GRMD 3305 Transport Geography

Lecture 6
Urban Transport II

Prepared by Scarlett Jin

02/21/2024
 Today’s Plan

01 Urban Mobility 02 Public Transit

03 Active 04 Congestion
Transportation

05 HK vs. LA vs. Paris

 Urban Mobility
Three broad categories:
 Collective transportation (public transit)
 Individual transportation
 Freight transportation
 Urban Mobility
Three broad categories:
 Collective transportation (public transit)
o The purpose of collective transportation is to provide publicly
accessible mobility over specific parts of a city.
o The efficiency of public transit systems is based upon transporting
large numbers of people and achieving economies of scale.
o It mainly includes tramways, buses, trains, subways, and ferries.

 Individual transportation
 Freight transportation
 Urban Mobility
Three broad categories:
 Collective transportation (public transit)
 Individual transportation
o Includes any mode where mobility results from a personal choice
and means, such as the automobile, walking, cycling, or
motorcycling.
o Most people walk to satisfy their basic mobility, but this number
varies according to the urban context.

 Freight transportation
 Urban Mobility
Three broad categories:
 Collective transportation (public transit)
 Individual transportation
 Freight transportation
o Freight movements are characterized mainly by delivery trucks
moving between industries, distribution centers, warehouses, and
retail activities, including major terminals such as ports, railyards,
distribution centers, and airports.
o The growth of e-commerce has been associated with increased
home deliveries of parcels.
 Urban Mobility
Types of movements:
 Pendulum movements
 Professional movements
 Personal movements
 Touristic movements
 Distribution movements
 Urban Mobility
Types of movements:
 Pendulum movements
o These are obligatory movements involving commuting between locations of
residence and workplaces.
o They are highly cyclical since they are predictable and recurring, most of the
time on a daily basis, thus the term pendulum.
o The historical stability of these movements allowed the planning of
transportation infrastructure and services.
 Professional movements
 Personal movements
 Touristic movements
 Distribution movements
 Urban Mobility
Types of movements:
 Pendulum movements
 Professional movements
o These are movements linked to professional, work-based activities
such as meetings, repair, maintenance, and customer services,
dominantly taking place during work hours.
 Personal movements
 Touristic movements
 Distribution movements
 Urban Mobility
Types of movements:
 Pendulum movements
 Professional movements
 Personal movements
o These are voluntary movements linked to the location of commercial
activities, which include shopping and recreation.
 Touristic movements
 Distribution movements
 Urban Mobility
Types of movements:
 Pendulum movements
 Professional movements
 Personal movements
 Touristic movements
o These movements involve interactions between landmarks and
amenities such as hotels and restaurants and tend to be seasonal or
occur at specific moments during the day.
o Major sports and cultural events are important generators of urban
movements during their occurrence.
 Distribution movements
 Urban Mobility
Types of movements:
 Pendulum movements
 Professional movements
 Personal movements
 Touristic movements
 Distribution movements
o These are concerned with freight distribution to satisfy consumption
and manufacturing requirements.
Urban Mobility Modes

Source: Textbook (Rodrigue, 2020)

Modal Choice & Modal Split

Source: Textbook (Rodrigue, 2020)

Public Transit
 Modes of Public Transit
 Bus Transit
 Rail Transit
 Taxi Systems
 Alternative Transit
 Modes of Public Transit
 Bus Transit
o Usually share roadways with other modes and are susceptible to
congestion
o Bus rapid transit systems: offer a permanent or temporary right of
way, the advantage of unencumbered circulation
 Rail Transit
 Taxi Systems
 Alternative Transit
 Modes of Public Transit
 Bus Transit
 Rail Transit
o Light rail: streetcars (share the right of way with automobiles)
o Heavy rail: subways, metro, train
 Taxi Systems
 Alternative Transit
 Modes of Public Transit
 Bus Transit
 Rail Transit
 Taxi Systems
o Private for-hire vehicles that offer point-
to-point services
o Ride-hailing: Uber, Lyft, Didi
 Alternative Transit
 Modes of Public Transit
 Bus Transit
 Rail Transit
 Taxi Systems
 Alternative Transit
o Transit systems developed to cope with specific conditions (or niche
markets) using alternative modes
o Ferries
o Funiculars
o Aerial lifts

Star Ferry Peak Tram Ngong Ping 360

 Financial Difficulties
 Many publicly owned transit systems are facing financial
difficulties
1. Transit is often designed to serve taxpayers, not necessarily
potential customers. Because of the funding base, transit systems
may be spread into neighborhoods that do not provide a significant
customer base.
2. Transit unions were able to extract substantial advantages in terms
of wages and social benefits, increasing labor costs. This makes
public transit highly expensive to operate.
3. Investment in high-cost transit (e.g. light rail transit) while low-cost
solutions (buses) would have been sufficient for many transit
systems, particularly in lower-density areas.
 Shared Mobility
Carsharing

Sharing a Vehicle Motorcycle Sharing

Shared
Micromobility
Carpooling
Shared Mobility
Ridesharing
Vanpooling

Ridesourcing /
Sharing a Ride Ride-hailing
Transportation
Network
Companies (TNCs)
Ridesplitting

Uber, Lyft, DiDi Microtransit

 Homework: Impacts of TNCs
 Impacts on urban efficiency,
equity, and the environment
 Impacts of Uber in Hong Kong
Active
Transportation
 Active Transportation
 Definition
o “Active transportation” is a means of getting around that is powered
by human energy.
 Types of active transportation
o Walking
o Micromobility (non-motorized transportation: bicycles, e-bikes, and
scooters)
 Benefits of active transportation
o Public health
o Environment
o Urban vitality
Case study: Barcelona's Superblocks
 Watch this video about
Barcelona: https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M?si=3eUvyLxC
HeNpkqjx
 Find answers:
o What motivated Barcelona to make the Urban Mobility Plan?
o What are "superilles" (superblocks)?
o What are the results of the plan?
o How are Barcelona's superblocks different from the car-minimizing
projects in the US?
o Think: How is Barcelona's approach different from Hong Kong?
 Bike Friendly Cities
Six indicators:
 Weather
 Bicycle usage
 Crime & safety
 Infrastructure
 Bike sharing
opportunities
 Awareness events

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/08/bicycle-
mobility-transport-ranked-world/
Bicycle Infrastructure
Bike Lanes
A Bike Lane is defined as a
portion of the roadway that
has been designated by
striping, signage, and
pavement markings for the
preferential or exclusive
use of bicyclists.

← Conventional Bike Lanes

Buffered Bike Lanes →

Conventional bicycle lanes
paired with a designated
buffer space
 Bicycle Infrastructure
Cycle Tracks
A cycle track is an exclusive
bike facility that combines
the user experience of a
separated path with the on-
street infrastructure of a
conventional bike lane.
A cycle track is physically
separated from motor traffic
(with bollards, medians,
raised curbs, etc.) and
distinct from the sidewalk.
 Bicycle Infrastructure
Bicycle Boulevards
Bicycle boulevards are
streets with low motorized
traffic volumes and speeds,
designated and designed to
give bicycle travel priority.
Bicycle Boulevards use
signs, pavement markings,
and speed and volume
management measures to
discourage through trips by
motor vehicles and create
safe, convenient bicycle
crossings of busy arterial
streets.
 Bicycle Infrastructure
Off-street Bike Path
Bicycle paths are off-street
paved bikeways. They are
separated from vehicle
traffic but are almost always
shared with pedestrians.
San Francisco Hong Kong

Vermont Hong Kong

 Case study: Amsterdam
 Watch this Bloomberg video:
https://youtu.be/DKbRL6Opifg?si=5aCO6EpW9iyuT1BN
 Find answers:
1. What motivated citizens and the Dutch government to promote a
car-free culture?
2. The “traffic circulation plan” gave priority to _____, _____, and ______.
3. What is “Woonerf”?
4. What is the relationship between cyclists on the road and fatal
traffic accidents?
 Shared Micromobility
Carsharing

Sharing a Vehicle Motorcycle Sharing

Shared
Micromobility
Carpooling
Shared Mobility
Ridesharing
Vanpooling

Ridesourcing /
Sharing a Ride Ride-hailing
Transportation
Network
Companies (TNCs)
Ridesplitting

Microtransit
 Shared Micromobility
Pedal-Assist
Manual Electric Bicycles
Bikes (E-Bikes)
電助力自行車

E-Mopeds
E-Scooters
電動自行車
Shared Micromobility

~2.4 km

https://nacto.org/publication/shared
-micromobility-in-2022/
 Service Models
Station-based Dockless

Hybrid
Temporal Patterns

https://nacto.org/publication/shared-micromobility-in-2022/
 China vs. US
China: Dockless
bike and e-bikes
US and Canada:
Station-based
bikes and e-
scooters

https://nacto.org/publication/shared-micromobility-in-2022/
 China vs. US
China US
 Private companies  Public-private partnerships
o Public: Infrastructure

o Private: Operation

o Public service, equitable

access
Congestion
 Congestion
Congestion occurs when transport demand exceeds
transport supply at a specific point in time and in a specific
section of the transport system.
Under such circumstances, each vehicle impairs the mobility
of others.
 Congestion
Types of congestion
 Recurrent congestion
 Non-recurrent congestion
 Congestion
Types of congestion
 Recurrent congestion
o The consequence of factors
that cause regular demand
surges in the transportation
system, such as commuting,
shopping, or weekend trips.
o These patterns
are predictable.
 Non-recurrent congestion Source: Textbook (Rodrigue, 2020)
 Congestion
Types of congestion
 Recurrent congestion
 Non-recurrent congestion
o Congestion caused by random
events such as accidents and unusual
weather conditions (rain, snowstorms,
etc.)
o Non-recurrent congestion is linked to the
presence and effectiveness of incident
response strategies.
 Congestion

https://inrix.com/scorecard/#form-download-the-full-report
 Congestion

https://www.tomtom.com/traffic-index/ranking/
 How to measure congestion?
 Hours lost
o The difference in travel times experienced during the peak
periods compared to free-flow conditions on a per driver basis.

 CH (Congested Hours)
o The average number of hours during specified time periods in which
road sections are congested
o Congested road sections: speeds less than 90% of free-flow speed
(e.g., 54 mph if free-flow speed is 60 mph)

 TTI (Travel Time Index)

o TTI is a comparison between the travel conditions in the peak period
to free-flow conditions.
 How to solve urban congestion?
Vicious Cycle of Congestion

Planning
for mobility Induced demand
+ +

Ease of
Congestion
driving

+ +
People may trade more
Amount of
driving
space for a similar
amount of time
Easier and faster to
Source: Textbook (Rodrigue, 2020)

move around
 How to solve urban congestion?
 Change urban form
 Effective traffic control & management
 Encourage alternative modes of transportation
 Discourage the use of automobile
 How to solve urban congestion?
 Change urban form
o High density, compact city, transit-oriented development

 Effective traffic control & management

 Encourage alternative modes of transportation
 Discourage the use of automobile
 How to solve urban congestion?
 Change urban form
 Effective traffic control & management
o Traffic light synchronization (AI & machine learning technology)
o Incident management
o HOV lanes

 Encourage alternative modes of transportation

 Discourage the use of automobile
 HOV Lanes
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes
ensure that vehicles with two or more
passengers (buses, taxis, vans, carpool,
etc.) have exclusive access to a less
congested lane, particularly during peak
hours.
 How to solve urban congestion?
 Change urban form
 Effective traffic control & management
 Encourage alternative modes of transportation
o Public transit, shared mobility, active transport

 Discourage the use of automobile

 How to solve urban congestion?
 Change urban form
 Effective traffic control & management
 Encourage alternative modes of transportation
 Discourage the use of automobile
o Vehicle restrictions: access or ownership
o Parking management: remove parking or free parking space
o Congestion pricing
 Congestion pricing
 A variety of measures are aimed at
imposing charges on specific
segments or regions of the
transport system, mainly as a toll.
 The charges can also vary during
the day to reflect congestion
levels, so drivers are incited to
consider other periods or modes.
 This can involve lanes restricted to
vehicles willing to pay a toll.
Hong Kong vs. Los Angeles vs. Paris
 Questions
 Urban transportation network & traffic conditions
o What are the available public transit options?
o How is the coverage of the train and subway system? (briefly describe)
o What is the congestion levels (hours lost)?

 Commute and car ownership

o Percentages of commuters using public transit and private automobile
o Average household car ownership
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/
o Typical length of commuting trips 13HQSDWYFAlf9GjVhahsnrakSD1ZOy
 Basic conditions hUzsLrhkZ3cKVM/edit?usp=sharing
o Area, Population, Population density (people per km2)
o Median household income (converted to HK$ per month)
o Gas price (HK$ per liter)
o Average parking price (street parking, garage parking, and parking at residence, HK$)
Hong Kong vs. Los Angeles vs. Paris
Transit-based City Car-dependent City City In-between
Hong Kong vs. Los Angeles vs. Paris
Transit-based City Car-dependent City City In-between

Type IV Type I Type III

Traffic limitation Completely motorized Strong center
End of Lecture