Traffic: What It Is, Its Purpose, and How to Manage It

Posted on May 7, 2024 in Economy

1. What is traffic?

   
   
   1. Modal split
   2. Car Ownership
   3. Interrelations between traffic demand and city development
   4. Travel time budget/ generation of traffic.
   5. Transport Demand Management

2. What is the purpose of traffic?

   
   
   6. Reducing travel cost (operating cost/ travel time savings) (Direct Effect).

3. 7. 1. Possible impacts of transport Infrastructure investment

• Creating employment
• Reorganization or rationalization of production and distribution
  • In simpler terms, it’s like making sure your business runs smoothly and everything is done in a smart, organized, and cost-effective way. Better traffic flow in the transportation system can help your business be more efficient and profitable.
• Unlocking inaccessible sites for development
• Increase in output resulting from lower cost of production.
  • When transportation costs are reduced, it can positively impact the overall cost of production for goods and services. This, in turn, can contribute to increased output and economic productivity.

4. 1. Due to a need is it necessary to perform a change of location.

5. What Kind of trip purposes we have?

   
   
   8. Working
   9. Education
   10. Shopping
   11. Leisure
   12. Business
   13. Personal care
   14. Transport of goods

6. What are the effects of traffic to people, cities and environments (Positive and Negative)

   
   

   15. People

       1. Improved accessibility
       2. Travel time saving.
       3. Accident
       4. Health effects (pollution/ noise)

7. 16. Environment:

       
       
       2. Air pollution
       3. Noise
       4. Climate Change
       5. Use of natural resources/ energy
       6. Land use.

8. 2. Urban Effects:

      
      
      1. Change of land use/city growth
      2. Urban space quality
         1. Building a highway in the middle of Chinatown where a lot of foot traffic occurs
      3. Separation effect
      4. Quality of the urban climate
      5. Amenity value of the side areas
         1. How good you can use the roads for non-traffic functions (Lau Pa Sat)

9. What kinds of transport modes do we have (Different categories we can split?

   
   

   17. What is moving?

       
       
       5. Passenger Transport
       6. Freight Transport

   18. Transport modes(system)

       
       
       7. Land Transport
       8. Water Transport
       9. Air Transport

   19. Transport modes (Vehicle used)

       
       
       6. Private car transport
       7. Public transport
       8. Cycling
       9. Walking

   20. Motorizes modes

       
       
       1. Private car
          
       2. Public transport

   21. Non-motorized mode

       1. Cycling
       2. Walking

10. Accessibility:

    
    

11. 1. Definition

       1. Refers to the ease of reaching goods, services, activities, and destinations, which together Are called opportunities. It can be defined as the potential for interaction and exchange (Hansen 1959; Engwicht 1993)
          
       2. 
          

          Mobility is about getting from location A to location B. Very often you are at location A (e.G. Your home) and want to do something only possible at location B. Our mobility index measures how quickly you can reach different destinations B from a given Origin A. We consider a larger database of a so-called points of interest (POI) as possible destinations.

2. 3. What kinds of transport modes do we have?

      
      

      3. Private Car Transport

         
         

      4. Public Transport

         
         

      5. Cycling

         
         

      6. Walking

3. 4. No unique definition on how to categorize modal split

      
      

12. Car ownership

    22. Very important starting point for planning aspect

        
        

        7. Need to know usage

           
           

13. Urban transport and land-use evolution

14. Generation of traffic

    23.  people will respond in long term changes in transport system by changing their behaviour/destination until they cannot find a way to improve their situation further.
        
    24. 
        

        People will reuse their travel time savings / money savings in transport system

    25. 
        

        Transport Systems /Land use /city planning, and transport demand are connected and influencing each other

    26. Travel time /land use /city planning and transport demand are connected and influencing each other.
        a. Adaptation of Behaviour to Changes in Transport System:
        

People tend to adjust their behaviour and destination choices in response to changes in the transport system. This could include choosing different modes of transportation, changing routes, or adjusting travel times to optimize their commuting experience.

B. Utilization of Time and Cost Savings:

When individuals experience time or cost savings in the transport system, they are likely to reinvest those savings. This could involve allocating saved time to otheractivities or using the money saved for other purposes, contributing to the overall economic and social dynamics.

C. Interconnectedness of Transport System, Land Use, and City Planning:

The transport system, land use planning, and city development are interconnected. Changes in one area can influence the others. For example, improvements in public transportation may lead to changes in land use patterns, affecting the overall structure and function of a city.

D. Travel Time and Lane Mile Elasticities:

Travel time and lane mile elasticities are indicators of the relationship between transport demand and factors such as travel time and road length. Elasticities help quantify how changes in one variable affect another. For instance, understanding how changes in travel time impact overall transport demand or how adding lane miles affects traffic flow.

Elasticities from a concept in economics. Checking how two parameters are connected. Changing one parameter and seeing how the other parameter changes accordingly. How supply and demand are affected 

15. 1. Zahai Y.1974 claimed

       
       
       3. People travel 6o mins per day.
       4. Constant travel money budget.

16. 1. Schafer A (2000)

       
       
       1. Came to the same conclusion as Zahay Y.1974 

17. 1. 
       

       There is no way of building our way out of congestion

       
       

• Cycle always goes back to congestions

  
  
• 
  

  Government must restrict private cars and invest in cycling and walking to reduce this problem

• 
  

  Doesn’t mater where u live or GDP of country everyone in the world spends approximately 60 mins in travel. It only boils down to the mode they utilize.

• 
  

  10 -15 percent of peoples budget used on transport

• 
  

  Travel for personal business and Leisure is increasing

• 
  

  Everyone makes average of 3 trips per day

• 
  

  Low density area requires more trips

18. 2. 
       

       Travel time and lane miles elasticity

       
       

19. 3. 
       

       If you know elasticity you will know how much more km people will travel if you invest infrastructure

       
       

Use elasticity. To prove that (g) is avoided with your method implemented.

20. 4. Push and pull. We need a complementary measure for private and Public Transport

       1. Push Ei. Restriction for private hire cars
       2. Pull Ei. Improvement in public transport systems.

21. Management of traffic demand

    27. 3 levels of measures

        1. 1. Avoid Traffic (Demand)

              
              

              1. How could we do this?

                 
                 

                 1. Lesson on zoom and hence no in person. And hence avoid travel at all/ WFH  is another example

                    
                    

              2. Cause of traffic

           2. Shift Traffic (Demand)

              
              

              1. Travel at a different time/ Go to different location/ Walking Cycling

                 
                 

              2. Time / Space/Mode

           3. Operate Traffic

              1. Regulate (like ERP)

                 
                 

22. What are Possible Transport demand management measures?

    
    

    1. Integrated Transport Hub

       
       

    2. Barrier free transport

       
       

    3. Walking and cycling

       
       

    4. Increase Frquency of Public Transport

       
       

    5. Prioritize Bus lane

       
       

    6. COE

       
       

    7. Increase tax on diesel and petrol car

       
       

    8. Parking management

1. Land use development control

   
   

   1. Good City planning

      1. In Singapore.10 years ago JE MRT was empty. Commercial land use was reversed at these areas

         
         

2. Regulatory controls such as off/even system

   
   

3. Pricing & charges through fuels, annual taxes

   
   

4. Congestion Charging

   
   

5. Parking Control and management

   
   

6. Public transport integration

   
   

7. Physical measures such as bus and pedestrian priority

23. Pus and Pull approach in Singapore

    
    

Push

Area wide parking management

Parking space restriction in zoning ordinance

Car limited zones

Permanent or time of day car bans

Congestion management

Speed reduction

Road pricing

Pull

Priority for buses and trams

High service frequency

Passenger friendly stops and surrounding

More comfort

Park and ride

Bike and ride

Area wide cycle network

Attractive pedestrian connections

Chapter 2

1. Why we need models?

   
   

• For testing something

  
  

• To test if an idea is a good one and if it has any negative effects

  
  
• 
  

  We want to test a small part we are interested in

2. Why do we need traffic models?

   
   

3. • The reality is complex

     
     

1. • Mobility and the corresponding transportation system are highly complex topics which are addressed by various scientific disciplines.
     
   • 
     

     Numerous different stakeholders are involved in one way or the other way

   • 
     

     Interrelations between the various elements of transportation systems are manifold and cover different scales, viewpoints and resolutions in space and time.

4. • Models are simpler

     
     

1. • They represent in a reduced and pragmatic way the reality without omitting aspects being relevant to the modeler

     
     
   • 
     

     Models can thus help to understand and to investigate interesting phenomena of the real world of mobility and transportation systems.

5. Models can help to understand and investigate interesting phenomena of the real world

   
   

6. Do not include as many data as possible instead it should include the most relevant data

   
   

7. Requirements to models

8. • Sensitivity

     
     

   • Ability to model; the

Chapter 3

4 step model belongs to Demand model

4steps modal

1. Traffic Generation

   1. Calculating demand

2. Traffic Distribution

   1. Choose destination

      
      

3. Split to transport Means/Modal

   1. Public transport/Private car/Cycling /Walking

4. Routing and Assignment of Demand

   1. Choosing route

Why create traffic analysis Zones

• Cutting them into smaller zones

  
  

• Analyse each zone

  
  

  • Checking for land use type

    • I.E residential, commercial

• Based on land use type we can simulate trip purposes

Trip purpose

Analyse travel behaviour

• Relevant land use elements
• Time of day
• Mode of travel
• Frequency

Trip maker can be characterized in terms of

• Age
• Gender
• Income
  • This influences the different modes taken by an individual, Traffic zone with lower income has fewer private cars ownership and more utilisation of public transportation. Hence better traffic flow
• Occupation
• Education

Analyse transport network

• What Kind Road network
• What kind of public transport system we have
• What kind of cycling infrastructure we have
• What kind of Walking facilities we have

Chapter 4

Traffic Generation

Trip generation

Production- Trips going out of zone.

Attraction – not considered.

Internal and through trips not considered.

Z1-Z5 (Z1-Z4-Z5) (Z1-Z4 not considered)

Production depends on zonal characteristics

• Zonal population
• Number of workers per household
• Car availability
• Income

Attractions depends on

• Employment (disaggregated by occupation type)
• Floor space (disaggregated by business type)

2 models for doing the traffic generation.

1. Regression Models

   
   

2. Category Analysis

Both models employ

1. What we know for the situation today
2. Assumption on travel behaviour and trip generation/ attraction rate will not change in the future.

Advantages of Regression Model

• Easy and inexpensive to construct from data that are usually available in planning studies.

Limitations

• Correlations among independent variables
• May create estimation problems.

Category Analysis

• Categorize individual household into relatively homogeneous group using common socio-economic characteristics example car ownership, income, household size
• Calculate average trip rate for each category.
  • Average trip rate = Amount of trips / number of households
• Estimate future number of household in each category/group.
• Calculate future trip generation.
  • P= average trip rate x future number of household
• Sum up for all categories/groups.

Advantages

• Easily understood by decision makers
• Avoid assumption of linear, additive effect

Limitation

• Requires more data to construct and to predict.
• Assume stability of estimated rates over time

Chapter 5

Traffic Distribution

2. •  To use the 4 transport planning model to use traffic distribution

Trip from I to J is trip distribution

Use on the O-D Matrix

From the O-D Matrix we can find the sum attraction and sum production

3. • Trip 1 to 2 is 12 mins
   • Trip 2 to 3 is 13 mins

Gravity model