The European bus system of the future: Research and innovation

The development of a new generation of bus systems was the goal of the European Bus System of the Future (EBSF) project, funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program. To accomplish this, a series of very different innovative solutions for buses (such as new vehicle layouts, advanced remote maintenance systems, improved on-board communication systems, more performing bus stops and eco-efficient engines) were simultaneously tested in seven Use Cases (UCs) in Europe (Bremerhaven, Brunoy, Budapest, Gothenburg, Madrid, Rome and Rouen). All the tested measures had to increase the attractiveness and improve the image of the mode. The efficiency of all of them was assessed as well as their transferability to other European contexts. The paper describes the tested solutions and focuses on the assessment methodology, the main results achieved and the drivers and barriers for the transfer of such solutions across Europe

An analysis on health care costs due to accidents involving powered two wheelers to increase road safety

Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) provide a convenient mode for a large portion of population in many cities. At the same time PTWs present serious system problems, the most important being poorer safety if compared to other motorized modes. But even when lower safety levels are acknowledged, problems behind are far from being solved. Rome is an example: although PTWs accidents rates are not negligible, the need for a specific safety policy is still unmet. Therefore the local Mobility Agency appointed the authors of this paper for a study of PTWs accidents occurring in the urban area. An assessment of the associated health care costs was also required. The objective of the paper is to report the main outcomes of this study highlighting recurring features of PTWs accidents, the high health care costs and how to quantify the economic resources to improve safety. The methodology was based on three steps: i) an analysis of the causes of PTWs accidents, which resulted into the location of black spots and assessment of the severity of the events; ii) the estimation of health care costs after a scientific literature review; iii) the association of health care costs to black spots and accidents severity to rank interventions to improve PTWs safety. This led to a final list of roads where PTWs accidents of the highest severity occurred and the required economic resources to improve their safety level. This stressed, for the first time, the unaffordable expenditures due to PTWs accidents. In conclusion, the issue whether the awareness of such costs can be used as leverage for more mindful behaviors among the riders is addressed

Feasibility of a gender-driven paratransit service at Sapienza University of Rome

Problems of women harassment on transit are often reported by the local press, and the situation in Rome is no exception. This is a serious issue also for the Sapienza University of Rome female community, especially when commuting back home in the evening. A specifically night-dedicated transport service provided by Sapienza could be a solution, but the research questions behind are those of its acceptance and affordability for the so-called "Sapienza Women", i.e. students, teaching and administrative staff, along with the profitability for Sapienza as its operator. This is the background for the feasibility of a gender-dedicated university-to-home paratransit service, called MinervaMove, from the Sapienza's main campus and other premises in city. The multistep methodology adopted relies on: i) the initial development of a series of questionnaires and focus groups targeted to assess travel preferences by the Sapienza women community; ii) the data process to highlight recurring patterns and origin/destination sets, and create the service coverage area; iii) the service design; and iv) eventually, the analysis of the profitability of the service. From an initial investigation on Sapienza female population, the acceptance for a women-only-dedicated Sapienza night transport service was full, giving a positive answer to the first research question. This led develop the MinervaMove multi-option night supply, i.e. a station service starting from the main campus of Sapienza to Rome's two main railway stations, plus a door-to-door shared taxi service also originating at the main campus. MinervaMove also provides a daytime service supplied to the entire Sapienza community (men and women). Within the methodology, two different scenarios (A-optimistic and B-pessimistic) were developed to generate an appropriate service in terms of operational performance and affordability, with also scenario B enabling the generation of revenues

Il disegno dello spazio urbano per l'individuazione dell'Isola Ambientale. Spazio collettivo, disegno di strade e controllo del traffico per un nuovo concetto di mobilità.

Baglioni Adriana, Cupelloni Luciano, Antonio Pari

Car Sharing in Rome: a Case Study to Support Sustainable Mobility

AbstractAlthough a “niche” measure, Car Sharing (CS) in Rome proved to be popular and worthy of a city-wide upscale. This prompted the municipality to develop an expansion plan. The authors, responsible for this plan, had to appraise whether CS could be successfully transferred to other locations and assess the environmental benefits thus far achieved as a way to increase CS attractiveness. The paper describes the methodology used and the main results i.e., the operational thresholds and the quality of the built environment required to start operating the service successfully in new districts of the city, along with the benefits for the community, especially under the environmental point of view

Regenerating Communities. New Life for a Local Railway. A Technological and Environmental Study

Revamping abandoned railways is often associated with leisure functions and non-routine trips. When areas evolve from rural settlements to conurbations with mixed land use and high travel demand, the reuse of no-longer-operational rail services can prove to be appropriate to meet such new requirements. This is the case of an abandoned railway in central Italy, the Sangritana Line, whose rehabilitation could serve a former rural area, now under continuous development. The paper outlines operational features of the new service, starting from the available Sangritana infrastructure, in order to highlight the drivers and barriers associated with the reopening of operations. The goal is to provide scientific corroboration for similar feasibility studies and stress the relevance of rehabilitating railways in urban regeneration processes according to a vision called the Multiple Rs, which associates the new rail supply with the possibility of requalifying several components of the urban environment. To this end, along with the initial description of the status quo and the local constraints, the paper elaborates the methodology adopted for this feasibility study, the main operational findings, with a focus on the potential environmental benefits, and the implications according to the Multiple Rs approach

Improving the environmental performance of bus fleets in Europe

Predictive Maintenance Systems (PdM) for bus fleets are gaining momentum among transit operators in Europe, although two major issues in this practice are still not fully addressed in mitigating negative impacts on the environment: emissions control and water management. To this end, the paper presents some innovative Dashboard Functions (DF) for a specific PdM, based on a software, already developed within a project funded by the European Commission (EBSF_2), with the goal to optimize predictive maintenance at bus garages. The first DF is aimed at assessing the emissions generated by buses, especially when fleets are composed by pre-EURO VI vehicles (one in three buses in the world is still pre EURO IV). The second DF is focused on the water management and control for washing buses: an underestimated issue, but still relevant in pursuing sustainability, since according to garage practice a vehicle needs around 300 litres of fresh water to be cleaned, typically 4 times a week, which multiplied by the almost 700,000 units which compose the European fleets generate 43 million m3 of yearly water requirement. The paper describes the results from the assessment of both emissions and water in the software, with a special focus, for the former, on the problem of obsolescing vehicles and their components specifically contributing to the emissions phenomenon; for the latter, in turn, the paper focuses on the application of different washing technology. The research goal is to advance scientific knowledge further afield and provide examples of best practices in the field of PdM implementation for bus fleets

Design of the first Italian roundabout with jointed plain concrete pavement

This work presents the results of the overall design of the first Italian roundabout with jointed plain concrete pavement. The examined case study complies with current international standards and practices for geometry of roundabouts and road pavements. The construction of a concrete pavement in an urban roundabout will better manage and slow down fast vehicular flows, and increase traffic fluidity in an important junction, trafficked by heavy vehicles, where maintenance works should be reduced to avoid queues. The design of the roundabout involved several competences for: defining the geometry of the four-arm junction, designing the thickness of the jointed plain concrete pavement both on the circular crown and the arms, studying the mix design of a high resistance concrete. As regard to the pavement, the result of the study was an un-dowelled concrete pavement composed of square slabs laid on a cement concrete subbase and a granular layer. The shape of the slabs has been designed to optimize the structural performance of their material, which is a high strength concrete mix derived from an extensive laboratory test work. In general, the results summarized approaches typical of different design conditions: urban ones for traffic flow and safety needs; high-traffic ones for the chosen pavement type; airport ones for the absence of dowel and tie bars at the joints. Indeed, the article has highlighted that the design process of a concrete roundabout requires multiple analyses to consider various features and correctly re-design anexistingurbanjunction. Its geometrical design,the structural design of the concrete pavement and the theoretical and experimental design of the concrete mix were the main phases of this process and they needed different competences to conduct comprehensive and appropriate analyses

Walkable urban environments. An ergonomic approach of evaluation

The salutogenicity of urban environments is significantly affected by their ergonomics, i.e., by the quality of the interactions between citizens and the elements of the built environment. Measuring and modelling urban ergonomics is thus a key issue to provide urban policy makers with planning solutions to increase the well-being, usability and safety of the urban environment. However, this is a difficult task due to the complexity of the interrelations between the urban environment and human activities. The paper contributes to the definition of a generalized model of urban ergonomics and salutogenicity, focusing on walkability, by discussing the relevant parameters from the large and variegated sets proposed in the literature, by discussing the emerging model structure from a data mining process, by considering the background of the relevant functional dependency already established in the literature, and by providing evidence of the solutions’ effectiveness. The methodology is developed for a case study in central Italy, with a focus on the mobility issue, which is a catalyst to generate more salutogenic and sustainable behavior