First-Mile-Last-Mile Collector-Distributor System using Shared Autonomous Mobility

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (10) ◽  
pp. 638-647
Author(s):  
Krishna Murthy Gurumurthy ◽  
Kara M. Kockelman ◽  
Natalia Zuniga-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Public Transit ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Autonomous Mobility ◽  
And Shifts

High costs of owning fully-automated or autonomous vehicles (AVs) will fuel the demand for shared mobility, with zero driver costs. Although sharing sounds good for the transport system, congestion can easily rise without adequate policy measures. Many or all public transit lines will continue to exist, and carefully-designed policies can be implemented to make good use of fixed public assets, like commuter- and light-rail lines. In this study, a shared AV (SAV) fleet is analyzed as a potential solution to the first-mile-last-mile (FMLM) problem for access to and from public transit. Essentially, SAVs are analyzed as collector-distributor systems for these mass-movers and compared with a door-to-door (D2D) service. Results from an agent-based simulation of Austin, Texas, show that SAVs have the potential to help solve FMLM transit problems when fare benefits are provided to transit users. Restricting SAV use for FMLM trips increases transit coverage, lowers average access and egress walking distance, and shifts demand away from park-and-ride and long walk trips. When SAVs are available for both D2D use and FMLM trips, high SAV fares help maintain transit demand, without which the transit demand may decrease significantly, affecting the transit supply and the overall system reliability. Policy makers and planners should be wary of this shift away from transit and may be able to increase transit usage using policies tested in this study.

Exploring the synergistic economic benefit of enhancing neighbourhood bikeability and public transit accessibility based on real estate sale transactions

Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (15) ◽  
pp. 3480-3499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Kenneth Joh
Keyword(s):  
Public Transit ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Property Value ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Master Plans ◽  
Transit Accessibility ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Mode Share ◽  
Error Terms

Planners and policy makers are increasingly promoting biking and public transit as viable means of transportation. The integration of bicycling and transit has been acknowledged as a strategy to increase the mode share of bicycling and the efficiency of public transit by solving the first- and last-mile problem. However, the economic outcomes of jointly promoting neighbourhood bikeability and transit accessibility are still poorly understood. This study aims to assess the property value impact of neighbourhood bikeability, transit accessibility, and their synergistic effect by analysing the single-family and condominium property sale transactions during 2010–2012 in Austin, Texas, USA. Our Cliff-Ord spatial hedonic modelling approach, which is also known as the general spatial model (or SAC), controls for the spatial dependent effects in the sale price and the error terms simultaneously. In order to quantify neighbourhood bikeability and transit accessibility, we use Bike Score and Transit Score as publicly available indices. We have assessed how residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for bikeability and transit accessibility depend on various socio-demographic and built-environment factors, and whether the WTP is influenced by the bicycle-transit synergy. The results from this research show that jointly enhancing bikeability and transit accessibility can generate positive synergistic effects on property values. The effects would behoove policy makers to pursue the coordination of bicycle master plans with regional transit plans and to consider strategies of spatially-joint bicycle and transit investment.

Incorporating Equity and Resiliency in Municipal Transportation Planning: Case Study of Mobility Hubs in Oakland, California

2017 ◽  
Vol 2653 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-74
Author(s):  
Karl Anderson ◽  
Samuel D. Blanchard ◽  
Derek Cheah ◽  
Drew Levitt
Keyword(s):  
Transportation Planning ◽  
Public Transit ◽  
Analysis Framework ◽  
Suitability Analysis ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Transportation Modes ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Shared Mobility

This paper presents a multicriteria suitability analysis framework to aid municipal governments in efforts to determine optimal siting of mobility hubs in their jurisdictions. Mobility hubs are agglomerations of transportation modes that concentrate emerging shared mobility services in well-defined locations, delivering several benefits to users. These benefits include primarily increased connectivity among modes and augmentation of public transit with improved first- and last-mile connections. The framework was applied to a case study in Oakland, California. The presented methodology has the potential for broader use by transportation planners and policy makers to advance various qualitative values in their practice, including equity and resiliency, and can quantitatively inform geographic, values-oriented outcomes.

scholarly journals Investigating Dynamics of COVID-19 Spread and Containment with Agent-Based Modeling

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5367
Author(s):  
Amirarsalan Rajabi ◽  
Alexander V. Mantzaris ◽  
Ece C. Mutlu ◽  
Ozlem O. Garibay
Keyword(s):  
Disease Model ◽  
Agent Based Modeling ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Contact Behavior ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Behavioral Adaptations ◽  
Travel Restrictions

Governments, policy makers, and officials around the globe are working to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by making decisions that strive to save the most lives and impose the least economic costs. Making these decisions require comprehensive understanding of the dynamics by which the disease spreads. In traditional epidemiological models, individuals do not adapt their contact behavior during an epidemic, yet adaptive behavior is well documented (i.e., fear-induced social distancing). In this work we revisit Epstein’s “coupled contagion dynamics of fear and disease” model in order to extend and adapt it to explore fear-driven behavioral adaptations and their impact on efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The inclusion of contact behavior adaptation endows the resulting model with a rich dynamics that under certain conditions reproduce endogenously multiple waves of infection. We show that the model provides an appropriate test bed for different containment strategies such as: testing with contact tracing and travel restrictions. The results show that while both strategies could result in flattening the epidemic curve and a significant reduction of the maximum number of infected individuals; testing should be applied along with tracing previous contacts of the tested individuals to be effective. The results show how the curve is flattened with testing partnered with contact tracing, and the imposition of travel restrictions.

scholarly journals SARS-CoV-2 pandemic-induced PPE and single-use plastic waste generation scenario

2021 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2098082
Author(s):  
Md. Sazzadul Haque ◽  
Shafkat Sharif ◽  
Aseer Masnoon ◽  
Ebne Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Polyethylene Bags ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Disposable Plastic ◽  
Do So

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has demonstrated both positive and negative effects on the environment. Major concerns over personal hygiene, mandated and ease in lockdown actions and slackening of some policy measures have led to a massive surge in the use of disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) and other single-use plastic items. This generated an enormous amount of plastic waste from both healthcare and household units, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Apart from the healthcare workers, the general public have become accustomed to using PPE. These habits are threatening the land and marine environment with immense loads of plastic waste, due to improper disposal practices across the world, especially in developing nations. Contaminated PPE has already made its way to the oceans which will inevitably produce plastic particles alongside other pathogen-driven diseases. This study provided an estimation-based approach in quantifying the amount of contaminated plastic waste that can be expected daily from the massive usage of PPE (e.g. facemasks) because of the countrywide mandated regulations on PPE usage. The situation of Bangladesh has been analysed and projections revealed that a total of 3.4 billion pieces of single-use facemask, hand sanitizer bottles, hand gloves and disposable polyethylene bags will be produced monthly, which will give rise to 472.30 t of disposable plastic waste per day. The equations provided for the quantification of waste from used single-use plastic and PPE can be used for other countries for rough estimations. Then, the discussed recommendations will help concerned authorities and policy makers to design effective response plans. Sustainable plastic waste management for the current and post-pandemic period can be imagined and acted upon.

scholarly journals Ethical dilemmas are really important to potential adopters of autonomous vehicles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tripat Gill
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Innovation Adoption ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal And Ethical Issues ◽  
Theoretical Standpoint

AbstractThe ethical dilemma (ED) of whether autonomous vehicles (AVs) should protect the passengers or pedestrians when harm is unavoidable has been widely researched and debated. Several behavioral scientists have sought public opinion on this issue, based on the premise that EDs are critical to resolve for AV adoption. However, many scholars and industry participants have downplayed the importance of these edge cases. Policy makers also advocate a focus on higher level ethical principles rather than on a specific solution to EDs. But conspicuously absent from this debate is the view of the consumers or potential adopters, who will be instrumental to the success of AVs. The current research investigated this issue both from a theoretical standpoint and through empirical research. The literature on innovation adoption and risk perception suggests that EDs will be heavily weighted by potential adopters of AVs. Two studies conducted with a broad sample of consumers verified this assertion. The results from these studies showed that people associated EDs with the highest risk and considered EDs as the most important issue to address as compared to the other technical, legal and ethical issues facing AVs. As such, EDs need to be addressed to ensure robustness in the design of AVs and to assure consumers of the safety of this promising technology. Some preliminary evidence is provided about interventions to resolve the social dilemma in EDs and about the ethical preferences of prospective early adopters of AVs.

Constraining Urban CO2 Emissions Using Mobile Observations from a Light Rail Public Transit Platform

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (24) ◽  
pp. 15613-15621
Author(s):  
Derek V. Mallia ◽  
Logan E. Mitchell ◽  
Lewis Kunik ◽  
Ben Fasoli ◽  
Ryan Bares ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Public Transit ◽  
Light Rail

Delivering fuel poverty objectives within the context of globalised energy markets

2017 ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Carolyn Snell
Keyword(s):  
Lower Energy ◽  
Energy Markets ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Global Energy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Policy Direction ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Energy Companies

This chapter explores claims made by policy makers in the UK that, despite having no control over global energy markets, existing policy protects households vulnerable to fuel poverty through the regulation of commercial energy suppliers and specific policies that provide cash transfers and energy-efficiency measures. Keeping energy prices low is an essential part of the UK government's approach to fuel poverty alleviation, but this task is a complex one in which the steering capacity of the nation-state often seems weak and its capacity hollowed out. This is exacerbated by a neoliberal policy direction that funds environmental and social policy measures through charges on energy bills rather than through tax-funded programmes. The chapter then argues that existing policy has been somewhat contradictory in its view of the government's power to steer energy markets. While the Department for Energy and Climate Change suggested that the UK has no control over the global energy market, this does not match political rhetoric, which has emphasised the importance of increasing domestic energy security in order to spread risk and reduce dependence on politically unstable fossil fuel-producing states, and has also seen political pressure placed on the six main energy companies to lower energy charges to consumers.

Walking Distances to and from Light-Rail Transit Stations

1996 ◽  
Vol 1538 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean O'Sullivan ◽  
John Morrall
Keyword(s):  
Central Business District ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Rail Transit ◽  
Light Rail Transit ◽  
Bus Stop ◽  
Business District ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

A quantifiable basis for developing design guidelines for pedestrian access to light-rail transit (LRT) stations is provided for planners based on observations in Calgary, Canada. Calgary's LRT system, which began operations in 1981, has been operating for long enough for walking patterns to and from its stations to become established. Interviews were conducted with 1,800 peak-hour LRT users about the origins and destinations of their LRT trips. Those who walked to or from a station were asked to point out on a map their approximate origins or destinations. The distances were then measured off the maps. Walking distance guidelines were developed for central business district (CBD), transfer and local stations. Catchment area maps were produced, and the relationship between reported walking time and measured walking distance was calculated. Also compared are the walking distances at LRT stations and the walking distances at bus stops. The research strongly indicates that people walk farther to reach an LRT station than a bus stop. Using bus walking standards would result in an underestimate of LRT walking distances by about half. For the city of Calgary the average walking distance to suburban stations is 649 m with a 75th-percentile distance of 840 m. At CBD stations the average walking distance is 326 m and the 75th-percentile distance is 419 m.

Does vertical administrative integration of environmental monitoring at the provincial level effectively motivate firms to improve environmental behaviour in China?

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-566
Author(s):  
Yong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Financial Policies ◽  
Industrial Firms ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
Adaptive Agent ◽  
Behaviour Simulation

A few cities and provinces in China have implemented vertical administrative integration of environmental monitoring to the provincial level as a response to severe environmental pollution. This study used an adaptive agent-based simulation model to explore whether the reform might effectively motivate polluting industrial firms to improve their environmental behaviour. Simulation results found that the reform might not effectively motivate the desired improvements in environmental behaviour unless policy-makers improve individual enterprises’ financial capacities, enhance their subsidies, and encourage managers to improve their environmental awareness. These findings could be used in the vertical administrative reform efforts to help achieve the reform’s success. Points for practitioners The vertical reform needs to be sufficiently systematic across its governmental structure because it cannot operate in isolation. It is a part of the country’s complex economic, social, and environmental societal system. Combining administrative restructuring with regulation of micro-agents’ behaviour might increase the reform’s likelihood of success, and financial policies might improve preventive/enthusiastic environmental behaviour. A sophisticated policy approach, such as encouraging preventive/enthusiastic environmental behaviour through business opportunities, might ease behavioural change.

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