Browsing by Author "Cao, Xinyu (Jason)"
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Item Benefit and Cost Analysis of the I-394 MnPASS Program(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2012-02) Cao, Xinyu (Jason); Munnich, Lee; Liu, Henry; He, Xiaozheng (Sean); Xu, Zhiyi; Huang, Yan (Arthur)In this report, we explored the benefits and costs associated with converting the I-394 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. The study focused on the I-394 corridor, with a 10-year timeframe from 2006 to 2015. The benefits included travel time savings, safety benefits, and vehicle operating cost savings, and the costs consisted of capital costs and annual operating costs. Where applicable, the implementation of this study followed the benefit-cost analysis guidance of MnDOT. This study considered the benefits of both travel time savings and travel time reliability and the valuations of travel time savings and reliability were derived from econometric models for individual drivers’ behavior. HOT lane users choose the lanes because of travel time savings and/or the reliability of the lanes whereas previous studies considered only travel time savings and exclusively relied on standardized economic value of travel time. This study estimated safety benefits from crash reduction using the Empirical Bayes method. Previous studies scarcely considered the benefits resulting from the conversion of HOV lanes to HOT lanes. This study also showed that “naïve” approaches tended to overstate safety benefits, which highlighted the importance of using a sound methodology.Item Exploring changes in public transport use and walking following residential relocation: A British case study(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2016) Aditjandra, Paulus Teguh; Cao, Xinyu (Jason); Mulley, CorinneThe promotion of local sustainable travel is ever prominent within local transport plans, although it is still not well understood how the change to more sustainable and less carbon-based travel can be achieved. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the travel choice mechanism following residential relocation. This paper uses a structural equations model and an ordered model to explore the drivers of public transport and walking use within an urban environment, using a quasi-longitudinal dataset from 10 communities in the metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear, in northeast England. The results show that changes in public transport use are determined by accessibility features of the built environment, alongside socio-demographic and travel attitude characteristics. Changes in walking, on the other hand, are determined mostly by built-environment characteristics. These findings suggest that a different approach is needed for the promotion of public transport use than for increasing walking trips (aside from walking to access public transport). The provision of public transport services needs to take into account the importance of the value of transport to users, to sufficiently attract and retain them. To promote walking, policy must focus on changes to the built environment (such as safety, travel accessibility, and the sociability of the environment), since it is changes in these characteristics that drive walking in the urban area.Item Impacts of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line on Commercial and Industrial Property Values in Minneapolis(Center for Transportation Studies, 2010-06) Ko, Kate; Cao, Xinyu (Jason)Metropolitan Council has proposed a network of dedicated transitways in its 2030 Transportation Policy Plan to coordinate transportation and land use development and ultimately manage congestion. Since transitways require substantial funding from federal, state, and local governments, the public is interested in knowing if transitway investments bring about meaningful economic benefits to local communities. In this report, we analyzed the impact of proximity to Hiawatha light rail line stations on sales prices for commercial and industrial properties. We applied a linear hedonic pricing model on the 2000-2008 sales data spanning before and after completion of the line (2004). We expect the findings will illuminate questions about light rail transit’s economic benefits. They can provide evidence for transit agencies to justify transitway investments and address concerns of local developers and lenders regarding economic benefits of transitways.Item Understanding Transportation Impacts of Transitways: Demographic and Behavioral Differences between Transitway Riders and Other Transit Riders(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-07) Cao, Xinyu (Jason); Jordan, RachelTo improve mobility, Metropolitan Council has proposed a network of dedicated transitways in the 2030 Transportation Policy Plan. This project studied the profile of transit riders in the Twin Cities and explored environmental factors that influence mode choice of access to transitways, using the 2005 Metropolitan Council Transit Rider Survey. We found the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit (LRT) balances efficiency by serving choice riders and equity through promoting reverse commute and serving captive riders. The LRT has also facilitated the formation of a multi-modal transportation system by promoting mode mixing and encouraging transfers. More importantly, travel shed analysis of several transit routes showed the LRT has a much broader influence on the regional transportation network than local buses and express services. Multinomial Logit models for access mode of the LRT confirmed that riders’ demographics, trip characteristics, built environment and social environment factors around LRT stations affect their access modes. Among them, the distance from trip origin to LRT stations is the dominant factor; the impacts of built environment elements were equivalent to those of riders’ demographics and trip characteristics, whereas the effects of social environment factors were the weakest. The results suggest if the goal is to maximize the number accessing transitways from existing bus services, we should increase the coverage of feeder services, increase street connectivity and promote mixed-use development. If the goal is to attract choice riders in areas where walking and local transit are not options, more park and ride facilities should be provided.Item Which D's are the important ones? The effects of regional location and density on driving distance in Oslo and Stavanger(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2017) Næss, Petter; Cao, Xinyu (Jason); Strand, ArvidBased on a study in the Greater Oslo and Greater Stavanger urban areas in Norway, this paper employs quantitative and qualitative research methods to investigate the influences of residential location and neighborhood characteristics on car driving distances. Cross-sectional and quasi-longitudinal analyses show that built environment characteristics — especially the distance from the dwelling to the main city center — influence driving distances in both urban areas. In Stavanger, the impact of inward moving seems to be larger than that of outward moving, possibly reflecting self-selection to the inner city. In the relatively monocentric Greater Oslo, the distance to the city center has a stronger impact on weekday driving than on weekend driving. In the more polycentric Greater Stavanger, where the importance of downtown as a destination for commuting is weaker, the distance to the city center has similar effects on weekday and weekend driving. In Greater Stavanger, distance to the secondary center Sandnes also plays a role although the impact is small. Population density and job density have impacts in Greater Oslo but not in Greater Stavanger, where we instead find a weak effect of local-area job surplus. There is no tendency toward compensatory increased weekend driving among inner-city dwellers in either Greater Oslo or Greater Stavanger.