With the growing population of the megacity, Dhaka is facing severe deficiency in transportation sector. For its cheap fare, the main mode of transport for the poor is bus. Also it is the only option available as public transport. But the level of service of bus is not satisfactory. In addition to the insufficient public transportation system, Dhaka also lacks in infrastructure. On top of that, car ownership is increasing pretty rapidly piling up the traffic congestion. These sum up to a longer travel time; a significant portion of which is spent halting either for congestion or for collecting passengers. This study focuses on the stopping time and the moving time of a bus trip. The discrepancy between demand and supply of public transport is quite severe in Dhaka. When the demand is higher than supply during the peak period or near CBD area, buses get full and over-crowded at earlier stoppages. In such cases, drivers skip the later bus stops where people need to wait longer for bus. But the scene is completely reversed when demand is less than supply. In such cases, drivers tend to wait longer intentionally at the earlier bus stops in the hope of collecting sufficient passengers, termed here as intentional waiting time. This study tries to understand and verify the situation. The result suggest that the intentional waiting time influences the total stopping time significantly. Most of which occurs in the earlier sections of the route and with increasing distance from the origin, the waiting tendency keeps decreasing. The passenger boarding trend follows similar trend. Lack of guideline is one of the main reasons for such behavior and the demand, land use pattern, bus occupancy etc. are some of the major factors influencing intentional waiting to a great extent.

View full abstract

For estimating parameters of discrete choice models, observations corresponding to the models are required. In the context of route choice models, we need the information of paths, which are sequences of links that connect between the origin-destination pairs. Passive monitoring with Global Positioning System (GPS) is more and more used to observe trip data, because it contributes to facilitating to observe trip data automatically. However, data from monitoring with GPS is not consistent, in formats, with network, which is the fundamental description of route choice models, and it has the heteroscedasticity of measurement errors dependently on devices and locations. These errors cause the biased observation of route choices, and as the result, the parameter estimation results of route choice models can be biased. In this study, we propose a sequential link measurement method, which is a Bayesian approach and incorporates a Markovian route choice model as the prior. It allows one to infer links based on both measurements and behavioral mechanisms, and at the same time, to estimate the variance of GPS measurement error on each link. Moreover, we propose a structural estimation method for a route choice model to remove biases regarding the initial parameter settings. The performances of these methods are examined through a numerical example and a case study of applying in a real pedestrian network. As a result, the estimated preferences of route choices using the structural estimation method are less biased and show the different trend from those using the biased route choice observations. Moreover, the estimated variances of GPS measurement errors are realistic.

View full abstract

This study examined the possibility of applying ETC 2.0 probe data for analysis of rent-a-car tourism activity. Reproducibility of Rent-a-car travel behavior by comparison between GPS logger data and ETC 2.0 data was examined, influence of deficit data was analyzed and determine of destination such as sightseeing spot or accommodation was examined after OD data was deleted because of personal privacy. As a result, ETC 2.0 probe data can be applied for rent-a-car tourism activity analysis under the limited condition and purpose. ITS spot should be installed more and more in order to avoid deficit data. It was clarified that detailed origin and destination could not be determined but those area could be analyzed if specific of ETC 2.0 system is not business purpose use.

View full abstract

With an objective of modeling total rest time focusing on long-sustained resting taken at rest areas of inter-city expressways, based on the authors' previous study results, the paper first investigates the situation of the long-sustained resting and finds its remarkable share in whole parking time and space despite its small share in the number of trips. Then, a total rest time model is identified by assuming the composite distribution function which considers three resting behavior types, i.e. the ‘ordinal’ resting which was figured out in our previous study, the long-sustained resting resulting from the adjustment of exit time from expressways with the mid-night toll discount policy, and the long-sustained resting for business start time. The estimated model is then used to analyze long-sustained resting behavior on expressways.
The component ratio of long-sustained resting is quantified for both passenger cars and heavy vehicles from the estimated model. It is also known from the exit time distribution with long-sustained resting that exits peak around mid-night and 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning irrespective of their time entering expressway and, for the latter trips the estimated rest time distributions of adjusting behavior with business stat time and thus exit time distributions are almost same regardless of trip distance.

View full abstract

Several solution methods have been proposed to calculate a user equilibrium solution in a dynamic traffic network. Finding a stationary distribution of a Markov chain that model drivers' day-to-day route choice behaviours can be an alternative to solving an equilibrium solution. In this paper, we adopted a physical-queue model because it can capture the queue spillback phenomenon, which can provide a more realistic result, and use the Markov chain methodology. Using the Sioux Falls network, we observed that a stationary distribution of the Markov chain can be calculated. In addition, we found that the arising congestions on the network using a point-queue model and a physical-queue model were different.

View full abstract

In recent years, countermeasures for “person” priority in the residential street are progressing, and it is recommended to develop a safe and secure walking space. In recent years, countermeasures for “person” priority in the road of the living are progressing, and it is recommended to develop a safe and secure walking space. There are many consciousness surveys and actual surveys in the road safety study of living roads, but few are focusing on biological reactions that control consciousness. Also, there is no one clarifying which driving of a car inside the residential street causes stress to the driver and in what cases it is stressful.
Therefore, in this research, we aim to clarify how much stress a pedestrian who visually recognizes in the residential street stresses to a driver. As a method, we carry out a car driving test, and clarify the stress at driving in the residential street by heart rate variability during driving and the image of the drive recorder.

View full abstract

Temporary two lane section which has a problem in safety and travelling performance accounts for large percent of expressway in Hokkaido. As a result, expressway using rate of freight cars is low. Freight cars for long distance trips using general road can especially cause a traffic jam and reduce a traffic safety. Therefore, it is significant to increase the rate of using expressway of freight cars.
In recent years, advance in information process technology enables a collection of probe car data from which we can recognize the traffic conditions of each car (speed, route, etc).
In this paper, we construct an expressway choice model with parameters estimated in disaggregate logit model based on the freight car probe data in consideration of existence of temporary two lane section and travel time, travel cost, etc. In addition, we predict the effect of promotion of using temporary two lane section by using the model.

View full abstract

This study aims to identify the factors that would enhance containerization in intra-East Asian trade, especially containerization of bulk cargo, which has been mainly transported by bulk carriers. To this purpose, the authors first conducted a cluster analysis for intra-East Asian seaborne trade by k-means clustering to analyze the commodity-wise tendency of containerization on various trade-routes. For most of the commodities, the advancement of containerization weakened after 2007, and it was confirmed that unit prices and volumes of cargo relate to the degree of containerization for each commodity. Secondly, a simultaneous equation model analysis was conducted to identify the critical factors that would encourage containerization for each cluster. It was found that the reduction of transaction costs for exporting and importing may enhance containerization of bulk cargoes and containerization of some bulk cargoes may help to reduce container trade imbalances in the intra-East Asian seaborne trade.

View full abstract

Recently, the number of ambulance dispatches, arrival time to the accident site and the travel time to health facilities has increased due to aging. For building a safe and reassuring community, it is indispensable to respond quickly to emergency medical care, and there is an urgent need to improvement of road networks and efficiency of emergency facilities. In this study, we analyzed traveling historical data of ambulance in Tajimi City and Toki City, Gifu Prefecture, and we propose a method of road development plan for improvement of ambulance transport. We will consider the method of proposing a road improvement plan for ambulance transport to improve the life-saving rate by collecting and analyzing the travel history data (probe data) of ambulance in Tajimi City and Toki City of Gifu Prefecture . Specifically, we developed a link travel time database for emergency travel of ambulances, get the arrival time to the accident site, and developed the reachable area map of the ambulance using Dijkstra method. Using the map we developed, we got the speed reduction point of the ambulance and the arrival delay area of the ambulance, and we proposed to improve the traffic and its effect.

View full abstract

Street design has been increasingly required to shift from car-oriented design with the single function to pedestrian-oriented design with the multi functions, However, there is a lack of a lack of comprehensive evaluation for the multi-functional design. This paper aims to identify the influences of street design by function on the comprehensive perceived evaluation. First, a literature review of street design guidelines classifies street design factors into functions in association with perceived factors of convenience, safety and comfort. Then, the characteristics of street design by function are captured by street type, quantifying design levels in street-design projects in Japan. Finally, the mechanism of perceived evaluation for street design by function is analysed with Structural Equation Model (SEM), using the data of an online survey. The result showed that the perceived evaluation of design functions affect one another based on the hierarchy of pedestrian needs, which suggests the effectiveness of the integrated design of functions.

View full abstract

The bicycle user's awareness and compliance of the traffic rules is in low level in Japan. To improve this low level, we made the leaflets showing the facts of bicycle accidents, traffic rules based on those facts and losses when ignoring rules. We conducted a questionnaire survey for bicycle users to show this leaflets's effectiveness. Questionnaires were on the bicycle use situation, awareness and compliance of rules, and the effects of compliance. From this survey, we confirmed effectiveness of the leaflets and made suggestions about improving the practical methods to promote the compliance of rules.

View full abstract

The ratio of bicycles accidents at small junctions in Japan is about 50%, and 60% of them are crossing accidents. According to the previous studies, a large part of left turning and straight crossing accidents is the crash with bicycles running right side of roads, but a large part of right turning accidents is the crash with bicycles running left side. The reason of the phenomena is considered that the regularization that bicycles run in both direction almost of small junctions in Japan. The aim of study is to evaluate the danger of bicycle direction control system which permits the both way cycling at small junctions. By employing the virtual experiment of crossing accidents using driving simulator, the effects on the safety are found from the viewpoints of drivers sense and TTC index. by the direction control of left side cycling compared with both way cycling system.

View full abstract

The ration of bicycles accidents at junctions is quite high in Japan, and the crash direction of bicycles is biased depends on the vehicles' behaiviors. The regularization that bicycles run in both direction on most of streets in Japan, which is rare system in the world, should be considered for the reason of this phenomena In Japan, because both way cycling is permitted on sidewalk, wrong way cycling on not only roadways but also bicycle lanes. The aim of study is to develop an on-street warning device that can sense wrong way running bicycle and warn them by flushing character LED display. By employing the experiments on a street with bicycle lane in Tokushima City, the effects of this device is tested comparing with the personal guidance on street using warning panels. As results, certain effects by the device was found so that the developed device has the possibility of auxiliary warning method for the reduction of wrong way cycling.

View full abstract

Around 70% of bicycle accidents in Japan occur at intersections. At signalized intersections, 60% of bicycle accidents are crashes with left or right turn vehicles. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the National Police Agency (NPA) published “Guideline for creating a safe and comfortable bicycle friendly environment” on November 29th, 2012. This guideline mentioned basic strategy of the layout of intersections to consider the prevention of crashes of cycling on carriage way and vehicles turning left. In order to promote bicycle friendly streets, it becomes important to design intersections especially safe for the bicycles to left-turning vehicles in Japan. The aim of this study is to evaluate the bicycle safety treatments for left-turning vehicles at signalized intersections by employing the experiments in virtual reality of driving and cycling simulator. Comparing with junction layouts; segregation policy and mixture policy from viewpoints of vehicle and bicycle behavior, safety sense, and TTC, it is found that the mixture policy is safer but has disadvantage for keeping cyclists' safety sense to the vehicles.

View full abstract

Super-aging societies and urbanization are global trends in both developed and developing countries. The general concern is that elderly people's physical mobility and living condition may limit their ability to travel to social activities and opportunities, leading to the problem of social exclusion. This study aims to investigate the degree of social exclusion of elderly people related to the degree of satisfaction with transportation, the issue that has received little attention in developing countries.
By conducting count data and ordered logistic regression analyses, the results of survey data from senior citizens living in Bangkok, Thailand, indicated that non-mandatory activities had more influence on the feeling of social inclusion of Bangkok elderly than mandatory activities. A large portion of older people needed assistance to support transportation needs. However, most of these people had to rely on their own transportation to reach non-mandatory activities during weekdays because of a temporal mismatch with their assistants. When dissatisfaction with daily transportation generated a gap between desired and actual trip frequency to non-mandatory activities, feelings of social exclusion occurred. The importance of fighting social exclusion by increasing older people's satisfaction with their daily transportation is discussed.

View full abstract

Integrated Mobility Services (IMS) provide route search, booking, and payment services of different travel modes such as train, bus, taxi, Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), and car-sharing in one application and under one pricing system. Pioneer among IMS, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) was launched in Finland in 2016, and is expected to be expanded to cities around the world. IMS provide a comprehensive service that can covers all trips of individuals in the target area; as such, it can be an alternative to owning and driving a car. As a result, travel behavior, performance and business condition of independent modes can be affected by the existence of such service. However, adequate methodologies to analyze interactions between users and service producers under IMS schemes have not been substantially discussed. Based on this background, an analysis methodology for IMS named “Multi-Cycle Model” is proposed in this paper, and the calculation of a simplified example is presented.

View full abstract

In an aging society with fewer children, promoting a safety and security environment for people with infants is growing more important. This study focuses on security and anxiety mind to traffic accident and street crime.
A questionnaire survey for people with infants were carried out in Fukuoka city, and relationships between pedestrian mind and street structures were examined. The results show that measures for bicycle traffic and sidewalk 2 m or more is necessary to improve security mind of pedestrian with infants.

View full abstract

Outside activity is one of the most important factors affecting health of elderly community dwellers. The frequency of going out is considered of useful health indicator. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between the choice of the transportation means, the frequency of going out and the functional capacity in elderly community dwellers at urban area and rural area. Using motorcycle and bicycle influences the going out frequency of elderly people. Moreover, using public transportation also influences the going out frequency in the urban area. The factor of the going out frequency is different from urban area and rural area. The traffic measure suitable for regional characteristics should contribute to the healthy life.

View full abstract

Port authorities have been making their own port business continuity plan particularly since the Great East Japan Earthquake happened. This study firstly focused upon the so-called time line in the BCP of Mikawa Port and that of Kinuura Port, which had been made by Aichi Prefecture, and pointed out the issues in making the time line of port BCP. It secondly clarified the matters to be considered to improve, by analyzing the changes in time line due to the variation of suppositions. Finally, it turned out that the plan should emphasize the critical facilities considering the functions to be recovered earlier in order to continue the industries of its hinterlands. It moreover suggested that appropriate preservation of the equipment and other resources apparently affects the workability though the timeline does not have to be changed in itself for any scenarios.

View full abstract

In this study we would proposed a simple framework for decision making at conceptual phase of introducing Light Rail Transit. First, we tried to estimate LRT conversion ratio not to affect automobile transportation between road capacity decreases by using road capacity and traffic demand. Second, we tried to confirm traffic impact by using traffic assignment model. In consequence, we could preliminarily figure out LRT conversion ratio not to affect automobile transportation and profitability at conceptual phase by applying the simple framework.

View full abstract

Kaohsiung LRT Project, which is the Taiwanese first-ever LRT system, is expected to complete in 2019. It will take approximately 19 years from planning to starting full commercial operation. One of the reasons was to fail the private participation into the project against the intention which Kaohsiung aims to construct it with private funds. In this study, it aims at finding the project issues from project financial plans between original and revised one and its countermeasures by the literature research and interview survey to the relevant persons in local and central government.
As a result of analysis, it was found that the major project issues are “the increase of financial burden of Kaohsiung City Government due to the project cost increase” and “the decrease of project revenue”. In order to overcome those issues, Kaohsiung City Government took several countermeasures. For the first issue, there is a subsidiary scheme for the construction of urban transportation system in Taiwan. It is characterized that it clearly defines the criteria based on the Self-Liquidating Ratio (SLR). Kaohsiung has fully utilized this subsidiary scheme and reduced their financial burden as low as possible by raising SLR in implementing effective countermeasures. For the second issue, it was found that Kaohsiung implemented the value capture measure as Tax Increment Financing as well as a relaxation of floor-space ratio along the route as Transport-oriented Development measure in order to increase the revenue. Through those measures, it seems that Kaohsiung City Government is now undertaking the urban development with a convenient mobility system since LRT is regarded as a tool to support urban development rather than one of the mobility tools. The findings from this project could be one of the good practices for Japanese society.

View full abstract

Recently, the number of cruise ships calling at Japanese ports and passengers are tended to be increased. However, cruise passengers are still lower comparing to those in cruise advanced countries such as US and European countries. Since Japan is economically advanced and senior people are not less in total population, there might be several potential for cruise ship tourism. This study develops models for potential cruise passenger's preferences on cruise ship tourism and attempts to identify the factors to affect cruise ship tourism participation. As a result, shorter duration and lower price are preferred for potential users. As for retirees, Japanese related services such as spa, Japanese food, and Japanese tour guide are tended to be preferred.

View full abstract

The object of this study is to develop the method to assess the vulnerability of urban railway networks in consideration of disruption of multiple links assuming the occurrence of an earthquake directly under the capital city. Vulnerability assessment index that total value of generalized cost weighed OD trip volume and percentage of inaccessible OD trip volume by disruption of the links were calculated in the Tokyo metropolitan area. As a result, it was shown that the index value is high not only in the central area but also in the suburbs as the epicenter, and the proportion of the OD trip volume which became impossible to move to the destination due to the disruption of many links is high in the zone including the disrupted link but the proportion decreases if there is an alternative route.

View full abstract

In Japan, Parking meters (PM) and Parking Tickets (PT) are provided as on-street parking spaces at urban areas. These spaces are temporary parking space until off-street parking facilities were developed. However, there is not clear the relationship between off-street parking facilities and on-street parking conditions which is important to consider parking policies in urban areas.
In this research, we focused on the parking behaviors in the time limited parking section, where we analyzed the actual situation of PM use, the characteristics of parked vehicles, and the location relationship with off-street parking facilities. As a result, it became clear that on-street parking vehicles are mostly short-term parking. Further, it was revealed that the location of off-street parking facilities affects the actual condition of on-street parking. It was also estimated capacity of off-street parking facilities when PM operation method had been changed.

View full abstract

In this study, the impact of the longitudinal grade for the bicycle's discharging behavior was analyzed in order to discuss the traffic capacity, when the bicycle traffic increased on the road space. From the survey conducted in ideal condition that has enough traffic demand and uniformized cycling manners, relationships between longitudinal grade and discharging behaviors are examined.
As a result, it was found that the longitudinal grade of intersection approach increase the headway dispersion, and decrease the saturation flow rate of bicycle traffic. However, decreasing ratio of bicycle's saturation flow rate was small as compared with the impact for car's which was revealed in existing research. In addition, it described the longitudinal grade at intersection may cause to decrease the number of start-up lost after bicycles discharge.

View full abstract

This paper aims at developing and exploring a multi-agent system (MAS) with adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) (MAS-ADP) model to support city logistics stakeholders in their decisions for implementing city logistics measures. Adaptive dynamic programming based learning performs better than other learning techniques when agents need to interact in constantly changing environment, such as city logistics. The general framework of MAS-ADP has been described and an ADP model for the freight carrier learning agent has been developed. We investigated the performance of the ADP by embedding it in a simulation for evaluating the existence of Urban Consolidation Centers (UCC), and by comparing it with another simulation based on one of the most popular Reinforcement Learning algorithms namely the Q-learning. It has been found that ADP-based simulation performed better on three evaluation criteria; 1) cost saving, 2) accuracy, and 3) stability and adaptability, as compared to the one using Q-learning. It was observed that ADP-based simulation resulted in 1.5% less on the delivery cost experienced by the agents as compared to the Q-learning based simulation. In highly uncertain environment, ADP-based simulation was found to be 22% more accurate in terms of the difference between the real cost and the expected total delivery cost. Also, it was proved that the ADP is more adaptive to the changing environment and that it is more stable in the action selection by performing 22% less changes in actions from direct delivery system to the joint delivery system with UCC or vice versa as compared to the Q-learning.

View full abstract

The paper focuses on supply chain networks (SCNs) under uncertainty and presents an optimal supply chain network design model to address the uncertainty. The model takes into account the decentralized decision-making of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, freight carriers, and demand markets (i.e., consumers) as well as their interactions. Optimal solutions can be derived using the expected residual minimization (ERM) method, which is applied to an existing descriptive SCN model (i.e., supply chain network equilibrium (SCNE) model) with variability of its parameter values. The model can provide the most robust solutions against the uncertainty and bring the stability to total surplus. Numerical examples are then undertaken to validate the performance of the model developed as compared to that of the SCNE model. The optimal states of SCNs are also identified through several numerical tests for the cases where the parameter values of the model are variable due to the uncertainty.

View full abstract

These days, MEV (Micro Electric Vehicles)'s demonstration tests were done by a number of public sectors in our country. The reasons are various, however fundamental issue is less public transport services under the declining number of public transport users.
The purpose of this study is to clarify the acceptance of MEV sharing service in the residential areas in Saitama City, located in the Tokyo Metropolitan suburbs. Our study is based on a web-based questionnaire survey and demonstration tests in three different types of areas.
In our demonstration tests, only people who took MEV lessons, could drive the MEVs around their residence. From the results of the test, we found that in residential areas, 30 to 40 people shared one to two MEVs for various reasons. Also people highly evaluate particularly two things; the size of the MEV because of shortage of parking spaces in the area; the electric car because of environmental friendly. As a consequence, we could be said that MEV sharing services should be acceptable in the suburban area with less parking spaces.

View full abstract

Today, measures that conducted to “the decrease of bus user” that is the problem of bus industry are difficult to prevail nationally from the problems of the cost to establish these. In this study, we constructed the bus service information system with "user contribution method" that be able to distribute real-time information with row cost, and carried out the public experiment with this system and evaluated the possibility of realization of this system. And to extract the factor of the user contribution, we conducted investigation through the Web research. As a result, we could confirm that the evaluation of the system of the user was high. In addition, we could confirm that the more a person use the application such as Twitter, the more a person distribute the service information. From the above results, it is thought that the system use and the possibility of realization of this system increase if this system improve, considered the factor influence the user distribution about service information.

View full abstract

It is considered that there is a disparity of activity opportunities between urban and rural areas, because the level of transport service in rural areas is comparatively lower. Empirical studies have clarified the existence of disparity, but it is still questionable whether such disparity is caused by the differences in the level of transport service. Hence this study aims to examine the relationship between the level of transport service and activity opportunities. This study explored the relationship using the quantile regression analysis and the piecewise (segmented) regression with regard to the level of transport service. As a result, this study revealed that the level of transport service affects activity opportunities, and that the impact is particularly larger for the residents who live under the poor public transport service.

View full abstract

Recently, community cycle systems have been introduced around the world. In Japan, they have been introduced in many cities and are becoming new transportation. Evaluation of the system is important not only for users but also for non-users, it is thought that it is necessary for town planning to grasp it.
Therefore, in this research, we focused on non-users in the Okayama city community cycle system “Momochari” and examined whether the image for the community cycle system would lead to charms of the city. As a result, we found that the pleasure of the use, the ease of moving, the location of the port and the ease of use of the community cycle lead to charms of the city.

View full abstract

Immediately after Great East Japan Earthquake, relief operations had been taken place by helicopters. In Nankai Megathrust Earthquakes, helicopters will also be utilized for relief operations. In Kochi Prefecture, which will be affected by tsunami, Kochi airport will be flooded. In this case, alternative airports in Takamatsu and Matsuyama airports are planning to be utilized as a helicopter base instead of Kochi airport. Also, installations of two refueling facilities in forward base are being discussed in Kochi prefecture. The location selection of refueling facilities is influential for the number of affected people rescued. In this study, several scenarios for relief operation are developed on the basis of interview survey and multi-agent simulation model is applied in order to estimate possible number of rescued people and explore the effective relief operation by helicopters.

View full abstract

In Vietnam, plans about relocating bus terminals from downtown to suburban area are developing. However, the areas surrounding suburban bus terminals are not vibrant spaces with human activities. This study focuses on the areas surrounding existing bus terminals as a potential space to create the vibrancy in cities. It aims to provide spatial elements in order to create the vibrancy surrounding relocating bus terminal's area when they are built.
This study revealed about street use, people's behaviors, and factors that create outdoor activities on areas surrounding bus terminal which have vibrant spaces. Moreover, it also revealed mechanism which create the vibrancy.

View full abstract

In planning local transport plan, it is essential that the local community select a combination of secured activity opportunity supported by local transport and the burden of operation cost to maintain the service. This study aims to develop a model to select the best planning alternative, which secure the basic level of activity opportunity to the resident of the lowest level of activity opportunity. The model consists of two part. The first part draws the capability frontier from budget constraints and functions of functioning, and the second part selects the best alternative based on social relation function and Rawls' difference principle. Numerical examples show that the model successfully select the best alternative under the designated conditions.

View full abstract

In recent years, EV and car sharing are one of countermeasures such as increase in CO₂ emissions accompanying motorization and noise problems. In this study, in considering introducing ultra-small mobility sharing system in the center of Okayama city and its surroundings, we analyzed the factors that influence the attractiveness of the city by introduction. As a result, it was revealed that the intention to use when adopting the ultra-small mobility sharing system is the most important factor affecting the appeal of the city. Furthermore, whether the attractive feel of the ultra-small mobility sharing system is influenced by the model created using the covariance structure analysis influences the intention to use, the influence of the intention of use changes the city environment and the traffic of the city, It became clear that these changes indirectly affect the charm of the city.

View full abstract

A longer display of a flashing green signal for pedestrian traffic lights is expected to accommodate pedestrians who are left in a crossing area when the flashing green signal terminates. Particularly, the longer display is considered effective for pedestrians whose road crossing speed is slow. However, there are concerns that a longer display of the flashing green signal might encourage people to cross a road in disregard of traffic lights when people start to cross a street during that extended period. This study was conducted to examine whether that shortcoming actually occurs with slow pedestrians. Devoting attention to elderly people and people with mobility constraints, for whom existing studies have verified slow road crossing speeds, we conducted a survey to compare instances of ignoring traffic lights between those people and non-elderly, general pedestrians.
Results confirmed that elderly people and people with mobility constraints were less likely to start crossing while pedestrian traffic lights were displaying a flashing green signal or a red signal than non-elderly people.

View full abstract

We propose the state-space model for monitoring of two-dimensional network using sensing data. For traffic control, it is important to monitoring the traffic state of the two-dimensional network. For two-dimensional network, it is necessary to consider route choice. Therefore, we constructed of a traffic flow model incorporating route choice. Based on the traffic flow model, we constructed of two types of state space model using observed density and observed diverging number. As a result of model verification, it is found that the number of observation diverging numbers contributes to improvement of the route choice of the model. And, it was found that updating the traffic condition with observed density has better accuracy of congestion estimation than using observed diverging number.

View full abstract

Total vehicle kilometers traveled in Japan were calculated to utilize automobile fuel consumption survey, road traffic census, questionnaire survey in driving license center. Characteristic of these three surveys method were reviewed, these calculated total vehicle kilometers traveled were checked each other. And traffic accident rate per vehicle kilometers traveled of each vehicle types, road types and drivers' attributes were calculated to utilize these assumed vehicle kilometers traveled and traffic accident data. It was indicated that in comparison with vehicle types, traffic accident rate per vehicle kilometers traveled of taxi and hired car is higher than that rate of any other vehicles, specially pedestrian or bicycle accident rate of taxi and hired car is much higher. In comparison with road types, it was assumed that traffic accident rate on community road is higher than that rate on any other road types. Traffic accident rate of younger and elderly drivers were higher than that rate of middle ages. Quasi induced exposure which was calculated traffic accident rate indirectly were applied to analyze traffic accident.

View full abstract

As a novel psychological countermeasure to reduce traffic accidents in expressway, our previous study proposed an expressway driving game based on Gamenics theory, which encourages drivers to keep the speed limit spontaneously. Gamenics theory is one of the interface design methods to attract user's interests. The present manuscript discusses about the effectiveness of the game on driver behavior, based on results of actual vehicle experiments. The results revealed that many experimental participants felt fun for the game, and the game could provoke spontaneous behavioral change of keeping the speed limit.

View full abstract

Some sections of Japan's expressways with low traffic volume went into services as temporary two-lane roads in order to promote construction of expressways within limited periods and with limited costs. The provision of two out of four originally planned lanes is a tentative decision. Most of the lanes on such temporary two-lane sections are separated simply with rubber poles and median curbs. Head-on collisions on such sections tend to be fatal. To prevent head-on collisions on two-lane expressways, the Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region developed a wire rope guardrail that has thin supports and that requires little width for installation. To examine the introduction of the wire rope guardrail at the median of a temporary two-lane section of expressway, a test road with a temporary two-lane section was constructed, and an experiment on the passing of large trucks in opposing lanes was performed. Participants in that experiment gave subjective evaluations of the ease of driving on the experimental section. This paper reports on the experiment, the evaluations, and the development of a rope connection member that reduces the degree of intrusion into the opposing lane when a vehicle collides with the guardrail.

View full abstract

Use of the smart card when getting on public transportation, is increasing. Therefore a great deal of data is accumulated. The study which analyze using these data is receiving a lot of attention. There are many analysis of the public transportation users' behavior all over the world. In this study, I use smart card data in Kumamoto tram. The purpose of this study is three. The first one is an analysis of the actual use state. The second one is an analysis of the characteristic of user. The third one is analysis of the visualization of actual diagram.

View full abstract

In Europe and North America, users of Car Sharing become increasing dramatically from the beginning of 2000. However, there is few car sharing business in Japan because not only of the legal constraints regarding parking spaces and also of incomplete in its system architecture. Therefore there is no information about the process of spread of car sharing services. This study has two purposes; the first one is to build an operational simulation system in consideration of a spread process of carsharing. The second is to analyze the effect for process of spread by various changes into simulation system.

View full abstract

The rate of traffic accident in winter can be affected shadow duration on road surface because shadow on road surface causes slippery road due to freezing and snow accumulation. This study examined the relationship between shadow duration on road surface and the rate of traffic accident on national highways in Sapporo city.
As a result, the rate of traffic accident increases at the place where shadow duration is long in winter, and the increasing ratio of traffic accident rate due to shadow duration increase in winter is 2 times greater than the increasing ratio of traffic accident rate due to shadow duration increase in summer. This trend is significant near intersections, and the increasing ratio of traffic accident rate due to shadow duration increase near intersections in winter is 4 times greater than the increasing ratio of traffic accident rate at basic road sections.

View full abstract

Owing to the increase in worldwide aviation demand, it is predicted that the air traffic volume will exceed the capacity of existing air traffic systems, and air traffic safety regulations will be violated. This research proposes a new airspace sectorization method that reduces the workloads of air traffic controllers. To achieve high controllability of air traffic, it is important to place the borderlines of sectors far from the control points on air routes and to keep the shapes of sectors simple.
This study attempts to construct sectors as sets of the contiguous Voronoi polygons of air traffic control points on air routes. The characteristic of Voronoi polygons guarantees the segregation of the borderlines from the points. Thus, an airspace sectorization problem is formulated as a minimization of the sum of squares of the sector's workloads by seeking combinations of contiguous Voronoi polygons. We solve this problem using simulated annealing and by setting the constraints on the shape simplicity of sectors. The applicability of the proposed method is confirmed through the analysis of flight tracking data in Japan. Results from this study show successful sectorization output that has a smaller maximum workload index value than the present sectorization.

View full abstract

Recently, various kinds of manners posters have been posted in the train and the station. The purpose of this study was to clarify what kind of manners message in the train is effective for a person who have what kind of awareness.
Firstly, we investigated the manners posters that are posted in the train and the train station. Then, we performed a web survey for residents in capital region (N=504).
As a result, what the common to the four target manners behavior is that the message which included the means of “Please” and “Dangerous” was found to be significant statistically. In addition, the message of “Please” and “Dangerous” were effective for the person who have a strong sense of guilt when they against the manners of “keep the backpack well at the peak time”. The message of “Please” was effective for the person who have a strong sense of shame and easy to accept, and the person who obey the rules and manners. But, the message of “Please” and “Call” were found to be negative for the person who have a strong sense of selfish.

View full abstract

This study discussed pedestrian safety at roundabouts by movement analysis based on video survey results at three roundabouts in Japan. First, we analyzed the speed characteristics of pedestrian at each crosswalk and conducted some statistical test from the viewpoints of intersection geometries. It is found that the existence of splitter island have effect on pedestrian crossing speed. Second, we analyzed vehicle speed at entry/exit of roundabouts by regression analyses. It is revealed that both diameter and inflow angle affect the entry speed and the setback distance between crosswalk and outer line of circular roadway impact on the exit speed. Third, we conducted some discriminant analyses for risky traffic situations near/at crosswalks. As safety check behaviors for pedestrian near/at the crosswalks, it is shown that the positioning of the pedestrian, the existence of approaching vehicle and the distance between stop line and crosswalk are related to their safety check behaviors. For the abidance of pedestrian protect rule at crosswalks for vehicles, it is revealed that the drivers for inflow traffic keep the rule when the pedestrian waits at the near-side edge of crosswalk and the drivers for outflow traffic don't keep the rule when hourly traffic volume of exit leg is increase. Furthermore, for potential risk of accidents between pedestrian and vehicles, it is found that severe conflicts tend to occur for the outflow traffic. In addition, the longer distance between crosswalk and stop line, the more severe traffic conflict. Finally, we conducted some sensitivity analyses for developed discriminant models and proposed several safety countermeasures at crosswalk for both entry and exit of roundabouts, concretely.

View full abstract

This study discussed users consciousness and traffic safety of motorcyclists on interurban expressway by statistical analyses. First, we conducted a principal component analysis by using traffic accident data on Tomei Expressway, and summarized the characteristics in five components which are expressed by the change in lane usage from slow lane to fast lane, congested situation in straight section, crawler lane use by heavy vehicles, high speed situation in fast lane at left-hand curve section and bad weather condition. And we considered the characteristics of motorcyclists accidents on expressway from multiple viewpoints and proposed some traffic safety countermeasures by using these components. Second, we conducted an experimental survey at a black spot on Tomei Expressway as discussed above and analyzed the relationship among users consciousness, road geometries and traffic situation by regression analyses. As a result, it is found that the risk for surrounding vehicles have the biggest impact on the comprehensive evaluation for a road section and the road surface asperity has effect on the evaluation, secondarily. In addition, we confirmed the relationship between the users subjective evaluation and the accident rate by correlation analysis.

View full abstract

Weaving section is one of the bottlenecks in expressway network and because of the higher construction cost and longer construction period, it is difficult to add new lanes. However, if automated driving is introduced by ITS technology, it has possibilities to improve traffic capacity without any additional construction. The previous studies showed that traffic capacity could be improved by automated driving, but assumed all vehicles are automated. On the other hand, this study assumed mixed condition of automated and manual driving, and proposed a vehicle control algorithm in a weaving section of expressway.
As a result of simulation run, mixed condition showed improvement over only manual driving although the improvement is less than that of all automated condition.

View full abstract

Sags are one of freeway geometric features where the gradient changes from downgrade to upgrade. As the sequential gradient change causes speed disturbances in traffic flow, traffic capacities at sags become lower than flat sections. Statistics reported that more than 60% of traffic congestion occurred on freeway networks in Japan were caused by sags. Considerable scientific attention has been paid on the bottleneck phenomena at sags during the last three decades both from microscopic aspect and macroscopic aspect. However, the detailed bottleneck mechanisms at sags are still uncovered. This paper developed a data assimilation system combining online-observations and model simulations, to grasp the traffic dynamics towards the congestion queue formation process at sags by estimating the unobservable parameters in traffic flow models. In the system, it is assumed that individual vehicle data is collected by online at a certain distance along the target section. The performances of a particle filter (PF) and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) by comparing the estimated throughputs and the observations were evaluated. It is revealed that PF presents the higher accuracy in traffic state estimation than EKF. Then, by employing the PF based data assimilation system, the variation of model parameters, critical traffic density, free flow speed and traffic capacity, before and after traffic breakdown was analyzed with or without pace-maker-light (PML). The findings are as follows: i) the traffic capacity at the block just downstream of the bottom of sag is slightly lower than the other block, which caused the queue formation at sag, ii) the capacity drop phenomena at the bottleneck block was made visible, and iii) PML may contribute to improve the travel speed, while it may decrease the critical capacity at sag.

View full abstract

Evacuation using a car got allowed if it is needed after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Each local government has to renew its evacuation plan with consideration of car usage. This study proposes an automobile tsunami evacuation model to minimize the risk of being caught by tsunami. This linear programming model explicitly describes locations of automobiles at each time in the framework of cell-based traffic model. It will estimate the minimum risk value realized by the present infrastructure such as roads and shelters. Owing to the simple LP (Linear Programming) formulation, the proposed model has enough applicability for realistic municipal level network.

View full abstract