scholarly journals Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Anderson
Author(s):  
Keji Wei ◽  
Vikrant Vaze ◽  
Alexandre Jacquillat

With the soaring popularity of ride-hailing, the interdependence between transit ridership, ride-hailing ridership, and urban congestion motivates the following question: can public transit and ride-hailing coexist and thrive in a way that enhances the urban transportation ecosystem as a whole? To answer this question, we develop a mathematical and computational framework that optimizes transit schedules while explicitly accounting for their impacts on road congestion and passengers’ mode choice between transit and ride-hailing. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program and solved using a bilevel decomposition algorithm. Based on computational case study experiments in New York City, our optimized transit schedules consistently lead to 0.4%–3% system-wide cost reduction. This amounts to rush-hour savings of millions of dollars per day while simultaneously reducing the costs to passengers and transportation service providers. These benefits are driven by a better alignment of available transportation options with passengers’ preferences—by redistributing public transit resources to where they provide the strongest societal benefits. These results are robust to underlying assumptions about passenger demand, transit level of service, the dynamics of ride-hailing operations, and transit fare structures. Ultimately, by explicitly accounting for ride-hailing competition, passenger preferences, and traffic congestion, transit agencies can develop schedules that lower costs for passengers, operators, and the system as a whole: a rare win–win–win outcome.


Author(s):  
Belew Dagnew Bogale

The need for an efficient public mass transportation system in the context of developing countries can well be overemphasized since a majority of the urban population continues to be either captive walkers or users of the public transport facility. In Addis Ababa, inadequacy of public transit and improper traffic management issues are dominant problems. Evidence indicates that solutions related to traffic congestion and accidents are still left behind the city. However, it is expected that the recent project interventions and initiatives will enhance the capability of the public transit to deliver effective and sustainable transportation. This chapter evaluates the public transit performance, the initiatives towards terminals, and the future models for implementation. It concludes that an integrated public mass transit system is vital to a sustainable future public transport in developing cities in general and in Addis Ababa in particular. Recommendations are forwarded in the chapter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 168781402090235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changxi Ma ◽  
Dong Yang

Scientific and rational public transit network planning, not only can effectively alleviate city traffic congestion, but also can reduce the risk of accidents. First, based on the data of residents’ travel survey, this article employs the multiple regression method to forecast the traffic generation and adopts the double-constrained gravity model to forecast the residents’ travel distribution of small cites. Second, by aiming at public transit planning objectives, the unsafe roads for public transit are screened, and the public transit trip-mode sharing rate is set as the interval value. According to the interval value, the public transit trip-mode sharing rate is divided into three cases, and the three alternatives of public transit network are calculated based on the network optimization method and the public transit-oriented development model. Next, the alternatives are evaluated by the set pair analysis method, and the optimal scheme is selected. Finally, this article takes the public transit network planning of Huaiyuan County in Anhui Province as an example, and the results show the proposed method is feasible.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9324
Author(s):  
Sujae Kim ◽  
Sangho Choo ◽  
Sungtaek Choi ◽  
Hyangsook Lee

Mobility as a Service (MaaS), which integrates public and shared transportation into a single service, is drawing attention as a travel demand management strategy aimed at reducing automobile dependency and encouraging public transit. In particular, there have been few studies that recognize traffic congestion during peak hours and identify related factors for practical application. The purpose of this study is to explore what factors affect Seoul commuters’ mode choice including MaaS. A web-based survey that 161 commuters participated in was conducted to collect information about personal, household, and travel attributes, together with their mode preference for MaaS. A latent class model was developed to classify unobserved latent groups based on trip frequency by means and to identify factors influencing mode-specific utilities (in particular, MaaS service) for each class. The result shows that latent classes are divided into two groups (public transit-oriented commuters and balanced mode commuters). Most variables have significant impacts on choice for MaaS. The coefficient of MaaS choice of Class 1 and Class 2 were different. These findings suggest there is a difference between the classes according to trip frequency by means as an influencing factor in MaaS choice.


2019 ◽  
pp. 101-117
Author(s):  
John Macdonald ◽  
Charles Branas ◽  
Robert Stokes

This chapter assesses the role of transportation and street environments in people's lives and how reliance on the automobile has shaped the United States and other parts of the world. The century-long evolution into a car-dependent culture has had its benefits in terms of commerce and regional mobility, but has also had devastating effects on people's health and safety. Rather than discuss the negative impacts of cars on air pollution, the chapter focuses on the place-based health impacts of reducing people's reliance on the automobile by increasing the walkability of areas and expanding access to public transit. Younger adults are increasingly ambivalent about whether they should even own a car and are moving to cities in search of more efficient and human-scale mobility options. These options include having access to a street network with safe and efficient pedestrian and bike infrastructures as well as public-transit options. Meanwhile, public officials in numerous cities are talking about the benefits of expanded transit systems and walkable street grids to encourage more active lifestyles and attract tourists, families, and entrepreneurs who are tired of traffic congestion and car commuting and interested in a lively street experience that is not simply seen from behind a windshield. The chapter then highlights case studies showing how new place-based transportation and streetscape changes can be a tool for improving health and safety.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Zhe Li

Counting only the usable land, the population in Hong Kong is as dense as 34,000 people per square kilometer, and it has a highly efficient multi-modal public transport system. According to the experience of Hong Kong public transit system, highly reputable public transport services reveals that the the viability and sustainability of mass transit railways depend very much on accompanying transport policies and land development strategies. The ways to reduce traffic congestion from supply measures to demand management and change the transit mode from vehicle to railway are both based on Hong Kong’s actual situation. Finally this article emphasis on sustainable transport is a great experience which needs research with more in-depth thinking, and the evolution of public transport policy in Hong Kong is a good inspiration for the public transit development in the other great cities in the world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Yu ◽  
Binglei Xie ◽  
Edwin Chan

With growing traffic congestion and environmental issues, the interactions between travel behaviour and the built environment have drawn attention from researchers and policymakers to take effective measures to encourage more sustainable travel modes and to curb car trips, especially in urbanising areas where travel demand is very complicated. This paper presents how built environmental factors affect public transit choice behaviour in urban villages in China, where a large population of low-income workers are accommodated. This location had a high demand for public transit and special built environmental characteristics. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to examine both the determinants and magnitude of their influence. The results indicate that the impacts of built environments apply particularly in urban villages compared to those in formal residences. In particular, mixed land use generates an adverse effect on public transit choice, a surprising outcome which is contrary to previous common conclusions. This study contributes by addressing a special type of neighbourhood in order to narrow down the research gap in this domain. The findings help to suggest effective measures to satisfy public transit demand efficiently and also provide a new perspective for urban regeneration.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Chengming Zhu ◽  
Yanyan Chen ◽  
Changxi Ma

Public transit priority is very important for relieving traffic congestion. The connotation of dynamic public transit priority and dynamic stochastic park and ride is presented. Based on the point that the travel cost of public transit is not higher than the travel cost of car, how to determine the level of dynamic public transit priority is discussed. The traffic organization method of dynamic public transit priority is introduced. For dynamic stochastic park and ride, layout principle, scale, and charging standard are discussed. Traveler acceptability is high through the analysis of questionnaire survey. Dynamic public transit priority with dynamic stochastic park and ride has application feasibility.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaiem Haider

In communities throughout the world, strong and convenient public transportation makes valuable contributions to economic development, increased safety, energy conservation, a cleaner environment, less traffic congestion, and an improved quality of life. Whether it's a disabled person on her way to a doctor appointment, a child on the way to the library, or an elderly person going to buy groceries, rails, buses and vans connect people to their community. While transit serves many purposes, one of the most important of which is to provide critical access and mobility for transit-dependent and lower-income residents country wide, it also reduces the pressure on critical commute corridors by offering a convenient alternative to driving alone. People who are dependent on public transit, the young or the old, the disabled or the low-income, deserve a first-class system. A survey was conducted by City Pulse Toronto (CP 24) and the question they put to the viewers was "Would improved public transit convinces you to give up your car?" The result was amazing that 96% of the people using cars opted for Public transit. In the last decade statistics depict that the cities that have adopted emerging technologies in public transit are reaping the benefits of their increased rider ship by almost three fold. It is disappointing to see that the transit-using trend in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has decreased in the past five years except in the regions where transit agencies are updating their systems. Throughout the North America and other parts of the world, transit agencies are deploying automatic vehicle location and control fleet management systems, electronic and interactive customer information systems, and contact/contactless fare collection systems to save costs, improve operations and management efficiency and provide better service to customers. In this project an effort is made to depict the extent of adoption of advanced technology in the provision of public transportation service in Greater Toronto Area. The focus is on some of the most innovative or comprehensive implementations, categorized under two types of services/technologies, Automatic Passenger Counting and Electronic Fare Payment. Another objective of this study is to assemble the knowledge on successful applications of advanced technologies, the issues in their implementation, the goals and benefits of Intelligent Transportation System's integration. The study focuses on institutional, operational and technical barriers with the expectation that this will lead to more widespread adoption of ITS systems and techniques.


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