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Browsing by Subject "Urban areas"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    The Challenge of Using Public Transport: Descriptions by People with Cognitive Functional Limitations
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2009) Rosenkvist, Jenny; Risser, Ralf; Iwarsson, Susanne; Wendel, Kerstin; Ståhl, Agneta
    This paper describes the findings of a study aiming to achieve deeper insight into reasons people with cognitive functional limitations cease to use public transport. Semi-structured interviews in combination with a qualitative content analysis were performed with nine participants. The results showed that reasons not to use public transport were to some degree a usability problem—both real and imagined. Other reasons were that participants had changed from buses or trains to other modes of transport or had psychologically adapted themselves to a new situation which meant that they did not miss using public transport.
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    Determination of Effective Impervious Area in Urban Watersheds
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2015-07) Ebrahimian, Ali; Gulliver, John S.; Wilson, Bruce N.
    Impervious surfaces have been identified as an indicator of the impacts of urbanization on water resources. The design of stormwater control measures is often performed using the total impervious area (TIA) in a watershed. Recent studies have shown that a better parameter for these designs is the “effective” impervious area (EIA), or the portion of total impervious area that is hydraulically connected to the storm sewer system. Methods to improve estimates of EIA are not highly researched, and need further investigation. The overall goal of this project is to develop a method to estimate EIA in urban watersheds with data that is readily available. First, the existing rainfall-runoff method was improved by reducing the uncertainty associated with EIA estimates and applying it to 40 gauged urban watersheds with different sizes and hydrologic conditions, mostly in the Twin Cities metro area of MN and Austin, TX. The results are then utilized to develop a new method based on the integration of GIS and Curve Number (CN). The GIS-CN method is applicable to un-gauged watersheds and is able to estimate EIA fraction based on TIA and hydrologic soil group (HSG). The results are used to evaluate the potential and the limitations of the GIS-CN method. The outcome and applications of this study improves the rainfall-runoff modelling in urban watersheds and will eventually lead to the design of a more sustainable urban stormwater infrastructure.
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    Does telework weaken urban structure–travel relationships?
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2017) Elldér, Erik
    This paper investigates whether urban structure influences daily travel behavior differently when people telework in urban contexts. Regression models are applied to address whether and to what extent travel is associated with various measures of urban structure and key destination accessibility relative to the home location in Gothenburg, Sweden. The analysis treats groups of workers defined by teleworking practices. Micro-level data from the Swedish National Travel Survey 2011 capture individual travel behavior, while Swedish register data on the location of all firms and individuals combined with a GIS-based tool that measures travel times by car or public transport capture urban structure. Results indicate that telework weakens the relationship between urban structure and travel. Regression models of travel distance and time as functions of various geographical aspects of residential location display a much better fit for those not teleworking regularly. Telework allows various mobility strategies that together foster more spatially heterogeneous daily travel behavior, more dependent on personal attributes than on the home location relative to the workplace. Planners and policymakers should monitor whether the number of teleworkers continues to increase. If so, traditional distance- and location-based models and policies for predicting and planning transport may prove less accurate and effective than currently assumed.
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    Funding Shared Mobility as an Extension of Existing Public Transit Services
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2022-10) Fonseca-Sarmiento, Camila; Zeerak, Raihana; Schuette, Anthony; Panchal, Niyati; Zhao, Jerry
    Public transit services are vital for the mobility and connectivity of communities. Rural public transit services connect users to health care, education, employment, and social and recreational activities. However, rural communities are limited in their mobility due to high costs and limited availability of affordable and reliable transportation options. Shared mobility is an innovative strategy to meet demand for public transit in rural areas that also provides social and environmental benefits. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is exploring how public transit funding may be used to fund shared mobility services as an extension of existing public transit services in small urban and rural areas in Minnesota. This study identifies funding available for this purpose, as well as the limitations in the federal and state regulations for use of such funding sources. In addition, this research explores how transit agencies across the U.S. have funded similar projects and identify opportunities for improvements in Minnesota.
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    Parking and competition for space in urban neighborhoods: Residents’ perceptions of traffic and parking-related conflicts
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2021) Kirschner, Franziska
    The infrastructure for parking and parked cars themselves (e.g., parked cars blocking bike lanes and sidewalks or the visibility range) can lead to conflicts for pedestrians and cyclists. The perception of conflicts could discourage walking and cycling in neighborhoods and undermine municipalities’ efforts to provide more sustainable urban mobility. The aim of this study was therefore to analyze the effect of on-street car parking in urban neighborhoods on perceived parking and traffic-related conflicts. In addition, it examines in what way the intention to reduce one’s car use influences the perception of the conflicts (Stage Model of Self-Regulated Behavior Change (SSBC)). A household survey was conducted in the inner-city neighborhood of Frankfurt-Bornheim, Germany (N=1027). The residents most often observed the conflicts in which parked cars impeded walking and cycling as well as situations in which pedestrians felt threatened by cyclists biking on the sidewalk. Results from multiple linear regression models revealed that the influencing factors for the perception of conflicts were the use of different means of transportation and the intention to change one’s behavior (SSBC model) to reduce car use rather than car ownership. In addition, a resident’s age and household structure seemed to affect awareness of conflicts in which pedestrians and cyclists were involved. The results suggest a group-serving bias, meaning that the residents mostly observed those conflicts that they did not cause. A separate infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists could help prevent most of the conflicts described in this study.
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    Urban and Rural Freight Interdependence: Challenges and Opportunities in Minnesota - White Paper
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2020-12) Liao, Chen-Fu
    This white paper provides a brief overview of freight activities in Minnesota. It mainly focuses on the interdependence of rural and urban freight movement and the value of a well-connected freight network. It largely considers the seven-county Twin Cities metro area as entirely urban and the rest of the Minnesota region (or Greater Minnesota) as rural. This white paper aims to help audiences better understand the interdependence of rural and urban freight activities in the state and the benefit and value of freight investment to all Minnesotans.
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    The Urban Partnership Agreement: A Comparative Study of Technology and Collaboration in Transportation Policy Implementation
    (Center for Transportation Studies, 2011-04) Bryson, John M.; Crosby, Barbara C.; Stone, Melissa M.; Saunoi-Sandgren, Emily; Imboden, Anders S.
    The problems faced by today's public managers are often too large to be solved by a single entity and require collaboration across government, nonprofit, and business sectors. As new technologies and systematic approaches transform the transportation field, cross-sector collaboration has become an increasingly important policy development and implementation approach. Particularly within the transportation field, an assemblage of technologies is often critical to implementing system-wide strategies aimed at, for example, mitigating traffic congestion. In many cases, designers and implementers of effective transportation policies must combine a variety of technologies with deft relationship building and management. Through the development of comparative case studies of three of the Urban Partnership Agreement initiatives, this research study will examine how technology and collaborative processes may be combined to achieve important transportation goals and create public value more generally.