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The available literature emphasizes that by 2040, electric vehicles may constitute up to 50% of the fleet of all passenger vehicles. This process will be one of the elements of the energy transformation and, at the same time, consistent with the idea of sustainable transport. As part of this research, the actual energy consumption and the range of electric vehicles were determined. This research was carried out using a selected group of electric cars from the most popular segments of passenger cars. The calculations were based on three charging scenarios: a home electrical network, a public alternating current (AC) charging station that allows charging with single-phase alternating current or alternating current, and a public direct current (DC) charging station that allows charging with direct current. The obtained results were compared with the results of cars with internal combustion and diesel engines after driving a 100-kilometer section of the route. In a broader scope, this research addresses the entities responsible for the energy transformation and the electromobility development strategy. In a narrower sense, vehicle users are considering the purchase of this type of vehicle for political, economic and technological reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the impact of people's sentiments toward border crossings on personal vehicle and pedestrian crossings along the US–Mexico border. This study focused on regional factors and employed data derived from Google Trends as a proxy for people's sentiments. Monthly data from the first quarter of 2004 to February 2020 were used. Different regression models were used to address stationarity. After controlling for economic conditions and external events, the primary findings are as follows: first, pedestrian and personal vehicle crossings are sensitive to exchange rate fluctuations. Second, the economic cycle has a slightly higher impact on pedestrians than personal vehicle crossings. Third, an increase in the hostile environment toward immigration in the U.S. may negatively impact pedestrian crossings, especially in Texas. Moreover, a rolling regression was used to examine the impact of people's sentiments on crossings over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the impact of people’s sentiments toward border crossings on personal vehicle and pedestrian crossings along the US–Mexico border. This study focused on regional factors and employed data derived from Google Trends as a proxy for people’s sentiments. Monthly data from the first quarter of 2004 to February 2020 were used. Different regression models were used to address stationarity. After controlling for economic conditions and external events, the primary findings are as follows: first, pedestrian and personal vehicle crossings are sensitive to exchange rate fluctuations. Second, the economic cycle has a slightly higher impact on pedestrians than personal vehicle crossings. Third, an increase in the hostile environment toward immigration in the U.S. may negatively impact pedestrian crossings, especially in Texas. Moreover, a rolling regression was used to examine the impact of people’s sentiments on crossings over time.

Firefighters are exposed to toxicants during fire suppression. Smoke deposits and particle residue from fire suppression accumulate on firefighters' turnout gear, potentially exposing them to carcinogens and related adverse effects such as cancer. Previous studies have found that firefighters in small, rural fire departments tend to store their turnout gear in vehicles, given the broad response areas and limited number of firefighters. However, the scientific literature has little information regarding residual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and asbestiform fibers in vehicles, which present a potential danger for dermal and inhalation exposure. A total of 29 wipe samples were collected from various surfaces in vehicles used to travel to fire sites (n = 10 for fire trucks [FT], n = 19 for personal vehicles [PV]). A polyester fabric wipe (100 cm2) saturated with 70% isopropyl alcohol was applied for each sample. Fifteen different PAHs were quantified using Environmental Protection Agency method 8270D. Eight of the 15 PAHs, which were detected with lower censored data, were considered for further data analysis. These eight were Naphthalene, Naphthalene[1]methyl, Phenanthrene, Anthracene, Fluoranthene, Pyrene, Benz[a]anthracene, and Chrysene. ANOVA of log-transformed concentrations indicated no statistically significant differences between FT and PV (p value > 0.05). However, the level of remaining PAHs in FT was higher than in PV. Using the administered survey, the results of a regression model showed that PAH levels in the vehicles were significantly influenced by container usage (p values < 0.05). Our analyses demonstrated the importance of safe work practices when turnout gear is stored in a vehicle. The knowledge gained through this study will provide firefighters in small, rural fire departments with information critical for implementing needed guidelines on turnout gear storage practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding congestion in space-time domain using performance measures is essential prior to suggesting improvement schemes to reduce congestion. With technological advances like Global Positioning System (GPS), many metropolitan planning organizations give more emphasis on travel time based performance measures to quantify congestion, than on traditional way of using volume-to-capacity (V/C) ratios. In India, often it may not be possible to use personal vehicles as probes for travel time data collection. However, the public transit buses fitted with GPS devices could be used as cheap and effective probes to estimate the congestion status of other types of vehicles in the stream. The present study is an attempt in this direction. Two bus transit routes in Chennai, India were considered as case studies in order to cover the wide range of geometric and traffic conditions on urban arterials. GPS-fitted buses on these routes were used as probes in congestion quantification. As the dwell time at bus stops is a unique characteristic of transit buses when compared to other vehicles in the stream, a methodology has been proposed to find the dwell times including acceleration and deceleration times based on the approaching and departing speeds at bus stops. Regression models were then developed to predict the Congestion Index (CI) for various types of vehicles using bus CI, weighted carriageway width and the presence or absence of signalized intersection as independent variables. The results are promising and could be considered for real-time display of congestion levels for Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chaotic, unreliable and uncoordinated public transport (PT) system in Lagos and other states in Nigeria has made ownership of personal vehicles attractive to a growing number of people. This has resulted in many motorists preferring to make trips in a personal, rather than in a public mode. Unfortunately, heavy dependence on a private mode of transportation imposes externalities (adverse effects) on the people and the environment. This paper investigated whether motorists' decision to ride on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is related to their quest to reduce these adverse effects in Lagos metropolis. We collected data through questionnaire and observation. Data were obtained from a valid sample of 926 drivers-turned riders along the new Ikorodu-CMS corridors. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Observation was used to collect data that either could not be collected by survey or could be biased by it. The survey results showed that ridership of BRT by motorists in the Lagos metropolis can be predicted by their desire to reduce transport externalities such as traffic congestion, gasoline consumption, emissions and health hazards. The most profound of the observation results is the significant reduction in traffic congestion observed along Mile 12-Ikorodu road, hitherto notorious for severe traffic congestion. It was concluded that as more motorists become more environmentally responsible, they will choose to ride in BRT in the metropolis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interventions that promote pro-environmental behaviours are increasingly necessary in reducing use of high-emissions goods and services to meet international climate change targets. Here we assess the greenhouse gas emissions reductions associated with behavioural interventions in three high-emitting domains (personal vehicle use, meat consumption, and household energy use) based on an analysis of the peer-reviewed literature. We examined 40 studies from 1991–2018 involving 886 576 subjects. We found that some of the most robust interventions shown to reduce emissions were financial incentives for personal vehicles, defaults for reduced meat consumption, and feedback for home energy use. We estimate mean annual reductions of 571 kgCO _2 e per vehicle driver for reduced vehicle use, 51 kgCO _2 e per individual for reduced meat consumption, and 149 kgCO _2 e per household for reduced energy use. Despite substantial attention to behavioural interventions in the literature, we find that few studies are suitable for quantifying emissions reductions ( N = 6 for diet, N = 5 for personal vehicles) and few ( N = 3) are conducted outside OECD countries. Due to this imbalance in the literature, we focus our findings on western economies. We find substantial variation in the emission reductions achieved with different interventions within each domain; interventions in diet ranged from reductions of 231 kgCO _2 e to increases of 116 kgCO _2 e per person per year (both statistically significant). Further, emissions reductions are sensitive to external factors, such as the emissions intensity of the electrical grid, which may change over time. Key gaps in the literature include a lack of studies conducted using randomized controlled trials or follow-ups, and in high-impact areas for emissions reductions including air travel. We highlight promising areas of intervention, such as habit changes to promote mode shifts in personal transportation, which would benefit from an analysis of greenhouse gas emissions reductions in future research.

The accurate estimation of travel time of different types of vehicles in a traffic stream has always been of interest in various stages of planning, design, operations and evaluation of transportation systems. The traditional way of travel time data collection by means of active test vehicles or license plate matching techniques has its own limitations in terms of cost, manpower, geographic coverage, sample size and accuracy. With the growing need for real-time travel time data, the passive probe vehicles with onboard global positioning systems (GPS) are increasingly being used. However, due to privacy issues and participation requirements, the public transit vehicles are the only ones which can be equipped with GPS devices and this could possibly be used as a source to estimate the travel time of other types of vehicles. The present study is an attempt in this direction. Two approaches have been proposed: one based on the ratio of the section travel times of personal vehicles to public transit and the other based on the quantifiable relationship between the public transit and personal vehicles section travel times. The results showed that the approach-2 which is based on the relationship between the bus travel time and other vehicles travel time outperforms the approach-1, with 98% of the times the deviation of estimated travel time of personal vehicle with respect to observed/actual travel time being less than ±5 min and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) within the acceptable range of 10-15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the northbound crossings of personal vehicles from Mexico to the U.S. A monthly dataset, from January 1997 to September 2018, is implemented for panel data methods with heterogeneous slopes. Controlling for national economic conditions, local labor markets, and dummy variables, the major results are as follows. First, when the peso depreciates against the U.S. dollar, Mexicans' purchasing power declines, and they travel less for shopping and leisure. Second, economic fundamentals are robust: border crossings increase not only when the Mexican economy grows faster than the U.S., but also when unemployment in major U.S. urban areas declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]