Research Supervisor Connect
There is increasing recognition of the value of reliability in the transport system. Better data availability makes it possible to measure variability and infer its importance through traveller choices. As this aspect of system performance is incorporated into report cards and project evaluations, it becomes essential to understand which aspects of reliability are valued and how that will impact reactions to system changes. Many travellers place value on reliability in the system without necessarily possessing the skills or vocabulary to discuss probabilistic performance of a transport system. But the term reliability captures many characteristics such as low variability under typical conditions, infrequent occurrences of unusually bad conditions, and resilience to disasters. This project is primarily interested in understanding which specific attributes of system variability are most important to traveller decisions.
Masters/PHD
The aim of this research is to identify which aspect(s) of the transport system best capture the travellers’ experience of reliability. The researcher will collect new custom data and draw on existing information (transit smart card data, experienced travel times, incident logs). Interest in or experience with stated- and revealed-preference surveys as well as coding with large datasets is important. The outcomes of the research are a foundational building block for transport project evaluation and modelling of new technologies such as autonomous vehicles.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 2431