Urban Public Transportation Systems 2013

Contrary to the widespread assumption that car use is inflexible, we find that a vast majority of the population are in fact ready to change to public transport (PT), if its service characteristics feature an easily accessible, clean, frequent transport without transfers and with seated comfort - characteristics that have proven impossible to satisfy with conventional collective transport. Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) can provide all of these features. In the BICY project, our direct-demand estimate finds that PRT share would become dominant after the provision of a citywide PRT network, and that in more than half of the 10 cities private transport (car and motorcycle) would drop below 15%. We also find PRT ridership will depend strongly on the level of present PT usage. This confirms previous findings of studies on PRT mode shares. The difference is that the present study, using direct demand estimation, shows generally higher PRT (equals PT) shares.

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is a mode designed to increase the service level of public transport so as to approach that of taxi and private cars. The PRT systems in public service today are stand-alone systems within confined areas with no other public transportation. This paper describes potential applications where PRT is an integrated part of public transportation, supplementing and supporting existing transportation modes. Most cities already have public transport, and it will be some time before PRT alone can serve travel demand in a large area. One of the roles in which PRT can supplement existing transport is as a feeder/distributor to commuter rail, subway, and light rail. Application cases of PRT and mass transit are discussed based on studies using the "PRTsim" software.

In response to the severe global economic downturn many nations chose to enact greater investments in public transport. Both the size and nature of these investments varied from country to country and had varying results. The rationales for these investments also varied, depending on how each country developed its investment program and the rationales for these strategies. Meanwhile, some countries such as the United States have ended these investment increases or even reduced their overall public transport investments levels in response to their growing debt and stagnating economic recovery. Other countries have continued higher levels of public transport expenditures despite budgetary cuts in other programs. Meanwhile, even within the United States, the levels of public transport investment vary by state and locality, because subsidiary government levels now comprise half or more of total capital investment. This paper will provide an international comparison of trends in political support for urban transport infrastructure investment, particularly since the onset of the global economic recession. The rationales for these investments will also be examined, particularly with respect to the mix by mode. In addition, the paper will track how in the United States these trends differ by state and locality, reflecting a pattern of regional variance in Europe. The primary difference in the United States is that substantial increases in public transport expenditures have been enabled through successful ballot initiatives independent of federal policy changes. Finally, an analysis of the goals and success metrics of these policies will be provided, with implications for future policy directions.

With the completion of the Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) FrontLines program in 2013, five new rail lines expand rail transit service to West Valley, South Jordan, Provo, Draper, and the Salt Lake City airport.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a walkable, mixed use (residential, commercial, employment, etc.) form of development focused around a transit station. In Edmonton City, the capital of Alberta, only 14% people use public transit. By the year 2040, Edmonton's population is expected to reach 1.15 million. To accommodate this growth, the City of Edmonton is pursuing more sustainable development options, including TOD around existing and future LRT stations. In this paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the current development around 400 m of the existing LRT stations and determine the development principles for successful TOD with respect to other successful cities' TOD. However, not all LRT stations are functioning as a TOD, but creation of a complete neighborhood in which land uses are located according to market fundamentals with proper integration of pedestrian, bicycle, auto, and transit network can easily turn them into a successful TOD.

In the United States, many transit companies depend on government subsidies to cover their operating costs. Subsidies that are currently given are not a sustainable solution, as transit agency deficits are likely to grow in the future due to increasing operating costs. One practice that has been successful in a few U.S. and international cases is encouraging transit agencies to invest in land development. The investments transit companies make can benefit them not only by increasing ridership when the development is designed to be transit-supportive, but also provide extra revenue from the lease or sale of the developed land. This study, by means of a survey, identifies barriers to transit agency investment in land development and trends and opinions among different stakeholders that might affect a transit agency's decision to invest in land development.

Congestion within the world's transport systems continues to worsen despite rising fuel prices, harsh economic times, energy security issues, and evidence that transportation-related greenhouse gases (GHG) from the combustion of fossil fuels are contributing to the erosion of our natural environment. Despite these issues, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) of single occupant vehicles (SOV) continue to rise and transit ridership struggles. Individuals demand a transport system that is both flexible and convenient. A majority of travelers prefer the automobile, providing door-to-door service, as the most reliable and convenient form of transport. This reality increases VMT and compounds congestion and related environmental impacts. It is well known that a vibrant transit system such as a subway, commuter rail, or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line can provide an energy-efficient, safe, and practical way of accomplishing necessary trips. However, beyond the core service area of a transit service, attractiveness and efficiency quickly diminish for the user. The 1/2 to 1-mile radius outside the core is referred to as the first-last mile. Individuals either choose not to walk to the system, or find it difficult, unsafe, or insufficient in meeting their needs and quickly turn to the auto for mobility. In the United States, a dispersed pattern of land use is predominant outside urbanized regions. Schools, homes, industry, and retail districts are scattered and difficult to serve with anything other than an automobile. This trend is also growing internationally. The growth of the suburb-to-suburb commute complicates the use of fixed-route transit systems. Annual VMT grew steadily over the last four decades and only recently declined as a result of a slowing economy. There are a host of policies and strategies being developed or deployed to meet the first-last mile challenge. Operational strategies and technologies are being developed or enhanced to meet the mobility needs of a growing population, anticipating demand for cleaner, cheaper, and more flexible options to combat growing congestion and environmental concerns.

The ambition in European cities is to create an integrated, multimodal transportation system that fully exploits the potential of public transportation. The "compact city" and "multimodality" are fashionable new buzzwords. But many, especially smaller cities in Europe developed rapidly in the second half of the 20th century in the years of rapid motorization and decentralization of cities. These cities were designed for the private car and are dominated by individual mobility. The change from a city for a private car to multimodal public transport cities demands major urban transformation. In this article the public transportation systems are seen through a perspective of a morphological concept in urban planning and design established by Kevin Lynch. The public transportation infrastructures are combinations of paths and nodes that disperse distinctive attractiveness pattern of desirability cores that shape neighborhoods. Many examples of integration public transportation systems shaped the urban form. A "public transport city" is a section of a city that historically adapted to specific public transportation systems. There are four distinctive public transport cities that unfold consistent and unique urban form and mobility patterns. Each public transport city has different urban morphologies with weaknesses and strengths important for urban designers, planners, and developers, especially when there is a need to introduce new public transportation systems in urban areas dominated by private cars.

This paper describes a running emissions sensitivity analysis of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) MOVES2010b model at the project level through the implementation of the Public Transit Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Management Calculator. MOVES model running emissions for diesel transit buses were estimated for 17 heavy-duty transit bus driving cycles across 12 different locations and meteorological conditions. The preliminary results examine the estimated annual diesel transit bus NOX and CO2e emissions. With an understanding of the scaled tractive power operating mode bin distribution of a driving cycle and the MOVES model emission rates, the annual emissions can be analyzed and compared. The results obtained from this sensitivity analysis indicate the potential usefulness of the Public Transit GHG Emissions Management Calculator for use in evaluating emissions across driving cycles and environmental operating conditions in a comparative mode.

Real-time highway and transit information, when presented in parallel, has the potential to influence travelers to make informed decisions to choose transit when highways are congested to save time and make the transit trip less stressful and more productive or pleasurable. The mode shifts by commuters can potentially relieve traffic congestion, reduce fuel consumption, and lower tailpipe emissions. Under the sponsorship of USDOT and California Department of Transportation, California PATH at University of California at Berkeley developed and field tested Path2go--a suite of both web-based and mobile-phone-based applications to assess if integrated multimodal real-time traveler information can enable travelers to make choice decisions. Evaluation of data collected through field testing showed that the Path2go application performed well with regard to its capability to integrate real-time, multimodal information; the accuracy and reliability of the information; its usefulness in helping users to reduce waiting time and overall travel time; and its effectiveness in encouraging travelers to consider transit as a more viable choice.

Performance of single-lane roundabouts with an adjacent slip lane for right turns is evaluated under a yield exit control scenario and varying bus traffic percentages. VISSIM microsimulation assessment considers experimental origin-destination (O-D) balanced flow scenarios (total traffic flow into and out of every roundabout approach is the same) with four different right-turning bus traffic percentages (low, moderate, high, and all compared with no buses). Simulated slip lane right-turning traffic volumes range from 50 to 500 vehicles per hour. Results indicate that average delay of a roundabout with slip lane has a nonlinear relationship with slip lane volumes and is sensitive to changing bus traffic percentages, before oversaturation occurs. As expected, results indicate that a yield slip lane exit type significantly reduces total roundabout average delay, compared with having no slip lane. Finally, results suggest theoretical threshold values at which the use of a slip lane is demonstrably beneficial as bus traffic percentages change.

Accident prediction models are developed under mixed traffic conditions. Two models have been developed. The first model is a city-based traffic accident prediction model. City population and vehicle ownership are the two parameters used to develop the model. A case study of Surat city in Gujarat is taken up. Total accidents occurred in the city are regressed with population and vehicle ownership. Second model is the urban-arterial-based accident prediction model. Past accident records of ring road of Surat city show that there are eight different locations on a 10 kilometer stretch of ring road where the accidents took place consistently. These locations are picked up as accident spots. As there are many contributing factors and causes to road accidents, a comprehensive study of road safety found that human error was the sole cause in 57% of all accidents and was a contributing factor in more than 90%. Keeping this in view a new term driver-pedestrian index is used to develop this model. Regression function of Microsoft Excel is used for model development. Both the models are checked with R-statistics and t-statistics. The models are further validated by using statistical goodness of fit (chi square test). Hence these models can be used to predict the number of accidents in future subjected to the same geometric standards. Keeping this in mind improvement measures can be taken up by the district authorities.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has emerged as a solution to traffic problems, especially in developing countries where cost is the major criteria to opt for a transit system. However, provision of BRT in existing right-of-way reduces the capacity available for other traffic. The problem gets severe at intersections. This paper presents the effect if bus-way ends at an "appropriate distance" before the stop line at busy signalized at-grade intersections, and this space of bus lanes is made available to all traffic (heterogeneous traffic) at intersection. VISSIM, a simulation tool, has been used to model the heterogeneous traffic and public transit lines under constraints of roadway geometry, vehicle characteristics, Indian driving behavior, and traffic controls. The effect is investigated with different random seeds to obtain reasonable results for analysis. The performance evaluation is done in terms of vehicle throughput, average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle, average speed, and emission of carbon monoxide CO, mono-nitrogen oxides NOx, volatile organic compounds (VOC), fuel consumption, and energy consumption. It has been observed that availability of bus lanes to other traffic for a reasonable distance before intersection considerably reduces the average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle, and emission per vehicle, while there is an increase in vehicle throughput and average speed of all the vehicles. Thus it results in reduction of congestion and performance enhancement of at-grade intersections and networks.

Modern rail rapid transit projects represent major capital investments, reflective of their complex technical nature in a diverse and highly developed urban landscape. They pose significant challenges in design, engineering, constructability, and contracting that must be overcome for successful completion. However, as compared with equivalently scoped projects built 25 to 30 years ago, today's projects, when effectively managed, are more likely o satisfy higher safety, quality, and level of customer service requirements; provide higher community acceptance; initiate passenger service 30-35% faster from contract award; and cost 25-30% less in comparable dollars. The trends in this study are derived from an extensive and well-tested database of 30 years of transit construction projects on the Washington Metrorail System. Though the trends draw largely from productivity gains in the overall U.S. construction industry, they still deserve to be acknowledged in discussions about the increasing value of rail rapid transit projects. These patterns can strengthen cases made on the grounds of environmental or economic development benefits. Many U.S. rail transit systems, notably many light rail transit (LRT) systems, have pursued aggressive expansion in recent decades. This study should encourage transit agencies or other researchers to conduct similar examinations of cost and productivity trends. Additional cases similar to the one presented here would be useful for the industry in demonstrating the increasing efficiency and value of rail transit projects. This paper does not present a forecast of future conditions; it is intended to highlight important advances being made in the U.S. engineering and construction industry for public transit projects. Although construction cost trends appear to satisfy the goal of better-faster-cheaper, much work remains in ensuring these advances continue over the next 30 years as population grows and mobility challenges evolve.

As evidenced by the services provided to travelers for almost a century, commuter rail proved that it not only played significant roles in reducing congestion but also a sustainable mode in providing safe, reliable, and high-quality options for commuters. Recent travel behavior changes show that the share of commuting trips during peak periods are declining while recreational, social, and personal trips during nonpeak times and weekends are rising. This manuscript records an effort to explore viable ways for a traditional commuter rail, Atlantic City Rail, to serve the current travel market. After a brief review of the historical development, the authors have focused on temporal distribution of travel demands along the ACRL corridor. Responding to the demands of patrons, schedule optimization was developed and partially implemented for the service.

Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The abrupt increase in population along with diverse urban land use patterns has engendered an ample travel demand. In addition, gradual deterioration of level of service of public transport system and increasing private car ownership create acute intolerable congestion. In these circumstances, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is one of the most effective short-term solutions because of its high capacity as well as relatively low construction and operating cost. Despite the high opportunities of introducing BRT in Dhaka, it will face some operational difficulties such as high occupancy, high operational fleet size, small headway, priority in intersection and signal control, etc. Results show that to satisfy the projected high passenger demand, the headway will be 16 seconds and operational fleet size; occupancy will be very high in many locations, which will make the BRT operation difficult and ineffective.

About 15 million people live in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, with a growth rate of 1.8%, which creates huge travel demand as well as numerous transport problems. Lack of effective public transport system and door-to-door service influence the augmentation of private cars, which is causing congestion and deterioration of environment. Though railway is a very popular, safe, and cheap transport system of Bangladesh, in absence of proper initiatives and investments, the railway could not play the much expected role in Dhaka's public transport system. However, Dhaka is surrounded by four rivers providing an inbuilt facility for operation of circular waterways, due to financial constrain and lack of appropriate planning for interconnectivity among other modes, it's not serving effectively. The airport is in the northern part of Dhaka, which does not have any integration with the public transport system, railway stations, and waterway terminal. Through the development of public transport system using Mass Rapid Transit, Bus Rapid Transit, commuter rail service along with proper integration of airway and circular waterway, an effective sustainable integrated transport system can be achieved in Dhaka. In this paper an attempt has been made to develop an effective integrated transport system by integrating and improving systematic, effective, and safe operation of all modes. Besides these, the present scenario of transportation system of Dhaka city has been illustrated in the context of transport demand and supply and also discusses potential initiatives that will lead to a sustainable integrated transportation system.

Bus stop consolidation can be an effective way to enhance the operation and hence the ridership of bus services. A multi-level mixed factorial experimental method is developed to analyze the factors of probable impact on stop consolidation. The experiments are executed on a mathematical model that consolidates transit stops according to the potential users' travel time savings and accessibility. Six independent factors and three response variables were selected to run the experiments. The significance of the individual factors as well as their interaction levels were estimated. The findings indicated that the distance between the stops and the maximum walkable distance are the most influential factors. The passengers' activity and the percentage of decreased passengers were also found to be influential. The average cruising speed and the frequency of service have very little influence on the response variables. The study demonstrates the extent of influence of factors on consolidation decisions.

This paper examines the fuel-cycle passenger-mile emissions from multiple bus and rail technologies using a travel-activity-based bottom-up approach. There is abundant literature on transit's emissions savings, but most prior studies rely on the top-down fuel consumption approach. While the top-down approach paints a broad picture of transit emissions on a national or regional level, it cannot reflect changes in emissions as a function of operational characteristics such as passenger loading. It is also difficult to estimate passenger-mile emissions of new vehicle/fuel technologies for which fuel economy data are hard to obtain using the top-down approach. This paper develops a unified load-based methodology framework that compares fuel-cycle passenger-mile emissions across transit technologies, including alternative fuels and advanced technologies. The methodology reflects the intricate trade-offs between the increased total emissions and decreased passenger-mile emissions as passenger load increases under specific local meteorological and route settings. Using the load-based methodology, the paper demonstrates the varying levels of emissions savings of transit fuels and technologies giving different passenger loadings scenarios. The methodology presented in this paper serves as the foundation of a transit emissions calculator currently under development. The calculator will prove instrumental for local transit agencies to compare fuel/technology alternatives in terms of emissions savings.

In April 2009, President Obama outlined a vision for investment in an efficient network of high-speed intercity passenger rail services connecting major population centers from 100 to 500 miles apart. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is working in partnership with individual states to plan and develop these high-speed and intercity passenger rail corridors that range from upgrades to existing services to entirely new rail lines exclusively devoted to 150 to 220 mph trains. This program of investments in rail transportation is a large-scale undertaking only matched in scope by the building of the interstate highway system. The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways took more than 30 years to be substantially completed. The highway building program benefited in the early years of its development from general political consensus, substantial federal involvement and partnership with the states, and the vocal and active advocacy of the program by President Eisenhower and all subsequent Administrations. Similarly, the true potential of a fully integrated high-speed intercity passenger rail network will not be achieved unless the same political consensus, federal-state partnerships, dedicated funding, and active involvement by President Obama and future Presidents is realized. This paper explores the planning protocols, environmental regulations, and political challenges facing high-speed rail program development in the United States by examining the experiences and sharing insights gained by two senior project managers working on the California high-speed rail project. It is concluded that the building of a true network of high-speed rail services in the United States has been unable to replicate the extraordinary achievement of the interstate highway system in the same time frame because of statutory and regulatory environmental requirements and the lack of political will and consensus.

The €3.2 billion Danish "Signalling Programme" is one of the largest railway modernizations in the world to provide a total replacement of the signalling systems in Denmark [1]. This paper focuses on the potential benefits to be delivered to the passengers, such as improved punctuality and increased capacity, by implementing advanced train control systems on both the main lines rail network (Fjernbane) and the Copenhagen suburban rail network (S-bane). The main lines network will be fitted with the European standard train control system: ERTMS Level 2, while the Copenhagen S-bane network will be fitted with a Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) system using Automatic Train Operation (ATO). This paper also focuses on the possibility of implementing automatic driving operation (ATO) to the ERTMS level 2 solution for regional and high speed lines.

The conversion of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes was implemented in metro Atlanta as a pilot project and is under consideration for more widespread adoption throughout the metro region. Further conversion of HOV lanes to HOT lanes is a major policy decision that depends upon the likely impacts, including lane performance and equity impacts of the new HOT lane. This research effort collects revealed preference data in the form of observed traffic counts, vehicle license plate data, and vehicle occupancy data to study the impacts of the conversion. Building upon methodologies developed in Spring 2011, researchers are matching field-collected license plate data with vehicle occupancy data. Vehicle occupancy data from the first four quarters of data collection prior to the conversion are used to create the distribution of occupancy on the HOV and general purpose lanes, and then the transit and license plate data are analyzed. Preliminary post-conversion data are also included in the analysis. A conclusions section suggests possible impacts of the findings on policy decisions as Georgia considers expanding the HOT network.

Success of major transit projects depends on the design of access facilities to stations and terminals and integration of all transit modes. In developed countries, the major access modes to fixed guideway systems depend on the location of stations (suburban, inner city, and downtown). At suburban stations, primary access mode is the automobile; bus serves as secondary. At inner-city stations, bus is the primary access mode and if the station is surrounded by dense development, walk also serves as a significant access mode. At downtown stations, walk is the primary mode followed by bus circulator system. Many major cities in developing countries are now seriously contemplating building major fixed guideway facilities such as subways, elevated rail and monorail, and bus rapid transit. However, while these capital-intensive projects are planned, very little attention is paid to the access modes, such as walk, bicycle, motorcycle/scooter, auto/cycle rickshaws, which serve a very significant percentage (almost 65%) of the total person trips in the cities. In addition, bus operations should coordinate with the rapid transit system to avoid duplication of services. In developing countries, integrated sidewalks, bicycle paths and parking, parking facilities for motorcycles/scooters, drop-off facilities for auto/cycle rickshaws, and bus circulation facilities are more important than auto parking to the success of proposed rapid transit facilities. This paper will highlight the importance of the popular modes in developing countries and their integration with proposed capital-intensive transit projects in achieving an efficient and functioning system for the public from opening day as well as promoting the use of more sustainable modes of transportation to access the new facilities.

The transportation infrastructure development process takes on many forms, often as a result of government guidelines and processes. The associated decision-making processes often lack adequate provisions for security, resulting in an immediate need for security considerations to permeate through and saturate the infrastructure project development process. The inclusion of enhanced security considerations requires tremendous commitments of time and resources to develop implementation models. It is difficult to develop new strategies and processes for security improvements without financial resources or political will. Strategic measures must be taken that will enable planners to develop processes that are designed to fill the voids of current processes, emphasizing security-enhancing measures that are lacking in many modern systems. These measures should include a review of current planning practices, modal factors, system factors, financial factors, public interaction, and the role of technology.

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the largest and most industrialized city with 15 million people. Due to rapid unplanned development, versatile land use, rapid population growth, poor public transport system, and increase of private car users, traffic problems are worsening day by day. The only mass transit is bus, which is insufficient in terms of safety, capacity, comfort, and convenience. Considering the worsening congestion it is high time to develop effective mass transit system such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as a means for achieving sustainable urban transport in the city. In this paper an attempt has been made to propose a conceptual physical structure of BRT for the line3, which starts from Uttara and ends in Ramna covering around 18.5 km. The BRT stations and runways are designed in a way to satisfy the ever-increasing public transport demand of achieving a sustainable urban public transport system.

Although the practice of Context-Sensitive Solutions instructs transportation designers to respect community values, the focus is typically on the surroundings of the project rather than the direct and indirect stakeholders who will be affected by a solution. Therefore, the team designing the OneBusAway transit traveler information system turned to the Value-Sensitive Design process from information and computer science to help determine what transit rider information tools to build next. Through conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations, the OneBusAway team has developed a list of potential transit information tools and begun to prioritize projects based on the needs of riders of all types and effects on indirect stakeholders. The use of VSD has helped guide the use of our limited resources, so that they are spent meeting the actual needs of the larger public-transit-using community. The principles of VSD can be applied throughout the transportation industry, especially when considering broader transportation planning goals.

Although many cities have sought to employ busways and bus rapid transit running ways that can be converted to future light rail operation, few cities have done so. This paper will examine the reasons why and present the barriers and costs associated with such convertible BRT/busway design approaches, with real-world case study examples presented. Also presented will be a set of design considerations and recommendations for those BRT/busway projects that seek such convertibility in their designs.

Uijeongbu City, a major satellite town at the northern outskirts of Seoul, features the first application of U-shape structure design concept viaduct (a SYSTRA license) in South Korea. SYSTRA carried out detailed design of the viaduct and provides construction supervision assistance on site. To mitigate impacts on already congested downtown traffic, viaduct span erection using precast concrete segments erected with launching girders was selected as the construction method. This provides convenient and fast installation as a natural complement to the cutting-edge technology of U-shape structure concept viaduct. The SYSTRA design focused on structure optimization and standardization to accommodate both budget and construction sequence constraints for this project located in a dense urban location. The design led to an optimized typical section, with capacity for two tracks and all necessary E&M systems and train operation requirements. Adjustments on key and end segment lengths enable a very flexible distribution of spanning, without major impact on mould numbers, hence providing further budget savings.

Each year, over the course of seven days around 3.5 millions pilgrims gather in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to perform one of the five pillars of the Islam, "El Hajj." The government (Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs) decided to equip the area with a metro line. SYSTRA was involved in the functional design, the result of which was an 18 km metro line with nine stations with line capacity of 72,000 passengers per hour per direction. The project was awarded as an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract to CRCC (the Contractor), which decided to award the civil work design to SYSTRA (the Designer) and a local consulting firm. It was an eight-month fast track design where extensive use of prefabrication was the key.

The awareness of climate change has become a focal point of scientific development in the 21st century. Both producers and consumers have been trying to reduce the carbon footprint of human activity, and this has led to the increased use of sustainable solutions. These sustainable solutions can be described in two groups: pre-consumption, using renewable resources, such as bamboo; and post-consumption, such as recycled plastics. Both of these types of solutions result in lower carbon footprint emissions and reduce impact on climate change. Given the higher maintenance costs and destructive nature of using wood ties, there is the potential to utilize a more sustainable material. HDPE ties are composed of recycled plastic offering both performance and environmental advantages for use as railroad crossties versus the widely used wood ties that are often troublesome in warm, moist soils, where biological organisms can attack wood ties and greatly shorten their service life. Plastic crossties have the ability to divert considerable amounts of waste from landfills if used on the several million crossties that are replaced each year by the railroads. This paper examines the future of plastic ties, utilizing several case studies.

Personal Rapid Transit is an energy-efficient, electric transit system with four to six-person vehicles. Working as circulator for job centers, airports, and universities, PRT has a higher average speed than a car. PRT makes carpooling, light rail, commuter rail, and bus more effective, by solving the "last mile problem." The three established PRT manufacturers are 2getthere, ULTra PRT, and Vectus. 2getthere's system at Masdar City (Abu Dhabi) features 1.1 miles of guideway, five stations, and 13 vehicles. ULTra PRT's system at London Heathrow Airport has 2.4 miles of guideway, three stations, and 21 vehicles. 2getthere and ULTra PRT began passenger operation in late 2010. Vectus is implementing a six-mile, 40 vehicle system at Suncheon Bay, South Korea. The vendors co-operated to provide joint experiences, with emphasis on planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the infrastructure and systems. The projects have different characteristics, but also share commonalities.

While the State of New Jersey has extensive commuter railroad, light rail, and express and local bus systems, these transit systems serve only 5% of the State's daily work trips and a substantially smaller percentage of daily nonwalking trips. While extensive, these systems are incapable of offering competitive service to the diverse bulk of everyday trips that are spatially and temporally distributed throughout the state. Consequently, these trips are served by the ubiquity and efficient connectivity afforded by the state's roadway system through the use of on-demand personal automobiles. This paper describes attempts to conceptually design a statewide transit system that would afford automobile-like service ubiquitously to essentially all daily nonwalking trips. Technologically, the transit system is an area-wide Automated Transit Network (ATN) of auto-sized vehicles offering personalized on-demand non-stop service between all stations, commonly known as a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system. Presented is one state-wide design consisting of 8,099 stations interconnected by 16,926 kilometers of one-way guideway in which 215,000 vehicles serve 25 million daily trips.

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is growing rapidly with an estimated population of more than 15 million. The city's transport system is characterized by the critical and deteriorated traffic congestion and the poor public transport services: inefficiency, poor quality of services, and lack of reliability and safety for commuters. In addressing the enormous public transport challenges and for achieving sustainable urban transport in Dhaka, the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) suggested the development of six major corridors as mass transit routes including three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss the concepts, needs, and opportunities of the BRT system. The paper in particular highlights Dhaka's transport problem characteristics and the potentials of the implementation of BRT system for enhanced and improved public transport services in Dhaka.

The Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) under the U.S. Department of Transportation funds and manages an array of transit-related innovative research, development, and demonstration projects. It also encourages and identifies innovative transit practices and provides guidance in making good business decisions about transit technology and capital and operating investments involving the transit industry. Recent programs and projects largely funded by the FTA involve an emphasis on improving the effectiveness of public transit operations, reducing energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and encouraging sustainability. These programs include Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER), the National Fuel Cell Bus Program (NFCBP), and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Under these activities, the FTA provides funding for research, development, demonstrations, evaluations, and standards involving advanced transit technologies all leading toward operations and deployments in public transportation systems that are safer, more efficient, and more environmentally conscious than before.

Since September 11, 2001, New York City has been proposing, planning, and building more than $30 billion in transport infrastructure. Projects that went through the MPO LRP and TIP processes have been started; however, the 2013 concerns of sustainability and resilience had not been taken into account. Furthermore, these projects--some near or post completion--have had severe cost over-runs, disrupting the long-term capital program. What has driven these projects to completion and what is "left on the table"? This paper will examine factors that have raised questions about the integrity of the traditional transportation planning process and the future of transportation planning bounded by significant environmental constraints.

One of the 14th Grand Challenges that the United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has identified for the XXI century is improving urban infrastructure. According to NAE, the greatest challenge will be the integration of the different modes of transportation as a whole system, especially in large metropolitan areas. In the last decade, new technologies based on autonomous vehicles and information technology systems have made significant key breakthroughs in this field. The combination of high-performance driverless cars with intelligent information systems could produce a powerful tool to reach new levels of optimization in urban transportation. This paper presents a holistic approach to solving public and private transportation challenges by using unmanned cars and intelligent information systems. The paper also addresses the urban transportation challenge and the technologies available today, describes the multifaceted approach, and identifies the advantages of its application. In a nutshell, this paper provides a systematic approach that XXI century engineers could use to create more eco-friendly, safe, and sustainable transportation environments.

With the tough economic climate world-wide, many cities that had contemplated and even scheduled heavy rail or light-rail projects have either put them on hold or scrapped them altogether. Enter the resurgence of the streetcar, where self-powered technology could bring back the mode of transportation that was dominant in the early 20th century. There is a very quiet revolution taking place to introduce streetcars powered by batteries, hybrids, and even solar and wind power. The beauty of these systems is the elimination of overhead wires, power stations, and additional transformers. These systems can save anywhere from 40% to 50% in capital and operating costs as compared with traditional LRT—with operating characteristics approaching those of LRT in terms of speed, range, and power. This paper will explore the latest in self-powered streetcars.

Accounting for 71% of petroleum consumption, the U.S. transportation sector generates about one third of nation's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While public transportation is a relatively small portion of the overall transportation sector, it is not insignificant, producing approximately 10.9 million tons of GHG emissions annually. Reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions of public transit vehicles can provide substantial cost savings and generate significant environmental benefits. The U.S. Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) strategic vision focuses on the wide adoption of innovative electric drive transit technologies as an ultimate alternative to traditional diesel-powered transit vehicles. To implement electric propulsion transit technologies, FTA developed the Electric Drive Strategic Plan (EDSP) that provides for a wide range of activities for the development, demonstration, and evaluation of the advanced electric drive technologies, including propulsion systems, components, accessories, and infrastructure. The ultimate goal of this plan is to achieve commercial availability of zero tailpipe emission, highly efficient, and affordable transit vehicles by 2030, leading to drastic improvements in the energy efficiency and GHG emissions of the U.S. transit fleet. Implementing the goals of the EDSP is projected to save 4.9 billion diesel gallon equivalents of fuel and eliminate 98.7 thousand tons of NOx and 52.9 million tons of CO2 in tailpipe emissions over the period 2010 to 2030. The implementation and wide adoption of electric drive transit technologies in the United States is expected to significantly reduce public transportation fuel costs and provide environmental benefits valued at $1.4 billion over the 20-year period.

Astounding technical progress has been made in fuel cell electric transit buses in a few short years driven by a well-funded national program with aggressive goals. The very prominent position that these transit buses play in the community attracts headlines but less media attention is focused on a vital element-the hydrogen fueling infrastructure. This paper presents information on CALSTART projects that have developed, delivered, or are operating various configurations of fuel cell electric transit buses as a backdrop to describe the requirements and implementation of the hydrogen refuel infrastructure provided by two leading hydrogen suppliers, Air Products and Linde. Innovative approaches are described such as general-public/private-fleet installations, high-rate fueling, and dual-fuel solutions as driven by the needs of the deployed fleets.

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) was incorporated into a separate entity after bifurcating from Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Aug 1997. By 2012, BMTC leads by example in being the only Public Transport Corporation to ferry more than 4.5 million commuters' trips everyday within the city of Bangalore. The organization comprises a fleet of more than 6,100 buses covering an area encompassed with a radius of 40.4 kilometers from the city centre. In a day BMTC operates on 585 city and 1,858 suburban routes, running 13.5 lakh kilometers and making 78,750 trips. BMTC has a 32,729 strong labor force to carry out different activities of BMTC bus operations. BMTC has 37 depots, two central work shops, six major bus stations, 41 minor bus stations, and 10 passenger amenities centres popularly known as the Traffic Transit Management Centres. BMTC serve the transport needs of the urban and suburban population in and around Bangalore. And, despite the differentiated base of the commuting population, BMTC reaches far and wide, in every nook and corner of the city making public transport an attractive travel choice for everyone. BMTC's strong hold in the area of public transportation in Bangalore is a testimony to its adoption of sound management, HR, quality, and environmental policies. The corporation also strives to bring about increased passenger comfort by integrating Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and Passenger Information System (PIS) in its daily operations. This helps to monitor its services better and provide quality services. Public feedback is also an important input in BMTC operations; a state of the art control centre is envisioned for the near future, which will be a one-point contact for addressing customer queries and feedback. BMTC caters to the transportation needs of Bangalore by offering quality bus services.

This paper documents an assessment of public transport projects in Accra, Ghana, based on local sustainability criteria. The assessment is conducted using a framework suggested for screening urban transport projects in developing countries according to criteria developed to reflect local concerns for sustainability. The framework integrates indigenous (i.e., local) and scientific knowledge to predict how specific projects might support sustainable transport development. It is a participatory process that integrates input from system users and providers to produce a term defined as the Localized Sustainability Score (LSS). The LSS of each candidate project is used to produce a relative ranking of potential projects as part of a screening process by which candidate projects can be prioritized or selected for further consideration. It also provides a mechanism to engage system users and document their input.