The purpose of this research is to analyze the use of the public train usage in Central Florida to determine the feasibility of high-speed rail usage in the future. This study will be split into parts and expanded upon. The first part will observe rider perspective, values, and issues regarding rail transportation as is available in Central Florida. In further installations, which will be conducted separately from this thesis, there will be an analysis of the providers of rail transportation. It is hypothesized that there will be a moderate demand for rail transportation used by the public. Original: The main purpose of this descriptive research is to describe the feasibility of high speed rail in the United States. Feasibility is defined as the determining factor in the sustainability of a project. In the case of this research study, high speed rail is the project and is defined as a specialized railroad system, including dedicated tracks and specialized rolling stock, that travels upward of 125mph. It is hypothesized that the feasibility in high speed rail is high due to the current functioning transportation systems in Florida.

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Public involvement is defined as a two-way communication aimed at providing information to the public and incorporating the views, concerns, and issues of the public in transportation decision making. According to U.S. Census data, 60% of U.S. counties are considered rural. Rural communities face unique challenges such as scarce resources, technological and geographical issues, and demographic shifts, which can limit effective engagement capabilities. Engagement strategies that are effective for urbanized and metropolitan areas may not be as effective for these rural communities. This study employed a mixed methods research approach to identify readily deployable practices for meaningful rural community engagement in transportation planning. The research methodology involves a literature review, interviews with supervisors from offices of community transportation, interviews with 24 community leaders in four case communities in Tennessee, and two rounds of Delphi community survey. The research process brought together all key stakeholders to build a true consensus of best practices to engage rural communities in transportation planning. Data analysis showed rural communities feel detached and unaware of the role of Departments of Transportation (DOT) in and their plans for community transportation. Engaging rural communities using social media and conducting virtual meetings can reach wider sections of the community. Lack of consistent internet coverage in rural communities, however, means this type of outreach cannot replace in-person engagement. Securing the support of community leaders, building partnerships, and having a presence in the community will increase trust in DOTs and foster better engagement. A list of recommendations is provided that will enhance rural community engagement for longrange transportation planning in predominantly rural states.

Human Activity Recognition has become a popular research topic among data scientists. Over the years, multiple studies regarding humans and their daily motion habits have been investigated for many different purposes. This fact is not surprising when we look at all the opportunities and applications that can be applied and utilized thanks to the results of these algorithms. In this project we implement a system that can effectively collect sensor data from mobile devices, process it and by using supervised machine learning successfully predict the class of a performed activity. The project was executed based on datasets and features extracted from GPS sensors. The system was trained using various machine learning algorithms and Python SciKit to guarantee optimal solutions with accurate predictions. Finally, we applied a majority vote rule to secure the best possible accuracy of the activity classification process. As a result we were able to identify various activities including walking, cycling, driving and public transportation methods bus and metro with 90+% accuracy. / Att utföra aktivitetsigenkänning på människor har blivit ett populärt forskningsämne bland datavetare, där flertalet studier rörande människor och deras dagliga rörelsevanor undersökts för många olika syften. Detta är inte förvånande när man ser till de möjligheter och användningsområden som kan tillämpas och utnyttjas tack vare resultaten från dessa system. Detta projekt går ut på att implementera ett system som mha samlad sensordata från mobila enheter, kan bearbeta den och genom s.k övervakad maskininlärning med goda resultat bestämma den aktivitet som utförts. Projektet genomfördes baserat på dataset och egenskaper extraherade från GPS-data. Systemet tränades med olika maskininlärningsalgoritmer genom Python SciKit för att välja den bäst lämpade metoden för detta projekt. Slutligen tillämpade vi majority votemetoden för att säkerställa bästa möjliga noggrannhet i aktivitetsklassificeringsprocessen. Resultatet blev ett system som framgångsrikt kan identifiera aktiviteterna gå, cykla, köra bil samt med ett ytterligare fokus på kollektivtrafikmetoderna buss och tunnelbana, med en noggrannhet på över 90%. / Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2020, KTH, Stockholm

Mobility within the community is a necessary part of urban life for enhancing personal well-being and happiness. However, autistic individuals may not be the natural players in this context and have risks of using public transport, including getting disoriented, meltdown or shutdown, and being discriminated against in motion. This can be attributed to their difficulties in social communication and cognitive abilities brought about by autism. However, autistic individuals’ lived experience is rarely explored in the field. Thus, this study aims to examine their personal experiences and pay attention to how autism is enacted in public transport settings, and various encounters in a material environment. A two-month ethnographic study was used from the perspective of a micro-lens of a specific autistic adult individual. Through a narrative analysis of “key events” happening in the process of movements, the materiality of mobility by taking public transport for autistic individuals’ ordinary life was presented.  The findings and analysis are unfolding from three oriented dimensions. Firstly, I point out that as a material practical form of moving, encounters of the autistic participant with other passengers in a public moving space are merely a temporary gathering, shaping a relationship that avoids communication. Additionally, risks exist including information overload and being disoriented that show how autism is enacted in public transportation settings. Secondly, I suggest that as the material basis of the movements of taking public transport, the outside landscape presents the materialistic appearance of the modern city, bringing a sense of security as well as a channel for the autistic participant to learn new things, but at the same time the de-naturalization and modernity exacerbates the autistic one’s negative relation to the urban environment. Last, I demonstrate how the coercive nature of the technological objects intervenes in the originally pure tension between autistic individual and moving services, thus indirectly exposing the loss of discursive power and resources experienced by the participant.  Based on these findings, I draw on the discussions of the strategies and the built environment. From the standpoint of the former, it shows that prioritizing fast mobility has led to the neglect of actual needs for a higher standard of moving experience. This also indicates that the autistic one's resistance to movement often manifests as an attachment to the fixed and secure space of the home, forming the strategies of responsiveness and resistance. The latter suggests the ‘perspective turn’ to the social model of disability, realizing that being disabled might be a universal experience of a person, and everyone could be in a state of disability either permanently or temporarily. Therefore, optimizing the built environment of public transport not only benefits autistic individuals but also represents an investment in broader social well-being.

This study compares transportation preferences among students and staff from two different universities: KTH in Stockholm and ITBA in Buenos Aires. The aim was to identify the factors influencing transportation decisions and their impact on perceptions regarding its usage. A survey was conducted at both universities to gain insights from participants and analyze the collected information, aiming to propose solutions that enhance the quality and sustainability of transportation. This work presents a novel analysis by comparing two cities with seemingly different characteristics in terms of transportation and urban development, with an emphasis on sustainability. The results obtained are positive as potential improvements in both systems could be observed. Moreover, the results have generated ideas to improve the adoption of green and sustainable transportation, without compromising the quality of existing transportation for members of these educational institutions. The importance of environmental awareness and its positive impact on quality of life and urban mobility is highlighted.

This diploma deals with the changes and challenges that transportation companies will face at the beginning of 2010 due to the liberalization of the public transportation market. It is structured into a first part describing the theory and a second part that applies the theory into praxis. The theory focuses on the development of public transportation, the nomenclature, and specific terms related to the public transportation market, legal changes, financials and other influencing effects. The complete diploma is written with focus on bus transportation. The second part analyzes the current situation on the Czech public bus transportation market and further expected changes starting with 2010. General recommendations are made and possible strategies described how to establish in the market. Finally there is made an explicit recommendation for a specific bus company