Marco Migliore

The Analysis Of Urban Travellers’ LatentPreferences To Explain Their Mode ChoiceBehaviour

Our research aims to explore the impact of latent variables, mirroring urban travellers’ attitudes and perceptions, on the individual decision making process regarding the mode of transport. The paper describes the first results of an ongoing research activity, which derive from a pilot study conducted in Palermo, the capital of the Sicilian Region (in the south of Italy), and demonstrate that policy makers, in designing a socially desirable and environmentally sustainable urban mobility system, should take into account how travellers perceive the qualitative dimensions of transport.

Urban Public Transport Optimization by Bus Ways: A Neural Network-Based Methodology

This paper describes an approach for planning the introduction of bus lanes into the urban road network in the urban area of Palermo. The proposed modeling tool adopts a multi-agent objective function that expresses the trade-off between the interests of diverse stakeholders: the generalized transport cost for car drivers and the travel time for public transport users. The reaction of car traffic to a certain planning scenario has been simulated by the DUE assignment technique and the positive impact of the modal shift on the objective function has been tackled by attaching a suitable weight to the time saving for bus passengers. The rise in the bus travel speed, owing to the bus lane solution, has been predicted for a set of urban roads by a neural network, so as to take into account many quantitative and qualitative road attributes. The optimal location pattern of bus ways has been searched by a greedy heuristic that through a step-by-step strategy builds the problem solution by keeping, at each stage, the best alternative.

GIS Infomobility for Travellers

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are essential systems to support decisions on territorial and environmental aspects. But they not always have been properly used for this purpose. Only in recent years GIS have been getting better used for the planning, management and control of the territory. The application of GIS to the transport sector has become relevant both for management and decision-making in support of Public Administration (PA) and citizens. GIS are particularly useful for roads and routing graphs management capabilities as well as for searching the most suitable path. The results achieved in this research activity aimed to evaluate different road graphs, proprietary and free ones, in order to compare calculated distances and travel times.

Cost analysis for a future helicopter for passenger transport

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the parameters that influence the cost competitiveness of helicopter services for scheduled passenger transport on a regional area. Design/methodology/approach – The approach used is based on an analysis of demand and on a bi-level model (modal split model – service supply optimization model) optimization. Performance optimization in the supply of helicopter transport services is obtained by a sensitivity analysis on the recognized cost factors. Findings – The identification of the variation margins in the cost factors that might make an helicopter competitive for scheduled passenger services. Research limitations/implications – The inability to consider the totality of the helicopters today on the market due to lack of available data on their cost structure. Practical implications – It is represented by the opportunity of the spread of the helicopter through the strengthening of the competitive position in relation to other transport modes for passenger transport ser...

Modelling the accessibility to public local transport to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the service: the case study of the Roccella area in Palermo

This paper suggests a methodology to assess, through quantitative indicators, the public transport based accessibility inside an urban area. Such indicators derive from two functions, one called the “activity function”, allowing for the presence of generators and attractors of mobility and another termed the “impedance function”, measuring the generalized cost of public transport journeys. The proposed method was tested and applied to a zone on the outskirts of Palermo (capital of the Sicilian Region), to evaluate the effects of a new tram line, which is under construction and will be activated by the end of 2012. The study shows that such a line is not sufficient to enhance significantly the accessibility of this zone except near the tramway. Therefore, to reach a high level of accessibility in the whole study area minimising, at the same time, the public transport operating costs, it could be better to plan an integrated system in which the tram service is supported by new bus lines or novel routes of the existing ones. Today, many European cities face the shortage of public funds, which raises the issue of efficiency for local policy actions. Given the above, the authors intend to provide the local town authorities with methodological tools to improve public transport performance and consequently accessibility, under severe budget constraints, by the re-organization of the service and a better exploitation of existing facilities.

A GIS-Based Methodology to Estimate the Potential Demand of an Integrated Transport System

In the design of a new public transport system or of an extension of an existing system, the choice of a suitable placement of stations and stops in the territory and the definition of the main axes are very important. The different choice in the number and distribution of the stops of a road transport system or of a railway transport system, in fact, makes the system more or less widespread and affects the consistency of the catchment area and the attractiveness of the system. The accessibility of a system, add to the reliability in providing the service, is the fundamental parameter influencing the modal split of the users. Therefore, the Public Administration must have tools able to evaluate different scenarios.

Electric car: a tool to reduce environmental impact. To purchase or to share it?

An analysis of the electric family cars performance, its potential for introduction into the automobile market, and an evaluation of the economic suitability of electric car sharing have been conducted. Two options, car purchase and car sharing, are compared using the operating cost/km. The work forecasts the car fleets trend from 2001-2020 for the city of Palermo and analyzes the known data from 1985-2000. The vehicle fleets internal turnover was simulated using a comprehensive model. This research evaluated the environmental pollutions decrease as determined by the introduction of electric cars in urban mobility. A simulation was created to estimate the reduction of polluting emissions taking into consideration 2 different market penetration rates scenarios (high and low).

NEURAL NETWORKS TO ESTIMATE POLLUTANT LEVELS IN CANYON ROADS

Many data can be exchanged between different places and in short time by using the new technology. New researches are developing in urban traffic management in order to elaborate data coming from the network in real time and to suggest on-line solutions of many problems. Also in the environmental field the new technology can be used to develop an on-line air quality monitoring system by elaborating data. In this paper neural networks have been used in order to develop a model able to estimate in real time the roadside pollutant levels in a canyon road by elaborating weather and traffic conditions. Neural networks can carry out quantitative estimations in real time and with a higher precision than classical analytical models. The survey is done in a Sicilian town. The vehicular flows, desegregated in different categories, and the flow average speed have been recorded by using videocameras. The weather conditions and the roadside pollutant levels in the canyon road have been recorded by the instrumented city facilities of the local authority. Then the training of a multilayered feed-forward neural network using the back propagation algorithm is carried out. A comparison between the neural network results and the analytical model results is carried out.

A GIS-Based Method to Assess the Pedestrian Accessibility to the Railway Stations

Modern cities, affected by congestion, atmospheric and acoustic pollution, land consumption, should change and return to being on a human scale, rather than designed for cars. Proper land-use planning, infrastructure improvement and implementation of targeted interventions have to ensure that there is a rapprochement of citizens about the public transport, in order to reduce these problems. An important aspect of modal choice by users of the public transport system is, however, linked to the quality of the pedestrian routes. In fact, every journey made by public transport begins and finishes on foot. Therefore, studying pedestrian accessibility to transit stations and the walkability of the pedestrian environment is really important, in order to understand how they influence the user’s choices. So, in this paper, a GIS-based method, useful for the assessment of the quality of pedestrian paths and accessibility to stations, is proposed. The measurement of the quality of road segments is useful for the redesign of the spaces, the planning of interventions on the pedestrian routes and the setting of the intervention priorities, developing a decision support system. Different indicators, linked to the pleasantness of the route, to practicability and to safety, which have a different influence on the user’s choice, have been chosen for the quality of the pedestrian routes. As a case study, some stations of the railway link of Palermo (Belgio, Francia and San Lorenzo) have been chosen, in order to identify solutions to be proposed to the municipal administration.

A comparative analysis between helicopter and seaplane for passenger transport

Purpose This study aims to develop a methodology to compare the feasibility of helicopter and seaplane regular transport of passengers towards destinations across a remote regional tourist context, where a lack of road and rail infrastructure make these alternative forms of air transport competitive. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a modal split model identifying the quota of passengers that potentially could utilize these two types of services, determined on the basis of previous studies on air transport demand. A technical analysis regarding transport supply is performed to identify the predominant features that should characterize helicopter/seaplane performances. An optimization model is applied to identify the routes that could overcome the breakeven point considering each of the two means of transport. The paper also takes into account the importance of each type of service and its influence on flight infrastructure costs. Findings Helicopter and seaplane services could improve the access for tourists with high values of time. The helicopter transport could capture a market share ranging from 5 to 20 per cent of tourist travel demand (the amphibian seaplane from 1 to 14 per cent). The shuttle services could be profitable especially for those regional origin–destination pairs involving the two major airports and the most UNESCO visited locations such as Agrigento and the Aeolian Archipelago (into the analyzed context of Sicily). The comparison between the two modes of transport shows that the helicopter has best performances and the seaplane has to land/take-off from sea. Research limitations/implications The lack of data on the performances of the whole world production of seaplanes and helicopters (such as Russian, Chinese or US old machines) could give a distortion of the result. On the other hand, all mostly used machines in the world at the moment are considered. A survey on the fear of flight and on the choice between the two different forms of air transport could give a more precise result. Practical implications From an economic point of view, an operator could choose with more confidence the means of transport to use under different conditions. The activation of passenger services with seaplanes and helicopters can give an impulse to the growth of little operators and to the tourism. So, this study could be a starting point for authorities to plan a regional network of little general aviation airfields and seadromes (located in the great lakes or near the ports) near the major tourist locations. It could make possible to develop a synergic regional commuting traffic involving the seaplane and the helicopter. Social implications Seaplanes and helicopters represent the most important means of transport when poor accessibility conditions and need of ready and fast connections coexist, for example, the commuting between airports and remote regions or downtowns with high tourist or business impact. The activation of passenger services with seaplanes and helicopters can give an impulse to the growth of little operators and to the tourism, consequently to the regional accessibility and economy. Originality/value There is a lack of studies involving the comparison between seaplanes and helicopters. This study could represent an important means to analyze the parameters that influence the possibility of activation for this kind of services and to find the factors that influence the feasibility of business with the two different machines. The encouraging performances of the flying boat suggest a future development of an innovative model of medium- and/or high-capacity amphibian seaplane dedicated to passenger transport. It should have take-off/landing performances less dependent on the sea state.