Effects on Service Improvement of Transport in view of urban sustainability

In these years, the urban planning system has been reconsidered in terms of sustainable policies. The sustainability in urban areas involves attempts of urban development including environmental, social and economic improvements, policies and practices in the next generation stage. In most of Japanese cities and towns, transport planning was based on the efficiency of car vehicles use until now. 　As a result, traffic congestion occurred and caused slower speeds, longer times of car vehicles in a downtown area, while car drivers used the car vehicles even for walking distance. Therefore, it is necessary for the cities to improve the transport service in their areas including walking, cycling, and public transit oriented system and so on. These modes contribute to the urban sustainability positively and correspond to the appropriate mobility of the people. In this study, first of all, the effect on the introduction of a new public transport system, namely, an extension of tram car system was examined. Here, the impacts on surrounding areas due to tram line extension are assessed in view of the sustainable urban planning. In the next objective, the effects on the improvement of an underground passage, which is more convenient for pedestrian to go around the downtown area, were evaluated. The practical research and study was examined in Sapporo City, Japan. The results of analysis show in the following aspects: 1) the inhabitants expects the extension of tramcar in the supposed area, 2) people also expect activeness and attractiveness resulted from the extension of tram car line, 3) the pedestrians expect to be capable more choice of shop facilities, particularly, in rainy or snowy weather due to the use of underground passage, 4) the underground passage stimulates the behaviors of visitors between two commercial areas which exist separately to stay and enjoy for longer time.

The investigation into the energy consumption in some Japanese fisheries and the measures to reduce CO2 emissions

Japan’s fish production volume in 2008 was 5.59million tons, it accounted for 4% of world’s production and consisted of catch (4.40million tons) and aquaculture (1.19 million tons). For the far sea fishery, its’ fishing grounds are in domestic and foreign countries’ exclusive economic zone and international waters, since the total production volume of this fishery has been declining, offshore and coastal fishery have become mainly in Japan. In this study, the estimation of the energy consumptions in a kelp aquaculture and three types of fisheries, such as squid, fixed net and gill net, is done for comparison to the consumptions of fisheries in foreign countries. The result reveals that the characteristics of these fisheries’ energy consumptions and the measures for reductions of energy use. Furthermore, in Minamikayabe as surveyed fishing village, the carbon dioxide balance in this village is evaluated. The carbon dioxide emissions from the energy (fuel and electricity) use and the escape Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) from freezers, refrigerators and ice manufacture machines in the village are calculated. Meanwhile, as forests and oceans are carbon dioxide sinks, it is possible to estimate the volume of carbon dioxide stored by woods and seaweed along the coast. Finally, several measures for carbon dioxide reductions are shown.

Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process on Preferable Speed Limit for Logistics Company: A Case Study on Hokkaido Roads

Recently, National Police Agency of Japan has announced a plan to revise a speed limit regulation. Numbers of research have been done to determine an appropriate speed limit, but none of them have taken an analysis by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) into account. AHP can help to reveal the road users’ viewpoints. Therefore, this research proposes the application of AHP to determine the preferable speed limit on Hokkaido roads for logistics-based businesses. Herein, safety, driving comfort and travel time were used as AHP criteria. A verification of AHP with our previous speed limit studies was also accomplished. The results showed that safety was the most important criterion, followed by travel time and driving comfort, respectively. In conclusion, according to the road and traffic conditions, we implied that these preferable speed limits are appropriate for Hokkaido roads. So it could be a guideline to set the new limits for Hokkaido roads. Furthermore, AHP is proposed to be an effective tool to determine these appropriate speed limits

Cyclists' Behaviour: identification of factors on commuting by bicycle

In Japan, cycling is a widely accepted transportation mode and often used for commuting or other purposes. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the reasons that motivate people to cycle, even though the Japanese transportation policies towards cycling are somewhat limited when compared to other countries with high cycling levels. Behavioural and statistical analyses are presented with a focus on unimodal commuting trips. In the behavioural analysis, commuters’ views on cycling are presented. In the statistical analysis, Nested Logit models are estimated to assess factors with strong influence on cycling. This paper contributes to further understanding the behaviour of active cyclists

Optimal Winter Speed Limit

This study aims to determine the optimal winter speed limit through the application of a cost analysis and by analysis of effects of road and traffic conditions. Initially, a cost analysis of travel time costs, vehicle operating costs, pollution costs, and accident cost was applied to determine optimal average speed on the basis of the minimum total cost. Then, the effects of road and traffic conditions were calculated by regression analysis. Finally, the optimal winter speed limits were achieved. In conclusion, we found that our model was reliable and the results were appropriate and sustainable for the long term

Effects of Cellular Telephone Use While Driving Based on Objective and Subjective Mental Workload Assessment

A series of studies were performed to investigate the effects of cellulartelephone use while driving on driver mental workload. In these surveillance studiesobjective and subjective methods were used to find the driver mental workloadbehaviour. In the first study, the results indicated that the hands-free system providedless effect on the driver’s mental workload than the hand-held system. In the secondstudy, experience in using a cellular telephone while driving had no positive effect onreaction time. The operation task and talking task had little effect on the subjectivemental workload of the experienced subjects, but had statistically significant effectson the subjective mental workload of the non-experienced subjects. In the third study,the results of experiment indicated that the telephone tasks increase the mentalworkload of the drivers as were shown in the second study. The results also indicatedthat the complex conversation task produced an increase in driver mental workload ascompared to the simple conversation task and the other tasks independent of agegroup