A case study in Thessaloniki, Greece

There is a great number of studies which have proved that a new or improved transport system has an important impact on land uses and real estate prices. While there are many studies which examine the effect of a new urban public transport system on the values of neighbouring properties, the number of researches which focus on the identification of the benefits that businesses can expect is rather limited. The objective of the present paper is to identify parameters which have a significant impact on the business revenue, as well as to quantify that impact, focusing on the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, where a metro system is under construction A questionnaire-based survey took place, addressed to business enterprise owners and professionals in the surrounding area of ten of the planned locations of Thessaloniki metro stations. The data collected by this survey were reinforced with additional attributes of the businesses, such as their distance from the nearest metro station, and a statistical analysis has been conducted, utilizing also regression modelling techniques The results indicate that more benefits can be expected for businesses which are located closer to the metro stations, especially in areas with limited parking availability. The benefits are estimated to be higher for the land use category that includes restaurants/café/bars. Models of that type can be very useful in cases of implementing alternative funding/financing methods, such as Value Capture. For the implementation of such methods it is very important to accurately estimate the benefits that all the parties involved in an investment will gain.Transport and Plannin

Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Analysis for Diet, Climate and Mobility Reconstruction in Agras (Early Iron Age) and Edessa (Roman Age), Northern Greece

In this article we present an isotopic analysis of human bone collagen (&delta;13Ccol, and &delta;15Ncol) and bone apatite (&delta;13C) for diet reconstruction, as well as &delta;18Oap of human bone apatite for climate reconstruction, using samples from Northern Greece. Radiocarbon dating analysis was conducted on three of the Agras samples and the results (from 1000 to 800 BC) correspond to the Early Iron Age. Isotopic values for &delta;13Ccol range from &minus;20.5&permil; to &minus;16&permil; and for &delta;15Ncol from 6&permil; to 11.1&permil;&mdash;a strong indication of a C3-based diet, with contributions by C4 and freshwater fish elements. The results were compared to the ones from Roman Edessa, and Alexandreia (a contemporary city near Edessa), as well as to other Early Iron sites in Greece and wider Europe. In general, the results from Agras are in good agreement with the results from Northern Greece, with the exception of the Makriyalos site, and are quite close to those of Croatia&rsquo;s and Hungary&rsquo;s sites. Additionally, from the &delta;18Oap results we calculated the oxygen isotopic composition of consumed water for Agras (from &minus;9.6&permil; to &minus;10.9&permil;) and for Roman Edessa (from &minus;9.6&permil; to &minus;11.2&permil;) for the palaeoclimate and palaeomobility reconstruction

Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Analysis for Diet, Climate and Mobility Reconstruction in Agras (Early Iron Age) and Edessa (Roman Age), Northern Greece

In this article we present an isotopic analysis of human bone collagen (δ13Ccol, and δ15Ncol) and bone apatite (δ13C) for diet reconstruction, as well as δ18Oap of human bone apatite for climate reconstruction, using samples from Northern Greece. Radiocarbon dating analysis was conducted on three of the Agras samples and the results (from 1000 to 800 BC) correspond to the Early Iron Age. Isotopic values for δ13Ccol range from −20.5‰ to −16‰ and for δ15Ncol from 6‰ to 11.1‰—a strong indication of a C3-based diet, with contributions by C4 and freshwater fish elements. The results were compared to the ones from Roman Edessa, and Alexandreia (a contemporary city near Edessa), as well as to other Early Iron sites in Greece and wider Europe. In general, the results from Agras are in good agreement with the results from Northern Greece, with the exception of the Makriyalos site, and are quite close to those of Croatia’s and Hungary’s sites. Additionally, from the δ18Oap results we calculated the oxygen isotopic composition of consumed water for Agras (from −9.6‰ to −10.9‰) and for Roman Edessa (from −9.6‰ to −11.2‰) for the palaeoclimate and palaeomobility reconstruction