AEOLIX Living Labs Operational ImpactsAssessment

This document provides the AEOLIX impact assessment of living labs at the operational level. It is based on three main impacts namely business, environment, and socio-economic impacts. The three impacts are sub-divided further into sub-categories. The report collects data from twelve living labs involved in with AEOLIX. One of the main goals of AEOLIX was to reduce the costs for various logistics activities as implemented in twelve living labs. The expected benefits in the business area are from reducing the consumption of different resources, reducing the time used for various activities, and from increasing the productivity in certain areas. The economic or business benefits came along two dimensions: (i) in terms of time and (ii) in terms of money. In terms of time, AEOLIX facilitated reducing the time spent on various activities at the companies. In terms of money, AEOLIX helped to save the costs of specific logistics activities within the living lab.For the environmental aspect an overall value of 20% was set as target value for reduction in CO2 emission using AEOLIX. Only one of all living labs reached this target value, but there was anyhow a reduction found in all living labs. AEOLIX and its functions have also helped in reducing noise pollution at some of the living labs. In some cases, there was quite a considerable reduction. For the socio-economic aspects the job creation, SME empowerment, and the improved quality of life are addressed. This study has explored the impact of AEOLIX on job creation in terms of drivers’ and operators’ jobs. Since the AEOLIX implementation is still in its initial phases, respondents were unable to estimate how many jobs (drivers and/or operators) were created in the long run. SME Empowerment was measured as the increase in SMEs’ market share and the increase in direct collaboration between SMEs and large organizations. The results were meager both with regard to the market share and the extent of collaboration. The improved quality of life is measured in the way AEOLIX puts more focus on work, the less stress at work and a positive attitude towards people using it. The results reflect that AEOLIX has greatly helped employees to put more focus on work and to reduce stress levels. Managers consider this as a positive side of the return on investment (ROI) as the business processes are improved. AEOLIX impact on various socio-economic aspects is in principle positive but as this process is very slow to emerge it takes time to observe any changes in social aspects.Acceptance and trust on AEOLIX can be captured as a majority of the evaluation managers of the living labs found the AEOLIX functions (dashboard, connectivity engine and toolkit) useful to a great extent. The willingness to continue using AEOLIX functions and their usefulness are directly related to each other. This means that the more useful a function is, the more users are willing to continue using it. The AEOLIX platform, through various services and functions, has a positive impact on society in general and on workers in particular. Although this impact cannot be evaluated financially for the first year of the AEOLIX implementation, numerous studies show that a more satisfying and less stressful job, together with a more welcoming and stimulating environment, have an important economic impact in the long-term period. Therefore, the fact that AEOLIX has a positive impact on society will also prove to be an economic benefit for the different companies

AEOLIX Reference Book

This is a documentation on the AEOLIX Reference Book (ARB), a website created during the project to collect, highlight and present emerging trends, technologies and practices that are of interest to the problem domain of the project (http://reference.aeolix.eu). The purpose of this document is to present the content of the website

Public Transportation in a Systems Perspective A Conceptual Model and an Analytical Framework for Design and Evaluation

Today urban areas are faced with problems like traffic congestion, air pollution, and limited accessibility and transport policy issues are focused on the "sustainable city of the future". For decision-makers the crucial question is how, with limited financial resources, a system for public transportation should be designed and developed to provide attractive travel and transport services. The basic problem is related to the systems design process itself, as the introduction of advanced applications based on new information and communication technologies will require a better understanding of public transportation in a systems perspective. By combining cognitive systems engineering and transportation systems analysis, relevant elements of control and communication theories (cybernetics) and human factors, a conceptual model and an analytical framework for public (mass passenger) transportation are developed. By use of a means-ends hierarchy of functional levels, the model describes five dynamic processes (the accessibility, travel, transport, traffic, and motion processes) in public transportation. Structural elements of the model (nodes for control functions, information collection and processing, and links for data and information flows) and their characteristics are identified and discussed. The framework and the model are, for validation purposes, applied in a design task (the realisation of an information centre for travellers and passengers) and in an evaluation task (an exploration and analysis of how incidents and disturbances are handled in Gothenburg). The complexity of public transportation is further explored, and control and data filtering needs on each functional level are identified and related to the potential of future dynamic interaction between actors on different functional levels. It is finally stated that the systems approach used to develop the model and the framework will become a necessary basis for future new ideas of how to promote the transportation of people by public means and, in that respect, the concept of intermodal passenger transport is critically assessed. The potential of the conceptual model and the analytical framework, to incorporate all possible means of transport (public and private) as well as to apply to the transportation of goods, is also discussed

Public Transportation in a Systems Perspective A Conceptual Model and an Analytical Framework for Design and Evaluation

Today urban areas are faced with problems like traffic congestion, air pollution, and limited accessibility and transport policy issues are focused on the "sustainable city of the future". For decision-makers the crucial question is how, with limited financial resources, a system for public transportation should be designed and developed to provide attractive travel and transport services. The basic problem is related to the systems design process itself, as the introduction of advanced applications based on new information and communication technologies will require a better understanding of public transportation in a systems perspective. By combining cognitive systems engineering and transportation systems analysis, relevant elements of control and communication theories (cybernetics) and human factors, a conceptual model and an analytical framework for public (mass passenger) transportation are developed. By use of a means-ends hierarchy of functional levels, the model describes five dynamic processes (the accessibility, travel, transport, traffic, and motion processes) in public transportation. Structural elements of the model (nodes for control functions, information collection and processing, and links for data and information flows) and their characteristics are identified and discussed. The framework and the model are, for validation purposes, applied in a design task (the realisation of an information centre for travellers and passengers) and in an evaluation task (an exploration and analysis of how incidents and disturbances are handled in Gothenburg). The complexity of public transportation is further explored, and control and data filtering needs on each functional level are identified and related to the potential of future dynamic interaction between actors on different functional levels. It is finally stated that the systems approach used to develop the model and the framework will become a necessary basis for future new ideas of how to promote the transportation of people by public means and, in that respect, the concept of intermodal passenger transport is critically assessed. The potential of the conceptual model and the analytical framework, to incorporate all possible means of transport (public and private) as well as to apply to the transportation of goods, is also discussed

Inner-city Evening Distribution. An evaluation of timesaving potential and environmental impact from a pilot project

Inner-city evening delivery has been tested by two companies in the grocery business in a pilot project in Stockholm, Sweden during 2005-2006. The aim was to evaluate what consequences evening distribution will have on a number of factors, e.g. distribution time, ev\ub4nvironmental aspects, capital utilisation and the working environment. The result show that the possible time saving is about 20-25% when the delivery starts after 18.00 compared to morning delivery. The environmental benefits are of the same range. However, many of the actors must be willing to change their routinnes and other conditions. These obstacles and others must be overcome before the full pontential can be reached