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To adequately analyze the impacts associated with the rising use of automobiles, an assessment framework is needed that includes environment, health, economic, and sociocultural impacts. Such a framework was developed and applied to a proposed freeway-widening project in Edmonton, Canada. The assessment framework was developed using both Multi-Criteria Analysis and the Ecosystem Approach to Human Health (Ecohealth). Community participation was vital in the application of the assessment framework to this case study. Six stakeholder groups, including community members, City Councillors, and health, environment, and transportation experts, provided needed qualitative data for the assessment framework. Quantitative data were gathered from an ecological study design that associated traffic volumes with respiratory conditions in Edmonton. Community members’ perceptions about the impacts of the freeway widening differed from those of the expert groups in a number of areas. Environmental and health degradation was more of an issue to community members than to expert groups. Though respiratory conditions were not projected to increase by a significant amount because of the freeway widening, further analysis is necessary on other biophysical and socioeconomic impacts listed in the assessment framework. The divergence in opinion between community members and experts suggests that more communication is needed between these groups in relation to transportation planning. The Ecohealth approach ensures that community concerns are addressed in transportation planning.

Transit bus passenger loading changes significantly over the course of a workday. Therefore, time-varying vehicle mass as a result of passenger load becomes an important factor in instantaneous energy consumption. Battery-powered electric transit buses have restricted range and longer “fueling” time compared with conventional diesel-powered buses; thus, it is critical to know how much energy they require. Our previous work has shown that instantaneous transit bus mass can be obtained by measuring the pressure in the vehicle’s airbag suspension system. This paper leverages this novel technique to determine the impact of time-varying mass on energy consumption. Sixty-five days of velocity and mass data were collected from in-use transit buses operating on routes in the Twin Cities, MN metropolitan area. The simulation tool Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator was modified to allow both velocity and mass as time-dependent inputs. This tool was then used to model an electrified and conventional bus on the same routes and determine the energy use of each bus. Results showed that the kinetic intensity varied from 0.27 to 4.69 mi−1 and passenger loading ranged from 2 to 21 passengers. Simulation results showed that energy consumption for both buses increased with increasing vehicle mass. The simulation also indicated that passenger loading has a greater impact on energy consumption for conventional buses than for electric buses owing to the electric bus’s ability to recapture energy. This work shows that measuring and analyzing real-time passenger loading is advantageous for determining the energy used by electric and conventional diesel buses.

Cycling-based mobility services or 'Cycling as a Service' (CaaS) have recently expanded in number and scale in the Netherlands. In contrast to the contexts of most other CaaS studies to date, cycling has a high modal share and strong institutions in the Dutch context. However, these supportive features have not translated into straightforward success for CaaS providers. Instead, responses to CaaS providers have varied widely, from tolerance to opposition. In this study we employ a combined business model and transition perspective to investigate this variation and its implications for CaaS in Dutch urban mobility systems. We present value propositions derived from business models, and integrate these into Hoogma's fit-and-stretch strategy framework for emerging niches. This enables a comparison between technology design and value propositions, and an analysis of the CaaS niche's transitions potential. Our findings clarify the strategies used by niche actors to enter and operate within established cycling regimes.

A new tangent energy-absorbing W-beam guardrail terminal that meets NCHRP Report 350 criteria has been developed. The terminal, designated the SKT-350, dissipates the energy of an encroaching vehicle by producing a series of plastic hinges in the W-beam as the terminal head is pushed down the guardrail. This energy-absorption concept allows for significantly lower dynamic forces on the encroaching vehicle, reducing the vehicle damage, the weight of the terminal head, the propensity for vehicle yaw and roll after impact, and the chances of buckling in the W-beam section. The energy required to move the head down the rail in this design is optimized for current criteria, but by modifying the bending geometry in the head, the average force to displace the head down the rail can be adjusted from values ranging from 11 to 60 kN (2,500 to 13,500 lb), meaning that the system can be easily modified to meet any future changes in safety performance standards. In addition to these important safety advantages, the terminal incorporates a unique cable anchor bracket that closely resembles a breakaway cable terminal anchor and a novel foundation tube design that facilitates the removal of broken posts during repair. Combining the features of reduced forces and head weight, a simple cable box, and more economical soil tubes allows the system to offer the advantages of both reduced cost and improved performance.

The city of Baltimore, Maryland, is now served by one heavy and one light rail line in addition to commuter rail service to Washington, D.C. However, the lines do not share any common stations and do not function as a network. The larger objective of this research was to evaluate ways in which the Baltimore transit system could be better integrated and contribute more to community well-being, environmental quality, and economic prosperity for all socioeconomic and racial and cultural groups. An underlying goal was to improve the mobility of a wider range of Baltimore residents so that their employment choices would not be limited by an underdeveloped transit system. This outcome was addressed in the context of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, the Livable Communities Initiative, and the state of Maryland’s Smart Growth initiative. Only part of the larger agenda is presented here—the development of a community-based model for selecting and designing potential light rail line corridors in the larger system. The model used seven quality-of-life and livable community criteria—( a) potential to serve low-to moderate-income neighborhoods that have no direct access to public transportation (including bus access), ( b) high concentrations of employment opportunities along the route, ( c) highest number of intact commercial districts along the route, ( d) proximity to dense population centers (within a ¼-mi radius), ( e) proximity to numerous community social or cultural centers (including schools and churches), ( f) minimal physical environmental impacts, and ( g) the most potential to improve the pedestrian environment.

With rapid growth in the number of personal motor vehicles, Indian cities have been facing increasing congestion and worsening air quality. Yet until early 2005 little attention was paid to this problem, and remedial measures were focused largely on overpasses and new roadway capacity. Only Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai had built functioning metro rail systems. However, by the second half of 2006, barely a year and a half later, the situation changed considerably, and public transport became the focus of attention in most large and medium-sized cities. This paper looks at the national initiatives that helped bring about those changes. The adoption of a national urban transport policy along with the launching of a national urban renewal mission with a sizable commitment of funds helped focus attention on improving public transportation. These were supplemented by a series of well-conceived and -planned initiatives, again led by the national government, to generate more widespread awareness of urban mobility problems and how they could be successfully addressed. The results were visible in a mere 18 months, by which time several cities had already formulated plans for significantly improved public transport and the first incremental phase of what will be India's first bus rapid transit system had become operational.

This article joins recent calls for greater attention to be paid to the politics of mobility. In particular, it examines how air transport is not only experienced inequitably among different social groups, but is also an activity whose access and opportunities are geographically distributed in uneven ways. Using Singapore as a candidate and foil to reflect on this issue, this paper interrogates how three ‘international’ legislative frameworks—air traffic rights, air navigation rules, and climate change initiatives—have variously limited the city-state’s potential to ‘move’ at different stages of its flying career. Despite the city-state’s widely-acclaimed aviation success, this paper demonstrates how it remains subject to the geopolitical actions of more dominant players, residing interstitially between being at the vanguard, and at the peripheries of global air traffic. It is suggested that further interrogations on how particular transport practices and configurations become salient in the world are needed.

The design and crash test results of a median barrier version of the Flared Energy-Absorbing Terminal, known as FLEAT-MT, are presented. This energy-absorbing terminal is designed for use with a W-beam, strong-post median barrier. The FLEAT-MT terminal uses two standard FLEAT terminals, one for each of the two W-beam rail elements. The energy-absorbing capability of the FLEAT-MT terminal is based on the sequential kinking concept, similar to that used with the Sequential Kinking Terminal and FLEAT guardrail terminals. Three full-scale vehicle crash tests were conducted to evaluate the impact performance of the FLEAT-MT terminal in accordance with guidelines set forth in NCHRP Report 350: Test 3-35—pickup truck redirection test (Test No. FMT-1), Test 3-31—pickup truck head-on test (Test No. FMT-2), and Test 3-39—pickup truck reverse-direction test (Test No. FMT-3M). The terminal performed as designed. The FLEAT-MT terminal meets all evaluation criteria for a Test Level 3 median barrier terminal set forth in NCHRP Report 350. The FLEAT-MT terminal is being evaluated by FHWA for approval to be used on the National Highway System.

Urban transport in most cities around the world is developing in an unsustainable fashion, as reflected by rapid growth in traffic congestion and air pollution driven by individual motorization. Strengthened bus systems, built on rapid bus corridors, and improved bus technologies could play an important role in putting cities on a more sustainable path. Results and some of the main messages are presented from a recent study at the International Energy Agency, Paris, which has assessed the situation in a number of the largest cities in the developing world, while also drawing on experience from several cities in the developed world. A principal finding is that buses tend to carry a large share of travelers but contribute only a small part of total traffic and pollution. Also, although bus ridership is declining in many cities, new types of bus systems are emerging that offer the potential to reverse these trends and have done so in several cities (e.g., Curitiba, Brazil, and Bogota, Columbia). Advanced bus propulsion systems, that is, fuel cell and hybrid buses running on a variety of fuels, could eventually provide substantial relief from busrelated pollution problems. However, in developing countries, spending scarce funds for cleaning up the emissions from present technologies, along with developing improved bus systems that enhance traffic flow, would provide far more relief in the near-term than spending on a few advanced technology buses. Both paths must be followed, but the latter must not obscure the former. Conditions necessary for bus systems to prosper are discussed and, in conclusion, recent promising developments are highlighted.