Researching Transit

In this episode Prof Graham Currie talks to Prof Marcela Munizaga from the Universidad de Chile. Marcela is Vice Dean at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, but also the Vice President at the Santiago Metro. Graham and Marcela initially talk about Marcela's roles in administration, teaching and research at the University. Marcela outlines her research background in discrete choice modelling and data science. Since 2010 there has been a relationship between the University of Chile and the public transport authority to share data from the ticketing system. The buses and metro systems in Santiago have smartcard ticketing, GPS and automatic vehicle location, which allows origin and destinations of transit users to be determined. Marcella outlines some of the data analysis that the University has done on this rich database. Later in the episode Graham and Marcela discuss Marcela's role as a member of the board for Metro Santiago. Marcela outlines how the board has a diverse make up, including her as a researcher and academic. Finally, Marcela discusses some of her current research activity on behavioural economics and influencing changes in travel towards more sustainable options. Marcela has also recently been working on experiments involving economic incentives, crowd sourcing service quality data such as crowding, and messaging to encourage greater transit use. Find out more about Marcela and her work at: Twitter - @mamuniza ORCID profile - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0485-5124 Research Gate profile - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marcela-Munizaga LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcela-munizaga-61b0a696/ Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This episode's guest is Associate Professor Jan-Dirk Schmöcker from the Department of Urban Management at Kyoto University in Japan. Jan-Dirk has been in Japan for 15 years, 12 of them at Kyoto University. He is part of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) group at the university and has a background in transportation planning and assignment modelling. In this episode Jan-Dirk explains his research about hyperpaths on the transit. These relate to the range of options available to transit riders, representing a set of paths through the network. Together with understand a strategy (such as boarding the first arriving bus), these hyperpaths can be used to better understand how passengers make choices. Jan-Dirk also describes some of his research into bus bunching and the choices passengers might have between boarding an overcrowded first bus or a second, relatively empty bus. Graham and Jan-Dirk also discuss Jan-Dirk's research into the benefits of unreliability. This relates to the way that users might learn other parts of the network when there are service disruptions, crowding or other problems that force them to seek an alternate route. This may result in users discovering better options to their usual route. In unreliable transportation systems travellers also arguably experience their environment more. Towards the end of the episode Jan-Dirk describes some of his work on transit fares. This has included looking at trends in fare structures, with some cities moving towards flat-fare pricing (which is easier to understand) while others are moving towards pricing that better reflects the marginal cost each passenger imposes on the system. Jan-Dirk discusses how much of the focus has been on the spatial dimension: whether to have a flat-fare, or a zonal or other distance-based pricing structure. In contrast, there has been less attention paid to other aspects of fare policy-making, such as the impacts of discounts for frequent users and daily/weekly/monthly/yearly passes, special pricing for particular user groups, and the impact of transit operators obtaining significant amounts of their revenue from non-transit businesses. Finally, Jan-Dirk discusses some of his work using Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) data to understand passengers' origins and destinations. He also discusses his current research into using big data and crowd sourcing to better understand travel and activity patterns. Among others he is using Google Popular Times data and Twitter data to understand how tourists are using public transport in Kyoto. Find out more about Jan-Dirk and his work at: His biography on the Kyoto University website at: https://trans.kuciv.kyoto-u.ac.jp/its/Schmoecker.html His publications at: Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=DIFXh60AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan-Dirk-Schmoecker World Transit Research: https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=Jan-Dirk%20Schm%C3%B6cker%20&start=0&context=1060035&facet= and a recent project on using crowdsourced data at: https://concert-japan-daruma.github.io/ Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode Professor Graham Currie meets with Professor Stefan Voß, who is Director of the Institute of Information Systems and (until the end of 2022 was) the Dean of the Hamburg Business School at the University of Hamburg. Stefan has a background in mathematics, computer science and related fields. He and Graham discuss this and the fields of operations and information management, including the application of artificial intelligence and heuristics to public transport and other scheduling problems. Stefan outlines research he has done on timetable synchronisation (sometimes referred to as timetable coordination). Much of this has been in partnership with industry, and Stefan and Graham briefly discuss some of the challenges of publishing research within the constraints of commercial confidentiality. Robustness in transport systems is another of Stefan's other areas of research interest. He outlines work he has done on the Hamburg public transport system looking at predicting service delays and developing a mathematical formulation of robustness. Stefan was also an co-author on A Scientometric Analysis of Public Transport Research, published in the Journal of Public Transportation (DOI: http://doi.org/10.5038/2375-0901.18.2.8, available at: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/jpt/vol18/iss2/8). This paper undertook a broad review of the Public Transport research, looking at key authors, journals and other aspects of the field. Graham and Stefan discuss the use of Impact Factors in assessing the importance of research outputs, and Stefan highlights how the scientometric analysis findings might suggest that the current emphasis on Impact Factor may not provide a full picture of which publications are particularly important to the field. Moving on to discuss upcoming research, Stefan talks about his current work using digital twins to better understand power usage at container terminals. Graham and Stefan briefly discuss how similar issues of power supply may be turning out to be a problem for public transport depots that need to provide electric bus recharging. Stefan also talks about how digital twins might support research into, and the management of, public transport networks. Find out more about Stefan and his work at: his profile page at the University of Hamburg at https://www.bwl.uni-hamburg.de/en/iwi/team/mitglieder/stefan-voss.html his publications at World Transit Research at https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author%3A(%20stefan%20vo%C3%9F%20)&start=0&context=1060035&sort=score&facet= his ORCID page at https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1296-4221 Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Researching Transit comes to you again from the Conference on Advanced Systems in Public Transport (CASPT2022) in Tel Aviv, Israel. In this episode Professor Graham Currie met with another of the conference organisers, Professor Avi Ceder. Avi is the Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and at the Transportation Research Institute, Technion Israel Institute of Technology. He is also a former Zhi-xing Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) and Honorary Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Avi is an expert on public transport scheduling, and the author of Public Transit Planning and Operation: Theory, Modeling and Practice. Graham and Avi first talk about Avi's background and experience as a bus driver, PhD student, academic and now Emeritus Professor. Avi got into transit scheduling having taught operations management subjects, and as a consultant to an Israeli bus company prior to development of computerised scheduling tools. Graham and Avi discuss the development of, and research into, transit scheduling theory and tools. They then move onto discuss a recent paper Avi authored on Syncing sustainable urban mobility with public transit policy trends based on global data analysis in Nature Scientific Reports (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93741-4). Avi outlines four issues with road traffic discussed in this paper: crashes, congestion, pollution and space used by parked vehicles. He also discusses the paper's study of 17 cities, and exploration of what the shift to autonomous vehicles might mean for transportation, transit and the number of vehicles that will be needed in the future. Graham and Avi discuss some of the opportunities that are presented by COVID-19, autonomous vehicles and other shifts. Avi's Nature paper discusses how autonomous vehicles, if publicly owned / shared, may allow cities to reallocate road and parking space to other uses. He and Graham discuss how a future with widespread private ownership and use might, instead, result in more vehicles, lower occupancy and increase congestion. Later in the episode Avi discusses his work on deficit functions that can be use in the optimisation of vehicle numbers and minimisation of waiting time. Avi also outlines the concept of Just Noticeable Difference (JND), being the threshold at which people might distinguish between different costs, waiting times or other aspects of alternative transport options. This might be used as an input to mobile phone-based trip planning software, to personalise route recommendations to individual preferences in real-time. Find out more about Avi and his work at his: Avi's webpage at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology at https://ceder.net.technion.ac.il/ Avi's webpage as an International Associate of Monash's Public Transport Research Group (PTRG) at http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/our-team/international-associates/avi-ceder-2/ Avi's publications at: World Transit Research at https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22Ceder%22&start=0&context=1060035&facet=#query-results Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Our guest for this episode of Researching Transit is Professor Marcus Enoch of Loughborough University. Graham and Marcus discuss Marcus' somewhat sudden commencement of his PhD studies at the Open University, with a research topic agreed to in the taxi from the railway station! They also discuss the 18 months of journalism Marcus undertook for Local Transport Today. Marcus' research has included studying transport in Mauritius and Cuba. This work, with James Warren, approaches island transport almost as laboratory for new ideas given that it is easier to understand what is going on when systems are constrained by geography. Marcus also briefly discusses his work about transport in a cultural island, having published a paper in the Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies about Transport Practices in Amish Communities (https://doi.org/10.18061/1811/59689). More recently Marcus has been publishing about transport convergence, which links somewhat to the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept. Newer modes such as ride share, Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), micro-mobility modes such as electric scooters and bike share, and car share may be leading towards the convergence of transport services by bridging the gaps between the more established modes. Marcus briefly discusses how this relates to his work in New Zealand on the Public Transport 2045 strategy, which included interviewing experts from across the world and developing four scenarios for how public transport will evolve. Marcus also tells us about some of his recent projects on predicting station passenger demand using machine learning, and an internet of things systems for seat sensors on buses: the Bus Seating Information Technology (BusSIT) project. BusSIT was reported in a recent paper in the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Intelligent Transport Systems journal (https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-its.2019.0529). Marcus has also done research on travel plans for the European Commission and Transport for London. Travel plans relate to how employers, especially large organisations such asuniversities, have a much larger influence on how people travel to and from their site than do transport agencies. Marcus has written a book on sustainable transport and travel plans (Enoch, M. (2016). Sustainable Transport, Mobility Management and Travel Plans. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis) which has helped to move travel plans away from being something that is done solely because of a local planning requirement. They also discuss Marcus' review of 100+ Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.11.004). Finally, Marcus and Graham discuss Marcus' future research, including a project about booking a `slot' prior to starting a journey by car. Marcus is also looking at how falls on hard surface can lead to injury, and the economic feasibility of rolling out soft surfaces, such as might be found in a children's playground, to reduce pedestrian trauma. Also in the works is a series of eight science fiction novels on the future of transport, looking at different potential outcomes and technologies. Find out more about Marcus and his work at: His biography on the Loughborough University website https://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/abce/staff/marcus-enoch/ https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3D%22Enoch%2C+Marcus%22&itemType=book&itemSubType=book-printbook%2Cbook-digital New Zealand's Public Transport 2045 at https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Paper/Public-Transport-2045.pdf His publications at: Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6bIPO3oAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra World Transit Research https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22Enoch%22%20AND%20author_fname%3A%22Marcus%22&start=0&context=1060035&sort=date_desc&facet= Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Researching Transit comes to you this episode from the Conference on Advanced Systems in Public Transport (CASPT2022) in Tel Aviv, Israel. Here Professor Graham Currie met with one of the conference organisers, Dr Yuval Hadas from Bar-Ilan University, which is in Ramat Gan, a city near Tel Aviv. Yuval is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and the Head of Supply Chain Management and Logistics Graduate programs. Graham and Yuval initially discuss the Department's focus on city logistics and supply-chain management. However, freight movement has many similarities to people movement, and Yuval's research and work provide connections to transit, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and transport management. Yuval describes how transfers are an inevitable, yet difficult, part of public transport. He and Graham discuss how networks can be designed to minimise transfers (as in Paul Mees' ‘Squaresville' model), but that transfer-free, point-to-point services for all riders are not practical. Yuval then outlines his research about improving transfers for passengers using real-time service changes, such as skipping stops, to optimise outcomes. He and Graham briefly discuss some of the challenges with implementation, with real-time changes to services unlikely to be popular with those passengers waiting at a skipped stop regardless of overall benefits. However, Yuval highlights that real-time fare pricing adjustments might be one way to offset impacts on different users. This connects to Yuval's other research on dynamic fare pricing for transit services. Graham and Yuval discuss how variable pricing is already well established in transport systems. Examples include congestion-based road pricing systems, some toll lanes, and off-peak ticketing for some transit services. However, dynamic pricing in transit is, as yet, only informal and non-financial, with passengers often incentivised to wait for the next bus or travel outside of peak times to avoid crowding. Yuval discusses his research examining how this might be taken to the next level, with passengers offered a discount to avoid boarding an overcrowded vehicle. This might allow space to be left available for those further down the line, those with special needs, or those who are not as able or willing to travel later. Yuval also outlines his research into bus lanes and similar priority measures for on-road transit services. This focuses on evaluating priority across an entire network, not just on a segment-by-segment basis. The research seeks to develop a set of solutions that have similar overall (technical) benefits, rather than just a single `optimal' solution, so that decision-makers can take non-technical issues into consideration when selecting a desired option. Chewing gum might seem an odd topic for transit, but Yuval has been involved research about this, caffeine and bus driver vigilance. He and Graham discuss a case-control study that found caffeinated chewing-gum improved driver performance in less than ten minutes, whereas an ordinary cup of coffee did not (see https://doi.org/10.3141/2602-04). Finally, Yuval briefly tells Graham about some of his current research looking into electric vehicles, batteries and power supply. Find out more about Yuval and his work at his: • Biography at the Bar-Ilan University website https://management.biu.ac.il/en/yuvalhadas • LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuval-hadas-841b315/ • Publications at: • Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=64jXi9wAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate • ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3767-846X • World Transit Research at https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22Hadas%22%20author_fname%3A%22Yuval%22&start=0&context=1060035&facet= Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit Professor Graham Currie talks to Professor Martin Trépanier from Polytechnique Montréal. Martin is part of the Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering, and also the Director of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT), and Director Chair in Transport Transformation. At the start of the episode Martin and Graham discuss Polytechnique Montréal and Martin's role teaching in information systems engineering and in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for a logistics program. They then move on to discusses Martin's research using smartcard data. This came out connections with local operators developed during initial work on household travel surveys. Martin was at the cutting edge when smartcard ticketing systems were first introduced to transit services. These systems provide very large volumes of data about ridership, travel patterns and operations, yet are only a relatively recent development in the field. Towards the end of the episode Graham and Martin discuss Martin's other research interests in car- and bike-sharing, Mobility As A Service (MAAS) and operations research. They also talk about the Transition platform, which is a tool for planning transit networks developed by Martin's group. It is now available online at http://transition.city Find out more about Martin and his work at: his profile page at Polytechnique Montréal https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/en/trepanier-martin Martin's publications on World Transit Research at https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22Tr%C3%A9panier%22%20AND%20author_fname%3A%22Martin%22&start=0&context=1060035&sort=date_desc&facet= and on Scopus at https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6603041080 Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This episode of Researching Transit again comes to you all the way from the United Kingdom, as Prof Graham Currie chats with (Emeritus) Prof Peter White from the University of Westminster. Peter has had a long and varied career in teaching and research at Westminster, having joined the university in 1971, back when it was known as the Polytechnic of Central London. He became a Professor in 1992 and has been Emeritus Professor of Public Transport Systems since 2015. Peter is also the author of Public Transport: its Planning, Management and Operation, which is now in its sixth edition (2017) having first been published in 1976. Graham and Peter discuss the privatisation and deregulation of much of the UK's public transport networks. They discuss Peter's research in this area, including work looking at the use of minibuses to provide higher-frequency services with lower operating costs per vehicle. Graham ad Peter touch on some of the trade-offs involved, how the cost of the driver and whether there is a differentiation between wages for driving large and small buses can impact operational planning, and the importance of frequency in public transport. Peter has had, and continues to have, an active role in teaching at the university. He and Graham discuss Peter's current involvement in this area, and how this ties in with his research. Peter also discusses some of the master's research he has supervised on the societal costs of car miles travelled to reach bus park-and-ride, looking at how longer rural car trips to reach park-and-ride facilities may be preferable to shorter car trips that penetrate into urban centres. Find out more about Peter and his work at: his University of Westminster profile page at https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/researcher/88w32 the page for Public Transport: its Planning, Management and Operation and https://www.amazon.com.au/Public-Transport-Management-Operation-Environment-ebook/dp/B01MTYHOG2 Peter's publications at https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22White%22%20AND%20author_fname%3A%22Peter%22&start=0&context=1060035&sort=date_desc&facet= and https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7404089426 Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com Note: The bus based park and ride research paper mentioned by Peter White (20 mins) was undertaken by Gareth Mills and Peter White; It is the paper: Gareth Mills, Peter White (2018) "Evaluating the long-term impacts of bus-based park and ride" Research in Transportation Economics,Volume 69, 2018, Pages 536-543.

Researching Transit continues in the United Kingdom, heading further north for this episode to talk with Professor Karen Lucas of the University of Manchester. Karen is Professor of Human Geography and Deputy Director at the Manchester Urban Institute. She is also the Director of Research in the Department of Geography within the School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED) and leads the Transport and Mobilities research Group (also in the Manchester Urban Institute). Karen and Graham discuss the importance of transport in improving social inclusion, and Karen's work as an academic advisor to policy makers and England's Social Exclusion Unit. This included her involvement in the “Making the connections: final report on transport and social exclusion”, published in 2003 and available at http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/@emp_policy/@invest/documents/publication/wcms_asist_8210.pdf. This report includes tools and policy recommendations for improving social outcomes related to transport and transit, and more generally given that this is a whole-of-government issue. Later in the episode, Karen talks about her recent work on social inclusiveness in public transport in developing countries. She outlines how the issues are generally the same as elsewhere, only more intense. Karen and Graham also discuss how the interest in the social inclusion field has grown significantly in recent years. Towards the end of the episode, Karen and Graham discuss policies relating to transport subsidises in the UK. They contrast the lack of free transport for school children (outside of London) with the introduction of free fares after 9am for older people. Karen also outlines the need for integrated and inclusive geographical approaches in research and policy-making that take into account land use and social needs, rather than focusing on only ‘fixing public transport'. Find out more about Karen and her work at: her University of Manchester profile page at https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/karen.lucas the Transport and Mobilities pages at https://www.mui.manchester.ac.uk/research/themes/transport-and-mobilities/ Karen's publications on World Transit Research at https://www.worldtransitresearch.info/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22Lucas%22%20AND%20author_fname%3A%22Karen%22&start=0&context=1060035&sort=date_desc&facet= and Scopus at https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7103189191 Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This episode comes to you from Imperial College London, in the United Kingdom, where Prof Graham Currie recently met with Richard Anderson. Richard is the Managing Director of the Applied Research group within the Transport Strategy Centre (TSC) at Imperial's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He leads the group's industry facing work on benchmarking across metro, heavy rail, light rail, bus and airport systems, with Associate Directors Alexander Barron, Ben Condry and Mark Trompet. Graham and Richard discuss the group's 28 year long programme comparing and analysing the performance of transit systems from around the world. They discuss how context is especially important in benchmarking, because of the large variation in operating conditions. To understand fare-box revenue, operating costs or other characteristics on one system there is a need to compare with analogous systems that have similar contexts. As well as annual network benchmarking at the strategic planning level, the TSC has also undertaken comparisons on more tactical issues. Richard discusses an example of work that was done to benchmark the London Underground's procurement policies for escalators. By understanding the escalator specifications used by other metro systems of similar age and context to London, TSC found that the Underground could shift away from ordering bespoke escalators to a more generic heavy duty model, saving 100s of millions of pounds in procurement costs. Towards the end of the episode, Graham and Richard discuss recent work that TSC has done in response to COVID-19. The structure of the benchmarking groups, as a coalition of member organisations, has allowed rapid knowledge-sharing about COVID-19 responses amongst operators. TSC's history of benchmarking on specific topics has also meant that member organisations already had access to learnings from SARS pandemic in the early 2000s, and comparisons of the effectiveness of the various responses by different transit operators (e.g. Hong Kong, Canada). Find out more about Richard and his work at: the Transport Strategy Centre's website at https://www.imperial.ac.uk/transport-studies/transport-strategy-centre/applied-research/ the Centre for Transport Studies website at https://www.imperial.ac.uk/transport-studies Richard's profile page at https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/richard.anderson the COVID-19 benchmarking public report at https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/research-centres-and-groups/centre-for-transport-studies/tsc/covid-19/Imperial-College-London-TSC---COVID19-Benchmarking-Review-of-Recent-Activities-(Public-Report)---July-2022.pdf Community of Metros at https://communityofmetros.org/ the International Bus Benchmarking Group (IBBG) at https://busbenchmarking.org/background/ and the International Suburban Rail Benchmarking Group (ISBERGISBeRG) at https://www.isberg-web.org/ Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode Prof Graham Currie talks to Christian Wolmar, a prolific author and journalist specialising in transport and railway history. Christian studied economics at Warwick University, but after graduating in 1971 began a career as a journalist. In 1992 he became the transport correspondent at The Independent newspaper. He has since written over 20 books and is a regular contributor to The Times, The Guardian and many other publications. At the start of this episode Graham and Christian briefly discuss the importance of the railways: in wartime; in providing support for city development and growth; and in binding nations together. They talk about how the transcontinental railway had a role in uniting the states of America, and how the trans-Siberian railway linked east and west. Christian's book “Are Trams Socialist?” is also discussed in the episode, and Christian relates how the book is about public transit and roads being seen as competitors rather than components of the same transport system. Using higher capacity modes, trams and trains rather than cars, to move people around in dense urban environments is an obvious solution. However, as Christian highlights, the reality is that most cities have done away with their (historical) tram networks, and now face challenges related to traffic congestion. Later in the episode, Graham and Christian discuss his book “Driverless Car: A road to nowhere”. Christian talks about: how the technical issues of autonomous vehicles are enormous; why the shared-use model appears to be flawed; and how semi-autonomous vehicles raise safety concerns. He also outlines “the Holborn problem”. This relates to how autonomous vehicles might never be able to get through busy areas (like that around Holborn station in London, UK) because, along the lines of Asimov's three laws of robotics, driverless cars will always have to stop for pedestrians. Hence, anyone might be able to stop any car at any time, simply by stepping into the street. Graham notes that Christian's journalism and writing is informed by research, but may often be closer to asking the real questions than texts coming from academia, which might tend to have a narrower focus. Along similar lines, Christian discusses his current book project about the importance of railways for the WW2 D-Day landings, and how this topic is often overlooked by historians. The book will also discuss how the British and USA railway networks were vital for the movement of troops and supplies, and as a component of the wartime logistics systems. Find out more about Christian and his work at: https://www.christianwolmar.co.uk https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=8957703600 https://markwalkerg.podbean.com/ Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode Dr James Reynolds talks to Andrew Nash about implementing priority for buses and trams in Zurich, Switzerland. Mr Nash is a Senior Researcher at the St Pölten University of Applied Sciences in Austria. He is also a Lecturer at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and a widely published transport researcher The episode starts with a brief discussion of Mr Nash's background in transportation and politics. This includes him having stood for election to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District Board of Directors. It is this history of involvement in the politics of transport that has helped shape Mr Nash's interest in researching implementation, including that of the Citizen's Transit Priority Initiative in Zurich. The Citizen's Transit Priority Initiative provided funding and a mandate to prioritise buses and trams in the City of Zurich. It was passed by voters in a 1977 ballot, having been submitted by members of the public after a proposal to build an underground (metro) system was rejected by the electorate in 1973. Approximately 20 years ago, Mr Nash undertook a research project into the Citizen's Transit Priority Initiative. He and Dr Reynolds initially discuss this research, how the Initiative has led to much success for Zurich's transit system, and the lessons that can be applied to implementing transit priority in other cities. Mr Nash has recently revisited the topic of Zurich in a new paper written with Professor Dr Francesco Corman and Professor Dr. Thomas Sauter-Servaes. In the latter part of this episode he and Dr Reynolds discuss the motivation for looking at Zurich again now, and the city's current efforts to prioritise transit and improve conditions for other road users. The discussion also touches on the political challenges of reallocating road space, and how experimenting with trials and pop-ups can help demonstrate and build support for change. Find out more about Andrew Nash and his work at: His website https://andynash.com/ In his 2003 paper on Implementing Zurich's Transit Priority Program https://www.andynash.com/nash-publications/Nash2003-ZRH-PTpriority-TRR-1835.pdf and In his 2020 paper revisiting Zurich https://www.andynash.com/nash-publications/2020-Nash-Zurich%20Transit%20Priority%20-%20TRA2020-30092019_Nash.pdf Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the fifteenth episode in Researching Transit's Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode Professor Graham Currie talks to Professor Jeff Brown and Dr Joel Mendez about funding public transport. Professor Brown is from the College of Social Sciences & Public Policy at Florida State University. He is Department Chair, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and the Interim Associate Dean for Research at the Department of Urban & Regional Planning. Dr Mendez is Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas' Urban Planning Program. The episode starts with a brief discussion of Professor Brown's background in transportation finance and policy, planning history, and public transport. He talks about how he got into research and early work with Donald Shoup on using unlimited transit passes to help reduce parking demand at universities. Professor Brown also discusses his research on streetcars and the influences on US cities to invest in this mode. Professor Currie then talks to Dr Joel Mendez about his background and research about equity and public transport, including recent work about a zero fare policy in Kansas. This is followed by a discussion about the eleventh chapter of the Handbook of Public Transport Research: Paying for public transport, which was authored by Dr Mendez, Professor James Wood, Assistant Professor Dristi Neog and Professor Brown. The chapter includes material about the benefits and cost of public transport, transit subsidies, and the challenges of providing sufficient resources to support operations and capital improvements. Dr Mendez, Professor Brown and Professor Currie discuss how paying for public transport is linked to its purpose, and how there are often many benefits of providing transit that accrue to non-users. This is part of the reason that many US services are supported by local sales taxes or other revenue streams, instead of just passenger fares. They discuss systems, such as the U-Pass, where a university makes a bulk payment to an operator in return for all students receiving free or subsidised travel. Payroll taxes, intergovernmental grants and transit funding through the US highway trust fund are also covered in the episode. Professor Brown emphasises the importance of having diverse funding sources. This might involve non-traditional forms of financing, which Dr Mendez discusses towards the end of the episode. They could also include joint development, revenue and cost sharing agreements, and other ways of capturing the property value benefits that occur when transit services are provided. Find out more about: This research in Chapter 11 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Professor Jeff Brown and his work at https://coss.fsu.edu/durp/faculty/jeff-brown/; and Dr Mendez and his work at https://kupa.ku.edu/joel-mendez Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the fourteenth episode in Researching Transit's Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie talks to Professor Juan Carlos Munoz from the Department of Transport and Logistics Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Professor Munoz is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDUS) and also the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. At the beginning of this episode, Professor Munoz talks about these two organisations and how they differ in scope and focus. He also discusses his research in public transport operations and the management of headway, demand and capacity. Professor Munoz is the lead author of the seventeenth chapter of the Handbook of Public Transport Research: ACES technologies and public transport operations and control. The chapter discusses Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared (ACES) vehicles and how they are expected to disrupt public transportation. In this episode, Professor Munoz and Professor Currie talk about these emerging technologies and some of the opportunities and threats that they pose for transit operators. This includes discussion of autonomous buses, and how vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications might help to improve service provision. Towards the end of the episode, Professor Munoz highlights policy and governance issues related to these new technologies, and some of the future challenges that may be faced as ACES vehicles are introduced into cities. Find out more about this research in Chapter 17 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Find out more about Professor Juan Carlos Munoz and his work at https://jcmunozpuc.wordpress.com/ Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics at https://www.ing.uc.cl/transporte-y-logistica/ Institute for Sustainable Development at www.ids.uc.cl at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS) at https://www.cedeus.cl/ And in a video on innovative ‘Out of the Box' ideas in transport from Juan Carlos's research team at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2PcgDt4cFs (in Spanish with English subtitles) Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the thirteenth episode in the Researching Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode Professor Graham Currie talks to Assistant Professor Niels van Oort from the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft). Assistant Professor van Oort is the Co-Director of the Smart Public Transport Lab in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. The Smart PT Lab has previously been discussed in Episode 24 of this podcast, when Professor Graham Currie spoke to the other Co-Director, Associate Professor Oded Cats (see http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/portfolio-item/rt24-handbook-of-public-transport-research-network-resilience-and-the-smart-public-transport-lab/). Assistant Professor van Oort is the author of the thirteenth chapter of the Handbook of Public Transport Research: Service reliability: a planning and operations perspective. This chapter discusses the elements of service reliability, the impact of service reliability on passengers, indicators that are used to measure reliability and variability, and how to make improvements. In this episode, Assistant Professor van Oort talks about the research behind the handbook chapter, including his PhD thesis and subsequent work. Some of the topics discussed are: the factors that can impact service reliability; the need for perspectives across strategic, tactical and operational levels; and bridging the gaps between front-line staff, management and researchers. Data sets, modelling and the practicality of optimal solutions are also discussed. The podcast episode closes with a discussion of current research topics in public transport reliability. Assistant Professor van Oort notes the growing importance of demand side perspectives to better understand passenger experiences. This includes greater consideration of access and egress to transit systems, and understanding the different impacts that are experienced by passengers when a service is running slightly early versus slightly late. Find out more about this research in Chapter 13 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Find out more about Assistant Professor Niels van Oort and his work: at TU Delft at https://www.tudelft.nl/en/ceg/about-faculty/departments/transport-planning/staff/personal-pages/oort-n-van and at the Smart Public Transport Lab at http://smartptlab.tudelft.nl/ Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the twelfth episode in Researching Transit's Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode Professor Graham Currie talks to Associate Professor Wijnand Veeneman from the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft). Associate Professor Veeneman is part the Organisation and Governance Section in TU Delft's Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. He is also: the Scientific Director of Next Generation Infrastructure, a cooperation between six major infrastructure managers in the Netherlands; a member of the TRAIL research school, which is an organisation for Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics across six Netherlands Universities; on the advisory council of the Netherlands Institute of Government; and on the editorial board of Tijdschrift Vervoerswetenschap (Netherlands Transport Science Magazine). Associate Professor Veeneman has been researching governance in public transport since undertaking his PhD. In this episode he and Professor Currie first briefly discuss his thesis, which is titled Mind the Gap: Bridging Theories and Practice for the Organisation of Metropolitan Public Transport. Links to the thesis are provided below. This episode of the podcast focuses on the eighth chapter of the Handbook of Public Transport Research: The governance of public transport: towards integrated design, which is authored by Associate Professor Veeneman. He and Professor Currie discuss rule sets, which support the decision-making of the many actors involved in transit. The book chapter provides details about the four levels of rule sets (culture, laws, arrangements and transactions), and how these are relevant to transit governance. In this episode, Associate Professor Veeneman and Professor Currie also discuss how a good starting point in designing a governance system for a public transport network is to first understand the context and local culture. Find out more about this research in Chapter 8 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Find out more about Associate Professor Wijnand Veeneman and his work at: TU Delft at https://www.tudelft.nl/tbm/over-de-faculteit/afdelingen/multi-actor-systems/people/associate-professors/dr-ww-wijnand-veeneman the TRAIL Research School for Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics at http://rstrail.nl/ and Next Generation Infrastructure at https://www.nginfra.nl/english/ Associate Professor Wijnand Veeneman's PhD thesis Mind the Gap: Bridging Theories and Practice for the Organisation of Metropolitan Public Transport is available at: https://www.academia.edu/667427/Mind_the_Gap and https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Gap-organisation-metropolitan-transport/dp/9040723087 Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the eleventh episode in Researching Transit's Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie talks to Associate Professor Selby Coxon of Monash University's Department of Design. Associate Professor Coxon is the Director of the Mobility Design Lab and also the Associate Dean Graduate Research for the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. He has been involved in industrial design in both academia and the commercial sector for around 30 years. Professor Currie and Associate Professor Selby Coxon discuss the work of the Mobility Design Lab, which is focused around two themes: decarbonising transport; and developing mobility solutions for dense urban environments. The Mobility Design Lab builds on Monash University's long history of educating students who went on to work in the automotive industry, but adopts a broader focus to also consider public transport and other forms of mobility, not just personal cars. Examples of research from the Mobility Design Lab have previously been discussed with Dr Robbie Napper on episode 21 of this podcast. This episode focuses on the sixth chapter of the Handbook of Public Transport Research: The power of design to enrich the public transport experience. The chapter was authored by Associate Professor Coxon, Dr Robbie Napper, Dr Ilya Fridman and Dr Vincent Moug. It discusses how design processes can be used to improve transport systems, and takes the reader through the British Design Council's “Double Diamond model”. This model involves iterative steps based on 4Ds: Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 - Double Diamond design process, based on British Design Council. Source: Coxon et al. (2021, p. 94) In this episode Associate Professor Coxon discusses how the design process involves both divergent and convergent thinking. In the first step (Discover) designers seek to gain a broad understanding of the issues to be addressed. The second step (Define) involves synthesising collected data, developing an understanding of the key issues to be addressed, and ultimately converging back to create a design specification. This is followed by a return to divergent thinking in the third step (Develop) as designers seek to draw, explore and test potential solutions. In the final step of the process (Deliver) the designer seeks to converge the potential solutions into a design output. Overall the design process is a form of action research, where the research is done through the production of a new design, process or object. Towards the end of this episode Associate Professor Coxon discusses some of the challenges for research in industrial design, and also some of the benefits that can be gained through adopting design approaches more broadly in practice. While these have already been widely applied to increase the attractiveness of private automobiles, there appears to be much opportunity for such approaches to be used more generally to improve transit and mobility systems. Find out more about this research in Chapter 6 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Find out more about Associate Professor Selby Coxon and his work: https://www.monash.edu/mada/about-us/people/selby-coxon Find out more about the Mobility Design Lab: https://www.monash.edu/mada/research/labs/mobility-design-lab Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com References: Coxon, S, Napper, R, Fridman, I & Moug, V 2021, 'The power of design to enrich the public transport experience', in G Currie (ed.), Handbook of Public Transport Research, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, pp. 92-114.

This is the tenth episode in the Research Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Dr Laura Aston talks to Professor Graham Currie and Dr Carlyn Muir. Dr Muir is a Senior Research Fellow at the Monash University Accident Research Centre, and has a background in policy and research in public health and safety. Together with Dr Mustafizur Rahaman and Dr Alexa Delbosc, Professor Currie and Dr Muir have co-authored Chapter 5 in the Handbook of Public Transport: Personal safety on public transport: research frontiers and new tools for an old problem. Dr Muir and Professor Currie discuss the complicated relationships and feedback loops between passengers' perceptions of safety, ridership and safety through numbers effects, and the actual incidence of crime. Previous research on 10 transit systems around the world found that personal safety was the top passenger concern in every system, while a UK study indicates that 10% of people would consider using transit if measures were taken to address their fears about a lack of personal safety. The Chapter is based on PhD research by Dr Rahaman, which developed a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) audit tool for railway stations. CPTED is a multi-disciplinary approach that is about reducing crime and providing deterrence through the use of: Surveillance (formal and natural), Access control (e.g., fencing), Motivation reinforcement (e.g., alarms, gates), Maintenance/image control (e.g., cleanliness), and Territoriality and Activity support. This research is the first time that the CPTED approach has been applied to transit. It developed a framework and scoring approach that allows a railway station to be audited in around half a day. The framework components and the scoring approach are shown in Figure 1 (http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/RT32-Figure1.png) Figure 2 shows the results of structural equation modelling undertaken as part of the PhD project, which made some unexpected and nuanced findings. The study found that the Perception Of Safety (POS) at railway stations is most directly influenced by feelings of safety within the neighbourhood surrounding the railway station (0.49). This has important policy implications, as transit operators typically do not have any role or responsibilities beyond the railway property boundary. Figure 2: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/RT32-Figure2.jpg The next most important factors were satisfaction with CPTED (0.43) and concern about Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) (-0.18). However, there was not a direct link between experiencing ASB and POS. Rather, the results found a link between experiencing ASB and experiencing threats on public transport, which linked to POS (-0.13). Find out more about this research in Chapter 5 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. A paper has also been pushed in Transportation Research Record about this research, and is available at https://doi.org/10.3141/2540-01. This paper won the 2016 William W. Millar Award for the best paper in public transport at the Transportation Research Board's Annual General Meeting. Find out more about Professor Graham Currie and his work: https://www.monash.edu/engineering/grahamcurrie Find out more about Dr Carlyn Muir and her work: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/carlyn-muir Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the ninth episode in the Research Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Laura Aston speaks to Dr Alexa Delbosc and Professor Graham Currie. Today's guests will be familiar to man. Dr Delbosc was interviewed in episode 22, addressing the psychology of public transport. She is a lecturer with the Institute of Transport Studies in the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University. Professor Currie, your regular host and editor of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, is Director of the Public Transport Research Group at Monash University. Today they discuss Chapter 7 of the Handbook: The Paradigm Shift in Revenue Protection Research and Practice. The chapter is unique in providing a case study in impactful industry partnership. It presents the findings of a major program of research, funded by Victoria's Department of Transport, which generated major economic savings for the State. Our guests set the scene by explaining the impetus for this research. Globally, agencies may lose up to 25% of revenue to fare evasion, costing in the hundred of millions of dollars. Yet prior to this project, which commenced in 2011/12, there was limited understanding of the motivations for fare evasion. Dr Delbosc explains how the project contributed to shifting the focus of revenue protection research from conventional systems control perspectives and customer profiling, to the more nuanced approach of customer motivations. Following the success of their research, the customer motivations perspective on fare evasion has taken off around the world. By combining numerous psychological frameworks that help understand human motivations, the project was able to identify four different rationales for fare evading, ranging from Accidental Evaders to Career Evaders (Figure 1). Importantly, they were able to quantify the revenue loss associated with different motivations. This was an important discovery that led to the development of effective responses, including a marketing campaign which targeted often affluent ‘freeloaders'. This campaign, along with other targeted interventions, saw fare evasion in Victoria reduce from 12% to 5% in 2015, saving the government $45 million (Figure 2). Figure 1: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/RT-31-Figure-1.png Figure 2: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/RT-31-Figure-2.png Find out more about this research in Chapter 7 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase here: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html Find out more about today's guests Prof Graham Currie: https://www.monash.edu/engineering/grahamcurrie Dr Alexa Delbosc: https://www.monash.edu/engineering/alexadelbosc For an overview of the research program discussed during today's show, visit the Psychology of Fare Evasion Research Website: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/portfolio-item/understanding-the-psychology-of-fare-evasion/ Read more about the fare evasion research and findings in published research papers: Currie, G. and A. Delbosc (2017). "An Empirical Model for the Psychology of Deliberate and Unintentional Fare Evasion." Transport Policy 54: 21-29. Delbosc A and Currie G (2019). "'Why do people fare evade? A global shift in fare evasion research' " TRANSPORT REVIEWS Volume 39 - 3 pp376-391. Delbosc, A. and G. Currie (2016a). "Cluster analysis of fare evasion behaviours in Melbourne, Australia." Transport Policy 50: 29-36. Delbosc, A. and G. Currie (2016b). "Four Types of Fare Evasion: A Qualitative Study from Melbourne, Australia." Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 43: 254-264. Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the eighth episode in the Research Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie speaks to Amer Shalaby, Professor and Bahen/Tanenbaum Chair in the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada. Shalaby's passion for all aspects of public transport, from operations and planning to emerging technologies and data, has led him to his role as Director of the new Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) and Co-Director of the Center for Automated and Transformative Transportation Systems (CATTS) at the University of Toronto. TAL provides a unique forum for different transit stakeholders to come together to better leverage transit data. The lab uses predictive analytics and optimisation to solve problems relating to service planning, operational management, customer satisfaction, equity and more, in collaboration with its industry partners. Professor Shalaby has co-authored two chapters in the Handbook of Public Transport Research: Chapter 16: Transit Signal Priority: research and practice review and future needs; and Chapter 14: Rail transit disruption management: a comprehensive review of strategies and approaches. Chapter 16 of the handbook is written for academics and professionals grappling with transit reliability in the face of many sources of delay. Its focus is on one of the key strategies for reducing transit delay: traffic signal priority (TSP). The evolution and technology behind traditional and adaptive signal priority are explored. Key lessons learned include the importance of carefully planning stop and signal location at intersections, and coordinating successive TSP intersections. Sticking to the theme of disruption management, Chapter 14 takes a broad look at the variety of strategies that are available to address rail transit delay. Rail user delays in the New York subway cost the equivalent of $389 million per year. The chapter reviews the strategies available to mitigate these disruptions and their costly implications. The chapter takes a deep dive into ‘bus bridging' or substitute bus services, a key strategy to address rail service disruption. Other strategies are grouped into supply-side or demand-side responses. Supply-side strategies relate to schedule adjustment, whereas the less common demand-side responses use information provision and crowd management. Find out more about this research in Chapters 14 and 16 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Find out more about Professor Amer Shalaby and his work: https://uttri.utoronto.ca/people/amer-shalaby/ Transit Analytics Lab (TAL), University of Toronto: https://uttri.utoronto.ca/research/research-groups/transit-analytics-lab-tal/ Center for Automated and Transformative Transportation Systems (CATTS): https://uttri.utoronto.ca/catts/ Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the seventh episode in the Research Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research Series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie speaks to Kari E. Watkins, Frederick Law Olmsted Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). She is also the lead author of Chapter 21 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research: Advances in transit customer information. Associate Professor Watkins is the director of the T-SCORE (Transit-Serving Communities Optimally, Responsible, and Efficiently) Center, a US DOT-funded program that brings together several universities to conduct research into the future of transit. T-SCORE's mission is to understand ridership trends and the underlying drivers of change, and identify ways to position transit as a robust part of any future transportation system. An early contribution of the program is the development of future transportation scenarios, based on expert interviews. Prior to her current role at Georgia Tech, Watkins completed a PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle. During her PhD she co-developed the real-time transit app One-Bus-Away. The app was among the first to harness smartphones and real-time transit information technologies, capable of providing users with up-to-date transit vehicle location data. Watkins continues to undertake research in transit customer information. Such information is critical, she says, for facilitating transit use by giving potential users the information they need to plan their journeys on transit when other alternatives are available. As its title suggests, Chapter 21 of the Handbook reviews the technologies, standards and apps making data about transit more readily available for both customers and planners. Three advances are focal points: the opening up of GTFS, the widespread adoption of smartphones, and data standardisation. Together, this has led to the emergence of reusable smart-phone integrated applications that can be readily adapted for new agencies/systems. Data standardisation has been key to disseminating information for agencies that might not have in-house resources to provide their information otherwise. The Chapter concludes with a look to the future and potentials of open and standardised transit data, including efficient microtransit and adaptation to other modes of transportation such as bikeshare, that often interface with public transport. Find out more about Kari E. Watkins and her work: https://ce.gatech.edu/people/faculty/5861/overview T-SCORE Center: http://tscore.ce.gatech.edu/ One-Bus-Away: https://onebusaway.org/ Find out more about the Handbook of Public Transport Research, and Kari's chapter here: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Have feedback? Find us on twitter and Instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the fourth episode in the Researching Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research series. Links to obtain the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Curries speaks to Professor Ahmed El-Geneidy. El-Geneidy is professor of transport planning at McGill University, and one of the co-authors of Chapter 4 of the Handbook: Transit customer satisfaction research: Is the customer always right?. Professor El-Geneidy has a prolific publication record that spans transport and land use, cycling and public transport. He explains how mentors have helped him develop the ability to ask the right questions, work efficiently, and collaborate with others. In turn, El-Geneidy explains how he approaches his role as a mentor to research students at the Transportation Research at McGill (TRAM) group, which he leads. El-Geneidy discusses some of the forces that are amplifying the impact and reach of public transport research. Two of these are collaboration and data. Recently, researchers around the world pooled their insights about transportation access, including public transport systems, to benchmark accessibility around the world. A paper documenting this research was recently published in Nature's Urban Sustainability journal. The other force they discuss is data. Not only is more public transport data being created, but the methods available for harnessing this data are improving. In Chapter 4 of the Handbook, El-Geneidy and his co-authors Madalena Harreman-Fernandes, Ehab Diab, Boer Cui, James DeWeese, Miles Crumley explore insights about customer satisfaction on buses, using complaints data. Taking a customer-focused approach, the researchers examined complaints made by users of Portland's Tri-Met bus network. Complaints were classified into themes including customer satisfaction with service quality and critical incidents. The researchers cross-referenced this information with operational data to explore causes and validate complaints. For example, pass-by incidents could be matched with time-stamped operational data and occupancy to identify instances where overcrowding may have prompted stop skipping as the source of pass-by complaints. Such information provides useful insight for operators about the actual causes of customer dissatisfaction. El-Geneidy notes that the potential of data to be put to use in transport planning is only beginning to be realised. New methods of extracting and cleaning the data are key to tapping into its full potential. Find out more about today's show in Chapter 4 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research - Transit Customer satisfaction research: Is the customer always right? The Handbook is available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Learn more about Professor El Geneidy and Transportation Research at McGill (TRAM) https://www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning/people-0/el-geneidy http://tram.mcgill.ca/index.html Read about access around the world in the recently published academic paper: Wu, H., Avner, P., Boisjoly, G., Braga, C.K.V., El-Geneidy, A., Huang, J., Kerzhner, T., Murphy, B., Niedzielski, M.A., Pereira, R.H.M., Pritchard, J.P., Stewart, A., Wang, J., Levinson, D., 2021. Urban access across the globe: an international comparison of different transport modes. npj Urban Sustainability 1, 16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-021-00020-2 Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the fifth episode in the Researching Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research series. Links to the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie speaks to Margareta Friman and Maria Borjesson, two of the authors of Chapter 20 of the Handbook: Large increases in bus use in Sweden: lessons learned. Margareta Friman works at Karlstad University where she is Pro-vice Chancellor, as well as Professor of Psychology and member of the Service and Market Oriented Transport (SAMOT) Research Group. Maria Borjesson is Professor of Economics and a researcher at VTI – The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute and Likoping University. Professor Friman talks about the three areas of focus for public transport research at SAMOT: travel behaviour, travel experiences, and perceived accessibility. One of SAMOT's strengths is pairing psychology and business perspectives to provide insights about the motivations for public transport mode shift. Their research has also elevated the role of the user, not just gaining insights about their travel experiences, but also giving a user focus to contracting and service design. Their perceived accessibility research aims to understand the extent to which users feel they can undertake the travel they want. SAMOT's ongoing passenger experience research unveiled a shift in the relative importance of ‘stress' during COVID-19, with its relative importance increasing. Professor Friman is joined by Professor Maria Borjesson to discuss the lessons learned from Sweden's major bus network expansion, the focus of Chapter 20 of the Handbook. In recent years, Sweden enjoyed a 50% increase in bus use. How did they achieve this? The country increased the supply of bus services dramatically. Yet despite this expansion, operating costs increased per unit of travel. They attribute this to the bespoke, and not necessarily supply-driven, nature of the revamped network. Increased operating costs have driven up the ticket price of transport dramatically, which has in turn created an equity issue for pre-existing users of public transport. Finally, Sweden has not seen a reduction in car use. This demonstrates the need to understand if bus use can really reduce car travel; a major motivation for Sweden's investment in the bus network. Find out more about this research in Chapter 20 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, co-authored by today's guests as well as Masoud Fadei, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html. Learn more about the people and projects in today's show: Professor Margareta Friman https://www.kau.se/en/researchers/margareta-friman Service and Market Oriented Transport (SAMOT) Research Group - https://www.kau.se/en/ctf/research/ctf-research/research-projects/samot-service-and-market-oriented-transport-research Professor Maria Borjesson: https://www.vti.se/en/employees/maria-bratt-borjesson VTI; Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute: https://www.vti.se/en Have feedback? Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com/

This is the fourth episode in the Researching Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research series. Links to obtain the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie speaks to the author of Chapter 9, The Total Social Cost (TSC) of Public Transport Modes, Professor John Preston. John Preston is Professor of Rail Transport in the Transportation Research Group at the University of Southampton. Professor Preston talks about his pathway into rail transit research, noting the shifting focus particularly in the realm of transit demand forecasting. He notes the move away from probabilistic demand models, suggesting future research will need to deliver more nuanced understanding of the drivers of transit ridership. Professor Preston discusses some of the projects his research group and collaborators have delivered, including station-level demand prediction tools, and an ongoing project to develop Mobility as a Service tools. Professor Preston then elaborates the concept of Total Social Cost (TSC) models of public transport, the focus of his Chapter in the Handbook of Public Transport Research. TSC comprises three elements: operator costs, user costs and external costs. As well as considering operator costs, the TSC approach to modelling transit alternatives considers their ease of use (user cost) and their impact on such external factors as congestion, emissions and safety (external costs). Considering all three can help agencies and governments choose more appropriate transit technologies. The book chapter contains more detail concerning the economic appraisal of each aspect along with case studies from Vietnam (1) and China (used to evaluate the famous straddling bus concept (2) among others) about the economic costing of each aspect. Find out more about this research in Chapter 9 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher's website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html Learn more about Professor Preston and the concepts in today's show: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/about/staff/jpreston.page Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/research/groups/transportation_group.page Example of a Total Social Cost Alternative Transit Mode Analysis in Vietnam http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Figure-1-Example-Total-Social-Cost-Alternative-Transit-Mode-Analysis-in-Vietnam-Source-Vu-and-Preston-2020.jpg (1) Tam Vu & John Preston (2020) Assessing the social costs of urban transport infrastructure options in low and middle income countries, Transportation Planning and Technology, 43:4, 365-384, DOI: 10.1080/03081060.2020.1747202 (2) An example of the straddle bus concept: http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100906/000bcdb95f1d0deeddd41e.jpg

This is the third episode in the Researching Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research series. Links to obtain the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Curries speaks to authors of Chapter 19, Incorporating Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) automotive services into Public Transportation, Emma Lucken and Susan Shaheen. Susan Shaheen is Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. She is also Co-director, Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC), UC Berkeley, and chair of the US Transportation Research Board Executive committee. Emma Lucken is undertaking a PhD in transportation engineering and is also a member of TSRC. Professor Shaheen reflects on the motivation and philosophy that has underpinned her research career in transportation. She has always sought to challenge the status quo, using technology to provide sustainable mobility options that could be superior to private automobile ownership and use, particularly from an environmental and social perspective. Public transport, paired with other mobility options, is central to providing mobility without the need for car ownership. Turning attention to the book chapter, Shaheen makes the distinction between Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Mobility on demand refers to an ecosystem of transport options that offer integrated and seamless access. Transportation network companies (TNCs, or ridesharing services as they are more commonly known in Australia), as well as microtransit and public transportation, make up links in this ecosystem. Mobility as a Service refers to the provision of on-demand mobility through apps and subscriptions. Emma Lucken describes the different service models of some of the 62 TNC and microtransit projects identified in the USA. Four main models emerge, which can be described by the ways in which the public-private partnerships seek to supplement fixed-route transit. These include: first- and last-mile services, low-density services, off-peak services and paratransit services for users who may not be able to use fixed route services as readily or who may not be able to harness the technology that often accompanies Mobility on Demand. Find out more about this research in Chapter 19 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research, available for purchase from the publisher’s website: www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook…781788978651.html Learn more about the people and projects in today’s show: Prof Susan Shaheen: https://ce.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/shaheen Emma Lucken: https://tsrc.berkeley.edu/emma-lucken Transportation Sustainability Research Centre: https://tsrc.berkeley.edu/ Innovative Mobility Research (Susan’s lab): http://innovativemobility.org/ If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy episode 12 with Dr Taru Jain , on the role of carshare in the mobility ecosystem http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/?p=51729. Have feedback? Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

This is the second episode in the Researching Transit Handbook of Public Transport Research series. Links to obtain the book can be found at the end of the notes. In this episode, Professor Graham Currie speaks to another of the book’s authors, Associate Professor Oded Cats. Dr Cats cofounded and co-directs the Smart Public Transport Lab, in the Department of Transport Planning, at TU Delft. Two key areas of focus for the Smart PT Lab are network resilience (the focus of Chapter 12 in the Handbook), as well as changing public transport usage patterns. This includes charting the interaction of public transport with other travel modes, including the role of the bicycle in rail journeys, as well as emerging mobility technologies. The Critical MaaS project with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) explored the role of public transport on demand in the future mobility ecosystem. Chapter 12 of the Handbook of Public Transport Research focuses network resilience. The chapter, Public Transport Network Resilience, was written by Dr Menno Yap and. Dr Cats. During the interview, Dr. Cats discusses some of the indicators and strategies that can be used to model the impact of unexpected events. He discusses the special case of the black swan event, the event that can’t be planned for because it has not been experienced before. He emphasises the need to strike an effective balance between efficiency and network resilience. Taking a passenger experience focus has been a hallmark of projects and research into network reliability. The use of smartcard data has been central to these efforts. In a recent example of collaboration across academia and industry, the Smart PT Lab for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to understand and address trip-level delays experienced by individual passengers. The Smart PT Lab’s research was central to implementing a scheme aimed at improving the passenger experience, by providing refunds for trips that were delayed more than 15 minutes. The success of the scheme has resulted in the delay window being reduced to 10 minutes. The Handbook of Public Transport Research is available for purchase from the publisher’s website: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html Learn more about the people and projects in today’s show: Smart Public Transport Lab: http://smartptlab.tudelft.nl/ Oded Cats: https://odedcats.weblog.tudelft.nl/ Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS): https://www.tudelft.nl/bk/samenwerken/amsterdam-institute-for-advanced-metropolitan-solutions Read lessons learned from the WMATA project, undertake by Dr. Menno Yap and Dr. Oded Cats. Yap, M.D., Cats, O., 2020. Predicting disruptions and their passenger delay impacts for public transport stops. Transportation (Dordrecht). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-020-10109-9 Have feedback? We’re listening. Please send your comments to info@ptrg.info Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Sign up for updates when we release shows: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Professor Graham Currie introduces a new book that is hot off the press: The Handbook of Public Transport Research. The book, edited by Professor Currie, is the most recent in the Research Handbooks in Transport Studies series, published by Edward Elgar. It brings together the latest research from 52 authors across 10 countries, packed into 21 chapters. In this episode of the podcast, Graham provides an in-depth preview of the book. The aim of the book is to guide readers through the emerging challenges and opportunities for public transport posed by urbanisation and the growth of mega-cities. The book weaves together expert knowledge and research at the intersection of public transport and a diverse array of disciplines. These include industrial designing, optimisation, economics and land-use planning. It is organised into five sections, which enable practitioners and researchers to dive into the perspective that is relevant for them. These are: - Research Foundations - User Perspectives - Policy Perspectives - Planning and Operations Perspectives - Service development and Future Perspectives We take a deeper look at Chapter Two - State of the Art of Public Transport Research. This Chapter, co-authored by Dr Nicholas Fournier (UC Berkeley) and Graham, provides an interesting overview of the geographic trends and topic strengths and weaknesses in public transport research. This episode is the first in a series that will cover a chapter of the handbook in depth through conversations with the authors. Download the book from Edward Elgar publishing https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-public-transport-research-9781788978651.html You can stay up to date with public transport innovations via World Transit Research, the database used by authors Nicholas Fournier and Professor Currie to compile Public Transport: State of the Art, for this book. Subscribe: www.worldtransitresearch.info. Have feedback? We’re listening. Please send your comments to info@ptrg.info.Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit. Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Dr Alexa Delbosc is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University. With a PhD in civil engineering and a Masters in social psychology, Dr Delbosc’s expertise is geared toward understanding the psychology of transport use. In today’s show, she speaks with Professor Graham Currie about the psychology of public transport use. Dr Delbosc first discusses the public transport habits of millennials, including how COVID-19 has affected their life plans and mobility. She also delves into a new and novel research topic: that of mindfulness and mobility. Dr Delbosc discusses the unique opportunity public transport presents to ‘send the mind away’, and how this affects their experience of travelling. Read more about Alexa and her latest research on the topics discussed during today’s show: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/alexa-delbosc Who’s most affected on public transport in the time of coronavirus? https://theconversation.com/whos-most-affected-on-public-transport-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-133429 Millennials in cities: comparing travel behaviour trends across six case study regions, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.01.023 Have feedback? We’re listening. Please send your comments to info@ptrg.info.Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Dr Robbie Napper is an industrial designer who applies his skills to make public transport easier to use. Robbie works as a lecturer and researcher in the Monash University Department of Design, and is Deputy Director of the Mobility Design Lab, as well as a member of a number of TRB research committees. Robbie is interested in making sure transit is fit for purpose. This means understanding the user, and asking ‘whose purpose’? He speaks about the design approach to developing better transit solutions, which involves testing an iterating over solutions, and designing them with subtle variations to meet the needs of different user groups. Read more about Robbie and his work in the Mobility Design Lab: • https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/robbie-napper • https://www.monash.edu/mada/research/mobility-design-lab Read about the Wheelie project: https://www.monash.edu/mada/research/the-wheelie Have feedback? We’re listening. Please send your comments to info@ptrg.info.Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Brendon Hemily is an independent public transport consultant based in Toronto, and Chair of the Public Transportation Group at Transportation Research Board (TRB). TRB brings together researchers, practitioners, government agency staff, and others, from all modes of transportation, to identify research needs, review current research, conduct research, and share and disseminate knowledge on transport research. It is the largest forum for transportation research in the world. Speaking from experience in both research and practice, Brendon describes the challenges involved in ensuring academic research is pitched appropriately for use in the real world, and leads to innovation in practice. He also reflects on the drastic changes to both the running of TRB, including the move to a virtual conference in January of this year, and of research priorities generally in light of the pressures that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on public transport operations. You will find Brendon on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendon-hemily-45104210 Have feedback? We’re listening. Please send your comments to info@ptrg.info. Find us on twitter and instagram @transitpodcast or using #researchingtransit Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In today’s show, Graham turns the tables on Laura, delving in to her research which unpacks the relationship between the built environment and public transport use. Laura starts by providing some context about the role of land use in influencing travel demand, before defining the term “built environment” in the context of travel behaviour. Land use is the fundamental unit of demand for transport within cities, and public transport is at its most efficient when it is integrated with the surrounding land use. When it comes to making choices about which mode to use, there are a broader set of built environment characteristics that affects choice; such as • land use intensity, • pedestrian permeability and amenity, • land-use mix and • the accessibility of destinations. Laura charts a brief history of transport and land use research and policy. They have in common a goal of understanding – or creating - transit-friendly, walkable neighbourhoods that reduce the need to travel. It’s a topic that has been turbocharged by COVID-19; in the interest of reducing crowding while ensuring people are able to fulfil their daily living necessities and enjoy a high quality of life in their neighbourhood “Space in cities is at a premium and transport corridors allow for efficient movement of people.” Despite an abundance of research, or perhaps because of it, there remains a lack of clarity about the importance of different built environment factors for encouraging transit use. Another gap Laura sought to address was whether there were significant differences in the predictors of transit use by mode. Laura sought to understand whether demand for urban bus use was associated with a different set of urban form features compared to rail. However, exploring this question required first addressing pre-existing bias in the location of different modes in a network. For example, bus, by virtue of its flexible routing, usually provides more coverage in lower density areas away from mixed-use activity centres than rail. The first empirical study in Melbourne addressed this mode location bias and identified that the demand models for individual modes were different (2). This was affirmed by further analysis that drew on an even larger dataset spanning three multimodal transit networks, complementing the Melbourne dataset with rich data for Boston and Amsterdam’s urban form and transit ridership. In fact, few factors are common between modes across the study areas. “[transit] mode is one of the contextual factors that needs to be taken into account when you are trying to accurately predict demand, or build models for planning”. This research highlighted that bus demand also shows a significant link to urban form. Better understanding the psychological pathways by which the built environment affects perceptions about bus travel may provide a key to unlock successful bus-oriented development. Visit the full shownotes on the website for links to Laura's publications: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/?p=51790 Check out other great mass transit podcasts, and subscribe for instant downloads by visiting Feedspot’s Top 20 list. https://blog.feedspot.com/mass_transit_and_public_transport_podcasts/ Sign up for updates when we release shows: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Professor Graham Currie speaks with Dr John Hultén from K2; the Swedish Knowledge Centre for Public Transport. Directed by Dr Hultén, K2 derives its name from the Swedish words kollektivtrafik (public transportation) and kunskap (knowledge). The centre was formed out of a drive for more comprehensive and integrated public transport research in 2013. It operates under a unique partnership model, bringing together two universities, a research institute and the three metropolitan regions which govern Sweden’s public transport. K2’s research agenda was defined by Sweden’s public transportation actors. Focus areas include: • the future of mobility, • markets for, and funding of, public transport, • the impact of interventions on public transport performance, • integrated transport planning and • public transport for all, which captures the social aspects of public transport. This interdisciplinary agenda reflects the decision-making focus that Dr Hultén, a political scientist by training, regards as an important and traditionally overlooked research area for public transport. The centre oversees both small, rapid projects; as well as larger projects. A requirement of project funding is a certain level of engagement and co-development of research projects with the public transport industry. Dr Hultén shares some lessons about the ingredients for successful collaboration between research and practice. Relationships, trust and being able to articulate added value lie at the heart of K2’s success. Their added value is its critical mass of important partners, and its ability to provide a one-stop shop for practitioners to engage with academia. Current issues for public transport research in Sweden include the future of public transport, sustainable mobility choices outside cities and procurement. Recent focus on increasing transit’s market share has seen transit concentrated into cities, where there is high ridership demand. Yet in Sweden, a large proportion of the population lives outside the city. New ways must be found to provide sustainable mobility choices for people living outside urban areas. K2 also has a strong focus on procurement. Their research continues to investigate the effect of incentives in public transport operating contract on ridership performance. So far, no conclusive evidence that incentives promote ridership. “Incentives are not enough. You also need to have freedom to do things as an operator. If you don’t have that freedom, you can’t change anything in accordance with incentives.” As in many other countries and cities, Swedish public transport fares are fixed, as are service areas and route alignments. This inhibits operators’ ability to innovate to meet the incentives. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the lack of sensitivity of contracting arrangements to the ridership fluctuation experienced during the COVI-19 pandemic. To access K2’s research outputs, visit http://www.k2centrum.se/en. Dr Hultén encourages anyone interested in collaborating with K2 to get in touch. Sing up for updates when we release shows: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Creating tools that are capable of engaging the public in the design of local transport and planning has never been more important. In today’s show, we explore how digital tools can facilitate smarter and more collaborative planning. I spoke to Oliver Lock from the University of New South Wale’s City Analystics and Expanded Perception & Interaction Centred (EPICentre), and 2019 Smart Cities Young Smart Innovator of the year, and Dr Claire Boulangé, transport modeller at KPMG. Oli is currently undertaking a PhD, which explores how we use data and digital tools to help the public and decision makers plan cities, otherwise known as participatory analytics. Claire completed PhD in urban planning and population health at Melbourne University. Through her research she developed the Walkability Planning Support System. In her role as transport modelling consultant, she continues to explore the synergies between transport and health. The term Planning Support System is often used to collectively describe tools that support planners. These tools have evolved from paper-based to digital maps to immersive visualisations. New tools go beyond description (what’s there?) to diagnosis (why is it there?) to prediction (what happens if it is there?). Decision making can leverage these tools to help prescribe what is needed and where, to achieve societal goals. Smart, digital tools combine traditional information about individual preferences and new forms of passive data about how people move around, with the existing information we have about the city. Mobility patterns are changing, and they are also diverse. Increasing the efficiency of public transport relies on being able to understand what will make people travel differently. It is also increasingly important to factor in individual preferences to our transport solutions; and to do so by asking people. These digital tools make that process of engagement more replicable, scalable and therefore transcend existing barriers. Greater availability of training material for tools which were once niche; has set the scene for upskilling in these domains. For a full acount of Oliver and Claire's development and application of digital tools, and their lessons learned, read the full show notes at http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/?p=51766 Sign up for updates when we release new Researching Transit episodes: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Dr Lorelei Schmitt now works as Principal Multimodal Advisor at Waka Kotahi, Māori for ‘travelling together as one’(1), and the name of the New Zealand Transport Agency. In today’s show, Lorelei discusses the importance of first impressions on public transport and the collaborative ways NZTA is building the agency’s capability to integrate different modes of transport. Lorelei completed a PhD as a member of the Public Transport Research Group. Her research focused on unfamiliar travel, among new users, visitors or users changing routes or modes in public transport networks. Leveraging her psychology training, Lorelei explored the ways in which unfamiliar trips differ from familiar trips. Unfamiliar travel has a primacy effect, conjuring more vivid recollections than for habitual trips. The way people perceive a network is important for shaping future behaviours. Visitors also form opinions about cities based on their unfamiliar journeys. In addition, new users have a higher cognitive load. She highlights the importance of providing clear signage and real-time information, since not all travellers have access to smart devices. Interventions can be targeted around locations or times when unfamiliar journeys often occur, such as sporting events or university semesters to ensure new users have a positive and efficient experience. As a multi-modal planner in New Zealand, Lorelei’s responsibilities include developing national public transport design guidelines collaboratively with local and regional agencies who deliver transit. The first iteration of the Public Transport Design Guidelines (2) provides advice on public transport infrastructure, including bus stop design and corridor clearance. They are designed to promote national consistency in the delivery of public transport, tailored to the New Zealand regulatory environment. Developing a tool that is useful for a wide range of stakeholders with different expertise was an unexpectedly complicated process. “Trying to get solutions that are really passenger-centric, user-friendly, but also meet all the different requirements of different transport planners of different modes hasn’t been a simple exercise” Multi-modal integration inherently complicates the transport planning process. A key challenge is enabling people to realise that what’s good for one mode isn’t necessarily best for the system as a whole. Much of the formal training for transport planning has a vehicle throughput focus. In the interest of achieving better multi-modal integration, Lorelei’s team explored the project funding and delivery Lifecyle to identify key stakeholders pivotal in shaping projects. Training modules developed by Waka Kotahi is provided to these stakeholders to lift the multimodal capability and unlock multimodal potential of projects. One key area that has benefited from collaboration between planners with different modal expertise is that of safety. Interestingly, Lorelei’s multi-modal responsibilities extend to that of Te Araroa, a 3000km walking trail that runs the length of New Zealand (3). Working with the road engineers improved the safety outcome for walkers at an intersection where Te Araroa crossed a major highway. Lorelei stresses the need for empathy, patience and collaboration when challenging status quo for modes. Multi-modal planning also fosters consideration of a wider range of access and mobility needs across the community. The process of collaborative planning therefore allows for accessibility to be provided more equitably. Visit our website for the full notes from today's show. Sing up for updates when we release shows: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Professor Graham Currie speaks with innovators Dr. Velvet Basemera-Fitzpatrick and Dr. Drew Dara-Abrams. Dr. Fitzpatrick is a Senior Program Officer for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. TRB, host of the world’s largest annual meeting for transportation research, plays an immense role in both generating and disseminating transport research. Dr. Fitzpatrick discusses her work with novel technology projects through TRB’s Transit IDEA program. The Transit IDEA program – Transit Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis - was founded in 1992 with the aim of funding unproven early-stage research; projects that are too risky for other institutions to invest in. Each year, a call for proposals is developed which reflects needs in the field of transportation. An expert panel evaluates proposals and selects eligible projects. To date, 99 projects have received funding through the program. Transit projects funded through the program are diverse in scope. Examples include drone technologies that make parking at Commuter Rail stations safer; and bus sensor technology that identifies riders in need of extra assistance for boarding and alighting. Dr. Drew Dara-Abrams of Interline Technologies has been involved in a recent IDEA-funded project. Drew works with transit agencies realise the value of high quality real-time transit data (through general transit feed specifications, or gtfs). Funding from the IDEA program has spurred incorporation of this real-time data into the Transit.Land open access platform, that provides an interface for agencies to query their timetable data. Learn more about Interline Technologies’ work by visiting www.interline.io. Dr. Fitzpatrick speaks about the complexity, partnerships, risks and dedication that go into developing implemenetation-ready technologies in transport. One challenge is the longer-term payoff associated with early-stage innovation; which means projects require sustained effort and investment beyond the life of Transit IDEA funding. This is why Transit IDEA works with project teams to grow their networks and attract funding. She highlights two key lessons for innovators in transportation should be: 1. Project goals should be sustainable, beyond the life and modality of the project 2. Project teams must be flexible; accepting of risk and unexpected events Want to learn more about transit innovations? • Visit project descriptions on the Transit IDEA website: http://www.trb.org/IDEAProgram/IDEATransit.aspx • Innovation in Action is the Transit IDEA Program’s first ever innovation report. Released in January 2020, the report highlights the impact of the program to date: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/IDEA/FinalReports/Transit/TransitJ04A.pdf • The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) first received funding in 1991 after Willim (Bill) Millar and APTA highlighted the importance of research in public transportation. Since then, over $10 million has been invested in over 500 projects under the TRB banner. Source: Bill Millar’s Exit Interview: APTA’s Chief Signs Off (Metro Magazine, 2011) Sign up for updates when we release new Researching Transit episodes: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Dr Zhenliang Ma is a researcher and lecturer at Monash University and co-director of the graduate transport program jointly run by Monash University and Southeast University in China. Dr Ma moved to Monash after working at MIT, to join its interdisciplinary public research team. This episode addresses the potential for data analytics to help transit agencies diagnose problems and identify opportunities to improve operations and customer satisfaction. Dr Ma provides some examples of problems that are suited to a data-driven solution, and some that aren’t. “[Data analytics] is used to try to transform data into information to derive insights, and from those insights, make better decisions.” He characterises three particular applications of data analysis to transit problems: 1. Inferences problems, which leverage descriptive and diagnostic problems, which use travel data to understand system performance, and passenger decision making 2. Prediction problems, which use predictive analysis to improve real time control of vehicles based on traffic conditions and disruption 3. Long-term demand management problems, which use prescriptive analysis to test how users would respond to different incentives designed to change travel behaviour. We discuss the application of prescriptive data analysis to address severe crowding in Hong Kong’s metro system (a similar solution to peak crowding is discussed in the Singapore context by Dr Waiyan Leong in Episode 7). This project sought to improve the payoff for demand management interventions by identifying users most likely to respond. Dr Ma mentions a trial of a personalised incentive system for San Francisco’s Bay Area Transportation Authority (BART). The success rate of demand management improved for incentives targeted toward individuals rather than the station. Data analysis was used to understand behavioural responses to incentives, and to design the final demand management strategy to optimise success. “The transportation system is very complex. By changing a small portion of the passengers behaviour, congestion will be solved” Dr Ma defines three steps to tackle constrained public transport capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting this very deliberate approach to thinking about data science problems, he does so in the language of data science, proposing first to use data to describe usage patterns, diagnose problematic times, and predict what response might occur under different policy scenarios. Being deliberate in the way you approach the problem is key. “We really need to think about how to represent our data, to tell the story or to understand the problem, and then we can develop new insights from that” However, although data analysis is useful for exploring a problem, it cannot explain why. Data-driven solutions alone are not enough to understand why human make decisions. “Data science is just one of the tools, out of the set of tool that we can use to solve transport problems” What makes a great public transport data analyst? First, is an interest in data, and and open and sceptical mind (prepared to challenge results). Skills in programming, statistics and visualisation will give the aspiring data analyst a toolbox for their work. Finally and most importantly, is domain knowledge. Find Dr Ma’s publications and recommendations for upskilling in the full shownotes on our website: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/?p=51742 Sing up for updates when we release shows: http://eepurl.com/g9tCdb Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Angel Cantillo from the Catholic University of Santiago explains the impacts of fare evasion, and new approaches to understanding and addressing the motivations of fare evaders Fare evasion impacts the operating costs of transit network around the world. It can create negative perceptions toward the public transport network, of insecurity and unfairness, which in turn impacts transit use. However, traditional approaches to enforcing fare compliance, including physical barriers or fines, are no longer regarded as effective. Facebook groups and other ‘out in the open’ anti-fare groups demonstrate the limits of physical barriers when enforceability is limited. Conversely, such approaches may have unintended consequences for certain users. “When the same person fare evades many times, something is not working” Can understanding the nuanced motivations unlock more effective solutions than the traditional enforcement approach? According to Angel, when it comes to understanding and addressing fare evasion, obtaining good evidence is key. “Your solution will be as good as your data is” Fare evaders are different, and motivated by different factors. The actions of fare evaders often signpost opportunities to improve our transit systems. In this episode, Angel refers to work by PTRG to understand fare evaders ' motivations. Learn more: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/?p=16705 See also: Delbosc, A., & Currie, G. (2019). Why do people fare evade? A global shift in fare evasion research. Transport Reviews, 39(3), 376-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2018.1482382 Researching Transit is brought to you by the Public Transport Research Group in the Monash University Department of Civil Engineering. Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Car share is a subscription service for cars. It allows users to drive a car, without owning a car. The city of Melbourne, Australia, plays host to over 1,500 shared vehicles which operate as part of commercial fleets or peer-to-peer (privately owned) vehicles. But the benefits of car share go beyond those to the individual (flexibility and cost savings from registration, fuel and the capital cost of cars). At a societal level, car share also benefits cities by reducing parking demand and congestion. But what is the role of car share in the transport system? How does it serve the mobility needs of its users and provide an alternative to car ownership? Taru’s research aimed to help different levels of Government in Victoria understand how car share was affecting mobility choices and thus its role in supporting the State’s transport and sustainability objectives. “Public transport is great, but not having a car on weekends when you want to travel different places can be frustrating, and that’s what the role of car share was.” To gain this understanding, Taru’s project pursued three objectives: exploring trends in usage and availability of care share, understanding car share impacts on travel behaviour; and gaining an understanding of the psycho-social motives and barriers for care share use. Interviews of car share users also revealed five types of users. Importantly, two of the user groups – the car aspirers and car sellers – were characterised by changes in their car usage and ownership over the course of their car share membership. Taru emphasises the importance of major life events – a detail that often goes overlooked in purely quantitative studies. By limiting unnecessary trips, and limiting the acquisition of new cars, car share also contributes to a more efficient transport network. Taru’s research also identified an important role for Local Government in maximising uptake, retention of car share subscribers and stemming car ownership. Dr Jain emphasises the need for clear regulation and supportive policies so that operators can ensure widespread availability of car share vehicles, emphasising the importance of providing car share proximity to public transport. In doing so, governments will help maximise retention of car share subscribers and stem car ownership. Her work suggests that rather than being seen as a silver bullet to private car related problems, car share should be seen as part of a mobility ecosystem which encourages sustainable travel practices. This research has introduced Dr Jain to some useful frameworks for understanding behavioural motivations and enablers, which she explains with reference to the developing Corona virus pandemic and the behavioural responses seen in its midst. Taru’s publications can be accessed at the links below Jain, T., Johnson, M., & Rose, G. (2020). Exploring the process of travel behaviour change and mobility trajectories associated with car share adoption. Travel Behaviour and Society, 18, 117–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2019.10.006 Jain, T., Wang, X., Rose, G., & Johnson, M. (2018). Does the role of a bicycle share system in a city change over time? A longitudinal analysis of casual users and long-term subscribers. Journal of Transport Geography, 71, 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.06.023 Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Singapore is a leading force in railway reliability and service quality. In this episode of researching transit, Professor Graham Currie speaks with George Sun of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority’s (LTA), to find out how research contributes to Singapore’s rail transit success. Mr Sun discusses how Singapore’s rapid network growth is an important factor in creating the environment for research to thrive. LTA has leveraged research to educate and upskill its entire workforce. This has helped the organisation shift away from reactive, to proactive reliability engineering. The emergence of data analytics and automation have helped this effort, though it is with a cautious attitude that LTA is embracing these technologies. “People thought that data analytics was about building fancy models, but it is far more important to clean the data, to have domain knowledge, to make judgements in] what type of model can deliver a quick solution.” Mr Sun expresses the role of automation in decoupling rail reliability from human performance. He notes that while Singapore’s rolling stock are embedded with automated capabilities, infrastructure has yet to be upgraded before the rail network (MRT) can become fully automated. Key to Singapore’s excellent track record in railway reliability (1) is its commitment to an ecosystem of research. Mr Sun discusses LTA’s vision for the future of railway transit reliability in Singapore. He notes a shift toward solutions that are not only research-focused, but also technology and innovation driven, requiring the involvement of stakeholders from start-up companies to operators as well as universities. To learn more about public transport in Singapore, visit the LTA’s website: https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/upcoming_projects.html#technologies_innovations 1 – Professor Currie notes MRt experienced just 20 major delays, referring to figures published in 2018 (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/singapores-rail-reliability-continues-to-improve-in-first-half-of-2019)

In our tenth show, we explore a variety of topics that showcase Dr Kara Kockelman’s curiosity and the collaboration across disciplines that is a hallmark of her research. Dr Kockelman provides a refreshing take on the power of statistics as a tool for making sense of information. It has allowed her to probe a range of issues and bridge topics such as transport and land use, welfare and congestion. We speak about her early work at the nexus of transport and land use, when interest was first directed toward the role of planning in affecting traffic outcomes. Based on extensive research, Dr Kara Kockelman provides a clear picture of shared autonomy and its distinct safety and efficiency advantages. According to Dr Kockelman, designing compact AVs which run on electric power, and operate on a dynamic ridesharing basis, will be essential for keeping congestion down and fostering sustainable mobility. “Every time we make driving easier, we get more of it. Those downsides were a concern to me… I wanted to think about how we can mitigate those accompanying issues.” Dr Kockelmam speaks about a model for SAV operation in which they are run by transit operators. SAVs operating in centralised fleets will be nimble, demand-responsive and able to take advantage of existing infrastructure investments. The role of conventional transit, however, will likely diminish, with central SAV fleets offering a more flexible and frequent service. She suggests private ridesharing models will continue to play a role among those wanting the most flexible and individualised service. This new style of publicly-deployed mobility has significant equity advantages; removing the ability to drive as a prerequisite for automobility. We shift our conversation to one of Dr Kockelman’s co-curricular pursuits; the Bridging Transportation Research virtual conference series. Dr Kockelman gained some valuable experience with virtual conferencing pre-pandemic, with the inaugural BTR in January 2019. With COVID-19 putting a halt on international conference travel, the second BTR has been brought forward to 11-12 August. Kara explains the issues of equity, cost, fatigue and environmental impacts that inspired her to initiate the conference series together with hard working colleagues from around the world. The second BTR sees 70 registrations, up from 18. This uptake reflects an increase in exposure and traction, but is also a sign of COVID-19 changing the game for virtual conferencing both in the short and long term. The pandemic has shone a light on the ease and convenience of conferencing, taking the focus away from those aspects of conferences that are less readily substituted. Dr Kockelman and her team are committed to keeping the conference free and open and welcome volunteers to help deliver the BTR series. Find out ways to get involved, including registering for future conferences at bridgingtransport.org Kara closes our conversation with an authentic reflection on the simple approach that guides her impactful research: “By teaming you really can address a lot more questions than you yourself might be able to… Just keep your eyes open for what’s important.” Find out more about Dr Kockelman, including contact information, by visiting her website https://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/. There you’ll find a wealth of open access research sorted by topic, ranging from autonomous vehicles to traffic safety, modelling and pricing. Chapter eight of The Economics of Transportation Systems: A Reference for Practitioners, co-authored by Dr Kockelman, explores the use econometrics for transportation data analysis. The book is available as an open source resource at https://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/TransportationEconomics_Website/TranspEconReference.pdf For information about the Bridging Transportation Research online conference, visit bridgingtransport.org Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Professor Graham Currie chats to Dr Evan Gwee, who has 25 years’ experience working in the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore. Dr. Gwee currently oversees the Transport Research Division in the LTA. Government’s role in overseeing and stewarding research is one of the key factors contributing to Singapore’s excellent reputation in transit research and collaboration. LTA’s approach to encouraging research involves maintaining close relationships with Universities, such as Nanyang Technological University, as the incubator of ideas. In addition, LTA funds research that is aligned with LTA’s interest. They are prepared to facilitate trials so that new mobility concepts useful to Singapore can be tested on actual grounds. “We call ourselves a living lab. You can come and trial something in Singapore…We are prepared to facilitate it from a Government perspective if it is useful to Singapore” In a small but densely populated country, Evan highlights the importance of finding new solutions to today’s problems. “We are trying to stay ahead of the curve”. Among Singapore’s research priorities are harnessing new technologies so that mobility solutions meet the needs of both an ageing population and workforce. LTA has identified automation as playing a key role in meeting future mobility needs. Evan highlights the importance of both involving the public as new solutions are developed, but also in managing their expectations. Dr Gwee provides some useful insight into LTA’s criteria for new research endeavours: attractive projects are those that are aligned with LTA’s interest, can be delivered in a timely fashion, and which are scalable in terms of cost. To learn more about public transport in Singapore, visit the LTA’s website: https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/upcoming_projects.html#technologies_innovations Read about the LTA-NTU collaboration for automation by visit CETRAN Centre of excellence for testing and research of AVs; http://erian.ntu.edu.sg/Programmes/IRP/FMSs/Pages/Centre-of-Excellence-for-Testing-Research-of-AVs-NTU-CETRAN.aspx Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Dr Laura McCarthy from Monash University highlights the need to design public transport services that are convenient and safe for new parents. Her research uses a life course approach to understand the mobility changes that occur during the transition to parenthood. Dr McCarthy’s research, including qualitative interviews and a survey of new parents, aimed to explore the factors influencing mobility choices following parenthood. While there is much anecdotal understanding of the challenges faced by new parents in terms of the increasing complexity of travel with children, Laura’s research sought to build an evidence base in the empirical literature. A number of studies have shown that, overall, households with children are more car dependent than other household groups. Laura’s research identifies different groups of transport users’, or ‘mobility trajectories’, based on their pre and post parenthood mode use. This approach revealed that, while car use did increase for most groups overall, other groups displayed more sustainable travel patterns following parenthood. Despite having positive attitudes towards public transport, the largest group (so called ‘Transit Leavers’), experienced the greatest decline in transit use. Frequent public transit use declined from 50 per cent pre-parenthood to 10 per cent post-parenthood. This group was most likely to include females and primary caregivers. Each of the five groups shared different characteristics and attitudes towards travel modes. This suggests a one-size-fits-all policy-making approach may need to be abandoned in favour of a more nuanced consideration of the public transport needs of new parents. However, the findings suggest that potential policy changes don’t necessarily need to be extensive or expensive to get new parents using public transport. Even though some parents stop using public transport, they continue to hold positive attitudes towards this mode. Modest changes could be made to better accommodate families with young children using public transport and potentially retain these users.   Laura’s publications can be accessed at the links below McCarthy, L., A. Delbosc, G. Currie and A. Molloy (2019). "Trajectories and Transitions – mobility after parenthood". Transportation. (In press). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-10051-5 McCarthy, L., A. Delbosc, G. Currie and A. Molloy (2019). "Transit Faithfuls’ or ‘Transit Leavers’? Understanding mobility trajectories of new parents”. Transport Policy. 78: 105-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.04.007 McCarthy, L., A. Delbosc, G. Currie and A. Molloy (2018). "Parenthood and cars: A weakening relationship?". Transportation (In press). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9963-7 McCarthy, L., A. Delbosc, G. Currie and A. Molloy (2017). "Factors influencing travel mode choice among families with young children (aged 0–4): a review of the literature". Transport Reviews 37(6): 767-781. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2017.1354942 Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Dr Waiyan Leong, Chief Transport Economist of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority, joins Professor Graham Currie to discuss transport economics and project evaluation. Dr Leong explains the scope of research undertaken by his five-member team, comprising four economists and a psychologist. Two key areas of focus are travel behaviour change and traditional economic analysis. Dr Leong discusses some of the field trials designed in-house by his team, including the gamification of travel to school, to encourage uptake of non-car (‘car-lite’) modes among primary school students. He also shares findings from the 2013 trial of demand-shifting initiatives, designed to alleviate congestion during the peak with free and discounted travel. Trials and policy evaluations enable Wai Yan’s team understand the nuances of these demand management strategies and identify the initiatives that give the best return-on-investment. His team made the important discovery that when it comes to shifting peak travel “…a 50 cent discount is almost as effective as free”. On-location in Singapore in early 2020 (pre-COVID shutdowns), Professor Currie remarks at the visible success of integration of land use with transit. Dr Leong reveals how a robust post-implementation review process helps LTA assign the correct benefit to new projects. He shares insights from a review of the cost-benefit analysis of Singapore’s North East Line, which opened in 2003. “…we need to think a little bit harder about what sort of wider benefits we include in our project appraisal” Findings from the post-project evaluation suggest that the value individuals living near the train stations put on the increased access to jobs afforded by the opening of the line was higher than the conventional benefits estimated before project implementation. Read more about LTA’s evaluation of wider economic benefits, using the North East Line as a case study: Venter, C. and Leong, W.Y. 2018, Workshop 6 report: Wider impacts of public transport and successful implementation of desirable and beneficial projects, Research in Transportation Economics, 69, pp. 489 – 493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2018.08.006 Le, H., Lim, W.L., and Leong W.Y. 2018. Land enhancement and intensification benefits of investing in an urban rail network, Research in Transportation Economics, 69, pp. 512-522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2018.04.009 Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Picture this: a future in which shared autonomous vehicles are run by public agencies, providing equitable transport to address a multitude of travel needs in a city decoupled from car ownership. In this episode of Researching Transit, Konstanze Winter ponders this scenario and the big what-ifs it poses. Konstanze guides us through many of the pointy unknowns of automation - such as how to avoid the transformation of shared public space into parking lots for empty vehicles. “We can learn from other systems, but there’s the difference that automated vehicles can replace themselves” She sets the scene by discussing the multitude of possible technological, individual choices and policy scenarios at play. These complex interactions are being tackled by cities and researchers, trying to guide automation down a path of equity and accessibility. However, with so many questions and no lived experience of automation, how can we really anticipate the outcomes of new technology? “We cannot rely on a single study. We have to combine all studies to get a holistic picture across borders, across scenarios and across specifications.” Konstanze’s research assumes we are more likely to see shared automated vehicles than privately owned ones in our lifetime. Centrally deployed services overcome many of the barriers to automated vehicle adoption, including (1) high investment costs (2) efficient redeployment across multiple users and (3) a market segment of typical tech-savvy early adopters, who are not interested in owning a vehicle. Listen in to hear more about the potential for shared automated vehicles to provide more flexibility in our future transport network. Read Konstanze and her colleagues' published research on shared automation: Winter, K, Cats, O, Martens, K & van Arem, B 2020, 'Relocating shared automated vehicles under parking constraints: assessing the impact of different strategies for on-street parking', Transportation, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11116-020-10116-w. Winter, K, Cats, O, Martens, K & van Arem, B 'Identifying user classes for shared and automated mobility services', European Transport Research Review, vol. 12, no. 36, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12544-020-00420-y. More on the levels of driving automation (Konstanze’s research focuses on level 4 and 5): https://blog.ansi.org/2018/09/sae-levels-driving-automation-j-3016-2018/#gref More on urban parking policies and why they work: D.Shoup (2018): “Parking and the City”. New York, NY: Routledge More on why parking self-driving vehicles can be game-changer: E. Guerra & E.A. Morris (2018): Cities, Automation, and the Self-parking Elephant in the Room. Planning Theory & Practice, 19:2, 291-297 Konstanze Winter recently complete her PhD at TU Delft’s Smart Public Transport Lab. Her work is bundled in her thesis: M.K.E. Winter (2020): “Providing Public Transport by Self-Driving Vehicles – User Preferences, Fleet Operation, and Parking Management” (Doctoral dissertation). Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands. She can be contacted at linkedin.com/in/konstanzewinter. Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

The impacts of COVID-19 are felt by individuals, while also disrupting the macro processes by which society functions. The effects of restricted movements, fear of virus transmission, and reduced economic activity on travel and activity are significant. In this episode of Researching Transit, Professor Graham Currie delivers early findings of research exploring the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on travel demand. Professor Currie’s project seeks to evaluate the likely effects of COVID-19 on long term travel demand, with implications for spending on big infrastructure projects in cities. The shutdown period has seen a reduction in personal travel, leading to a marked reduction in automobile and public transport use as individuals switch to active modes and work from home instead of travelling to work. For a city like Melbourne, with an infrastructure pipeline of $57 billion, this raises questions about the relevance of such large investments in projects including a suburban rail loop and major road expansions. Despite the marked reduction in travel and shifts to alternate modes, early findings suggest that individuals will return to their preferred travel routines once the threat of the virus is gone. “The number one answer from everybody is that they will go back to the activities that they had done before… Fundamentally the land use we have, the activities we have, the employment we have and the transport system we have are all there influencing their travel patterns” The desired “return to normal” poses bigger problems for public transport, which cannot safely accommodate the normal peak capacity while the risk of virus remains. Professor Currie suggests this will encourage us to be flexible: to draw on the full range of travel demand management tools to find ways to facilitate the movement of people that were previously using public transport. With no space available for extra road capacity, this will challenge planners and policy makers to go beyond the conventional approach which has been to predict and provide. In its next phase the project will seek to understand how the population is affected differently by COVID-19, and what the behavioural responses have been. More information about the project is available at the links below. Project scope: https://lens.monash.edu/2020/05/19/1380466/will-covid-19-affect-victorias-57-billion-transport-spend Webinars: - Planning for uncertainty in public transport, Veitch Lister Consulting, https://veitchlister.com.au/webinar-planning-for-uncertainty-in-public-transport/, 13 May 2020 - Reimagining mobility in Melbourne after COVID-19, Committee for Melbourne, [insert link] 19 May 2020. Other research mentioned in this episode: Modelling public transport capacities to support safe social distancing: WSP 2020, COVID-19 & Public transport: From response to recovery, https://www.wsp.com/en-AU/insights/covid-19-and-public-transport-from-response-to-recovery Beck, M.J. and Hensher, D.A.2020, Insights into the Impact of Covid-19 on Household Travel, Working, Activities and Shopping in Australia – the early days under Restrictions, Working Paper, https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/22247 Marsden, G, Anable, J, Chatterton, T, Docherty, I, Faulconbridge, J, Murray, L, Roby, H & Shires, J 2020, 'Studying disruptive events: Innovations in behaviour, opportunities for lower carbon transport policy?', Transport Policy , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.04.008 Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

An interest in built environment and sustainable travel behaviour brought Yamini to the Netherlands and pursue a PhD in the same. After several years of researching ‘transit-oriented development’, Yamini found a new passion for ‘gendered mobility’. She found that even though this topic has been so well-researched, the people remain unaware about its consequences on their daily lives and choices. According to her, this missing link is the reason why so little has improved on ground. She now tries to create awareness on the same by transferring the knowledge from academic domain to public at large. How does women’s mobility differ from men’s? How did the planning of our cities and its transportation networks come to overlook women’s travel patterns? Yamini discusses gender bias and its equity implications in this episode of Researching Transit. “What we consider a gender-neutral approach, which is very well intentioned… has created a gender gap in our cities” Yamini explains why equitable mobility is beneficial for the entire population and dispels the misconception that gender equality is at odds with economic development. In fact, Yamini argues, the opposite is true. She adds that since Smart City technology is being hailed as a potential means of breaking down the urban mobility gender divide, she delved into the research to reconcile the promise of equity in smart cities with the reality. For now, she finds, that unconscious bias towards certain user types is apparent in the design of smart city technologies, thereby proving to be unequal and unequitable. Fortunately, there are simple ways by which, planners, women and men alike can influence more equitable planning. Yamini describes some of these. She outlines research to date that suggests development that makes public transport and active transport more accessible is also the kind of development that is more inclusive of women’s travel. More information about Yamini and her work can be found on her website www.yaminijsingh.com. She has also published content related to mobility, equity vs equality, transit-oriented development and gender on her blog. Learn more about this topic at https://yaminijsingh.wordpress.com/ including this featured post about the difference between equity and inequality: https://yaminijsingh.wordpress.com/2019/04/02/equity-or-equality/ Watch Yamini’s talk at TEDxAmsterdamWomen (themed “Bridging the gap”) at https://youtu.be/6Z2rhkVJK7k You can also read about the role of gender equity in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals here: - SDG 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5 - SDQ 10: “Reduce inequality within and among countries” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg10 Some evidence on the gender bias in mobility systems: o 1 – Bhattacharya, A. and Kopf, D. 2017, “For their own safety, Indian women are choosing o go to worse colleges than men’, Quartz India, https://qz.com/india/1138346/data-shows-that-women-in-delhi-are-choosing-to-go-to-worse-colleges-than-men-for-their-own-safety/. o 2 –YJ 2019, 'Is smart mobility also gender-smart?', Journal of Gender Studies, https://doi.orgDOI 10.1080/09589236.2019.1650728. Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

“By enabling integration of services we can provide transport alternatives to individuals that are better than their own car, which is why MaaS is attracting so much attention” Mobility as a Service promises integration of new transport technologies with existing transit networks to provide flexible transport options. Attracted by the unmatched user-orientation of MaaS, Maria Alonso Gonzalez’ research dives into the needs and attitudes of different population segments in terms of their readiness to adopt MaaS. “By catering to the needs of the users you can improve the satisfaction of the users. If you improve the satisfaction, you can improve patronage” Maria's research identified five distinctive user segments defined along the four dimensions of mobility integration, openness to new services, technological readiness and willingness to pay for an increased level of service. Two important barriers emerge as the biggest challenges to successful MaaS implementation: the digital divide and avoiding automobile attachment. Maria shares the characteristics of the market segments and the insights they yield for successful MaaS implementation in Europe, with lessons for the rest of the world. Read more about the characteristics of user segments in terms of their readiness to adopt MaaS here: “Drivers and barriers in adopting Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – A latent class cluster analysis of attitudes” (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338082996_Drivers_and_barriers_in_adopting_Mobility_as_a_Service_MaaS_-A_latent_class_cluster_analysis_of_attitudes) María can be contacted at m.j.alonsogonzalez@tudelft.nl https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaj-alonsogonzalez/ Theme music for this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

In this episode of Researching Transit, Joanna Moody discusses the future of sustainable mobility, and her research exploring car pride. We focus our discussion on car pride, its implications for car dependence in rapidly urbanising cities, and what we can do to de-market the car or market more sustainable public transit alternatives. “[Car pride] is the attribution of social status and personal image to owning and using a car” Joanna’s recent research surveyed in two U.S. cities and internationally with a sample of 42,000 people across 51 countries to clearly understand whether the symbolic attachment of success to the car (car pride) causes people to purchase cars, or if their pride results from owning and using the car. She discusses examples from New York and Houston, where findings suggest that the relationship is cyclical: car pride predicts ownership, and those who own cars are more likely to use it and have their car pride reinforced. Internationally, she finds that car pride is highest in rapidly motorising countries with less developed car markets, such as in South East Asia and the Middle East. “[There is] a symbolic value of the car that encourages people to own and use cars beyond their ability to get you where you need to go.” The reinforcing cycle of car pride and use adds to the growing car dependence of rapidly motorising countries. Understanding the symbolic attachment assigned to car ownership and use may help stem ownership rates and the feedback loop it engenders with use. According to Dr Moody, providing high quality alternatives to the private car and finding a way to connect them to an individual on a symbolic and emotional level are essential. Taking away car ownership implies a penalty – therefore something needs to be offered in return. An implication for policy-making is the need for public transport rebranding that sells its attributes. These selling points vary depending on the target user, and include its social and time saving value, as well as sustainability benefits. “Couple service and fleet improvements with marketing to better connect to the things that local people care about” AC Transit in Berkeley, California recently introduced a fleet of battery-electric buses are an example of better branding of buses that could have the potential to elicit bus pride. Joanna emphasises that sustained efforts at selling the bus fleet’s sustainability advantage and delivering high quality service to match, is needed. She also talks about the success of London’s Mind the Gap campaign. This branding has opened up opportunities for revenue streams (merchandising) that helped overcome potential cost barriers for marketing and added to the available funding to reinvest in the quality of London’s transit network. Related publications Moody, J., and J. Zhao. (2019). Car pride and its bidirectional relation with car ownership: Case studies in New York City and Houston. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 124: 334-353 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2019.04.005) Moody, J. (2019). Measuring car pride and its implications for car ownership and use across individuals, cities, and countries. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Cambridge, MA. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/123232 MIT Energy Initiative. (2019). Insights into Future Mobility: A report from the Mobility of the Future study. MIT Energy Initiative: Cambridge, MA. https://energy.mit.edu/insightsintofuturemobility/ Find out more - Find out about Joanna’s publications and research: http://www.mit.edu/~jcmoody/ - Read more about research at MIT Energy Initiative’s Mobility Systems Center at http://mobilitysystemscenter.mit.edu/ Eudy, L. 2018, Image of California’s battery electric bus, [image]. https://www.metro-magazine.com/news/photos/730412/ac-transits-hydrogen-fuel-cell-bus-evaluation-surpasses-targets/68141. Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Welcome to Researching Transit, the public transport research podcast. Your podcast hosts, Professor Graham Currie and Laura Aston, share the motivation for bringing you a podcast focused on public transport, and provide a taste for what you can expect to learn... How can transit be made more resilient, efficient, convenient and reliable? How will cities continue to meet the access and mobility needs of a growing population, while mitigating congestion and supporting thriving economies? These are questions Graham and Laura will seek to answer by interviewing leading researchers from around the world. The aim of Researching Transit is to engage the public in shared learning around contemporary issues and innovation in public transport and provide a platform for public transport research communication. Researching Transit is brought to you by the Monash University Public Transport Research Group. Music from this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com

Transit priority is controversial and its potential to unclog congested roads often goes overlooked. How can cities gain support for implementing priority measures aimed at improving the operation of transit and the efficiency of the road network? In this episode of Researching Transit, James Reynolds of Monash University’s Public Transport Research Group explains the notion of incrementalism in the context of transport planning. Mixing engineering with public policy has allowed James to recognise that technical solutions without political will are destined to languish. “It’s not just the amount of [transit] priority that matters, but the legitimacy, and how much is legitimate”. James offers three main approaches – and some pragmatic strategies – to achieve legitimacy in transit priority. Drawing on case studies from Toronto, Melbourne and Curitiba, James explains how transport planners are already achieving success by using these pragmatic strategies to implement transit priority, and that the missing element has largely been a lack of links to public policy analysis and legitimacy theory, which provide the formal language and understanding to describe these types of approaches in transport planning. For more on transit priority and related public policy research, James recommends: • Marsden and Reardon (2017) Questions of governance: rethinking the study of transportation policy, discussion to much techno-rationalism, and a lack of engagement with social sciences and politics, in transport research; • Lindblom (1959) The science of "muddling through", on incrementalism • Lindblom (1979) Still muddling, not yet through, refining incrementalism into three types • Reynolds et al. (2017) Moving beyond techno-rationalism: new models of transit priority implementation, applying public policy analysis to transit priority • Reynolds et al. (2018) Top-down versus bottom-up perspectives on streetcar priority, comparing the effectiveness of different policy implementation approaches in Melbourne Videos of presentations about the research: o PTRG Transport Research Series: on pragmatic strategies for practitioners. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdKZm70C8JtUhxmdHtdcc_gZ0n6xsP68G o PhD project final review seminar: on three main approaches: (1) building legitimacy before implementation; (2) avoiding impacts on other road users; and (3) building legitimacy through implementation; and eight pragmatic strategies https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdKZm70C8JtUkhuBkq5Jt4pvRYIQitfpi Learn more about the three different roles for public transport in a city’s transport policy of: 1) providing for social transport needs, 2) peak-period congestion relief, and/or 3) as a replacement for the car; in a chapter by Professor Graham Currie (2016) in Handbook on transport and urban planning in the developed world. Theme music for this episode is from https://www.purple-planet.com