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From electric trucks to 'curbside management,' Smart Freight Centre studies how to improve flow of goods

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 21:47:25 +0000

From electric trucks to 'curbside management,' Smart Freight Centre studies how to improve flow of goods

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/05/2020 - 16:47

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The Smart Freight Centre, a partnership between 91�Թ�, Peel Region and other universities, will launch 24 research projects on topics ranging from supply-chain resilience to automated delivery of goods (Randy Risling/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Our Community

Smart Freight Centre

Cities

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Research & Innovation

Sustainability

Traffic

From take-out pizza to online shopping – which nearly doubled in Canada this year – the use of home delivery has greatly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Matt Roorda, a professor in the 91�Թ�’s department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, says what happens between clicking “add to cart” and picking up a package on the doorstep is a complex process – and one that could benefit from fresh ideas.

“Our whole economy and way of life depend on freight transportation,” Roorda says. “COVID-19 has highlighted some key issues, but the need for innovation was clear before the pandemic and will continue after it’s over.”

Roorda chairs the Smart Freight Centre (SFC), a centre of excellence for goods movement. SFC is a collaborative network established in 2019 by the Region of Peel, McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering and the 91�Թ� Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI).

“Approximately $1.8 billon [worth of] goods move through Peel on daily basis, accounting for 43 per cent of jobs in Peel Region,” says Peel Regional Chair Nando Iannicca. “But with strong growth pressures and the current pandemic situation, businesses are becoming increasingly challenged and need even greater support. This partnership is key to helping us find innovative solutions for safe and efficient movement of goods and ultimately creating more jobs for Canadians.”

This fall, SFC received an Alliance Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council to fund a new research initiative called City Logistics for the Urban Economy, or CLUE. More than $3 million in NSERC funding is matched by contributions from the institutions and partner organizations for a total of over $11 million in direct and in-kind support.

“Goods movement hasn’t been studied as extensively as people movement, but interest is growing as it becomes clear just how much we rely on an efficient goods movement system,” says Judy Farvolden, executive director of UTTRI. “CLUE addresses issues of significance to Canadians and this collaboration of public and industry partners further strengthens our chances of success.”

The CLUE initiative includes 24 separate research projects on a wide range of topics, from driver training and supply-chain resilience to automated delivery of goods and the impact of local bylaws.

“The goal is to provide efficient goods movement while minimizing the negative impact on neighbourhoods in terms of safety, noise or pollution,” says Roorda.

For example, last year SFC completed a pilot study on off-peak delivery. Industry partners at Walmart, Loblaws and the LCBO shifted key deliveries from daytime hours to the early morning (before 7 a.m.) and late evening (between 7 and 11 p.m.)

Preliminary results showed that the change increased the average speed of trucks by 18 per cent, with associated reductions in key air pollutants of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent. The team plans to conduct a larger and more detailed study as part of the CLUE initiative.

Another research direction looks at what is known as “curbside management.”

“The curbside is a very busy place with many competing needs: parking, bicycle lanes, loading zones and even outdoor dining,” says Roorda. “We can use cameras to study how these spaces are being used now and leverage this data to model how they could be used more efficiently in the future.”

Other CLUE projects will examine alternative modes of local delivery. These could include electric trucks, pedal-powered vehicles, autonomous robots or even the use of commuter vehicles, a concept known as “crowdsourced delivery.”

“There are companies trying these strategies out today, including here in Toronto,” says Roorda. “What our research can provide is rigorous scientific analysis of what works and what doesn’t. That should help everyone make smarter decisions going forward.”

91�Թ� and partners to improve flow of goods, traffic with new Smart Freight Centre

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 15:07:30 +0000

91�Թ� and partners to improve flow of goods, traffic with new Smart Freight Centre

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 04/18/2019 - 11:07

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Researchers from 91�Թ�, York and McMaster will work together to improve how goods are delivered in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area as freight demand rises alongside concerns about traffic congestion (photo by Danielle Scott via Flickr)

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Infrastructure

Research & Innovation

Traffic

Transportation

Leading experts from the 91�Թ�, McMaster University and York University are working together to improve –and future-proof – how goods are delivered across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area through a newly established Smart Freight Centre.

From delivering stock to stores or packages to individual homes, the demand for freight transportation continues to rise –at the same time that expected delivery windows are narrowing.

The result is more traffic.

“It’s the Amazon effect,” says Matt Roorda, a professor in the department of civil and mineral engineering and the 91�Թ� Transportation Research Institute. “People are buying things online and expect them delivered within a day or even within a few hours.

“And that has a real impact on the number of trucks on the road.”

The new centre, officially launched today in Brampton, Ont., will study ways to improve the transportation of goods throughout the region. Among other things, researchers will look at how increased truck traffic contributes to congestion on the roads and competition for parking, both of which pose distribution challenges — especially as populations grow. They will also look at how stop-and-go traffic leads to higher carbon emissions.

As the Smart Freight Centre’s inaugural chair, Roorda says the centre seeks to advance the goals outlined in the Region of Peel’s strategic plan for the movement of goods.

“We want to establish sustainable freight transportation systems that are more efficient and less impactful on communities,” Roorda says.

Roorda’s own project, which launched in February, will see industry partners Walmart, Loblaws and LCBO stores piloting nighttime freight deliveries – shifting key daytime deliveries from distribution centres to retail locations to the late evening, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

“There definitely seems to be a lot of spare capacity on our roadways at different times of day, so why not make better use of our current infrastructure?” says Roorda. “With there being less traffic congestion on the road during that time period, what we hope to see by studying the before and after, is that operations are running faster and more smoothly.”

Roorda’s research group will also look at how the time shift will affect emission levels, examine cost mitigation for companies, and consider whether late-evening noise levels are an issue for residents along freight delivery routes.

Roorda’s pilot is one of three initial projects underway in the new centre, each led by a partner university. York will study the feasibility of establishing truck-only lanes in the region, while McMaster will research e-commerce purchasing behaviours to predict driving trends of future and home-delivery demands.

Roorda and his colleagues at York and McMaster are currently developing the centre’s five-year plan, which will also include research projects on automated trucks and innovative alternatives to last-mile deliveries.

“I think we can make an impact with not just research papers in journals, but with demonstrated projects – there’s one foot in real life happening with this centre,” says Roorda.

“These are on-the-ground problems that we’re trying to solve."

Large trucks are biggest culprits of near-road air pollution: 91�Թ� study

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 20:24:11 +0000

Large trucks are biggest culprits of near-road air pollution: 91�Թ� study

noreen.rasbach Mon, 09/10/2018 - 16:24

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A new study led by Professor Greg Evans shows that trucks and larger vehicles contribute disproportionately to air-pollutant emissions (photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo via Unsplash)

Liz Do

Topic

City & Culture

Cities

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Health

Pollution

Research & Innovation

Traffic

Subheadline

For the 30 per cent of Canadians who live within 500 metres of a major roadway, the type of vehicles rolling past their homes can matter more than total traffic volume in determining the amount of air pollution they breathe, a new 91�Թ� study says.

A two-year study involving researchers at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering has revealed large trucks to be the greatest contributors to black carbon emissions close to major roadways. Professor Greg Evans of the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry hopes the study results get city planners and residents thinking more about the density of trucks, rather than the concentration of vehicle traffic, outside their homes, schools and daycares. The study was recently published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

“I’ve been asked by people, ‘We live near a high-traffic area, should we be worried?’ My response is that it’s not so much about how much traffic there is, it’s more about the percentage of trucks, older trucks in particular.”

The comprehensive study – led by Evans (pictured right) and collaborators at Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, as well as the Metro Vancouver Regional District – involved measuring vehicle emissions near roads in Toronto and Vancouver, including the 401, North America’s busiest stretch of highway.

The difference between emission levels across the sites was more correlated with the number of large trucks on the road rather than number of cars.

Researchers found that air pollution levels right beside a major trucking route within a city were close to levels seen beside Highway 401, despite the road carrying less than one-tenth of the vehicle traffic. “This was in part due to differences in wind and proximity to the road but, surprisingly, the number of vehicles didn’t make that much of a difference,” said Evans.

The data also revealed a significant drop in emissions on the 401 on the weekends, when personal vehicle traffic is still very high, but the volume of large truck traffic is low.

Research consistently links traffic emissions to negative effects on both the environment and human health. “Whether it be cancer, respiratory problems, cardiac problems or neurodegenerative problems, there are numerous adverse health effects associated with the chemicals in these emissions,” said Evans. “If we were able to reduce emission of pollutants like black carbon, we would also see an immediate climate benefit.”

Black carbon – commonly called soot – is a marker for exposure to diesel exhaust which is known to have negative health effects.

Evans points out that modern trucks have made large improvements in their emissions – it’s the older diesel trucks that are the real culprits. “Those big, 18-wheeler diesel trucks last for a long time. We need to push to retrofit these old trucks with better emission treatment systems. Simply retrofitting the worse offending trucks, or getting them off the road, is a tremendous opportunity to improve air quality in our cities.”

The study will be part of a larger report in December that will stress the importance of implementing long-term monitoring of traffic-related air pollution in Canada, and indicating that targeting high-emitting vehicles such as old trucks can provide a path towards improving near-road air quality.

In the meantime, Evans hopes the study gets Canadians thinking about the effects of working, playing and living near truck-related air pollution.

“When a cyclist is riding near a large truck and they see a large plume of soot coming out – it’s important for them to be aware. Although shipping freight and construction by truck are critical to our economy, people need to know about the negative effects. There are ways that we can achieve a better balance.”

The research was supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Rejecting tolls “good politics, bad policy,” says 91�Թ� cities expert

ullahnor — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:28:52 +0000

Rejecting tolls “good politics, bad policy,” says 91�Թ� cities expert

ullahnor Fri, 01/27/2017 - 15:28

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91�Թ� experts had hoped that tolls would alleviate congestion in the city on the Gardiner Expressway (pictured here) and the Don Valley Parkway (photo by wyn lok via Flickr)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

Geography. Faculty of Arts & Science

As Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne rejected Mayor John Tory's request for tolls on the DVP and Gardiner Expressway today, 91�Թ� cities expert Matti Siemiatycki says the move does little to solve Toronto's traffic woes.

“I think this may be good provincial politics, but it's bad policy,” says Siemiatycki, an associate professor of geography and planning at the Faculty of Arts & Science. “Tolls have been approved by City Council. Tolls are a way to raise revenue, but they're much more than that. They have the potential to reduce congestion on one of the busiest and most unpredictable stretches of highway in the region so traffic mitigation as well as the environmental implications are quite significant.”

He says Wynne was likely motivated by the upcoming election.

“Tory's electorate is very local but the premier has an election coming up where there are many seats in the 905 belt around the city of Toronto. If those constituencies that are likely to be more impacted by this and by extension more heavily opposed. It's a move by a premier who's facing criticism about the rising cost of living in this province making a move to try to head that off.”

Siemiatycki said he agrees with the premier that with tolling other options need to be provided, but so far traffic mitigation options have only been conceived in one way – SmartTrack and Regional Express Rail.

“At the moment, the way they're envisioning transit in that corridor is through a mega-project – a major capital investment that's going to cost billions of dollars and take six years to complete. What hasn't been explored is if you had road tolls and less traffic on that facility, could you be running an appropriate express bus service that can't be run at the moment because the facility is too gridlocked and too unpredictable and unreliable?

“Might you be able to provide some of that immediate transit service using buses that you can get up and running relatively quickly – and use that as the transit option that is necessary?”

Bike lanes on Bloor Street: 91�Թ� partners with Miovision, City of Toronto to help evaluate pilot and track traffic safety

Romi Levine — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 15:12:58 +0000

Bike lanes on Bloor Street: 91�Թ� partners with Miovision, City of Toronto to help evaluate pilot and track traffic safety

Romi Levine Thu, 01/12/2017 - 10:12

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91�Թ� researchers are assessing the safety impact of Bloor Street bike lanes. (Photo by Dylan Passmore via Flickr)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

After just five months of bike lanes on Bloor Street, a new partnership between the 91�Թ�, a Kitchener-based traffic analytics company and the City of Toronto will evaluate the success of the project and how it has improved safety on one of Toronto's busiest traffic corridors.

Miovision is the traffic analytics company which, along with city, is providing video data to a group of 91�Թ� researchers from the Transportation Research Institute at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. The researchers will be comparing road safety on Bloor Street from before and after bike lanes were installed.

“We were interested in Miovision’s expertise because they are working on a technique for looking at video data and finding out the trajectories of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, and how they're moving through space,” says Matthew Roorda, a professor in the department of civil engineering and Canada Research Chair in Freight Transportation and Logistics.

Read the Metro News story

“We look for instances where a car has to slow down because a bicycle veered in front of it, a pedestrian crosses into the path of a bicyclist, or one bicyclist or car passes by another at very close spacing. We're trying to identify in an automated way all of these dangerous situations that don't necessarily result in an accident but are indications of possible safety problems.”

Researchers at 91�Թ� will be focusing on “conflicts” – or near-collisions.

Read about the partnership at Betakit

The Bloor Street bike lanes project is a pilot. City staff will be reporting on the results of the evaluation in fall 2017.

“The research being conducted through these partnerships represent important steps toward smart cities,” Miovision CEO Kurtis McBride said in a statement. “They combine new data sources and new analytical techniques that will eventually become core pieces of city operations and planning.”

Nancy Hui, a master’s student in civil engineering at U of T, is taking the lead on the safety analysis. She says the real-world application of the work she’s doing is invaluable.

“I know the Bloor Street cycling project is very controversial even among the people who live on Bloor Street, and it's added motivation for me to know that I'm looking at real people on the street, real cyclists who find themselves in dangerous situations many times a day,” she says.

She will soon begin looking at the before and after data but hopes the new Bloor Street bike lanes have had a real impact on safety.

Both Roorda and Hui see a wider application for the kind of conflict analysis taking place for Bloor Street.

“I hope this technology will one day be available for more people so that it will be easier for them to collect information about the safety impact different projects have on the streets,” says Hui.

Roorda says conflict analysis will help cities evaluate the impact to safety of any changes to a streetscape.

“We're trying to really put the science behind these changes and do a rigorous evaluation,” he says.

91�Թ� researchers part of study linking dementia to living near major traffic

ullahnor — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 21:15:59 +0000

91�Թ� researchers part of study linking dementia to living near major traffic

ullahnor Fri, 01/06/2017 - 16:15

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Toronto traffic jam on Spadina Avenue (photo by James Schwartz via Flickr)

Topic

Researchers from 91�Թ�'s Dalla Lana School of Public Health are part of an international team that has found a link between people living close to high-traffic roadways to greater risk of dementia.

Published in The Lancet, the study found that people who lived within 50 metres of high-traffic roads like Ontario’s Highway 401 have a seven-per cent higher likelihood of developing dementia compared to those who lived more than 300 metres away from busy roads.

Researchers from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Public Health Ontario (PHO) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) examined records of more than 6.5 million Ontario residents, ranging in age from 20 to 85, to investigate the correlation between living close to major roads and dementia, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

Scientists identified 243,611 cases of dementia, 31,577 cases of Parkinson’s disease, and 9,247 cases of multiple sclerosis in Ontario between 2001 and 2012. In addition, they mapped individuals’ proximity to major roadways using the postal code of their residence. The findings indicate that living close to major roads increased the risk of developing dementia but not Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.

“Little is known in current research about how to reduce the risk of dementia,” said Hong Chen, assistant professor of occupational and environmental health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. “Our findings show the closer you live to roads with heavy day-to-day traffic, the greater the risk of developing dementia.

“With our widespread exposure to traffic and the greater tendency for people to live in cities these days, this has serious public health implications.”

The lead author of the paper, Chen is also scientist at Public Health Ontario and adjunct scientist at ICES.

“Our study is the first in Canada to suggest that pollutants from heavy, day-to-day traffic are linked to dementia,” said Dr. Raymond Copes, a co-author on the paper who is the associate professor of occupational and environmental health at 91�Թ� and chief of environmental and occupational health at Public Health Ontario.

“We know from previous research that air pollutants can get into the bloodstream and lead to inflammation, which is linked with cardiovascular disease and possibly other conditions such as diabetes,” Copes said. “This study suggests air pollutants that can get into the brain via the bloodstream can lead to neurological problems.”

As urban centres become more densely populated and more congested with vehicles on major roads, Copes suggests the findings of this paper could be used to help inform municipal land use decisions as well as building design to take into account air pollution factors and the impact on residents.

The research was conducted in collaboration with scientists from the 91�Թ�, Carleton University, Dalhousie University, Oregon State University and Health Canada. The study was funded by Health Canada.

Fewer children walk or bike to school, 91�Թ� research finds – and that hurts everyone

sgupta — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:54:06 +0000

Fewer children walk or bike to school, 91�Թ� research finds – and that hurts everyone sgupta Thu, 04/07/2016 - 08:54

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Professor Ron Buliung would like to see more students follow the lead of the girls seen above and walk or bike to school (photo by Jaap Joris via flickr)

Elaine Smith

Author legacy

Elaine Smith

Topic

Read the study

“We’re interested in creating a more active commuter workforce,” Buliung says, “and if we’re looking at a long-term cultural change, it’s important to look at children and young adults, because they are the adult commuters of the future.”

In 1986, 56 per cent of kids between the ages of 11 and 13 walked to school and only 12 per cent were driven. Twenty-five years later, only 39 per cent were walkers, compared to 31 per cent who were driven.

But the researchers found students in the 11 to 13 age group are still more likely to walk or cycle than their 14- to 17-year-old counterparts. (Transportation data are not recorded for children under the age of 11).

Buliung’s research also found that students ages 11 to 17 are more likely to be driven to school in the morning than the afternoon and that boys are more likely to use active modes of transportation than girls. These findings are consistent with societal trends toward two parents working – making them unavailable for afternoon car transport – and with personal safety concerns among girls.

In an interview with Radio Canada International, Buliung said “the walk to school provides an opportunity to acquire and practice geographic skills like spatial awareness, orientation, way-finding” as well as an opportunity to play with friends.

Parents tend to cite convenience and safety among the factors encouraging them to drive their kids, Buliung said. He added that while children may cite concerns about bullying by other kids, parents talk more about “stranger danger” and worries about traffic safety.

“Paradoxically, if you're driving your child to school you're making someone else's child a little less safe,” Buliung told Radio Canada.

Listen to the interview with Radio Canada

Given the prevalence of childhood obesity in North America, and the impact of traffic congestion and air pollution on everyone's health, Buliung says he was “disappointed” by the data but points out much effort has been made since the turn of this century to increase active transportation.

“In the last five years, we’ve really been gaining ground,” he says. “School boards in Hamilton-Wentworth and Toronto, for example, have created active and safe school travel charters, and Peel Public Health is very interested in active transportation for school and otherwise.”

Read a Toronto Star article about the study

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Buliung said walking or cycling may also result in a student having “an improved ability to concentrate” and there are benefits for parents who walk with their kids as well.

“One of the things that households can actually miss out on is that contact time, just hanging out on that walk to school and having a conversation about what’s happening in your child’s life,” Buliung told the Globe. “You learn things.”

Read the Globe and Mail article

“We want to get this research out into the public arena so we can reach the widest possible audience, have a discussion about the increasingly dominant role of the auto in the lives of our children and see what we can do to get them moving again,” Buliung says.

Read about university students' commute to school

(Visit Flickr to see the original of the photo by Jaap Joris used at top of article)

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sites/default/files/2016-04-07-kids-school.jpg

Saving Bambi (and all his woodland friends): building urban networks with wildlife in mind

sgupta — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:00:10 +0000

Saving Bambi (and all his woodland friends): building urban networks with wildlife in mind sgupta Tue, 01/05/2016 - 09:00

Cutline

(photo of white-tailed doe by MattysFlicks via Flickr)

Jelena Damjanovic

Author legacy

Jelena Damjanovic

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Environment

Cities

Subheadline

Q & A with 91�Թ� environmentalist Namrata Shrestha

As urbanization claims more of the planet, road networks usually expand, and traffic usually increases along with them. Wildlife is not always given full consideration when roads and highways are constructed, especially within city limits.

91�Թ� News asked Namrata Shrestha, adjunct professor at the School of the Environment, about her research on roads and ecology in urban landscapes, and how it can guide policy, planning and the design stages of a road network.

Why is your work important?

Green space (or natural areas as some prefer to call it) is critical to maintaining a healthy landscape both for human and non-human species. It provides habitat for critters and diverse plants, and provides us with clean air and water among other things. As urbanization continues, green spaces are often compromised either in terms of area or quality. This has negative consequences on the natural processes that are important for all life. Science has provided us with ways to identify these consequences, and methods to avoid or mitigate them where it matters for long-term resiliency of the landscape. As we continue to build more cities and change land for human use, it is critical to apply these understandings if we are to ensure a sustainable and resilient future for the planet.

(Photo below by Gillie Rhodes via Flickr)

What happens when roads and bridges start crisscrossing urban wildlife habitats?

Maintaining a healthy and functioning wildlife habitat in urban areas such as Toronto is challenging. Directly and indirectly, urbanization may compromise the ability of a green space to function as a habitat for wildlife. Road network, as well as any linear infrastructure, can have multiple impacts on the otherwise intact and functional habitat. Building roads results in habitat loss and disturbance throughout the construction phase and beyond. After construction, they fragment the habitat into smaller pieces structurally and also pose a functional barrier to wildlife movement, especially when traffic is high, so that animals cannot get to their resources to complete their life cycle needs, such as food and breeding.

Also, when roads cross the habitat this often leads to wildlife-vehicle collisions resulting in road kills. Lastly, road salt and noise levels also compromise the habitat function in urban greenspaces. All of the above cumulatively affect the wildlife population negatively and may result in extirpation of the sensitive ones from the landscape unless appropriate measures are taken to avoid, minimize, and mitigate these impacts.

(photo by Victor Lee via Flickr)

How do you ensure safe animal mobility in urban areas?

Animal mobility in urban areas is important not just for the sake of animals themselves but for human safety as well. We don’t want wildlife-vehicle collisions that may be fatal for human beings in addition to widespread road mortality of animals. That’s why it is important to plan and design our infrastructure, especially linear ones like roads and rails, in ways that can minimize, if not avoid posing barriers for safe wildlife passage. We can do so through proper understanding of our landscape and knowing where animal movements are most likely and then taking appropriate measures to facilitate animal movement in strategic locations.

What sorts of measures?

They can include a wide variety of options depending on the location. If there are areas that are more sensitive than others, such areas should remain roadless and alternative alignments should be explored. In other areas roads can be designed in such a way that barriers to wildlife and road kills are minimized using well-designed eco passages (culverts, as well as bridges). Also, if animal movement is more likely in a certain time of year then seasonal road closures can be considered. Likewise, road salt and noise barriers also need to be rethought if we intend to maintain the functionality of green space as the wildlife habitat.

(photo below by Eric Béguin via Flickr)

(Visit Flickr to see the original of the photo at top of story)

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sites/default/files/2016-01-05-wildlife-flickr.jpg

91�Թ� engineers: saving lives by helping patients get to hospital faster

sgupta — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:03:49 +0000

91�Թ� engineers: saving lives by helping patients get to hospital faster sgupta Thu, 12/10/2015 - 08:03

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Justin Boutlier (above) is working on ways to get people to hospital faster in places where cars do not yield to ambulances and rickshaws are more affordable option (photo courtesy Justin Boutlier)

Liz Do

Author legacy

Liz Do

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Research

Global

Subheadline

In city plagued by traffic congestion “it took me three hours to drive 11 kilometres,” researcher says

For North Americans, it can be easy to take emergency medical services (EMS) for granted. But in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh there is no EMS system, no centralized ambulances, and no 911 service.

Justin Boutilier, a PhD candidate in industrial engineering working under the supervision of Professor Timothy Chan of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, hopes to close this health-services gap in developing countries.

In Toronto, simply calling 911 gets an ambulance to the scene in approximately six minutes. From there, the ambulance takes the fastest route to the hospital – sirens blaring – as cars on the road yield or move out of the way. In Dhaka, the 11th largest city in the world where the population is five times larger than Toronto’s, the situation is very different.

In September, Boutilier spent three weeks in Dhaka working with local collaborators. Among his findings were the following:

34 per cent of patients took a rickshaw, 25 per cent took a CNG (a three-wheeled cab that runs on compressed natural gas), while only 8 per cent took an ambulance
Ambulances are by far the most expensive method, costing anywhere between 500 to 5,000 Taka (BDT), which is approximately $9 to $87 CAD
The average response time for ambulances is 60 to 80 minutes
Some patients spent more than 5 hours to get to the hospital.

These results are alarming when considering that more than 33 per cent of deaths in developing countries are attributed to time-sensitive medical emergencies, from cardiac arrests to maternal or child health issues.

Boutilier and Chan, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health aim to vastly improve these numbers – and save lives – by optimizing emergency medical response.

“Our goal is to reduce ambulance response times by developing a software system leveraging existing infrastructure that optimizes ambulance pre-positioning locations, and provides real-time travel estimation and route optimization information to drivers,” said Chan, who also researches the placement and access of defibrillators in North American cities.

Traffic congestion: are HOT lanes the answer?

sgupta — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 09:28:11 +0000

Traffic congestion: are HOT lanes the answer? sgupta Fri, 12/12/2014 - 04:28

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(photo by Dominic Ali)

Dominic Ali

Author legacy

Dominic Ali

Topic

If there’s one thing that unites all city dwellers in the 21st century, it’s traffic congestion. Whether it’s crawling along highways, dealing with road rage or lamenting wasted time, bumper-to-bumper traffic ranks as one of the worst features of modern life.

But Jonathan Hall, an assistant professor in the 91�Թ�’s department of economics and School of Public Policy and Governance may have a solution. Hall researches ways to improve transportation policy in order to reduce traffic congestion.

One initiative Hall has proposed in Toronto is High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, a dedicated no-charge traffic lane for carpooled vehicles that’s also available to single-occupant vehicles for a fee. Writer Dominic Ali spoke with him about whether HOT lanes could reduce traffic congestion and restore inner calm to the world’s drivers.

How did you first become interested in researching this topic?
I would always talk about traffic and how to reduce it while driving with my wife, and she kept encouraging me to do formal research on it. I resisted because there was no one else at the University of Chicago (where I was getting my PhD) studying urban issues. Eventually I wised up and listened to her. I added it to the list of topics to try to make progress on, and it was the one that took off.

How will your work contribute to the field and to large cities like Toronto?
My research shows how adding time-varying tolls to a portion (say half) of the lanes of a highway can benefit all road users. Those who choose to pay a toll would be able to avoid traffic congestion while those who stay in the free lanes would have faster travel times (because some of the traffic will have been diverted to the HOT lanes). This is important because one of the most significant problems facing large cities like Toronto is traffic congestion.

How can the High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes you’re proposing improve urban areas?
They can reduce traffic congestion and reduce pollution. They also allow people the option of paying with money to travel faster during the most desirable times while allowing others to pay with their time, travelling more slowly during peak hours in regular lanes.

It can provide a fast and reliable option for those who need to get somewhere in a hurry, such as getting to the airport or running late to pick up kids from daycare/school, etc. Since buses can use the HOT lanes, public transit along the route will be faster. And governments can raise revenue to reduce other taxes or invest in the transportation network.

What are the biggest challenges cities have implementing HOT lanes?
There are at least three challenges to public acceptance. The first is that people hate the idea of paying for something that is currently free. People are paying to use the road at 8:00 am right now – they pay by sitting in traffic for an hour. But adding tolls allows you to pay with money instead of time.

The second is that HOT lanes are not "envy free". That is, when you are stuck in traffic in the free lanes you will envy those zooming past you in the HOT lane.

A third issue is that people are concerned that HOT lanes help the rich and hurt the poor. My research (hopefully) addresses this concern and shows that it can help the poor, too. It is true that a lot of the benefits go to the rich who can pay to avoid traffic. The poor will still be in traffic. But the poor need a reliable and fast option too, and there will times they will pay to use the HOT lanes, even if it isn’t every day. Also, we can use the revenue raised from the toll in targeted ways to help the poor, such as reducing regressive taxes or expanding roads or investing in transit.

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