ITS Monday: Edition 33, 2024

First month of Queensland’s 50-cent fare trial sees public transport patronage surpass pre-COVID levels

“More than 15 million trips have been taken on public transport across south-east Queensland in the first month of the state’s 50-cent fare trial, bringing use of the system above pre-pandemic levels. In a statement, the government said the number of trips was 14.5 per cent higher than during the same period last year, and 2.4 per cent higher than the same month before COVID-19.”

Related iMOVE articles:

• MaaS (Mobility as a Service) in Australia: Info, Projects & Resources
• MaaS: What have we learned, and where to next?
  

Related iMOVE project:

• Behavioural change for sustainable transport
• Mobility landscapes: Mobility as a Service customer impact trial
• Gippsland community e-Bus pilot
  

There are 1,000 spots at this Sydney metro car park. By 7.13am, they’re all gone

“There is space for 1,000 cars at Tallawong metro station’s three car parks. At 6.40am on Thursday morning, the first is minutes away from filling up. The sign at the entrance to the P2 car park reports 64 free spaces. By 6.47am, that number has fallen to 20. And by 7am, despite that sign declaring five free spots, the car park is full, and frustrated drivers are leaving to drive to the next one, the furthest away from the station, which is full by 7.13am.”

Related iMOVE projects:

• Brisbane parking management: An integrated, strategic approach
• Planning for free-floating parking for car-sharing in Australia
  

Hidden effects and externalities of electric vehicles

A new academic paper, co-authored by Milad Haghani, Hadi Ghaderi, and David Hensher. The abstract:

“The global drive towards sustainability has ushered in a new era of transportation, prominently featuring the rise of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). The rapid rise of BEVs has been widely and rightfully hailed as a crucial milestone in promoting sustainable transportation and combating climate change. The existing empirical evidence provides undeniable support for the essential role of BEVs to support net zero targets. However, like most disruptive or emerging technologies, BEVs are not without their hidden effects.

This paper seeks to explore and analyse these lesser-known effects, i.e., externalities, of BEV adoption. In doing so, it sheds light on the environmental, infrastructure, socio-economic and safety externalities of BEVs, aiming to promote a holistic understanding of their impact and to facilitate informed policy making. Furthermore, it highlights the critical role of public awareness and user education campaigns in maximising the benefits and mitigating the externalities of BEVs, along with the importance of maintaining a balance of information in developing such campaigns.

It is argued that providing individuals and policymakers with accurate information, dispelling misconceptions, and promoting responsible BEV practices are essential for minimising the externalities. At a broader level, these discussions emphasise the importance of moving beyond mere tailpipe emissions towards a holistic, life-cycle-based approach in setting climate-change targets.”

Related iMOVE article:

• Electric Vehicles: Info, Projects & Resources
  
• Alternative Fuels: Info, Projects & Resources
• FACTS: A Framework for an Australian Clean Transport Strategy
• The Conductor Series: The electrification of transport

Related iMOVE projects:

• EV batteries: Repair, refurbish, repurpose, recycle
• Second lives for electric vehicle batteries

Forget the Melbourne CBD, e-scooters are charging ahead in the regions

After a few weeks of negative e-scooter stories in ITS Monday, here’s a happier tale from Ballarat and Bendigo.

Related iMOVE articles:

• Micromobilty: Info, Projects & Resources
• Active Transport: Info, Projects & Resources
  

Related iMOVE projects:

• OneDock: Supercharging e-micromobility
• Road use activity data: Cyclists, pedestrians and micromobility
• Impacts of eRideables on the transport task in WA

Transport disadvantage and social inclusion: Exploring the role of smartphone use for transport purposes

Another new academic paper, this one co-authored by Sui Tao, Liton Kamruzzaman, and Jing Ma  The abstract:

The link between transport disadvantage and social exclusion is now firmly-established. Smartphones emerge as an integral part of daily life with a strong potential to influence this link by improving people’s capacity to access transport information and availability, and enabling direct connections with others in society.

However, the role of smartphone use for transport purposes in influencing people’s daily mobility and quality of life remains under-studied, in part impeding a more concrete discourse on how it can be better evaluated and considered in policymaking. This study seeks to shed light on the above issue through probing into the interrelationships among smartphone use, transport disadvantage and social inclusion, and their relation to subjective well-being. Using Beijing as a case study, we tested a series of hypotheses through structural equation models (SEM).

Our findings highlighted potentially bidirectional interactions between smartphone use and transport disadvantage. By and large, smartphone use for both normal purposes and new modes can help mitigate transport disadvantage, and this may further stimulate more smartphone use as a proactive solution.

Furthermore, the link between smartphone use for new modes and transport cost, and their consequent effect on social inclusion and subjective well-being were found to vary between low- and high-income groups. Findings suggest that smartphones and smart apps should be carefully integrated in policymaking to reduce the risk for people of being socially excluded due to a lack of transport options and improve subjective well-being.

Related iMOVE articles:

• Equity in Transportation: Info, Projects & Resources
  

Related iMOVE projects:

• See Me: Transforming passenger experience on public transport
• Technologies & improving public transport accessibility/inclusivity
• Smartphone app to automatically collect travel patterns

Optimizing traffic signal control for continuous-flow intersections: Benchmarking against a state-of-practice model

Academic paper, co-authored by Yining Hu, David Rey, Reza Mohajerpoor, and Meead Saberi. The abstract:

Continuous-flow intersections (CFI), also known as displaced left-turn (DLT) intersections, aim to improve the efficiency and safety of traffic junctions. A CFI introduces additional cross-over intersections upstream of the main intersection to split the left-turn flow from the through movement before it arrives at the main intersection which decreases the number of conflict points between left-turn and through movements.

This study develops and examine a two-step optimization model for CFI traffic signal control design and demonstrates its performance across more than 300 different travel demand scenarios. The proposed model is compared against a state-of-practice CFI signal control model as a benchmark. Microsimulation results suggest that the proposed model reduces average delay by 17% and average queue length by 32% for a full CFI compared with the benchmark signal control model.

Related iMOVE articles:

• Traffic Congestion: Info, Projects & Resources
  

Related iMOVE projects:

• Improved sensing for signalised intersections
• Modelling perimeter controls: Detailed simulation
  

IAG to transition its tool-of-trade fleet to electric and hybrid electric vehicles

Last bu not least this week is news from one of iMOVE’s participant, IAG. “IAG today announced it will transition its entire tool-of-trade fleet to electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) by the end of FY301. The fleet of more than 900 vehicles in Australia and New Zealand, spans the breadth of IAG’s brands including NRMA Insurance, CGU Insurance, AMI and NZI. Each low-emission vehicle circulated into the fleet is likely to result in an average scope 1 emission reduction of 47% compared to the group’s current internal combustion vehicles.”