Śliwińska, Agnieszka (2016)
Analysis of cyclists’ behaviour in Tokyo Metropolis.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Masterarbeit, Bibliographie
Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract)
Tokyo distinguishes itself among other big cities with very big bicycle mode share. However, the comparison of Tokyo to other big cities around the world in terms of bicycle infrastructure suggests, that Tokyo’s bicycle facilities are less developed than one would expect. A big share of cycling in all traffic is often seen as very advantageous to society considering many aspects, such as environmental, health or congestion-wise to name a few. In case of Japan, there is an extra reason to see cycling as favourable – it can save one’s life in an emergency situation related to an earthquake. Bigger earthquakes often render trains non-operational, damage the car infrastructure and cause huge congestion problems, but affect the bicycle transportation to a much lesser extent. Making cycling easier, more comfortable and popular has been an important objective of politicians in the recent years in Tokyo. They commit to providing more bicycle infrastructure, possibly in a quick and low-budget way. As a result, in a lot of cases the applied solutions have been somewhat erroneous in the recent years. This study attempts to identify what types of bicycle infrastructure can be advantageous to cyclists and other road users in given circumstances. Moreover, it can be clearly seen that the cyclists of Tokyo often behave differently than cyclists of, for example, European countries. Much more of them ride on sidewalks, what is still legally allowed. Although serious accidents on sidewalks are rare, riding on sidewalks has negative impact on the comfort of both cyclists and pedestrians, especially in situations when pedestrian density is high, which is often the case in Tokyo. As a first step to identify the appropriate solutions, the current situation has to be examined. To obtain the data for the analysis, observations of the bicycle traffic had been carried out in several points in Tokyo. Each of the observation sites has different physical features, is located in a district with different characteristics, and is utilised by different groups of cyclists. The author made sure to select most characteristic examples of different designs of Tokyo’s bicycle spaces, among them not only bicycle paths, but also sections which are not equipped in bicycle infrastructure yet. In total, observations in 8 places in three times of the day, morning, noon and evening, have been conducted. The length of the observation period was one hour, which amounted to observing from 52 to 275 cyclists in the time. The most important bit of the observation is the cyclist’s choice to ride on the sidewalk, the bicycle path or the roadside. Additionally, the direction of cyclist’s ride - with or against the traffic flow - is important to notice. These two observations alone can already produce interesting conclusions: what is the proportion of cyclists that use each facility, what are the differences between the types of facilities, what are the differences between different daytimes or what is the number of cyclists moving in each direction. The rest of observed parameters are divided into two groups: characteristics of cyclists and characteristics of prevailing traffic conditions. The characteristics of cyclists include the sex of the cyclists, age category: child, adult or elderly, and some special features which can allow to guess the purpose of the ride, such as: riding with a child, bicycle equipped in a child seat, carrying a big baggage, wearing formal clothes, sport outfit or school uniform. The observations regarding traffic conditions concern mainly the intensity of pedestrians or car traffic and the number of cars parked on the side. After the analysis of the video data and preparation of databases, statistical analysis of obtained results could be conducted. The results have been presented separately for each observation site. For each observation site, a summary of the data considering cyclists characteristics is presented in a table. The statistics are interpreted and commented on. In the next part, riding choices for each of previously presented cyclist groups are shown, interpreted and commented. Lastly, the changes of traffic situation throughout the day are presented, together with related changes in cyclists’ behaviour. The results enable important insights and allow posing plausible hypotheses about the influence of the considered factors on the cyclists’ choices. Some of the produced insights are: - The behavioural patterns of male and female cyclists are different. Notably, women have much higher tendency to ride on the sidewalk; - Most vulnerable bicycle users, like elderly or children, almost always stay on the sidewalk; - The number of cyclists on the sidewalk can vary a lot, depending on the type of facilities present and the time of observation. However, there seems to be no circumstance in which cyclists refrain from from using the sidewalk completely; - Cyclists wearing a sport outfit consistently choose to ride on the roadside; - Some types of bicycle facilities are used to much higher extent than others; - On-road parking and congestion seem to be the main factors that discourage the cyclists from using the roadside; - Increased density of pedestrians does not affect the number of cyclists on the sidewalk to a great extent; - Making it easy to change between the roadside, bicycle path and sidewalk is important to enable cyclists to get directly to their destination without using the sidewalk;
The collected data provides a base of knowledge about the analysed section, needed to identify the appropriate bicycle infrastructure solution. A similar analysis prior to reconstruction of new sections would be recommended. The insights produced by this study contribute to better understanding of bicycle infrastructure provision in Tokyo.
Typ des Eintrags: | Masterarbeit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Erschienen: | 2016 | ||||
Autor(en): | Śliwińska, Agnieszka | ||||
Art des Eintrags: | Bibliographie | ||||
Titel: | Analysis of cyclists’ behaviour in Tokyo Metropolis | ||||
Sprache: | Englisch | ||||
Referenten: | Boltze, Prof. Dr. Manfred ; Oguchi, Prof. Takashi ; von Mörner, Dipl.-Ing. Moritz | ||||
Publikationsjahr: | 2016 | ||||
Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: | 2016 | ||||
URL / URN: | https://www.verkehr.tu-darmstadt.de/media/verkehr/fgvv/beruf... | ||||
Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract): | Tokyo distinguishes itself among other big cities with very big bicycle mode share. However, the comparison of Tokyo to other big cities around the world in terms of bicycle infrastructure suggests, that Tokyo’s bicycle facilities are less developed than one would expect. A big share of cycling in all traffic is often seen as very advantageous to society considering many aspects, such as environmental, health or congestion-wise to name a few. In case of Japan, there is an extra reason to see cycling as favourable – it can save one’s life in an emergency situation related to an earthquake. Bigger earthquakes often render trains non-operational, damage the car infrastructure and cause huge congestion problems, but affect the bicycle transportation to a much lesser extent. Making cycling easier, more comfortable and popular has been an important objective of politicians in the recent years in Tokyo. They commit to providing more bicycle infrastructure, possibly in a quick and low-budget way. As a result, in a lot of cases the applied solutions have been somewhat erroneous in the recent years. This study attempts to identify what types of bicycle infrastructure can be advantageous to cyclists and other road users in given circumstances. Moreover, it can be clearly seen that the cyclists of Tokyo often behave differently than cyclists of, for example, European countries. Much more of them ride on sidewalks, what is still legally allowed. Although serious accidents on sidewalks are rare, riding on sidewalks has negative impact on the comfort of both cyclists and pedestrians, especially in situations when pedestrian density is high, which is often the case in Tokyo. As a first step to identify the appropriate solutions, the current situation has to be examined. To obtain the data for the analysis, observations of the bicycle traffic had been carried out in several points in Tokyo. Each of the observation sites has different physical features, is located in a district with different characteristics, and is utilised by different groups of cyclists. The author made sure to select most characteristic examples of different designs of Tokyo’s bicycle spaces, among them not only bicycle paths, but also sections which are not equipped in bicycle infrastructure yet. In total, observations in 8 places in three times of the day, morning, noon and evening, have been conducted. The length of the observation period was one hour, which amounted to observing from 52 to 275 cyclists in the time. The most important bit of the observation is the cyclist’s choice to ride on the sidewalk, the bicycle path or the roadside. Additionally, the direction of cyclist’s ride - with or against the traffic flow - is important to notice. These two observations alone can already produce interesting conclusions: what is the proportion of cyclists that use each facility, what are the differences between the types of facilities, what are the differences between different daytimes or what is the number of cyclists moving in each direction. The rest of observed parameters are divided into two groups: characteristics of cyclists and characteristics of prevailing traffic conditions. The characteristics of cyclists include the sex of the cyclists, age category: child, adult or elderly, and some special features which can allow to guess the purpose of the ride, such as: riding with a child, bicycle equipped in a child seat, carrying a big baggage, wearing formal clothes, sport outfit or school uniform. The observations regarding traffic conditions concern mainly the intensity of pedestrians or car traffic and the number of cars parked on the side. After the analysis of the video data and preparation of databases, statistical analysis of obtained results could be conducted. The results have been presented separately for each observation site. For each observation site, a summary of the data considering cyclists characteristics is presented in a table. The statistics are interpreted and commented on. In the next part, riding choices for each of previously presented cyclist groups are shown, interpreted and commented. Lastly, the changes of traffic situation throughout the day are presented, together with related changes in cyclists’ behaviour. The results enable important insights and allow posing plausible hypotheses about the influence of the considered factors on the cyclists’ choices. Some of the produced insights are: - The behavioural patterns of male and female cyclists are different. Notably, women have much higher tendency to ride on the sidewalk; - Most vulnerable bicycle users, like elderly or children, almost always stay on the sidewalk; - The number of cyclists on the sidewalk can vary a lot, depending on the type of facilities present and the time of observation. However, there seems to be no circumstance in which cyclists refrain from from using the sidewalk completely; - Cyclists wearing a sport outfit consistently choose to ride on the roadside; - Some types of bicycle facilities are used to much higher extent than others; - On-road parking and congestion seem to be the main factors that discourage the cyclists from using the roadside; - Increased density of pedestrians does not affect the number of cyclists on the sidewalk to a great extent; - Making it easy to change between the roadside, bicycle path and sidewalk is important to enable cyclists to get directly to their destination without using the sidewalk; The collected data provides a base of knowledge about the analysed section, needed to identify the appropriate bicycle infrastructure solution. A similar analysis prior to reconstruction of new sections would be recommended. The insights produced by this study contribute to better understanding of bicycle infrastructure provision in Tokyo. |
||||
Alternatives oder übersetztes Abstract: |
|
||||
Fachbereich(e)/-gebiet(e): | 13 Fachbereich Bau- und Umweltingenieurwissenschaften 13 Fachbereich Bau- und Umweltingenieurwissenschaften > Verbund Institute für Verkehr 13 Fachbereich Bau- und Umweltingenieurwissenschaften > Verbund Institute für Verkehr > Institut für Verkehrsplanung und Verkehrstechnik |
||||
Hinterlegungsdatum: | 28 Jan 2018 14:48 | ||||
Letzte Änderung: | 22 Jun 2018 14:50 | ||||
PPN: | |||||
Referenten: | Boltze, Prof. Dr. Manfred ; Oguchi, Prof. Takashi ; von Mörner, Dipl.-Ing. Moritz | ||||
Datum der mündlichen Prüfung / Verteidigung / mdl. Prüfung: | 2016 | ||||
Export: | |||||
Suche nach Titel in: | TUfind oder in Google |
Frage zum Eintrag |
Optionen (nur für Redakteure)
Redaktionelle Details anzeigen |