Geoffrey Rose

TRAVEL BLENDING: AN AUSTRALIAN TRAVEL AWARENESS INITIATIVE

Abstract This paper outlines a new approach to reducing car use in order to address environmental concerns. The individual action program, known as Travel Blending®, involves participating households being sent a series of four kits, containing information booklets and travel diaries, over a nine-week period. The travel diaries are analysed and a summary of the household’s travel patterns, and the emissions produced by their vehicles, is sent back in a subsequent kit along with suggestions explaining how they could reduce vehicle use. Households complete another set of travel diaries after four weeks and these are analysed so that a comparative summary can be returned to the household with the final kit. The paper describes results from two Australian studies. The first, a pilot study, involving about 50 individuals, was undertaken in Sydney, Australia. The second study involved about 100 households from Adelaide, Australia. Quantitative results from the Adelaide study indicate about a 10% reduction in car driver kilometres with a slightly higher percentage reductions in car driver trips and total hours spent in the car. These results, while very encouraging, must be interpreted cautiously. Further research will be required to explore the generalisability and magnitude of the effect of the Travel Blending® Program on travel behaviour.

Using GPS Data to Gain Insight into Public Transport Travel Time Variability

Transit service reliability is an important determinant of service quality, which has been mainly studied from the perspective of passengers waiting at stops. Day-to-day variability of travel time also deteriorates service reliability, but is not a well-researched area in the literature partly due to the lack of comprehensive data sets on bus travel times. While this problem is now being addressed through the uptake of global positioning system (GPS)-based tracking systems, methodologies to analyze these data sets are limited. This paper addresses this issue by investigating day-to-day variability in public transport travel time using a GPS data set for a bus route in Melbourne, Australia. It explores the nature and shape of travel time distributions for different departure time windows at different times of the day. Factors causing travel time variability of public transport are also explored using a linear regression analysis. The results show that in narrower departure time windows, travel time distributions are best characterized by normal distributions. For wider departure time windows, peak-hour travel times follow normal distributions, while off-peak travel times follow lognormal distributions. The factors contributing to the variability of travel times are found to be land use, route length, number of traffic signals, number of bus stops, and departure delay relative to the scheduled departure time. Travel time variability is higher in the AM peak and lower in the off-peak. The impact of rainfall on travel time variability is only found significant in the AM peak. While the paper presents new methods for analyzing GPS-based data, there is much scope for expanding knowledge through wider applications to new data sets and using a wider range of explanatory variables.

Electric Bikes and Transportation Policy

Electric bikes (e-bikes) are increasingly common in China but are relatively rare in the United States. The findings from interviews with 28 e-bike owners in the Portland, Oregon, region provide insight into the potential market for and use of e-bikes in the United States. The interviews revealed several possible demographic markets for e-bikes that could expand the bicycling population: women, older adults, and people with physical limitations. Owners of e-bikes noted their ability to travel longer distances and over hills with relative ease and to arrive at a destination, such as work, less sweaty and less tired than a regular bicycle would allow. These features may overcome some of the common barriers to bicycling for all demographics. Most of the interviewed e-bike owners used their e-bikes to substitute for travel by either human-powered bicycles or traditional motor vehicles. Therefore, the e-bike can address concerns about health problems related to inactivity, pollution, and other public policy problems to which private vehicles contribute. Further research is needed to determine whether specific policies are needed to increase adoption of e-bikes. The potential for conflict between riders of e-bikes and of regular bikes because of speed differentials is a concern. Whether speed differentials will pose a significant problem will depend not only on the extent of adoption of e-bikes but the characteristics of the riders.

Using Automatic Vehicle Identification Data to Gain Insight into Travel Time Variability and Its Causes

Unreliable transport systems cause stress and anxiety for travelers and create difficulties for authorities managing network operations, This study conducted a comprehensive investigation of travel time distributions in terms of various time windows based on extensive automatic vehicle identification data collected from the CityLink Tollway in Melbourne, Australia. The study also examines the components of travel time variability and explores their relationships. Given the number of factors affecting travel time variability and their interaction effects, multiple regression analysis is used to quantify the contribution of the various sources to the variability in travel time. Application of the methodology to two groups of data—namely, travel times in morning peak and afternoon peak—demonstrates that they have distinctive sources of variability. Morning peak travel times vary mostly because of driver-related factors, specifically lane choice decisions, whereas 25% of the variability of travel times in the...

Nest architecture and traffic flow: Large potential effects from small structural features

1. Research on human pedestrian dynamics predicts that seemingly small architectural features of the surroundings can have large effects on the behaviour of crowds and the flow of pedestrian traffic, particularly when a crowd is panicked. This theoretical framework might usefully be applied to the study of collective movement within subterranean nests of social insects.

Biologically Inspired Modeling Approach for Collective Pedestrian Dynamics Under Emergency Conditions

An interesting aspect of collective dynamics of various biological entities is that they are emergent systems. A literature review examines how the fundamental principles of emergent systems can be applied to model collective pedestrian dynamics. A simulation model is then proposed on the basis of modifications of collective animal dynamics. Recent findings from experiments with panicking Argentine ants are presented to illustrate how such experiments can be used to study collective pedestrian traffic. Despite the difference in speed, size, and other biological details of the panicking individuals, the model proved capable of explaining the collective dynamics. The models robustness is demonstrated by comparing its ability to simulate the collective traffic of panicking ants as well as collective human traffic. The lack of complementary data during emergency and panic situations is a challenge for model development. Empirical data from biological organisms can play a valuable role in the development of pedestrian traffic models from a theoretical perspective and in instances in which model validation is based on empirical data collected by video. Such a novel framework, which is based on complementary expertise, can be used as a basis for the design of solutions for the safe egress of pedestrians.

Local Ramp Metering in Random-Location Bottlenecks Downstream of Metered On-Ramp

This paper studies a control strategy applicable to local ramp metering in the presence of random-location bottlenecks (RLBs) downstream of a metered on-ramp. With the support of the Highway Department of Victoria State, Australia, local ramp metering in the RLB case has recently been investigated, with the aim of designing appropriate and practicable control approaches. A related control strategy has been developed and tested in macroscopic simulation. This paper presents some representative testing results. This strategy has been incorporated into the HERO (heuristic ramp-metering coordination) freeway ramp signal control system and will be applied in Melbourne in the frame of a large-scale freeway upgrade project.

Speed modeling and travel time estimation based on truncated normal and lognormal distributions

Travel time is a vital performance index in assessing transportation network performance. Vehicle speeds along any network route fluctuate, and route travel times are essentially random. This technical note first examines travel time modeling and estimation with the random modeling of speeds, and then a general approach is presented for travel time estimation based on speed distributions. Because normal and lognormal distributions are commonly employed for speed modeling in traffic engineering, travel time estimation is further discussed concerning distributions. Most probability distributions (including normal and lognormal) assume that a modeled random variable spreads over the whole or half-range of the real number axis, but in practice, any traffic quantity of interest makes sense only within a limited value range. The concept of truncated distributions is introduced, and specifically, the probability features of truncated normal and lognormal distributions are explored concerning the discussed travel time estimation issue.

Safer cycling in the urban road environment: study approach and protocols guiding an Australian study

Background Much of the research into cyclist safety in Australia has focused on behaviour with less focus on the impact of the urban transport environment on cyclist safety. A greater understanding of the urban transport system and the improvements needed to create a safer cycling environment are essential if cyclists are to be safe and increased cycling participation targets are to be achieved. The proposed study will use existing cyclist crash data along with unique cyclist exposure data to develop road infrastructure prototypes that improve cyclists’ safety and evaluate the effectiveness of these prototypes in a cycling simulator. Methods and design This study will be conducted in two Australian cities namely Perth and Melbourne as both cities have policies that strongly advocate cycling. Two methods of data collection will be employed: (1) in-depth crash investigations of injured cyclists; and (2) video footage of cyclist exposure through a naturalistic cycling study of non-injured cyclists. The findings from these two methods will be used to develop new urban road design prototypes which will be tested with a sample of cyclists and motorists in safe environment namely, a cycling simulator and a driving simulator. Discussion By designing and evaluating safer environments for cyclists, this study will identify solutions that reduce the risk of road trauma and importantly, support this alternative mode of transport and thereby contribute to a reduction in traffic-related emissions and pollution and enhance sustainable economic and social connectivity.

Methodology for Evaluating Quality of Travel Plans for New Developments

A travel plan contains a package of site-specific measures that aim to manage car use and to encourage the use of more sustainable transport modes. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in using the land use planning and approvals process to secure travel plans for new developments. Although evaluations of travel plans tend to focus on outcomes such as reductions in car use, scant attention has been paid to evaluating the process through which they are developed. For this study, an assessment framework was developed to evaluate the quality of travel plans for new developments. With a case study from Victoria, Australia, the framework was applied to 31 travel plans. Results showed that most travel plans were prepared for residential and mixed use developments and contained measures that were focused primarily on information and infrastructure provision. Relevant background information and the selection of measures generally were covered by travel plans. However, the process for managing their implementation scored relatively low in the assessment in comparison with other elements. Overall, the framework developed provides a useful tool for assessing the relative merits and deficiencies of travel plans prepared for new developments and can be used to improve the quality of travel plans that are submitted through the planning process. Further work is required to refine the framework according to the collective views of travel planning practitioners.