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This study explores the complex process of transit and land-use integration in rapidly growing cities in developing countries. It first identifies barriers to and opportunities for effective coordination of transit infrastructure and urban development. It then recommends a set of policies and implementation measures for overcoming these barriers and exploiting these opportunities. Well-integrated transit and land development create urban forms and spaces that reduce the need for travel by private motorized vehicles. Areas with good access to public transit and well-designed urban spaces that are walkable and bikeable become highly attractive places for people to live, work, learn, play, and interact. Such environments enhance a city's economic competitiveness, reduce local pollution and global greenhouse gas emissions, and promote inclusive development. These goals are at the heart of transit-oriented development (TOD), an urban form that is increasingly important to sustainable urban futures. This book uses a case study approach. It draws lessons from global best-case examples of transit-oriented metropolises that have direct relevance to cities in developing countries and elsewhere that are currently investing in bus rapid transit (BRT) and other high-capacity transit systems. It also reports the results of two original in-depth case studies of rapidly growing and motorizing cities that introduced extended BRT systems: Ahmedabad, India and Bogota, Colombia. Two shorter case studies enrich the understanding of factors that are critical to transforming cities with transit.

In recent years, well-designed bus rapid transit (BRT) systems have become a real alternative to more expensive rail-based public transportation systems around the world. However, once the BRT system is operational, its success often depends on the routes offered to passengers. Thus, the bus rapid transit route design problem (BRTRDP) is the problem of finding a set of routes and frequencies that minimizes the operational and passenger costs (travel time) while simultaneously satisfying the system’s technical constraints, such as meeting the demands for trips, bus frequencies, and lane capacities. To address this problem, we propose a mathematical formulation of the BRTRDP as a mixed-integer program (MIP) with an underlying network structure. However, because of the vast number of routes, solving the MIP via branch and bound is out of reach for most practical instances. Hence, we propose a decomposition strategy that, given a certain set of routes, decouples the route selection decisions from the BRT system performance evaluation. The latter evaluation is done by solving a linear optimization problem using a column generation scheme. We embedded this decomposition strategy in a hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) and tested it in 14 instances ranging from 5 to 40 stations with different BRT system topologies. The results show that in 8 of 14 problems, the HGA was able to obtain a solution that is provably optimal within 0.20%. Additionally, in 4 of 14 instances, HGA obtained the optimal solution.

The importance of transport corridors for trade and development, including for some of the poorest countries in the world, is widely recognized in this book. A new consensus has also emerged that reducing trade costs and improving access to corridors is not just a matter of building infrastructure. The policies that regulate transport services providers and the movement of goods along corridors are important determinants of the social rate of return on such infrastructure investment. This book avoids optimistic assumptions regarding the prospects for new high-level agreements and decisions to facilitate transit or the possible benefits from increased use of technology. Instead, the authors argue that much can be done through the implementation of readily available existing tools. The use of these tools is often hampered by not only capacity constraints; but, equally if not more important, a lack of commitment. Political economic factors in both the landlocked countries and their transit neighbors must be recognized and addressed. This book offers examples of possible implementation strategies that, while challenging, should in principle help in overcoming these political economic constraints. The main message is that to bring about efficient trade corridors governments and stakeholders should focus on properly implementing the fiscal, regulatory, and procedural principles for international transit that encourage quality-driven logistics services. The various implementation challenges are the primary focus of this book.

Between 2008 and 2015, bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in India increased its implementation from two cities to eight cities with a significant increase in total ridership. This paper attempts to give a detailed review of BRTS implementation in cities of India. This is a systematic effort that could inform readers about the current system and network characteristics of Indian BRTS. Different system and corridor characteristics including off board and on board ticketing systems are adopted in India. Gross cost revenue collection model is adopted by almost all special purpose vehicle (SPV) companies developed to manage BRT systems. A variety of carriageway concept designs for BRTS are implemented in these cities considering a right of way of 22, 24, 30, 32, 40, 45, 60 meters respectively. Out of the eight cities, Ahmedabad has almost 30% of the total fleet size. In terms of regulatory context, SPV companies are formed in almost all eight cities after observing Ahmedabad BRT success. Documentation of these operating systems shall provide a sound database to planners and decision makers actively involved with BRT system implementation in developing countries.

Stray current corrosion in direct current (dc) transit systems occurs because of the mechanism of current transfer between metals and a conductive electrolyte such as concrete, soil and water. Stray current reactions can be considered as a special case in that the anode (point of current discharge) may be at a considerable distance from the cathode (point of current pickup). The risk of stray current corrosion arising from the operation of dc-powered transit system is difficult to eliminate completely. However, suitable design of dc traction power systems and structures carrying the railways can significantly reduce the risk of corrosion both to the transit system structures and third-party structures. Stray currents can cause safety risks, thus making the design of stray current mitigation, testing and maintenance an important element of the holistic design for a dc transit system. based on the results of the literature research, interviews with over two dozen dc rail transit systems, and testing of dc rail tracks, this paper presents and analyses various mitigation methods currently in use in the industry to control stray current corrosion. Recommendations for the testing (monitoring) and maintenance procedures to keep the stray current leakage and the related corrosion in control are then presented.

The construction choice between two different transport systems in urban areas, as in the case of Light-Rail Transit (LRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) solutions, is often performed on the basis of cost-benefit analysis and geometrical constraints due to the available space for the infrastructure. Classical economic analysis techniques are often unable to take into account some of the non-monetary parameters which have a huge impact on the final result of the choice, since they often include social acceptance and sustainability aspects. The application of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques can aid decision makers in the selection process, with the possibility to compare non-homogeneous criteria, both qualitative and quantitative, and allowing the generation of an objective ranking of the different alternatives. The coupling of MCDA and Geographic Information System (GIS) environments also permits an easier and faster analysis of spatial parameters, and a clearer representation of indicator comparisons. Based on these assumptions, a LRT and BRT system will be analysed according to their own transportation, economic, social and environmental impacts as a hypothetical exercise; moreover, through the use of MCDA techniques a global score for both systems will be determined, in order to allow for a fully comprehensive comparison.

In the last two decades new emphasis has been given to the economic impact of geography, especially on the cost of being landlocked. From a development perspective, understanding the cost of being landlocked and its economic impact is critical, since one country of four in the world is landlocked (almost one out of three in Sub-Saharan Africa). Attempts to address the cost of being landlocked have mainly focused on regional and multilateral conventions aiming at ensuring freedom of transit, and on the development of regional transport infrastructure. The success of these measures has been limited, and many massive investments in infrastructure seem to have had a disappointing impact on landlocked economies. Although there may still be an infrastructure gap, this book, based on extensive data collection in several regions of the world, argues that logistics and trade services efficiency can be more important for landlocked countries than investing massively in infrastructure. Logistics have become increasingly complex and critical for firms' competitiveness, and a weakness in this field can badly hurt firms based in landlocked countries. This book proposes a revised approach to tackling the cost of being landlocked and a new analytical framework which uses a microeconomic approach to assess the trade and macroeconomic impacts of logistics. It takes into account recent findings on the importance of logistics chain uncertainty and inventory control in firms' performance. It argues that: (i) exporters and importers in landlocked developing countries face high logistics costs, which are highly detrimental to their competitiveness in world markets, (ii) high logistics costs depend on low logistics reliability and predictability, and (iii) low logistics reliability and predictability result mostly from rent-seeking and governance issues (prone to proliferate in low volume environments).

Central Asia is often associated with the silk route or road, the longest overland trade route connecting China to Europe and one of the oldest in history. Growth opportunities and the future prosperity of the region are highly dependent upon the efficiency of its internal and external supply-chain connections, which is the focus of this report. Supply-chain connectivity depends on the quality of the infrastructure on specific routes. This study explains how supply chain fragmentation remains a serious obstacle to economic development of Central Asia and to Eurasian integration more generally. It provides a comprehensive assessment of the various factors that yet impede supply-chain integration, including weak transport and communications infrastructure, but as important, and perhaps more so, critical weaknesses in policy, institutions, and governance. Based on this assessment this report provides an insightful set of recommendations that, if taken up by the governments of Central Asia and by their key neighbors, will go a long way in promoting the effective integration of Central Asia into an increasingly connected Eurasian continental economy and with that into the global economy.

The selection and prioritization of suitable strategies to address the challenges to the successful operation and implementation of the bus rapid transit (BRT) system is a common problem faced by practitioners and decision-makers. Recent research has widely discussed the issue, but such assessments have remained limited in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania context, where there are mobility difficulties. The present study addresses this research gap and identifies the most critical challenges to BRT implementation and operation, and recommends the most appropriate strategy for overcoming them. Seven strategies are defined. To prioritize these strategies, five criteria are determined. An integrated multi-criteria decision-making model is introduced. Improved Fuzzy Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis based on the Bonferroni operator was used to determine the importance of the criteria. Measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution was applied to assess and rank the strategies. The results indicate that “frequent flooding at the Jangwani bridge bus terminal” and “long waiting time at bus stops” are the most critical challenges while the fourth alternative “strengthening the operation and management” is the appropriate strategy to be implemented for successful operation and implementation of the BRT system. After that, a five-phase sensitivity analysis is performed to observe the robustness of the proposed approach. The results indicate the flexibility and applicability of the proposed approach can address real-life problems. The proposed methodology in this work can be instrumental in assisting mass transit operators with the successful implementation and operation of the BRT system.

Punctuality and energy consumption are two critical performance indicators for urban rail systems to provide cost-efficient and high-quality service. This paper presents a novel energy-efficient optimization method for dynamic scheduling of urban rails with wayside energy storage devices (WESD). Specifically, the delays and net traction energy (i.e. total energy imported from grid) in disruptions are minimized by jointly optimizing multiple trains' arrival/departure time at stations, speed profiles and traction/braking force, so that the direct utilization of a braking train's regenerative energy for other accelerating trains can be improved and the excessive energy to be stored in WESD is reduced. First, a heuristic method is used to obtain a preliminary timetable for the purpose of recovering delays. The priority of the train is then determined according to the departure time of the train, and each iteration only optimizes the operation process of the train with the highest priority until the operation of all trains within the specified time window is optimized. A weighted sum approach is adopted to transform the problem into a single-objective nonlinear optimization model, which is then solved using the EsDEr_NR algorithm. Simulation verification was conducted using the Beijing Yizhuang Line. The results show that this method reduces the net traction energy consumption 51.31% when recovering from delays. Additionally, the capacity requirements of WESD can be reduced by 11.12%.