Do We Consider the Environmental Impact of our Transport Mode Choices?
Hal Hissey (RPS Group)
Session: 5
Room: 3180
Format: Informal Discussion
Summary: Attendees gathered to reflect if individuals consider the environmental consequence when choosing to drive instead of using public transport and active transport.
Caring for children introduce time limitations that impact a person’s decision to drive.
The preference of the majority may impact individual decisions.
Different modes will give people different feelings about safety.
Parking issues and distance influence mode choice.
What is the opportunity and limitations of incentives and disincentives when promoting active transport.
Weather will impact on some level but it will not be the deterministic element.
Some incidents can change individual behaviour long term.
Sydney’s Light Rail
Joseph Giang, Chathura Perera, Helen Monk (Transport NSW)
Session: 5
Room: 3270
Format: Discussion
Summary: How should we improve Sydney light rail? Is the light rail better than the bus?
The presenters asked a selection of questions.
1. What is your experience of Sydney light rail? The light rail corridor is limited to a small residential area. It is not accessible to many people. Some people prefer it because it is fast, frequent, and comfortable.
2. Are you a frequent user of the light rail or bus? Which one? Both? The second question categorised the audiences into three different categories.
3. Are you a frequent user of light rail? People who use both buses and light rail, are most frequent users of light rail
4. If light rail and bus were both offered to your destination with the same travel time and the same cost which, would you prefer? Or are you different?
It is seen that given the light rail and the bus are offered to your destination with the same travel time and the same cost, people are more likely to select the light rail.
5. If your preferred option from the Q4 tool 5 minutes longer to your destination, would your answer change? People would prefer light rail even if it is 5 Minutes longer to the destination.
6. If your preferred option from Q4 cost 2$ more in fares per week to get to your destination, would your answer change? People are most likely to change the mode.
7. In what way is light rail better than trains? Trains are fast and the network is extensive. Light rails are built across the rapid bus routes to attract more riders.
8. In what way light rail is better than cars? Light rail is better than cars because people do not need to worry about parking. It covers the tourist attractions of the city. People with mobility issues can access the light rail. It is convenient for people who cannot drive including kids, older people, and people with disabilities.
Why Do Our Models Fail?
Darrel Veryard (VLC)
Session: 5
Room: 3200
Format: Discussion
Summary: Discussion about why the existing traffic model frameworks do not give us the answers we want. Two main model classes are the travel demand model which interacts with the regional land use and demography, and the road demand (traffic infrastructure) model. An argument for better modelling is to include more externalities in the prediction when evaluating the impacts of changing travel demand and land use from a project. Another point is that irrational behaviours are difficult to be captured in models, for example, destination choices may be affected by different sets of factors (some people care about distance while some only care about the service quality etc.). Another challenge is to include new factors in a model, for example, new data on urbanisation, the pandemic, and remote working. New factors eventually lead to more uncertainties in forecasting, and the accuracy decreases over a long time horizon. It is critical to review the model's purpose and interpret the results carefully in the given context.
Safety After Dark
Elizabeth Muscat (Cardno)
Session: 5
Room: 3230
Format: Discussion
Summary: To deal with the physical threat of danger and the psychological perception of fear and danger, Elizabeth and her group tried to find a way to measure passive surveillance in order to increase the passive surveillance index. They trained a prediction model to scale live experiences to score and correlated it to passive surveillance using a regression model. The results indicated which parts of the city need target interventions for decision-makers. Also, the model can be implemented in a navigation map to choose routes between longer but safer routes and shorter but unsafe routes.
Challenge: The physical threat of danger and psychological perception or fear of danger particularly at night time.
Solutions: empowering infrastructure; empowering women Measure of safety: passive surveillance index Implications: wayfinding app (as a cost factor for route choice), informing planned decisions, assisting decision making for regional development, NSW digital twin
Method: captured lived experiences (survey scores 0-10); survey scores are measured against physical data at survey locations; spatial regression is used to predict index value at other locations.
Factors: opening and closing time of businesses, vehicles and pedestrian counts, key land uses, lighting, etc. Test location and subjects: Paramatta; women carrying camera Regression shows land use most important