PATH

Using Vehicles Equipped with Toll Tags as Probes for Providing Travel Times

John, Wright
Dahlgren, Joy
2001

The introduction of electronic toll collection on the eight bridges crossing San Francisco Bay has provided the means for a relatively simple and low cost system for measuring travel times on many Bay Area bridges and roads. The toll tags sued for electronic toll collection can be read by readers at various locations on congested roads. The time of reading is recorded so that the time difference between when a vehicle passes one reader and passes the next can be computed. Such a system is already operating in Houston, where it is the primary source of travel time data. Capital costs per...

Brake Dynamics Effect On IVHSLane Capacity

Maciua, Dragos B.
1994

This paper attempts to assess the effects of brake system dynamics and inter-vehicle communication delays (microscopic characteristics) on the capacity of an automated highway system (macroscopic characteristics). Simulations were conducted to investigate the relationship between the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics. Recommendations are made regarding the maximum desired delays, intra-platoon and inter-platoon distances and platoon size in order to achieve the highest possible capacity while maintaining a high degree of safety.

Behavioral Impacts Of Recurring And Incident Congestion And Response To Advanced Traveler Information Systems In The Bay Area: An Overview

Khattak, Asad J.
1993

The objective of this study is to understand how people deal with congestion and how they might respond to a multimodal Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS). Travelers' route, departure time and mode selection decisions in response to incident and recurring congestion were investigated through a survey of Bay Area automobile commuters. This document summarizes the survey methodology, assesses representativeness of the sample and discusses the initial insights obtained from uni-variate and bi-variate analysis.

User's Manual for Transit ITS Simulator (TRAN-ITS)

Dessouky, Maged
Zhang, Lei
Singh, Ajay
Hall, Randolph
1999

This report describes a simulation model developed to evaluate the impact of using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for bus tracking, on controlling buses in wide-area transit networks. Control strategies with ITS will be compared against those without ITS (i.e., they do not rely on communication or tracking). The model is developed using a general-purpose simulation language, AweSim (Pritsker, 1997). The simulation model is generic and independent of any dedicated transit network. The model has high flexibility and can be used to simulate...

Measuring the Aggregate Productivity Benefits from ITS Applications: The California Experience

Gillen, David
Haynes, Matt
2000

This research provides the first evidence of whether and how ITS contributes to economic growth and productivity – an objective established by the California Transportation Plan and ITS in particular. The next set of questions includes, what industries are most affected by ITS applications? Does it matter how many ITS applications are present, in other words, are there diminishing returns to similar ITS projects? Finally, does it matter how ITS projects are combined? This latter question also arose out of our research on production functions as well, and will be a central part of the...

Methodologies For Assessing The Impacts Of Highway Capacity Enhancements On Travel Behavior

Liu, Heng
Hall, Randolph
1998

Acceptance of ITS components that are designed to increase capacity will hinge on the extent to which additional capacity induces additional travel. This study addressed methodologies for studying the effects of capacity on travel: 1) before and after studies or travel times and volumes in corridors in which capacity had been increased, 2) surveys of users of routes on which capacity had been increased, and 3) statistical changes in county VMT as a function of freeway capacity. On I-80 in the Bay Area, the site selected for the investigation, travel times and volumes were quite variable....

Methodologies For Assessing The Impacts Of Highway Capacity Enhancements On Travel Behavior

Dahlgren, Joy
1998

Acceptance of ITS components that are designed to increase capacity will hinge on the extent to which additional capacity induces additional travel. This study addressed methodologies for studying the effects of capacity on travel: 1) before and after studies or travel times and volumes in corridors in which capacity had been increased, 2) surveys of users of routes on which capacity had been increased, and 3) statistical changes in county VMT as a function of freeway capacity. On I-80 in the Bay Area, the site selected for the investigation, travel times and volumes were quite variable....

Orange County Transit Probe Evaluation: Phase I Institutional Findings

Hall, Randolph W.
1997

This report documents the institutional issues that have faced the Orange County probe project, a multi-agency project designed to equip a fleet of buses with Global Positioning System (GPS) based tracking equipment and to use tracking data for multiple purposes. The usefulness of the data involve: 1) bus schedule adherence and fleet management; 2) collection of information on roadway traffic congestion; and, 3) dissemination of transit data to patrons.

A Focus Group Study of Automated Highway Systems and Related Technologies

Yim, Youngbin
1997

The paper presents the findings of a focus group study of the automated highway system and its related technologies, specifically adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance systems, in the San Francisco Bay Area. A majority of the participants had a favorable reaction to AHS despite the fact that almost all were concerned about its safety and funding capability. Responses to the adaptive cruise control were generally positive. The focus group participants recognized the safety benefits, the convenience, and especially the stress reduction of using the automated highway system, when...

Evaluation Framework For Commercial Vehicle Responses To Congestion Pricing

Wachs, Martin
Kawamura, Kazuya
1997

This report presents a short-run framework for analyzing the impacts of congestion pricing on commercial vehicles. The framework is based on microeconomics principles and past theoretical studies of congestion pricing. The relationship between value of time and the welfare gain/loss induced by using congestion pricing is identified. The social cost function and empirical demand and supply functions are also discussed.