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Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 43013

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Maxim A. Dulebenets

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Guest Editor

College of Engineering, Florida A&M University-Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310-6046, USA
Interests: operations research; simulation modeling; optimization; NP-hard problems; liner shipping scheduling; evolutionary computation; mathematical programming; hybrid algorithms; metaheuristics; transportation engineering; GPS data processing
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

High standards of living, fast industrialization, and population growth consistently increase the demand for both passenger and freight transport around the world every year. In certain cases, the existing infrastructure is not capable of handling the growing demand for passenger and freight transport, which further causes some negative externalities, including congestion of transportation networks, enormous traffic delays in large metropolitan areas, vehicle crashes, emission of harmful substances, global warming, supply chain disruptions, and late product deliveries to the end customers. Researchers and practitioners have to come up with effective approaches that can be used to serve the demand for passenger and freight transport as well as to ensure sustainable movement of passengers and goods.

Sustainable transport captures three sustainability dimensions that encompass economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability. While economic sustainability supports a long-term economic growth of passenger and freight transport sectors, social sustainability aims to ensure the wellbeing of the population and meet the customer needs. On the other hand, environmental sustainability minimizes negative environmental externalities that are associated with passenger and freight transport. This Special Issue aims to comprehensively analyze the existing methods and reveal the new methods that can improve sustainability of passenger and freight transport. The submissions that focus on the following topics are welcome:

Optimization and simulation models for sustainable passenger and freight transport;
Collaborative agreements between different stakeholders for improving infrastructure performance;
Game theoretic models that capture sustainability issues;
Connected and autonomous vehicle applications for sustainable passenger and freight transport;
Enhancing infrastructure performance under uncertainties and disruptive events;
New techniques and innovative approaches for congestion mitigation;
Models and solution algorithms that address operational challenges at passenger and freight terminals;
Holistic models that capture conflicting objectives throughout passenger and freight transport.

Dr. Maxim A. Dulebenets
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainable passenger transport
sustainable freight transport
transportation networks
traffic delays
vehicle crashes
vehicle emissions
global warming
supply chains
supply chain disruptions
timely product deliveries
optimization
simulation models
game theory
congestion mitigation
conflicting objectives
passenger and freight terminals

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 4346 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of the Parameters of the Bus Lane and the Bus Stop on the Delays of Private and Public Transport

by Fadyushin Alexey and Zakharov Dmitrii

Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9593; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12229593 - 18 Nov 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2542

Abstract

The article deals with the influence of the infrastructure for public transport on the delay time of private and public transport in the city. The study employed the methods of simulation, mathematical modeling and field research. Imitation microscopic modeling determined the parameters of mathematical models of the delay time of private and public transport for various parameters of the bus lane, the length of the bus stop loading area, and its distance from the signalized intersection. Calculations determined the total delay time, taking into account the number of passengers in public and private transport on the section of the main street of regulated traffic. Determining the optimum parameters of the public transport infrastructure requires considering not only public transport passengers, but also drivers and passengers of private vehicles. Over-improving parameters of the bus lane has no effect on public transport, but traffic parameters for all other road users degrade. At high traffic intensity, the dependences of the total delay time on the length of the marking lines 1.11 and 1.5 are described by the parabola equation. The values for a road with three lanes have been determined, marking lines 1.11 and 1.5 at which the total delay time is minimal. For a highway with a high intensity, minimum bus stop parameters lead to significant increases in delay time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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19 pages, 1520 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Constructing an Environmental Friendly Low-Carbon-Emission Intelligent Transportation System Based on Big Data and Machine Learning Methods

by Tu Peng, Xu Yang, Zi Xu and Yu Liang

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8118; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12198118 - 01 Oct 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3143

Abstract

The sustainable development of mankind is a matter of concern to the whole world. Environmental pollution and haze diffusion have greatly affected the sustainable development of mankind. According to previous research, vehicle exhaust emissions are an important source of environmental pollution and haze diffusion. The sharp increase in the number of cars has also made the supply of energy increasingly tight. In this paper, we have explored the use of intelligent navigation technology based on data analysis to reduce the overall carbon emissions of vehicles on road networks. We have implemented a traffic flow prediction method using a genetic algorithm and particle-swarm-optimization-enhanced support vector regression, constructed a model for predicting vehicle exhaust emissions based on predicted road conditions and vehicle fuel consumption, and built our low-carbon-emission-oriented navigation algorithm based on a spatially optimized dynamic path planning algorithm. The results show that our method could help to significantly reduce the overall carbon emissions of vehicles on the road network, which means that our method could contribute to the construction of low-carbon-emission intelligent transportation systems and smart cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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25 pages, 2718 KiB

Open AccessArticle

User Equilibrium Analysis Considering Travelers’ Context-Dependent Route Choice Behavior on the Risky Traffic Network

by Qinghui Xu and Xiangfeng Ji

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 6706; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12176706 - 19 Aug 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1763

Abstract

This paper studies travelers’ context-dependent route choice behavior in a risky trafficnetwork from a long-term perspective, focusing on the effect of travelers’ salience characteristics. In particular, a flow-dependent salience theory is proposed for this analysis, where the flow denotes the traffic flow on the risky route. In the proposed model, travelers’ attention is drawn to the salient travel utility, and the objective probabilities of the state of the world are replaced by the decision weights distorted in favor of this salient travel utility. A long-run user equilibrium will be achieved when no traveler can improve his or her salient travel utility by unilaterally changing routes, termed salient user equilibrium, which extends the scope of the Wardropian user equilibrium. Furthermore, we prove the existence and uniqueness of this salient user equilibrium. Finally, numerical studies demonstrate our theoretical findings. The equilibrium results show non-intuitive insights into travelers’ route choice behavior. (1) Travelers can be risk-seeking (the travel utility of a risky route is small with a relatively high probability), risk-neutral (in special situations), or risk-averse (the travel utility of a risky route is large with a relatively high probability), which depends on the salient state. (2) The extent of travelers’ risk-seeking or risk-averse behavior depends on their extent of salience bias, while the risk-neutral behavior is irrelative to this salience bias. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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15 pages, 1049 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cruise Ship Safety Management in Asian Regions: Trends and Future Outlook

by Yue Jiao, Maxim A. Dulebenets and Yui-yip Lau

Sustainability 2020, 12(14), 5567; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12145567 - 10 Jul 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5240

Abstract

The sinking of the Titanic has brought cruise ship safety onto the international agenda. However, different shipwrecks have been occurring in the cruise industry with relatively high frequency for more than one century due to human errors. In order to improve cruise ship safety, the International Maritime Organization and the Cruise Lines International Association introduced a set of safety enhancement policies and measurements. However, the expansion of ships and fairly weak safety regulations continue to pose risks of human life loss during cruise ship accidents, particularly in Asian regions. Asian countries have been constantly implementing various safety measures, but serious cruise ship accidents still occur from time to time, even after significant past experiences. Are the cruise ship accidents predominantly the result of human failures and organizational factors? This paper undertakes a detailed historical review of cruise ship accidents since 1972 through an intensive overview of the documents published by the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention and the Maritime Safety Committee. Furthermore, a set of case studies of representative cruise ship accidents are conducted as a part of this study. The outcomes of this study will help cruise shipping companies to better understand the factors influencing cruise ship accident occurrence and to construct appropriate safety policy measures, aiming to prevent cruise ship accidents in Asian regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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15 pages, 941 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Multi-Criteria Structure for Sustainable Implementation of Urban Distribution Centers in Historical Cities

by Nayara Louise de Carvalho, José Geraldo Vidal Vieira, Paula Nakamura da Fonseca and Maxim A. Dulebenets

Sustainability 2020, 12(14), 5538; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12145538 - 09 Jul 2020

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 2746

Abstract

This paper proposes a structure for sustainable implementation of urban distribution centers (UDCs) in historical cities, considering the opinion of the main stakeholders involved in the urban distribution of goods and a set of additional criteria. Based on a survey that was conducted among carriers, traffic wardens, and retailers, a decision hierarchy structure, consisting of the relevant criteria evaluated by various statistical techniques, will be used for sustainable implementation of UDCs. The methodology uses a database collected in the historical center of Ouro Preto, a Brazilian city which contains common characteristics of other Latin American and some European cities that are included in the World Heritage List. This structure is unique, as it is based on a survey among the main stakeholders, and can be applied by logistics operators and local authorities for implementing UDCs to address urban distribution issues, especially in historical cities. However, without loss of generality, the proposed methodology can be adopted for different cities using the appropriate criteria according to the characteristics of the cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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23 pages, 2156 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Analysis of the Effects on Rail Operational Efficiency Due to a Merger between Brazilian Rail Companies: The Case of RUMO-ALL

by Francisco Gildemir Ferreira da Silva, Renata Lúcia Magalhães de Oliveira and Marin Marinov

Sustainability 2020, 12(12), 4827; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12124827 - 12 Jun 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3152

Abstract

Mergers between companies are motivated by synergy effects that can improve profitability. On February 11, 2015, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) approved, the merger between America Latina Logística (ALL), the largest railroad transport company in Brazil and Rumo Logistics (RUMO), an operator with national impact with restrictions, and formed a new entity RUMO-ALL. The approval of this merger suggested that there could be an increase in operational efficiency without compromising the competition. In this work, the operational efficiency of RUMO-ALL is evaluated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models for the return of adequate scale. Statistical tests of structural break are performed in order to understand if there are an ex-post merger effects on the operational efficiency after the expansion of the service. The results indicate that the rail service after the merger is efficient, but with marginal reduction of production with an increase of input, which is expected according to neoclassical economic theory for monopolies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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16 pages, 3113 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Level of Service of Unloading Zones Using Diversity Measures in a Multiplex Network

by Jorge Luiz dos Santos Junior and Leise Kelli de Oliveira

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4330; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12104330 - 25 May 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1971

Abstract

Unloading zones are a fundamental part of the infrastructure of urban freight transport. The location and accessibility of unloading zones to commercial establishments reduce the operating time and, consequently, the transportation costs. In general, unloading zones are located on-street and allocated by local authorities. In this context, this paper aims to evaluate the level of service of unloading zones. The research approach uses the diversity measures in a multiplex network to identify the level of service and cargo accessibility of unloading zones. An analysis is developed for the central area of Belo Horizonte (Brazil). The results indicate that unloading zones located up to 25 m from the establishments have a high accessibility and low level of service. In contrast, unloading zones located up to 100 m from the establishments have a low accessibility and high level of service. These results allow us to conclude that the planning process of the location of unloading zones in Belo Horizonte is flawed. In addition, the maximum distance from unloading zones to establishments must be 75 m, so that there is a balance between the accessibility and level of service. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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27 pages, 3536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comprehensive Assessment of the Existing Accident and Hazard Prediction Models for the Highway-Rail Grade Crossings in the State of Florida

by Junayed Pasha, Maxim A. Dulebenets, Olumide F. Abioye, Masoud Kavoosi, Ren Moses, John Sobanjo and Eren E. Ozguven

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4291; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12104291 - 24 May 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2398

Abstract

Accidents at highway-rail grade crossings can cause fatalities and injuries, as well as significant property damages. In order to prevent accidents, certain upgrades need to be made at highway-rail grade crossings. However, due to limited monetary resources, only the most hazardous highway-rail grade crossings should receive a priority for upgrading. Hence, accident/hazard prediction models are required to identify the most hazardous highway-rail grade crossings for safety improvement projects. This study selects and evaluates the accident and hazard prediction models found in the highway-rail grade crossing safety literature to rank the highway-rail grade crossings in the State of Florida. Three approaches are undertaken to evaluate the candidate accident and hazard prediction models, including the chi-square statistic, grouping of crossings based on the actual accident data, and Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The analysis was conducted for the 589 highway-rail grade crossings located in the State of Florida using the data available through the highway-rail grade crossing inventory database maintained by the Federal Railroad Administration. As a result of the performed analysis, a new hazard prediction model, named as the Florida Priority Index Formula, is recommended to rank/prioritize the highway-rail grade crossings in the State of Florida. The Florida Priority Index Formula provides a more accurate ranking of highway-rail grade crossings as compared to the alternative methods. The Florida Priority Index Formula assesses the potential hazard of a given highway-rail grade crossing based on the average daily traffic volume, average daily train volume, train speed, existing traffic control devices, accident history, and crossing upgrade records. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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18 pages, 2433 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Dynamic Adjustment Model of Cruising Taxicab Fleet Size Combined the Operating and Flied Survey Data

by Xiaofei Ye, Min Li, Zhongzhen Yang, Xingchen Yan and Jun Chen

Sustainability 2020, 12(7), 2776; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12072776 - 01 Apr 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1975

Abstract

Due to the lack of adjustment index systems for taxi fleet sizes in China, this paper used the taxi operating datasets from Ningbo City and established a regression tree model to consider the endogenous indicators that affect taxi fleet sizes. Then, a dynamic adjustment mechanism of taxi fleet sizes was proposed by combining the exogenous and endogenous indicators. The importance of the exogenous and endogenous indicators was sorted using the Delphi method. The threshold value of each indicator was also given. The results indicated that (1) in the three-layer structure of the regression tree model, the mileage utilization had the strongest effect on the fleet size of taxis, and the F statistic was 63.73; followed by the average daily revenue of a single taxi, the average waiting time to catch a single taxi, the average operating time of a single taxi, and the revenue per 100 km. The overall accuracy of the model was found to be valid. (2) When the mileage utilization was less than 0.6179 and the average daily revenue of a single taxi was less than 798.38 Yuan, the fleet size of cruising taxis was surplus and should be reduced by 362 vehicles. (3) When the mileage utilization was more than 0.6774 and the average waiting time to catch a single taxi was more than 259.09 s, the fleet size of cruising taxis was insufficient, and we suggest an increase of 463 taxis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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Review

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19 pages, 830 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Improving Maritime Transport Sustainability Using Blockchain-Based Information Exchange

by Marija Jović, Edvard Tijan, Dražen Žgaljić and Saša Aksentijević

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 8866; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12218866 - 26 Oct 2020

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 7914

Abstract

In this paper, the authors perform a comprehensive literature review of the positive impacts of blockchain-based information exchange in the maritime transport sector, as well as the challenges and barriers for successful blockchain-based information exchange, considering all three aspects of the sustainability (economic, environmental, and social). The papers from relevant databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and selected studies have been used. The literature coverage was expanded by using backward snowball sampling. In total, 20 positive impacts and 20 challenges/barriers were singled out. Despite the identified barriers and challenges (such as the slow acceptance of blockchain technology in the maritime transport sector or the high implementation cost), blockchain technology possesses a definite potential to improve the information exchange between all involved stakeholders (for example, by improving the visibility across transport routes and by reducing the paper-based processes), positively affecting all three aspects of sustainability. The authors contribute to the existing research of the economic aspect of maritime transport sustainability by blockchain-based information exchange by expanding it and by researching the environmental and social aspects of sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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26 pages, 10752 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Study on Recent Developments and Issues with Obstacle Detection Systems for Automated Vehicles

by Xiaoyan Yu and Marin Marinov

Sustainability 2020, 12(8), 3281; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12083281 - 17 Apr 2020

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 9120

Abstract

This paper reviews current developments and discusses some critical issues with obstacle detection systems for automated vehicles. The concept of autonomous driving is the driver towards future mobility. Obstacle detection systems play a crucial role in implementing and deploying autonomous driving on our roads and city streets. The current review looks at technology and existing systems for obstacle detection. Specifically, we look at the performance of LIDAR, RADAR, vision cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and IR and review their capabilities and behaviour in a number of different situations: during daytime, at night, in extreme weather conditions, in urban areas, in the presence of smooths surfaces, in situations where emergency service vehicles need to be detected and recognised, and in situations where potholes need to be observed and measured. It is suggested that combining different technologies for obstacle detection gives a more accurate representation of the driving environment. In particular, when looking at technological solutions for obstacle detection in extreme weather conditions (rain, snow, fog), and in some specific situations in urban areas (shadows, reflections, potholes, insufficient illumination), although already quite advanced, the current developments appear to be not sophisticated enough to guarantee 100% precision and accuracy, hence further valiant effort is needed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methods for Improving Sustainability of Passenger and Freight Transport)

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