We-Transform: Addressing AV Workforce Needs in Europe

The EU H2020 project WE-TRANSFORM aims to address the impacts of transport digitalisation and automation on the workforce by bringing stakeholders together to establish a comprehensive knowledge base from which to inform policymaking. The objective of this study is to identify the relevant implications of automation and digitalisation impacts on workforce in transport sector, also offering a representation of the recommendations emerged by the stakeholders during the project. The results show that the main impacts of digitalisation and automation on workforce are related to work organisation, tasks (level and contractual legal employment category), and skills. Such impacts show legal implications and their transversality to the different regulatory policies emerged from the discussion with the stakeholders, and underline how an harmonisation at EU level is requested, implying important reflections at the political level

The induced travel: overview and perspectives

The animated debate on induced traffic is going on since long time, as the first studies on this matter go back to the first half of the XXth century. This report intends to give an overview of this argument, analysing the historical evolution of the approaches used in the studies on the induced travel and of the models carried out to take into account this phenomenon. The starting point will be the definition of the concept, necessary because either the lack of understanding or the misunderstanding between the different point of views can partly be generated by different meanings given to the concept; the other part of disagreement can lay on different interests involved in road construction. Then, the overview of the studies carried out in Europe and USA will allow for the understanding of the mechanism of causality between the supply and demand and will try to answer to the questions: "does the transport user's behaviour generate the policy makers' decisions" or "does the policy makers' decisions generate the transport users' behaviour" ?. Lastly, some considerations about the acceptance of the analysed concept and the answer of Administrations and relative eventual interventions are given. It emerges quite clear from this work that the behavioural responses are the real focus and that an adequate policy on the land use that drives the transport systems is the unique way to have a real sustainable development either of land use or of infrastructures. To manage the transport demand through land use could control the transport demand, deviating it towards sustainable solutions. In addition, neglecting the induced travel effects leads to underestimate the impacts due to transport systems. That generally leads to a non-sustainable policy, deteriorating rather than improving the quality of life in urban and extra-urban area

A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TRAFFIC NOISE AND ANNOYANCE FOR DIFFERENT URBAN SITE TYPOLOGIES

The paper intends to analyse the different attitudes of residents in urban areas in regard to annoyance induced by traffic noise, account taken of the effects of the street configuration and of the presence of specific public transport modes in the definition of the dose-response curves. People’s annoyance was investigated through a campaign of noise and traffic measurements and an epidemiological survey, administered to a sample of 830 residents in the buildings close to the measurement points. An ordinal regression model taking into account environmental and urban characteristics was used to identify a dose-response relationship. The cumulative probabilities allowed to define two cut points on the dose-response curves (60 and 75 dB(A)), grouping people in three classes and making the representation of the dose-response relationships different from those traditionally defined that use only the percentage of highly annoyed people. The results show different people’s attitudes towards the annoyance in the urban sites while the dose-response relationship shows that the correlation between annoyance and noise is low. For the same value of day equivalent level, 10% more people are annoyed in L sections (broad streets) than in U sections (narrow streets). Furthermore, all the dose-response curves show a higher sensitivity of people living in L sections; this difference can be measured as a shift of about 4 dB(A). Noise levels are, arguably, a useful indicator, but they are not reliable enough to define the discomfort of the residents, while the site characteristics could shed light on annoyance variability

Validating Italian General Ecological Behaviour Questionnaire of Travellers using Dichotomous Rasch Model

Ecological behaviour and the impact on environment are subjects of public concern and understanding individual behavioural measures to induce sustainable lifestyles is of extreme importance for policy makers to assess and promote sustainable mobility. To this end, a questionnaire with highly reliable items, evaluation of determinants and accurate measurement of ecological behaviour is a precondition for understanding the levers for a behavioural change. This paper aims at understanding whether the dichotomous Rasch model provides a legitimate measurement of General Ecological Behaviour (GEB) using a 26 items questionnaire as a valid tool to assess pro-environment behaviour of a large sample of users. A web questionnaire was administered using the snowball sampling plan in the Piedmont region (Italy) reaching out a sample of 4473 respondents. Results suggest that using the dichotomous Rasch model, proposed questionnaire is able to effectively measure pro-environment behaviour of travellers. Unidimensionality, perfect level of item reliability of 1, very high item separation of 34.22, absence of larger differential item functioning, and local independence are all good indicators of a valid model. This research shows how a good, validated, and reliable measurement of ecological behaviour would support public bodies to plan environment focused transport policies thanks to the knowledge of which variables determine the pro-environment behaviour. In addition, the proposed approach allows also to measure the efficacy of the adopted policies

Toward a Robust, Coordinated and Effective System of Technology and Knowledge Transfer in Transportation Research

Technology and know-how transfer encompasses policies, practices and activities needed to facilitate the adoption of products or procedures by a user or group of users. Transfer of know-how produced by research and innovation activities is a means to directly affect improvements to the transportation system, leverage resources and maximize return on valuable research investments. The lack of robust, coordinated systems of technology and knowledge transfer leads to a waste of research dollars, and undermines the enterprise of research and innovation. Mainstreaming of research products and promoting their use is critical. While there is a huge body of literature on technology transfer, in the transportation fileld and in other disciplines, the shift to collaborative governance as a paradigm of leadership create new opportunities for significantly strengthening transfer of technologies and know-how across and within national border

Users’ needs and business models for a sustainable mobility information network in the Alpine Space

The paper investigates what are the possible business models allowing to maintain a “Sustainable Mobility Information Network for the Alpine Space”. The starting point was the lack of an integrative door-to-door information system in the Alpine regions and the project aimed at providing travellers with comprehensive information about sustainable transport modes beyond regional and national borders. To this end a survey has been designed using a quali-quantitative method (web-questionnaire and focus groups) to investigate the needs of the tourist and transport operators. The sample included all the main actors in the transport and tourism field active in the territory of the five pilot regions: Piemonte (Italy), Rhone Alpes-Paca (France), Lake Constance and Lake Chiemsee (Germany), Gorizia (Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia). The research has showed that there is not a single solution to define a unique business model for the tools developed by AlpInfoNet and has, likewise, developed specific actions and approaches according to the target users

Engaging in pro-environment travel behaviour research from a psycho-social perspective: A review of behavioural variables and theories

This paper aims to review variables and behavioural theories originating from social and environmental psychology as applied to transport research, to better understand decision-making mechanisms, information processing and modal choice. The first section provides an overview of the main psycho-social variables which explain behaviour and, notably, pro-environment behaviour. The analysis shows the relations among variables, highlighting some potential cause-effect mechanism or, at least, the influence that such variables can have on behaviour. Furthermore,the strengths and weaknesses of using psycho-social variables to predict travel behaviour are discussed. Such analysis feeds the section related to the behavioural theories. These are reviewed with a focus on potential application to transport sector, showing the would-be added value of introducing a socio-psychological approach in the current vision, focused on stochastic models based on maximisation of personal utility. To this end, attention is paid to the data collection andanalysis, basic for any models and even more challenging to collect when they deal with personal characteristics of individuals. Finally, the concept of attitude and intention is discussed, opening the doors between disciplines to overcome the attitude-behaviour gap

Last mile freight distribution and transport operators’ needs: which targets and challenges?

The paper aims at investigating the needs of three sets of stakeholders – retailers and HoReCa, transport operators and local authorities – aimed at designing a dynamic and participatory platform of services and applications for the optimisation of the last mile urban logistics. The research has been carried out in the city of Torino where some integrated services will be introduced: a) management and booking of loading/unloading areas; b) experimental dropbox for collection and delivery; c) the introduction of dynamic access to the limited traffic zone (ZTL, Zona a Traffico Limitato); d) real-time dynamic optimisation of routes. To meet this goal a survey has been administered to a sample of transport operators, points of sale, public administration. The survey has been designed using a quali-quantitative method (web-questionnaire, interviews and focus groups). The results have showed a large gap between the needs of the operators (transport operators and retailers) and the strategies that the administration would seek to implement. A lack of interaction between the stakeholders has led to misperceive the problems that the carriers have to face daily and to overestimate the importance of the technology in solving the last mile issues. Prior to designing complex and expensive platforms, it is fundamental to implement some basic measures, closely related to the efficiency of the unloading and delivery of goods within the urban centre

Towards Smarter Urban Mobility: Willingness to Pay for an Advanced Traveller Information System in Lyon

Advanced traveller information systems (ATIS) are meant to assist people in their daily travel decisions as well as to prompt a shift from cars to alternative and more environmentally-friendly transport strategies. Not many comprehensive studies have been undertaken so far in order to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) for ATIS, despite a development of these tools during the last two decades. This paper aims at analysing the WTP for Optymod’Lyon, a smartphone application which plans your journey travels using real-time information about all available transport modes. To this end, a quali-quantitative approach was adopted, administering a questionnaire to participants and organising focus groups before and after the test of the application. A sample of 42 people living in the metropolitan area of Lyon was involved. Results showed four clusters of participants: idealists, pragmatics, the ambiguous and opportunists. A strong majority of idealists and pragmatics were unwilling to pay, mainly for economic reasons and the availability on the market of free information. They record a lower share of trips to work and a higher share for leisure, shopping and study purposes. Those willing to pay (of which 37.8% were opportunists) report a low monthly charge level (0.2–3 €/month) and are mainly highly-educated car users, travelling for work

Multi-stakeholder collaboration in urban transport: state-of-the-art and research opportunities

Transport systems are undergoing a change of paradigm that focuses on resource-sharing and collaboration of multiple and diverse stakeholders. This paper aims to present a state-of-the-art on the main research issues of multi-stakeholder collaboration in urban transport and address the main contributions of the Special Issue on Collaboration and Urban Transport to the field. To that end, it seems necessary to identify and address the complexity of the relations of the stakeholders in the field, beyond the traditional classification of private and public stakeholders. A functional classification of urban stakeholders related to the different land uses is proposed a refer to space users and space organizers, each with several sub-categories. Furthermore, the collaboration among those stakeholders can take different forms and can be developed at different levels: transactional, informational and decisional. Thus, the main research topics regarding multi-stakeholders' collaboration are defined as: partnerships, resource sharing, resource pooling and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) systems. A set of papers in this special issue focus on Urban Consolidation Centres (UCCs), partnerships in transport under a general perspective, multi-stakeholder cooperation and its barriers, collaborative decision-making, traffic prediction and urban congestion. In the papers, which deal with the field of multi-stakeholder collaboration in urban transport, there is a predominance on the use of surveys, but also a focus on data-driven techniques. As a result, this special issue contributes not only to the theoretical aspects, but adds value to technical and methodological issues