Public Transport Modes: Overview and Brief History

Author(s):  
Aleksandr Prodan
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Alan Both ◽  
Lucy Gunn ◽  
Carl Higgs ◽  
Melanie Davern ◽  
Afshin Jafari ◽  
...  

Confronted with rapid urbanization, population growth, traffic congestion, and climate change, there is growing interest in creating cities that support active transport modes including walking, cycling, or public transport. The ‘30 minute city’, where employment is accessible within 30 min by active transport, is being pursued in some cities to reduce congestion and foster local living. This paper examines the spatial relationship between employment, the skills of residents, and transport opportunities, to answer three questions about Australia’s 21 largest cities: (1) What percentage of workers currently commute to their workplace within 30 min? (2) If workers were to shift to an active transport mode, what percent could reach their current workplace within 30 min? and (3) If it were possible to relocate workers closer to their employment or relocate employment closer to their home, what percentage could reach work within 30 min by each mode? Active transport usage in Australia is low, with public transport, walking, and cycling making up 16.8%, 2.8%, and 1.1% respectively of workers’ commutes. Cycling was found to have the most potential for achieving the 30 min city, with an estimated 29.5% of workers able to reach their current workplace were they to shift to cycling. This increased to 69.1% if workers were also willing and able to find a similar job closer to home, potentially reducing commuting by private motor vehicle from 79.3% to 30.9%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunqi Cheng ◽  
Zhiqiang Liao ◽  
Yu Zhu

Urban green spaces (UGSs) improve the quality of life of urban inhabitants. With the acceleration of urbanization and changes in traffic networks, it remains unclear whether changes in the distribution of UGSs can satisfy the needs of all inhabitants and offer equal services to inhabitants from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This study addresses this issue by analyzing dynamic changes in UGS accessibility in 2012, 2016, and 2020 for inhabitants of the central urban area of Fuzhou in China at the community level. The study introduces multiple transportation modes for an accessibility estimation based on a framework using the two-step floating catchment area method and examines the dynamic changes in community deprivation of UGS accessibility using Kernel regularized least squares, a machine learning algorithm. The results demonstrate that spatial disparities of UGS accessibility exist among the multi-transport modes and vary with time. Communities with high accessibility to UGSs by walking are scattered around the urban area; for accessibility by cycling, the high accessibility regions expand and surround the regions with low accessibility in the core urban areas, forming a semi-enclosed spatial pattern. However, the core urban spatial orientation of UGS accessibility by public transit demonstrates a reverse trend to the above two modes. The spatial pattern of UGS accessibility also varies over time, and the growth rate of accessibility slightly declined during the study period. Furthermore, the increase in UGS accessibility tended to slow from 2016–2020 compared with 2012–2016, and the trend toward equality was also erratic. The degree of deprivation for communities first weakened and was then aggravated, corresponding to the slowdown in the growth rate of accessibility, leading to the persistence existence of social inequality. Moreover, significant deprivation mainly exists among less educated people or those using the cycling and integrated travel modes. Although public transport is developing, deprived communities, such as communities with large proportion of older people, have experienced a decline in access to UGSs by public transport. Based on these findings, the study proposes a policy framework for the balanced distribution of UGSs as part of urbanization.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Ahsanul Habib ◽  
Md Asif Hasan Anik

This study proposes a framework to analyze public discourse in Twitter to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on transport modes and mobility behavior. It also identifies reopening challenges and potential reopening strategies that are discussed by the public. First, the study collects 15,776 tweets that relate to personal opinions on transportation services posted between May 15 and June 15, 2020. Next, it applies text mining and topic modeling techniques to the tweets to determine the prominent themes, terms, and topics in those discussions to understand public feelings, behavior, and broader sentiments about the changes brought about by COVID-19 on transportation systems. Results reveal that people are avoiding public transport and shifting to using private car, bicycle, or walking. Bicycle sales have increased remarkably but car sales have declined. Cycling and walking, telecommuting, and online schools are identified as possible solutions to COVID-19 mobility problems and to reduce car usage with an aim to tackle traffic congestion in the post-pandemic world. People appreciated government decisions for funding allocation to public transport, and asked for the reshaping, restoring, and safe reopening of transit systems. Protecting transit workers, riders, shop customers and staff, and office employees is identified as a crucial reopening challenge, whereas mask wearing, phased reopening, and social distancing are proposed as effective reopening strategies. This framework can be used as a tool by decision makers to enable a holistic understanding of public opinions on transportation services during COVID-19 and formulate policies for a safe reopening.


1979 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 767-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Schou

Before proceeding to explore potential strategies for energy conservation in urban passenger transport, this paper presents some evidence on energy efficiencies of various transport modes and on travel behaviour under energy constraints. Knowledge of the relative energy efficiencies of different modes of transport is evidently necessary for analysing and developing policies for fuel conservation. Although the automobile does appear to be significantly more energy-intensive than public transport modes, this does not automatically indicate that a policy to attract people to public transport would lead to the maximum possible fuel savings. Available evidence on travel behaviour under energy constraints indicates that the elasticity of travel demand is very small. Increasing prices, within the range expected, are not likely to result in satisfactory fuel savings, and it is therefore necessary to consider alternative strategies. The strategies to be considered here may be outlined as follows: (1) improving fuel efficiency of automobiles by modifying driving habits, reducing speeds, improving traffic flows, and keeping vehicles properly maintained; (2) increasing efficiency of automobile travel by promoting higher occupancies; (3) attracting car travellers to public transport; (4) shifting to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, changing vehicle and engine designs such as to improve the inherent fuel efficiency of the automobile; (5) technological change: new propulsion systems, alternative fuels, and rapid personal transport; (6) reducing travel needs by changing land-use patterns and improving communications. These strategies are discussed in turn and, given the available information about travel patterns and behaviour, an attempt is made to assess their likely impact. Clearly those strategies should be selected which offer the maximum potential fuel savings and which can be introduced with minimum sacrifice.


Transport issues in urban centers are rising at an exponential rate and are characterized by congestion, high motorized vehicles growth, vehicular and noise pollution, road accidents and parking space constraints. Present public transport and Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) modes are inefficient and do not cater to the needs of 31.23% of urbanized population in India, which is poised to grow up to 71% by 2031 (MoUD, 2015). Lack of accessibility in public transport and NMT has compelled commuters to opt for private transport modes such as twowheelers and cars, in order to have access to work, education and other leisure activities. The paper aims to assess the finances allocated to urban transport system in the city of Pune under the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The authors intend to critically review the city budget and its contribution to sustainable modes of urban transport. The key research questions are: - a) whether the budget distributes enough revenue to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of public transport modes and NMT as guided in the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) of 2006? b) does the local government continue to invest in temporary urban transport solutions catering to the needs of private modes of transportation? The results further show that PMC’s budget allocation is not favoring sustainable modes of transport as much as it is catering to other urban transport infrastructure and utilities. The paper concludes with recommendation on ways of innovative financing methods to make public transport sustainable and discusses various case studies of best practices followed globally pertaining to sustainable urban transport system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoram Shiftan ◽  
Yotam Barlach ◽  
Daniel Shefer

Transport issues in urban centers are rising at an exponential rate and are characterized by congestion, high motorized vehicles growth, vehicular and noise pollution, road accidents and parking space constraints. Present public transport and Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) modes are inefficient and do not cater to the needs of 31.23% of urbanized population in India, which is poised to grow up to 71% by 2031 (MoUD, 2015). Lack of accessibility in public transport and NMT has compelled commuters to opt for private transport modes such as two-wheelers and cars, in order to have access to work, education and other leisure activities. The paper aims to assess the finances allocated to urban transport system in the city of Pune under the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The authors intend to critically review the city budget and its contribution to sustainable modes of urban transport. The key research questions are: - a) whether the budget distributes enough revenue to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of public transport modes and NMT as guided in the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) of 2006? b) does the local government continue to invest in temporary urban transport solutions catering to the needs of private modes of transportation? The research is based on secondary budget data of the year 2016-17 and the data so collected, has been analyzed on various financial parameters. The results show that PMC’s budget allocation is not favoring sustainable modes of transport as much as it is catering to other urban transport infrastructure and utilities. The study thereby suggests sufficient allocation of the city’s budget towards the creation of sustainable transportation. Lastly, the paper concludes with recommendation on ways of innovative financing methods to make public transport, sustainable and discusses various case studies of best practices followed globally pertaining to sustainable urban transport system.


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