Changing Structures Induce Changing Behaviour: Streetscape Revitalisation and Human Mobility

The preceding contributions of Frey and Emberger in this workshop prepare the theory-based path from the layer-based model of human behaviour to the acting principles of a human-centered design of urban spaces, streetscapes and transport structures. Designing transport infrastructures and urban streetscapes poses an ethical challenge for the human being a part of a socio-technical regime. Not only are humans of course in every stage of life and health every-day users of these designed structures, some also act as planning agents of the very same – either as planners or in a public participation. Densely intertwined with the ethics question of properly designing urban mobility structures is the question on where and how to start the change of structures. Overcoming mental barriers among planners and decision makers as well as users not yet accustomed to a changed streetscape pose a considerable challenge for shaping society’s dynamically evolving urban transport regimes. Human mobility behaviour is subject to “fast” adaptability, if change management techniques are applied, ie. comprehensive information is available on a wide scale beforehand of the intervention. As large scale sporting events of the past have shown, such quasi-permanent transformation (closures for vehicular traffic) evoke the transport system’s flexibility in reacting on such events: mobility patterns adapt. Because this paper claims to provide a synopsis of evidence and examples of changes in behaviour due to changed structures, it culminates with four sets of examples following these main lines of thought: (1) Example: Active modes friendly settlement structures (2) Example: Commuting infrastructure (3) Example: Parking place pricing and and locations (4) Example: Rredifining road space usage We conclude with highlighting the behavioural flexibility of mobility, the impacts of such behavioural changes from the urban dwellers’ perspectives and the importance of making such changes conceivable beforehand

Is Bike Sharing Competitor, Relief or Supplement to Public Transport?

In many cities the growing popularity of bicycle-sharing schemes has added additional options to the transport regime. A significant amount of research has been stipulated by data recorded from lending and returning bicycles at geographically diverse stations. In this contribution, focus will be laid on the relationship that the bike-sharing system of the City of Vienna (CityBike Wien – CBW) has with its well developed public transport system. Does bike-sharing serve as competitor, relief or supplement? By surveying the total CBW trip data of 2015 – about 1 million records – we approach to answer this question. We cleanse and route all bicycle trips and compare them with routed alternative public transport trips in terms of travel time ratios. In interviews of 1,389 CBW users conducted in July and September/October of 2016, we ask about the purpose of their trip, the position of the CBW as part of their door-to-door trip, the role of CBW as substitute for other means of transport and the reasons for this substitution. The age group that has the highest number of users among CBW and the shares of tourists/visitors and locals using CBW is identified. Identifying the top 10 of trips from the cleansed dataset and mapping them emphasizes the role that we identify for Vienna’s bike-sharing system in the inner city: A supplement to public transport

COVID-19 impact on daily mobility in Slovenia

The Slovenian subsample (n=415) of an international online survey about changes in daily mobility during the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020 was analysed from a  geographical perspective. The dataset was split into three spatial classes (urban, transitional and rural) according to the respondents’ place of residence. People’s behaviour before and during the COVID-19 lockdown was compared and analysed in terms of commuting frequency, changes in mode choice for commuting and style of grocery shopping. The results show that commuting was reduced drastically during the lockdown while the car remained the main transport mode both for commuting and shopping, especially in rural areas. The study provides an unprecedented insight in travel behaviour changes due to the pandemic and congruously argues for improved transport policies to meet climate change and public health challenges

Barriers to Transnational Passenger Rail Services in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina – A Qualitative Perspective

Railway infrastructures and services in the countries of former Yugoslavia have been in a downward spiral since the early 1990s. There have been scattered investments to lift services up to appealing levels after the war, but a continuous downward trend persists in all important performance indicators. After war-attributed abandonment, numerous lines lost services permanently, numbers of services dwindled, especially across borders, and service speeds decreased. This research takes Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina specifically as survey objects. It aims to identify the barriers in these two countries that withheld passenger rail from a positive development as in other European countries during the same period. For this purpose we carried out 11 interviews with stakeholders in various railway-related institutions. The transcripts are analysed qualitatively with thematic analysis to gain an overview of organisational and institutional barriers for development of railways. This is followed by a cause-effect analysis with Causal Loop Diagramming. The result: ad-hoc decision-making is clearly connected to the insignificance of railways. As immediate measures to counter the downward spiral by means of strategic long term planning, we identify (1) service benchmarking, (2) a clear vision for improvement of service quality, and (3) empowerment of ministries in a long term

Public Transit Service-Opportunities in Commuter-Belt Municipalities – A Systemic Analysis of Two Districts in the Vienna Region

Public transport in the transition zone from cities to rural areas is increasingly becoming a focus from the financial and public service provision perspective. The (perceived) supply differences of rural and remote areas are on the agenda of policy discourse. Our survey studies the public transport supply of two districts and their municipalities in the region of Vienna, Austria, by using the parameters of service-opportunities, municipal population, acreage of settlement units and potential demand. Annual service-opportunities is a parameter recorded by the public transport authority of the Vienna region for every single station under its zone of influence. These parameters are analyzed to conclude that service-opportunities pose a viable entity for systematic public transport analysis and differences in supply of these two districts are in contrast to expectations. Finally, we address the need for future development of service-opportunities based analyses

An integration of human transport planning criteria in the design of a light rail system with an application to Ljubljana

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Policy and Programs for Cycling in the City of Zagreb – A Critical Review

Studying cycling traffic issues in a beginner city – City of Zagreb, stems from unclear development policy, an increase in cycling volume, a large number of traffic accidents, an inadequate infrastructure and legislation, a small number of high quality studies and published papers, and the question, did current cycling policy and programs advance cycling? A comprehensive search of available literature, including data from the Zagreb Traffic Department, was made. These data do not adequately address the direction of causality, such as whether current cycling policy and programs advance cycling or whether cycling demand led to increased levels of cycling. This review paper suggests that, it is not yet possible to evaluate which pro-bicycle packages are the most effective and, development of cycling traffic requires a coordinated holistic planning strategy. Results could serve as a beacon light for similarly sized beginner cities, especially those who are located in South-eastern and Eastern Europe

Predicted congestions never occur. On the gap between transport modeling and human behavior

This paper presents an introduction to meso-scale transport modeling and issues of human behaviour in transport systems. Along with other examples of the human ability to learn in transport systems we look at the comparison of real life data and the prediction of modeling tools for the closure of Vienna’s inner ring road during the 2008 European Football Championship (EURO 2008). Some light is shed on the scientific question, whether currently used modeling tools are able to adequately reproduce the real-life behaviour of human beings in the transport system and should be used for transport policy decision making

Co-riding With My eBike to Get Green Lights

Researchers are increasingly exploring interactive technology supporting human-system partnership in an exertion context, such as cycling. So far, most investigations have supported the rider cognitively, by the system "sensing and presenting" information to assist the rider to make informed decisions. In contrast, we propose systems that promote user-system co-operation, by "sensing and acting" on information to assist the rider, not only "cognitively" but also "physically", with the aim of facilitating user-system co-operation in an exertion context. Our prototype, "Ari", is a novel augmented eBike designed to facilitate user-system co-operation, where the information that each party can sense is used in regulating the speed to cross all traffic lights on green. A study with 20 bike riders resulted in five themes and six design tactics to further the design of interactive systems at the intersection of human-computer integration in an exertion context, thereby facilitating user-system co-operation to augment the exertion experience.peerReviewe

Geometric methods for estimating representative sidewalk widths applied to Vienna’s streetscape surfaces database

Space, and in particular public space for movement and leisure, is a valuable and scarce resource, especially in today’s growing urban centres. The distribution and absolute amount of urban space—especially the provision of sufficient pedestrian areas, such as sidewalks—is considered crucial for shaping living and mobility options as well as transport choices. Ubiquitous urban data collection and today’s IT capabilities offer new possibilities for providing a relation-preserving overview and for keeping track of infrastructure changes. This paper presents three novel methods for estimating representative sidewalk widths and applies them to the official Viennese streetscape surface database. The first two methods use individual pedestrian area polygons and their geometrical representations of minimum circumscribing and maximum inscribing circles to derive a representative width of these individual surfaces. The third method utilizes aggregated pedestrian areas within the buffered street axis and results in a representative width for the corresponding road axis segment. Results are displayed as city-wide means in a 500 by 500 m grid and spatial autocorrelation based on Moran’s I is studied. We also compare the results between methods as well as to previous research, existing databases and guideline requirements on sidewalk widths. Finally, we discuss possible applications of these methods for monitoring and regression analysis and suggest future methodological improvements for increased accuracy.1571741