Monash University, Institute of Transport Studies: World Transit Research (WTR)
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Fostering sustainable urban mobility via stakeholder engagement: A novel analytic hierarchy process and half-quadratic programming
No full textAmeliorating the public transport system is the top priority for legislators and planners alike. But to implement effective and long-lasting solutions, they must take into account not only the viewpoint of decision-makers on better solutions but also the necessity of including the public in the process of evolution. To estimate the public transport system in the Turkish city of Mersin, our article takes into account the opinions of users, non-users, and decision-makers. The methodology utilised in this study involves the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process to ascertain the degree of significance assigned to the associated criteria concerning the supply quality of the public bus transport system. Additionally, the half-quadratic programming has been utilised to compute the final ranking that is combined for each of the participating groups. The main findings spotted the transport quality and tractability as paramount criteria, emphasizing their universal importance. In addition, a consensus index and a trust level for the combined ranking are provided by the recently proposed framework
Railway expansions and human capital growth: A 20-year causal analysis in Tokyo
No full textOur study uncovers the causal link between railway expansions in Tokyo and a significant increase in the number of university graduates and high-skilled workers, with the effects being notably more pronounced in areas initially having lower proportions of those groups. We examine the mechanisms behind this phenomenon by (1) demonstrating how railway expansions attract university graduates and high-skilled workers by reducing commute costs, (2) improve access to universities, and (3) boost railway ridership. Our analysis employs both a difference-in-differences framework and a market access approach to separately evaluate the gentrification near new stations and the dispersion of human capital driven by enhanced network connectivity. The results reveal that university graduate rates and skilled worker rates rise by an average of 2.5 % and 1.4 %, respectively, due to improved connectivity. These findings underscore the value of railway expansion in fostering human capital development and provide critical insights for urban planners, policymakers, and transportation authorities, emphasizing the need to align transportation development with strategies for equitable urban growth
Performance of adjacent metro tunnels during deep excavation: A case study in Hangzhou
No full textThis study investigates the construction of a large basement adjacent to two overlapping subway tunnels in a soft-soil area in Hangzhou. A year-long onsite monitoring program is conducted to investigate the effects of excavation and underground-structure construction on the immediately adjacent tunnels. The main monitoring items include the tunnel’s horizontal displacement, the horizontal convergent deformation of the tunnel section, and the roadbed settlement. Measurement results show that excavation triggers the displacement of the subway tunnel toward the pit, the elongation of the tunnel tube sheet, and the uplift of the roadbed, among which horizontal displacement occurs the most readily. The construction of the metro structure increases the displacement of the metro tunnel toward the foundation pit and the bulge of the roadbed but minimally affects the convergent deformation of the tunnel cross-section. The tunnels adjacent to the pit area are affected the most by excavation, whereas the overlapping tunnels increase the overall stiffness of the area and constrains the deformation of the tube sheet. The station facilities connect the uplink and downlink of the tunnel, thus promoting interline deformation and diminishing the effect of pit excavation on tunnel deformation. This study provides a useful reference for similar project cases in the Hangzhou area to ensure the safety of adjacent subway tunnels during basement excavation
An analysis of bus drivers’ interactions with motorists
No full textDriving a bus in the city is a task that demands attention to changing road conditions while dealing with passengers’ needs. Bus drivers often experience aggression from passengers and other road users, which sometimes escalate, eventually leading to violence. However, many road conflicts are rarely reported and, hence, difficult to study. This article analyses bus drivers’ reactions to conflicts with other motorists in Santiago (Chile), where public transport accounts for 35% of the total trips. Four percent of the population of bus drivers (639) responded to a survey with questions about job satisfaction, the bus route, and experiences of conflicts and accidents with other vehicles. A Mixed Logit model was estimated to explore bus drivers’ reactions to a conflict with motorised vehicles. The results show that bus driver’s most frequent reaction is ignoring and carrying on. If a conflict escalates, bus drivers display aggressive reactions such as violently blowing the horn, insult louder, chucking the bus onto the other vehicle, overtake the vehicle off, or start a fist fight. Being a bus driver with no previous experience of violence with other public transport buses decreases the likelihood of violent reactions, while the opposite occurs with young drivers. Interestingly, the chances of having violent response increase when the driver was female. Public policies should start paying attention to the series of minor conflicts endured by bus drivers in their routines. These conflicts often are not reported to the authorities but nonetheless, exacerbate the chronic stress that bus drivers experience
Carbon-efficient timetable optimization for urban railway systems considering wind power consumption
No full textWith the increasing application of urban railway systems around the world, their energy consumption has increased significantly and continuously over the past few decades, which causes large indirect carbon emission volume due to main electricity generation from conventional (fossil-fired) power plants. Penetration rate of the renewable energy generation, such as wind power and photovoltaic (PV), has been observed to increase in power systems in recent years, while the intermittency brought by natural weather conditions imposes difficulties on their utilization. Focusing on urban railway systems integrated with the electric power system with wind power generation, this paper proposes an optimization model to find its optimal timetable to minimize the carbon emissions resulting from its operation. Lanzhou Metro Line 1 is adopted as case study in the research, and the results show that the proposed method can locate the optimal timetable which reduces 2.17 t carbon emissions each day which is much lower than that of the original timetable. Furthermore, the analysis includes insightful comparisons and discussions between the optimal schedule and the original one, followed by the exploration of the difference between the carbon-efficient operation and energy-efficient operation
How does the built environment affect transit use under different urban village renewal strategies?
No full textAuthorities often adopt rehabilitation or redevelopment strategies to enhance the built environment (BE) of urban villages to address issues like traffic congestion, pollution, and public security. There is a lack of investigation into the specific impacts of the built environment on bus usage in urban villages with different renewal strategies. We utilized data from the 2018 Zhuhai resident survey and employed the XGB-SHAP model to examine the non-linear relationship and threshold effects of the BE on transit usage in urban villages undergoing rehabilitation or redevelopment. The finding indicated that travel time and distance are the most influential factors, while the density of bus stops and employment density have the greatest impact among the BE variables. The BE variables exhibit distinct nonlinear characteristics and display threshold effects, with significant difference in their performance. Our empirical evidence and policy implications provide valuable insights for promoting public transit usage in urban villages
Integrating ride-hailing services with public transport: a stochastic user equilibrium model for multimodal transport systems
No full textPublic transport (PT) agencies are increasingly keen on integrating ride-hailing (RH) services with PT to improve overall mobility. Understanding the traffic flow distribution in the integrated system is vital for the policy decision-making and services design of such a system. We propose a stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) model for multimodal transport systems consisting of private car, PT and RH. The travel costs in the SUE model are investigated using a multimodal graph representation to capture the relationship of different travel modes in the integrated system. We apply the proposed model to a toy case and a real-world case. A RH subsidy strategy is compared with the benchmark to demonstrate travellers’ route and mode shifts in the integrated system. Our findings offer insights on subsidising RH services through the proposed model, and provide valuable knowledge on the planning and design of the integrated system
Benchmarking the performance of urban rail transit systems: a machine learning application
No full textUrban rail transit (URT) systems operate in heterogenous environments where their performance is affected by many exogenous factors. However, conventional benchmarking methods assume homogeneity of many of these factors which could result in misleading comparisons of performance. This study provides a methodological contribution to the transit benchmarking literature through a systemic data-driven method which accommodates heterogeneity among URT. A unique international dataset of 36 URT systems in year 2016 is utilised. Operators are clustered based on indicators of operational performance through machine learning algorithms which enables like-for-like comparisons of performances. Data envelopment analysis with bootstrapping is then used to evaluate operators’ efficiency performance within a cluster. Further, ANOVA and post-hoc tests are applied to explore variations and correlations among different aspects of performance. Our clustering results corroborate the natural geographic grouping of the systems. Further, we highlight the complexity of the definition of service quality in the transit sector
Predicting acceptance of autonomous shuttle buses by personality profiles: a latent profile analysis
No full textAutonomous driving and its acceptance are becoming increasingly important in psychological research as the application of autonomous functions and artificial intelligence in vehicles increases. In this context, potential users are increasingly considered, which is the basis for the successful establishment and use of autonomous vehicles. Numerous studies show an association between personality variables and the acceptance of autonomous vehicles. This makes it more relevant to identify potential user profiles to adapt autonomous vehicles to the potential user and the needs of the potential user groups to marketing them effectively. Our study, therefore, addressed the identification of personality profiles for potential users of autonomous vehicles (AVs). A sample of 388 subjects answered questions about their intention to use autonomous buses, their sociodemographics, and various personality variables. Latent Profile Analysis was used to identify four personality profiles that differed significantly from each other in their willingness to use AVs. In total, potential users with lower anxiety and increased self-confidence were more open toward AVs. Technology affinity as a trait also contributes to the differentiation of potential user profiles and AV acceptance. The profile solutions and the correlations with the intention to use proved to be replicable in cross validation analyses
A hybrid exploratory approach for understanding risk driving behaviors of bus drivers: A case study of Nanjing, China
No full textRisk driving behaviors among bus drivers raise growing concerns for public transportation operations, and identifying key influential factors can improve this situation. Based on 117,859 actual operation records from No. 851 bus line in Nanjing, causal relationships between five types of risk driving behaviors and influence factors were investigated by a framework of binary logit models to capture unobserved group and individual heterogeneities. Then, a random forest based SHAP model was utilized to provide further insights into potential inconsistencies. The empirical findings demonstrate that the performance of fixed effect binary logit models is consistent with that of random forest, as well as between the random effect and random parameter binary logit models. Besides, high correlations between land departure, vehicle proximity, and forward collision are observed. Further, travelling speed is identified as the predominant risk indicator, with lower speed being the determinant for distraction driving. Interestingly, the probability of forward collision increases beyond the distance of 50 m from bus bay entrances, and fatigue driving is more prone to occur at the locations less than 50 m from bus bay exits. Specifically, fatigue driving is mainly attributed to temporal and road environment characteristics, and distraction driving is more likely to happen on the single-lane roads with sharp acceleration and deceleration. Moreover, correlations between unobserved heterogeneities and some intervention measures for specific risk driving behaviors are quantified and proposed. Current findings could provide empirical evidence for implementing road safety measures and strategies in public transportation, and serve as supporting evidence for designing safety training programs for bus drivers