scholarly journals Dynamic balance between demand-and-supply of urban taxis over trajectories

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1041-1057
Author(s):  
Mingyang Liu ◽  
◽  
Junhao Han ◽  
Yushan Mei ◽  
Yuguang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Dynamic Balance ◽  
Scheduling Algorithm ◽  
Social Benefit ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Demand Distribution ◽  
Merging Process ◽  
Balance Factor

<abstract> <p>Urban taxi serves as an irreplaceable tool in public transportation systems. The balancing of demand-and-supply can be of significant social benefit, for which the equilibrium method for urban taxis, especially with dynamic trip demands, is not well studied yet. In this paper, we formally define the equilibrium problem and propose a coarse-grained dynamic balancing algorithm. It efficiently evaluates the trip demand distribution pattern and schedules supplies to more unbalanced regions. We first propose a density-based blocking algorithm to detect regions that are with more travel demands. A trip demand merging strategy is then proposed, which checks the correlation of trip demands to merge the trips into ones. To reduce the computation load, a lazy trip correlation strategy is devised to speed up the merging process. By calculating the defined balance factor, a scheduling algorithm is proposed to realize the trip merge and supply translocation based balancing approach. We evaluated our approach using a month of global positioning system (GPS) trajectories generated by 13,000 taxis of Shanghai. By learning the spatiotemporal distribution of historical taxi demand-and-supplies, we simulated an inflated trip demand platform. Tested on this platform with extensive experiments, the proposed approach demonstrates its effectiveness and scalability.</p> </abstract>

scholarly journals “Unparking”: How can Smart Mobility Reduce Parking Demand in Our Cities to the Minimum? (Beirut Case Study)

Smart Cities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-185
Author(s):  
Adib Haydar
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Mobility System ◽  
Smart Mobility ◽  
Public Transportation Systems ◽  
Parking Demand ◽  
The City

Beirut is a car-dependent city, with 80% of Beirut citizens using their private cars to move across the city (the rate of car ownership is higher than regional and global benchmarks: 627 cars/1000 in Beirut, 550/1000 in Dubai and 170/1000 in Singapore). This reality causes two related impacts: an increased parking demand and decreased public transportation usage. Furthermore, in order to discuss these aspects, our study addresses the following question: How can the municipality’s interventions and mobility system reforms, such as smart public transportation systems and shareable mobility, reduce parking demand? As our methodology, it consists of three sections: (1) determine Beirut's parking problems by estimating parking demand and supply; (2) assess the potential effects of Beirut municipality policies in comparison to international experiences; and (3) evaluate the potential impacts of the smart public transportation system and shareable mobility in reducing parking demand. This paper studies parking growth in developing countries, such as Lebanon, and can help planners, decision-makers, and the Beirut municipality to make more informed decisions about parking policies, and to meet growing parking demand by introducing smart interventions that have high local potentials.

Taxicab Availability

2017 ◽  
Vol 2650 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Yang ◽  
Chengchuan An ◽  
Yao-Jan Wu ◽  
Jingxin Xia
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
System Performance ◽  
General Public ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Measurement And Evaluation ◽  
Public Transportation Systems ◽  
Insight Into

Because of the popularity and necessity of taxicabs, taxicab-related research has received increasing attention over the past decade. However, few studies have highlighted the value of taxicabs as an important component of public transportation systems, and the measurement and evaluation of taxicab systems have been largely missing in the previous literature. Two measures, from a demand and supply perspective, intuitively can serve as the measures for evaluating taxicab service performance, including loading and availability. Since the concept of taxicab availability has not been clearly defined in previous research, this study proposes a new concept of taxicab availability based on the concept of transit availability. Four taxicab availabilities—namely, spatial, temporal, capacity, and information availability—are further defined and introduced. The study used a large amount of taxicab GPS-based data to measure these availabilities. A framework is proposed to investigate statistically whether there are mathematical patterns behind loading and availability. The results show that patterns can be found and mathematically described, and statistically accurate and reliable taxicab information can be produced based on the patterns. Two presentation aids were selected to present the information: taxicab timetables produced for the general public and loading and availability heat maps produced for decision makers. The research provides detailed insight into taxicab system performance. The contributions of this research are to provide ( a) guidelines for evaluating system performance in a city or region and ( b) taxicab timetables for the general public.

scholarly journals Understanding the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Public Transportation Travel Patterns in the City of Lisbon

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8342
Author(s):  
Joao T. Aparicio ◽  
Elisabete Arsenio ◽  
Rui Henriques
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Travel Patterns ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Traffic Demand ◽  
Demand Distribution ◽  
Transportation Modes ◽  
The City

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is creating disruptive changes in urban mobility that may compromise the sustainability of the public transportation system. As a result, worldwide cities face the need to integrate data from different transportation modes to dynamically respond to changing conditions. This article combines statistical views with machine learning advances to comprehensively explore changing urban mobility dynamics within multimodal public transportation systems from user trip records. In particular, we retrieve discriminative traffic patterns with order-preserving coherence to model disruptions to demand expectations across geographies and show their utility to describe changing mobility dynamics with strict guarantees of statistical significance, interpretability and actionability. This methodology is applied to comprehensively trace the changes to the urban mobility patterns in the Lisbon city brought by the current COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we consider passenger trip data gathered from the three major public transportation modes: subway, bus, and tramways. The gathered results comprehensively reveal novel travel patterns within the city, such as imbalanced demand distribution towards the city peripheries, going far beyond simplistic localized changes to the magnitude of traffic demand. This work offers a novel methodological contribution with a solid statistical ground for the spatiotemporal assessment of actionable mobility changes and provides essential insights for other cities and public transport operators facing mobility challenges alike.

The Opera and the Omnibus: Material Culture, Urbanism and Boieldieu's La dame blanche

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-114
Author(s):  
Nicole Vilkner
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Mass Transportation ◽  
Musical Work ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

AbstractIn the summer of 1828, the Entreprise générale des Dames Blanches launched a fleet of white omnibuses onto the streets of Paris. These public transportation vehicles were named and fashioned after Boieldieu's opéra comique La dame blanche (1825): their rear doors were decorated with scenes of Scotland, their flanks painted with gesturing opera characters, and their mechanical horns trumpeted fanfares through the streets. The omnibuses offered one of the first mass transportation systems in the world and were an innovation that transformed urban circulation. During their thirty years of circulation, the omnibuses also had a profound effect on the reception history of Boieldieu's opera. When the omnibuses improved the quality of working- and middle-class life, bourgeois Parisians applauded the vehicles’ egalitarian business model, and Boieldieu's opera became unexpectedly entwined in the populist rhetoric surrounding the omnibus. Viewing opera through the lens of the Dames Blanches, Parisians conflated the sounds of opera and street, as demonstrated by Charles Valentin Alkan's piano piece Les omnibus, Op. 2 (1829), which combines operatic idioms and horn calls. Through these examples and others, this study examines the complex ways that material culture affects the dissemination and reception of a musical work.

scholarly journals Virus Transmission Risk in Urban Rail Systems: Microscopic Simulation-Based Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Characteristics

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110101
Author(s):  
Jiali Zhou ◽  
Haris N. Koutsopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
Microscopic Simulation ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Subway System ◽  
Public Transportation Systems ◽  
The Impact

The transmission risk of airborne diseases in public transportation systems is a concern. This paper proposes a modified Wells-Riley model for risk analysis in public transportation systems to capture the passenger flow characteristics, including spatial and temporal patterns, in the number of boarding and alighting passengers, and in number of infectors. The model is used to assess overall risk as a function of origin–destination flows, actual operations, and factors such as mask-wearing and ventilation. The model is integrated with a microscopic simulation model of subway operations (SimMETRO). Using actual data from a subway system, a case study explores the impact of different factors on transmission risk, including mask-wearing, ventilation rates, infectiousness levels of disease, and carrier rates. In general, mask-wearing and ventilation are effective under various demand levels, infectiousness levels, and carrier rates. Mask-wearing is more effective in mitigating risks. Impacts from operations and service frequency are also evaluated, emphasizing the importance of maintaining reliable, frequent operations in lowering transmission risks. Risk spatial patterns are also explored, highlighting locations of higher risk.

Station facilities and noise assessment: A multilevel analysis on light rail train stations

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-372
Author(s):  
Yalcin Yildirim ◽  
Diane Jones Allen
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Transit Systems ◽  
Message Boards ◽  
Sound Levels ◽  
Noise Assessment ◽  
Ticket Vending Machines

Noise is one of the most frequent consequences of traffic. Public transportation systems, such as the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) authority provides various modes of transportation. Even though the availability of commuting service for the public is a boon to communities, mass transit systems are potential sources of excessive sound levels in daily urban life. This article examines the nexus between the transit station facilities of light rail train (LRT) stations and noise implications at both station and neighborhood scales by studying selected LRT stations. A multilevel linear analysis was conducted to understand the degree of train station amenities and neighborhood characteristics that affect sound levels. Using a type II sound pressure level (SPL)meter, sound measurements were obtained during the weekdays and weekends over several weeks. Upon examining the station amenities, and built environment and sociodemographic characteristics of the neighborhood, findings of this comprehensive research reveal significant implications for sound levels. Stations with ticket vending machines and informative message boards include a higher degree of significance on SPLs, while shelters, crew rooms, bike lockers, restrooms, and windshields are significantly and negatively associated with the noise levels. Additionally, neighborhoods with dense roads, higher speed limits, more neighborhood facilities, and a higher number of transit routes have an increased likelihood of noise levels. Recommendations include creating transformative policies for implementation, and approaches addressing noise for transit authorities, transportation engineers, and planners are presented. Planning and engineering aspects of comfort, aesthetics, safety, and public health, as train stations are daily use spaces for commuters and surrounding communities, should also be considered.

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