Asian Transport Studies最新文献

In high-density pedestrian crossflow locations, pedestrians considerably affect the vehicle flow. On arterial roads where speed is the main concern, unanticipated pedestrian crossings generate conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians, thereby creating congestion and increasing the travel time cost. In this study, the viability of various pedestrian crossing facilities is evaluated in terms of the flow characteristics and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Grade-separated pedestrian crossing facilities offer high mobility and save travel time costs for vehicles; however, these are sometimes discouraged because of high construction costs. The optimal crossing facility is determined by comparing the travel time costs for both the vehicles and pedestrians. This study argues that grade-separated crossings yield a superior BCR in areas with limited pedestrian traffic, whereas in densely pedestrianized areas, pedestrian signals boast the highest BCR among all pedestrian crossing facilities. These findings will improve the planning of cost-effective pedestrian crossing facilities.

This study analyzed the relationship between gaze behavior and physical functions of elderly drivers at unsignalized intersections, which have spatial characteristics that make elderly drivers more likely to be on the at-fault side of a collision. Twenty-nine elderly and 14 non-elderly drivers were asked to view 360-degree videos from five different routes of two unsignalized intersections under conditions similar to actual driving. The results were as follows. (1) The eye movement distance (EMD) was shorter for elderly drivers in most of the driving sections, with the section "At slowdown" on non-priority roads being the section where a significant difference was likely to occur. (2) For both elderly and non-elderly drivers, the amount of EMD was significantly related to visual and general physical functions such as flexibility, equilibrium, and agility.

Ride-hailing has been introduced and has become popular in many major cities worldwide. The service often relies on the use of dynamic pricing, in which fares are adjusted in real time. Therefore, understanding the impact of fare on demand is necessary for the operation of ride-hailing. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of fares on demand through price elasticities using the session data of Uber taxis from Uber Japan's experiments in two cities: Nagoya and Kyoto. A mixed logit model with a flexible mixing distribution was estimated to capture the taste heterogeneity among riders, which increased the reliability of the result. The estimation results indicated that most riders were price inelastic, with an average price elasticity of approximately −0.2 to −0.1. These findings are useful for ride-hailing companies and policymakers because they provide valuable information to enable the maximization of profit or benefit to customers.

The public transportation system in densely populated areas is often managed as a self-financing system due to fare passenger revenues. In a self-financing system, the network structure and the monetary fare mutually interact; therefore, it is efficient to design both simultaneously. We developed an optimization model that endogenously determines the bus network and fares to maximize the total social surplus of the region. In this study, we conducted numerical applications of the model to a public transportation system around a railroad station in a metropolitan suburb area. The results showed that the optimal network topology changes with the scale of demand, and network shape significantly alters the optimal fare structure. Three types of virtual regions were examined to illustrate optimal fares.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a major planning tool to promote green transport mode share. There are many previous studies in this field but with very diverse research focuses and outcomes. This study has classified the research purposes of previous studies into four categories: exploratory; potential and challenges; performance evaluation; and in-depth investigation. To identify critical factors that might influence green transport systems, a systematic literature review is delivered via a meta-analysis. Specifically, green transport mode share was set as the dependent variable and a proxy for TOD outcomes. From the model results, several key factors are identified. For example, built environment planning (e.g., pedestrian sidewalks) plays a critical role in green transport systems. The main findings of this paper can provide clear direction to current TOD, such as how to improve TOD outcomes and providing planning guidance for potential TOD.

This study proposes two tourist excursion behavior models. One is the trip chain-based model, in which the tourist behavior is represented by a trip chain and the duration of stay at each tourist spot in the trip chain. The model is based on the tourist's utility maximization, where a tourist allocates the time budget along the trip chain generated from our proposed algorithm formulated as dynamic programming. The proposed model assumes that travel data obtained from Wi-Fi sensors are available. We also proposed the Trip-based model, which estimates the transition ratio of a tourist trip between tourist spots based on the tourist's utility maximization. The trip-based model only partially captures the excursion behavior but is available when only tip data between two nodes in the network is available. To demonstrate the models presented in the paper, we calibrated parameters and predicted the tourist demand in a test and real networks.

With the increasing importance of sustainability, warehouse sharing arises as a possible way to improve the logistics system efficiency. This paper studied the warehouse sharing platform systems (WSPS) and proposed an enhanced modelling approach for the WSPS design problem (WSPSDP) using the multi-allocation hub location routing problem framework. New elements, such as inter-warehouse transportation and multi-allocation scheme, were considered compared to the existing WSPS model. Then, an adaptive large neighbourhood decomposition search heuristic was applied to solve our problem. Computational experiments were conducted on different-sized instances to compare the WSPS model without inter-warehouse transportation (WSPSDP-WI) and the WSPS model with single-allocation scheme (WSPSDP-SA). The results suggested that our proposed WSPSDP model is more cost-efficient than the existing WSPS models, reducing 15.38% and 1.43% operation costs compared to the WSPSDP-WI and WSPSDP-SA models. Finally, our proposed WSPSDP model also has the potential to promote the utilisation of existing cheap idle warehouses.

This study evaluated drivers' collision avoidance behavior by focusing on the timing of their visual detection of pedestrians when turning right at signalized intersections. A headset-based virtual reality driving simulator was used to monitor drivers' behavior. The experiment showed that early detection of pedestrians can reduce the potential for severe conflicts. Drivers found it difficult to detect pedestrians early when using a gap between oncoming vehicles to turn right. Based on gaze tracking, we propose and validate a safety level that could potentially evaluate the potential for conflict between pedestrians and a right-turning vehicle. To increase safety level reliability, the speed of the right-turning vehicle should be included in addition to the eye measurements.

Electric mobility is a potential solution to address the environmental challenges posed by climate change. In addition, car-sharing can serve as a solution to local problems, such as traffic congestion and parking pressure in nonurban areas. Although electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more common in car-sharing fleets globally, the momentum is less prominent in Japan. In this study, the potential of EV sharing to serve domestic tourists in Japan’s nonurban areas was investigated by examining tourists’ choices in transportation mode to reach their destinations and the use of EV sharing after arrival. A hybrid choice model was specified to analyze the effects of observed and latent factors on tourists’ behavior. Although the analysis results generally indicate strong obstacles to EV sharing, reducing the cost of access to EV-sharing services in nonurban areas where public transportation and parking services are limited could increase potential demand.

Japan has used the Area Division Policy to control the disorderly spread of urban space for over 50 years. As a key component of area division, “urbanization promotion areas” are expected to promote land development, concentrate population within it, and prevent or slow down land and population expansion outside. To review the implementation of this system and provide a reference for future spatial optimization, quantitative methods to analyze the influence of urbanization promotion areas are important. This paper applies a regression-discontinuity design to study the impact of an urbanization promotion area on land development and population density in the Kofu urban area. The results indicate that the urbanization promotion area retains control over land and population, but development pressure remains on the urban periphery. To achieve orderly urban development, area division should be adjusted according to residential demands and coordinated with other recent land control policies.