A GIS-Based Methodology for Evaluating the Increase in Multimodal Transport between Bicycle and Rail Transport Systems. A Case Study in Palermo

Abstract

Background: In a world where every municipality is pursuing the goals of more sustainable mobility, bicycles play a fundamental role in getting rid of private cars and travelling by an eco-friendly mode of transport. Additionally, private and shared bikes can be used as a feeder transit system, solving the problem of the first- and last-mile trips. Thanks to GIS (Geographic Information System) software, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of such a sustainable means of transport in future users’ modal choice. Methods: Running an accessibility analysis of cycling and rail transport services, the potential mobility demand attracted by these services and the possible multimodality between bicycle and rail transport systems can be assessed. Moreover, thanks to a modal choice model calibrated for high school students, it could be verified if students will be really motivated to adopt this solution for their home-to-school trips. Results: The GIS-based analysis showed that almost half of the active population in the study area might potentially abandon the use of their private car in favour of a bike and its combination with public transport systems; furthermore, the percentage of the students of one high school of Palermo, the Einstein High School, sharply increases from 1.5% up to 10.1%, thanks also to the combination with the rail transport service. Conclusions: The GIS-based methodology shows that multimodal transport can be an effective way to pursue a more sustainable mobility in cities and efficiently connect suburbs with low-frequent public transport services to the main public transport nodes.

A Hybrid AHP Approach and GIS-Based Methods as Fundamental Tools in the SECAP’s Decision-Making Process

“…Even the creation of new cycle paths can be supported by GIS technology. The method described in [27,28] can be used to decide where to construct new cycle paths.…”

An Overview of Current Challenges and Emerging Technologies to Facilitate Increased Energy Efficiency, Safety, and Sustainability of Railway Transport

“…Dynamic programming (DP) was used in [167] to obtain an optimal combination of transport modes for a cargo container multimodal transport problem using rail, road, and waterborne transport and was subject to overall transport cost and duration. Since cargo transport routing is subject to optimisation in these kinds of applications, integer-valued states for routing description and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) optimisation algorithms can also be used for that purpose [180].Geographic information system (GIS) software programs or stochastic programming [171] can be used to optimise the efficiency of multimodal transport, especially when considering passenger transport and ticket costs [181]. The optimisation of autonomous vehicles' traffic for multimodal transport is a relatively recent field of research [182], so experts from other areas such as mechatronics are often required [152] to carry out the analysis with sufficient levels of accuracy (see, e.g., [36]).…”

GIS-Based Geospatial Data Analysis: the Security of Cycle Paths in Modena

“…In the field of sustainable mobility, and particularly for bicycle transport infrastructure, the use of GIS is consolidated. In [9], the advantage of inserting new cycle paths in the urban environment is analyzed considering the combination with rail transport in the generation of new multi-modal routes that will substitute private cars. Moreover, [10] presents a routing methodology based on leisure and safety-related criteria employing the ArcGIS software.…”

“…In 7, we can observe the graph model derived from a real map and the schema of the graph database. The model can be automatically generated through the Python-based open-source code available in our repository 9 . This model enables the generation of optimal paths based on different approaches: (e.g, the security level, the number of crossings, and the length).…”