Classical and fractal analysis of vehicle demand on the ferry-boat system

Abstract: Transportation problems are important complex systems because of the increased number of vehicles in cities. In this paper, we study time series of vehicle demand by using the ferry-boat system between Salvador city and Itaparica island, in Bahia, Brazil. We compare the traditional demand analysis (ARIMA method) with the self-affine ones (the scaling exponent and the density of crossing points ). In addition, taking into account the inherent self-affine behavior we study the stationary states of this dynamic process by using a nonlinear Fokker–Planck equation. The present findings indicate that the scaling exponent describes some properties of flux of vehicles using the ferry-boat system. The behavior of gives an alternative explanation about demand analysis, and the nonlinear Fokker–Planck equation presents a solution close to the stationary behavior of this complex dynamical analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]