Peter R. Stopher

Service quality––developing a service quality index in the provision of commercial bus contracts

The measurement of service quality continues to be a challenging research theme and one of great practical importance to service providers and regulatory agencies. The key challenges begin with the identification of the set of potentially important dimensions of service quality perceived by passengers, current and potential. We then have to establish a way of measuring each attribute and identifying their relative importance in the overall calculation of satisfaction associated with existing service levels. Once a set of relevant attributes has been identified, this information can be integrated into programs such as monitoring and benchmarking, and even in contract specification. This paper, building on earlier research by the authors, investigates ways of quantifying service quality and comparing the levels within and between bus operators. The importance of establishing suitable market segments and the need to scale the service quality index for each operator to make meaningful comparisons is highlighted.

Use of an activity-based diary to collect household travel data

The paper describes the results of a pilot survey that used a one-day activity diary to collect origin-destination data, as opposed to a travel-based diary. The design of the diary is discussed, together with a comparison to a more conventional travel diary. The paper examines the extent to which the activity diary appears to have been capable of collecting good travel data that is at least comparable to travel diary efforts. In addition, a substantial portion of the paper is concerned with a comparison of the retrieval methods for the diaries. Two alternative methods were pilot-tested, one being the use of telephone retrieval and the other being mailback retrieval. Although the pilot test used small samples, the evidence appears to be strong that mailback is preferable to telephone retrieval, while telephone retrieval did not seem capable of providing some of the benefits often ascribed to it.

AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF NUMBERS OF CHOICE SETS IN DESIGNED CHOICE EXPERIMENTS: AN AIRLINE CHOICE APPLICATION

Stated choice (SC) experiments are increasingly adopted as the empirical source of information on how individuals respond to current and potential travel contexts. The accumulated experience with SC data has been heavily conditioned on analyst prejudices about the acceptable complexity of the data collection instrument, especially the number of profiles (or treatments) given to each sampled individual (and the number of attributes and alternatives to be processed). It is not uncommon for analysts to impose very stringent limitations on the complexity of an SC experiment. A review of the literature suggests that very little is known about the basis for rejecting complex designs or accepting simple designs. In this paper, we develop a complex design as the basis for an SC study, producing a fractional factorial of 32 rows. However, we then truncate the fraction by administering 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 profiles to a sample of individuals in Australia and New Zealand faced with the decision to fly (or not to fly) between Australia and New Zealand by alternative airlines and fare regimes. Statistical comparisons of elasticities (an appropriate behavioural basis for comparisons) suggest that the empirical gains within the context of a linear specification of the utility expression associated with each alternative in a discrete choice model may be quite marginal.

Review of procedures associated with devising emergency evacuation plans

The incidence of freak weather and geological events, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, has increased over the past 30 years. Coupled with an increase in the populations located in the path of these natural disasters, the imminent danger posed by naturally occurring phenomena has also risen. Given the potential dangers, it is wise for policy administrators to ensure that appropriate emergency plans are in place that aim to minimize the negative consequences associated with these disasters. Effective emergency planning and management should successfully combine the skills and knowledge of law enforcement agencies and transport planners as well as the knowledge and skills of emergency planning professionals. In Australia, there has not been a thorough investigation of the emergency impacts on the transport infrastructure nor have emergency plans adequately integrated the transportation aspect. Which transport routes evacuees and emergency vehicles should use is a question that needs to be answered urgently to avoid situations where evacuees are trapped in their vehicles; in which emergency personnel are unable to gain access to the people in need; and in which emergency vehicles are not able to get onto the road network due to traffic congestion. Thus, in a case of a suburban bushfire (wildfire), a fire that may have been easily extinguished or controlled is left to engulf more bushland and increase in ferocity. The many emergency evacuation models developed are critically assessed, and the important information required to devise the models is described. It is clear, however, that more research needs to be undertaken to investigate specifically the effects of a mass evacuation on current transport networks.

Transport survey quality and innovation

This overview of developments in transport survey methods from around the world emphasises survey quality and innovation. It contains selected papers from the International Conference on Transport Survey Quality and Innovation.

Review of GPS Travel Survey and GPS Data-Processing Methods

Abstract Global positioning system (GPS) devices have been utilised in travel surveys since the late 1990s. Because GPS devices are very accurate at recording time and positional characteristics of travel, they can correct the trip-misreporting issue resulting from self-reports of travel and improve the accuracy of travel data. Although the initial idea of using GPS surveys in transport data collection was just to replace paper-based travel diaries, GPS surveys currently are being applied in a number of transport fields. Several general reviews have been done about GPS surveys in the literature review sections in some papers, but a detailed systematic review from GPS data collection to the whole procedure of GPS data processing has not been undertaken. This paper comprehensively reviews the development of GPS surveys and their applications, and GPS data processing. Different from most reviews in GPS research, this paper provides a detailed and systematic comparison between different methods from trip identification to mode and purpose detection, introduces the methods that researchers and planners are currently using, and discusses the pros and cons of those methods. Based on this review, researchers can choose appropriate methods and endeavour to improve them.

SMART: simulation model for activities, resources and travel

This paper proposes the development of an activity-based model of travel that integrates household activities, land use patterns, traffic flows, and regional demographics. The model is intended as a replacement of the traditional Urban Transportation Planning System (UTPS) modeling system now in common use. Operating in a geographic-information system (GIS) environment, the models heart is a Household Activity Simulator that determines the locations and travel patterns of household members daily activities in 3 categories: mandatory, flexible, and optional. The system produces traffic volumes on streets and land use intensity patterns, as well as typical travel outputs. The model is particularly well suited to analyzing issues related to the Clean Air Act and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Implementation would, ideally, require an activity-based travel diary, but can be done with standard house-interview travel surveys. An implementation effort consisting of validation research in parallel with concurrent model programming is recommended.

Collecting and Processing Data from Mobile Technologies

Abstract In the recent past, mobile technologies that track the movement of people, freight and vehicles have evolved rapidly. The major categories of such technologies are reviewed and a number of attributes for classification are proposed. The willingness of people to engage in such technologically based surveys and the reported biases in the make-up of the sample obtained are reviewed. Lessons are drawn about the nature of the samples that can be achieved and the representativeness of such samples is discussed. Data processing is addressed, particularly in terms of the processing requirements for logged data, where additional travel characteristics required for travel analysis may need to be imputed. Another issue explored is the reliability of data entered by respondents in interactive devices and concerns that may arise in processing data collected in real time for prompting or interrogating respondents. Differences, in relation to the data user, between data from mobile devices and data from conventional self-report surveys are discussed. Potentials that may exist for changes in modelling from using such data are explored. Conclusions are drawn about the usefulness and limitations of mobile technologies to collect and process data. The extent to which such mobile technologies may be used in future, either to supplement or replace conventional methods of data collection, is discussed along with the readiness of the technology for today and the advances that may be expected in the short and medium term from this form of technology.

Quantifying the Difference Between Self-Reported and Global Positioning Systems-Measured Journey Durations: A Systematic Review

Accurate measurement of travel behaviour is vital for transport planning, modelling, public health epidemiology, and assessing the impact of travel interventions. Self-reported diaries and questionnaires are traditionally used as measurement tools; advances in Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology allow for comparison. This review aimed to identify and report about studies comparing self-reported and GPS-measured journey durations. We systematically searched, appraised, and analysed published and unpublished articles from electronic databases, reference lists, bibliographies, and websites up to December 2012. Included studies used GPS and self-report to investigate trip duration. The average trip duration from each measure was compared and an aggregated, pooled estimate of the difference, weighted by number of trips, was calculated. We found 12 results from eight eligible studies. All studies showed self-reported journey times were greater than GPS-measured times. The difference between self-report and GPS times ranged from over-reporting of +2.2 to +13.5 minutes per journey. The aggregated, pooled estimate of the difference, weighted by number of trips, was over-report of +4.4 minutes (+28.6%). Studies comparing self-reported and GPS-measured journey duration have shown self-reported to be consistently over-reported across the study sample. Our findings suggest that when using self-reported journey behaviour, the journey durations should be treated as an over-estimation.

Travel survey methods : quality and future directions

Travel Survey Methods in Latin America (de Dios Ortuzar) Household Travel Surveys: Proposed Standards and Guidelines (Stopher, Wilmot, Stecher, and Alsnih) Survey Design: The Past, the Present and the Future (van Evert, Brog and Erl) Survey Design Standards and Guidelines (Kurth and McGucki) Sample Design and Total Survey Error (Paskota) Sample Design (Picardo) Instrument Design: Decisions and Procedures (Zmud) Instrument Design Standards and Guidelines (Cohen) Scheduling Considerations in Household Travel Surveys (Bricka) Proxy Respondents in Household Travel Surveys (Wargelin and Kostyniuk) Survey Implementation (van der Reis and Harvey) The Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive: A Case Study in Archiving (Levinson and Zofka) Processing, Analysis, and Archiving of Travel Survey Data (Sammey) Processing, Analysing, and Archiving Standards and Guidelines (Strambi and Garrido) Quality Assessment (Bonsall) Possible Explanations for an Increasing Share of No-Trip Respondents (Christensen) Quality Assessment (Noble and Holroyd) Handling Individual Specific Availability of Alternatives in Stated Choice Experiments (Rose and Hensher) Stated Preference Surveys: An Assessment (Jones and Bradley) Panel Surveys (Zumkeller, Madre, Chlond, and Armoogum) Moving Panel Surveys from Concept to Implementation (Murakami, Greaves, and Ruiz) Energy Consumption Estimation with a Shipper and Transport Chain Survey (Rizet, Armoogum, and Marchal) Goods and Business Traffic in Germany (Wermuth, Neef, and Steinmeyer) Issues Related to Freight Transport Data Collection (Meyburg and Garrido) In Search of the Value of Time: From South Africa to India (van Zyl and Raza) Investment-Grade Surveys (Zmud) Process Data for Understanding and Modelling Travel Behaviour (Mark Bradley) Collection and Analysis of Behavioural Process Data: Challenges and Opportunities (Pendyala and Bricka) Application of New Technologies in Travel Surveys (Wolf) Using Combined GPS and GSM Tracking Information for Interactive Electronic Ques-tionnaires (Kracht) Non-Web Technologies (Lee-Gosselin and Harvey) Characteristics of Web Based Surveys and Applications in Travel Research (Alsnih) Web Based New Technologies Research Needs (Bonnel and Madre) Data Collection Related to Emergency Events (Wilmot) Emerging Issues in Emergency Event Transport (Arce) Simulating Household Travel Survey Data (Greaves) Using Microsimulation to Generate Activity-Travel Data Under Conditions of Insuffi-cient Data (Timmermans) Transport Survey Standards and Futures (Stopher and Stecher).