UCTC Research Abstracts 2002-3
Dissertation Research
Faculty Research:
The following projects, submitted by faculty members of the University of
California, were evaluated and selected for funding based on a peer review
process.
Expanded Evaluation of the California Safe Routes to School Program
Principal Investigator:
Marlon Boarnet
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3600
Tel. 949 824-7695
Email: mgboarne@uci.edu |
Other Key Participants:
Kristen Day
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3600
Tel. 949 824-5880
Email: kday@uci.edu |
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: This
research expands an ongoing pre- and post-evaluation of the California Safe
Routes to School (SR2S) construction program, which allocates $44 million to
local governments for infrastructure projects to improve the safety and
feasibility of walking and bicycling to school We are evaluating 12 SR2S sites
in Southern California and sites in Northern California. The research includes:
(1) assessment of changes to SR2S sites that are associated with the
construction program; (2) observations of pedestrian, bicyclist, and driver
behavior before and after SR2S construction at each site; and (3) surveys of
parents before and after SR2S construction at each site to assess attitudes and
perceptions of safety. The evaluation examines the effectiveness of different
neighborhood and traffic interventions in improving the safety of children’s
non-motorized travel near schools, the frequency of walking and bicycling among
children, and the interaction between perceived safety, traffic patterns, the
physical environment, and walking and bicycling behavior.
Key Words:
school, pedestrian, bicycle, safety, sidewalks
Objective: continue evaluation safe routes to school program and
efficacy of different neighborhood interventions.
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: continuation of previous UCTC project
Potential Benefits: This research will result produce an evaluation of
the California Safe Routes to School program and offer insight into the efficacy
of pedestrian and other improvements in improving safety.
Direct Cost: $62,690
Verifying Regularities in Queued Freeway
Traffic
Principal Investigator:
Michael Cassidy
Civil and Environmental Engineering
416B McLaughlin Hall
University of California, Berkeley 94720-1720
Tel. 510-642-7702
Email: cassidy@ce.berkeley.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC
projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N
St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: This work seeks to make sense of at least two puzzling
phenomena of queued freeway traffic: 1) stop-and-go oscillations and 2) the wide
scatter invariably observed in plots of queued flows vs. density or occupancy.
Recent (preliminary) evidence suggests these are not the results of chaotic
driver behavior as has been commonly theorized, but to behaviors that are more
regular and easily explained. By measuring queued freeway traffic from video and
processing these data in careful ways, we expect to verify that stop and go
oscillations are created by the vehicle lane-changing maneuvers that abound near
ramps. The details of this suspected cause and effect relation remain questions
to be examined here. We further expect to confirm that the scatter observed in
flow-density plots is merely the result of extracting (and plotting) data from
transition zones between queued and un-queued traffic; these zones may be
(spatially) long and likely arise because drivers respond to shocks by changing
speeds gradually. The findings should advance current understanding of vehicular
traffic and help sort-out which theories adequately describe certain traffic
phenomena and which phenomena are not yet described by theory. Key Words:
traffic theory, queues, freeway on-ramps
Objective: discover underlying causes of stop and go oscillations and
variablility in flow vs. density
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Better understanding of these freeway traffic flow
phenomena is a prerequisite to further advances in traffic management.
Direct Cost: $50,614
Neighborhood Design, Physical Activity, and Travel
Principal Investigator:
Robert Cervero
UC Berkeley
Email: robertc@uclink.berkeley.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: There’s a growing interest in the relationships among
neighborhood design, physical activity, and travel choices. Research has linked
obesity and other public-health problems to sedentary lifestyles. Some evidence
further suggests that postwar residential designs are associated with increased
reliance on automobile travel and low levels of walking and cycling. This
project will use the BATS 2000 (activity based) survey to extract trip records
for limited trip purposes over limited trip ranges – e.g., personal services,
convenience-neighborhood shopping, eating, social-recreation, and school travel
(over 0 to 5 mile distance ranges). Mode choice for these short trips will be
investigated, using metrics that capture walking-scale attributes of built
environments – namely street connectivity and block dimensions - along with
land-use data and density measures, other attributes of built-environments.. Key Words: public health, biking, walking, mode choice
Objective: Better understand relationships between activity, urban
design, and transportation
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Better understanding of the relationships among
design, activity, and travel choices is needed to develop effective public
policy on this topic. Current levels of understanding are too spotty to
adequately support policy directives.
Direct Cost: $15,000
Comparing White and Minority Household Commuting Behavior: Measuring the
Differences
Principal Investigator:
William Clark
Dept. of Geography
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
Email: wclark@geog.ucla.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: Previous research developed a model of the responses to
work-residence separation that linked the probability of moving closer to the
job to increasing distance from the work place. Households beyond a threshold
distance moved closer to the job when they changed residence. The current
project uses that model to examine the commuting behavior of white and minority
households, and is specifically interested in how race affects the probability
of moving closer to the job when households change residence. Do black, Hispanic
and Asian households also move closer to their jobs when they relocate? Do black
and Hispanic households who have “constrained” residential choices incur greater
commuting costs which arise from the greater spatial separation. The research
project uses a specialized data set of work residence relationships from the
Fulton County school district to examine the patterns of commutes of middle
income households, and their dispersed commuting in the Atlanta metropolitan
region. The study will provide important new data, on how relatively affluent
minority households make commuting decisions in a complex metropolitan
environment. Key Words: commuting behavior, commuting costs, spatial
separation, dispersed commuting
Objective: Understand whether minority households make commuting and
location decisions and identify differences, if any, from white household
decision processes, after controlling for income.
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Currently our understanding of location and travel
decisions is mostly based on white households. There is some evidence that low
income minority households face constraints on location and travel. This study
will help sort out race-based differences, if any, from income-based
differences.
Direct Cost: $36,658
Storage System Dynamics and Management Policies
Principal Investigator:
Carlos Daganzo
416 McLaughlin Hall
University of California
Berkeley CA 94720
Tel. 510 642-3853
Email: daganzo@ce.berkeley.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: This study investigates the dynamics of networks with
link-to-link interactions caused by storage effects and develops effective
management policies. Street networks, supply chains and transit lines are the
kinds of systems in which instabilities commonly arise when the outflow of a
sub-network decreases if some input flows increase. The phenomenon receives
different names for different modes (“gridlock” for freeways, “bullwhip effect”
for supply chains, and “pairing” for transit systems), but its causes are
similar. Instabilities undermine system performance and make management
difficult. This research shows how the behavior of storage networks of various
kinds can be predicted and managed effectively with new methods. The work
focuses on two difficult but related problems: (i) managing the morning commute
in a congested city, and (ii) stabilizing freight networks driven by inventory
considerations. The morning commute problem is a prototype of systems with
centralized management. For this problem, we will quantify (based on a
physically realistic network model) the connection among residence location and
the distribution of congestion costs. Government policies such as tolls,
taxation and land-use regulations will be evaluated. The freight network problem
is a prototype of decentralized systems with multiple managers. For this
problem, we will demonstrate how to eliminate the “bullwhip effect” and minimize
costs with decentralized policies. Key Words: networks, flows,
congestion, freight management
Objective: improved understanding of link to link effects in
transportation networks and effective ways to manage these effects.
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Better prediction of congestion problems and better
management tools for freeways, supply chains, and transit operations.
Direct Cost: $54,544
Judging the Speed of Pedestrians and Bicycles at Night
Principal Investigator:
Karen K. De Valois
3210 Tolman Hall
University of California
Berkeley CA 94720-1650
Tel. 510 642-7148
Email: valois@socrates.berkeley.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: Flashing lights are often worn by both pedestrians and cyclists
in an attempt to increase their visibility to drivers. The question we raise is
whether the temporal properties of the variation in light intensity affect
observers’ ability to judge the translational speed of the wearer. With partial
funding from the U. C. Transportation Center, we will assess the apparent speed
of light dots that flash off and on as they move across the visual field. If
initial measures show that repetitively flashing a moving light affects an
observer’s judgment of its translational speed, we will systematically examine
the effects of waveform and temporal frequency to determine whether there are
combinations that can eliminate the perceptual error. Key Words: safety
improvements, bicycles, pedestrians, vision
Objective: Understand whether and how flashing lights worn by pedestrians
and bicyclists lead to perceptual errors by motorists on the speeds of the
wearer; find ways to eliminate errors
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Greater pedestrian and bicycle safety from improved
lights
Direct Cost: $15,000
Policies for Safer and More Efficient Truck Operations on Urban Freeways
Principal Investigator:
Thomas F. Golob
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-3600
Tel. 949-824-6287
Email: tgolob@uci.edu |
Other Key Participants:
Amelia C. Regan
Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697
949-824-1074
Email: aregan@uci.edu
|
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: Trucks carry 63% of all freight shipments in California by
ton-mile and 72% of all shipments by value. The shippers and receivers of most
of this trucked freight, as well as the major intermodal facilities
(particularly seaports and airports) are located within California’s major urban
areas. Consequently, freeways with the heaviest truck traffic are also those
that carry heavy volumes of commuters. Customer schedules for pickup and
delivery and intermodal operations require that trucks operate on these freeways
during congested periods. The California Department of Transportation monitors
truck traffic volumes and also maintains a database of traffic accidents.
Preliminary analyses of these crash data in combination with truck volume data
factored by time of day show that truck-involved crashes are more likely on
certain freeway segments, after controlling for differences in levels of truck
exposure. We propose to use appropriate statistical analysis methods to identify
freeway locations and times at which trucks mixes are problematic. We then
propose to survey the literature and consult both trucking industry and
metropolitan planning sources to identify and evaluate policy initiatives that
can be used to re-route and re-schedule some truck traffic to safer places and
times. Key Words: trucks, crashes, freeway management
Objective: identify ways to re-route and re-schedule truck traffic
from high accident, high volume locations
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Improved safety, better traffic flow due to lower
number of crashes, efficient routing and scheduling taking into account risk of
crashes
Direct Cost: $65,826
High-Coverage Point to Point Transit: Institutional Feasibility and Demand
Study of Agencies, Users and Operators
Principal Investigator:
R. Jayakrishnan
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
UC Davis
Davis, CA 92697-2175
Tel. 949-824-2172
Email: rjayakri@uci.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: We examine demand for and acceptability of a new design for
private-public transit, named High-Coverage Point to Point Transit (HCPPT.) The
technical and design details of HCPPT are currently under development by the PI
in a separately funded project. The design is based on jitney or shuttle-style
operations with a large number of deployed vehicles coordinated using advanced
information supply and fast routing and route optimization. The system design
ensures that no more than one transfer is needed for the travelers, by using
transfer hubs and re-routable and non-re-routable portions in vehicle travel
plans. Simulation studies have shown that with enough deployed vehicles, the
system can be substantially better than more conventional fixed route and
demand-responsive transit systems. In the UCTC funded research we investigate
(1) the acceptability of the system to public and private transit agencies, (2)
acceptability to operators, primarily drivers; and (3) the responses from
potential travelers. Key Words: transit, advanced transit technologies,
simulation, demand
Objective: understand demand for and acceptability of advanced transit
concept
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: If the new system is acceptable and attracts
sufficient demand it will offer a new way to provide effective transit service
to low density areas.
Direct Cost: $15,000
Incorporating Seismic Risk Considerations in Transportation Infrastructure
Management
Principal Investigator:
Samer Madanat
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1712
Tel. 510-642-5672
Email: madanat@ce.berkeley.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: The objective of this research is to incorporate seismic hazard
and risk analysis considerations, which are concerned with the occurrence of
earthquakes and the vulnerability of structures, into transportation
infrastructure management systems, with an emphasis on bridges. This will
require developing a decision model for optimizing bridge MR&R policies that
takes into account the occurrence of earthquake events. This model is not meant
to be very detailed or comprehensive, but rather to allow us to obtain
qualitative implications of including seismic considerations in Bridge
Management Systems. Seed funding for this research will allow us to develop a
case study design and initiate 1-2 case studies. We expect to find that
accounting for the probability of earthquake occurrence in a bridge MR&R
decision-making model will have a significant impact on the probability
distribution of the bridge condition-state, the optimal policies, and their
total cost. Possible policy implications from this research may include the need
to account explicitly for natural hazard risk considerations, or more generally
unexpected events, in the process of managing transportation infrastructure
facilities. Key Words: seismic hazard, risk analysis, bridge management
systems
Objective: account for seismic hazard and structure vulnerability in
bridge management and other infrastructure management systems
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: More effective management and better use of scarce
funding for bridges and other structures; increased earthquake safety and lower
vulnerability to other risks due to explicit inclusion of these factors in
management decision-making
Direct Cost: $15,000
Handheld Travel Survey Technology to Supplement Vehicle Tracking in a
Shared-Use Station Car Program
Principal Investigator:
Michael G. McNally
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3600
tel. (949) 824-8462
fax (949) 824-8385
Email: mmcnally@uci.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: An experimental shared-use station car program using electric
vehicles is being implemented in association with several public and private
sector organizations in Irvine, CA. The goal of this program is to demonstrate
the potential of linking shared-use electric vehicles with conventional
line-haul public transit services to provide automobile-like accessibility at
the ends of the commute trip. GPS-based in-vehicle tracking technologies are
being utilized with web-based travel surveys to determine how participants
schedule activities before and after shared-use vehicles become a travel option.
In this project we supplement the survey research using a GPS-based handheld
device to track travel and activity when not using program vehicles. The
handheld device continuously records and stores spatial position, and dumps the
data via a wireless link to the in-vehicle device when completing activities. In
conjunction with current program technologies and as a stand-alone technology,
the handheld technology will be assessed relative to its efficacy in the
acquisition of comprehensive data on daily travel and activities, while
minimizing user effort and inconvenience. These devices will also be evaluated
as a means of providing remote access to reservation systems and as keyless
access to program vehicles. Key Words: travel surveys, new technologies,
GPS
Objective: Test hand-held GPS devices as a way to gather travel and
activity survey data
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: More accurate and complete travel and activity survey
data collection, lower cost data collection, user-friendly data collection
Direct Cost: $53,659
An Input-Output Analysis of the Relationships between Communications and
Travel for Industry
Principal Investigator:
Patricia L. Mokhtarian
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California, Davis
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 752-7062
Email: plmokhtarian@ucdavis.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: Numerous public policies have been promulgated on the
assumption that telecommunications will be a useful trip reduction instrument.
However, many scholars have suggested that the predominant effect of
telecommunications may be complementarity – increasing travel. Although
short-term, disaggregate studies of single applications such as telecommuting
have tended to find a substitution effect, more comprehensive studies, on the
aggregate scale, are needed. One of the few such studies used input-output
analysis to examine relationships between transportation and communication input
intensities across 44 industry classes in Europe for 1980, and found strong
evidence of complementarity. The present study would apply a similar methodology
to the input-output accounts for the US across multiple points in time (at least
1982, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998). This important extension would permit
analysis both of industry-specific differences in the relationships of interest,
and of how those relationships change over time (e.g. with the increasing
adoption of the Internet and other telecommunication technologies). The result
will be a more informed view of the extent to which it is realistic to expect
telecommunications to substitute for travel, at least in the industrial context,
which constitutes a sizable proportion of the total demand for
telecommunications and transportation. Key Words: telecommunications,
industrial development, input-output analysis
Objective: Better understanding of how economic changes in the use of
telecommunications and travel interact
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Government and the private sector should be able to
formulate more effective public policies on telecommuting, teleworking,
teleconferencing, etc. as a result of this work; the better understanding of how
the growth in telecommunications options will affect travel demand will help
infrastructure and service managers carry out long term planning more
effectively.
Direct Cost: $59,200
Car Ownership, Insurance Premiums and Employment Outcomes
Principal Investigator:
Paul Ong
SPPSR
University of California, Los Angeles
Box 951656, 5287 Public Policy Bldg.
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
310-825-8775
Email: pmong@ucla.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: This study examines the
interaction between car ownership, automobile insurance premiums, and employment
outcomes, with a focus on disadvantaged populations and neighborhoods. The
existing literature indicates that car ownership has an impact on improving
employment outcomes, but appropriate methods must be used to account for
simultaneity. Minorities face both a “spatial mismatch” and a “transportation
mismatch” that limit their opportunities. The central hypothesis is that a
higher cost of ownership due to insurance “red lining” lowers car ownership,
which in turn adversely affects employment. Key Words: car
ownership, auto insurance, low income / minority households
Objective: understand whether insurance costs are an impediment to car
ownership and in turn to stable employment among low income populations
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: More effective expenditures on transportation for
welfare to work programs could result from this work; also, more effective auto
insurance policies could be based on the work.
Direct Cost: $15,000
Public Transit Systems and the Residential Location Choices of Minority
and Transit-Dependent Households Seed Grant
Principal Investigator:
John M. Quigley
Dept. of Public Policy
2607 Hearst Avenue
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel. 510-642-4670
Email: quigley@econ.berkeley.edu |
Other Key Participants:
Steven P. Raphael
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
Email: raphael@socrates.berkeley.edu |
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans,
Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916
324-2440
Abstract: In this project, we analyze the impact of several recent
extensions of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system on the residential
location choices of minority households and other households that are
particularly dependent on public transit. We compare before-after changes in the
resident populations of census tracts serviced by the new stations to similar
changes in comparable areas located in the region’s suburbs but located far from
the new stations. Data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. census will be used to
measure population change. We will: (1) characterize the distance between each
census tract in the East Bay suburbs to each of the three new BART stations,
e.g., physical distance between the centroids of each tract and the nearest
station, or . commute time estimates between each tract and the nearest station,
and (2) construct a merged data set at the census tract level describing the
residential populations of each for 1980, 1990, and 2000. This data set will be
constructed using 1990 tract definitions (and will require some imputation of
1980 variables). This data set will be used to construct the dependent
variables, measures of population change, as well as to construct a set of
variables from the 1980 and 1990 data describing initial conditions. Key
Words: residential location, transit impacts, minority households
Objective: understand the extent to which transit dependent
households have been able to capture the benefits of new BART extensions
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Better measurement of transit benefits, transit
equity, etc.
Direct Cost: $10,752
Unlimited Access to Work: An Evaluation of Employer-Based Transit Programs
Principal Investigator:
Don Shoup
Institute of Transportation Studies
School of Public Policy and Social Research
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, Ca 90095-1656
Tel. 310-825-5705
Email: shoup@ucla.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: Transit agencies have found a new way to increase ridership:
offer transit-pass programs that cater to specific user groups. In these
programs, a group purchases the right for all its members to ride public transit
without paying a fare. Because all members of the group can ride free, they ride
public transit more often. We refer to these programs collectively as Unlimited
Access. Unlimited Access programs have been developed for the university, the
workplace, and the home. Previous research has examined university programs, and
has shown that they increase transit ridership, reduce vehicle travel, reduce
parking demand, and increase transit riders’ incomes. The largest potential
market for Unlimited Access is for workplace transit programs, but there have
been few studies of these programs. We examine these workplace programs and: 1)
explain how the programs work, 2) examine the programs’ effects on employee
transit ridership, vehicle travel, and parking demand, 3) analyze the programs’
effects on transit agency performance, 4) calculate the programs’ costs and
benefits, and 5) recommend best practice guidelines. Unlimited Access appears to
be a promising innovation with great potential, and we will evaluate its
potential benefits for employers, transit agencies, and society. Key Words: transit fares, transit pass, commuting
Objective: understand the costs and benefits of group transit
programs
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Better understanding of these programs is needed
to properly assess their value and to determine their future.
Direct Cost: $54,827
The Effects of Contracting for Service on the Cost-Efficiency of
Fixed-Route Bus Transit in the U.S.
| Principal Investigator:
Brian Taylor
SPPSR
University of California, Los Angeles
Box 951656, 5383 Public Policy Bldg.
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
310-825-7442
Email: btaylor@ucla.edu |
Other Key Participants:
Martin Wachs
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
110 McLaughlin Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1712
Email: mwachs@uclink.berkeley.edu |
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: This study examines the economic effects of contracting for
fixed-route bus service. Previous research has examined whether contracting for
bus service has reduced costs; our focus is on how contracting affects
cost-efficiency, recognizing that earlier studies don’t account for the fact
that cost-efficiency problems are likely to motivate transit systems to contract
for service in the first place. To account for such causality questions, we will
use advanced regression analysis methods on a rich, new merged cross-sectional
data set to examine the influence of contracting for transit service
cost-efficiency. The merged data set for this study will be drawn primarily from
two sources: (1) the National Transit Database maintained by the FTA and 2) a
transit service contracting database compiled from a recent Transportation
Research Board survey of transit agencies nationwide. Key Words: transit,
contracting, costs, efficiency
Objective: improve understanding of cost-efficiency of contracted
services
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Improve basis for policies on contracting out
services
Direct Cost: $15,000
Exploring the Marketability of Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles
Principal Investigator:
Thomas Turrentine
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
530-752-6500
Email:
|
Other Key Participants:
Kenneth Kurani
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
Email: knkurani@ucdavis.edu |
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: Fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) promise to reduced greenhouse gases
and criteria pollutants, as well as improve fuel efficiency for light-duty motor
vehicles. But lack of a developed “green-car” market and uncertainty that such a
market is possible has limited industry and government commitment to current
green car technologies. We take two first steps in market research for FCVs: 1.
A FCV focused review of recent research on consumer response to refueling range,
fuel types, social benefits, and fuel distribution; 2. A design and pilot test
of custom interactive stated-preference methods for FCV markets with a sample of
vehicle owners who currently use and understand in-vehicle power plants—such as
RV owners and small businesses who carry generators. Key Words: fuel
cells, market research, stated preference surveys
Objective: begin to understand the market for fuel-cell vehicles
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Getting market information into the public sector
will help public officials at the local, state and federal levels develop better
policies and make sensible vehicle purchasing decisions. While marketing studies
are done by the private sector they are not generally available to public
officials.
Direct Cost: $15,000
Experimental and Theoretical Investigations on Traffic Flow at Highway
Merges
Principal Investigator:
H. Michael Zhang
Civil and Environmental Engineering
3145 Engineering III
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
Tel. 530-754-9203
Email: hmzhang@ucdavis.edu
External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by
Caltrans, Contact Sallybeth Scott, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305,
tel. 916 324-2440
Abstract: In this project, we gather and analyze empirical data at merge
sites to study the possible combinations of stationary states at merges. To get
a clearer picture of the underlying relations between stationary states at
merges, we study isolated merges, especially those without the presence of
significant immediate upstream/downstream diverges, so as to avoid the
complications arising from interactions between merges and diverges. We examine
a number of data sources to find such merges with usable data, such as the PEMS
database, the Berkeley Highway Lab database, the Toronto QEW database. Our study
will identify, from a large amount of data collected at certain merges, all
possible combinations of stationary states existing in these merges. Stationary
states will be categorized into recurrent and non-recurrent, according to
whether they appear from day to day or not. Besides stationary states in
congested peak hours, we will also be interested in those in free flow. The
findings of this study would help further investigations on merge traffic
dynamics, and its implications to traffic management and control. Key Words: traffic congestion, queues, merges
Objective: understand how merges affect traffic flow
Tasks: Review previous work on the topic, assemble data, analyze data, and
prepare reports.
Milestones, Dates: Official start date Aug. 1, 2002, end July 31, 2003
Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher
Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s
Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge. .
Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project
Potential Benefits: Better understanding of merge sites can be used in
designing traffic management and control strategies and also in design and
redesign of freeways.
Direct Cost: $15,000
Formation and Spatial Evolution of Traffic Oscillations
Soyoung Ahn, UC
Berkeley
Advisor: Michael J. Cassidy
The objective of this research is to uncover the causes for the formation and growth of (backward-moving) stop-and-go oscillations in queued freeway traffic. Using the measurements from loop detectors, cumulative curves of vehicle counts versus time or constructed, and then altered to display oscillations. Quantitative analyses of these curves show that oscillation increase (decrease) in amplitude as they propagate past off-ramps (on-ramps). The origins of oscillations and unresolved issues in regard to their growth will be investigated using high resolution data obtained from the video images of queued freeway traffic. We expect to find that vehicle land-change maneuvers trigger the formation of oscillations and also affect the growth of oscillations over space. The findings should improve current traffic flow theories related to oscillations and provide traffic control policies for mitigating it. Also, improved theories may provide better guidelines for estimating vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.
Key
words: stop-and-go oscillations, lane-change maneuvers, formation of oscillations, growth of oscillations
A
Human Driver Model of Car Following
Joseph E. Barton, UC
Berkeley
Advisor: Theodore E. Cohn
Automation of the human driving task is being undertaken to
relieve congestion and increase throughput on the nation's roads. To be
effective, these new technologies will have to incorporate human-like driving
characteristics, necessitating in turn the development of a quantitative model
of human driving behavior. Such efforts are underway, but to date little work
has been done on the "front-end" of the model, the acquisition and
preprocessing of visual information about the driving environment. This proposal
describes the development of a human driver model that emphasized the
human visual component, for the important case of car-following in which the
lead vehicle unexpectedly brakes maximally to come to a complete stop. Despite
this limitation, the model can nonetheless be used as the basis for models of
other driving scenarios. Taken together, such efforts will ultimately add to out
general knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of the system comprising the human driver, the automobile, and the automation technology. The
implications for both the policy planner and the automation designer are
discussed.
Key
words: Automated
Driving, Human-Driver Model, Driver Assistance Technologies, Cognitive-Based
Driver Model, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning System, Rear-End
Collision
The Number Game: The Struggle over Money in Transportation
Jeffrey Brown, UC
Los Angeles
Advisor: Brian D. Taylor
Sixteen states have been historic net donors to the federal surface transportation program since the creation of the highway trust fund in 1956. Donor state representatives have used the debates over program reauthorization as an opportunity to press their demands for better treatment, and elaborate geopolitical compromises have been crafted as a result. The dissertation uses the geopolitical conflict as an entry point for a broader examination that focuses both on: (1) the net spatial distribution of federal transportation money among states, and (2) the distribution of federal transportation money among six categories of projects: highway capital, highway operations, transit capital, transit operations, other capital, and other operations. The analysis focuses on the period from 1990 to the present, a timeframe that brackets the passage of major pieces of legislation such as ISTEA and TEA-21.
The dissertation research will identify the factors that explain the distribution patterns, determine the magnitude of their importance, analyze their relationship to established theoretical and functional explanations for their occurrence, and assess the ultimate effects of the policy decisions influenced by these factors on the operation of the transportation system. The dissertation will conclude with recommendations for making national transportation policy more efficient and equitable.
Key
words: surface transportation policy, transportation politics,
transportation finance
Aggregate Relationships between Telecommunications and Travel: Structural Equation Modeling of Time Series Data
Sangho Choo, UC Davis
Advisor: Patricia L. Mokhtarian
Disaggregate studies of the impacts of telecommunications applications (e.g. telecommuting) on travel have generally found a net substitution effect. However, such studies have all been short-term and small-scale, and there is reason to believe that when more indirect and longer-term effects are accounted for, complementarity is the likely outcome. At least two aggregate studies have focused on the relationships between telecommunications and travel from economic perspectives (consumer and industry). However, both use the monetary value of consumption or transactions rather than actual activity measures (e.g. miles, number of calls), and neither fully explains the direct and indirect causal relationships between the two. This research will explore the aggregate relationships between activity measures of travel and telecommunications in a comprehensive way, using structural equation modeling of nationwide time series data in the U.S., compare such relationships by transportation mode, and simulate the impacts of transportation and telecommunications policy strategies. As the first known attempt to empirically assess the causal relationships between the two at the aggregate level, the results will offer new insight for conventional travel demand modeling, and will permit policy makers and transportation planners to more accurately assess strategies to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.
Key
words: telecommunications and travel, causal relationships, structural equation modeling, nationwide time series data
Teleshopping, Travel Behavior and Urban
Form
Christopher E. Ferrell, UC
Berkeley
Advisor: Robert Cervero
Today, the Internet is a central
player among a cast of technological characters we assume are changing our
world. Prominent among the services offered in this new virtual world is online
shopping. Many assume there will also be a host of changes in everyday life
wrought by the switch to life online. In the case of online shopping, some have
assumed that it would become a functional substitute for traditional retail
shopping, thereby reducing physical shopping trips and vehicle miles traveled.
Taken a step further, it seems reasonable to assume that to the degree online
shopping is a viable substitute for traditional shopping and physical travel,
online patrons will use this technology as a means to further physically
separate their residences from retail centers, increasing urban dispersal.
Online shopping, in combination with telephone (catalog and television) shopping
modalities (collectively known as "teleshopping"), provides an example
of how telecommunications-based technologies are being adopted and how they
might be used to alter travel and urban location choice for residences and
businesses. This dissertation project proposed to determine to what degree
teleshopping is being used as a substitute for physical travel as a function of
residential accessibility to retail outlets and the lifestyles of its users.
Key words: online shopping, shopping trips, teleshopping, accessibility, lifestyles
E
xamination
of a Major Public Infrastructure Project: The Case of the New San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
Karen Trapenberg
Frick, UC
Berkeley
Advisor: M
artin Wachs
This dissertation
focuses on the design process that led to the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge which will be built in the coming years. As the new bridge is a major
infrastructure project that will cost $3 billion in public funds, it is critical
to understand the complexity and nuances of developing a politically,
financially and technically feasible bridge design. The dissertation is a
political analysis of the regional decision-making process that considers the
evolution of design, the statewide legislative funding debate, and how key local
and regional players participated in and dramatically affected the process that
ensued.
The dissertation will advance policymakers, researchers and practitioners'
knowledge of large-scale projects and contribute to the literature by knitting
together the separate themes of major infrastructure planning, the technological
sublime, regional governance and coalition mobilization.
Key words: Bay Bridge, major infrastructure project, megaprojects,
technological sublime, infrastructure
The Effects of Contracting Out
Fixed-Route Bus Transit on Labor
Songju Kim, UC Berkeley
Advisor: Martin Wachs
The effect of contracting out
fixed-route bus transit services on labor will be examined using 30 to 40 cases
of three groups of transit services. Routes contracted out to private operators
will be compared to others directly operated by public transit agencies. These
will also be compared with a control group of similar public operators who
contracted out none of their services. In order to measure the impact of
contract renewals and contestability in each bidding cycle, comparisons will be
made over several time periods, including after the renewal of a contract.
The effects of labor will be measured by wage rates, fringe benefits, and work
rules differences. They will be examined by analyzing labor contract agreements,
which define how compensation packages are calculated and the work force is
assigned (shifts, premiums, the use of part time workers, etc...), the details
of fringe benefits, and the number of holidays, vacations, etc... Labor costs
and hours will also be categorized into platform hours, work rules restrictions,
absences, and fringe benefits, and calculated into the ratio of categorized pay
hours to platform hours for each year for all cases, in order to investigate the
changes in the labor productivity. The study will identify components of change
that are attributable to contracting.
Key words: contracting out fixed-route bus transit services, contestability, wage rates, fringe benefits, work rules, labor contract agreements, compensation packages, labor productivity
Six Mile uphill
both ways: How urban form impacts a child's trip to school
Tracy E. McMill
an,
UC Irvine
Advisor: Marlon Boarnet
The primary objective of this dissertation project is to identify
the key factors that affect the relationship between urban form and a child's
trip to school. In particular, this project will identify the factors that
influence parental decision-making about how children travel to school and the
relationship of these factors to urban form.
Parent surveys will be used to answer the overall question of how urban form
impacts a child's trip to school. Survey will be distributed to parents of
3rd-6th grade students at 12-18 elementary school sites in California. Traffic
observations (vehicular, pedestrian, and bicyclist behavior) and measurements of
neighborhood urban design will also be conducted to validate the model on how
urban form impacts a child's trip to school.
This dissertation is a unique contribution to the travel behavior literature
with its focus on children's travel behavior and specifically the trip to
school. Children are an understudied population in travel behavior research, yet
their travel needs have a direct impact on household travel patterns. This
research will help in the understanding of child and household travel behavior
and contribute to the development of better policies and programs to affect
school travel behavior and school site planning.
Key words: urban form, school, children, parents, travel behavior, trip to school
Crew-Shift Design
for Single-Hub Transportation Systems under Uncertainty
Juan Carlos Muñoz, UC Berkeley
Advisor: C
arlos Daganzo
The goal of this research is to quantify the effects of implementing
non-conventional crew-shift strategies
on the operation of ground transportation systems. Both conventional shifts
(straight and split) as well as innovative shifts will be tested. To evaluate
the impact of different shift types on operations performance indicators, a
long-term operational cost function will be derived. This (logistic cost)
function will account for the uncertainties that are inherent in transportation
systems (e.g. demand or crew absenteeism) and its parameters will be determined
by optimizing the routes and crews simultaneously.
Two types of transportation systems will be analyzed: transit-like systems where
routes are fixed, and distribution systems where routes are flexible (or demand
driven). For simplicity, single-hub networks will be tackled first.
A continuum approximation of discrete events will be used to derive the logistic
cost function, and its approximated solutions will be contrasted with near
optimal ones from simulated scenarios and numerical optimizations. The
assumptions, simplifications, and resulting models will be validated against
real world data.
This research might be of great value to the transit and shipping industries, as
only crew-shifts that are beneficial for both agency/firm and workers will be
considered. Additionally, the logistic cost function may become an indispensable
tool for transit planners and managers.
Key words: Crew-shift design, Transportation system design, crew scheduling, transit design
Data Fusion Architecture Development for Freeway Performance Measurements via Network-wide Vehicle Tracking
Seri Park, UC
Irvine
Advisor:
Stephen G. Ritchie
The need of accurate traffic data is essential for efficient and reliable traffic control and surveillance. This need has spawned a lot of research focusing on individual vehicle tracking. In this research, we propose the use of the latest detector technology to obtain accurate individual vehicle trajectory data and to overcome the conventional vehicle tracking problems such as privacy issues, high investigation costs, and limited vehicle coverage area. This research focuses on the data fusion architecture development for freeway performance measures through network-wide vehicle tracking. The proposed proof-of-concept work will involve acquisition and analysis of field data from existing analog loop inductance detectors and surveillance video cameras installed in the Caltrans/UCI Irvine Detector Testbed.
The main contributions of this research are the determination and development of methods to find the optimal feature set from different types of sensors, the development of vehicle re-identification algorithm based on the fused optimal feature set, the derivation of vehicle re-identification reliability degree, and the development of multiple section vehicle tracking algorithm in order to obtain network-wide individual vehicle trajectory, especially in freeway.
Key words: data fusion architecture development, freeway performance measures, network-wide vehicle tracking, the determination and development of methods to find the optimal feature, development of vehicle re-identification algorithm, the derivation of vehicle re-identification reliability degree, the development of multiple section vehicle tracking algorithm.
Examining
the Effects of Increased Speed Resolution for Mobile Emissions Inventories
Mihriban Sogutlugil, UC Davis
Adviser: Debbie A. Niemeier
Current mobile emissions inventory models combine travel
demand model forecasts of hourly flow and estimated hourly emissions factors to
calculate total emissions. During this process, both emissions factors and
hourly flow are related to speed. The speed inputs to the emissions model are
the hourly link based average travel speeds estimated either during travel flow
forecasting or during emissions calculation using a speed port-processor
integrated to the emissions model. The focus of this research is to evaluate the
current emissions modeling practice based on both hourly and link based average
travel speed. For this purpose real world flow and speed estimates from the Los
Angeles Region are used.
Given that average travel speeds are highly variable over a one hour period and
across lanes, this research focuses on analyses based on the effects of both
temporal aggregation, and aggregation across lanes. These analyses are conducted
by constructing Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) models that enable us to explore
the interactions between the effects of data aggregation, time of day, and day
of week. In addition, the implications of real world speed flow relationship for
regional mobile emissions inventories will be explored utilizing real world flow
and speeds.
Key words:
emissions factors, average travel speeds, ANOVA model