• Issue 1 (2019)
• Issue 2 (2019)

Effect of Sidewalk Vendors on Pedestrian Walking Speed and Lateral Position: A Study in Addis Ababa, Ethopia

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 2 (2019), PP 27 - 34

Published: 23 Dec 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.02.004

by Hagos Gebremedhin Kibret, Muhammad Adnan, Ansar-ul-Haque Yasar from Hasselt University Department of Transportation Science, Diepenbeek, Belgium, 3590 Transportation research institute (IMOB), Hasselt university, Diepenbeek, Belgium, 3590

Abstract: Street vendors use sidewalks to display goods and services. The reduction of sidewalk space by sidewalk vending activity forces pedestrians to take evasive action by changing walking speed and/or direction. Based on previous qualitative studies pedestrian evasive movements are related to pedestrian level of service and sharing carriageways. The aim of this paper was to investigate the effect of typical sidewalk vendor on average pedestrian walking speed and lateral position. The study used a field observation followed by a controlled walking experiment to study pedestrian behavior in the presence of typical sidewalk vendor. A univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) of pedestrian trajectories, extracted from a walking experiment, showed that the average pedestrian lateral position and walking speed were significantly affected by the presence of a sidewalk vendor, pedestrian flow rate and the interaction effect of the two (p read more... read less...

Keywords: Sidewalk vendors, Pedestrian trajectories, Walking speed, Lateral position

Extensive use of Motorcycles in Karachi, Pakistan: Revisiting the Policies that led us here

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 2 (2019), PP 19 - 25

Published: 18 Dec 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.02.003

by Syeda Amena, Syed Fazal Abbas Baquer from Graduate Student Transportation Sciences, UHasselt- Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium, 3590, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, DHA Suffa University, Karachi, Pakistan, 75950

Abstract: Motorcycles is a dominant transport model in many Asian Cities. Similar is the case with Karachi, where motorcycles constitutes approximately 52% of the overall passenger transport. Although a motorcycle provides temporary relief in terms of low fuel price, ownership of a vehicle and on top of all an easy commuting option to its owners, it has adversely affected the whole (transportation) system including its users. This paper analyzes various governmental policies that led to the enormous increase in motorcycles and its effects on street crime, Traffic Violation and Traffic Congestion. User attitudes towards opting motorcycles, public transport and environment are also discussed in this paper whill shall be helpful in conducting future studies in this regard. read more... read less...

Keywords: Motorcycle, Government Policies, Karachi, BRT

The Effect of Type of Attributes on the Fill-Ability of Accident Reporting Forms (ARF)

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 2 (2019), PP 11 - 17

Published: 12 Dec 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.02.002

by Ashar Ahmed, Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah, Ahmad Shukri Yahya from NED University of Engineering and Technology, Department of Urban and Infrastructure Engineering, Karachi 75270, Pakistan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Civil Engineering, Pulau Pinang 14300, Malaysia

Abstract: Accident Reporting Form (ARF) is the basic building block of an Accident Database. Incorrect and incomplete forms result into the formation of erroneous database which contains partial or no essential information required for the statistical analysis of accident data. Policies made on the basis of the results of such databases will have little or no effect on the improvement of safety of roadway facilities. In most countries filling of the ARF is the responsibility of Police/Investigating officers. Due to lack of interest, all the details are not recorded by them. Thus, it is very important to investigate the type of attributes and their respective items filled most. The objective of this study is to evaluate the attributes given most importance by the person in charge of filling the ARF and the items most neglected. The probable reasons for the complete/incomplete recording of the details of certain items were also examined. For this study a total of 642 forms were obtained from the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) for evaluation. Each form contained 91 attributes, as per number given in the accident reporting form known as POL 27. The items were divided with respect to driver, passenger, vehicle, pedestrian, location, road environment, road information and additional information. The fill-ability for each item was estimated in terms of percent filled. The items were evaluated in terms of least and most filled and the probable reason for the complete/incomplete filling of each item was then investigated. It was found that items related to location were most neglected. The second most incomplete items were associated with the vehicle and the driver. While the attributes related to the road and the environment were found to be the most filled. The probable reason for lack of fill-ability of location related items was their placement in inappropriate sections. The important finding of this study is the high number of items in the POL 27 which makes it difficult for the officer to fill the form completely and is the major cause of reduced fill-ability. read more... read less...

Keywords: Accident Reporting Form, Investigating Officer, Crash Location, Road Environment

Exploring the Transferability of FEATHERS – An Activity Based Travel Demand Model – For Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 2 (2019), PP 01 - 09

Published: 02 Dec 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.02.001

by Hoang Thuy Linh, Muhammad Adnan , Wim Ectors, Bruno Kochan, Tom Bellemens, Vu Anh Tuan from UHasselt – Universiteit Hasselt, Transportation Research Institute (IMOB), Agoralaan, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Transport and Communications, Lang Thoung, Dong Da, Ha Noi, Vietnam, Vietnamese-German Transportation Research Centre, Vietnamese-German University, Bin Duong new city, Vietnam

Abstract: This paper presents descriptive analyses to investigate the transferability of FEATHERS, an activity-based travel demand model developed for Flanders (Belgium), to a region in a developed country to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), a metropolitan area of a developing country, using personal and household travel survey data. The transferability was tested by using indicators which represent individuals’ activity and travel behaviors. The results confirm the transferability of the FEATHERS modelling structure to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), yet all sub-models require recalibration due to the different cultural settings between the two study areas. The differences in transport mode options, land use patterns and individuals’ location choice preferences make transport mode and location choice the least transferable models. read more... read less...

Keywords: transferability, activity based travel demand model, action space, schedule pattern

Modeling framework for supporting taxi policy making

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 1 (2019), PP 27 - 36

Published: 26 Apr 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.03.01.004

by Josep Maria Salanova Grau, Miquel Estrada from Centre for Research and Technology Hellas/Hellenic Institute of Transport, Thessaloniki, Greece, 57001 Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, 08034

Abstract: Taxi services account for a significant part of the daily trips in most cities around the world. These services are regulated by a central authority, which usually monitors the performance of the taxi services provision and defines the policies applied to the taxi sector. In order to support policy makers, fleet managers and individual taxi drivers, there is a need for developing models to understand the behavior of these markets. Most of the models developed for analyzing the taxi market are based on econometric measurements and do not account for the spatial distribution of both taxi demand and supply. Only few simulation models are able to better understand the operational characteristics of the taxi market. This paper presents a framework for the development of taxi models both aggregated and simulation-based. It is aimed at assessing policy makers, taxi fleet managers and individual drivers in the definition of the optimum operation mode and the number of vehicles. read more... read less...

Keywords: taxi modeling, agent-based modeling, modeling framework

Evaluating Reinforcement Learning State Representations for Adaptive Traffic Signal Control

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 1 (2019), PP 19 - 26

Published: 16 Apr 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.01.003

by Wade Gendersa, Saiedeh Razavi from Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, L8S 4L8, McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics, Hamilton, Canada, L8S 4L8

Abstract: Reinforcement learning has shown potential for developing effective adaptive traffic signal controllers to reduce traffic congestion and improve mobility. Despite many successful research studies, few of these ideas have been implemented in practice. There remains uncertainty about what the requirements are in terms of data and sensors to actualize reinforcement learning traffic signal control. We seek to understand the data requirements and the performance differences in different state representations for reinforcement learning traffic signal control. We model three state representations, from low to high-resolution, and compare their performance using the asynchronous advantage actor-critic and distributional Qlearning algorithms with neural network function approximation in simulation. Results show that low-resolution state representations (e.g., occupancy and average speed) perform almost identically to high-resolution state representations (e.g., individual vehicle position and speed) using fully connected neural networks, but deep neural networks with highresolution state representation achieve the best performance. These results indicate implementing reinforcement learning traffic signal controllers in practice can be accomplished with a variety of sensors (e.g., loop detectors, cameras, radar). read more... read less...

Keywords: adaptive traffic signal control, deep reinforcement learning, intelligent transportation systems, applied machine learning, transportation simulation, neural networks

Dynamic, multi- and intermodal bike sharing in agent-based modelling

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 1 (2019), PP 09 - 17

Published: 13 Apr 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.01.002

by Cornelia Hebenstreit, Martin Fellendorf from Institute of Highway Engineering and Transport Planning, Graz, University of Technology, Graz, Austria, 8010

Abstract: Negative effects of traffic, like congestion, air and noise pollution are among the reasons why environmentally friendly solutions are promoted. Bike sharing (bs) is intended to strengthen cycling and public transport. Nevertheless, current transport models rarely consider cycling or even bs, in either detail or holistically. In this paper we present an agent based approach to model cycling and in particular bs within the multimodal simulation environment MATSim. Multimodal trips combining public transport and bs are included as well as within day rescheduling of bs trips as agents may not find a bike or empty return space (parking spot). To minimize such cases, choice probabilities were implemented, so that agents only start their bs trip, if sufficient bikes or parking spots are available. The modules presented in this paper were applied using a MATSim model of the city of Vienna. Agent based bs modelling is an inexpensive option to test the impact of a bike sharing system before implementation. read more... read less...

Keywords: Bike Sharing, Transport Simulation, MATSim, Route Choice, Agent-based Simulation, Intramodality

The matching problem of empty vehicle redistribution in autonomous taxi systems

JTTM, volume-01 , Issue 1 (2019), PP 01 - 08

Published: 10 Apr 2019

DOI: 10.5383/JTTM.01.01.001

by Tatiana Babicheva, Wilco Burghout, Ingmar Andreasson , Nadege Faul from VEDECOM, 23 bis Allée des Marronniers, 78000 Versailles, France, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden, LogistikCentrum AB, Osbergsgatan 4 A, 42677 V.Frolunda, Sweden, DAVID, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 55 Avenue de Paris, 78000 Versailles, France

Abstract: This article discusses empty vehicle redistribution algorithms for PRT and autonomous taxi services from a passenger service perspective. In modern literature reactive methods such as nearest neighbours are commonly used. In this article we first formulate the general matching problem on a bipartite graph of available vehicles and stations. In addition, we propose an index-based proactive redistribution (IBR) 18,19 algorithm based on predicted near-future demand at stations. The results of different redistribution methods implemented on a simple line test case show that none of the proposed methods are optimal in all cases. Test results of six variations of combined proactive and reactive strategies on a test case in Paris Saclay, France with 20 stations and 100 vehicles are given. The combined Nearest Neighbour / IBR provides a promising solution for both peak and off-peak demand, significantly outperforming all other methods considered, in terms of passenger waiting time (both average and maximum) as well as in terms of station queue lengths. read more... read less...

Keywords: Empty Vehicle Redistribution, Fleet-size, Autonomous Taxi, Matching Problem