In rural areas of Japan, there are many areas with declining populations, some of which are called “Marginal Settlements”, which are in danger of extinction. Therefore, it is important to improve the sustainability of the region as a result of the promotion of “Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy”. In this study, we focus on the effects of territorial connection and historical factors on continuity of living in the local area. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that affect the continuity of living in the local area. 51 cities, towns and villages in the Chubu region and Mie prefecture were selected as the target area. Factor analysis and covariance structure analysis were conducted based on the data obtained from the web questionnaire survey. The results show that the evaluation of historical and territorial connection have significant impacts on the continuity of living at current address especially in a declining population area.

This study examined learning processes of participants in a human resource development program for city planning, “Urban Design School of Matsuyama”, and explored ideal images of city planners which has been formed through this program. Based on grounded theory approach on survey data of participants' learning experiences, it developed a learning process model describing their dilemmas between purpose, method and social needs for city development practices. It also identified eight types of ideal city planners which participants have developed through this program, and examined their association with participants’ experiences in the learning model. Finally, implications of the present results for a human resource development program for city planning were discussed.

Regional management organizations based on residents’ voluntary participation are expected to play an important role in maintaining local livelihoods in mountainous areas. Focusing on the case of a subsidy program of Seiyo city, Ehime Prefecture, this study compared actual situation of regional management organizations, i.e. its members, structures and collaboration with other associations, and then examined its relation with their organizational performances. We found many forms of regional management organizations depending on each regional situation. Furthermore, the result showed that organizations that developed independent structures according to the subsidy program tended more to perform independently regional management projects than those based on traditional residents’ associations. On the other hand, it was also shown that such independent projects could not always be sustained involving all over the region. Finally, the issues of a subsidy program for sustainable regional management were discussed.

In addition to its three original functions, michinoeki are required to play a role as a promotion of regional interaction. In recent years, michinoeki have become more and more attractive as destinations itself, but from the viewpoint of promoting regional vitalization, it is important for users to receive information at a michinoeki and then visit the surrounding area. In this study, in order to focus on excursions after using michinoeki, we analyzed the excursions of michinoeki users by using ETC2.0, which allows us to obtain the travel tracks of individual trips. Logistic regression analysis with the characteristics of location and attributes of michinoeki was performed. The results showed that the number of visitors at the tourist attractions, the number of restaurants, and the distance affected the rate of excursions in municipality including the michinoeki.

The purpose of the study is to make a prototype and evaluate river level and rainfall displays from the viewpoint of citizen usability based on the human centered design (HCD) cycle. In order to understand the contents of the river water level and rainfall display, the authors investigated typical display information provided by river offices and prefectures. As a result, it was clarified that the format of displaying river cross sections in water level graphs are the ones commonly used. Next, the authors conducted an interview to clarify the residents’ requirements for the display of river level and rainfall displays. As a result, it became clear that there is a big difference in the degree of recognition and understanding of the information depending on whether he or she checks the display regularly. Finally, improved prototypes were made and compared with the existing display. From the results of the usability test, the improved type was higher in extent of satisfaction and comparative evaluation among all displays. Notably, the length from the top of embankment to our standpoint is easy to measure the risk level. It is easy to understand because the current state is clearly indicated by color. Therefore, it can be said that the improved prototype made in this study has high usability.

The government of Japan hopes to promote infrastructure construction projects overseas. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that overseas business involves many troubles and fierce international competition with competitors exists. Due to these circumstances, if construction companies are forcibly engaged in overseas business, the government should provide appropriate support that meets the demands of construction companies. Therefore, in this study, it is necessary to grasp attitudes of Japanese construction companies toward overseas infrastructure construction projects for future government support. First, we conducted a cluster analysis based on the data of countries in which construction companies engage in overseas projects. According to the characteristics of each cluster, we defined three clusters as “companies focusing Asian middle-income countries”, “companies including western higher-income countries”, and “companies focusing distant lower-income countries.” Second, we conducted a questionnaire survey for 51 regular member companies of The Overseas Construction Association of Japan, Inc. (OCAJI) to understand the distribution of attitudes toward overseas construction projects. Then, after confirming the overall tendency from the answer results, we analyzed the differences in the tendencies of the companies for each cluster by principal component analysis. Third, in order to understand the opinion of governmental organizations, we conducted interview surveys with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Based on these results, we proposed a way for many Japanese companies to reduce the anxiety companies have about overseas projects and to gain opportunities to expand overseas without straining themselves.

In recent years, the promotion of the use of public transport is required to control environmental problems and revitalize cities, and it is necessary to grasp the trip pattern of the passenger in order to take appropriate measures to promote the use of public transportation. Our previous study proposed a two-step passenger trip pattern estimation model in urban areas where complicated bus network is configurated and the flat fare system is adopted. This study aims to apply the passenger trip pattern estimation model to a real size network and to clarify the relationship between the accuracy of input data and the estimation accuracy. As a result, we revealed the input data that brings a great influence on the estimation accuracy, and we also examined the relationship between the error level and the estimation accuracy.

Rapid depopulation and aging adversely affect cities. Therefore, compact cities are desirable for integrating urban functions at core areas. In recent years, compact plus networks have been particularly emphasized: forming core areas is desirable in urban and transportation fields of development. Nevertheless, no standard value exists for setting core areas. Therefore, criteria for setting core areas differ depending on the municipality. This study assessed a method of setting a core area hierarchy in Gunma prefecture, with a viewpoint of transportation convenience added to the accumulation of facilities. The method is demonstrated as more useful for future core area planning than current core area planning is. Results show the following: 1) current core area plans emphasize concentration of facilities and lack a transportation perspective; 2) automobile-type core areas are as numerous as public transport-type core areas; and 3) urban areas have many automobile-type core areas.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) has started an effort, which is one of the policies to protect the citizens safe from traffic accidents, to utilize probe data such as ETC2.0 probe information in road projects. However, the sudden braking data include both dangerous event due to avoid dangers from accident and deceleration behaviors due to red signal, sign of “STOP”, etc. Therefore, to lead an accurate traffic safety counter by using sudden brake data, researching the characteristics of sudden brake in order to identify true potential hazard spots are necessary. In this paper, to extract the real potential dangerous spots (or areas), we evaluated occurrence characteristics of dangerous events which based on the relationship of dangerous event and route construction by using driving recorder data. Combining our results and previous studies, we propose a appraisal method of sudden brake data analyzing.

Expectations for the realization of fully automated driving have increased recently. New transportation services have developed along with this trend. We specifically examined Automated driving Vehicle with Utility Service (ADVUS) using an independently conducted questionnaire survey to analyze factors affecting its use. For this study, a model of the covariance structure was developed to assess ADVUS preferences related to hobby activities and medical consultation. Among the reported benefits of ADVUS, its temporal flexibility (that it can be used whenever preferred or necessary) was found to encourage intention to use ADVUS in all activities. However, the effects of activities on intentions to use ADVUS differed according to the accessibility and reliability of currently used facilities, suggesting a need to change modes of service provision according to the activity.

In Japan, the lifestyle has changed drastically in the last 50 years, and it has also affected travel behavior. In this study, based on the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Person Trip Survey data, which has been continuously surveyed every 10 years from 1968, we focused on young women in their thirties and observed the travel behavior of child-rearing households. We analyzed changes in women’s travel behavior in response to changes in actual conditions and social situations. As a result, we clarified that young women who continue to work while raising children have difficulty in free movement due to time restrictions due to child-rearing and work. Then, we considered the direction for improving the living environment of women raising children, based on the travel behavior and characteristics of each family type.

Kyoto city, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan, has a problem of congestion. To grasp tourists’ excursion behavior is necessary to take effective measures. However, traditional ways such as questionnaire survey have some limitations in terms of period, costs, etc. Recently, a lot of smartphone Apps using geographic location were launched. Some developers have accumulated the location data from them. In this research, we analyzed the GNSS trajectory data accumulated in transfer guide App and found where tourists had visited and the order of the visits during the excursion in Kyoto city. We distinguished location records of ‘stop’ and ‘just moving’, by setting threshold on the spatio-temporal interval of records.

In this research, focusing on the area severely damaged by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, we compared the extent of earthquake and tsunami aftermath and changes of car ownerships. Motorization rate defined as the number of automobiles per 1000 inhabitants tends to increase proportionally to the extent of the aftermath in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures. In these prefectures, the share of smaller automobiles were higher compared to the national average, and the earthquake triggered a further shift towards smaller automobiles. We also compared the reconstruction and additional construction process of motorways and the reconstruction process of conventional railways in the region, as well as the road density in inhabitable areas. The result shows that the road infrastructure is rapidly reconstructed and even extended during the reconstruction process, and the road density tend to increase proportionally to the extent of the damage. At large, these results implies increasing automobile dependency in the coastal areas of Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures along with the changes in transport infrastructures made through the reconstruction process.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between visiting patterns and destination images. The targets of this analysis are the visits to different countries and the frequency of the visits. We collected comments about tourist spots in Japan and China and cleaned the data by the time they visited and by the countries of their residence. Using 215,012 comments, we analyzed the visiting patterns, the destination images, and the relationship between the visiting patterns and the destination images by correspondence analysis. In conclusion, while multiple visitors recommend skiing, shopping for meals, and comfortable tourist spots in Japan, there is not much difference depending on the number of regions visited.

Recently, there are many streets that is aimed to be comfortable and walkable in Japan. Ideally, the most walkable street operation is pedestrian mall, however, some people are opposed to it. Therefore, the way of making good streets without shutting out cars is needed. This article aims to make clear the interaction between pedestrians and cars in shared space in Japan. The interaction is frequently occurred when a person and a car pass each other on a narrow road, especially in shared space. That situation looks dangerous, but they may recognize safety distance. We analyse video and kept record of positional relation, speed and the type of cars and pedestrians. As a result, it seems that they avoid each other by observing the other’s behavior, and get the minimum safety distance that is needed when pass each other, that is about 1m.

The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused a lot of people unable to go home because public transportation service was extensively suspended at Tokyo metropolitan area. The same problem is concerned at Chukyo metropolitan area, due to Nankai megathrust earthquakes. This study aims to estimate the number of people who are unable to go home and the number of stayers at evacuation facilities and stations, using aggregated mobile phone location data, which enables to observe people's movements highly variable these days. As a result, it became possible to show more detailed population flow compared with existing methods. In addition, it showed that control of stayer's movement reduces the number of stayers at evacuation facilities and stations to some extent.

In recent years, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been put into practical use to realize fully automated driving. AV users can be freed from driving actions and responsibilities and can thereby engage in various activities. Nevertheless, it remains unclear what activities will be chosen by AV users. Therefore, the purpose of this study investigates mobility design needs by clarifying the activity intentions of AV users and factors affecting those intentions. Therefore, we conducted a questionnaire survey to elucidate activity intentions structurally. The survey includes questions asking about activity intention in AVs as a percentage of time spent doing that activity. Covariance structure analysis results reveal that a user's intention is influenced by personal and internal attributes: intentions are stronger for people who value time and who want to travel efficiently. Also, the intention to do work is stronger for men.

In this study, we focused on Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system as a SAE level 1 automation and investigated how ACC affects driving behavior by using electro-cardiogram data and gaze behavior data. As a result of experiments on driving simulator, we have found out that drivers tend to look aside while using ACC system (i.e. distracted driving) as well as physiological index corresponding to drivers' state of being relaxed increased. On the one hand, subjective drowsiness levels showed no significant difference among driving conditions with/without ACC system. As a result of analysis of interview data, we have also found out that the number of drivers' utterance which corresponds to drivers' attention towards surrounding vehicles significantly decrease as time proceeds while using ACC system. The results indicates the risk that ACC system could cause drivers' distraction even when drivers do not feel drowsy.

Tourism related transport studies in Japan have remarkably expanded in scope over the last three decades. Since 2000s, the ‘demand emergence’ approach has been drawing attention because it has the function as a stimulus for tourist demand to a certain extent. The demand emergence measures have therefore been discussed closely connecting with the area development involving tourism (ADIT) and inclusive area management. On the other hand, current urban transport studies have been intensively concerned with ‘integrated mobility services’ like Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) in ICT-innovated urban cities in Europe. Kamargianni (2016) has pointed out that integrated and seamless mobility is the idea behind the MaaS. Most of the existing MaaS schemes intend to integrate different transport modes and provide seamless door-to-door mobility in passenger transport system in urban cities, but we have hardly had experience with integrated mobility services based on the MaaS scheme in tourism destinations in Japan. In this paper, first the MaaS related studies are reviewed to identify the preconditions and challenges for introducing such MaaS-scheme into the tourism destinations. Second, Chinese inbound tourist travel behavior survey is conducted to grasp basic characteristics of the actual conditions and needs of uses of integrated mobility services in the airport access trip and excursion tours in tourism destinations. Third, the SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) as a basic type is applied to identify the linear causal relationships between the intention of revisiting Japan and integrated mobility services such as information, booking, ticketing & payment, single-account, and packaging and then improved with a high accuracy. The improved model shows that all of additional hypotheses related to causal relationships among latent variables are statistically significant. Finally, we try to refer to the demand emergence effect of those mobility services integration on the intention of revisiting Japan for inbound tourists through the sensitivity test.

Analyzing day-to-day and within-day changes of traffic demand on an urban expressway are important for efficient operation and management of the road. In this study, considering the demand-supply curve of an urban expressway as a good, we propose a methodology for estimating a demand curve for urban expressways based on observed data. We formulated a generalized linear model describing the fluctuation of traffic demand of a certain time slot whose duration is several minutes using three types of traffic data: ramp-to-ramp origin-destination traffic volume, travel time between ramps, and section traffic volume data of arterial roads. The expected value of the negative binomial model is formulated using explanatory variables including travel time of the corresponding ramp-to-ramp pair and arterial traffic volume data obtained by traffic detectors. The accuracy of the results of the model constructed in this study is improved compared to the results of the conventional model by adding to the model a value that captures fluctuations in daily traffic demand levels.

It is difficult to maintain the bus business as the population declines in Japan. In order to maintain the stability of the business, it is indispensable to supply the optimal route that accurately captures demand. Generally, Person Trip surveys are used as basic information for traffic demand estimation. It is difficult to grasp the demand for passengers that change gradually because the survey dates are limited. In this study, we propose a method for grasping bus demand from smart-phone location data and busoperation data, which are updated sequentially. Specifically, it was shown that the bus demand can be grasped with the same accuracy as the Person Trip survey by the OD table estimated from smartphone location information and the matching analysis of location information. In addition, based on these results, we proposed a future bus demand forecast model, and showed that it is possible to grasp the present and future bus sharing ratios for weekday or holiday

In recent years, the Quality of Life (QOL), which refers to the quality of a person's life and socially viewed quality of life, is regarded as important, and research on children's QOL is also in progress. In order to further improve the quality of life of children, it is desirable that the parent-child perception of children's quality of life be consistent. In this study, we clarified whether there is a difference between the children's QOL and children's QOL recognized by parents. We also analyzed the relationship between items that create a difference in parent-child perception of children's QOL. As a result, 18 items out of 24 items of the QOL scale showed a difference in average scores between parents and children. A detailed analysis of parent-child pairs showed that there was a difference in perceived QOL, regarding friendship and physical disorders. We also grasped the characteristics of play and outdoor activities that are related to these items.

Since the railway network is not well-developed in local metropolitan areas, not only walking but also bus use or car use play a major role in accessing railway stations. In this study, we proposed a demand forecast model for the Sendai Subway Tozai Line, considering bus access, at the time of opening and 10 years later. The conclusions are as follows. 1: The importance of considering bus access was shown, 2: We proposed two models, Home Based model and Non-Home Based model, and showed the effectiveness of these models.

The traffic environment is changing drastically with the advance of information devices and self-driving vehicle. In recent years, the concept of MaaS (Mobility as a Service) was born, and demand traffic such as car sharing and ride sharing is expected to be actively used as secondary traffic, but congestion worsens xue to excessive demand traffic usage is also a concern. However, in the current plan of public transportation network formaxion, mass transportation is the main, and demand transportation assumes only a minimum service for the weak traffic. In this study, assuming a society where MaaS is widespread, the optimal operation of demand transportation and population distribution were verified using the total transportation cost and travel time. From the result, in areas where there is a certain concentration of population, operation efficiency can be improved by hierarchies that utilize demand traffic as feeder trip in the mass transportation. In addition, it was found that optimal operation efficiency was obtained by concentrating the population in a concentric shape in the central city area and a corridor in the suburbs.

In the suburbs of medium-sized cities in Thailand, which are expected to be dependent on automobile mobility due to development without public transport, individual differences in mobility are expected to arise depending on the availability of vehicles and the degree of physical ability. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the mobility of suburban residents in Khon Kaen city with consideration of individual differences. First, all the modes of transportation in the target area were identified, and then, based on the Capability Approach, the availability of each mode of transportation was clarified from the status of possession of goods and conversion capacity. In addition, a cluster analysis with the availability of each mode of transportation possessed by an individual as a variable was conducted to categorize the mobility of the residents. The results demonstrate the diversity and individual differences in the mobility of suburban residents, which are divided into three categories: “Mutual aid type” which various modes of transportation are available, “Private car dependent type” which only private cars are available, and “Public aid and Motorcycle type” which transportation services such as taxis and motorcycles are available.

Today, many people visit Kyoto for tourism and the number of Kyoto tourists will increase in the future. On the other hand, many tourists driving a car cause serious traffic jam. To mitigate this traffic jam, P&R is promoted in Kyoto. The purpose of this study is investigating characteristic of tourists who are positive toward usage of P&R and making evaluation index of parking lots as P&R from tourist perspective using AHP for promoting P&R in Kyoto. This study focuses on the questionnaire survey result for people who have experience of Kyoto tourism by a car. From the questionnaire survey result, I investigate characteristic of Kyoto tourists by using quantification theory type II. As the result, it is revealed that having P&R experience, having high awareness to environment, being under 30 years old and driving more than three days a week are characteristic of tourists who are positive to use P&R. Next, from paired comparison result of evaluation criterion in the questionnaire survey, I make evaluation index of P&R parking lots by AHP. it becomes possible to calculate weight of P&R evaluation criterion and to evaluate P&R parking lots quantitatively. Using the result of analysis about characteristic of tourists who are positive to use P&R, I analyze evaluation focusing on tourists who are positive to use P&R, too. By using this evaluation index, I make color maps of parking lots' evaluation as P&R and visualize parking lots' potential as P&R in Kyoto.

In order to promote the use of rental cars by inbound tourists, it is important to understand the rental car usage trends of each country and region. The objective of this study is to identify characteristics of inbound tourists using rental cars by individual attributes and illustrate differences in destinations based on these characteristics. The study uses individual data from the “Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan” by the Japan Tourism Agency, and categorizes countries and regions based on destination choices applying cluster analysis. In addition, the study uses ETC data of unlimited expressway pass users in the Chubu region to categorize destination patterns by country and region applying latent class analysis. The cluster analysis revealed that there are some countries such as Malaysia in which the destination areas have changed over the years. Using the latent class model, 14 total patterns were identified, and 7 patterns included areas outside of Shoryudo, the main tourism area in Chubu region. In addition, there are countries such as the U.S. with a high rate of visiting various regions in Japan. This study shows the importance of policy development that does not depend only on countries and regions with large numbers of tourists such as China and Korea because destination trends differ by country and region.

An entropy maximization model has been developed as a method of estimating OD matrix from observed traffic flow data. In order to estimate the OD matrix by applying the model, we have to solve nonlinear programming problems, or nonlinear equations for the optimality condition. We apply the homotopy method which is known as an effective method for solving nonlinear equations. This paper proposes a stable solution algorithm for obtaining high-precision approximate solutions, by utilizing the structure of the entropy maximization problem and tracing the homotopy path effectively.

It would be essential to deploy the charging facilities sufficiently for the widespread of electric vehicles and it is also important to evaluate the deployment plan comprehensively. In our study, we propose the static traffic network equilibrium model with electric vehicles aiming at evaluating the deployment plans of charging facilities considering traffic congestion and users vehicle ownership. The proposed model considers the changes in demand for each vehicle and traffic congestion of charging facilities caused by them. Through numerical studies, we confirmed that the model system can be solved as an equivalent nonlinear optimization problem and the relevant numerical algorithm. By showing numerical examples of the proposed model, we examined the basic properties of the model.

Many road videos obtained by CCTV and dashcams are accumulated in organization of road administrators. However, since these data are simply accumulated as original video files, the data transmission via networks is very high cost and huge sized storage is required. Also, in the road situations where some obstacles such as damaged parts of roads and any unexpected objects exist, bicycles cannot travel normally and are forced to avoid them. Therefore, by realizing detection of the avoidance behavior on bicycle trips, more effective road management by road administrators can be expected. In this paper, we propose an edge computing system for accumulating the data of the avoidance behavior on bicycle trips while reducing the data size. This edge computing system contributes to realizing more effective and efficient road management.

MaaS (Mobility as a Service) aims to provide more comfortable mobility services than private cars by by combining several public transportation systems. However, in local cities, there is a first/last one-mile problem for public transport services. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce sharing mobility that provides access/egress services. In this study, we analyze the impact on the preference of new mobility services that combine public transportation with shared mobility. A Stated Preference survey was conducted and some appropriate modal choice model analysis was performed. In addition, we calculated the ratio of public transportation changes by the estimated modal choice model and person trip survey.

In recent years, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the National Police Agency have been promoting the development of a bicycle-passing space based on roadways, so it is expected that the number of bicycles traveling on the roadway will increase. In order to drive a bicycle on the road, it is important to show intentions (traffic communication) to the overtaking bicycle or the car running behind. Because there is a change of course to overtake bicycles in a limited space and avoid parked vehicles. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey on bicycle users and car drivers to understand their awareness of traffic communication when overtaking and changing course. As a result, the necessity of traffic communication became clear, and the knowledge for establishing traffic rules.

Since natural disasters such as large-scale earthquakes and heavy rains occur frequently in Japan, road connectivity in an emergency is extremely important. In this research, we propose a method for calculating links with weak connections in the emergency transportation road network in Ishikawa Prefecture using the matrix tree theorem. In this research, the reduction rate of the spanning tree of the network is adopted as a new index for vulnerability evaluation. In this index, the number of spanning trees in the network is calculated using the Laplacian matrix, and the amount of decrease in the number of spanning trees in the network when each link is disconnected is used. The characteristics of this index are low calculation cost, high robustness to network expansion, and no OD setting. We will analyze this proposed method for the emergency transportation road network in Ishikawa Prefecture and examine the validity of the method.

In the research field of video processing, various methods for detecting damaged parts of roads and objects have been developed. However, it is difficult to define all of the obstacles on roads due to the wide variety of obstacles. Therefore, a novel multimodal method for detecting cyclists' avoidance behavior caused by the presence of obstacles using dashcam videos is proposed in this paper. The proposed detection method focuses on cyclist behavior and bicycle motions. The proposed method consists of three stages. In the first stage, features of cyclist behavior and bicycle motions are extracted. In the second stage, the proposed method performs tentative recognition. Specifically, the proposed method recognizes cyclists' avoidance behavior using features of cyclist behavior. Recognition using features of bicycle motions is also performed. Thus, the proposed method obtains two recognized labels. Finally, by integrating the two recognized labels using the corresponding attribution probabilities, the proposed method obtains final detection results. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This study examines accessibility of after-school activities and grocery shopping for child-rearing households. A case study was conducted in a local city, Utsunomiya. We set several activity-travel patterns and calculated travel times. For a pattern that a parent take a child by car to an after-school activity and go to a supermarket and pick the child up, we investigated “activity-travel time ratio” under space-time prism constraints. It was found that the accessibility is higher in the residential area of the location normalization plan in Utsunomiya City. Also we analyzed changes in the accessibility when introducing the new LRT.

In the deployment of compact plus network policy in Japan, it is necessary to promote urban facility location guidance and arrangement of traffic facilities while observing and predicting changes in human flow due to changes in building location conditions and moving environments more easily. The purpose of this study is to estimate the OD traffic volume between meshes using various types of micro-geo data that have been developed in recent years. In this study, the total floor area data for each mesh by the basic urban planning survey, the mesh staying population data and the OD traffic data between meshes by the Mobile Space Statistics which is based on the operation data of the mobile phone network, and the travel time data by various open data were acquired. Next, we used the Random Forest method to check the contribution of each explanatory variable. In addition, we tried to verify the estimation accuracy by estimating the OD traffic volume using a neural network.

In this study, we focused on gaze behavior as a behavior related to the safety of students walking on school routes, and conducted a study to understand the differences in behavior characteristics according to the attributes of students. Specifically, we analyzed the data measured using an eyeglass-type eye-tracking device under the hypothesis that gaze behavior changes depending on whether or not a person is familiar with the road environment and whether or not a person has a driver’s license. As a result of the analysis, among 3 indices representing the similarity of gaze behavior, the interaction between familiarity with the road environment and whether they have a license or not has a significant effect on the vector representing the overall tendency of gaze (Shape), the length which indicates whether the search for a subject to gaze is global or local, and the duration which indicates the time required to obtain information.

One expected effect of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is to ensure mobility in mountainous areas. However, the cost of infrastructures such as high definition 3D maps and the magnet marker systems is one of the obstacles for introducing AVs. To solve this issue, this study proposes the route planning method for the efficient construction of AVs’ road facilities by quantifying the required length of road facilities for AVs. First, we propose the method to determine the priority of improvement considering two indexes: the total covering population (TCP) and the covering population per unit road distance (UCP). Second, three patterns of networks with the different number of hubs are assumed: 1) network that can reach one base from all population (one hub), 2) one base and two sub-hubs, and 3) one base and four sub-hubs. Third, we applied our method to the Asahi district, Toyota city. The results are as follows. The length of the road for AVs covering all residents is at most 156km, which is half of road network length in the target area. The shortest length of the road for AVs is 140km on the case of the network, which has five hubs (one base and four sub-hubs). The required length for covering 40% of the population by applying UCP (33 km) is half of the length by applying TCP. The results of this study can contribute to the planning of road networks to introduce AVs, especially in mountainous areas.

“Connected Medicine” such as new medical service including “Medical MaaS”, which incorporates advanced technology and MaaS ideas, has been considered for reducing burdens associated with patients' hospital visits. Furthermore, the influence of COVID-19 is expected to change forms of treatment. This study used an original questionnaire survey and categorization of cities using multiple medical service indicators to assess hospital patient attitudes and behaviors and to examine intentions to use “Connected Medicine” in environments influenced by COVID-19. Results showed that effects of medical treatment behavior, attitudes, and COVID-19 were more pronounced on the intention to use “Connected Medicine” than differences in urban types based on medical services. Consideration of the frequency and mode of transportation is important when introducing “Connected Medicine”.

With the development of ICT, interest in traffic policy planning by utilizing large varieties of accumulated big data has been increasing. In recent years, graph polishing has been proposed as a new methodology for graph clustering. Graph polishing is one of the graph clustering methods. This method can be used to extract patterns that are similar or related to each other by clarifying the cluster structures in the data. The purpose of this study is to reveal travel patterns of railway passengers by applying graph polishing to smart card data that has been introduced in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. This study uses 9,008,709 data collected during the 15 months from December 1st, 2013 to February 28th, 2015. This data set includes such information as trip histories and types of passengers. This study uses the graph polishing method to cluster the graph of information about individual rides: riding days of the week, riding time zone, passenger type, the origin station and destination station. As a result, this study succeeded in specifying 141 characteristic travel patterns from the graph.

In recent years, MaaS (Mobility as a Service) concept has been attracting attention and expected to reduce transfer cost, that is one of the most crucial drawbacks of public transportation service. It is possible that transfer cost reduction will have a significant impact on the public transportation network and will require network modifications. This study applies an existing intercity multimode network optimization model to a suburban transportation system and presents a methodology to analyze the impact of transfer cost reduction on the optimal network and total regional consumer surplus. Through a simple example analysis, we show that not only transfer cost reduction but also appropriate network modifications are necessary to increase consumer surplus, and that transfer cost reduction does not simply imply either expansion or contraction of service area supplied by each transportation mode.

Intercity passenger transportation, services with different speeds and basic costs are supplied for each link with considerable fixed cost, and passengers between each OD move by combining the link-based service appropriately. Total cost to construct and maintain link service in the network is shared by fare paid by the passengers. In this case, it is possible that the total number of users can be increased if a larger part of the cost is shared by the OD pair passengers relatively less elastic, instead of a simple method according to the distance for the fixed cost of the service. In this study, we propose a model that determines the network structure and fare of OD, under one of the several cost sharing schemes. In this model, we maximize the social surplus, that is total consumer surplus minus tax amount of government. Next, this model is applied to a virtual network, and the optimal network structure under different cost-sharing schemes and different demand size are analyzed.

The humanitarian logistics (HL) is important for minimizing the human suffering in the aftermath of a catastrophe. After the 2011 Great Japan East Earthquake and Tsunami, the poor HL practices, which is orchestrated by the government for the first time, caused many problems. From this experience, the HL system in Japan significantly has changed based on the amendment of laws and acts. After the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, the government orchestrated the HL practices for the first time since the Tohoku disasters. However many problems have been still reported. This paper describes the impact of the new HL system by comparing the HL practices after the Tohoku disasters and the Kumamoto disasters. Additionally, we identify the principles of HL and research needs.

For the future development of planning method including topographical factors, this study aims to reveal the evaluation method of topographical factors in current urban transportation plans in Japan. Through the review of transportation plans, it was found that 12 transportation plans by 9 cities have evaluated topographical factors. Those evaluation approaches can be classified into 3 groups and their indices, relationship with transportation projects in hilly districts and problems on those methodologies were revealed through interview survey with municipalities and topographical analysis with GIS.

The idea of road hierarchy is suggested in UK in 1963 to improve urban environment. This idea has influenced the road planning policy of the world including Japan. However, the standard of the bus service on each road is not indicated. In addition, bus route is determined based on demand and the road hierarchy is not considered. This study aims to evaluate bus route based on the structure of road hierarchy. Study area is Tama new town in Japan, because road in the area is designed systematically. This study revealed the trade-off relationship between the bus travel distance, number of lines, walking distance, and travel time. We found that from the viewpoint of the bus operator, it is preferable to set bus route on higher level roads, from the viewpoint of the bus user, it is preferable to set bus route on lower level roads.

In this research, we examined the introduction of “monthly taxi commuter pass” that can be used monthly in Akita City, Akita Prefecture. The conditions for purchasing a commuter pass are set to the applicable range, time, waiting time, and purchase price. As a result, it was found that the purchase intention was related to the purchase price. If you sell a monthly taxi commuter pass for a usage range of 2 km, a usage time of 6 hours (10:00 to 16:00), a waiting time of 30 minutes, and a monthly charge of 20,000 yen, the estimated percentage of purchasers will be 25.8%. We also estimated the number of taxis required by introducing measures. It was shown that if the monthly taxi commuter pass under the above conditions is introduced in an area with a target population of 30,000, the current taxi can operate 10 times a day.

With the increase in the number of elderly people who gives up driving with private auto, it is expected that the use of passenger transport with private auto, which supplements conventional public transportation, and support for outings such as shopping and outings through the cooperation of volunteer organizations and local communities will become increasingly important in further situation. The purpose of this study is to examine the profitability, productivity, and operational cost structure of each type of transport through a survey of private passenger transport for value and transport that does not require permission registration. As a result, the authors found that the production function is correlated with the driver and vehicle in both the paid transportation and the transportation that does not require permission or registration, as well as the production, such as the mileage of the vehicle and the number of passengers. The cost structure tends to differ in elasticity, and economy of scale , and the cost function also tends to differ in both cases.

Hokkaido Railway Company published it is difficult to maintain some railway lines alone in 2016. They aim for maintaining these railway by support from national government, Hokkaido government and local municipalities. Hokkaido government and local municipalities request support by national government, but they also need to bear cost more or less. Allocation of cost burden among local municipalities is discussed as a problem of only railway line area municipalities now. But, it is not just railway line area to benefit from railway. Limited express trains between Sapporo are serviced in some railway lines. So economic effects on Sapporo city by railway lines is not small. This study calculate benefit or influence by railway lines for each area. To determine allocation of cost burden from that, it is revealed that not only railway line area municipalities but also Sapporo city bear cost for maintaining railway.

Short-distance intra-prefectural demand of limited express trains is not negligible as well as long-distance inter-prefectural demand. However, neither sufficient knowledges nor techniques have been provided to estimate and to forecast such short-distance demand. In order to overcome the insufficiency in demand forecasting, we developed a model to estimate station catchment areas regarding intra-prefectural demand of limited express trains, based on mode choice behavior of residents surrounding limited express train stations. Station catchment area is considered here since this may allow us to conduct demand forecast on a station-by-station basis, which is less costly than extensive four-step method. Levels of service (LOS) of travel modes are expected to explain mode choice. A questionnaire survey was conducted around several limited express train stations to collect travel behavior data regarding intra-prefectural travel. Each respondent were asked to respond to 10 or 11 questions on mode choice with different LOS. Since respondents gave multiple responses, mixed logit model is applied in parameter estimation in order to consider personal difference in mode choice preference. Data on levels of service of transport and geospatial data were also employed. Parameter estimation provided coefficients with reasonable signs and sufficient likelihood ratio. Mixed logit model outperformed ordinary multinomial logit model in terms of final log likelihood and McFadden's R². Examples of the catchment area estimation is also given based on the model obtained.

The road space reallocation project in the main street of Osaka, Midosuji has started to realize the concept of human-centered urban space. The project has been undertaken in the way of increasing the space for pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, we are pursuing more comfortable road space by installing rest space. While the Level of Service concept was widely employed to evaluate user comfort issues in the transportation field but it is unknown that the LOS concept could apply to these space differences and evaluate the reallocation effect correctly. In this study, we focus rest space and conduct a survey how installing the space affects traffic flow and pedestrians' activities, and how it affects comfort. As a result, separated road space by rest space effects comfort, and they feel comfort when they walk if the road space where they can walk narrow.