scholarly journals Smart Transportation for Smart Oman: An Enquiry into its Potentials and Implications

Author(s):  
Noura Al Maqbali ◽  
Muhammad Refeque

The concept of smart city has recently gained popularity both among policy makers and academic researchers. Despite the importance of smart city, there is still confusion regarding its meaning as many terms associated with it is often used interchangeably. Many countries around the globe have developed various smart city initiatives to help solve the problems associated with traffic congestion. This paper explores smart city initiatives that are currently being implemented in Muscat. The paper provides the need for the development of smart city initiative in Muscat.  Muscat city has been experiencing heavy traffic congestion especially during the morning and evening hours when people are travelling to and from their workplaces.  The increase in traffic congestion in Muscat is occasioned by an increase in population in the city and poor traffic management to cope with increase in population and number of vehicles in the town. The study provides analysis of the current situation of public transport in the Sultanate, particularly in Muscat. There is a need to find suitable mechanisms for solving the city’s traffic problems. Every problem has various solutions, and enhancing public transport will be explored as part of a comprehensive solution for Muscat city traffic problem.  Thus, the study presents the solutions for growing traffic congestions in a smart city and public transportation perspectives. While addressing the traffic problems and extent of public transportation in Oman, the researchers used primary data collected form 80 respondents to know their perception of traffic issues and user acceptability of public transportation initiatives in Oman. The study, while exploring available smart city initiatives in Oman provides further recommendations that can be implemented in order to solve the problems related to traffic congestion, and further recommendations are placed for enhancing the public transportation systems in Oman.

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Ionuț-Cosmin Chiva ◽  
Marius Minea ◽  
Viviana-Laetitia Minea ◽  
Augustin Semenescu

Intensive usage of public transportation represents a good solution to reduce traffic congestion. Dynamic allocation of vehicles enhances the service level and offers a more comfortable trip to travelers. Bluetooth (BT) has been used in some specific cases as a means of data collection regarding vehicle flow. However, it has been less employed for the anonymous detection of traveler flow, origin–destination, the density of travelers in public transport, etc. This paper analyzes the efficiency of different versions of BT for this type of application. Experiments were carried on for subway lines and stations, as well as in open space. Information regarding mobility dynamics represents an important factor to be considered in traffic management to improve the efficiency of existing systems. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are also provided.


Author(s):  
Jyoti Chandiramani ◽  
Sushma Nayak

The idea of smart city has assumed popularity in numerous countries across the globe. In 2015, the Government of India embarked on a mission of creating 100 smart cities to sustain the burgeoning urban population. While a wide-ranging set of fundamentals has a key role in enhancing the quality of life of citizens, the chapter revolves around transportation issues and traffic management concerns in one of India's smart cities, Pune. Transport is one of the few areas where Pune lags behind compared to its urban counterparts in the country. Public transportation in the city has been ineffectual, and auto rickshaws have been unyielding and pricey, thus making it imperative to possess personal vehicles or resort to app-based cab services. A palpable outcome of this has been traffic congestion that leads to slower travelling speeds, extended trip times, and amplified vehicular queuing. Big data and IoT can make a considerable impact in realizing the smart city objectives for efficient transportation in Pune by serving as complementary measures to supply-side policies.


Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1501
Author(s):  
Gone Neelakantam ◽  
Djeane Debora Onthoni ◽  
Prasan Kumar Sahoo

Crowding in city public transportation systems is a primary issue that causes delay in the mobility of passengers. Moreover, scheduled and unscheduled events in a city lead to excess crowding situations at the metro or bus stations. The Internet of Things (IoT) devices could be used for data collection, which are related to crowding situations in a smart city. The fog computing data centers located in different zones of a smart city can process and analyze the collected data to assist the passengers how to commute smoothly with minimum waiting time in the crowded situation. In this paper, Q-learning based passengers assistance system is designed to assist the commuters in finding less crowded bus and metro stations to avoid long queues of waiting. The traffic congestion and crowded situation data are processed in the fog computing data centers. From our experimental results, it is found that our proposed method can achieve higher reward values, which can be used to minimize the passengers’ waiting time with minimum computational delay as compared to the cloud computing platform.


1992 ◽  
Vol 36 (15) ◽  
pp. 1073-1077 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Perez ◽  
Truman M. Mast

The nation's motoring public is increasingly burdened by recalcitrant transportation problems, many of them directly attributable to increasing traffic congestion. In response to this, the US. Department of transportation is actively moving on several fronts to address this problem. One of the more promising approaches to relieving congestion is through the design and implementation of new technology in the Intelligent Vehicle/Highway System (IVHS). IVHS is composed of five elements: Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO), Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS), and Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS). This paper will discuss human factors issues associated with ATIS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2740
Author(s):  
Ahmad Alkharabsheh ◽  
Sarbast Moslem ◽  
Laila Oubahman ◽  
Szabolcs Duleba

Improving the local urban transport system’s quality is often seen as one of the critical points for the government and the local operator. An amelioration of the system can improve users’ satisfaction and attract new users while simultaneously decreasing traffic congestion and pollution. Efficient methodologies are required to achieve sustainable development regarding complex issues associated with traffic congestion and pollution. In this study, we propose using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) grey values to overcome the limitations of the uncertainty in the classical AHP approach. The presented grey-AHP model assumes an efficient contrivance to facilitate the public transport system’s supply quality evaluation, especially when respondents are non-experts. Finally, we estimate and rank the public transport system’s supply quality criteria by adopting the proposed model for a real-world case study (Amman city, Jordan). The study’s outcome shows the effectiveness and the applicability of the developed approach for enhancing the quality of the public transport system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4703
Author(s):  
Renato Andara ◽  
Jesús Ortego-Osa ◽  
Melva Inés Gómez-Caicedo ◽  
Rodrigo Ramírez-Pisco ◽  
Luis Manuel Navas-Gracia ◽  
...  

This comparative study analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on motorized mobility in eight large cities of five Latin American countries. Public institutions and private organizations have made public data available for a better understanding of the contagion process of the pandemic, its impact, and the effectiveness of the implemented health control measures. In this research, data from the IDB Invest Dashboard were used for traffic congestion as well as data from the Moovit© public transport platform. For the daily cases of COVID-19 contagion, those published by Johns Hopkins Hospital University were used. The analysis period corresponds from 9 March to 30 September 2020, approximately seven months. For each city, a descriptive statistical analysis of the loss and subsequent recovery of motorized mobility was carried out, evaluated in terms of traffic congestion and urban transport through the corresponding regression models. The recovery of traffic congestion occurs earlier and faster than that of urban transport since the latter depends on the control measures imposed in each city. Public transportation does not appear to have been a determining factor in the spread of the pandemic in Latin American cities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 234-244
Author(s):  
Mohd Sahrul Syukri BIN Yahya ◽  
Edie Ezwan Mohd Safian ◽  
Burhaida Burhan

Currently, the trends in urban public transport have been changing over the years in developing countries for mobilization and accessibility development. Urban public transportation systems are the most popular in Selangor State, including big cities such as the Klang Valley Region. Objective measures of spatial pattern and hotspots have been used to understand how urban public transport development relate to open access. This method relies on specific spatial information and available web-based tool that shows the pattern primarily based on given vicinity and statistics connectivity. To date, several studies have finished tested in developed countries. In this study, we use Geographic Information Systems to analyse and consider hotspots identification precisely and efficaciously. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on two types of point sample evaluations – Gi* hot spot and point density analysis evaluation as statistical operations. Public rail transport was evaluated as a validation to describe the percentage of distribution of open access. The final result, GIS mapping capabilities to show that GIS's technology offers to the variation of urban public transport relate to public services, is to create maps and spatial interpretations.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaofeng pan ◽  
Mohamed-Slim Alouini

In order to fulfill transportation demands, people have well-explored ground, waterborne, and high-altitude spaces (HAS) for transportation purposes, as well as the underground space under cities (namely, subway systems). However, due to the increased burdens of population and urbanization in recent decades, huge pressures on public transportation and freight traffic are introduced to cities, plaguing the governors and constraining the development of economics. By observing the fact that near-ground space (NGS) has rarely been utilized, researchers and practitioners started to re-examine, propose and develop flying cars, which are not a totally novel idea, aiming at solving the traffic congestion problem and releasing the strains of cities. Flying cars completely differ from traditional grounded transportation systems, where automobiles/trains are suffering track limitations and are also different from the air flights in HAS for long-distance transfer. Therefore, while observing the lack of specific literature on flying cars and flying car transportation systems (FCTS), this paper is motivated to study the advances, techniques, and challenges of FCTS imposed by the inherent nature of NGS transportation and to devise useful proposals for facilitating the construction and commercialization of FCTS, as well as to facilitate the readers understanding of the incoming FCTS. We first introduce the increased requirements for transportation and address the advantages of flying cars. Next, a brief overview of the developing history of flying cars is presented in view of both timeline and technique categories. Then, we discuss and compare the state of the art in the design of flying cars, including take-off \& landing (TOL) modes, pilot modes, operation modes, and power types, which are respectively related to the adaptability, flexibility & comfort, stability & complexity, environmental friendliness of flying cars. Additionally, since large-scale operations of flying cars can improve the aforementioned transportation problem, we also introduce the designs of FCTS, including path and trajectory planning, supporting facilities and commercial designs. Finally, we discuss the challenges which might be faced while developing and commercializing FCTS from three aspects: safety issues, commercial issues, and ethical issues.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Ahsanul Habib ◽  
Md Asif Hasan Anik

This study proposes a framework to analyze public discourse in Twitter to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on transport modes and mobility behavior. It also identifies reopening challenges and potential reopening strategies that are discussed by the public. First, the study collects 15,776 tweets that relate to personal opinions on transportation services posted between May 15 and June 15, 2020. Next, it applies text mining and topic modeling techniques to the tweets to determine the prominent themes, terms, and topics in those discussions to understand public feelings, behavior, and broader sentiments about the changes brought about by COVID-19 on transportation systems. Results reveal that people are avoiding public transport and shifting to using private car, bicycle, or walking. Bicycle sales have increased remarkably but car sales have declined. Cycling and walking, telecommuting, and online schools are identified as possible solutions to COVID-19 mobility problems and to reduce car usage with an aim to tackle traffic congestion in the post-pandemic world. People appreciated government decisions for funding allocation to public transport, and asked for the reshaping, restoring, and safe reopening of transit systems. Protecting transit workers, riders, shop customers and staff, and office employees is identified as a crucial reopening challenge, whereas mask wearing, phased reopening, and social distancing are proposed as effective reopening strategies. This framework can be used as a tool by decision makers to enable a holistic understanding of public opinions on transportation services during COVID-19 and formulate policies for a safe reopening.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Luthfi Lazuardi ◽  
Moses Glorino Rumambo Pandin

Public transportation is one of the most critical needs for a city, including in Indonesia. The fast and dynamic movement of society makes public transportation expected to accommodate the needs of city residents to move more quickly and efficiently. Available public transport can also reduce congestion because many city residents are switching from their private vehicles. Many cities in Indonesia are competing to develop their public transportation to modernize the life of the town. Problems will arise if the city government does not learn from history in planning the development of public transport in the city. This study aims to examine the role of historical science in the development of urban public transportation in Indonesia. The method used in this research is descriptive-qualitative through literature review by analyzing data and information according to the topic of the research topic. The data and information are sourced from 20 journal articles and five credible online portal sites with published years between 2019-2021. The result of this study is the role of historical science in the development of urban public transportation in Indonesia as a reference for city governments to reorganize their transportation systems in the future. This research has research limitations on the development of urban public transport in Indonesia in the 21st century. The researcher recommends further research on the role and benefits of historical science in improving urban public transportation in Indonesia to complement some lacking things from this research. At the same time was adding to the scientific treasures for many people, significant position holders in city government to be more intense in using historical knowledge as an essential study to encourage a better civilization of a city by improving the public transportation system.


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