Path-planning algorithms for public transportation systems

Prelims

User Perception of Paratransit System Characteristics in the Context of Public Transport System

Public transport systems in modern cities are the key to create the sustainable citizens' mobility of the future. In a short time the private vehicle will be needed only for transportations that public transport cannot be afforded. Supporting the use of the public transport in the cities is one of the main objectives planned by the European Union for next years. It is making an important effort to reach a decrease of twenty percent for emissions of greenhouse gases derived from urban mobility before 2020. However, for achieving this goal it is necessary to make a change in the perception that citizens have about transport systems. Current travel and journey planners may not consider some variables that may contribute to improve the perception of the citizens when they have to face mobility into the urban areas. Besides transport timetables, citizen schedules or travel costs, route planners have to improve both the quality of the proposed planned mobility and the performance of the public transportation system. We have studied different factors that have to be taken in consideration to develop new planners based not only on the optimization of time, costs, distance or the number of transport changes. We also consider other elements that can help to make the travel more comfortable to users such as knowing occupancy rates of vehicles in motion or the carbon footprint associated to the transport mode.

Smart cards for public transportation have become a significant source of information for analyzing mobility trends and assisting public authorities and transportation organizations in making decisions. This article describes a visualization tool developed by LINKS Foundation that exhibits spatial and temporal characteristics, with the goal of demonstrating the potential of analysing and visualising smart card validation and transit data towards better decision making. The Piedmont region’s transit data was used as a case study. The developed public transport visualization tool (called Mobisuite) represents the transit system supply, the mobility demand, and the ticketing system through three primary visualization modules. The tool employs a virtual check out algorithm, which estimates the users’ travel diary and aids in the calculation of various transit indicators, e.g. passenger kilometers, maximum load, number of on-boarding passengers, average load. Mobisuite can be a helpful tool for displaying the public transport system for the whole transport network at a glance, and it can be used to simplify communication between transit operators and public agencies regarding the public transport planning, operation and fares.KeywordsSmart-card ticketDecision support systemsFare collectionE-ticketing dataTransit planningPublic transportationTransportation demandIntelligent transportation systems

An Immune Memory and Negative Selection Based Decision Support System to Monitor and Control Public Bus Transportation Systems

This paper develops recommendations for improving in an evolutionary manner the performance of our urban ground transportation systems. The strengths and limitations of present static control technology and current computer traffic signal and freeway surveillance and control systems in urban areas are described. A taxonomy of possible information and control configurations in urban traffic operations is developed. The alternatives in the taxonomy are analysed and used as the basis for recommending specific real time information and control functions for improving, in an evolutionary manner, the performance of urban ground transportation systems. The recommended improvements would allow for the first time a meaningful substitution of operational control for physical (static) capacity increases in urban transportation.

SUPERHUB is a recently launched large-scale European effort aimed at enabling a new generation of eco-mobility services designed around and with the citizens. The SUPERHUB concept builds on the notion that citizens are not just mere users of mobility services, but represent an active component and a resource for policy-makers willing to improve sustainable mobility in smart cities. SUPERHUB makes use of innovative persuasive technology to raise awareness in citizens of the impact of their daily habits, fostering the adoption of virtuous, more environmentally-friendly mobility behaviours. From the technical standpoint, SUPERHUB is built around a big-data approach applied to mobility eco-systems, whereby data from a variety of sources (public transportation, road traffic information, GPS data, weather/pollution etc.) are collected and mined, with the help of advanced reasoning techniques and data analytics tools, in order to support citizens (through the provisioning of personalized and 'green' journey plans) as well as policy-makers (through the provisioning of detailed analysis of mobility flows and the assessment of the impact of mobility policies).

Bottom-up social innovations are being used in the transportation sector with unintended outcomes for carbon emission reducing potentials. Activists and policy makers have called for studies on the potentials of such innovations in reducing carbon emissions to aid policy recommendations. This study explores the potentials of such an innovation in the transport sector in Nigeria of reducing carbon emissions. Called Message by users, this social innovation is used like an informal courier service to deliver items of trade, documents and medicine among others using the public transportation system. This social innovation saves users costs of transporting the items themselves using public or private transportation or formal courier services. Data on number of Messages sent was collected by personal observation at a public transport terminal for Ikeja bound passengers from Ile-Ife (towns in southwestern Nigeria) for seven days. Ninety-four Messages consisting of 106 items were observed to be sent at the terminal using the Message system during the period. Two scenarios that may lead to savings in carbon emissions were highlighted in the study; the first, if the sender boards a public transportation vehicle to deliver the item and the second, if private transportation was used rather than the Message system. The round-trip distance for the two options was estimated to be 400 Km. A six-passenger 2-litre engine public transportation vehicle which consumes an estimated 9L/100 Km was assumed for the study. The results showed that for the first scenario, 1,297.2 Kg CO2 will be produced and 7783.2 Kg CO2 for the second scenario if senders had used these alternatives other than the message system for the 94 Messages. The study concludes that the Message can be regarded as a Low-carbon Bottom-up social innovation and recommends public and/or private efforts to scale-up this innovation in other climes.

This paper provides a Lagrangian dynamic fluid model of the traffic of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system or of personal rapid maglev-transporters. The transport system using these maglev-transporters or sky-podcars operates in the style of demand-responsive systems. The advantage of the sky-podcars is that they are fast and that they do not operate in the same physical space as the other ground transportation modes. Thus they will contribute to alleviate congestion. We model the dynamics of the sky-podcars transportation system and we solve the problem of relocation with minimum cost in this maglev system. An analysis of assumptions of effective operation of the PRT is carried out. Reactive dynamic assignment in such PRT system is described. In a multi-modal transport system where the maglev-transporters mode is taken into account, we describe the multi-modal dynamic assignment and its spatial interactions with other common transportation systems.

Management of crowd information in public transportation (PT) systems is crucial, both to foster sustainable mobility, by increasing the user's comfort and satisfaction during normal operation, as well as to cope with emergency situations, such as pandemic crises, as recently experienced with COVID-19 limitations. This paper presents a taxonomy and review of sensing technologies based on Internet of Things (IoT) for real-time crowd analysis, which can be adopted in the different segments of the PT system (buses/trams/trains, railway/metro stations, and bus/tram stops). To discuss such technologies in a clear systematic perspective, we introduce a reference architecture for crowd management, which employs modern information and communication technologies (ICT) in order to: (i) monitor and predict crowding events; (ii) implement crowd-aware policies for real-time and adaptive operation control in intelligent transportation systems (ITSs); (iii) inform in real-time the users of the crowding status of the PT system, by means of electronic displays installed inside vehicles or at bus/tram stops/stations, and/or by mobile transport applications. It is envisioned that the innovative crowd management functionalities enabled by ICT/IoT sensing technologies can be incrementally implemented as an add-on to state-of-the-art ITS platforms, which are already in use by major PT companies operating in urban areas. Moreover, it is argued that, in this new framework, additional services can be delivered to the passengers, such as, e.g., on-line ticketing, vehicle access control and reservation in severely crowded situations, and evolved crowd-aware route planning.

Sustainable development is a holistic practice and the concept of sustainability considers social, economic, and environmental issues simultaneously. Sustainable transportation system is the need of the hour because of significant challenges for cities with respect to traffic congestion, environment pollution, etc., leading to overall global warming. However, there are no proper guidelines in place for Indian cities currently to be considered by the urban development authorities to implement or evaluate different types of sustainable transportation systems. Considering these, the present study developed a design methodology to enhance the level of existing transport systems in terms of its sustainability for the modes, namely, public transport (PT) and non-motorized transport (NMT) system. Further, the evaluation methodology was also developed by proposing ‘sustainability indices’ which will help policymakers or development authorities in assessing the status as well as changes that occurred due to policy interventions in PT and NMT systems.KeywordsSustainabilityPublic transportNon-motorized transportSustainability index

Public transportation is a public service offered to people living in cities.The aim of this study is to evaluate urban transportation and rail systems within the framework of five-year development plans, the first covering the years 1963-1967 and the eleventh covering the years 2019-2023.Qualitative research method was used in the study.During the data analysis phase, eleven five-year development plans were examined and policies and strategies in urban transportation and rail systems were evaluated.In the first five-year development plan; In the second development plan, reducing costs and increasing service quality; The transportation plan was mentioned for the first time by touching on urban transportation problems.In the third development plan; urban transportation problems, in the fourth development plan; The problems caused by the use of private vehicles in urban transportation and oil-based policies, and the start of the construction of the light rail system and metro in Istanbul and Ankara are mentioned.In the fifth development plan; The necessity of the concept of transportation planning and the necessity of the transportation plans to be prepared for cities to be integrated and compatible with the zoning plans, in the sixth development plan; Since traffic and transportation problems, no targets, policies and principles related to urban transportation were determined and no concrete project was included in the seventh development plan; The necessity of accelerating urban transportation master plan studies by meeting the transportation needs in metropolitan municipalities in a coordinated manner with master plan decisions and focusing on public transportation systems for the priorities specified in the plan was mentioned.In the eighth development plan; It is aimed to solve the problems related to organization, responsibility, authority and legislation in urban transportation.In the ninth five-year development plan; The EU perspective on transportation was emphasized, and in this sense, increasing capacity in urban transportation and traffic and demand management strategies were mentioned.In the tenth five-year development plan; Emphasis was placed on improving the transportation connections of underdeveloped regions, switching to a corridor approach, and ensuring integration between transportation systems.In the eleventh five-year development plan; The need to carry out studies to increase accessibility in urban transportation was emphasized.

Intelligent transportation systems—Enabling technologies

This study aims to analyze the cost of subsidies and the opportunity to implement Buy the Service (BTS) for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Padang Panjang City. This study uses a quantitative method with a descriptive approach. Primary data collection includes observation and distribution questionnaires with respondents using public and non-public transport users. The information obtained from the distribution of questionnaires is the origin of the destination, characteristics of public transportation behavior, and the willingness to pay of the community towards public transportation modes that follow public transportation service standards. The operational costs of public vehicles are obtained from the survey results of the basic costs of public transportation, which consist of direct and indirect costs. The results of this study formulate 3 (three) main route trajectories scenarios and cost analysis of BTS implementation that meets Minimum Service Standards (SPM). The estimated subsidy cost for implementing BTS in the three main corridors is 10.09 billion, with the highest subsidy cost being in corridor 1. which is 4.41 billion but has a smaller headway than the other two corridors. The results of this study also recommend the need for continuous socialization to the community regarding the ease and convenience of using BRT as well as equalizing perceptions between local governments and operators regarding the mechanism for providing BRT subsidies.

The rapid growth of cities all over the world has inevitably led to the aggravation of economic, social and environmental problems. In this regard, developing «green», low-carbon, circular and other new economic models is necessary. Transport sector is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants. The purpose of this work is to assess the impact of urban public transport, especially electric buses, on the air quality. The authors have analyzed international and Russia’s experience of the low-carbon development of urban public transport and evaluated the environmental effects of transitioning to electric buses in Moscow using a regression model and data visualization tools. The results have shown that integrating electric buses into an urban transport system can be considered as a step towards the low-carbon development of the transport sector. The authors have identified a decrease in carbon monoxide (CO) pollution in the districts of Moscow where there are electric bus routes. Although the authors managed to demonstrate positive aspects of using e-buses instead of traditional ones, the proposed hypotheses were not fully confirmed due to limited data and a small number of electric bus routes at an early stage of the project. The results of the work can be used both in theoretical studies of sustainable development and practical implementation of programs for the low-carbon development of an urban transport network