Arterial traffic congestion analysis using Bluetooth duration data

The aim of this study is to assess the potential use of Bluetooth data for traffic monitoring of arterial road networks. Bluetooth data provides the direct measurement of travel time between pairs of scanners, and intensive research has been reported on this topic. Bluetooth data includes “Duration” data, which represents the time spent by Bluetooth devices to pass through the detection range of Bluetooth scanners. If the scanners are located at signalised intersections, this Duration can be related to intersection performance, and hence represents valuable information for traffic monitoring. However the use of Duration has been ignored in previous analyses. In this study, the Duration data as well as travel time data is analysed to capture the traffic condition of a main arterial route in Brisbane. The data consists of one week of Bluetooth data provided by Brisbane City Council. As well, micro simulation analysis is conducted to further investigate the properties of Duration. The results reveal characteristics of Duration, and address future research needs to utilise this valuable data source.

Developing a transdisciplinary approach to improve urban traffic congestion based on Product Ecosystem theory

Product Ecosystem theory is an emerging theory that shows that disruptive “game changing” innovation is only possible when the entire ecosystem is considered. When environmental variables change faster than products or services can adapt, disruptive innovation is required to keep pace. This has many parallels with natural ecosystems where species that cannot keep up with changes to the environment will struggle or become extinct. In this case the environment is the city, the environmental pressures are pollution and congestion, the product is the car and the product ecosystem is comprised of roads, bridges, traffic lights, legislation, refuelling facilities etc. Each one of these components is the responsibility of a different organisation and so any change that affects the whole ecosystem requires a transdisciplinary approach. As a simple example, cars that communicate wirelessly with traffic lights are only of value if wireless-enabled traffic lights exist and vice versa. Cars that drive themselves are technically possible but legislation in most places doesn’t allow their use. According to innovation theory, incremental innovation tends to chase ever diminishing returns and becomes increasingly unable to tackle the “big issues.” Eventually “game changing” disruptive innovation comes along and solves the “big issues” and/or provides new opportunities. Seen through this lens, the environmental pressures of urban traffic congestion and pollution are the “big issues.” It can be argued that the design of cars and the other components of the product ecosystem follow an incremental innovation approach. That is why the “big issues” remain unresolved. This paper explores the problems of pollution and congestion in urban environments from a Product Ecosystem perspective. From this a strategy will be proposed for a transdisciplinary approach to develop and implement solutions.

Effects of longer heavy vehicles on traffic congestion

Two-lane, "microscopic" (vehicle-by-vehicle) simulations of motorway traffic are developed using existing models and validated using measured data from the M25 motorway. An energy consumption model is also built in, which takes the logged trajectories of simulated vehicles as drive-cycles. The simulations are used to investigate the effects on motorway congestion and fuel consumption if "longer and/or heavier vehicles" (LHVs) were to be permitted in the UK. Baseline scenarios are simulated with traffic composed of cars, light goods vehicles and standard heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). A proportion of conventional articulated HGVs is then replaced by a smaller number of LHVs carrying the same total payload mass and volume. Four LHV configurations are investigated: an 18.75 m, 46 t longer semi-trailer (LST); 25.25 m, 50 t and 60 t B-doubles and a 34 m, 82 t A-double. Metrics for congestion, freight fleet energy consumption and car energy consumption are defined for comparing the scenarios. Finally, variation of take-up level and LHV engine power for the LST and A-double are investigated. It is concluded that: (a) LHVs should reduce congestion particularly in dense traffic, however, a low mean proportion of freight traffic on UK roads and low take-up levels will limit this effect to be almost negligible; (b) LHVs can significantly improve the energy efficiency of freight fleets, giving up to a 23% reduction in fleet energy consumption at high take-up levels; (c) the small reduction in congestion caused by LHVs could improve the fuel consumption of other road users by up to 3% in dense traffic, however in free-flowing traffic an opposite effect occurs due to higher vehicle speeds and aerodynamic losses; and (d) underpowered LHVs have potential to generate severe congestion, however current manufacturers' recommendations appear suitable. © 2013 IMechE.

Road traffic congestion and public information - An experimental investigation

This paper reports laboratory experiments designed to study the impact of public information about past departure rates on congestion levels and travel costs. Our design is based on a discrete version of Arnott et al.'s (1990) bottleneck model. In all treatments, congestion occurs and the observed travel costs are quite similar to the predicted ones. Subjects' capacity to coordinate is not affected by the availability of public information on past departure rates, by the number of drivers or by the relative cost of delay. This seemingly absence of treatment effects is confirmed by our finding that a parameter-free reinforcement learning model best characterises individual behaviour.

Why doesn't investment in public transport reduce urban traffic congestion?

Includes bibliography

Urban traffic congestion: its economic and social causes and consequences

Includes bibliography

Measures for controlling traffic congestion

Traffic congestion has become a severe scourge in large cities, in both the industrialized and developing countries. Increasing demand for urban transport and transit has led to longer travel times, and a greater incidence of accidents, environmental problems and deterioration in the quality of life than is considered acceptable for citizens. A multidisciplinary approach is required in order to keep the negative effects of congestion under control and to ensure standards of living remain sustainable. In view of the seriousness of the problem, ECLAC with the support of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) is carrying out a project to study measures that contribute to traffic control. As part of this project, initiatives regarding the supply of, and the demand for, transport have been examined, and a programme to disseminate information is being conducted.For further information, please contact Mr Alberto Bull .

Alternatives for controlling urban traffic congestion

Traffic congestion is nothing new in Latin American cities but has worsened in recent years. Eliminating it is a pipedream, but it should be brought under control. Many economists and transport planners think electronic road pricing would be the best way of tackling it, now that the appropriate technology for implementing it is available. On the other hand, experience shows that, for political reasons, it would be better to begin by adopting simpler methods. To start with, simple road pricing would seem to be the best option. But, over 20 years of experience in London and more than six in Santiago, Chile, made it clear that socio-political barriers have to be surmounted before even this option can be applied in practice. There is more political support for measures to control parking, due in part to the fact that the legal powers do not normally extend to restricting the number of parking spaces available to high-income and influential motorists who have the right to park near their offices and who cause a great deal of the congestion whilst getting there. In Latin America, the relative importance of taxis also diminishes the effectiveness of measures geared to parking, since taxis contribute to congestion although but they do not park. The problem of congestion cannot be solved by using tame measures. The time has come for something bolder, i.e., measures that, at the very least, exercise control over those parking spaces, which so far have been beyond the reach of governments and local authorities, ideally, simple road pricing systems would be even more effective.

Traffic congestion: the problem and how to tackle it

As the culmination of a project financed by the Technical Cooperation Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany (GTZ), ECLAC has just published Congestión de tránsito - El problema y cómo enfrentarlo, Cuadernos de la Cepal series, No. 87. The text of 194 pages analyses the negative impacts of congestion and the multidisciplinary efforts that are needed to keep it under control, through the design of appropriate policies and measures. Congestion control is part of the development of a strategic vision of how a city should develop which can make it possible to harmonize the needs of mobility, growth and competitiveness, which are so necessary today and in the future, with the sustainability of cities and the improvement of their quality of life.The task is complex and it is not easy to find appropriate solutions. The present publication presents tools for tackling this crucial problem. Everything indicates that it calls for high professional and leadership qualities on the part of the authorities, and that it must have the active support of the citizens.This edition of the Bulletin presents a summary of the main conclusions of the publication and it is stressed that ECLAC can conduct local workshops to analyze the problem and how to tackle it.

ECLAC contributes with new workshops towards the goal of easing traffic congestion

A number of cities in Latin America played host to workshops on measures for reducing traffic congestion, as part of efforts to publicize the results of a project recently completed by ECLAC, and which received support from the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Congestion is beginning to pose a threat to the quality of life of the cities of the region; the most obvious manifestation of this congestion is the increase in daily travel time, especially in peak hours.The workshops are a contribution to efforts to curb congestion, since they help foster awareness of the extent of the negative consequences generated by the phenomenon, and are a means of publicizing options for dealing with it. This edition of the Bulletin outlines the contents of the workshops and their results. The workshops are offered to urban authorities and other institutions interested in training staff employed in positions involving traffic management.

Traffic congestion: its economic and social consequences

Urban transport in the largest Latin American and Caribbean cities consumes about 3.5% of regional GDP — a percentage that is inflated by the effects of traffic congestion. In addition to the costs of congestion in terms of lost economic efficiency, there are also negative consequences in terms of social cohesion. The phenomenon of traffic congestion, which is caused mainly by relatively wealthy car drivers, lengthens journey times and, more importantly, forces up public transport fares. Owning a car is one of the fruits of human progress; using it in conditions of acute congestion or contamination is a social ill.

Traffic congestion: the problem and how to deal with it

The text of 194 pages analyses the negative impacts of congestion and the multidisciplinary efforts that are needed to keep it under control, through the design of appropriate policies and measures. Congestion control is part of the development of a strategic vision of how a city should develop which can make it possible to harmonize the needs of mobility, growth and competitiveness, which are so necessary today and in the future, with the sustainability of cities and the improvement of their quality of life.The task is complex and it is not easy to find appropriate solutions. The present publication presents tools for tackling this crucial problem. Everything indicates that it calls for high professional and leadership qualities on the part of the authorities, and that it must have the active support of the citizens.This edition of the Bulletin presents a summary of the main conclusions of the publication and it is stressed that ECLAC can conduct local workshops to analyze the problem and how to tackle it.

Reducing traffic congestion : using market prices to enhance mobility : [the high cost of idling : report to congress on the progress and accomplishments of the Congestion Pricing Pilot Program].

"August 1998"--P. [4] of cover.

Fluctuation-induced traffic congestion in heterogeneous networks

In studies of complex heterogeneous networks, particularly of the Internet, significant attention was paid to analyzing network failures caused by hardware faults or overload, where the network reaction was modeled as rerouting of traffic away from failed or congested elements. Here we model another type of the network reaction to congestion - a sharp reduction of the input traffic rate through congested routes which occurs on much shorter time scales. We consider the onset of congestion in the Internet where local mismatch between demand and capacity results in traffic losses and show that it can be described as a phase transition characterized by strong non-Gaussian loss fluctuations at a mesoscopic time scale. The fluctuations, caused by noise in input traffic, are exacerbated by the heterogeneous nature of the network manifested in a scale-free load distribution. They result in the network strongly overreacting to the first signs of congestion by significantly reducing input traffic along the communication paths where congestion is utterly negligible. © Copyright EPLA, 2012.

Fluctuation-driven traffic congestion in a scale-free model of the Internet

In studies of complex heterogeneous networks, particularly of the Internet, significant attention was paid to analysing network failures caused by hardware faults or overload. There network reaction was modelled as rerouting of traffic away from failed or congested elements. Here we model network reaction to congestion on much shorter time scales when the input traffic rate through congested routes is reduced. As an example we consider the Internet where local mismatch between demand and capacity results in traffic losses. We describe the onset of congestion as a phase transition characterised by strong, albeit relatively short-lived, fluctuations of losses caused by noise in input traffic and exacerbated by the heterogeneous nature of the network manifested in a power-law load distribution. The fluctuations may result in the network strongly overreacting to the first signs of congestion by significantly reducing input traffic along the communication paths where congestion is utterly negligible. © 2013 IEEE.