Analyzing travel time reliability of a bus route in a limited data set scenario: A case study

In this information era commuters prefer to know a reliable travel time to plan ahead of their journey using both public and private modes. In this direction reliability analysis using the location data of the buses is conducted in two folds in the current work; (i) Reliability analysis of a public transit service at route level, and (ii) Travel time reliability analysis of a route utilizing the location data of the buses. The reliability parameters assessed for public transit service are headway, passenger waiting time, travel speed, and travel time as per the Service Level Benchmarks for Urban Transport by the National Urban Transport Policy, Government of India. And travel time reliability parameters such as Buffer Time Index, Travel Time Index, and Planning Time Index are assessed as per Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, U S. The study is conducted in Tumakuru city, India for a significant bus route in a limited data sources scenario. The results suggest that (i) the Level of Service of the public transit service needs improvement. (ii)around 30% excess of average travel time is needed as buffer time. (iii) more than double the amount of free flow travel time must be planned during peak hours and in the worst case. In the future, the analysis conducted for the route can be extended for citywide performance analysis in both folds. Also, the same method can be applied to cities with similar demographics and traffic-related infrastructure.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 6 table

Integrative Taxonomic Approach for Describing a New Cryptic Species of Bush Frog (Raorchestes: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India.

A new cryptic species of bush frog Raorchestes honnametti sp. nov. is described from the south-eastern part of the Western Ghats, India. This newly described species belongs to the Charius clade and is morphologically similar to other clade members--R. charius and R. griet. Therefore, an integrative taxonomic approach based on molecular and bioacoustic analysis along with morphology was used to delimit the new species. Raorchestes honnametti sp. nov., is currently known only from Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve, a part of Biligiri Rangaswamy horst mountain range (a mountain formed due movement of two faults) formed during the Late Quaternary period (1.8-2.58 Ma). Discovery of cryptic species from a highly speciose and well-studied genus Raorchestes hints at the possible existence of several more cryptic species in this genus. We discuss the possible reasons for crypsis and emphasize the need for continued systematic surveys of amphibians across the Western Ghats

Urbanization, ecosystems, and biodiversity: Assessments of India and Bangalore

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>This publication is an outcome and part of the global Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO). The CBO project provides a global assessment in two publications, of the links between urbanization, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. The first part, Action and Policy, is released in Hyderabad at the Cities for Life Summit, parallel to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2012. Core chapters of the second part, the more detailed Global Urbanization, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems - Challenges and Opportunities will be available online at www.cbd.int/authorities/cbo1.shtml </p> <p>This publication provides an overview of urbanization and its implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services in India, with a focus on Bangalore as a case study.</p> <p></p> </div> </div> </div> </div

Type locality of <i>Raorchestes honnametti</i> sp. nov.–a high altitude shola forest at Honnametti in BRTTR.

<p>Type locality of <i>Raorchestes honnametti</i> sp. nov.–a high altitude shola forest at Honnametti in BRTTR.</p

Elevation profile of hill ranges in and around BRT Tiger Reserve.

<p>Faults within Biligiri Rangaswamy hill ranges are shown with dash lines. Maps and elevation profile were generated using QGIS® Pisa Ver. 2.10. Data was sourced from <a href="http://www.gadm.org/" target="_blank">www.gadm.org</a> for administrative boundary of India and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 90 m database (<a href="http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/" target="_blank">http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org</a>) for elevation.</p

Integrative Taxonomic Approach for Describing a New Cryptic Species of Bush Frog (<i>Raorchestes</i>: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India - Fig 8

<p>Advertisement call spectrogram of <i>Raorchestes honnametti</i> sp. nov. a. Amplitude, b. Spectrogram, c. Amplitude of a single call and d. Spectrogram of a single call.</p