Urban areas such as The Hague face traffic congestion and environmental issues due to frequent car usage, especially for short trips up to 5 kilometres. To address these challenges, combining cycling with public transportation (PT) offers a promising alternative. This study examines the potential of bicycle parking facilities at public transport stops in The Hague, aiming to encourage multimodal travel and discourage short car trips.

The qualitative part of the research involved structured interviews with residents of The Hague. The results showed that people are open to considering the bicycle-PT combination but have not yet adopted it. The main barriers are the lack of safe, accessible, and well-maintained bicycle parking at public transport stops. Respondents emphasized the need for more bike parking and cited bad weather and convenience as common reasons for choosing the car.

The quantitative analysis, based on a stated preference survey and a multinomial logit model, confirmed the interview findings. Residents are more likely to opt for the bicycle-PT combination if certain bicycle parking facilities, such as bike racks or lockers, are available. These specific facilities could shift up to 2 percentage points of trips toward the bicycle-PT combination and reduce short car trips by up to 3 percentage points.

Additionally, the results indicate that cost and travel time are important factors in transport choice. Increasing car-related costs and reducing public transport fares were tested and could further contribute to a modal shift from car to bicycle-PT. Tested scenarios showed a potential increase of up to 5 percentage points in bike-transit usage and a reduction of up to 6.5 percentage points in car trips.

Based on these findings, it is recommended to invest in user-friendly and more abundant bicycle parking at transit stops, particularly bike racks, which are cost- and space-efficient. Policymakers are also advised to explore pricing policies that make public transport more financially attractive compared to car use.

These findings are not only relevant for The Hague but also offer insights for similar cities striving to create a more sustainable mobility system by better integrating cycling with public transport. ... Read more

In Vietnam, the fishery sector is vital for the economy. The government strives towards an increase in fishing activities in the coming years. The Quy Nhơn port, a key hub in central Vietnam, is set to accommodate more international vessels. This means local fishermen must rely on other ports like Đề Gi, which also needs upgrading to meet aquaculture production goals. To support the fishing sector's growth in Bình Định province, the Khu neo đậu đầm Đề Gi (KND) project is initiated by the local authorities and will contribute to upgrading the Đề Gi port and construct a new storm shelter. However, this project has potential issues: (1) it focuses mainly on storm shelter capacity and does not address the increase of traffic in the current network capacity, (2) the estuary suffers from sedimentation issues, limiting the nautical accessibility of the access channel, resulting in a decrease of port and storm shelter functionality. To tackle these problems the following main question is investigated:

What is the current performance of the Đề Gi port and storm shelter system, and how can engineering methods be used to assess its potential for future growth within the broader context of sustainable socio-economic development?

The main research question is going to be supported by the following sub-questions:

How will the current logistic service network perform in the future vision as foreseen by the responsible authorities and how to verify it with an engineering responsible approach?

How to examine the accessibility of the port and storm shelter in the KND project, while ensuring a safe, robust, durable and effective system?

What are the consequences of the port and storm shelter upgrade on the logistical system and on the conditions in the waterway and what impact does this have on the Đề Gi area?

The main aim of this research is apply engineering methods to understand the system in order to assess its performance and put this in the context of the socio-economic development of the Đề Gi area and the Bình Định province. To achieve this, various research methods are used to analyse the current state of logistic service and nautical accessibility, to identify the bottlenecks in the systems. To include the aspect of incorporating the socio-economics in a broader context of the area, a stakeholder analysis is introduced. For the inland logistic services of the port, a qualitative 4(+1)-transport modelling model is established. For investigating the nautical accessibility, a comprehensive system analysis, including the topics of (1) climate, (2) hydrodynamics, (3) morphodynamics and (4) current and future conditions of the access channel, is conducted to provide insights into nautical accessibility challenges to enhance the safety, robustness, durable and effectiveness of the access channel.

To analyse the logistic service system in the area, field observation in combination with interviews are performed to have a concrete insight into the characteristic harbour patterns, traffic and transportation system and the current transportation network for the goods originating from the harbour. Additionally, various development plans and visions outlined by local authorities are reviewed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the area's future development. By evaluating the current state of the logistic service network alongside the region's development plans, the limitations within the network are identified. The primary bottlenecks in the logistic services system predominantly revolve around capacity and quality issues in the existing road network. Many of these limitations are expected to be addressed through the implementation of the local authorities' development visions. However, for a reliable conclusion, an engineering approach is necessary. To achieve this, a 4(+1)-step transport modelling, coupled with an All-Or-Nothing traffic assignment, is recommended. For the examination of the Đề Gi road network and traffic assignment, this approach provided an initial assessment of the intensity of each link within the study area relative to its corresponding capacity.

The second sub-question is addressed through an analysis and depth assessment, uncovering critical nautical accessibility bottlenecks. These include draught limitations and climate change impacts, potentially compromising safety, robustness, durability, and effectiveness. A depth assessment, considering different vessel types and water levels, provides insights into the current channel status. Safety is a major concern, especially for larger vessels during low water conditions, heightened by climate change. Robustness faces challenges due to sedimentation and storm vulnerabilities. Durability is threatened by changing climate conditions affecting sediment dynamics and storms. Effectiveness remains relatively stable, with 90\% accessibility for the expected future vessel fleet. These findings particularly point to the need for safety and durability measures, especially in light of future climate change predictions, necessitating climate-resilient design.

The third sub-question explores the port and storm shelter upgrade's impact on Đề Gi. Consequences include increased traffic and vessel intensity, on land and through the access channel, and a shift in vessel fleet mix, requiring improved infrastructure and access channel design. This enhances safety and, ultimately, drives socio-economic growth, education, and investment appeal in the Đề Gi area.

In the Đề Gi area, current transportation capacity falls short of future growth needs. Local authorities' development plans aim to resolve logistic service bottlenecks. Nautical accessibility is currently 90\% effective but not consistently safe. Climate change threatens its durability. Engineering models, like the 4(+1) step methodology and comprehensive system analysis in combination with a depth assessment, uncover transport and nautical accessibility challenges. These methods assess future impacts of the port and storm shelter upgrade, benefiting the Đề Gi area with socio-economic development, improved safety and new opportunities for the local community. ... Read more

The Netherlands is like no other country enthusiastic about cycling and is the home of 37.000 kilometers of bicycle paths. These bicycle paths need to cross other modalities and therefore intersections are needed. At signalized intersections, the control is mostly regulated using sensors such as push buttons and one or multiple inductive loops. Sensors for cyclists are running slightly behind in comparison with those from cars and the company of CycleData anticipated on this fact by developing a new sensor, the iSignum, that works on radar and laser service and is capable to determine speed. The iSignum is capable of communicating with the iVRI (intelligent traffic light control) where it is installed and notify that a cyclist is coming. The sensor is placed further away from the stop line meaning there is time to communicate with the iVRI that a cyclist was detected and for example with what speed. This can benefit the comfort and traffic flow of cyclists when a notification leads to green light such that cyclists simply do not have to stop unnecessarily before the intersection. Part of this research was a literature study towards stakeholders and existing bicycle sensors. The latter was needed to be able to make a comparison of what makes the iSignum stand out from the rest or if it is just another bicycle sensor. A literature study has indicated that inductive loop sensors in combination with push buttons are used the most. Additionally, there are other cyclists sensors on the market nowadays. These sensors include infrared sensors, smart cameras and mobile phones and WiFi/Bluetooth applications. These are however not used on a big scale yet. In this report, research was done towards the newly developed sensor that is installed at an intersection in Delft, the Julianalaan-Nassaulaan intersection. Several matters were looked into, such as the accuracy of the iSignum in comparison to the reality at this location and what potential situations can result in disturbances in detecting cyclists. Furthermore, preventions are explored to an extent of what could be possible at this specific location. To test the exactness of the iSignum, manual bike counting is done over the course of three days. This data was then compared to the data that the sensor of iSignum logs. Conclusions that have been made after the comparison is that the newly developed sensor is not as accurate as the company CycleData claims it to be, the promised 95% is not reached. During the measurements, the sensor did not manage to pass the 78.2% accuracy. However, disturbances that happened, such as the presence of a delivery van or garbage truck or cars that drive over the bicycle path, while counting cyclists are included. Making the preciseness less in particular cases, with the worst case being 75.3%. V-log data, which logs traffic status and information such as detection and signal groups from an iVRI, is additionally used to check whether those disturbances can be covered by the existing control of the intersection. The outcome states that the existing intersection control of a loop sensor and push-button manage to still detect cyclists during the time of disturbances. Next to this, prevention methods for the disturbances are researched such that relying on the existing intersection control may not be needed in the future and the full potential of the iSignum can be reached after more precision from the sensor itself is achieved. A prevention method that could help all the occurred disturbances is to move the sensor more downstream from the bicycle path where the disturbances do not influence the sensor anymore. This is therefore also the recommendation for this particular intersection such that unnecessarily errors are filtered out of the data. Additionally, further research is needed after the relocation of the sensor and towards the enhancement of the accuracy because other errors are present that are not accountable to a disturbance. It is valuable to do more extensive research on this topic to determine if these errors can be erased from the system to reach the full potential of the iSignum such that the objective of shorter waiting times and more comfort for cyclists can be reached at signalized intersections. ... Read more