Implementation of Bus Rapid Transit in Copenhagen: A Mesoscopic Model Approach

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has shown to be an efficient and cost-effective mode of public transport, and has gained popularity in many cities around the world. To optimise the operations and infrastructure it is advantageous to deploy transport models. However, microscopic models are very inefficient for large scale corridors due to the vast amount of data and resources required. Hence, it is relevant to investigate how to model and evaluate BRT efficiently. In this paper the effects of implementing BRT in Copenhagen is discussed including how to evaluate and model bus operations. For this purpose, a mesoscopic simulation model is developed. In the model bus operations are modelled on a microscopic level whereas the interactions with other traffic are modelled macroscopically. This makes it possible to model high-frequency bus services such as BRT lines in more details without the time consumption of micro-simulation models. The developed model is capable of modelling bus operations in terms of travel time and reliability including important mode-specific issues such as bus bunching. The model is applied to a BRT project proposal with different combinations of BRT elements. The model results show that infrastructure upgrades (busways and enhanced stations) ensure a reduction to travel time whereas no improvements to reliability occur. Upgrades to technology and service planning (pre-paid fare collection, boarding and alighting from all doors, special BRT vehicles, ITS, and active bus control) ensure an increase in service reliability whereas only small reductions to travel time are observed. By combining all BRT elements it is possible to obtain synergies where the improved reliability due to planning and technology elements makes it possible to utilise the infrastructure optimally. Hence, it is possible to increase commercial speed from 14.8 to 19.9 km/h and service reliability in terms of headway time regularity from 46% to 84% aggregated on both directions for the morning peak period making the implementation of BRT feasible from a pure financial point of view

Analysing improvements to on-street public transport systems: a mesoscopic model approach

Light rail transit and bus rapid transit have shown to be efficient and cost-effective in improving public transport systems in cities around the world. As these systems comprise various elements, which can be tailored to any given setting, e.g. pre-board fare-collection, holding strategies and other advanced public transport systems (APTS), the attractiveness of such systems depends heavily on their implementation. In the early planning stage it is advantageous to deploy simple and transparent models to evaluate possible ways of implementation. For this purpose, the present study develops a mesoscopic model which makes it possible to evaluate public transport operations in details, including dwell times, intelligent traffic signal timings and holding strategies while modelling impacts from other traffic using statistical distributional data thereby ensuring simplicity in use and fast computational times. This makes it appropriate for analysing the impacts of improvements to public transport operations, individually or in combination, in early planning stages. The paper presents a joint measure of reliability for such evaluations based on passengers’ perceived travel time by considering headway time regularity and running time variability, i.e. taking into account waiting time and in-vehicle time. The approach was applied on a case study by assessing the effects of implementing segregated infrastructure and APTS elements, individually and in combination. The results showed that the reliability of on-street public transport operations mainly depends on APTS elements, and especially holding strategies, whereas pure infrastructure improvements induced travel time reductions. The results further suggested that synergy effects can be obtained by planning on-street public transport coherently in terms of reduced travel times and increased reliability

The Hoarding Vikings

This book investigates whether Viking hoards leave behind traces of the people who deposited them and the reasons for doing so. The focus is on the Viking-Age hoards of the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, a unique find group in both quantity and quality. The large number of excavated Bornholm hoards enable the inclusion of the archaeological context on an unpreceded scale. This book explores how hoards fulfilled many different purposes and Bourdieu’s theory on capital and field forms the theoretical frame for a multi-contextual analysis of the hoards’ relation to the economic, social, cultural, and ritual fields. A fundamental principle of the methodical approach is that all parts of the hoards are equally important for interpretation. It is in the interaction between archaeological and numismatic data, between the objects’ production and circulation data, and between the accumulation and deposition data, that the functions of the hoards appear. This holistic analytic model illuminates how and by whom the hoards were accumulated and deposited, theorising that the motivations for purpose of depositing different hoard types vary and that these motivations are reflected in the deposition contexts. Besides describing the acts and actors that influenced the accumulation and deposition of silver, the book also examines how hoards influenced Viking-Age people and society. Demonstrating that the motivation behind the accumulation and deposition of hoards was multifaceted, The Hoarding Vikings is for researchers and students of Viking archaeology. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license

Collecting curiosities : Eighteenth-century Museum Stobaeanum and the development of ethnographic collections in the nineteenth century

In 1735, professor Kilian Stobaeus donated his collections to Lund University laying the foundation for the university’s first museum. The ”Museum Stobaeanum” contained over 3000 natural history, historical and ethnographic objects typical of the cabinets of curiosity. This richly illustrated book is the first comprehensive history of these collections.Eighteen chapters, written by an interdisciplinary group of scholars, explore Stobaeus as a researcher and collector; the concept, organization and development of the museum through time; as well as the culture of collecting, including its scientific and symbolic meaning. The authors also investigate specific examples of museum objects: fossils, plants enclosed in a herbarium, a crocodile, seashells and insects, North American artefacts, an Egyptian mummy, coins and medals, the skull of Descartes, Guyana war clubs and ethnographic objects from the South Pacific.The book contributes to a better understanding of Stobaeus and his peers in their pursuit of knowledge through collecting as well as the complex processes that enabled early modern museums. On a broader level, it illuminates the global connections and intellectual environment of eighteenth-century Lund and Sweden

Purse of medieval silver coins from royal shipwreck revealed by X-ray microscale Computed Tomography (µCT) scanning

We present the archaeological discovery and microscale X-ray Computed Tomography (µCT) scanning of a silver coin purse lost in a medieval shipwreck while the king who issued many of the coins was aboard. The find demonstrates that shipwrecks are extraordinary repositories of historical information, in this case providing insight into one of the most important and dramatic events of medieval Scandinavia. In the summer of 1495, Gribshunden, the flagship of King Hans, ruler of Denmark and Norway, burned and sank in the Baltic Sea en route to a political summit in Sweden. The identified coins in this purse impart direct evidence of Hans’ establishment of new mints to increase the amount of currency in circulation, and his decision not to recall and debase existing coins. These were essential elements of Hans’ comprehensive strategy for consolidating a Nordic political union and constructing a new nation. The recovered coins are too fragile for mechanical separation, but µCT allowed full or partial identification of 82% of the coins in the concreted purse. Our investigations suggest the purse likely was the personal possession of a high-ranking and trusted person in the king’s entourage. Further, the composition of the purse illuminates politics and monetary policy in medieval northern Europe