1,721,129 research outputs found
A challenge for a more sustainable urban mobility in Europe
No full textAs cities worldwide endeavor to make their transport portfolio more sustainable, cycling is increasingly relied on as an essential component. In Europe, especially in countries such as Netherlands or Denmark, this interest is not recent at all but, on the contrary, in other countries as Italy it is recent. The major consequence is that the infrastructural system must be gradually performed to the changing mobility and the integration of cycling paths must be outlined in urban mobility plans.
To obtain these results, is very important to know where and when cyclists ride in the city and to have a detailed feedback about cyclists' real needs. Cyclists, in fact, while relatively small in numbers in proportion to motorized vehicles, have a high level of vulnerability, creating a significant need to better understand the specific features of this users group.
For this reason, the city of Bologna promotes every year the European Cycling Challenge, a friendly city team competition among urban cyclists.
At the end of the European Cycling Challenge, all GPS data collected through the app provide a very detailed and big amount of information on the behaviors of cyclists in the city. These data are very important for city planners, because they can check the efficacy of the existing cycle-lane network and they can plan the future of the mobility in their city based on the real needs of citizens
Assessing the evolution of Public Transportation demand over time based on real data through survival analysis in Bologna, Italy
No full textPublic Transportation (PT) is a universal service in most countries, and it is acknowledgedfor its social and environmental role in enhancing accessibility and promoting a sustain-able transport system. However, when disruptions alter the service, the level of service(LoS) can be massively affected. Consequently, the perceived quality can be influenced,and users can be encouraged (or forced) to modify their subsequent modal choice, inaccordance with the users’ socioeconomic profile. A survival analysis, namely a Cox proportional hazards model, was tested in Bologna, Italy, using real data provided by TPERS.p.A, specifically Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Automatic Passenger Counter(APC). This analysis aimed to assess the variations in demand over time taking into ac-count variables related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the demand and severalservice attributes. The results contribute to the literature in several ways. Firstly, theyconfirm the predominant role of PT in the modal alternative spectrum of disadvantagedusers. Secondly, they provide insights into the perception of quality service among different user categories, including commuters and non-frequent users
Context sensitive design and safety review of bike lanes
Full text linkIn these days of increasing congestion on our roads, bicycles provide a valuable
contribution to mobility in Europe. Their relatively small size and low cost enable them to
blend efficiently into in the traffic flow while needing less space compared to other vehicles.
However, cyclists form one of the most vulnerable groups of road users. So the design of
safe infrastructures for all travelers categories, included the cyclists, becomes a primary
requirement. To obtain these results, Road Safety Audits and Road Safety Reviews are very
useful tool. In this paper the authors, starting from results collected on a bike lane placed in
Rimini, a city of Emilia-Romagna characterized by high bicycle traffic flows especially in
summer when many people head for this place for their holidays, provide useful results for
designers, construction and maintenance contractors, in order to obtain safe bike lane
Fixation distance and fixation duration to vertical road signs
No full textThe distance of first-fixation to vertical road signs was assessed in 22 participants while driving a route of 8.34 km. Fixations to road signs were recorded by a mobile eye-movement-tracking device synchronized to GPS and kinematic data. The route included 75 road signs. First-fixation distance and fixation duration distributions were positively skewed. Median distance of first-fixation was 51 m. Median fixation duration was 137 ms with a modal value of 66 ms. First-fixation distance was linearly related to speed and fixation duration. Road signs were gazed at a much closer distance than their visibility distance. In a second study a staircase procedure was used to test the presentation-time threshold that lead to a 75% accuracy in road sign identification. The threshold was 35 ms, showing that short fixations to a road signs could lead to a correct identification
How do University Student Cyclists Ride? The Case of University of Bologna
Full text linkIn a general urban planning context, in which sustainable active mobility progressively takes up increasing attention, studies of cyclists’ attitudes and behaviors represent a relevant step to help any enhancing measures for urban cycling. Among different categories, university student cyclists represent a still unidentified class, despite the relevant impacts in terms of mass and variability of attitudes in urban areas. The novelty of this paper is to propose an innovative overview on the specific category of university student cyclists. The integrated methodology, based on direct observation through GPS detection, GIS processing, and qualitative survey, permits the evaluation of some interesting issues related to students’ propensity to cycling and their mobility patterns. The approach finds relevance in speed, frequency of movements, routing, and related infrastructure preferences. The methodology has been applied to a sample of more than 300 students of the University of Bologna who were allowed an original university-designed bicycle from February 2021 to June 2021. The analysis was applied in the Bologna urban area and allowed the evaluation of students’ preferences of using existing cycle paths, when available, the limited relevance of speed factors, the main distribution of commuter journeys concentrated in the main avenues directed to city center, and other behaviors
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Effects of median refuge island and flashing vertical sign on conspicuity and safety of unsignalized crosswalks
Full text linkPedestrian crossings are critical points in terms of road safety because they tend to be characterized by high accident rates. Pedestrian safety at zebra crossings depends mainly on vehicles speed. In this study the effects of median refuge island and ''Yield here to pedestrians" flashing vertical sign on pedestrian crossing conspicuity were assessed with a before-after analysis of both speed and visual behaviour of drivers approaching to crosswalks. The elements of the pedestrian crossing that were more salient and how drivers' visual behaviour was related to speed were assessed analysing drivers' eye movements. The intervention significantly increased the fixation time to the zebra markings and the addition of the flashing light increased conspicuity and fixation time to the vertical sign. The median refuge island was glanced by 60.7% of the drivers. Distance of first-fixation of the crosswalk increased by 44.7%. Notwithstanding mean and V85 speed parameters were lower after the intervention , the effects on crosswalk visual attention were higher than on speed
Evidences from Cellphone Big Data Applications for Urban Mobility Needs: Case Studies in Italy
No full texthe use of big data has been radically increasing in the last years. In fact,
when users’ privacy is guaranteed, big data can provide an effective, even custom-
ized, answer to the increasing users’ needs. A peculiar typology of big data are
mobile phone records, which are often recorded automatically by telecommunica-
tion operators for billing, management, and network maintenance purposes.
Nowadays, they are considered a pertinent tool for understanding how people use
city’s infrastructures from the point of view of mobility, consumption, and environ-
mental impacts, enabling a better comprehension of urban phenomena if compared
with the possibilities offered by traditional methods such as travel surveys. This
work will focus on some applications, definitions, and metrics of cellphone big data
by showing a few case studies in Italy. The results of this work will demonstrate
some possible solutions in overcoming the traditional drawbacks and limitations of
mobile phone big data. Moreover, thanks to the pervasive and ubiquitous presence
of connected devices in everyday life, they are a priceless source of information for
planning purposes and to enhance smart city and transportation
Application of cell phone data to monitor attendance during motor racing major event. The case of Formula One Gran Prix in Imola
Full text linkThe advent of connected devices, such as smartphones, has had a transformative impact on the landscape of recent years. Once privacy concerns have been addressed, data can be handled and analysed in a proficient manner to gain insights into patterns and movements, thereby influencing urban policies. It is likely that mobility and transport-related topics have been the subject of the most extensive investigation in the field of cell phone big data. While the topic of commuting patterns has been extensively researched by numerous authors, there is a paucity of literature on the monitoring of attendance during major motorsport events. Despite the predictability of crowding (tickets are sold in advance and the schedule is fixed and rigid), multiday motorsport events are disruptive in terms of traffic, overcrowding and uneasiness for hosting cities. This paper aims to address the aforementioned gap by presenting a case study of monitoring attendance during the Formula One Emilia-Romagna and Made in Italy Grand Prix, held in Imola, Italy, from 22nd to 24th April 2022. The results demonstrated the potential of data to inform the prediction of mobility choices and the planning of appropriate mobility-related policies, with the aim of reducing the impact of future events. This represents a significant challenge for public administrations and stakeholders
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