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Federal data indicate that assaults on transit workers resulting in fatalities or hospitalizations tripled between 2008 and 2022. The data indicated a peri-pandemic surge of assault-related fatalities and hospitalizations, but assaults with less dire outcomes were not recorded. In collaboration with the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, we conducted an online survey in late 2023 through early 2024 of New York City public-facing bus and subway workers that focused on their work experiences during the 2020–2023 period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Items for this analysis on victimization included measures of physical and sexual assault/harassment, verbal harassment/intimidation, theft, and demographic characteristics (e.g., sex, race, work division). We estimated separate modified Poisson models for each of the four outcomes, yielding prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Potential interactions between variables with strong main effects in the adjusted model were further examined using product terms. Among 1297 respondents, 89.0% reported any victimization; respondents also reported physical assault (48.6%), sexual assault/harassment (6.3%), verbal harassment/intimidation (48.7%), and theft on the transit system (20.6%). Physical assault was significantly more common among women in the bus division compared to female subway workers, male bus workers, and male subway workers (adjusted PR (aPR) = 3.54; reference = male subway workers; Wald test p <.001). With the same reference group, sexual assault/harassment was more frequently reported among female subway workers (aPR = 5.15; Wald test, p <.001), but verbal assault/intimidation and experiencing theft were least common among women in the bus division (aPR = 0.22 and 0.13, respectively; Wald tests, p <.001). These data point to the need for greater attention to record and report on victimization against workers in both buses and subway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bus driver anger due to passenger misbehavior may lead to serious bus accidents, yet there are no mature tools available to capture bus driver reactions during driver–passenger conflicts. The bus driver anger scale (BDAS) and the bus driver anger expression inventory (BDAX) were developed to measure the anger levels and expressions of drivers in such conflicts. A bus driver anger model was developed based on 400 questionnaires in Changsha, China. The findings indicate that drivers are most likely to be angered by passenger violations and quarrels among passengers. Drivers irritated by passenger irregularities tend to employ personal aggressive expression or adaptive/constructive expression. Disputes among passengers may lead drivers to resort to unreasonable methods of venting their emotions. Moreover, passengers’ rude behaviors can trigger bus drivers’ aggressive personal expressions. Therefore, it is necessary to establish passenger regulations and encourage drivers to express their anger reasonably in driver–passenger conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to develop an optimal bus route search algorithm that considers both the user's and supplier's perspectives. The process of providing bus route service involves route network design, route allocation, and operation and management in sequence. Among these, establishing the optimal rationality for route network design in practical applications is challenging, and route modifications often occur during the operation process. To minimize these practical difficulties, this study proposes the Bus Route Sketch (BRS) methodology. This methodology, designed for network-level optimization, distinguishes itself from existing bus route setting methodologies by minimizing travel costs while taking user needs into account. This study yielded positive results, with the evaluation score improving from 8.83 to 9.50 from the supplier's perspective and from 7.13 to 9.89 from the user's perspective. This BRS methodology, developed to suit both route planning and operation processes, is expected to be utilized in the practical evaluation, adjustment, and design of bus routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, dockless bike-sharing (DBS) systems are acclaimed for their convenience and seamless integration with public transportation, such as buses and metros. While much research has focused on the connection between the built environment and the metro–DBS integration, the influence of urban road characteristics on DBS and bus integration remains underexplored. This study defined the parking area of DBS around bus stops by a rectangular buffer so as to extract the DBS–bus integration, followed by measuring the access and egress integration using real-time data on dockless bike locations. This indicated that the average trip distance for DBS–bus access and egress integration corresponded to 1028.47 m and 1052.33 m, respectively. A zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model assessed how urban roads and other transportation facilities correlate with DBS–bus integration across various scenarios. The findings revealed that certain street patterns strongly correlate with frequent connection hotspots. Furthermore, high-grade roads and 'dense loops on a stick' street types may negatively influence DBS–bus integration. The increase in the proportion of three-legged intersections and culs-de-sac in the catchment makes it difficult for bus passengers to transfer by DBS. These insights offer valuable guidance for enhancing feeder services in public transit systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the aerodynamic aspects of the Hyundai Universe Express Noble bus, a common passenger bus model in Bangladesh, and proposed modifications to improve its performance. The airflow around the bus was analyzed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Consequently, areas of high drag and turbulence were identified. These results led to the redesign and testing of several shape modifications for the bus, including adjustments to the roof spoiler, side mirrors, and front grille. After finding the bus model with the lowest drag coefficient, that model is further analyzed to find the aerodynamic effects of side windows on a bus and their impact on fuel efficiency. The aim is to determine how much side windows significantly affect fuel efficiency. The aerodynamic effect with windows open and closed is also evaluated after identifying an appropriate model. Model 1.2 uses 7.72% less fuel than base Model 1.0. Model 1.2 with windows uses 2.5% more fuel than Model 1.2. The study also evaluates the fuel cost per 500 km for all models suggesting that non-ac buses with side windows consume slightly more fuel than AC buses. Changing the bus shape to Model 1.2 will reduce the drag coefficient by 8.67% and fuel consumption by 7.72%. The study offers insights into reducing drag force, minimizing air resistance, enhancing exterior styling, and improving vehicle stability. Furthermore, these findings have practical implications for the transportation industry as they demonstrate the potential for improving the efficiency and sustainability of large vehicles through aerodynamic design.

The popularisation of autonomous vehicles will give rise to a new business model called shared autonomous vehicle (SAV). SAVs may attract a large number of passengers and lead to a decline in the share of buses, which can be interpreted by exploring passengers’ travel behaviour when confronting the SAV and bus modes. Thus, this paper addresses the SAV and bus passengers’ travel behaviour, aiming to examine the factors influencing travel behaviour and revealing the characteristics of SAV passengers. We classified passengers using latent class cluster analysis and modelled passengers’ travel behaviour based on confirmatory factor analysis and mixed logit model. The findings indicate a variation in travel preferences among different classes of travellers. Short-distance travellers pay less attention to travel time. Non-short-distance PT travellers are most likely to be affected by service attributes (waiting time, travel time and travel costs). Non-short-distance private car travellers are more likely to become early SAV adopters. Passengers travelling for short distances may be more likely to choose SAV, which reveals the potential of SAVs to become a first and last mile connection for public transport. Passengers lack trust in SAVs, which will affect their promotion.

This study explored the aerodynamic aspects of the Hyundai Universe Express Noble bus, a common passenger bus model in Bangladesh, and proposed modifications to improve its performance. The airflow around the bus was analyzed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Consequently, areas of high drag and turbulence were identified. These results led to the redesign and testing of several shape modifications for the bus, including adjustments to the roof spoiler, side mirrors, and front grille. After finding the bus model with the lowest drag coefficient, that model is further analyzed to find the aerodynamic effects of side windows on a bus and their impact on fuel efficiency. The aim is to determine how much side windows significantly affect fuel efficiency. The aerodynamic effect with windows open and closed is also evaluated after identifying an appropriate model. Model 1.2 uses 7.72% less fuel than base Model 1.0. Model 1.2 with windows uses 2.5% more fuel than Model 1.2. The study also evaluates the fuel cost per 500 km for all models suggesting that non-ac buses with side windows consume slightly more fuel than AC buses. Changing the bus shape to Model 1.2 will reduce the drag coefficient by 8.67% and fuel consumption by 7.72%. The study offers insights into reducing drag force, minimizing air resistance, enhancing exterior styling, and improving vehicle stability. Furthermore, these findings have practical implications for the transportation industry as they demonstrate the potential for improving the efficiency and sustainability of large vehicles through aerodynamic design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript proposes a hybrid technique for determining the optimal positioning of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in power systems. The PMUs play a crucial role in power system control, wide-area monitoring, and protection. The proposed hybrid method is the joint execution of the Lichtenberg algorithm (LA) and the heap-based optimization (HBO) technique. Hence, it is named the LA-HBO technique. The objective of the proposed method is to place the PMUs in the power system for observability. The goal is to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of PMU placement, ensuring optimal positioning for improved grid monitoring capabilities. The Lichtenberg Algorithm (LA) enhances PMU placement by addressing system observability challenges and ensuring that selected locations provide comprehensive coverage of the power grid. The heap-based approach optimizes PMU placement by efficiently managing the selection process, considering factors like computational efficiency and scalability. The proposed hybrid technique is implemented in IEEE-30 and -14 bus systems. The MATLAB-based simulation results are compared with the various existing methods, such as Sea Lion Optimization (SLO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Ant Bee Colony Optimization (ABC). By then, the outcome reveals the efficacy of the proposed method for defining the optimum PMU locations. The proposed method shows a low computational time of 0.02348 sec for the IEEE-14 bus, and 0.03565 sec for the IEEE-30 bus compared with other existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing green wave control methods for passenger cars and buses mainly focus on maximizing bandwidths at the arterial level. There is little research on green wave control for both at the closed road network level, which makes it difficult to improve the efficiency of the entire area. To address this, a green wave control model that considers both passenger cars and buses in closed road networks is presented in this paper. The objective function of the model is to maximize the sum of the weighted bandwidths of passenger cars and buses on each segment of the road network. The relationships between car green bands, bus green bands, offsets, phase sequences, red time, green time, etc. are analyzed on the level of arterials and road networks, respectively, using time–space diagrams. Based on these analyses, the key constraints of the model are constructed accordingly. In addition, 0/1 variables and a sufficiently large positive number M are introduced to relax some of the constraints to ensure that the presented model has feasible solutions. The results of the numerical example demonstrate that compared with the fixed phase sequence schemes 1, 2, and 3, the total weighted bandwidth generated by the presented model increased by 9.5%, 16.4%, and 17%, respectively. Compared with the model without constraint relaxation, the presented model can still find a global, optimal solution when the common cycle time is fixed, while the model without constraint relaxation has no feasible solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that can affect any part of the gut. Endoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosis, but it only assesses mucosal lesions. Magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) can assess disease presence and activity, but it has limitations such as motion sensitivity, long scan time, and high cost. Bowel sonography has been introduced as a non-invasive, practical, safe, and low-cost technique to assess disease activity and complications. In our study we aim to assess the comparability of ultrasound to MRE in evaluation of patients with Crohn's disease, and its complications. Results: Twenty-five patients with 38 Crohn's disease affected segments were evaluated by bowel ultrasound (BUS) and MRI enterography (MRE), where BUS and MRE showed equivalent diagnostic performance for disease detection and localization (97.4%, 100%), for sensitivity and specificity of both modalities. Peri-mural fluid (89.5%, 94.4%) and mural stratification loss (100%, 100%) showed high sensitivity and specificity by BUS compared to MRE, while for assessment of mural vascularity, BUS showed high sensitivity and specificity for high grade vascularity (100%, 83.3%), but low sensitivity and high specificity for low and moderate vascularity (0%–62.5%, 81.8%) compared to MRE. Complications including fistulae and abscessed were all correctly identified in BUS compared to MRE. Conclusion: BUS showed comparable results to MRE for identification, localization, assessment of findings related to disease activity, and complications in cases of Crohn's disease rendering it a viable alternative to MRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Patients with suspected UTIs are categorized into 3 clinical phenotypes based on current guidelines: no UTI, asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), or UTI. However, all patients may not fit neatly into these groups. Our objective was to characterize clinical presentations of patients who receive urine tests using the "continuum of UTI" approach. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of a random sample of adult noncatheterized inpatient and emergency department encounters with paired urinalysis and urine cultures from 5 hospitals in 3 states between January 01, 2017, and December 31, 2019. Trained abstractors collected clinical (eg, symptom) and demographic data. A focus group discussion with multidisciplinary experts was conducted to define the continuum of UTI, a 5-level classification scheme that includes 2 new categories: lower urinary tract symptoms/other urologic symptoms and bacteriuria of unclear significance. The newly defined continuum of UTI categories were compared to the current UTI classification scheme. Results: Of 220,531 encounters, 3392 randomly selected encounters were reviewed. Based on the current classification scheme, 32.1% (n = 704) had ASB and 53% (n = 1614) did not have a UTI. When applying the continuum of UTI categories, 68% of patients (n = 478) with ASB were reclassified as bacteriuria of unclear significance and 29% of patients (n = 467) with "no UTI" were reclassified to lower urinary tract symptoms/other urologic symptoms. Conclusions: Our data suggest the need to reframe our conceptual model of UTI vs ASB to reflect the full spectrum of clinical presentations, acknowledge the diagnostic uncertainty faced by frontline clinicians, and promote a nuanced approach to diagnosis and management of UTIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large vehicles such as buses and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) pose a serious threat to cyclists and can cause serious injuries. Therefore, it is important to understand current safety issues related to these vehicles, to identify and to develop safety interventions that could address these issues. The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of and injuries resulting from crashes between cyclists and buses and HGVs. In this study, the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) was queried for all cases that involved either a bus or a HGV and where the opponent was a cyclist. In total, 98 crashes with the involvement of both a bus and a cyclist, and 295 cases where both a HGV and a cyclist were involved, were identified for our analysis. The crashes with cyclists typically occur within city limits, during daylight conditions, on dry surfaces and with clear weather. The cyclists involved in these crashes are mainly male and cyclists under 18-years old account for 28% of crashes with buses, and 16% for crashes with HGVs. The most common crash scenarios are crossing scenarios and turning-off-a-road crashes. In bus crashes, the collision speeds are mainly below 35 km/h and injuries to lower extremities and head are dominating, caused by the road surface and the front of the bus. In HGV crashes, collision speeds are most often below 20 km/h and injuries to the head and thorax are most common, mainly caused by being run over.

Aims To monitor severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA contamination in vehicles operating in England during the pandemic, to better understand transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 on public transport. Methods and results We collected 1314 surface samples between December 2020 and April 2022 on trains and buses managed by five different transport operators. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was investigated through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found on 197 (15%) of the 1314 surfaces sampled, including seat head rests, handholds, and air extract grilles, but the levels of RNA recovered on those samples (median value of 23.4, interquartile range: 14.3–35.4, N gene copies per extraction) made the presence of infectious virus at the time of sampling extremely unlikely. However, detection rates varied over time with peaks broadly coinciding with times of high community transmission, when it was more likely that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were travelling on public transport. Conclusion During the pandemic, and as in other public spaces, low levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were found on surfaces associated with public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimization-based approach is proposed for the joint design of fixed-route bus networks and the service areas of complementary paratransit services. Complementary paratransit systems provide transportation to people with disabilities within a service area (PSA) that is traditionally designed as a function of the spatial layout of a fixed-route bus network. The proposed problem accounts for effectiveness and equity objectives for the bus and paratransit services. A constraint on the minimum extension PSAs is considered, which is of practical interest given the coverage regulations faced by transit agencies in some jurisdictions. A two-step procedure is proposed to find solutions to the design problem. In the first step, bus route network designs are generated, along with their minimum PSAs. In the second step, a genetic algorithm improves upon the PSAs generated in the first step. Simulation tests were performed to illustrate the application of the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that municipalities of all sizes should prioritize transit, particularly buses, as a moral and practical consideration. Buses represent a mode of transit that is significantly better than private automobiles: better for the environment, more accessible to a broad range of people, healthier, and more conducive to the creation of safe, humane communities. Writing from Roanoke, VA, USA, we know that small and medium-sized American cities such as ours tend to underfund their transit systems, but a good bus system could be the centerpiece of a transportation strategy that generates health, clean air, and upward mobility for all. In this essay we establish the practical and moral reasons why cities should invest in public transit: it is not only financially smart but morally imperative to do so. We also examine cultural reasons why public transit tends to be underfunded in the US. Well-funded public transportation systems—which, in most cases, should feature a robust and well-funded bus system—have the potential to act as a key ingredient in healthy, prosperous, and just communities. Whether bus systems live up to this potential is a question that lies in the hands of advocates and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review analyzed the literature data about the global warming potential (GWP) of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) lifecycle, e.g., raw material mining, production, use, and end of life. The literature data were associated with three macro-areas—Asia, Europe, and the USA—considering common LIBs (nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP)). The GWP (kgCO2eq/kg) values were higher for use compared to raw material mining, production, and end of life management for hydrometallurgy or pyrometallurgy. Considering the significant values associated with the use phase and the frequent application of secondary data, this study also calculated the GWP of LIBs applied in public urban buses in Turin, Italy. The 2021 fleet (53% diesel, 36% natural gas, and 11% electric buses) was compared to scenarios with increasing shares of hybrid/electric. The largest reduction in CO2eq emissions (−41%) corresponded to a fleet with 64% electric buses. In conclusion, this review highlighted the bottlenecks of the existing literature on the GWP of the LIB lifecycle, a lack of data for specific macro-areas for production and use, and the key role of public transportation in decarbonizing urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the pressing challenge of global warming, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector is a critical imperative. Battery and fuel cell electric vehicles have emerged as promising solutions for curbing emissions in this sector. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) for typical passenger vehicles, heavy-duty trucks, and city buses using either proton-exchange membrane fuel cells or Li-ion batteries with different cell chemistries. To ensure accuracy, we supplemented existing studies with data from the literature, particularly for the recycling phase, as database limitations were encountered. Our results highlight that fuel cell and battery systems exhibit large emissions in the production phase. Recycling can significantly offset some of these emissions, but a comparison of the technologies examined revealed considerable differences. Overall, battery electric vehicles consistently outperform fuel cell electric vehicles regarding absolute greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, we recommend prioritizing battery electric over fuel cell vehicles. However, deploying fuel cell electric vehicles could become attractive in a hydrogen economy scenario where other factors, e.g., the conversion and storage of surplus renewable electricity via electrolysis, become important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide from human breath contributes significantly to airborne diseases. Breathing can expose us to usually dangerous airborne infections, which rapidly spread. By using a bus, there is a chance of contracting an infection. This study takes into account a mathematical model of airborne infection caused by human breath. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the probability that passengers in a bus with ventilation systems may well get an airborne infection. The model can be divided into five submodels, such as an exhaled air concentration measurement model for a bus with a variable number of passengers, the volume fraction of exhaled air model, the concentration of airborne infectious particles model, the number of airborne infectious particles model, and the risk of airborne infection model. The model's solution might be used to determine the probability that susceptible people will get an airborne infection. An explicit forward-time centered-space finite difference method is used to approximate the solution. In order to reduce the risk of airborne infection and improve ventilation, the provided mathematical models were used to assess the risk of airborne infection among bus passengers using ventilation systems. Better air quality control that balances the number of passengers allowed to travel on a bus will be among the ventilation's main advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-distance transportation provides in-vehicle access to essential sanitation to the passengers. However, generated yellow and black waters may not be correctly managed prior sanitary effluent discharge. Processes that can handle decentralized effluent treatment can be considered alternatives to traditional chemical treatment systems. In this study, decentralized electrochemically-driven treatment is presented as a proof of concept. A compact electrochemical reactor design considering the boundary conditions and requirements for decentralized sanitary treatment for long-distance bus transportation has been accomplished. Treatment of synthetic urine effluents was conducted under filter-press reactor with continuous flow in a closed upward recirculation reactor containing a carbon felt (CF) cathode and a dimensionally stable anode (DSA: Ti/Ru 0.36 Ti 0.64 O 2). The experimental design allowed the assessment of operational variable impacts on reduction of urea concentration, and consequent estimate of the total organic carbon abatement. The results revealed that synthetic urine solution diluted from toilet water flushing (TOC = 402 mg L−1) can be effectively treated under application of low current densities of 18 mA cm−2 in 300 min (average time of on-road service). Real-time monitoring of parameters revealed a decrease in pH from 6.98 to 3.49, and a gradual increase in temperature from 25.3 °C to 32.0 °C at the end of the process. Those physico-chemical changes can be useful to inhibit urea hydrolysis. Thus, the results encourage the application of electrochemical technology in decentralized effluent treatment systems to enhance and enable ecologically correct sanitation actions in portable urinary collectors, such as those used in bus road transport. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mode switching caused by COVID-19 is an important travel behavior question in the Global North, countries in the Global South, particularly South Asia, have yet to adequately identify how transportation systems and travel behavior have evolved due to the pandemic. To contribute to this question, this study explored changes in the use frequency of the most common non-active sustainable alternatives in Bangladesh, namely buses and rickshaws. By emphasizing attitudes and perceptions along with sociodemographic characteristics, this study contributed to the understanding of how different factors influence individuals’ shifts in the usage frequency of buses and rickshaws in Bangladesh. Our study suggested that in general, buses have lost more ridership than rickshaws. Findings from a multivariate ordinal model suggested that the middle-income group had reduced their bus use frequency, and the low-income group had increased their rickshaw use frequency during the first wave of the pandemic. Also, there could be a possible reduction in bus use in the post-lockdown and post-pandemic periods if the risk perception continues to remain in the public consciousness. Moreover, those who cared less about the social distancing measures and had confidence in their immune system had increased their bus use frequency during the pandemic. Compared to bus use frequency, there have been fewer changes in rickshaw use frequency during the pandemic, indicating that rickshaws had become a comparatively more viable mode during the pandemic. Based on the findings, the study discussed the policy implications of keeping buses and rickshaws as viable, sustainable transport modes in the post-pandemic period.

Globally, dockless bike-sharing (DBS) systems are acclaimed for their convenience and seamless integration with public transportation, such as buses and metros. While much research has focused on the connection between the built environment and the metro–DBS integration, the influence of urban road characteristics on DBS and bus integration remains underexplored. This study defined the parking area of DBS around bus stops by a rectangular buffer so as to extract the DBS–bus integration, followed by measuring the access and egress integration using real-time data on dockless bike locations. This indicated that the average trip distance for DBS–bus access and egress integration corresponded to 1028.47 m and 1052.33 m, respectively. A zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model assessed how urban roads and other transportation facilities correlate with DBS–bus integration across various scenarios. The findings revealed that certain street patterns strongly correlate with frequent connection hotspots. Furthermore, high-grade roads and ‘dense loops on a stick’ street types may negatively influence DBS–bus integration. The increase in the proportion of three-legged intersections and culs-de-sac in the catchment makes it difficult for bus passengers to transfer by DBS. These insights offer valuable guidance for enhancing feeder services in public transit systems.

This study investigates the CO2 reduction potential of powertrain hybridisation on heavy-duty lorries and city buses. The analysis considers modern parallel and serial hybrid architectures, assessing their efficiency and limits in CO2 emission reduction through vehicle simulation in VECTO, which is the official tool of the European Commission for calculating heavy-duty vehicle fuel and energy consumption. The results reveal distinct trends for each vehicle type and architecture. In lorries, more significant improvements are observed in urban delivery profiles, reaching up to ~16%, indicating the benefits of hybridisation in transient conditions with energy recuperation opportunities. City buses, particularly those with serial architectures, exhibit significant emission reductions that reach 36%, making them suitable for urban environments. The optimisation of electric motor size and performance plays a crucial role in achieving emission reductions, while battery capacity must be carefully considered to avoid adverse effects. For lorries in urban delivery use, further improvements of 17.5% can be achieved by utilising a 160 kW engine motor and 30 kWh battery. Buses are already quite well optimised, with serial architecture presenting the highest benefits with a 120 kW electric motor and a battery of 11 kWh. Future research should focus on supercapacitors and gearboxes to improve efficiency at higher vehicle speeds and assess hybridisation potential in interurban coach travel. The heavy-duty vehicle sector can make significant strides towards low-carbon transport by maximising hybrid powertrain efficiency and emission reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a general methodology for aggregating the actual costs and revenues of public transport in Hungary, which allows to calculate a realistic passenger (user) cost coverage ratio for the main players in the domestic market (MÁV-Volán Group, GYSEV, BKK). After an international perspective and a presentation of the specificities of the domestic market, it is concluded that the cost coverage ratio for fixed rail transport is significantly lower than for public transport services on road. The main reason for this is that rail infrastructure is expensive to develop and operate and is mainly used by public passenger transport. The ridership ratio is significantly reduced by significant investments, and this has been analysed both on a time series and average basis. We present the timetable, tariff changes and major investments that have had an impact on ridership rates, typically only to a small extent. Our analysis is financially oriented and only touches on positive externalities, social benefits and the general government balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Load flow is an important tool for studying, designing, and analyzing power systems. It allows power system engineers to determine whether the operation and configuration of the power system is safe under varying loading conditions. It is necessary to model and simulate such a system in order to determine the power flow and losses. This research paper focuses on using numerical methods such as Newton Raphson and Gauss Seidel power flow equations for load flow analysis to calculate bus voltage magnitudes, phase angles, real and reactive power of each bus of an IEEE 9-bus test system. Newton Raphson’s computation offers fast, accurate convergence but demands complex implementation, whereas Gauss Siedel is simpler but converges slower with lower accuracy. The analysis was carried out using a MATLAB program. By manipulating variables such as power injections, voltage magnitudes, and phase angles, it solves nonlinear equations iteratively to establish stable operating points which aids in enhancing power system analysis. The line losses for the two methods are compared and the system's total load and generation power are also displayed. The consideration of line losses and assessment of total load generation is crucial for maintaining system efficiency, reliability and preventing voltage instability and equipment damage. The results are also used to generate a directed graph which shows the interconnected nature of the power system, aiding engineers in understanding power flow paths, identifying potential issues, and making informed decisions about system operations. The Newton Raphson method yields the lowest loss, with 4.585MW and 10.789Mvar. In comparison, the Gauss Seidel method achieved 4.809MW and 10.798Mvar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passenger's waiting time at terminal is a key constituent of travel time, as long waiting time increases the overall journey time. In Nigeria, urban-rural bus transit system is associated with long waiting time. This study evaluates bus transit users' waiting times at terminal with perceived and actual waiting times (PWT and AWT) along with associated bus service frequency (BSF). Bus public transit operating from Enugu city (as origin) to 6 local government areas (Awgu, Isi-Uzo, Nkanu west, Nsukka, Oji River and Udenu) of the state as destinations was studied. Data were collected on AWT and PWT at Old Park, Enugu for 30 days from 8 am to 6 pm (5 days per route). Data on AWT and PWT were collected based on passenger's observation and oral interview, respectively. The study discovered that transit users incurred long waiting times, with 80 - 90% of the users incurring AWT of 21 minutes to 1 hour and more, indicating a poor service quality. Also, 80 - 90% of the users overestimated their PWT by 25 - 60%. At 95% confidence level, PWT is significantly longer than AWT (P < 0.05) for all the routes. A passenger's perceived waiting time model was developed for predicting PWT based on AWT. The model developed showed that PWT is strongly correlated with AWT, with an R² = 0.9591 and F-significance < 0.05. This suggests that that AWT accounts for 96% variability in PWT. Consequently, the model developed exhibits a reasonable accuracy, hence, can be applied for prediction of passenger's perceived waiting time. The mean BSF for Enugu - Nsukka and Enugu - Oji River routes were 30 and 21 buses per day, respectively. While, the other 4 routes recorded lower values of 7 - 9 buses per day, resulting in longer waiting times than the other 2 routes. The implication of long passengers' waiting time suggests the need for shifting from unscheduled to scheduled operation and improved BSF by shortening bus headways to minimize waiting time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an analysis on the fire safety of passengers and the fire protection of coaches and buses. A brief review of major bus fire incidents, an overview of current regulations in Europe, and their limitations are presented. The study finds that the current small-scale fire test methods described in UN ECE Reg No. 118 need to be replaced by test methods that can assess the reaction to fire of materials when exposed to ignition sources of varying sizes. To address these shortcomings, the study proposed an expert recommendation to update the material fire safety requirements and testing for buses. Additional measures are proposed, derived from objectives and strategies applied in other transport sectors, and can be tested through existing European and international standards, which are widely used by several industries. These measures aim to extend the time with tenable conditions for a safe evacuation in case of fire, reduce the degree of damage to buses, reduce the risk for fast and excessive thermal exposure on modern energy carriers needed for a more sustainable transport sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing green wave control methods for passenger cars and buses mainly focus on maximizing bandwidths at the arterial level. There is little research on green wave control for both at the closed road network level, which makes it difficult to improve the efficiency of the entire area. To address this, a green wave control model that considers both passenger cars and buses in closed road networks is presented in this paper. The objective function of the model is to maximize the sum of the weighted bandwidths of passenger cars and buses on each segment of the road network. The relationships between car green bands, bus green bands, offsets, phase sequences, red time, green time, etc. are analyzed on the level of arterials and road networks, respectively, using time–space diagrams. Based on these analyses, the key constraints of the model are constructed accordingly. In addition, 0/1 variables and a sufficiently large positive number M are introduced to relax some of the constraints to ensure that the presented model has feasible solutions. The results of the numerical example demonstrate that compared with the fixed phase sequence schemes 1, 2, and 3, the total weighted bandwidth generated by the presented model increased by 9.5%, 16.4%, and 17%, respectively. Compared with the model without constraint relaxation, the presented model can still find a global, optimal solution when the common cycle time is fixed, while the model without constraint relaxation has no feasible solution.

Bridges are special structures that provide a transport connection between areas divided by a physical barrier. Vehicles passing over bridges cause vibrations in the structural elements of the bridge, which can damage these structural elements over time. The aim of our research was to investigate the vibrations generated by vehicles on Hungary’s first steel girder welded bridge, which was subjected to the maximum allowable load. In this paper, we describe the measurements we have carried out, analyse the results, present the vehicle-bridge interaction model we have constructed and the computer simulation we have carried out by using it. Our research results are intended to contribute to accident prevention and the safe operation of bridges.

Buses are the most used transportation by people in Indonesia when traveling between cities. However, to improve passenger comfort, a tool is required to determine the number of passengers on the bus. This research presents an automated system to count the number of passengers based on a background subtraction algorithm and moving object activator. This research aims to provide the number of passengers based on video images taken from the entranceway. The system is built with a camera, Raspberry Pi, and LCD. The APC system starts the counting process by removing the video background image from the captured object image. The entry and exit direction of the object is determined using the concept of moving object activator. The experiments were applied in several scenarios to determine the robustness of the system. The best APC performance was achieved when the system is positioned perpendicularly above the entranceway at a height of 230 cm and a light intensity of 800-1000 lux. Meanwhile, the moving object activator is effective in supporting the system's performance to determine the passenger's direction. In this scenario, the results stated that the accuracy of APC system performance reached 93.8%.

The study we have conducted concerns the analysis of the digital transformation in the public transport sector. Hence, our problematic was articulated around the presentation of an inventory of fixtures as of the use of electronic payment "Etuspay" in urban public transport (buses) in the Wilaya of Tiaret. In order to do that, we used a quantitative methodthrough a survey of 50 inhabitants of the region. The results obtained show that public transport users adhere to the new “Etus pay” system and that the parameter of trust in this method hardly constitutes an obstacle to its use.

Intermodal practices are related to the use of several distinct modes of transport during the same displacement. This study analyses the articulation between institutional transport insured by motorbike taxis and the Lomé Transport Company (Sotral) in Grand Lomé. In particular, it explores two intermodal practices between both actors, mainly the drawdown and broadcasting of Sotral users on/and from bus stopping, the main intermodality points after the bus stations in Grand Lomé. The methodology relies on a mixed approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. The first descriptive approach has allowed us to observe the phenomenon, to reinforce knowledge through the analysis of documents, and to obtain actors' opinions. The second quantitative approach is based on the interviews carried out with drivers and motorbike taxi and bus users, the counting of broadcasting and drawdown modes at the stopping points, and the mapping of the study area as well as the Sotral network. The results show that the current facilities of Sotral bus stopping points do not encourage/promote the interaction and/or cohabitation between different modes of transport, such as motorbike taxis. These infrastructures are out of phase with the intermodal practices of the population of Grand Lomé, who use artisanal and structured public transport in their daily movements. In fact, motorbike taxis do not have a dedicated facility for drop-off/pick-up of passengers at the Sotral bus stopping points. The drawdown and broadcasting by these means of artisanal transport at bus stops are generally made on sidewalks and sometimes on roadways, which is a source of road insecurity. This failure leads to friction between Sotral and motorbike taxis on the use of facilities dedicated to Sotral buses, creating an absence of cohabitation between two main actors of mobility in Grand Lomé. An approach focused on the flexibility and efficiency of intermodal points or the connection between motorbike taxis and Sotral allows good coexistence and constitutes a component of a sustainable mobility strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study is to examine the association between bus transit reliability and the number of boarding passengers at bus-stop level using data obtained from the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA for the year 2017. The on-time performance percentage was computed and used as bus transit reliability at bus-stop level. Two different thresholds were considered to compute the on-time performance measure. The ridership data was processed to compute the average number of boarding passengers per bus at bus-stop level. The findings indicate that the day of the week, time of the day, direction of travel, and the type of bus-stop influence the association between the on-time performance percentage and the average number of boarding passengers per bus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the United Nations Global Technical Regulation No. 13 (UN GTR #13), vehicle fire safety is validated using a localized and engulfing fire test methodology and currently, updates are being considered in the on-going Phase 2 development stage. The GTR#13 fire test is designed to verify the performance of a hydrogen storage system of preventing rupture when exposed to service-terminating condition of fire situation. The test is conducted in two stages—localized flame exposure at a location most challenging for thermally-activated pressure relief device(s) (TPRDs) to respond for 10 min. followed by engulfing fire exposure until the system vents and the pressure falls to less than 1 MPa or until "time out" (30 min. for light-duty vehicle containers and 60 min. for heavy-duty vehicle containers). The rationale behind this two-stage fire test is to ensure that even when fire sizes are small and TPRDs are not responding the containers have fire resistance to withstand or fire sensitivity to respond to a localized fire to avoid system rupture. In this study, appropriate fire sizes for localized and engulfing fire tests in GTR#13 are evaluated by considering actual fire conditions in a hydrogen-powered electric city bus. Quantitative risk analysis is conducted to develop various fire accident scenarios including regular bus fire, battery fire, and hydrogen leak fire. Frequency and severity analyses are performed to determine the minimum fire size required in GTR#13 fire test and the design guides to ensure hydrogen storage tank safety in hydrogen-powered electric city buses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residents in new greenfield suburbs on the urban fringe often experience long delays in public transport provision leading to some developers choosing to fund and coordinate bus services themselves. This article reports on an investigation into this trend in Australia which uncovered ten such services which mostly offered direct connection to the nearest train station during peak periods. These were provided to improve the attractiveness and amenity of the estate. While such services are useful for early transport options, they are temporary and fairly limited and should be seen as a pathway to more comprehensive state-funded bus services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HVAC systems in closed buses promote high particle spread. Lagrangian particle tracking simulations were carried out to evaluate airborne COVID transmission through droplets emitted by sneezing while Eulerian simulations were performed to account for the spread of aerosols emitted by breathing. The position of passengers as well as the effect of three HVAC configurations were evaluated. On one hand, it was concluded that large droplets can travel more than 3 m without being significantly affected by the inflow conditions, but small droplets are easily dispersed by the airflow, and many of them are captured by the HVAC systems. On the other hand, the HVAC systems quickly spreads aerosols along the whole of the bus, increasing the average risk for all passengers, but sensibly reducing the high local risks observed under motionless inflow conditions. The transmission risk was calculated by applying the Wells-Riley model, concluding that the transmission risk for a 20-min trip could remain below 0.5% if HVAC configurations with many inlet/outlet vents are implemented, and the passengers remain in silence and wear face masks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite strong development in Vietnam’s major cities, buses only contribute to city traffic. Bus services in Vietnamese towns do not yet meet passengers’ current needs and are not popular with passengers, especially in terms of time and convenience. This article analyzes the factors affecting urban people’s intention to use buses in Vietnam and, on that basis, makes recommendations to the authorities in cities to enhance the attractiveness of bus usage. Twenty-seven factors have been identified as affecting the need to travel by bus. The survey results show that there are still many barriers to attracting passengers using bus services in urban metropolitan areas. Therefore, urban governments in Vietnam need to adjust the current bus route network to suit the needs of the people, especially students, to increase its coverage.

This review analyzed the literature data about the global warming potential (GWP) of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) lifecycle, e.g., raw material mining, production, use, and end of life. The literature data were associated with three macro-areas—Asia, Europe, and the USA—considering common LIBs (nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP)). The GWP (kgCO2eq/kg) values were higher for use compared to raw material mining, production, and end of life management for hydrometallurgy or pyrometallurgy. Considering the significant values associated with the use phase and the frequent application of secondary data, this study also calculated the GWP of LIBs applied in public urban buses in Turin, Italy. The 2021 fleet (53% diesel, 36% natural gas, and 11% electric buses) was compared to scenarios with increasing shares of hybrid/electric. The largest reduction in CO2eq emissions (−41%) corresponded to a fleet with 64% electric buses. In conclusion, this review highlighted the bottlenecks of the existing literature on the GWP of the LIB lifecycle, a lack of data for specific macro-areas for production and use, and the key role of public transportation in decarbonizing urban areas.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is confronting critical traffic congestion caused by the large number of private vehicles. In 2019, the city was ranked eleventh highest on the global traffic index. Public transport was proposed as the key to alleviating the problem. Nonetheless, the sustainability of public transportation should be evaluated from environmental, economic, and social perspectives to support policy decision‐makers and monitor the improvement. This research developed a sustainability indicator and used a case study to assess the sustainability of public transportation in Bangkok, by comparing the public bus to the rapid transit (electric rail transportation) service due to their high use rates in Bangkok. A sustainable efficiency indicator (SEI) was developed using the concept of eco‐efficiency and the negative impacts were extended to cover environmental, economic, and social aspects. The results showed that the environmental impact of the bus was greatest during the operational phase, whereas for rail transport, it was greatest during the construction phase. In terms of the economy, because the railway system had been designed to service a large population, an increase in passenger numbers for rail transportation could increase its sustainable efficiency. The social impact was assessed based on a satisfaction survey for each of the two types of transportation. All the impacts were converted into monetary values to calculate the SEI. The SEI could also be used to monitor the enhancement of sustainability effectiveness as a tracking performance indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technology of aero-engine gas-path fault diagnosis is an important way to improve flight safety and reliability and reduce maintenance costs. With the maturity of the new-generation engine distributed control system (DCS), uncertainties such as bus packet loss, time delay, and node function degradation have increasingly highlighted new challenges to engine fault diagnosis. At present, linear Kalman filter (LKF) is widely researched and used in engine fault detection and isolation (FDI), but its robustness has proved to be not strong. However, the sliding mode observer (SMO) is not only capable of fault reconstruction but also robust to system uncertainties and disturbances due to its unique discontinuous switching term, which tends to be an effective way to achieve robust fault diagnosis for aero engines and DCS with many uncertainties. This paper initially develops a distributed bus packaging model that supports time-delay and packet-loss simulating and timing planning based on SimEvents, providing a basis for the model-based design and verification. Then the SMO is adopted to design a robust gas-path diagnosis method for engine DCS, and the robust observing accuracy is improved by combining high-order sliding mode theory, LMI optimized observation matrix, and variable gain. The simulation results show the effectiveness and advantages in engine DCS application scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new approach to solve the problem of bus network design and frequency setting (BNDFS). Transit network design must satisfy the needs of both service users and transit operators. Numerous optimisation techniques have been proposed for BNDFS in the literature. Previous approaches tend to adopt a sequential optimisation strategy that conducts network routing and service frequency setting in two separate steps. To address the limitation of sequential optimisation, our new algorithm uses Reinforcement Learning for a simultaneous optimisation of three key components of BNDFS: the number of bus routes, the route design and service frequencies. The algorithm can design the best set of bus routes without defining the total number of bus routes in advance, which can reduce the overall computational time. The proposed algorithm was tested on the benchmark Mandl Swiss network. The algorithm is further extended to the routing of express services. The validation includes additional test scenarios which modify the transit demand level on the Mandl network. The new algorithm can be useful to assist transit agencies and planners in improving existing routing and service frequency to cope with changing demand conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the principle of urban transport integration and sustainable development, in this work, we study the level of connection between urban rail transit and regular bus transport, construct an evaluation indicator system according to the characteristics of the connection system, use the entropy weighting method (EWM) to calculate the weights of the indicators to determine the influence of each indicator on the level of connection, and construct a TOPSIS comprehensive evaluation model, which can make an overall evaluation of objects subject to multiple factors to analyze the level of connection between rail transit stations. Finally, the system of evaluation indicators and the analysis of the level of connection are applied to an example of a rail transit station in operation in Wuxi city, and the problems of connection and interchange in the case station are analyzed. We find that 57.5% of rail stations in Wuxi have low connectivity and that interchange information service and average transfer time are the most influential factors. This study defines and quantifies eight key indicators that influence the level of rail-transit connectivity to quantify and grade the connectivity of different stations, and selects the city of Wuxi as a case study for validation. Our research provides theoretical support and practical guidance for improving rail transit interchange capacity and the sustainable development of public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility is fundamental for social participation of people with disabilities. Unfortunately, traditional design of urban environments, including infrastructure and services are developed based largely on a standard perception of an independent, fully functional citizen without disability which limits the mobility social participation of PWD. This paper presents the design and development of a novel geospatial assistive navigation technology to support multimodal mobility of people with disabilities, especially those using manual wheelchair in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bus transportation existence in Central Kalimantan is very important because it is able to carry out mass transportation, connecting and reaching all areas of Central Kalimantan. This research was conducted to obtain the appropriate amount of vehicle operating costs and passenger fares to be applied under normal conditions and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary data were obtained through questionnaires, namely vehicle operating costs components data and passenger trips data. Analysis was carried out based on Decree of Transportation Minister No. KM. 89 of 2002. Vehicle operating costs per seat kilometer for the Palangka Raya – Pangkalan Bun route on the Damri Bus are IDR 131.04/seat-km, while the Logos Bus is IDR 170.97/seat-km. Under normal conditions, the Damri Bus fare is IDR 190,453/passenger, while the Logos Bus fare is IDR 134,241/passenger. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Damri Bus fare was IDR 216,707/pnp, while the Logos bus fare was IDR 198,435/pnp.

From the point of view of field examinations, especially in the case of measurements done by instruments, it is crucially important to determine measurement conditions. Accurate identification of parameters enables accurate and certified measurement results to be achieved. In our work, we represent the determination of measurement conditions for harmful vibrations occurring during urban road transport of an Ikarus 55 type long-haul bus. This is a favourable basis for further vibration analysis regarding other buses.

With the growth of the population and the expansion of the territory of large cities, certain difficulties arise in meeting the needs of passengers for transportation. This article studied the satisfaction of users with the city's public transport system, especially the bus transport. Thus, a survey was conducted among passengers in Baku to assess their satisfaction with public transport. The survey covered all districts of Baku in general. The study was conducted in October 2021. The questions were aimed at identifying the weight, reasons for preferring the different types of public transport, the level of satisfaction of the population with these types, assessing the quality of services and the lack of urban bus transport. The level of satisfaction of survey participants with the work of public transport by gender and age groups was determined. Subsequently, this study showed that most of the population movements are carried out by bus transport. The analysis revealed factors that reduce the quality of service on bus routes. In addition, it examined the reasons why the population chose the bus transport, the shortcomings of the bus transport, the effectiveness of dedicated bus lanes, and attitudes toward the use of alternative public transport. Summarily, this study was successful in identifying the shortcomings of public transport in the city, improving passenger service to increase passenger satisfaction toward attracting more people to public transport.