Non-conventional transport systems: application fields and feasibility analyses
Overview
Background & policy context:
The research project aims at investigating issues related to non-conventional (or advanced) Public Transport (PT) systems. The kinds of transport systems covered by the theoretical and applicative experimentation of this research refer to systems characterised by: automatic level of technology, not heavy infrastructure, modularity installation with element length of no more than 5-6 kilometers, transport capacities in the range of 1000-4000 passengers per hour.
Subjects potentially interested in installing non-conventional transport systems are committed to carefully evaluate the effects of those kinds of systems through proper 'Feasibility Studies' which constitute the necessary condition for accessing financial support and require authorisations by planning authorities. Potentially interested subjects can be mainly identified in: University Campus, Hospital and Health districts, congress centers, commercial centres, directional districts, tourist locations and other organisations and districts characterised by the spatial distribution of coordinated different activities. Even if in recent years several technological solutions have been proposed for non-conventional transport systems and are now available for practical use, tools and methodologies for the assessment and evaluation of those kind of installations seems to be not consolidated enough.
In particular:
- a systematic classification, from the point of view of functions and performances, rather than of the technological solution, of the available systems is not yet available;
- indications on the fields and contexts of application of these systems have not been outlined;
- some particular aspects related to the simulation of non-conventional systems have not yet been adequately investigated by the Transport Systems Theory.
The research has been co-funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research and has been carried out by four Italian universities, namely the 'Tor Vergata' University of Rome (coordinator), the 'Mediterranea' University of Reggio Calabria, the University of the Calabria, the University of 'Roma Tre'.
Objectives:
The research project intends to take a practical and scientific step basically into two directions:
- on the one hand, it aims at identifying the 'typical' contexts of application of the advanced Public Transportation systems and at classifying from a functional point of view and from the point of view of their performances in relation to such contexts;
- on the other hand, the research aims at investigating and at improving the methodological and scientific tools that are needed to realise 'Feasibility Studies' related to non-conventional advanced public transport systems (in fact, even if technological aspects of non-conventional transport systems have been widely investigated and several technological solutions are now available for practical uses, the development of simulation tools for evaluation of the particular effects of non-conventional transport systems is still an open issue of research).
Methodology:
The main steps followed to pursue the project objectives are:
- literature review of non-conventional transport systems;
- analysis of application potential to non-conventional systems of tools used for the design, simulation and analysis of transportation systems;
- experimental feasibility studies for implementation of non-conventional systems.
Share this page