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.

Cycling in Japan and Great Britain: A Preliminary Discussion

Around the world, cycling has mostly been used for two main purposes. Some societies view and utilize the bicycle as an integral part of the transportation system. Even if not used as the main transportation mode, it can still be used efficiently as a complementary transportation mode to public transit modes. The Netherlands and Denmark are examples of European countries where cycling accounts for high daily shares. Among Asian countries, Japan and China present significant cycling rates. However, as the contemporary societies grow more auto-dependent, cycling has been merely seen as a means of recreation and rarely used for daily travel in many other countries. Examples are the United States, Australia and Great Britain where nationwide statistics suggest insignificant bicycle shares. As part of a larger research project, this paper presents a preliminary discussion on the use of bicycle in two countries with significantly different cycling characteristics, Great Britain and Japan. In most British cities, cycling is not an integral part of the transportation system, despite considerable efforts from government. Conversely, cycling is a widely accepted transportation mode throughout Japan, even though Japanese cities do not yet present extensive cycling networks. Traditionally, Japanese urban plans are limited to two main actions with regards to cycling; either implementing bicycle parking facilities around railway/subway stations, or establishing bicycle zones within road intersections. The main objective of this paper is to present an overview of each country's cycling system, with a focus on travel patterns and bicycle facilities. Initially, benefits from cycling are pointed out. Cycling trends are then compered, whilst bicycle infrastructure and service are summarized. The paper concludes by comparing transport policies and strategies towards cycling in these countries and discussing the relative merits of each approach

Development of Multi- Agent Simulation Model to Uncertain Civilian Return Trips during a Hypothetical Earthquake

Through the experiences of the Great 1994 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake and The Great 2011 (Higashi-Nihon) East Japan Earthquake, it has been important for Japanese local Government to build a comprehensive evacuation program on a large earthquake occurrence in near future. According to the experts' forecast,a huge earthquake will occur around the coast areas of Pacific Ocean in Japan in near future. Therefore, it is indispensable to give appropriate information on human behavior for the evacuation time.It is also necessary to urge the residents to select exact behavior. Thus, a new methodology based on behavior-oriented agent system should be developed to understand group activities. In this study, the production rules of the attributive groups were constructed in terms of the questionnaire survey for civilian return-trips from the working offices or the shopping places during earthquake disaster. Next, using the set of production rules composed of the questionnaire data, a multi-agent system model for return trips in a hypothetical large-scaled earthquake was built by a MAS method. The simulation was tried using specific data on the Person Trip Survey. It comes to the conclusion that the human behaviors during the earthquake impact were constructed by multi-agent system model and the possibility of the return-home was found in view of the conditions of the roads and the human attributes

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.

Development of Multi-Agent Simulation Model for Evacuation from Landslide Disaster Area

Japan is a country which has many steep slopes along rivers. Therefore, the disasters due to landslide and mud flood have often occurred in mountainous urbanized areas. In rainy or typhoon season much rain triggers such disasters because of unusual rainfall. In these years those disasters have been increased in not only mountainous areas but also the housing area developed in the fringe of urban region newly. On the other hand, some of the nursing homes for aging people located in such disaster estimated areas. The people have also fallen victim to landslide disasters. So it has been important for a local government to build a comprehensive evacuation program of a large natural disaster. In this program, it is substantial to give appropriate information on human behavior for the evacuating time. In this study a new methodology based on behavior-oriented agent system should be discussed to develop. The production roles of the attributive groups were built in terms of the questionnaire survey on evacuation trips from damaged districts. Using the set of production rules composed of the questionnaire data, a multi-agent simulation model in a hypothetical landslide disaster was developed by a multi-agent system (MAS) method. An agent in this study is the person that can perceive its environment through sensors and decide the activities due to effectors. The multi-agent system was simulated in terms of evacuation from a damaged district to a safe shelter in Sapporo, Japan. It comes to the conclusion that the human behaviors and their interactions during the disaster impact were constructed by multi-agent simulation model and the possibility of the evacuation was found in view of both topographic and human attributive conditions

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

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

A survey on energy consumption in fisheries, and 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

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