This thesis analyzes the impact of wayside noise produced by Automated Light Rail Transit (ALRT) in the Broadway Station and Nanaimo Station Areas of Vancouver. The hypothesis is divided into three sections. First, a semi-logarithmic relationship between ALRT noise and the distance from the guideway is anticipated, yet at the same distance at different points in the study area, noise levels can vary markedly. Second, in the area where ALRT noise levels exceed accepted standards, residents' perceptions are expected to be consistent with the measured impact. Third, at greater distances from the facility where the noise is acceptable, perceptions are anticipated to be inconsistent with the measured noise. The purposes of this thesis are to examine the relationship between noise levels and distance from the ALRT guideway, to define the zones of high and low noise impact, and to analyze residents' perceptions of ALRT noise based upon the measured noise level within each zone of impact. Primary data for this thesis came from three separate sources. ALRT noise levels forecast for 1986 were obtained from a consultant's report prepared for B.C. Transit in 1983. The East Vancouver Neighbourhoods Study surveyed residents in the Broadway and Nanaimo Station Areas, and elsewhere, during construction of the ALRT in 1984. In April 1986, measurements of wayside ALRT noise and a survey of residents were undertaken by the UBC transportation planning students. A 24-hour energy-equivalent level (L eq) was calculated separately for background noise and for wayside ALRT noise. The total 24-hour L eq was calculated by combining these two L eq. The relationship between noise and distance was then computed using regression analysis. Where applicable, an adjustment was made to the L eq based on established criteria for previous community exposure and background noise, in order to define the zones of impact. The zone of high impact was defined as the area in which noise levels are higher than acceptable, a 24-hour L eq of 55 dB or more. Perceptions of ALRT noise and neighbourhood noise were analyzed in relation to the adjusted L eq and socio-economic variables. A pre-ALRT outlook on the ALRT's influence on neighbourhood noise was analyzed in terms of the anticipated zones of impact, and socio-economic variables. The relationship of noise and distance is semi-logarithmic. Given the same distance from the ALRT guideway, noise levels vary noticeably at different points between the two Stations. The zone of high impact ranges from 50 to 200 feet from the ALRT guideway. In the high-impact zone, the perceptions toward ALRT noise and neighbourhood noise are consistent with the measured noise (24-hour L eq). However, perceptions of noise in the zone of low impact do not appear to be consistent with the measured noise levels. In the pre-ALRT study, residents in the high-impact zone tended to have a neutral outlook on anticipated ALRT noise levels. In the low-impact zone, negative perceptions toward ALRT noise appear to be related to a negative perception of traffic noise. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Performance-based planning and programming has increased in popularity for transit project funding in recent years. This methodology focuses on quantitative performance measures to inform decision making. For transit projects, projections or observed ridership is the most commonly used performance measure to evaluate project benefits. Conventional wisdom within the transit industry suggests that measuring the performance of a transit project immediately after project opening may not capture all the project’s benefits, since it takes time for a project to realize its short-term ridership potential, a process commonly referred to as ridership ramp-up. While this idea is both intuitive and appealing, especially for projects that seem to be underperforming in their initial years, there is a need for empirical analysis to determine the typical magnitude and extent of ridership ramp up in order to better account for ramp-up in ridership forecasting and transit project evaluation. The purpose of this study is to meet this need by evaluating variations in ridership in the initial years after project opening for 55 fixed-guideway rail transit projects in the United States. I applied a fixed-effects regression model to predict one-year increases in ridership in each of the first five years after project opening, controlling for variation in gas prices, population, income, and unemployment. I find that ridership on new rail transit projects increases on average six percent controlling for other factors between the opening year and the first year after project opening. These findings can support decisions about how to account for ridership ramp up in forecasting and performance evaluation for rail transit projects.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture / Stephanie A. Rolley / The location and type of future development around a light rail transit station has the ability to affect its success of failure. Not only should the location of the future light rail line be carefully considered, but the locations of stops will greatly affect future development of the surrounding areas. The implementation of a light rail system has been proposed for downtown Kansas City as a solution to link its many attractions which are currently spread throughout the metro area. Although the proposal has not been passed by voters, the concept has generated a great deal of interest and brought up challenges Kansas City would need to address such as funding, alignment, space requirements and impacts on future development. The success of such a large scale, public project would require significant amounts of coordination and planning between many people. By using the current proposed alignment and studying seven stations located in the core of downtown Kansas City, the station which would require a station district plan the most could be determined. From there, through inventory and analysis of the surrounding area, guidelines would be written to put parameters on future development occurring as a result of light rail implementation. Planning a transit station district in this way would allow the planner to create a unified district, without confining designers to a singular approach. By completing a comprehensive development plan containing design policies and regulations which outline the desired development, this neighborhood can become a dynamic transit district with a mix of retail, commercial and residential development to support a high quality of lifestyle with access to a wide variety of amenities close to downtown Kansas City.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Brent Chamberlain / Growing urban populations and the increasing prevalence of the millennial generation are profoundly changing personal travel behaviors and patterns. As a result, cities, planners, and developers must understand and act upon the shifting preferences and expectations of these public transit users in order to align costly public transit services with user needs in efficient ways. While public transit systems are becoming an increasingly vital part of urban life, few jurisdictions have considered the need to tailor these systems to millennials – those most likely to incorporate public transit into their daily lives. This paper examines the travel behaviors of University Students engaged in a forced travel intervention caused by a sudden relocation of their work site. The change in work location encouraged the use of a free public transit system as means of commuting. Longitudinal survey results, taken pre and post-intervention, indicate statistical differences between transit preferences and actual habits related to transit use and other modes of travel. Survey findings suggest that there is a statistically significant difference between the stated willingness and actual travel behaviors of public transit users and of drivers, and that modal shifts can assist in overcoming the attitude/behavior split related to personal travel among millennials.

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system is a newly developed urban transit mode. It was introduced into China market and achieved speedy development in the last decade. Until now, more than 20 cities have already established their own BRT system and put into operation. However, public transport operators in China cities do not give enough attention to the quality of service provided by the BRT system. As a consequence, lack of attraction is one of the major barriers for BRT system widely development. In this situation, this study established a framework for BRT service quality analysis and applied it in Hefei BRT Route 1. This framework integrates both objective and subjective scenario. In subjective scenario, a customer satisfaction survey is conducted for BRT passengers. In the survey, customers’ satisfaction levels towards different aspects of BRT service and their travel characteristics are collected. With the results of data analysis, objective measurement is followed. Objective measurement focuses on service performance measurement. Such measurement is based on criteria for public transit level of service. Combining the results of the customer satisfaction survey and site observation, a comprehensive assessment of a transit system’s quality of service can be conducted. By analyzing the BRT system’ service quality, improvement recommendations to current BRT system in terms of BRT running way, BRT station, BRT vehicle and BRT operation system are proposed. Additionally, for better BRT service evaluation, special criteria for level of BRT service are required in future research. / published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

Avalanches pose a significant natural hazard in many parts of the world. Worldwide the hazard is being managed in a number of new and traditional methods. In New Zealand, the Milford Road, Fiordland, has a significant avalanche problem which has been managed by the Transit New Zealand Milford Road Avalanche Programme since 1984. This avalanche programme has generated a database of all avalanche occurrences and associated meteorological parameters for the time period 1985 to 2002. Elsewhere around the world, similar and more extensive data sets have been used to examine a wide variety of aspects in relation to the snow cover, avalanching and avalanche hazard. The availability of the Milford Road database has provided the opportunity use new and traditional approaches to examine many aspects of avalanching including; the trends in and relationships with the snow and avalanche regime, evaluation of the avalanche hazard, statistical forecasting of avalanches and the visualisation of avalanche occurrence information in a GIS. Statistical and graphical examination of the inter-annual variation in the snow and avalanche regime revealed relationships between the snow depth, avalanche occurrences and atmospheric circulation similar to those found elsewhere around the world, but not previously examined in New Zealand. Furthermore, the analysis resulted in strong correlations despite using a database significantly shorter than those used elsewhere. Atmospheric circulation types that bring strong winds and precipitation were found to be highly significantly correlated with avalanche occurrences and snow depth. Avalanche occurrences were more highly correlated with atmospheric circulation than snow depth was, reflecting the strong maritime avalanche climate. Risk evaluation was undertaken using two approaches, the avalanche hazard index (AHI) and the probability of death to individuals (PDI) method. The present avalanche risk was compared to a theoretically uncontrolled avalanche regime, using 2002 traffic volumes for AHI and PDI. The AHI analysis highlighted the reduction in the AHI resulting from the control programme, and the significantly lower AHI when compared to Rogers Pass, B.C., Canada. The PDI analysis using equations modified to allow for a range of consequences indicated that the Milford Road is similar in risk to roads in Switzerland, but is far more accessible, with fewer closed days. A new equation for PDI, which accounted for waiting traffic was derived, and suggested that the calculated risk was high and unacceptable compared to standards applied to other hazards. Statistical forecasting using classification tree analysis has been successfully applied to avalanche forecasting in other climatic settings. This study has applied an extension to this technique through 10-fold cross validation to permit classification of an avalanche day in this direct action maritime climate. Using varying misclassification costs two classification trees were generated. The tree that used only wind speed and wind speed and precipitation combined in a temperature sensitive wind drift parameter obtained an overall accuracy of 78%, with correct prediction for an avalanche day at 86%. These predictor variables are considered to be the fundamental controls on avalanche forecasting in this climate, and coincide with important variables inferred from the atmospheric circulation analysis. Following the investigation of various methods for the creation of a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM), a GIS was used for the visualisation and examination of avalanche occurrences. Similar to other studies, qualitative and quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution in terms of aspect of avalanche occurrences was undertaken using the GIS. Colour coding of occurrences highlighted the influence of two storm directions, while an excess ratio showed the clear influence of aspect on avalanche occurrences in relation to two dominant storm directions, avalanche size and avalanche paths. Furthermore, the GIS has many applications for operational forecasting, teaching and the maintenance of institutional memory for the avalanche programme.

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