Title:Hybrid transit systems design: effects of ride-sharing services
Presenter: Sida Luo
Time:2018.12.13 10:30-12:00 am
Location:A716
Abstract：Urban transit systems are pivotal to sustainable city growth. This talk focuses on a so-calledhybrid transit systemthat marries the benefit of traditional fixed-route transit with ride-sharing services provided by transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Didichuxing. An integrated design of the two mobility services over road networks could help resolve the first- and last- mile problem, improving the quality of service. The speaker will specifically present two topics. First and foremost, hybrid transit systems design under spatial demand and supply heterogeneity is considered. It would be interesting to know how the heterogeneity affects the design parameters. Second, underlying effects of ride sharing are examined through exploring the system physics. This is achieved by making comparisons among several ground transit systems, exploring how system cost components are affected by trip demand level, city size, etc. Ride-sharing services which are found to affect the economies of scale make the system cost scale worse with the demand level. Although incorporating ride-sharing services will increase transit agency cost, it leads to a significant reduction in the user cost.
About the presenter:Earning a Bachelor of Engineering in School of Transportation, Southeast University, Sida Luo (罗斯达) is now a PhD candidate, under the supervision of Professor Yu (Marco) Nie, in Transportation Center and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University. His research area includes transit design, mobility as a service and unconventional intersection design. He received Northwestern University Walter P. Murphy Fellowship in 2015, Baogang Scholarship (3 out of 16000) in 2014, Mao Yisheng Railway Education Student Scholarship (4 out of 16000) in 2013, etc. Applying research outcomes in real-world transportation systems to relieve traffic problems (e.g. congestion) has always been his main pursuit, as a traffic engineer and researcher.
