Transportation Commons^™

Aircraft Leasing With Contracts, Qiong Zuo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We study a problem of rental rate pricing and rental contract designing in aircraft leasing industry. In a framework of Stackelberg game, the system is composed of an airline company (carrier) and an aircraft leasing company (lessor). Acting as the leader, the lessor announces daily rental rates and/or provides long-term contracts on a finite horizon with multiple periods. For each period, the carrier determines the aircraft leasing number to adjust the flight capacity, and applies a dynamic pricing policy for air-tickets based on a seasonally stochastic demand and some economic factor, such as oil price. We find the optimal policies …

Procure Financing For Shipping By Auctions, Kekun Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We study a risk management problem in the scenario of ship procurement. A shipping firm faces a certain financing pressure for the procurement of a new ship. On the other hand, the capacity of the ship excesses the demand requirement of the firm. The firm wants to reduce the payment and control the risk by selling a percentage of capacity to another shipping company. We introduce an auction mechanism for the firm to select the partner and determine the sharing percentage. Acting as the auctioneer, the firm announces a certain percentage of capacity to a set of buyers. The payment …

Rural Transit In Oregon: Current And Future Needs, Jennifer Dill, Margaret B. Neal

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of the research reported was to identify the current status and needs for general public transportation in Oregon’s rural areas, as well as opportunities and barriers (e.g., funding, governance issues, and leadership) to expanding services over a 20 year period. Oregon is a largely rural state. This lack of density poses problems for the provision of public transit, whether through fixed route or demand response service. People living in the rural areas and who lack cars and access to public transportation are at a strong disadvantage. With no access to these transit resources, they may be limited to …

A Brief Portrait Of Multimodal Transportation Planning In Oregon And The Path To Achieving It, 1890-1974, Carl Abbott, Sam Lowry

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This project was designed to outline transportation chapters of a planned written history of Oregon land use planning, written in ways that would make the transportation planning profession relevant to a popular audience. The writing would focus on stories from the profession, and on historical facts and events in Oregon transportation planning history that would surprise or enlighten popular reading audiences. Technology transfer would occur through publication of one or more written pieces of work.

The result is a topical and historical tale entitled "A Brief Portrait of Multimodal Transportation Planning in Oregon and the Path to Achieving It, 1890-1974." …

Connecting Students And The Community, Lynn Weigand

TREC Project Briefs

Nationwide, few university courses focus specifically on planning and design for pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Before this project, Portland State University had only one three-credit course on the subject, which did not provide adequate time to cover all aspects of bicycle and pedestrian transportation planning, policy, design and practice. Although the course provided a useful introduction to the topic and received excellent student reviews, faculty members saw a need to expand the curriculum to provide an opportunity for practical application of the theory and practice and increase the course’s academic rigor.

This project broadened the course offerings on bicycle and …

Pushing Pedalers: What Drives Bicycling?, Jennifer Dill, John Gliebe

TREC Project Briefs

Using a bicycle instead of a motor vehicle for a portion of regular travel could increase people’s physical activity and help improve the nation’s health. Over 60% of personal trips are five miles or less – a reasonable distance to ride a bike – and nearly 40% are two miles or less. Yet current rates of bicycling for transportation are very low, despite the popularity of recreational cycling. Given the potential of bicycling as a means of everyday travel, why aren’t more people cycling? Very little information has been available on the relationship between different types of infrastructure, such as …

Implementation And Development Of Vehicle Tracking And Immobilization Technologies, Brian Michael Jenkins, Bruce Robert Butterworth, Frances Edwards

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Since the mid-1980s, limited use has been made of vehicle tracking using satellite communications to mitigate the security and safety risks created by the highway transportation of certain types of hazardous materials. However, vehicle-tracking technology applied to safety and security is increasingly being researched and piloted, and it has been the subject of several government reports and legislative mandates.

At the same time, the motor carrier industry has been investing in and implementing vehicle tracking, for a number of reasons, particularly the increase in efficiency achieved through better management of both personnel (drivers) and assets (trucks or, as they are …

Potential Terrorist Uses Of Highway-Borne Hazardous Materials, Mti Report 09-03, Brian M. Jenkins, Bruce Robert Butterworth, William T. Poe, Douglas Reeves

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has requested that the Mineta Transportation Institutes National Transportation Security Center of Excellence (MTI NTSCOE) provide any research it has or insights it can provide on the security risks created by the highway transportation of hazardous materials. This request was submitted to MTI/NSTC as a National Transportation Security Center of Excellence. In response, MTI/NTSC reviewed and revised research performed in 2007 and 2008 and assembled a small team of terrorism and emergency-response experts, led by Center Director Brian Michael Jenkins, to report on the risks of terrorists using highway shipments of flammable liquids (e.g., …

Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

Bringing World-Class High-Speed Rail To America: Special General Session, 12th Annual Transportation And Infrastructure Summit, Mti S-09-04, Mti

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

The 12th Annual Transportation & Infrastructure Summit, held in Irving, Texas on August 11?14, 2009, provided more than 1,100 attendees from 30 states and 13 countries the opportunity to network and interact with elected representatives and influential transportation officials from the United States, and to learn about transportation systems on a global scale. The special session, "Bringing World-Class High-Speed Rail to America," featured representatives from three proposed regional high-speed rail projects currently planned for the United States. Majority Whip of the California State Assembly Fiona Ma shared information about California´s High-Speed Rail Initiative. Assemblywoman Ma talked about her experience on …

Modeling Decision Making Related To Incident Delays During Hurricane Evacuations, Robert Michael Robinson

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Successful evacuations from metropolitan areas require optimizing the transportation network, monitoring conditions, and adapting to changes. Evacuation plans seek to maximize the city's ability to evacuate traffic to flee the endangered region, but once an evacuation begins, real time events degrade even the best plans.

To better understand behavioral responses made during a hurricane evacuation, a survey of potential evacuees obtained data on demographics, driving characteristics, and the traffic information considered prior to and during an evacuation. Analysis showed significant levels of correlation between demographic factors (e.g., gender, age, social class, etc.) and self-assessed driver characteristics, but limited correlation with …

Understanding School Travel: How Residential Location Choice And The Built Environment Affect Trips To School, Yizhao Yang, Marc Schlossberg, Robert Parker, Bethany Johnson

TREC Final Reports

This project investigates issues related to parents’ decisions about children’s school transportation. This has become an important area of research due to the growing concerns that increased reliance on private automobile in school travel has led to adverse health impacts on children and negative impacts on environment. This study examines school transportation in the context of where families live and how families make decisions about school travel in the process of choosing their residence.

Using a middle-sized school district in Oregon State, we conducted a 5500-household survey and a number of interviews and focus groups. The study shows that parents …

A Behavioral Observation Study Of Turkish Drivers’ And Children's Safety Belt Use, Bryan E. Porter, Timo Lajunen, Türker Özkan, Kelli England Will

Psychology Faculty Publications

Researchers focused on child restraint use in vehicles travelling along Turkish roadways. Field observations occurred at 1.5 - 2 hour intervals during daylight hours between 1130 and 1930 in January 2009. Overall, 1,423 vehicles with children 8 years old and younger were observed completely. Drivers’ belt use was 52.1%. Children's use rate (over all age categories and restraint systems) was even lower at 29.4%. Unfortunately, 29.4% of these vehicles also had a child riding on another occupant's lap. The findings supported researchers’ concerns that children are at risk for traffic crash injuries and fatalities in Turkey, and that occupant protection …

Green Ships: Keeping Oceans Blue, Petros J. Katsioloudis

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The article discusses the contribution by the marine transport sector to air and water pollution. According to a congressional research report, cruise ships produce large volume of wastes like sewage, wastewater from sinks, showers, and galleys, hazardous wastes, solid wastes, oily bilge water, ballas water and polluted air. Ship manufacturers are advised to create Green Ships that prevent pollution while governments are urged to strengthen the laws that prohibit dumping of waste to oceans to alleviate pollution.

A Case Study Of Enterprise Historic Resources Information Management In Large Transportation Agencies, Mti Report 09-06, Eric E. Ingbar

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Historic resources are in some way managed by every transportation agency in the nation. Transportation agencies manage historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, buildings, structures, objects, routes, landscapes, and districts to prevent damage to such resources and to mitigate damage when it is unavoidable. In order to track known resources, transportation agencies often keep local files in a variety of forms, rely upon external sources of information (e.g., historic preservation agencies at the state level), and depend upon staff expertise gained by years of local work. Starting in 1997, Caltrans started a series of surveys of rural rights of way in …

Route Change Decision Making By Hurricane Evacuees Facing Congestion, R. Michael Robinson, Asad Khattak

VMASC Publications

Successful evacuations of metropolitan areas require overcoming unexpected congestion that reduces traffic flows. Congestion may result from accidents, incidents, or other events that reduce road capacity. Traffic professionals and emergency managers may promote deviations from planned routes to bypass an area of congestion and speed mass exit. However, some route changes may actually reduce traffic flow rates, and in these cases decision makers may want to discourage use of alternate routes. By using results of a behavioral survey of potential hurricane evacuees, this study identifies variables associated with the decision to alter routes and also identifies frequently used information sources. …

The Context Matters: Maritime Safety In The Vessel Traffic Service (Vts) Domain, Gesa Praetorius, Margareta Lützhöft, Karl Bruno

Gesa Praetorius

Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) is a service to the maritime community implemented to promote and improve maritime safety. In recent years VTS has become a topic of increased interest for maritime stakeholders and the general public. To derive insights on how maritime safety is constructed in the VTS domain this exploratory study was conducted. Four VTS centres were visited and 15 VTS operators were interviewed and observed at work. Further a focus group interview with 8 VTS operators with focus on decision support tools in the VTS domain was conducted. The results of the study indicate that VTS operators define …

The Case For The Development Of Public Transit In An Urban Boundary Rural Area, Sarmistha Majumdar

Sarmistha R Majumdar

Individuals’ preferences for automobiles are often taken for granted in our auto centric society. This study attempts to determine if commuters in a city located beyond the fringe of a metropolitan area are willing to use public transit if it is developed and what are the socioeconomic and attitudinal factors that influence individuals’ decision to use such a service. Analyses of survey data reveal that preferences exist for public transit service, which can be partly attributed to individuals’ concerns regarding rising gasoline prices and air pollution, and is particularly noticeable among those who are educated and/or belong to a younger …

Enacting Reliability: First Steps To Define Safety In The Vts Domain, Gesa Praetorius, Karl Bruno, Margareta Lützhöft

Gesa Praetorius

Although the term maritime safety is widely used in the maritime industry, there is no exact definition of what it entails. An explorative study of the VTS domain has been conducted to approach the concept of maritime safety. Four VTS centres were visited and 16 VTS operators were interviewed and observed to derive insights in how maritime safety is constructed from the perspective of an operator. Further, definitions of maritime safety by central actors in the maritime domain have been investigated through a literature study and several interviews. The results indicate that there is no common definition of the term …

Erau Aviation Wildlife Hazard Newsletter, Paul F. Eschenfelder

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.