Curbing Pandemic Through Evolutionary Algorithm-Based Priority Aware Mobility Scheduling

COVID-19 is a global pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. While swift vaccine development and distribution have arrested the infection spread rate, it is necessary to design public policies that inform human mobility to curb outbreaks from future strains of the virus. While existing non-pharmaceutical approaches employing network science and machine learning offer promising travel policy solutions, they are guided by epidemiological and economic considerations alone and not human itineraries. We introduce an evolutionary algorithm (EA) based mobility scheduler that incorporates the personalized itineraries of individuals to determine the ideal timing of their mobility. We mathematically analyze the computational efficiency versus the optimality trade-off of the mobility scheduler. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that the EA-based mobility scheduler can balance the trade-off between (1) optimality and computational cost and (2) fair and preferential human mobility while reducing contagion under lockdown and no-lockdown as well as even and uneven human mobility traffic scenarios. We show that for two human mobility models, the scheduler exhibits lower infection numbers than a baseline trip-planning approach that directs human traffic along the least congested route to minimize contagion. We discuss that the EA scheduler lends itself to intricate mobility schedules of multiple destination choices with varying priorities and socioeconomic and demographic considerations.

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.

Urban Air Pollution, Urban Heat Island and Human Health: A Review of the Literature

Many cities of the world suffer from air pollution because of poor planning and design and heavy traffic in rapidly expanding urban environments. These conditions are exacerbated due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. While there have been studies linking the built environment and air pollution with health, they have ignored the aggravating role of UHI. The past urban planning literature in this field has also ignored the science of materials, vehicles and air pollution, and technological solutions for reducing cumulative health impacts of air pollution and UHI. Air Pollution, built environment and human health are complex discussion factors that involve several different fields. The built environment is linked with human health through opportunities of physical activity and air quality. Recent planning literature focuses on creating compact and walkable urban areas dotted with green infrastructure to promote physical activity and to reduce vehicle emission-related air pollution. Reduced car use leading to reduced air pollution and UHI is implied in the literature. The literature from technology fields speaks to the issue of air pollution directly. Zero emission cars, green infrastructure and building materials that absorb air pollutants and reduce UHI fall within this category. This paper identifies main themes in the two streams of urban air pollution and UHI that impact human health and presents a systematic review of the academic papers, policy documents, reports and features in print media published in the last 10–20 years.

A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review on E-Marketplaces, Open Innovation, and Sustainability

In recent years, the rise of e-commerce has prompted the emergence of electronic marketplaces, or e-marketplaces, which act as intermediaries in the buying and selling process, bringing together several vendors to offer a wide range of products and services to customers, generating modalities such as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-marketplaces. E-marketplaces offer advantages such as access to potential buyers, business and product visibility, the reduction of transaction costs, the comparison of offers and prices among competitors, and the ease of business internationalization. However, the success of e-marketplace business models depends on the sustainability of these platforms, which must involve different stakeholders in order to meet economic, environmental, and social objectives. Therefore, this study presents a bibliometric analysis and systematic review of e-marketplaces, open innovation, and sustainability for the last ten, five, and two years. The analysis includes the number, types, and subject areas of documents published each year, as well as considerations such as the most-cited publications and the leading authors, journals, countries, and institutional affiliations. The analysis also includes a study of the relevant concepts in the publications and their relationships, identifying the predominant topics related to e-marketplaces, open innovation, and sustainability. The results indicate a focus on subject areas such as social sciences, environmental sciences, energy, business, management, and accounting, which is consistent with the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability. The findings show that e-marketplaces, open innovation, and sustainability are closely related to concepts such as sustainable development, e-commerce, digital marketing, China (the leading country in terms of publications in all periods), logistics, supply chain management, big data, planning, and decision making. Future works should address traffic congestion and environmental impact, new delivery practices in last-mile logistics, and the motives for users’ engagement in e-marketplaces. Likewise, future research can be oriented toward sustainability dimensions and stakeholders’ integration through open innovation and toward the limitations of SMEs in order to access and benefit from digital platforms.

Leading Through Changes

An interview with Jenn Conley, director of Vermont Transportation Systems, VHB South Burlington, VT, USA is presented. Conley said that my role as Director of Vermont Transportation Systems at VHB includes a lot of variety. In our office, Transportation Systems encompasses all aspects of Traffic Engineering. I am leading efforts in traffic operations analysis, traffic signal designs, traffic safety, and transportation planning efforts. Our group is small enough that I have a balance of the administrative duties involved in managing a group of professionals and I can still be actively involved with technical work. The pandemic definitely created challenges and forced us to find creative solutions to being able to reach our membership. The New England Section saw benefits from the move to virtual meetings. There was increased attendance at local state Chapter events.

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.

2021 Developing Trends Report

Complete Streets Council Consultants Council Connected and Automated Vehicles Standing Committee Education Council Mobility as a Service (MaaS) / Mobility on Demand (MOD) Steering Committee Parking Standing Committee Pedestrian and Bicycle Standing Committee Smart Communities Standing Committee Sustainability Standing Committee Urban Goods Movement Standing Committee Traffic Engineering Council Transit Standing Committee Transportation Planning Council Vision Zero Standing Committee The Developing Trends Report aims to give insight into the transportation complexities that can guide the profession's discussions on implementing new solutions and re-evaluating traditional approaches. Safety * Enhancing Safety on Rural Roads through Signing and Pavement Markings * Passive Pedestrian Detection at Signalized Intersections * Safety: A Pillar in Assessing Site Generated Impacts in Transportation Impact Studies * Making the Invisible Visible - Conflict Data Analytics for Vision Zero COVID-19 Responses * Transit Ridership Impacts and Agency Response to COVID-19 * Short- and Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19 on Transportation Education * Post COVID-19 Trends in Active Transportation * Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Parking Demand Technology * Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Bringing the Third Dimension into Surface Transportation * Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Deployment Lessons Learned * Cybersecurity for Surface Transportation Mobility * Netflix of Transport: The Mainstreaming of Mobility-as-a-Service * 15-Minute City: Prioritizing Access over Mobility Design * Curbside Management and the Repurposing of On-Street Parking * Curbside Management Regulations and Technologies are Increasing Person Access and Throughput Planning * EVs, Electrification, and Emission Reduction Planning * Scenario Planning: Forecasting for an Uncertain Future The Developing Trends Report is designed to inspire creativity and motivate agents of change within ITE and across the full spectrum of the transportation industry. If reading this document inspires you, please reach out to one of our Council and Committee Chairs by visiting our website at www.ite.org/technical-resources/councils. itej Acknowledgments ITE would like to thank all the individuals who contributed to the content of this report and its production.