Transportation Engineering

The study is to apply SERVQUAL scale in assessing campus shuttle bus service. The methodology was opinion survey of simple randomly selected 300 respondents at the two designated stations for the shuttle service. The cronbach’s alpha of the attributes ranges from 0.903-0.907. Frequencies, percentage, mean and paired sample t-test was used for the data analysis. The results of the study indicates that 55% of the respondents are male; 70.2% are aged between 20-24years; 67.3% use the shuttle every other day; 50.5% use the campus shuttle because of the lower transport fares; 83.7% use the campus shuttle for educational reasons; all the five dimensions have negative gap scores and 17 attributes are statistically significant with p-value<0.005. The study makes recommendations for better service delivery.

Transit systems should provide attractive yet low cost services to passengers. However, reduction of operating costs can significantly affect performance of bus systems. Cutbacks in deadhead mileage and depot costs becomes attractive since it leads to reducing operating expenses without interfering with passenger services. We revisit previous work on the bus-to-depot allocation problem; we propose an improved model for assigning buses to depots and employ a novel hybrid genetic algorithm for solving the problem. The model and algorithm are applied to the Athens bus system. Results indicate gains in operating costs compared to the existing allocation and improved computational performance.

Addis Ababa is promoting its master Plan to be finalized in December 2013. The strong investments in Public Transport Infrastructure (LRT and BRT) need to be complemented in the long term with a truly 'Metropolitan' Mass Transit mode like the Commuter Train or Metro. A World Class Metropolis as Addis Ababa can not only rely on urban modes as the BRT and LRT. It needs a Metro, and the tracks of that Metro are there.

Addis has to understand it's structure. The star shape proposal of the 2001 Plan is today obsolete. The North Mountains to be protected provide Addis with a ‘T’ structure instead of a ‘Star’ shape. This feature has a secondary important effect. It takes Addis away from a radial-orbital to a linear-reticular one. Transport planners have understood that. Physical Planners have to become aware of it and plan Addis accordingly.

This Diagram of Addis, Metropolitan 'smilies' approach presented in this heading, provides the clues to understand the ‘meta’ structure of Addis and thus the simple growth decisions that derive from it. That is the essence of the Coup d'Oeil (Clausewitz) in Metropolitan Planning.

We have attached a file to this entry of just images. No words. Food for thought. For those who know Addis and understand planning could be enough to spring a discussion: Structuring axis? New Centralities? Growth areas? Integrated transport systems? Housing developments? Productive-activities strategy? All hints within the slides.

World oil demand is projected to increase more than 40% by 2030 which is mainly from Asian countries like China and India, where transportation industries are rapidly expanding. Transportation accounts for almost 20% of the world’s energy consumption and more than 50% of the consumption of liquid fuels. In the year 2030, the transportation sector alone will consume the same amount of liquid fuel as that consumed by all sectors in 2003; this fact necessitates development of the travel demand modelling based on fuel consumption. Consequently the purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of fuel consumption patterns on travel demand estimation. This paper evaluates and calibrates travel demand estimation and its relation to fuel consumption by CUBE software for the city of Shiraz, with use of data which was provided by Sharif University for the centre of Fars province, Iran in 1999. This research proves that the basic role and model relationships fits well with vehicle fuel use (CNG, LNG, Gasoil, and Gasoline) and generating trips by exogenous and endogenous variables. We use this model to explore the effect of energy consumption patterns on generation and distribution stage of travel demand modelling based on inverse ability.

Earthquake-induced landslides along the Dujiangyan-Yingxiu highway after the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 were investigated. It was found that: (1) slopes were shattered and damaged during the earthquake and open tension cracks formed on the tops of the slopes; (2) the upper parts of slopes collapsed and slid, while the lower parts remained basically intact, indicating that the upper parts of slopes would be damaged more heavily than the lower parts during an earthquake. Large-scale shaking table model tests were conducted to study failure behavior of slopes under the Wenchuan seismic wave, which reproduced the process of deformation and failure of slopes. Tension cracks emerged at the top and upper part of model, while the bottom of the model remained intact, consistent with field investigations. Depth of the tension crack at the top of model is 32 cm, i.e., 3.2 m compared to the prototype natural slope with a height of 14 m when the length scale ratio (proto/model) is 10. Acceleration at the top of the slope was almost twice as large as that at the toe when the measured accelerations on shaking table are 4.85 m/s2 and 6.49 m/s2, which means that seismic force at the top of the slope is twice the magnitude of that at the toe. By use of the dynamic-strength-reduction method, numerical simulation was conducted to explore the process and mechanism of formation of the sliding surface, with other quantified information. The earthquake-induced failure surfaces commonly consist of tension cracks and shear zones. Within 5 m from the top of the slope, the dynamic sliding surface will be about 1 m shallower than the pseudo-static sliding surface in a horizontal direction when the peak ground acceleration (PGA) is 1 m/s2; the dynamic sliding surface will be about 2 m deeper than the pseudo-static sliding surface in a horizontal direction when the PGA is 10 m/s2, and the depths of the dynamic sliding surface and the pseudo-static sliding surface will be almost the same when the PGA is 2 m/s2. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the key point of anti-seismic design, as well as for mitigation of post-earthquake, secondary mountain hazards, is to prevent tension cracks from forming in the upper part of the slope. Therefore, the depth of tension cracks in slope surfaces is the key to reinforcement of slopes. The depth of the sliding surface from the pseudo-static method can be a reference for slope reinforcement mitigation.

London’s Mayor Johnson has given a high priority to Electric Vehicles (EVs) as the most appropriate road transport technology to reduce C02 emissions and improve air quality. This chapter outlines the policy rationale that underpins the Mayor’s strategy to stimulate the early market for EVs, and reviews its implementation over the period 2009-2014. The Mayor of London’s commitment has been demonstrated through initiatives that include the development of the diesel-electric hybrid ‘New Bus for London’, experimental hydrogen fuel cell powered buses and taxis, by collaboration with commercial operators to pilot electrification of freight transport, and by plans to create ‘the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone’ by 2020. Another key objective has been to create an extensive infrastructure for re-charging electric scooters, motorcycles, cars, vans and light trucks by 2015. The authors consider these developments with reference to recent research on early market adaptation to electric driving, and the prospects for converting mainstream private drivers and firms. This leads to a discussion of some important challenges that suggest the need for further research to help decision makers improve the effectiveness of interventions, especially at the user interface: locating and designing EV infrastructure, supporting longer distance electric driving, and informing current and potential EV users.

The structure of Nairobi Metropolis is a cross.
The four main urban corridors to Thika, Athi River, Limuru and Ongata Rongai, form a quasi perfect cross dividing Nairobi in four quadrants: North, East, South and West. Every quadrant has a different ecosystem, different directionality, and has to be planned in account of that.

The completion of the mobility structure for Nairobi must have two strategies:
1) The mass public transport: The development of centralities around the commuter stations along the branches of the cross (3) to prioritize rail access to Nairobi Center.
2) The road network: The formation of a consistent mobility network by completion of the short missing links across the existing dominating directionalities of the quadrants (3)
The result will be a homogeneous a resilient (stable equilibrium) mobility network linked to the metropolitan axes of the cross. The axes would be served by the commuter train service for access to the CBD.

The territorial (land-use) evolution of the structure will have two main tendencies:
1) The CBD economic activity expansion southwards, across the actual buffer of the Central Station and in the direction of the airport.
2) The housing land provision in response to the annual growth and need for 2,5 sq. km of new urban land. The infrastructure for that provision would be a reticular metropolitan network to the eastwards flat, featureless and environmentally poor land.