Cruz, Jefferson G.

CE122 C10

1. Explain the following methods of conducting travel time and delay studies:

a. floating-car technique - Floating car data are positions of vehicles traversing city
streets throughout the day. In this method the driver tries to float in the traffic
stream passing as many vehicles as pass the test car. If the test vehicle overtakes as
many vehicles as the test vehicle is passed by, the test vehicles should, with
sufficient number of runs, approach the median speed of the traffic movement on
the route. In such a test vehicle, one passenger acts as observer while another
records duration of delays and the actual elapsed time of passing control points
along the route from start to finish of the run.
b. average speed - In this method the driver is instructed to travel at a speed that is
judge to the representative of the speed of all traffic at the time.
c. moving vehicle technique - In this technique, the observer makes a round trip on a
test section like the one shown in the next figure, where it is assumed that the road
runs east to west. The observer starts collecting the relevant data at section X-X,
drives the car eastward to section Y-Y, then turns the vehicle around and drives
westward to section X-X again.
d. license plate method - The license-plate method requires that observers be
positioned at the beginning and end of the test section. Observers also can be
positioned at other locations if elapsed times to those locations are required. Each
observer records the last three or four digits of the license plate of each car that
passes, together with the time at which the car passes.
e. interview method - The interviewing method is carried out by obtaining
information from people who drive on the study site regarding their travel times,
their experience of delays, and so forth.
2. What is ITS and what are its uses? Enumerate important components of ITS.
- described as the process through which data on the movement of people
and goods can be collected, stored, analyzed, and related information
disseminated. Used in many areas of transportation engineering including the
management of traffic, public transportation, traveler information, electronic toll
payment, and safety.
Cell networks and GPS are some important components of ITS.
3. Define at least five terms in parking studies.
Space hour - is a unit of parking that defines the use of a single parking space for a
period of 1 hour.
Parking volume - is the total number of vehicles that park in a study area during a
specific length of time, usually a day.
Parking accumulation - is the number of parked vehicles in a study area at any
specified time.
Parking load - It is usually given as the number of space-hours used during the
specified period of time.
Parking duration - is the length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking bay.

4. Explain the following methods of parking data collection:

a. accumulation - data are obtained by checking the amount of parking during

regular intervals on different days of the week. The checks are usually carried out on
an hourly or 2-hour basis between 6:00 a.m. and 12 midnight. The selection of the
times depends on the operation times of land-use activities that act as parking
generators. The information obtained is used to determine hourly variations of
parking and peak periods of parking demand.
b. turnover and duration - is usually obtained by collecting data on a sample of
parking spaces in a given block. This is done by recording the license plate of the
vehicle parked on each parking space in the sample at the ends of fixed intervals
during the study period. The length of the fixed intervals depends on the maximum
permissible duration.
5. What is smart parking?
Smart parking refers to the use of sensing devices to determine occupancy at the
space level or at the lot/structure level. Sensing devices can refer to cameras,
counting equipment like gates at the entrance of a lot, or sensors that are embedded
into the pavement of individual parking spaces, to name a few.

6. How are parking data analyzed?

Analysis of parking data includes summarizing, coding, and interpreting the data so
that the relevant information required for decision making can be obtained. The
relevant information includes the following:
- Number and duration for vehicles legally parked
- Number and duration for vehicles illegally parked
- Space-hours of demand for parking
- Supply of parking facilities