Monash University, Institute of Transport Studies: World Transit Research (WTR)
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The coordination between citywide rail transit accessibility and land-use characteristics in Shenzhen, China: An explorative analysis based on multidimensional spatial data
No full textTransit-oriented development (TOD) represents a pivotal strategy globally aimed at promoting urban and transportation sustainability. A vital challenge to the effectiveness of TOD is the spatial discordance between urban transit and land development. Despite a recent surge of interest in the relationship of rail transit and land use, the conclusions are predominantly confined to the metro station area. The key land-use characteristics pivotal to gaging the sustainability of TOD, such as the proportion of commercial land and the ratio of green spaces, remain insufficiently scrutinized. Therefore, this study evaluates if and how rail transit development has integrated land use citywide, with a particular focus on green spaces, commercial value, land-use diversity, and job-housing spaces. We developed a citywide grid-scale index of rail transit accessibility (CRTA) and constructed coordination models based on multidimensional spatial data and bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis. The results imply the following: 1) Residence, employment, and the diversity of functional facilities, influenced by market and individual preference exhibit a robust spatial coordination with CRTA. But government-led planned commercial land demonstrates a poor coordination with CRTA, and there is a pronounced incoordination between planned green spaces and CRTA. 2) There are significant disparities in the interactive relationships between CRTA and various land-use characteristics across urban and suburban settings. In urban areas, there is a high level of coordinated development between rail transit networks and land use, although this is influenced by physical segmentation and planning policies. In suburban areas, rail transit plays a guiding role in land development, but the development of rail transit fails to keep up with that of land use. Finally, the study provides recommendations for coordinating rail transit with land-use characteristics in both urban and suburban areas, and identifies key areas where improvements in rail transit accessibility are most urgently required
Advancing railway track health monitoring: Integrating GPR, InSAR and machine learning for enhanced asset management
No full textRailway track health monitoring and maintenance are crucial stages in railway asset management, aiming to enhance the train operation quality and service life. For this aim, various inspection means (using diverse non-destructive testing techniques) have been applied, however, these means are mostly not able to monitor whole railway track network or track underlying layers (e.g., ballast and subgrade). The use of remote sensing techniques, such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), can expedite the defect diagnosis process for railway tracks, elevating the scope of health monitoring to a network-wide level. The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has emerged as a particularly reliable method, especially for detecting structural deficiencies in underlying layers. As a result, combining the two distinct non-destructive testing techniques – GPR and InSAR – presents a promising strategy for efficient railway asset management. Recognizing the significance of embracing newer and more advanced monitoring strategies, this paper reviews the fusion of GPR and InSAR methodologies, and explores the potential integration of machine learning models to develop a predictive health monitoring and condition-based maintenance approach for railway tracks
Exploring the changes in the interrelation between public transit mode share and accessibility across income groups in major Canadian cities in the post-pandemic era
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the travel behaviour of urban residents in an unprecedented manner, especially public transit (PT) users. PT has experienced a decline in ridership around the world early in the pandemic and has been struggling to rebound again to the pre-pandemic levels, whereas other modes have reached their pre-pandemic levels. PT agencies have been trying to attract users back through service improvements and other policies; nevertheless, the impacts of policies that were effective prior to the pandemic are not guaranteed in the post-pandemic world due to the lasting effects of the pandemic on travel behaviour. This study compares the changes in the impacts of accessibility, the ease of reaching destinations, to jobs by PT on commute mode share pre- and post-pandemic (2016 and 2021) with an equity lens in the three largest metropolitan regions in Canada: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Results show that planning for accessibility is still an impactful tool to increase PT mode share in the post-pandemic era, yet the magnitude of the impact has declined by almost 50% in Toronto and Montreal and 30% in Vancouver for low-income groups. In the post-pandemic era, the impact of accessibility on PT mode share remains higher for the low-income compared to other-income groups, which is similar to the pre-pandemic times. Understanding the changing effects of accessibility, a major land use and transport planning tool, on travel behaviour is important as PT agencies are developing strategies to restore pre-pandemic levels of ridership and increase it to reach their sustainability goals
Exploring the contributions of Ebike ownership, transit access, and the built environment to car ownership in a developing city
No full textWhile many studies examine the correlates of car ownership, only a few have quantified the relative contributions of individuals\u27 socio-economic characteristics, alternative transportation choices, and built environment attributes to car ownership in developing cities. By employing gradient boosting decision trees to the 2020 regional household travel survey data from Wuhan, a megacity in China, we estimated the respective impacts of these factors on car ownership. The results of this study highlight household wealth as the dominant factor in predicting car ownership. Additionally, the ownership of Ebikes, an alternative travel option, emerges as an important mitigator of car ownership. However, most transit and built environment variables contribute marginally to the prediction of car ownership – though an exception is to direct future development into inner city neighborhoods. The findings suggest that Ebikes not only serve as a crucial alternative to cars but also complement limited transit services. Therefore, in developing cities with growing economies, banning Ebikes would not be conducive to curbing car growth
Co-evolution of public transport access and ridership
No full textWhile transport infrastructure and travel demand are known to be correlated, their causal relationship has not been systematically investigated. Granger causality tests have been conducted in the context of transport infrastructure and economic growth, and land use and transport. This research extends their application to network investments and travel demand by examining the co-evolution of public transport access and ridership in the Greater Sydney region for a period spanning over a century, from 1855 onward. We hypothesise a mutual feedback between public transport ridership and access, and corroborate the hypothesis in all causal models estimated – between aggregate public transport ridership and access, station ridership and access, and mesh block public transport shares and access. The causality was more evident in disaggregate models and was stronger between ridership and access to jobs than with access to population when employment data were available. Ours is the first longitudinal investigation into the causal relationship between public transport access and ridership. The findings strengthen the case for using access as a planning measure and lay the groundwork for evolutionary strategic transport modelling
Impact of Restricted Public Transport Since COVID-19 on Women in Rural India: A Qualitative Study
No full textPurpose
Railways are crucial as public transport in rural India in connecting the villages with cities. Since COVID-19, most of the trains in rural India have not stopped at small railway stations, which has impacted the mobility of the villagers. This study is conducted in Piprai, a village in North India, to explore the impact of non-halting trains since COVID-19 on young girls in rural India. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative research design to explore the impact of non-halting trains since COVID-19 on young girls in rural India. Qualitative data was collected from three sources. Two physical participatory workshops were conducted in Piprai in March 2021 and October 2022 with 10 and 12 participants, respectively. A WhatsApp group was formed with six girls for continuous feedback and discussions. A social activist from the same area was the point of contact and was interviewed to understand the overall condition of women in the village. Findings The results provide valuable insights into how the lack of public transportation since COVID-19 has affected young girls in rural India. Women\u27s mobility has been limited, which has led to a halt in higher studies, being unable to visit hospitals regularly and meeting relatives, especially parents in different cities. Furthermore, the above reasons have led to anxiety and mental disturbance. Originality/value This study is among the first to explore the impact of lack of transportation since COVID-19 on women in rural India. This is the first time any such study has been conducted in the remote area of Bundelkhand, UP, India
Economic impacts of a subway system: Exploring local contexts in a metropolitan area
No full textWith rapid urban population growth, more subway systems have been developed in metropolitan areas around the world. It is commonly presumed that the improved mobility and accessibility provided by subway systems are capitalized as a financial premium for nearby real estate assets. This study empirically explores this presumption with a case study of Gwangju, a metropolitan area in South Korea. The study site is found to have had a negative economic impact on housing prices from a subway system in the mid-2010s; however, the sign has changed over time, although the subway has experienced no actual expansion or operational changes. This indicates that the economic impact of subway systems may not necessarily become positive or remain static. We examine a wide range of local contexts to explain the sign change. Our study adopts machine learning algorithms to precisely address the nonlinearity inherent in our dataset and quantifies the importance of housing factors in the assessment of housing prices using SHapley Additive exPlanation. We also employ a series of hedonic pricing models to determine the effects of proximity to subway lines on housing prices across years. Key changes in the later 2010s, including the increased modal share of the subway system and local politics, should have resulted in the potential benefits of the to-be-extended network being widely and fully realized. Our findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms of the economic impact of evolving transportation infrastructure on housing prices
Preserving Sustainability Gains of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of MIT Campus Commuting
No full textCOVID-19 profoundly affected how communities live, work, and commute. In particular, reductions in commutes caused reductions in commuter-related emissions. The pandemic also prompted businesses and institutions to consider longer-term adjustments, including work-from-home policies that continue beyond pandemic protocols. If properly evaluated and implemented, these policies may have long-term beneficial impacts in reducing commuter-related emissions. This work presents a case study of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus community, using data from a prepandemic transportation survey with responses from approximately 50% of the community, as well as data on the academic groups and home locations of the broader population. These data were used to estimate car commuter miles by various academic groups and to model and evaluate interventions in relation to reducing car commuter miles. The interventions include staff work-from-home policies, changes that increase use of alternative transit, and improving access to housing. The analysis used differences in how groups commute to inform the potential interventions. For example, there was an estimated 16% reduction in car commuter miles if staff worked from home 1 day/week on average (excluding service staff whose work is on-site), and the same estimated reduction could be achieved were just one staff group that is well-suited to working from home allowed to do so 2 days/week. This analysis is intended to establish groundwork for further studies to assess how potential campus policies and land use might affect sustainable transportation use and parking demand, as well as to provide a case study for other institutions considering similar changes
Can Shared Mobility Compensate for Public Transport Disruptions? The Case of Milan’s Bike Sharing System During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge for public transport systems. The capacity of transport systems has been significantly reduced because of the social distancing measures. Therefore, new avenues to increase the resilience of public urban mobility need to be explored. In this work, we investigate the integration of bike sharing and public transport systems to compensate for limited public transport capacity under the disruptive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a first step, we develop a data analysis model to integrate the demand of the two underlying systems. Next, we build an optimization model for the design and operation of hybrid mixed-fleet bike sharing systems. We analyze the case of the subway and public bike sharing systems in Milan to assess this approach. We find that the bike sharing system (in its current state) can only compensate for a minor share of the public transport capacity, as the needs in fleet and station capacity are very high. However, the resilience of public urban mobility further increases when new design concepts for the bike sharing system are considered. An extension to a hybrid free-floating bike and docked e-bike system doubled the covered demand of the system. An extension of the station capacity of about 37% yields an additional increase of the covered demand by 6.5%–7.5%. On the other hand, such a hybrid mixed-fleet bike sharing system requires many stations and a relatively large fleet to provide the required mobility capacity, even at low demand requirements
The effects of planned behaviour, spatiotemporal variables and lifestyle on public transport use: An exploratory study
No full textPrevious studies with discretionary activities as the context have shown that psychological constructs (volition, desire and past behaviour) are time- and space-invariant. However, discretionary activities are less routine than people’s daily travel patterns (e.g. travel mode usage), which may result in inconsistent results among studies. The present study thus aimed to investigate the effects of temporal, social and spatial variations on the psychological mechanisms underlying more routine activity patterns such as the usage of public transport. This study was expanded to incorporate lifestyle mechanisms to determine the effects of consumption patterns on public transport. In contrast with previous studies using less routine activity patterns, on a routine basis, people’s motivation, volition and past behaviour tended to be time- and space-invariant. Indeed, the perceived ability to engage in activities was not completely predictive of behaviour; however, some spatiotemporal variables, such as mandatory and leisure activity patterns, could predict those with linear patterns of past behaviour, behaviour volition and actual behaviour. Built-environment variables (e.g. residing in areas with higher population density and being near the city centre) tend to shape public transport usage. However, shaping the built environment and having the commitment and intention to use public transport is not likely enough to shift people to use public transport. Making people loyal to public transport and focusing on those who have less commitment to perform mandatory and in-home discretionary activities are two variables that tend to shape high public transport usage