Measuring quality of service in dial-a-ride operations: the case of a Canadian city

In many countries, dial-a-ride services are provided by public authorities to elderly and handicapped people who cannot use regular transit. Cost minimization is key to running these services, but one can observe a growing interest in quality measurement and improvement. A first step in improving quality is to define a quality measurement scale specific to dial-a-ride services. A second step is to incorporate quality measurements in mathematical models that serve as a basis for optimization algorithms. To this end, an extensive survey of dial-a-ride users was conducted in Longueuil, the largest suburb of Montreal, Canada. This paper describes the steps of the survey and presents its main conclusions: (1) 56 attributes were identified based on interviews, (2) the questionnaire developed has proved to be reliable and valid, (3) an exploratory factor analysis allowed us to determine 13 dimensions of quality in dial-a-ride services, (4) the most important criteria for users were identified, and (5) population segmenting variables by which subgroups of users can be categorized were also determined. Managerial implications of our results are also discussed.     

The determinants of long distance travel in Great Britain

This study analyses of the determinants of long distance travel in Great Britain using data from the 1995-2006 National Travel Surveys (NTSs). The main objective is to determine the effects of socio-economic, demographic and geographic factors on long distance travel. The estimated models express the distance travelled for long distance journeys as a function of income, gender, age, employment status, household characteristics, area of residence, size of municipality, type of residence and length of time living in the area. A time trend is also included to capture common changes in long distance travel over time not included in the explanatory variables. Separate models are estimated for total travel, travel by each of four modes (car, rail, coach and air), travel by five purposes (business, commuting, leisure, holiday and visiting friends and relatives (VFRs)) and two journey lengths (<150 miles and 150+ miles one way), as well as the 35 mode-purpose-distance combinations.The results show that long distance travel is strongly related to income: air is most income-elastic, followed by rail, car and finally coach. This is the case for most journey purposes and distance bands. Notable is the substantial difference in income elasticities for rail for business/commuting as opposed to holiday/leisure/VFR. In addition, the income elasticity for coach travel is very low, and zero for the majority of purpose-distance bands, suggesting coach travel to be an inferior mode in comparison to car, rail and air. Regarding journey distance, we find that longer distance journeys are more income elastic than shorter journeys.For total long distance travel, the study indicates that women travel less than men, the elderly less than younger people, the employed and students more than others, those in one adult households more than those in larger households and those in households with children less than those without. Long distance travel is also lowest for individuals living in London and greatest for those in the South West, and increases as the size of the municipality declines.     

Bicycle mode share in China: a city-level analysis of long term trends

In the past 15 years, cities in China have experienced big changes in socioeconomic and traffic conditions, resulting in a long term change in bicycle use. This study aims to quantify the changes in bicycle mode share in Chinese cities and explore the potential causes. Based on data from 51 cities, it is found that bicycle mode share at the city level decreased gradually in the past. Conventional bicycle mode share decreased with a rate of 3 % per year, but electric bicycle mode share increased with a rate of 2 % per year. The correlations between city features such as demographics and built environments and bicycle mode share at different city sizes are compared. The generalized linear models are estimated to relate the changes in the share of different trip modes to various city-level factors. The results show that the bicycle mode share in a city is impacted by factors including city area size, population density, number of cars, percentage of local road mileage among all roads, and trip purpose. Possible reasons for the changes in bicycle uses in Chinese cities are explored and policy implications are discussed.     

Effect of interference fits on the fatigue lives of bolted composite joints

The effect of interference fits on the fatigue lives of bolted composite joints is investigated by conducting mechanical tests. Static and fatigue tests are carried out on specimens made of carbon-bismaleimide composites joined together as double-lap single-bolt joints. The bolts having interference fits ranging of 0 (neat fit), 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% are performed. The results demonstrate the relationship between fatigue life and different values of interference fits. After the fatigue tests, non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) are used to observe the damage of the surrender and surface of the hole. The test results show that the interference fitted specimens have improved fatigue life compared to the neat fitted specimen. The NDE and SEM results reveal that the damage degree of interference fitted specimen is weaker than that for the neat fitted one.     

Relationship between well-being and daily time use of elderly: evidence from the disabilities and use of time survey

According to US Census Bureau, the number of individuals in the age group above 65 years is expected to increase by more than 100% from the year 2000 to 2030. It is anticipated that increasing elderly population will put unforeseen demands on the transportation infrastructure due to the atypical mobility and travel needs of the elderly. Consequently, transportation professionals have attempted to understand the travel behavior of the elderly including the trip frequency, trip distance and mode choice decisions. Majority of the research on elderly travel behavior have focused on the mobility outcomes with limited research into understanding the tradeoffs made by this population segment in terms of their in-home and out-of-home activity engagement choices. The goal of the current research is to contribute to this line of inquiry by simultaneously exploring the daily activity engagement choices of the elderly Americans including their in-home and out-of-home activity participation (what activities to pursue) and time alloocation (duration of each activity) decisions while accounting for the temporal constraints. Further, the study attempts to explore the relationship between physical and subjective well-being and daily activity engagement decisions of the elderly; where subjective well-being is derived from reported needs satisfaction with life and different domains of it. To this end, data from the Disabilities and Use of Time survey of Panel Study of Income Dynamics was used to estimate a panel version of MDCEV model. In addition to person- and household-level demographic variables, activity participation and time use choices of elderly were found to vary across different levels of reported physical and subjective well-being measures. The model estimation results were plausible and provide interesting insights into the activity engagement choices of the elderly with implications for transportation policy development. Among other socio-demographic variables, living arrangements (living with family versus in elderly homes) were found to have significant influence on how people participate into different in-home versus out-of-home activities. For example, elderly living in the elderly home were found to participate more into out-of-home activities compared to people living with families. Elderly with disabilities were found to compensate lower participation into out-of-home activities with more participation into in-home activities. Considerable heterogeneity was observed in time engagement behavior of the elderly across reported levels of satisfaction with finance, job and cognitive needs. For example, elderly expressing high satisfaction with job was found to spend less time in in-home social activities. Elderly reporting higher satisfaction with finance were found to spend more time into OH social and shopping activities.     

A mixed Bayesian network for two-dimensional decision modeling of departure time and mode choice

The modeling of travel decision making has been a popular topic in transportation planning. Previous studies focused on random-utility discrete choice models and machine learning methods. This paper proposes a new modeling approach that utilizes a mixed Bayesian network (BN) for travel decision inference. The authors use a predetermined BN structure and calculate priori and posterior probability distributions of the decision alternatives based on the observed explanatory variables. As a “utility-free” decision inference method, the BN model releases the linear structure in the utility function but assumes the traffic level of service variables follow multivariate Gaussian distribution conditional on the choice variable. A real-world case study is conducted by using the regional travel survey data for a two-dimensional decision modeling of both departure time choice and travel mode choice. The results indicate that a two-dimensional mixed BN provides better accuracy than decision tree models and nested logit models. In addition, one can derive continuous elasticity with respect to each continuous explanatory variable for sensitivity analysis. This new approach addresses a research gap in probabilistic travel decision making modeling as well as two-dimensional travel decision modeling.     

A socioeconomic analysis of commuting professionals

Transportation - Everyday commuting as a mobility phenomenon is well-investigated and has been the topic of many contributions. Nevertheless, the distinct determinants of the commuting...     

Two degree of freedom flow-induced vibration of cylindrical structures in marine environments: frequency ratio effects

The flow-induced vibration of a cylindrical structure is a very common problem in marine environments such as undersea pipelines, offshore risers, and cables. In this study, the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of an elastically mounted cylinder at a low Reynolds number is simulated by a transient coupled fluid–structure interaction numerical model. Considering VIV with low damping ratio, the response, hydrodynamic forces, and vortex shedding modes of the cylinder is systematically analyzed and summed up the universal rule under different frequency ratios. On the basis of the analysis, we find that the frequency ratio α is a very important parameter. It decides the locked-in, beat, and phase-switch phenomena of the cylinder, meanwhile, it also influence the vortex mode of the cylinder. The trajectory of the two degrees of freedom (2 DOF) case at different natural frequency ratios is discussed, with most trajectories having a “figure of 8” shape and a few having a “crescent” shape. A fast Fourier transformation technique is used to obtain the frequency characteristics of the vibration of the cylindrical structure. Using the 2 DOF cylinder model in place of the 1 DOF model presents several advantages in simulating the nonlinear characteristics of cylindrical structures, including the capacity to model the crosswise vibration generated by in-line vibration.     

New procedure for the analysis of speed trial results,with special attention to the correction of tidal current effect

Almost all the existing analysis methods of speed trial results were proposed before 1970s, and the actual analysis procedures are very old-fashioned with instructions like “plot the results on a chart and draw a smooth mean line”, “read a value from the mean line” and so on. Such instructions not only show up the analysis procedures old-fashioned, but also make them very ambiguous and unclear. They should be up-dated to a method which is clear not only in logic but also in calculation procedure, and also fits the present computing technology. At first, the author reviewed the major analysis methods and concluded that the logic of the up-dated analysis procedure can be composed of the logics of the existing ones. Then, the analysis procedure is composed of three stages; namely (1) correction of power and propeller revolution to the ones corresponding to no air condition, (2) correction of tidal current effect, and (3) correction of power and propeller revolution to the ones corresponding to no wind condition. For the stages (1) and (3), there seems to be no big issue except the estimation of the amount of environmentally added resistance in the stage (1). Then, the author focused on the correction of tidal current effect in this paper. For the correction of tidal current effect, the author considers the essential points for the up-date are in the direction of finding out appropriate functions for the variation of tidal current velocity and the ship speed through the water. Then, he investigated to find out such functions and made his proposal. Finally, the applicability of the new procedure is assessed by the analysis of simulated speed trial results of a VLCC.     

A finite pointset method for the numerical simulation of free surface flow around a ship

In this paper, we present a Finite pointset method (FPM) for the numerical simulation of free surface flow around a ship in calm water. It is a Lagrangian and meshless particle scheme which is applied to the projection method for the incompressible governing equations. This requires the solution of Poisson problems in each time step, so a moving least squares (MLS) interpolants is used for the spatial derivatives in order to discretize the Poisson equation with pressure-Dirichlet condition of free surface flow in meshless structure. Meanwhile, an additional problem of the periodic particle locations redistribution in the present approach is still handled by MLS interpolants. With the proposed FPM technique, problems associated with the free surface flow around a ship are circumvented. A verification of numerical modeling is made using the Wigley hull and the validity of the proposed methodology is examined by comparing the detail of wave profile and wave-making resistance with Series 60 model. The results demonstrate that FPM is able to perform efficient and stable simulations of free surface flow around a ship.