Exploring the Energy Saving Potential in Private, Public and Non-Motorized Transport for Ten Swedish Cities

Transport energy conservation research in urban transport systems dates back principally to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) “Arab Oil Embargo” (1973–1974) and the Iranian revolution (1979), when global oil supplies became threatened and costs rose steeply. Two subsequent Gulf Wars (1991 and 2003) highlighted the dangerous geo-political dimensions of Middle-Eastern oil. In latter times, the urgency to reduce global CO2 output to avoid catastrophic climate change has achieved great prominence. How to reduce passenger transport energy use therefore remains an important goal, which this paper pursues in ten Swedish cities, based on five scenarios: (1) increasing the relatively low public transport (PT) seat occupancy in each Swedish city to average European levels (buses 35%, light rail 48%, metro 60% and suburban rail 35%); (2) doubling existing PT seat occupancy in each Swedish city; (3) increasing existing car occupancy in each Swedish city by 10%; (4) decreasing existing energy use per car vehicle kilometer by 15%; (5) increasing existing modal split for daily trips by non-motorized modes to 50% in each city. A sixth “best-case scenario” is also explored by simultaneously combining scenarios 2 to 5. The data used in the paper come from systematic empirical research on each of the ten Swedish cities. When applied individually, scenario 2 is the most successful for reducing passenger transport energy use, scenarios 1 and 4 are next in magnitude and produce approximately equal energy savings, followed by scenario 5, with scenario 3 being the least successful. The best-case, combined scenario could save 1183 million liters of gasoline equivalent in the ten cities, representing almost a 60% saving over their existing 2015 total private passenger transport energy use and equivalent to the combined 2015 total annual private transport energy use of Stockholm, Malmö and Jönköping. Such findings also have important positive implications for the de-carbonization of cities. The policy implications of these findings and the strategies for increasing public transport, walking and cycling, boosting car occupancy and decreasing vehicular fuel consumption in Swedish cities are discussed.

Optimizing Public Passenger Transport in Bucharest and the Metropolitan Area

The paper aims to be a model of analysis on passenger transport management for Bucharest and the metropolitan area, in order to stimulate the economic development of the city by supporting economic activities of local interest, by increasing the mobility of the transport system, economic activities that benefit local communities and that do not adversely affect people's health or the environment. The analysis presented proposes the use of geospatial information systems for urban traffic management and the construction of traffic simulation models.

Public Passenger Transport Logistics in the Context of Digital Transformation of Transportation Services Organisation Systems

Transport route specification models are used to analyse the need for combined passenger transportation on popular routes in a large urban agglomeration. The problem of managing the travel chains of passengers using public transport (PT) is revealed with the focus on the complexity of applying the principle of multimodality on the route network used by population due to the mismatch of the schemes of transport and users’ routes.The study of the logistics of passenger transportation with PT introduces the concept of «public transport user (PTU)» which has a variable status relative to the flows of people, pedestrians, passengers, and transport vehicles. The description of the registers of the main parameters of the routes under study serves to create their digital twins.To manage the travel chains of PTUs, identify related sections of transport routes, it is proposed to highlight within the passenger flow the currents of the same profile which include PTUs that have common transport behaviour.Models and algorithms of network proximity to transport infrastructure objects, visualisation of digital traces of PTUs and the results of comparing the used and the best route options according to the modelled parameters allow to identify behavioural profiles of PTUs, as well as regulators managing the travel chains.

Telematics on urban passenger transport

The monograph discusses the application of telematics in dispatch control systems in urban passenger transport. The role of telematics as a technological basis in automating the solution of control tasks, accounting and analysis of the volume and quality of transport work in modern dispatch control systems on urban passenger transport is shown. Analytical models have been developed to estimate the capacity of a high-speed bus transportation system on a dedicated line. Mathematical models and algorithms for predicting passenger vehicle interior filling at critical stages of urban passenger transport routes are presented. The issues of application of the concept of the phase space of states introduced by the authors to assess the quality of the passenger transportation process on the route of urban passenger transport are described. The developed classification of service levels and their application in order to inform passengers at stopping points about the degree of filling of the passenger compartment of the arriving vehicle is described. The material is based on the results of theoretical research and practical work on the creation and implementation of automated control systems for urban passenger transport in Russian cities. The material of M.H. Duque Sarango's dissertation submitted for the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences in the specialty 05.22.10 "Operation of motor transport" was used. It will be useful to specialists in the field of telematics on urban passenger transport.

Emerging Platform Work in the Context of the Regulatory Loophole (The Uber Fiasco in Hungary)

Platform works are swiftly turning into a big, perhaps game-changing force in the labor market. From low-skilled, low-paid services (like passenger transport) to high-skilled, high-paying project-based labor (like developing artificial intelligence algorithms), digital platforms can handle a wide range of tasks. Our paper discusses the platform-based content, working conditions, employment status, and advocacy problems. Terminological and methodological problems are dealt with in-depth in the course of the literature review, together with the ‘gray areas’ of work and employment regulation. To examine some of the complex dynamics of this fast-evolving arena, we focus on the unsuccessful market entry of the digital platform company Uber in Hungary 2016 and the relationship to institutional-regulatory platform-based work standards. Dilemmas about the enforcement of labor law regarding platform-based work are also paid special attention to the study. Employing a digital workforce is a challenge not only for labor law regulation but also for stakeholder advocacy.