Public transport is a key element of sustainable transport in medium and large cities. Therefore, it is important that city residents want to use it. This paper aims to determine the criteria of the public transport infrastructure which have the most influence on passenger satisfaction with the public transport system. The criteria of public transport infrastructure of stops, vehicles, and route network were analysed. The primary attention was focused on rating these criteria from the most to the least important one. The analysis of scientific papers, specialized literature, Europe Union regulations, Lithuanian legislation, and recommendations were used to explore the necessary criteria that have a significant effect on the popularity of public transport, its functionality and gives a reference on how to raise the willingness of the citizens to use public transport. The experts (14 experts were involved) and social surveys (440 respondents were involved) were used to identify the evaluation criteria of public transport infrastructure and to investigate the state of these criteria. These criteria were grouped into three larger groups according to their nature (public transport infrastructure of stops, vehicles and route network) and were rated and prioritized by the multi-criteria analysis. The results reflect the priorities of criteria parameters of public transport infrastructure. The results show that when investing in public transport infrastructure, the main priority should be attributed to the infrastructure elements, such as public transport priority in the streets, then shelters, lighting, cleanness of bus stops and vehicles, which are physically appreciable. These parameters have the most significant impact on improving the level of service of public transport infrastructure in urban areas.
27 June 2019 in The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans are developed in Europe rapidly. The future initiative is expected will change the image of European cities and will make transport systems efficacious, thus reducing congestion, decreasing air pollution, and offering alternative options for travelling. The impact of the measures being implemented needs to be monitored regularly to evaluate the effect of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, and progress in accomplishing the objectives and specific aims of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans are assessed. Infrastructure measures often require considerable investment, and therefore, their rational use expected to create immense benefit to the public. This article analyses various European models for monitoring and evaluating Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. The models are structured, proposing an assessment methodology for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. Assistance provided by the experts and the use of evaluation models for the analytic hierarchy process assists in identifying the significance of the monitoring indicators that allow assessing the priority orders and the importance of implementing mobility measures.
19 March 2012 in The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering
The Directive 2008/96/EC of European Parliament and of the Council requires the establishment and implementation of procedures relating to road safety impact assessments, road safety audits, the management of road network safety and safety inspections by the Member States. Directive aims to develop procedures with the aim of increasing safety of road infrastructures. Road Safety Impact Assessment (RSIA) is an initial part of road infrastructure safety management systems. This article describes the scope of RSIA procedures, provides detailed recommendations on qualification of auditors, implementation and execution of procedures for the EU Member States. Road safety should play an important role when routes are being selected and safety awareness should be included in the decision making during the designing/planning stage. RSIA is a very beneficial tool that could increase transparency and availability of information, consequently, it leads all parties concerned to well-informed decisions.
15 June 2011 in The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering
Growth of towns is a result of citizen?s social and physical division. Urban planners and scientists have increased the number of links between urban transport and urban development. Public transport has been in the focus of attention as a sustainable and environmentally sensitive transport that brings environmental benefit and possibility to serve mobility needs of citizens without private cars and reduces social division. The article identifies the main factors that affect the use of public transport in town: land use planning; local government policy; extent of economic resources; implementation of modern technologies; social tendencies. Analysis of the scientific literature has revealed four main models of towns of sustainable urban forms: neo-traditional development, urban restrictions, compact town and ecological town. Vilnius has the formed urban and mono-functional structure with a high imbalance between residential and work places which conditions a high mobility of inhabitants as well as high concentration of transport flows on limited-density street networks between the western residential areas and the central part of the City where the main workplaces are located. It presents the provisions of the Vilnius City Master Plan 2015 concerning the public transport improvement. The article also assesses developments in the public transport network in 2003?2009 resulting from changes in individual routes with regard to passenger time necessary for traveling. Modelling is carried out with the help of VISUM software. Citizens of Buivydi?k?s and Santari?k?s are mostly affected by the developments, while the situation in Pavilnys, Auk?tieji Paneriai and Tarand? has changed only slightly.
Public transport sustainability is becoming a major driver for public transport development. Public transport ridership represents one of the key performance indicators of sustainability in the sense of balancing the economic, social and environmental aspects of public transport. There are various methods for improving the attractiveness of public transport for passengers by reducing resistances, which discourage potential and existing passengers to use public transport. Transport ticketing is one of the methods. This article presents a methodological framework for evaluating transport ticketing technologies with the use of a transport ticketing convenience model developed by the authors as well as some survey results through the application of the developed framework on traditional smart ticketing and contactless payment card ticketing technologies. First, a methodological framework for modelling ticketing convenience based on end-to-end passenger experience is presented. Second, a ticketing convenience model for barrier-free and double-sided validation baseline ticketing systems is developed. Third, the ticketing system based on contactless bank payment cards is compared with traditional smart ticketing systems in terms of convenience. It is shown that a contactless payment cards ticketing system has greater convenience or a better, more seamless travel experience than traditional smart systems. Finally, some research perspectives on enhancing the ticketing convenience model by using mobile smartphones with NFC, BLE and GPS technology, as well as the inclusion of technologies related to ticketing such as passenger information systems into the model, are contemplated.
1 January 2009 in International Journal of Sustainable Transportation
The quality and supply of transport services closely relate to many environmental aspects and are among the main indicators showing the quality of life in cities. Urban sustainability is particular to each city, and this paper's research focuses on the energy consumption in Vilnius' private transport system and its dependency on land use as well as the mobility of its inhabitants. EMME/2 modeling software and the VIDAS transport database were employed to evaluate the relationship between the urban structure of Vilnius and energy consumption in private transport. The applied model was based on theoretical and practical considerations and provides clear and practical application possibilities in the analysis of different urban and transport infrastructures and their development strategies. A number of scenarios were performed in order to examine relations between land use and infrastructural changes and energy consumption. This work presents and supports the authors' hypothesis concerning the relationship between energy consumption in Vilnius' transport system and its urban structure. The research and future work based on the authors' findings for the development of Vilnius' bypasses and the reconstruction of current critical intersections showed a reduction in the current consumption of energy throughout Lithuania. However, the authors have found that in the long-term perspective, total fuel consumption will increase in the case of bypasses because longer (but faster) trips will predominate. Meanwhile, as evidence and research results shows, reconstruction of critical intersections will reduce the total fuel consumption and pollution in highly populated areas.