Browsing by Author "Basnak Klajn, Paul Alexander"

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    Assessing free-fare public transport in Chilean cities through optimization models
    (2023) Basnak Klajn, Paul Alexander; Giesen Encina, Ricardo; CEDEUS (Chile)
    Many public transport services receive operating subsidies from national, regional, or local Governments, part of which are directed to reducing fares. In recent years, different cities, most of them located in Europe, have advanced in the provision of free-fare public transport, which could help reduce car use and thus limit negative externalities related to its use. Using cost minimization models with variable mode share, in a circular structure with radial lines, optimal fares for bus services were estimated for 33 small and medium-sized cities in Chile. Through a linear regression model, we determined that the optimal fares decrease for cities with higher population, lower average income, a higher proportion of students, and with a CBD surrounded by natural boundaries such as seacoast. Based on the model's results, together with feasibility criteria that included competition of buses with other transportation modes, the regulation of existing systems and the quality of available data, recommendations are provided to select the best cities for a test of free-fare public transport in Chile. The methodology is applicable to cities in other countries, and future research may incorporate the effect of the valuation of crowding by users, as well as the generation of additional trips due to a drop in bus fares.
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    Criterios para planificar transporte masivo en ciudades intermedias de Colombia: ¿Cómo complementar y mejorar la política actual?
    (2021) Basnak Klajn, Paul Alexander; Giesen-Encina, Ricardo; Munoz Abogabir, Juan Carlos
    En este artículo se proponen, sobre la base de un análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo dos enfoques para recomendar la planificación de transporte masivo. A diferencia del documento 3167 del Consejo Nacional de Política Económica y Social (CONPES) que recomendó impulsar la planificación y construcción de sistemas de transporte masivo en ciudades de Colombia exclusivamente en base a la población, los dos enfoques propuestos incorporan variables adicionales que son determinantes de un mayor uso de transporte público. El primero es una combinación lineal de características sociodemográficas de las ciudades, que considera otras variables relevantes como Producto Interno Bruto (PIB), forma urbana y motorización, denominado “puntaje urbano”. El segundo se basa en la demanda existente en los sistemas de transporte público, ponderada por la densidad de viajes y la distancia recorrida, llamado “densidad potencial de demanda”. Si bien la evidencia estadística es escasa, ambos indicadores predicen de mejor manera la demanda en corredores existentes.
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    Determination of efficient frontiers for urban public transport system configurations
    (2023) Basnak Klajn, Paul Alexander; Giesen Encina, Ricardo; Muñoz Abogabir, Juan Carlos; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Escuela de Ingeniería
    One of the fundamental aspects when planning an urban public transport system is to define which modes provide the greatest benefit both for the city residents and for the system operators. Two relevant questions arise from this: What characteristics of cities and their people are relevant to define these modes? What are the efficiency frontiers – that is, the minimum and maximum values of these relevant characteristics – for the different modal configurations that an urban public transport system should have? The available literature addresses these questions through recommendations based on existing systems and mathematical optimization models. However, recommendations based on existing systems are often limited to simple criteria based on the population of cities an the income of their residents, which ignores the relevance of other factors explaining public transport trips in lines or networks. For their part, optimization models have been widely used to define the ideal fundamental characteristics that a given transport service or network should have, such as frequency, density of lines and distance between stops, but they usually lack in linking the real characteristics of cities with the transport technologies that allow minimizing total costs. In addition, there are no known systematic efforts to link both mentioned approaches, considering the behaviour of people in their mode choice. The general objective of this research is to develop classification and optimization models to recommend which public transport modes a city should have according to their basic characteristics. Moreover, the proposed models are applied in simple representations of cities with low-capacity modes and in transit lines with high-capacity modes. Based on this general aim, the main objectives are the following: a) Estimate aggregate classification models at the city level to determine which geographic and socioeconomic factors of cities and their residents define the existing modal supply in their public transport systems. b) Provide recommendations about the set of modes to be used in cities below 200,000 inhabitants, by applying social cost minimization models in simplified representations of such cities. c) Propose improved demand thresholds that set the recommendation between high-capacity modes (bus, Bus Rapid Transit [BRT], Metro) through optimization models in transit lines. To achieve this objective, a stated preference study was first performed, which allowed for improving the perception of the penalty for crowding in public transport vehicles. Once these valuations were obtained, cost minimization models were applied in corridors to update the demand thresholds to allow a better selection of the most efficient technology. In conclusion, we identified common determinants of higher capacity transit modes in cities, both for the existing and recommended systems, such as a higher population, income, and linear form. From the onset of COVID-19, users were found to penalize traveling in crowded transit vehicles with non-linear functions increasing with density of passengers in the vehicle and the proportion of users not wearing facemasks. When applying these valuations to line optimization models, the minimum demand that justifies building a BRT over a standard bus line is reduced when facemask use compliance is lower, and directionality of demand is less significant than if pre-pandemic values were used.
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    Estimation of crowding factors for public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic in Santiago, Chile
    (2022) Basnak Klajn, Paul Alexander; Giesen Encina, Ricardo; Muñoz Abogabir, Juan Carlos; CEDEUS (Chile)
    A sharp decrease in public transport demand has been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. In this context, it is relevant to understand how mode preferences have changed since the surge of COVID-19.& nbsp;In order to better understand how the pandemic changed mode choice, particularly regarding the impact of crowding and face mask use in public transport, we conducted a stated preference on-line and on-street survey in Santiago, Chile. Our sample is balanced in gender but has a higher proportion of individuals with college degrees and those under 45 years of age than the population of Santiago.& nbsp;The data collected was then used to estimate two multinomial mode choice models, a latent class model and a mixed logit model with latent variables.& nbsp;The models yielded a value of travel time in crowded conditions (4 pax/m2) and low face mask use (50%) of 3.0-5.1 times higher than the case with low crowding (0.5 pax/m2) and 100% face mask use. Moreover, women tend to be more sensitive than men to the use of face masks in public transport. Besides, young and low-income people are relatively less sensitive to crowding.& nbsp;The crowding penalization obtained is higher than in pre-pandemic models calibrated for Santiago for similar passenger densities. Also, as we expected, it grows non-linearly with passenger density. Disinfection of vehicles, as well as the perception of health risk, cleanliness, safety and comfort, were also relevant in explaining mode choice. Further research shall discuss how the change of mode preferences together with new demand patterns influence the operational design of public transport services.
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    Technology choices in public transport planning : A classification framework
    (2020) Basnak Klajn, Paul Alexander; Giesen Encina, Ricardo; Muñoz Abogabir, Juan Carlos; CEDEUS (Chile)