Urban Transport

Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, faces huge traffic congestion, the cost of which is estimated to be more than 2 percent of the city’s gross regional product. Effective policies are needed, based on weighing their overall economic cost and benefit to society. This study developed an empirical model based on microeconomic theory, accounting for production and consumption behavior related to transportation in the Greater Beirut Area, to simulate various policy combinations. A key finding of the study is that individual supply-side policies, such as the expansion of roads or introduction of a bus rapid transit system, are quite effective at reducing traffic congestion while increasing
economic output and welfare. They also account for most of the benefits from implementing policy packages with supply- and demand-side measures. The introduction of bus rapid transit with expansion of the road system to feed the bus rapid transit system reduces congestion by about 16 percent and congestion costs by more than 50 percent. This would increase Beirut’s gross regional product by roughly 2 percent, and the average social welfare of the residents of Beirut by 4 percent. In contrast, demandside instruments, implemented alone, lower gross regional product and welfare with limited effects on congestion.

Excellent paper summarizing experiences with BRT.

The transport activity measurement toolkit (TAMT) has been developed by the World Bank specifically to simplify this process of measuring fuel and emissions in urban areas. It provides a consistent standardized methodology and software that uses low cost GPS loggers to reliably measure traffic patterns and travel times.

This new, free, open-source toolkit consists of an extensive practitioner’s guide and software that can be used by local institutions to reliably measure vehicle activity for traffic and transport modeling, investment appraisal, mobile-source emissions inventory work, NAMA development and MRV.

Comprehensive report showing BRT implementations.

Comprehensive review of urban transport policies with links to those policies.

Framework to provide guidelines on designs as well as to provide an overall consistency check for individual operations.

Presentation on the problems and shortcomings of bus based transit initiatives from a learning perspective. Aims to raise awareness among planners and decision makers about pitfalls when introducing BRT.

Paper on traffic and related environmental impacts in relationt o Sudirman-Thamrin Corridor.

This report briefly summarizes the information related to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) developments in China collected through independent research and a visit to China from April 17-26, 2006 as part of FTA Public Transportation Trade Mission. The purpose of NBRTI’s participation in the mission was to visit operational BRT systems and to meet with organizations engaged in BRT planning or operations in China.

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist jurisdictions who are considering the implementation of red light camera systems and help them avoid inconsistent or incorrect application of such systems.

This research project aims to answer the question, “Do RLCs change driver behavior by reducing the frequency of collisions and dangerous RLR violations?

The report is intended to support evaluation of bus rapid transit concepts as one of many options during the initial project planning and development. This report presents a comprehensive summary of applications of BRT elements in the United States and in selected sites around the world.

Regional transportation and land use planners’ get to general goals without much difficulty. Where they have problems is in the plan evaluation stage. They lack a framework for thinking about the impacts of policies.Without an acquaintance with the fundamental concepts and methodological issues associated with a full-cost framework, planners and policymakers will be unable to take the first steps towards a more comprehensive evaluation of alternative urban forms, and the policies and investments that cause them to occur.

This study was designed to determine the change in travel time following the implementation of the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) in Oakland County, Michigan. A before/after comparison was used to examine the change in travel time on a specific corridor (Orchard Lake Road).

Overseas Road Note 13. The object of this report is to give traffic engineers or technicians in the cities of the emerging world a brief introduction to traffic signals, together with some practical guidelines on how to use them to obtain good and safe results.

The objective of this diagnostic study was to arrive at an assessment of the transport situation in Hanoi. The emphasis is more on diagnosis than on proposals for direct intervention, and the aim is to present options. The study should form the basis for further action and possible intervention by donor agencies including SIDA. The study was based on available data which, however, are generally in very low supply in Hanoi.