ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- All Subjects: Transportation
Description
Bicycle sharing systems (BSS) operate on five continents, and they change quickly with technological innovations. The newest “dockless” systems eliminate both docks and stations, and have become popular in China since their launch in 2016. The rapid increase in dockless system use has exposed its drawbacks. Without the order imposed by docks and stations, bike parking has become problematic. In the areas of densest use, the central business districts of large cities, dockless systems have resulted in chaotic piling of bikes and need for frequent rebalancing of bikes to other locations. In low-density zones, on the other hand, it may be difficult for customers to find a bike, and bikes may go unused for long periods. Using big data from the Mobike BSS in Beijing, I analyzed the relationship between building density and the efficiency of dockless BSS. Density is negatively correlated with bicycle idle time, and positively correlated with rebalancing. Understanding the effects of density on BSS efficiency can help BSS operators and municipalities improve the operating efficiency of BSS, increase regional cycling volume, and solve the bicycle rebalancing problem in dockless systems. It can also be useful to cities considering what kind of BSS to adopt.
ContributorsCui, Wencong (Author) / Kuby, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Thigpen, Calvin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Transportation infrastructure in urban areas has significant impacts on socio-economic activities, land use, and real property values. This dissertation proposes a more comprehensive theory of the positive and negative relationships between property values and transportation investments that distinguishes different effects by mode (rail vs. road), by network component (nodes vs. links), and by distance from them. It hypothesizes that transportation investment generates improvement in accessibility that accrue only to the nodes such as highway exits and light rail stations. Simultaneously, it tests the hypothesis that both transport nodes and links emanate short-distance negative nuisance effects due to disamenities such as traffic and noise. It also tests the hypothesis that nodes of both modes generate a net effect combining accessibility and disamenities. For highways, the configuration at grade or above/below ground is also tested. In addition, this dissertation hypothesizes that the condition of road pavement may have an impact on residential property values adjacent to the road segments. As pavement condition improves, value of properties adjacent to a road are hypothesized to increase as well. A multiple-distance-bands approach is used to capture distance decay of amenities and disamenities from nodes and links; and pavement condition index (PCI) is used to test the relationship between road condition and residential property values. The hypotheses are tested using spatial hedonic models that are specific to each of residential and commercial property market. Results confirm that proximity to transport nodes are associated positively with both residential and commercial property values. As a function of distance from highway exits and light rail transit (LRT) stations, the distance-band coefficients form a conventional distance decay curve. However, contrary to our hypotheses, no net effect is evident. The accessibility effect for highway exits extends farther than for LRT stations in residential model as expected. The highway configuration effect on residential home values confirms that below-grade highways have relatively positive impacts on nearby houses compared to those at ground level or above. Lastly, results for the relationship between pavement condition and residential home values show that there is no significant effect between them.
Some differences in the effect of infrastructure on property values emerge between residential and commercial markets. In the commercial models, the accessibility effect for highway exits extends less than for LRT stations. Though coefficients for short distances (within 300m) from highways and LRT links were expected to be negative in both residential and commercial models, only commercial models show a significant negative relationship. Different effects by mode, network component, and distance on commercial submarkets (i.e., industrial, office, retail and service properties) are tested as well and the results vary based on types of submarket.
Consequently, findings of three individual paper confirm that transportation investments mostly have significant impacts on real-estate properties either in a positive or negative direction in accordance with the transport mode, network component, and distance, though effects for some conditions (e.g., proximity to links of highway and light rail, and pavement quality) do not significantly change home values. Results can be used for city authorities and planners for funding mechanisms of transport infrastructure or validity of investments as well as private developers for maximizing development profits or for locating developments.
Some differences in the effect of infrastructure on property values emerge between residential and commercial markets. In the commercial models, the accessibility effect for highway exits extends less than for LRT stations. Though coefficients for short distances (within 300m) from highways and LRT links were expected to be negative in both residential and commercial models, only commercial models show a significant negative relationship. Different effects by mode, network component, and distance on commercial submarkets (i.e., industrial, office, retail and service properties) are tested as well and the results vary based on types of submarket.
Consequently, findings of three individual paper confirm that transportation investments mostly have significant impacts on real-estate properties either in a positive or negative direction in accordance with the transport mode, network component, and distance, though effects for some conditions (e.g., proximity to links of highway and light rail, and pavement quality) do not significantly change home values. Results can be used for city authorities and planners for funding mechanisms of transport infrastructure or validity of investments as well as private developers for maximizing development profits or for locating developments.
ContributorsSeo, Kihwan (Author) / Michael, Kuby (Thesis advisor) / Golub, Aaron (Committee member) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
With high potential for automobiles to cause air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, there is concern that automobiles accessing or egressing public transportation may cause emissions similar to regular automobile use. Due to limited literature and research that evaluates and discusses environmental impacts from first and last mile portions of transit trips, there is a lack of understanding on this topic. This research aims to comprehensively evaluate the life cycle impacts of first and last mile trips on multimodal transit. A case study of transit and automobile travel in the greater Los Angeles region is evaluated by using a comprehensive life cycle assessment combined with regional household travel survey data to evaluate first-last mile trip impacts in multimodal transit focusing on automobile trips accessing or egressing transit. First and last mile automobile trips were found to increase total multimodal transit trip emissions by 2 to 12 times (most extreme cases were carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds). High amounts of coal-fired energy generation can cause electric propelled rail trips with automobile access or egress to have similar or more emissions (commonly greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide, and mono-nitrogen oxides) than competing automobile trips, however, most criteria air pollutants occur remotely. Methods to reduce first-last mile impacts depend on the characteristics of the transit systems and may include promoting first-last mile carpooling, adjusting station parking pricing and availability, and increased emphasis on walking and biking paths in areas with low access-egress trip distances.
ContributorsHoehne, Christopher G (Author) / Chester, Mikhail V (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Zhou, Xuesong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The past two decades have been marked by disruptions in the way transportation is provided to society. Examples are carsharing, ridehailing services, and electric scooters. Understanding how sensitive travel behavior is during transportation disruptions is a key part of planning for the future of transportation. While the effects of people's attitudes and perceptions on travel behavior and choices have been studied in the past, their role in response to disruptions remains under explored. This dissertation explores the effect of attitudes on travel behavior and perceptions for two distinct disruptions: the advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Before diving into such elaborate relationships, it is important to understand how attitudinal data is collected and measured. Thus, a study of the effects of different survey methods on the collection of attitudes towards transportation disruptions is performed. This dissertation finds that having a favorable perception of AVs is the most important factor in defining one’s willingness to use them. More importantly, those who only heard about AVs without knowing much about them were actually less likely to have a favorable perception when compared to those who never heard of AVs prior to the survey, reinforcing the need for thoughtful education and awareness initiatives. Additionally, gender also played an important role in expectations about the AV Future: not only are women less interested in using AVs as a pooled ride service, but also that the effect of attitudes on defining that choice was different for men and women. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, two different attitudes towards COVID were identified: concern about the effects of the COVID-19 response, and concern about the health effects of the coronavirus. Both shaped the ways people traveled, and how often they did so. These findings reinforce the need for the broad collection of attitudinal data and the incorporation of such parameters on future travel forecasting.
ContributorsCapasso da Silva, Denise (Author) / Pendyala, Ram M (Thesis advisor) / Khoeini, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Thompson, Marilyn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
With rapid advances in technology development and public adoption, it is crucial to understand how these services will shape the future of travel depending on the extent to which people will use these services; impact the transportation and infrastructure systems such as changes in the use of transit and active modes of travel; and influence how technology developers create and update these transportation technologies to better serve people’s mobility needs. This dissertation explores how two major emerging services, namely ridehailing services and autonomous vehicles (AVs), will be used in the future when they are widely available and vastly used, and how they may impact the transportation infrastructure and societal travel patterns. The four proposed chapters use comprehensive quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the status of these technologies from theory, through robust modeling frameworks, to practice, by investigating the recent AV pilot deployments in real-world settings. In the second chapter, it was found that increased frequency of ridehailing use is significantly associated with a decrease in bus usage, suggesting that ridehailing functions more as a substitute for buses than as a complement and implying that transit agencies should explore ways to incorporate ridehailing services in their plans to enhance transit usage. Next, the third chapter showed that interest in using AVs for running errands had a positive and significant effect on AV ownership intent, even after accounting for a host of variables. The fourth chapter depicted how ridehailing experiences have a considerable effect on the willingness to ride AV-based services in both private and shared modes, suggesting that experience is crucial for future adoption of these services. Then, two recent real-world AV experiences are explored in the fifth chapter. Lessons learned from these experiments reinforced the importance of first-hand experiences in promoting AV awareness and trustworthiness, potentially leading to greater degrees of adoption. Finally, the results and discussions presented in this dissertation strengthen the body of literature on key emerging transportation technologies and inform policymakers and stakeholders to properly prepare cities and the public to welcome these technologies into our transportation system in an efficient, equitable, and complementary way.
ContributorsMagassy, Tassio Bezerra (Author) / Pendyala, Ram M (Thesis advisor) / Khoeini, Sara (Committee member) / Polzin, Steven E (Committee member) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Walking and bicycling bring many merits to people, both physically and mentally.
However, not everyone has an opportunity to enjoy healthy and safe bicycling and
walking. Many studies suggested that access to healthy walking and bicycling is heavily
related to socio-economic status. Low income population and racial minorities have
poorer transportation that results in less walking and bicycling, as well as less access to
public transportation. They are also under higher risks of being hit by vehicles while
walking and bicycling. This research quantifies the relationship between socioeconomic
factors and bicyclist and pedestrian involved traffic crash rates in order to establish an
understanding of how equitable access to safe bicycling and walking is in Phoenix. The
crash rates involving both bicyclists and pedestrians were categorized into two groups,
minor crashes and severe crashes. Then, the OLS model was used to analyze minor and
severe bicycle crash rates, and minor and severe pedestrian crash rates, respectively.
There are four main results, (1) The median income of an area is always negatively
related to the crash rates of bicyclists and pedestrians. The reason behind the negative
correlation is that there is a very small proportion of people choosing to walk or ride
bicycles as their commuting methods in the high-income areas. Consequently, there are
low crash rates of pedestrians and bicyclists. (2) The minor bicycle crash rates are more
related to socio-economic determinants than the severe crash rates. (3) A higher
population density reduces both the minor and the severe crash rates of bicyclists and
pedestrians in Phoenix. (4) A higher pedestrian commuting ratio does not reduce bicyclist
and pedestrian crash rates in Phoenix. The findings from this study can provide a
reference value for the government and other researchers and encourage better future
decisions from policy makers.
However, not everyone has an opportunity to enjoy healthy and safe bicycling and
walking. Many studies suggested that access to healthy walking and bicycling is heavily
related to socio-economic status. Low income population and racial minorities have
poorer transportation that results in less walking and bicycling, as well as less access to
public transportation. They are also under higher risks of being hit by vehicles while
walking and bicycling. This research quantifies the relationship between socioeconomic
factors and bicyclist and pedestrian involved traffic crash rates in order to establish an
understanding of how equitable access to safe bicycling and walking is in Phoenix. The
crash rates involving both bicyclists and pedestrians were categorized into two groups,
minor crashes and severe crashes. Then, the OLS model was used to analyze minor and
severe bicycle crash rates, and minor and severe pedestrian crash rates, respectively.
There are four main results, (1) The median income of an area is always negatively
related to the crash rates of bicyclists and pedestrians. The reason behind the negative
correlation is that there is a very small proportion of people choosing to walk or ride
bicycles as their commuting methods in the high-income areas. Consequently, there are
low crash rates of pedestrians and bicyclists. (2) The minor bicycle crash rates are more
related to socio-economic determinants than the severe crash rates. (3) A higher
population density reduces both the minor and the severe crash rates of bicyclists and
pedestrians in Phoenix. (4) A higher pedestrian commuting ratio does not reduce bicyclist
and pedestrian crash rates in Phoenix. The findings from this study can provide a
reference value for the government and other researchers and encourage better future
decisions from policy makers.
ContributorsWu, Feiyi (Author) / Nelson, Trisalyn (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Kuby, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Since the mid-2000s, the domestic aviation industry has been influenced by new, rapidly growing ultra low-cost carriers (ULCCs) such as Allegiant Air, Spirit Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. These carriers augment the existing low-cost airline model by operating largely point-to-point routes with a minimum of passenger amenities. Existing literature, however, is limited for North American ULCCs, often lumping them together with mainstream low-cost carriers. The pattern of markets served by ULCCs is incongruous with the models of other airlines and requires further research to examine causal factors. This paper sought to establish conclusions about ULCCs and the relevant market factors used for airport choice decisions.The relationship between ULCC operations and airport choice factors was analyzed using three methods: a collection of 2019 flight data to establish existing conditions and statistics, two regression analyses to evaluate airport market variables, and three case studies examining distinct scenarios through qualitative interviews with airport managers. ULCC enplanement data was assembled for every domestic airport offering scheduled ULCC service in 2019. Independent variable data informed by previous research were collected for every Part 139 airport in the U.S. The first regression analysis estimated a OLS regression model to analyze the log of enplanements. The second model estimated a binary logistic equation for ULCC service as a 0-1 dependent variable. Case studies for Bellingham, Washington, Waco, Texas, and Lincoln, Nebraska were selected based on compelling airport factors and relevant ULCC experience.
Results of the research methods confirm certain theories regarding ULCC airport choice, but left others unanswered. Maps of enplanements and market share revealed concentrations of ULCC operations on the East Coast. Each regression analysis showed a strong and positive relationship between population figures and the existence and quantity of ULCC operations. Tourism employment was only significantly related to enplanements. Other factors including distance and competition variables were significantly associated to ULCC service. Case studies revealed the importance of airport fees and costs in ULCC decision-making; factors that proved difficult to investigate quantitatively in this research. Further research may shed light on this complex and ever- changing subset of the domestic commercial aviation industry.
ContributorsTaplin, Drew (Author) / Kuby, Michael (Thesis advisor) / King, David (Committee member) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021