The history of urban traffic control (UTC) throughout the past century has been a continued race to keep pace with ever more complex policy objectives and consistently increasing vehicle demand. Many benefits can be observed from an efficient UTC system, such as reduced congestion, increased economic efficiency and improved road safety and air quality. There have been significant advances in vehicle detection and communication technologies which have enabled a series of step changes in the capabilities of UTC systems, from early (fixed time) signal plans to modern integrated systems. A variety of UTC systems have been implemented throughout the world, each with individual strengths and weaknesses; this paper seeks to compare the leading commercial systems (and some less well known systems) to highlight the key characteristics and differences before assessing whether the current UTC systems are capable of meeting modern transport policy obligations and desires. This paper then moves on to consider current and future transport policy and the technological landscape in which UTC will need to operate over the coming decades, where technological advancements are expected to move UTC from an era of limited data availability to an era of data abundance.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) offers a viable means of charging electric vehicles (EVs) whilst in a dynamic state (DWPT), mitigating issues concerning vehicle range, the size of on‐board energy storage and the network distribution of static based charging systems. Such charge while driving technology has the capability to accelerate EV market penetration through increasing user convenience, reducing EV costs and increasing driving range indefinitely, dependent upon sufficient charging infrastructure. This study reviews current traction battery technologies, conductive and inductive charging processes, influential parameters specific to the dynamic charging state as well as highlighting notable work within the field of WPT charging systems. DWPT system requirements, specific to the driver, vehicle and infrastructure interaction environment are summarised and international standards highlighted to acknowledge the work that must be done within this area. It is important to recognise that the gap is not currently technological; instead, it is an implementation issue. Without necessary standardisation, system architectures cannot be developed and implemented without fear of interoperability issues between systems. For successful deployment, the technologies impact should be maximised with the minimum quantity of infrastructure and technology use, deployment scenarios and locations are discussed that have the potential to bring this to fruition.

Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS) is the world's longest established OR journal and an official journal of The OR Society. It is the aim of the Journal to present papers which are relevant to practitioners, researchers, teachers, students and consumers of operational research, and which cover the theory, practice, history or methodology of OR.

Roundabouts are an increasingly common form of road junction worldwide, and their effective design requires a detailed analysis of maximum vehicle throughput capacities. In this paper, the worldwide state-of-the-art in roundabout capacity modelling is examined, covering the three main methodologies on which models are based: fully-empirical, gap acceptance and simulation. It is shown that due to their limitations, each of these methodologies on their own cannot completely explain the complex behavioural and physical processes involved in roundabout entries, hence all the models require strong semi-empirical or fully-empirical bases using data obtained from their countries of origin. Differences in driver behaviour and methodologies thus result in differences in predicted capacities by the various models, and although local calibration allows some transferability, it is often limited by the availability of data or an incomplete understanding of the relationships between model parameters and capacity.

Crowded trains are a feature of many railway networks and adversely affect both train passengers and rail operators. For passengers, the lack of space or inability to get a seat can lead to a lack of physical comfort, reduced productivity, and increased stress. Crowded trains can also lead to problems boarding and alighting that increase dwell times and make it harder for operators to provide a reliable service. Reducing levels of crowding is therefore desirable, but achieving this goal by increasing capacity is not always practical, and other measures must be considered. Some passengers have shown willingness to change their behavior to avoid crowding—for example, by waiting for a later train—and measures to encourage such behavioral changes more widely could be beneficial overall. Better information provision could be one such measure, and so a stated preference survey was undertaken on a commuter and airport service to investigate this issue further. It was found that the provision of information about crowding levels and seating availability on alternative trains would encourage some passengers to wait for a less-crowded train. Although the willingness of passengers to wait for a later train varied by both the purpose of the trip and the station of origin, the findings suggest that real-time information would improve the passenger experience and could form the basis of a revenue-neutral demand-management system. The implications for station design are particularly pertinent for countries such as the United States, where significant investment in new passenger rail systems is expected.