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The paper reports an investigation on the requirement of fare increment for achieving the operational viability of private buses in the context of an emerging country. Taking an existing route in Kolkata city which is served by private buses, several scenarios were investigated to achieve the viability of service through interventions in fare, design of service, and supply of buses. A simulation framework was used for the evaluation of various scenarios. The study brings out new evidences to question the conventional approach of increasing the bus fare to satisfy the operational viability. It is shown that the fare and the revenue requirements are distorted due to the oversupply of buses and non-optimal service. The analysis shows that even with the present fare, it is possible to resolve the viability issue by optimizing the service and supply. The results presented in the paper are case specific but are likely to encourage policy makers to carry out similar investigations in other cities in India as well as in other developing countries to improve urban bus service without putting an additional burden on the users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tropical countries such as India, increasing the roof albedo helps to reduce the heat ingress through the roof. This further reduces air-conditioning energy consumption in conditioned buildings and increases comfort in unconditioned buildings. In order to help users determine the benefits of high albedo roofs under varying conditions, a simple calculator has been developed. Parameters such as location, building type, roof area, and surface properties of the roof are taken as inputs. Annual EnergyPlus simulations are performed for the given parameters and the results are displayed in both graphical and tabular formats. It also calculates the simple payback by comparing a given base case roof albedo with the proposed roof albedo. The calculator can perform comfort simulations for unconditioned buildings and simulates measures including a radiant barrier system and under deck roof insulation. The calculator also runs a parametric simulation between insulation thickness and roof albedo to find an optimum roof insulation thickness based on incremental internal rate of return. This paper presents the features of the cool roof calculator and the type of analysis that can be performed using the cached results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]