Hisashi Kubota

Effectiveness of Bus Priority Lane as Countermeasure for Congestion

The main objective of this research is to identify the effectiveness of the bus priority lane in Shizuoka City, Japan, as a countermeasure for traffic congestion. Shizuoka City, the capital of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, suffers from frequent traffic congestion. To tackle this problem, authorities of Shizuoka City tested a pilot project that implemented bus rapid transit (BRT) strategies. This project included a bus priority lane along a 3-km segment and a bus priority signal system. The project data were obtained mainly through traffic surveys, bus surveys, and questionnaire surveys, which were conducted by the authors and by Shizuoka City authorities. All these surveys were carried out twice, before and after the implementation of BRT strategies. After priority treatments were introduced, the number of vehicles using the main road was reduced. Also, queue-length and jam-length measurements showed signs of easing of traffic congestion, and travel times of general vehicles were improved. Although the change associated with total travel time of buses was not statistically significant, it still showed a reducing trend. However, travel times of buses, excluding dwelling times, showed a significant reduction. The difference of significance associated with the above travel parameters was mainly caused by the increase incurred in dwelling times of buses. It was evident that the smoothness of traffic flow along the bus lane as well as along the general traffic lane was improved by the BRT project.

SAFETY AND SECURITY IMPROVEMENT IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION BASED ON PUBLIC PERCEPTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Public transportation poses a higher risk of safety and security since there happen to be more passengers in one car. The problem becomes worse in developing countries, because of the lack of suitable and integrated approaches. The aim of this research is to explore the perception of safety and security problems on the part of those parties involved in the operation of public transportation. This perception is used as a base to develop an improvement agenda for the particular context of developing countries. The research employs a questionnaire survey to collect the perception data. This paper explains the perception of users and drivers of paratransit as well as that of non-users and civil servants, concerning safety and security of paratransit in the city of Bandung, Indonesia. The rank of importance for each factor is analyzed by applying the factor analysis. Analysis shows that the user is the most important party involved. The understanding and awareness of the user (including the driver) is the most important variable to improve the condition. Three aspects of an improvement agenda are proposed based on the perception data, namely technology, management, and institution. This agenda is clarified by a set of action plans incorporating the responsible parties and a time frame. The action plan is divided into three terms to define a clear goal for each step. The short-term action focuses on the hardware and on preparing further steps, whereas the medium-term action focuses on developing and improving the standard of safety and security. The long-term action focuses on advancing safety and security practices. The effectiveness of this agenda and action plan rests upon a set of assumptions, such as the degree of seriousness from the authoritative institution, fair distribution of information, the availability of reasonable resources, and coordinated and collaborative action from all parties involved to reach the objective.

Paratransit Service in Indonesia: User Satisfaction and Future Choice

Abstract This paper explores user satisfaction with making use of paratransit in Bandung, Indonesia. User perceptions of attributes are analyzed using factor analysis to find representing attribute types and factors of service quality. Ordinal probit analysis is employed to explore the characteristics of users regarding their perception of satisfaction with the paratransit service. Binary logistic analysis is undertaken to predict users’ choice probability in making use of paratransit in the future when there is a service improvement. The study reveals that what may be of importance in developed countries carries a different weight of importance for paratransit users. This fact can be explained by describing the characteristics of users that expressed their satisfaction, which also explains the target market for this mode. The analysis reveals the notion that financial motives seem to dominate when users select to use paratransit.

Exploring Public Perception of Paratransit Service Using Binomial Logistic Regression

Soft rock is a term that usually refers to a rock material with a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) less than 20 MPa. This low strength range might be influenced by physical characteristics, such as size, saturation, weathering and mineral content. A number of uniaxial compression tests have been conducted onto soft rock samples. The results showed that the strength reduced significantly in saturation. The reduction was also caused by weathering, the strength of distinctly weathered rocks were lower than that of partially weathered rocks. In conjunction with the uniaxial compression test, point load strength index tests, IS(50), have also been conducted in order to obtain a correlation between the UCS and the point load strength index IS(50). The results showed that the IS(50) could well be correlated with the UCS. A conversion factor of 14 is proposed for soft rock materials.Cold Asphalt Emulsion Mixture (CAEM) is a mixture of aggregates and asphalt emulsion that is mixed at room temperature. It is relatively simple to produce, but the design procedure provided by the Asphalt Institute and the Ministry of Public Work of Indonesia pose some problems in its practical application. This Technical Note discusses limitations of the current design procedures and presents a simpler and more practicable design procedureKnowledge of the market is a requirement for a successful provision of public transportation. This study aims to explore public perception of paratransit service, as represented by the user and non-user of paratransit. The analysis has been conducted based on the public’s response, by creating several binomial logistic regression models using the public perception of the quality of service, quality of car, quality of driver, and fare. These models illustrate the characteristics and important variables to establish whether the public will use more paratransit in the future once improvements will have been made. Moreover, several models are developed to explore public perception in order to find out whether they agree to the replacement of paratransit with other types of transportation modes. All models are well fitting. These models are able to explain the respondents’ characteristics and to reveal their actual perception of the operation of paratransit. This study provides a useful tool to know the market in greater depth.In recent years, meshless methods have gained their popularity, mainly due to the fact that absolutely no elements are required to discretize the problem domain. This is possible due to the nature of the approximation functions used in this method. Approximation functions used to form the shape functions use only the so-called “nodal selection” procedure without the need of elements definition. The most popular approximation function used is the moving least-squares shape functions. Published works in meshless methods, however, present only the basic formulas of the moving least-squares shape functions. This paper presents the complete and detailed derivations of not only the moving least-squares shape functions, but also their derivatives (up to the second order derivatives), using the exponential weight function. The derivations are then programmed and verified.

Does Silence Mean Agreement?: Understanding the Silent Group in Neighborhood Traffic Calming Surveys

The decline of response rates in attitude surveys and the nonparticipation of residents are big issues in decision-making processes for transportation planning. The existence of individuals who do not state their opinions, the silent group, disrupts smooth consensus-building processes. It is often claimed that the silent group or so-called silent majority relies on policy makers or proposed plans. This research analyzes the silent groups character in a traffic calming project conducted in a residential area. To understand the silent groups level of awareness, attitude, and preference would help identify better ways of including them in planning processes in the future. Data obtained from questionnaire surveys were used for this analysis. Nonrespondents to the surveys were defined as the silent group. First, the difference of opinions between the silent group and the nonsilent group was investigated. The result showed that the silent group was less aware of the traffic situation in the area and did not easily agree with the proposed plans. Second, the reasons for the silent groups attitude were analyzed. The result suggested that the silent group members felt less danger on roads near their houses, so they do not recognize the traffic situation of the whole neighborhood as serious. Because of the lack of awareness, the group tended to refuse questionnaire surveys. Moreover, the logistic regression analysis concluded that the silent group was less involved with survey topics that dealt with specific traffic problems and countermeasures.

Impact of pavement type on speed behavior of turning vehicles at crosswalk of a signalized intersection: Brick and red color

ABSTRACT Left- and right-turning vehicles are allowed to make a turn through the crosswalk allocated for pedestrians to cross the road safely. When drivers share this space with pedestrians, they are expected to travel at a low or near-walking speed. Before approaching the crosswalk, left- and right-turn drivers must adapt their speed so as to not endanger the pedestrians. This article presents a study comparing the effectiveness of brick and red-colored pavement on changing the speed of the driver when they make a turn through the crosswalk at a signalized intersection. Three intersections with different pavement design scenarios (no pavement design, brick pavement, and red-colored pavement) were selected for the field study. The speed at three situations—free flow condition, at yellow onset, and when accepting the gap with a pedestrian—were analyzed to evaluate the speed behavior. This data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Results show a positive effect of brick pavement on the crosswalk on reducing a drivers speed in left and right turns.

Intelligent Rat-Runners: Impact of Car Navigation Systems on Safety of Residential Roads

The authors investigated the phenomenon of “intelligent rat-runners”—that is, road drivers that use car navigation systems to drive through residential areas in order to avoid congested traffic on arterial roads. A nationwide questionnaire survey revealed that some of such drivers, as a result of having to look at the displays of their navigation systems, have had experiences that could have resulted in serious accidents. A driving experiment conducted showed that drivers with access to information about narrow streets and route guidance through their navigation systems have a greater tendency to avoid congested arterial roads by turning into residential areas.

INVESTIGATION ON NORTH AMERICAN TRAFFIC CALMING DEVICE SELECTION PRACTICES

Traffic calming provides a process for identifying and addressing existing problems related to speeding, excessive traffic volume, and pedestrian safety concerns on residential streets. Although several traffic calming devices have been installed in Asian countries for example in Japan and Korea; they have no distinct and methodical process for the device selection. The aim of this research is to illustrate a comprehensive review of North American traffic calming device selection process practices. The aim is to establish traffic calming device selection process guiding principles to be introduced in Japan. This research reveals that speeding is the most significant issue for installing a traffic calming device. The result explores that community support is the most important factor for the selection of a traffic calming device. The result shows that speed humps and speed tables or raised crosswalks are the most widely practiced devices.

An effect of social experiment of Parking Reservation Priority System in a world heritage district

The Parking Reservation System which disperse and cut demand to concentrate on temporarily by making a parking reserve has been expected, while main transportation problem such as the queue for parking and traffic in sightseeing spot become obvious. However, There are few real introduced examples under the present conditions in a sightseeing spot. Therefore, in this study, We examined irtroduction of social experiment of parking reservation priority system to grasp effect and receptiveness of parking reservation priority system for world heritage Shirago. And, We ananged the problem for the real introduction ofpaiicing reservation priority system.

Institution and actual situation of micro-area transportation planning around railway stations

In this study, we verified about position of form of transportation planning at around railway station in city planning and transport planning of Japan. As a result, we found out that the overall city planning around the station is planned is few because the boundary in the region is set regardless of the station and regarding the pedestrian, only an abstract expression is described. In second study, we studied about evaluation of walking distance from railway station. In 19 stations that had been chosen at random, the number of pedestrians was counted