Tomonori Sumi

DEPARTURE TIME AND ROUTE CHOICE OF COMMUTERS ON MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS

This paper describes an attempt to find the commuter response function to operational features of mass transit systems in deciding the departure time and route. Generalized departure time, the departure time scaled to the probability of being late for the appointed time for arrival, was proposed as the response function. The function was specified and tested by the observations carefully selected in order to achieve the required environmental control for the assumptions of modelling. The specified function was transferable among some cities in Japan. The route choice behavior could be deduced from the function.

Accommodating flexible daily temporal constraint on a continuous choice model of departure time for urban shopping travel

This paper attempts to propose departure time choice model of travellers for one-day shopping travel based on the consideration of the availability of flexible temporal constraint during noon until evening, namely praying time. The model assumes that travellers decide their departure time to minimize the disutility of shortage stay time at the shopping centre, disutility of lateness home arrival time, and disutility of the flexible daily temporal constraint. It is applied to urban shopping travellers on the basis of their home-shopping, centre-home travel pattern. The model is confirmed by a goodness of fit test. It can be applied to develop a model of travel patterns and chosen in further studies.

A model for predicting the temporal distribution of one‐day recreational travel

This paper proposes a model for predicting the temporal distribution of one‐day travel which is not under any explicit temporal constraints. The model assumes utilities related to the earliness of home departure, the lateness of home arrival, along with the utilities related to staying at a destination or travelling. The proposed model is applied to one‐day recreational travel in Japan. The model provides a reasonable prediction of temporal distribution on mass transit systems. The model is then revised for predicting travel by private cars.

The effects of accessing real-time bus arrival information via mobile phone on the travel time dispersion of transit passengers

This research considers public transit information systems in which the passengers receive real-time bus arrival information (RTBAI) through mobile phone. Such information may reduce the dispersion of travel time for passengers of the bus networks. It is well known that the punctuality of a transportation service strongly affects the mode/route choice of the passengers. An array of scenarios is proposed in the modelling framework of this paper and a model has been applied on a quantity of actual bus routes. The results suggest that accessing RTBAI through mobile phone is an exceptionally effective way of informing bus arrival without actually going to a bus stop. In addition, this paper will provide evidence that accessing RTBAI can reduce the travel time of transit passengers by as much as 19%, while reducing the average waiting time by up to 44%.

Motorcycle-based adolescents' travel behaviour during the school morning commute and the effect of intra-household interaction on departure time and mode choice

We hypothesise that intra-household interaction influences home departure time and mode choice for the morning commute. In Indonesia, over 71% of vehicles on the road are motorcycles. This fact increases the significance of household interaction in influencing transport mode choice since the simplicity of the motorcycle allows a great degree of versatility in regard to multiple family member transport. To emphasise this point, our study focuses on the unique travel behaviour of adolescents during the school morning commute which, due to the use of the motorcycle, is a combination of the travel behaviour of accompanied children and escorting adults. Our study discovers that adolescents are likely to shift their school arrival time very early or close to the designated starting time in relation to motorcycle-based parental escort to school. In regard to mode choice, adolescent students prefer to be escorted by motorcycle rather than take public transport.

A Study on the Pedestrian's Behaviors to Avoid the Danger on a Local Street Based on Road Situations of Establishing Objects

To analyze the road safety with on-street establishing objects on streets, the pedestrian behaviors to avoid the danger are described through survey of road situation. A relevant model is constructed, by using the concept that pedestrians behaviors are responses to the level of danger by external situations compared with a safe threshold by internal property when person and automobile pass each other.

Analysis of the Automobile Behavior Intervening into Bus Lane and Its Impacts on Bus Running: Case Study in Fukuoka City of Japan

As one kind of public transit, the role of bus is very important in solving the urban traffic problems such as traffic congestion, urban air pollution and low traffic efficiency. The purpose of setting up bus lane is to keep bus from various external disruptions and bring its effect into play thoroughly. However, bus lane will become less effective if a large numbers of automobiles running in adjacent lane intervene into it. This paper attempts to study the mechanism of automobile behavior intervening into bus lane and discuss its impacts on bus running. It may provide a significant base for the reasonable bus lane planning and the flexible traffic regulations adoption of using bus lane.

Simulating uni- and bi-directional pedestrian movement on stairs by considering specifications of personal space

This paper presents an enhanced model that considers the specifications of personal space to describe uni- and bi-directional pedestrian movement on stairs. The shape of the personal space of each pedestrian is regarded as an oval shape, which is composed of four arcs, to precisely quantify movements. Specific models that facilitate the simulation of movement include adjustments to individual speeds based on the proximity of other members, conflict avoidance, overtaking, and direction finding. By implementing these parameters in the simulation, basic data concerning these movement behaviours were collected from the experiment, which was carried out at one a Shanghai subway station. Twenty-four young college students participated in this experiment. Numerical simulation results for a stochastic case under those parameters were obtained. The fundamental diagrams and moving behaviours according to different proportions of ascending and descending pedestrians are analysed and discussed. The results indicate that the simulation platform for personal space can serve as a useful tool to evaluate pedestrian movement on stairs.

Measuring Free-Flow Speed Considering Water Depth

In this paper, we propose a method of measuring free flow speed according to different water depth in the ponding situation. With different water depth, changes of tire-road friction coefficient caused by reduction of the wheel load are different. This coefficient brings great effect to vehicles free flow speed. In order to reveal this phenomena, observations data obtained in the year 2009 at the number 202 state road in Japan, which runs through Fukuoka, Itosima. By measuring the recording data, we got the speed range corresponding to different water depth. The purpose of this study is to obtain variation of free flow speed according to different water depth and lay foundations for numerical modeling in the future.

Predicting Pedestrian Conflict Avoidance Behavior during School Commute Time

In this research, we adopt pedestrian’s avoidance behavior as the primary indicator of degree of danger and also use discrete choice models to predict this. Through this model, we quantitatively evaluate the dangerous in school road, develop a good understanding of microscopic mechanisms of road traffic, and finally evaluate the possible effects of traffic improvement measures through quantitative measures.