Overview
Spatial connections are the most important bottlenecks for interchange between residential areas. While increasing, agglomerations rely on powerful development of their entire transportation system.
To conduct the agglomeration programmes certain instruments are needed to evaluate reasonable application areas of means of transport. The product of the project is a guideline which is of high relevance for the application of means of transport. The guideline serves to engineers and planers but also politicians and administration as a tool containing indicators, classifications, application criteria and - characteristics, marginal values and success factors which can be used directly in discussions and planning.
In the field of transport politics the appropriate use of means of transportation is a "deep-seated principle". This principle is important especially in developing transport solutions for the agglomeration programmes. The project aims at concretising the application area of different means of transportation as well as building the background for optimal use of financial resources. Furthermore, the principle of "appropriate use of means of transportation" is explained from different points of view.
The main used methods in this project include literature review, theoretical studies, field surveys, and expert interviews.
The research plan includes 3 physical milestones, their contents and findings are documented in early chapters of the final report and discussed separatelly at a meeting with the project Commission.
The milestones are the following:
1. Analysis, traffic engineering, and policy planning basics (machining months 1-8)
2. Field investigations (machining months 9-14)
3. Synthesis (machining months 15-19)
The compilation of the final results, the draft report and a final meeting with the accompanying Commission (machining months 20-24) conclude the research project (4th milestone).
Funding
Results
Urban rail systems can be sensibly deployed only the largest agglomerations as only there, high density areas of a size large enough to require high capacity internal transport can be found. Commuter rail systems are applicable in a wider range of situations, where an agglomeration is an attraction center important enough to support a rail hub and has a surrounding area of moderate density. The further modes of transportation are more variably scalable and can thus be applied in wider variety of lower volume transport cases.
Fields for further research
During the course of this work, a number of issues has been identified where further research is warranted. This includes economic consideration of measures. Furthermore, research on planning und use of transportation mode, namely access distances of transit stops, influences of supporting measures such as parking policy and the use and function of small agglomeration pedestrian areas can add many insights. In the field of transit operations, further studies of the impact of irregularities on operations are promising. Furthermore, safety and security issues in transit should be studied. Collision incidents deserve special attention, as does vandalism and its effects.
Publication:
Ulrich Weidmann: Einsatzbereiche verschiedener Verkehrsmittel in Agglomerationen: Forschungsauftrag SVI 2004/039 auf Antrag der Schweizerischen Vereinigung der Verkehrsingenieure und Verkehrsexperten (SVI); Eidgenössisches Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation, Bundesamt für Strassen – Vol. 1345, Schweiz Bundesamt für Strassen