The Perspective Projects Promoting Sustainable Mobility by Active Travel to School on the Example of the Southern Poland Region

The paper presents a discussion concerning the development of projects regarding active travel with the policy of sustainable mobility, with active school transport in southern Poland being taken into special consideration. The implementation of the idea of sustainable school travel planning involves linking several social groups, including traffic planners and organizers, school administrators, governments, parents, and children. This, in turn, requires considering the criteria reported by all parties when choosing a scenario for the region’s development in terms of transport solutions. The following study was based on the methodological foundations of multicriteria decision-making analysis. The research purpose of this paper is to identify and classify the actions, policies, and scenarios of active travel projects for the sustainable development of mobility based on the cities of southern Poland. The evaluation was carried out through expert methods with multicriteria decision-making tools based on the MULTIPOL (MULTI-criteria and POLicy) prospective analysis technique. It allowed for the selection of the most probable policy, which covered the six actions considered by the experts to be the most significant for the development of the active school transport system in the analyzed region. Such actions are as follows: identification of walking school bus routes, modernization of crosswalk lines, planning of walking and cycling routes to schools, promoting safety educational programs, distribution of active school transport booklets and cycling, and pedestrian skills training workshops. The paper presents a new method to evaluate the policies and actions regarding promoting sustainable (active) travel to school. The innovative approach results from assembling a mixed group of people (stakeholders) as experts. The mix of experts consisting of users (pupils and parents), practitioners, and scientist experts in this field allowed us to score policies, actions, and scenarios, enabling a wider spectrum of assessment than before.

Carbon Emission Measurement of Urban Green Passenger Transport: A Case Study of Qingdao

Urban passenger transport is one of the most significant sources of fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission, especially in developing countries. The rapid growth of urban transport makes it a critical target for carbon reduction. This paper establishes a method for calculating carbon emission from urban passenger transport including ground buses, private cars, cruising taxis, online-hailing taxis, and rail transit. The scope of the study is determined according to the transportation mode and energy type, and the carbon emission factor of each energy source is also determined according to the local energy structure, etc. Taking into consideration the development trend of new energy vehicles, a combination of “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches is used to estimate the carbon dioxide emission of each transportation mode. The results reveal that carbon emission from Qingdao’s passenger transport in 2020 was 8.15 million tons, of which 84.31% came from private cars, while the share of private cars of total travel was only 45.66%. Ground buses are the most efficient mode of transport. Fossil fuels emit more greenhouse gases than other clean energy sources. The emission intensity of hydrogen fuel cell buses is better than that of other fuel type vehicles. Battery electric buses have the largest sensitivity coefficient, therefore the carbon emission reduction potentially achieved by developing battery electric buses is most significant.

Using Combined Bus Rapid Transit and Buses in a Dedicated Bus Lane to Enhance Urban Transportation Sustainability

Combined bus rapid transit and buses in a dedicated bus lane (CBBD) is a measure that bus rapid transit (BRT) operators implement to reduce overlapping routes between BRT and fixed-route buses. The CBBD measure can combine the passengers of both systems on the same route, which helps increase passenger demand for the BRT, and reduce fuel consumption and emissions from utilizing the exclusive lanes for the combined route. However, the CBBD could affect some bus and BRT passengers in terms of either losing or gaining travel time-saving benefits depending on their travel pattern. This research proposed a methodology to determine the travel distance initiating disadvantage for BRT passengers (DDB) to justify the potential success of the CBBD operations. The number of passengers gaining a benefit from the CBBD was sensitive to the distance between the CBBD stops and the operational period of the CBBD. The CBBD reform would be beneficial to transit agencies to improve the travel time of passengers and be able to promote environmental sustainability for the public transportation system in urban cities.

Sustainable Public Transport Strategies—Decomposition of the Bus Fleet and Its Influence on the Decrease in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The COVID pandemic has caused a major exodus of passengers who chose urban and suburban transport. In many countries, especially in the European Union, there is a tendency to choose individual means of transport, causing damage to the environment and contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. One method to promote urban transport is replacing bus fleets with newer ones, thus making public transport more attractive and reducing the emission of harmful exhaust fume components into the atmosphere. The aim of this study was to show a methodology for calculating CO2e for bus fleets. When determining CO2e, the principal greenhouse gases, such as CO2, CH4, and N2O, are usually considered. However, CO emissions also have indirect effects on climate through enhanced levels of tropospheric O3 and increased lifetime of CH4;therefore, CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO emissions were determined for CO2e emission calculations. Two bus fleet variant scenarios were analysed;the first non-investment variant assumed passenger transport using the old fleet without any P&R parking zones. The second scenario was based on the current state, which includes the purchase of new low-emission buses and the construction of P&R infrastructure. The calculations were performed using the COPERT emission model with real data from 52 buses running on 13 lines. For the analysed case study of the Rzeszow agglomeration and neighbouring communes, implementing the urban and suburban transport modernisation project resulted in a reduction in estimated CO2e emissions of about 450 t. The methodology presented, which also considers the impact of CO emissions on the greenhouse effect, is a new element of the study that has not been presented in previous works and may serve as a model for other areas in the field of greenhouse gas emission analyses. The future research scope includes investigation of other fuels and powertrain supplies, such as hydrogen and hybrid vehicles.

Analyzing Rail Traffic Diversion Based on Machine Learning Technique considering Transportation Security

Based on a stated preference survey, we comprehensively analyze the travel psychology of residents and the advantages and disadvantages of rail transit and conventional buses, travel time, travel cost, travel security, and vehicle comfort and investigate the relationship between the relevant influencing factors and the transition probability from rail transit to buses. A stochastic utility theory is introduced to describe the transfer behavior pertaining to travel modes, and a binary Logit model for diversion transfer is constructed. The decision tree is also used to predict the diversion transfer. Then, based on the large amount of travel willingness data obtained through the stated preference survey, a maximum likelihood estimation method is used to calibrate the parameters of the binary Logit model. The performance of the binary Logit proves to be better than that of the decision tree. Results show that the travel time most notably affects the passenger flow transfer, followed by the vehicle comfort. Finally, Guangzhou Rail Transit Line 3 is considered an example, and the diversion route planning and design are performed according to the constructed diversion transfer probability model to verify the effectiveness and practicability of the model. The research provides an effective theoretical basis and technical reference for other cities to perform rail traffic diversion planning. Based on these results, the following suggestions can be made: (1) the organization of public transportation routes, delivery volume, and travel speed outside should be improved;(2) undertaking combined operation of bus and rail transportation and integrated development is preferred;(3) the transportation management should focus on the comprehensive function development and hardware support of public transportation stations. The convenience and comfort of rail transit are closely related to the facilities and functions of the stations and their connections, which should be highly valued.

The One E-Ticket Customized Bus Service Mode for Passengers with Multiple Trips and the Routing Problem

To alleviate the problems of traffic congestion, excessive energy consumption, and the environmental pollution caused by private cars, it is essential to use public transportation (PT). However, passengers making multiple trips in a short time period must repeatedly make travel mode choices, purchase tickets, and wait for buses for each trip, which may negatively affect their preference for PT. In order to improve the attractiveness of PT, especially for passengers requiring multiple trips in a short time period, this paper proposes the one e-ticket customized bus service mode for passengers with multiple trips (OECBSM-PMT) by customized buses (CBs). Besides, a CB-routing optimization model for the OECBSM-PMT is also developed in this paper, formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming based on a vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery and time windows (VRPPDTW). The model aims to maximize the profit and minimize the costs of operation with considering passengers with multi-trip requests, homogeneous CB fleets with pickup/delivery-time-window constraints, and mixed loads. A service effectiveness identification procedure based on genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to cope with the calculation considering the characteristics of passengers with multiple trips. Finally, the proposed model and algorithm are verified and analyzed using the case of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. It can be found from the results that the method can provide an optimized CB route plan and timetable, and the algorithm GA-I obtains better solutions than other solving strategies in most instances. The proposed OECBSM-PMT and corresponding optimized method can better adapt to diverse travel demands, significantly improve the convenience for passengers, especially those making multiple trips in a short time period and will eventually promote a higher level of public transport service.

Exhaust Emissions from a Hybrid City Bus Fuelled by Conventional and Oxygenated Fuel

City buses are one of the main means of public transport in cities. As they move in a limited and densely populated area and are intensively exploited, it is particularly important that they are environmentally friendly. There are many ways to reduce emissions from city buses, including the use of hybrid propulsion. Another way is to use low-emission fuels. This article presents the results of the emission tests of an 18 m articulated city bus with a serial hybrid drive fuelled comparatively by conventional diesel fuel and oxygenated fuel containing 10% v/v of triethylene glycol dimethyl ether (TEGDME). The emission tests were carried out during the actual operation of the bus on a route in Poznań (Poland) and over the SORT cycles. The obtained test results were compared also with the results obtained for a conventional bus. The reduction in emissions of some exhaust components was found when the hybrid bus was fuelled with oxygenated fuel during its actual operation on the bus route. There was a reduction in CO emissions by ~50% and NOx emissions by ~10%. Almost identical levels of PM and HC emissions and smoke opacity were observed for both fuels. In the SORT cycles, the differences in the emissions obtained for both types of fuel were small. In general, for the hybrid bus, a lower influence of oxygenated fuel on emissions was recorded than for the conventional bus.

Vehicle Routing Problem in Relief Supply under a Crisis Condition considering Blood Types

Despite the advances achieved in Medical Sciences, no substitute has been found for blood as a vital factor. Therefore, preparing sufficient and healthy blood in crisis conditions is a challenge that health systems encounter. Along with examining the conducted investigations in this field, the main contribution of current research is to develop a biobjective Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model for relief supply under crisis condition. For this purpose, this paper proposes a model for routing of bus blood receiver under crisis conditions considering different blood groups. Besides, hours of unnecessary travel by bloodmobiles (buses) between each blood station (BS) and the crisis-stricken city for dispatching the collected blood is prevented thanks to considering a helicopter. The mentioned model has two objectives: maximizing the amount of blood collected by bloodmobiles and minimizing the arrival time of the blood receiver buses and a helicopter to a crisis-stricken city after the collected blood is used up. The model is coded by CPLEX software, and the results obtained from solving the model indicate that, without considering a helicopter, the demand is not supplied within the critical period after crisis. Given that blood cannot be artificially produced, its primary resource is blood donors. Concerning the importance of this issue under crisis conditions, this research investigates the relief vehicles’ routing problem, including bus and helicopter, in a crisis considering supply and transfer of different blood groups to a crisis-stricken city for maximum relief supply and blood transfer within the shortest period.