The accurate modeling of travelers' route choice decision making when faced with unreliable (risky) travel times is necessary for the assessment of policies aimed at improving travel time reliability. Two major objectives are studied in this thesis. The first objective is to evaluate the applicability of a process model to route choice under risk where the actual process of decision making is captured. Traditionally, we adopt "as-if" econometric models to predict people's route choice decisions. The second objective is to investigate travelers' capability to incorporate future real-time traffic information into their current route choice decision making. Two separate stated preference (SP) surveys were conducted for each objective. The first SP survey used an interactive map in a computer based test. The second SP survey used a full-scale high-fidelity driving simulator. Compared with econometric models, process models have been rarely investigated in travel decision making under risk. A process model aims to describe the actual de cision making procedure and could potentially provide a better explanation to route choice behavior. A process model, Priority Heuristic (PH), developed by Brand statter et al. (2006) is introduced to the travel choice context and its probabilistic version, Probabilistic Priority Heuristic (PPH), is developed and estimated in this study. With data collected from a stated preference (SP) survey which is based on an animated computer interface, one econometric model, Rank-Dependent Expected Utility (RDEU) model, and two other alternative models were compared with the PPH model in a cross validation test to investigate their data-fitting and predictive performance. Our results show that the PPH model outperforms the RDEU model in both data-fitting and predictive performance. This suggests that the process modeling paradigm could be a promising new area in travel behavior research. With the advance of information and telecommunication technology, real-time traffic information is increasingly more available to help travelers make informed route choice decisions when faced with unreliable travel times. A strategic route choice refers to a decision taking into account future diversion possibilities at downstream nodes based on real-time information not yet available at the time of decision-making. Based on the data collected from a driving simulator experiment and a matching PC based experiment, a mixed Logit model with two latent classes, strategic and non strategic route choice, is specified and estimated. The estimates of the latent class probabilities show that a significant portion of route choice decisions are strategic and subjects can learn to make more strategic route choice as they have more experience with the decision scenarios. Non-parametric tests additionally show that network complexity adversely affects travelers' strategic thinking ability in a driving simulator environment but not in a PC environment and a parallel driving task only affects strategic thinking ability in a difficult scenario but not a simple one. In addition, we find that people's strategic thinking ability are influenced by their gender and driving experience (mileage) in the non-parametric analysis, but not in the modeling work. These findings suggest that a realistic route choice model with real-time traffic information should consider both strategic and non-strategic behavior, which vary with the characteristics of both the network and the driver.

South African national transport policies, legislation and frameworks, as guided by the 1996 White Paper on National Transport Policy, have committed to providing a public transport system that equitably enables citizens to affordably access the goods, services and opportunities that are essential for their well-being. However, two decades after the introduction of the White Paper, quantitative studies have found that in Cape Town, lower-income households continue to experience a negative commute experience and still spend a disproportionate amount of time and money on travel in relation to higher-income households. Further, no studies have investigated what the user experience means in the lives of the commuters who are low-income earners and how these commuters must manage their travel times and travel costs in the South African context. This rich information is required as a critical input into policy evaluations and the design of appropriate user-focused policies that are founded on an authentic understanding of user needs and user experiences. In this study, a qualitative approach was employed to investigate the commute experiences of seven Cape Town women who are low-income earners. The findings suggest that while commuter rail presents the most affordable mode of travel for respondents, the service is subject to significant disruptions which result in substantial, unexpected, and unplanned-for travel cost and travel time expenditure. This unexpected expenditure adversely impacts household travel and time budgets and respondents must adjust these budgets accordingly to the disadvantage of their household consumption and personal activities. Furthermore, while commuting, respondents have all experienced fear of crime, bearing witness to criminal activity or being the victim of criminal activity. In general, all respondents reported a negative and frustrating commute experience that differs significantly from the user-focused, affordable and time-efficient public transport service that the 1996 White Paper on National Transport Policy had promised to deliver. The study recommends renewed emphasis on integrated land-use and transport planning that reduces trip distances, prioritisation of investment in public transport infrastructure, fare and ticketing integration, restructuring of public transport subsidy frameworks and increased focus on security through visible law enforcement and lighting.

Transportation is the movement of people and goods to achieve the social and economic goals of society. It has long been accepted that there is a relationship between land-use and transportation. Transportation facilities influence the location and intensity of land-use activities while these activities generate the need for transportation. The thesis assumes that in general such a relationship exists and, in particular, becomes apparent when freeways and interchanges are introduced into urban areas. There is at present controversy as to whether freeways should be built in urban areas. It is alleged that freeways disrupt urban land-uses, are costly and are, in the long term, ineffective in meeting the demand for urban transportation. In order to provide more information on freeways in urban areas it is proposes to study the relationship from the particular aspect of freeway interchanges in relation to urban land-uses. In this way the extent of the study is limited and concentrated to a field where the land-use/transportation relationship could be expected to be most intense.

Globally, road traffic injury is a leading cause of death and disability in children aged 15 to 19 and the second leading cause of death in children between the ages 10 to 14 years. This thesis reviewed literature regarding the extent of road traffic injuries involving child pedestrians, the risk factors for child pedestrians and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at road safety improvement. EThekwini Metro was used as a case study for investigating the magnitude of road traffic crashes involving child pedestrians around primary schools. The schools with the highest road traffic crashes were used to investigate the road and environment contributory factors to crashes and finally the interventions in place at these schools to reduce road traffic injuries. The magnitude of crashes was quantified by using road accident data obtained from eThekwini Metro and the investigation of the interventions applied at the schools was conducted using Google Earth imagery, onsite inspections and administering a questionnaire to educators at the schools chosen for the case study. Results suggest that, in eThekwini, 32% of pedestrian crashes involve children from 0 to 19 years. The 6 to 10 year age group has the highest risk of road traffic injury and boys are 20% more likely to be involved in a crash compared to girls. The top ten primary schools with the highest road traffic crashes are located in middle and low income areas in eThekwini, these are, Sydenham, Jacobs and Umlazi Township. Most crashes took place where three or more schools are located within a kilometre radius of each other. Child behaviour contributed to 77% of the road traffic crashes. Scholar transport driver behaviour was highlighted as a major contributor to crashes by the respondents and environmental factors that resulted in reduced visibility of the child pedestrian contributed to 6% of the crashes. The main cause of road traffic injury, 68%, was crossing the road when it was unsafe to do so. Most crashes took place away from the intersection (58%), under clear and dry weather conditions (95%) during daylight (87%), between 13h00 to 15h30 (41%). Mondays and Fridays had highest incidents of road traffic crashes compared to other days of the week. Forty five percent (45%) of crashes took place on Class 5 local roads but all top ten schools with the highest road traffic crashes are located within a kilometre of a Class 3 distributor road or a class 4 collector road and these higher order roads have the highest crashes per road associated with the primary schools in their vicinity. Traffic calming, in the form of speed humps are only provided on roads where school entrances are located and are not provided on other roads even the roads with the highest road traffic crashes. Pedestrian crossings that direct pedestrians to a safe crossing location, road signs and road markings that warn drivers about the school are also generally not provided. The study revealed that road safety education is not formally provided in the school’s curriculum, it is taught as part of the Life Skills subject. The content and type of training is decided upon by the Life Skills teachers. Practical training is only provided at two of the schools, in all other schools, road safety education is taught and tested in a classroom environment. The author recommends that further studies be conducted on child pedestrian road safety around schools to obtain a full understanding of the road and environmental risk factors, that the municipality adopts the school zone concept and develops a policy for road safety interventions within the school zones. The municipality must also constantly monitor road traffic crashes involving child pedestrians, collect necessary data and test the effectiveness of measures applied to reduce the risks for child pedestrian crashes, investigate the possibility of providing grade separated pedestrian crossing facilities on higher order roads within a kilometre radius of the schools, initiate a scholar transport driver training programme and to assist the schools in the provision of road safety education by providing facilities where practical road safety training can be taught.

Thesis (B.S.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Marine Transportation, 1947. / Bibliography: leaf 101. / by Sumner Adam Long. / B.S.

Why has transportation architecture become a lost thought when there are so many possibilities to reach people with well thought out design? Shouldn't we as designers want to enhance the places were most people go, not just were few choose to visit. Shouldn't architecture be for the general public to enjoy. That is why I chose to design an underground station for Dulles Airport. It is an opportunity to provide the public with a functional design that they could enjoy, while enriching their thoughts and ideas on what architecture is and what is could be. / Master of Architecture

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