Subeh Chowdhury

University of Auckland · Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Women frequently face gender-based harassment when using public transport and adjust their travel behavior as a result. The present study focuses on how the presence of bystanders influences women’s sense of security and self-efficacy while using public transport. The study assesses the impact community support and social norms, perceived responsib...

The importance of gender mainstreaming in transport services has been brought to focus by leading organisations such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Commonly, women in South and Southeast Asian countries struggle with a public transport system that is not designed for them. National policy makers from these countries typically pick an...

Access to safe and reliable public transportation is one of the major mobility issues faced by women in developing countries, particularly in South and Southeast Asia due to patriarchal norms. It is evident that international guidelines are not effectively translated by national policymakers and implemented by practitioners. This study provides a f...

Public transit ridership was severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the effects have continued since. The present study examines changes to ridership immediately post-pandemic in 2021. Research investigating the effects of COVID-19 on disadvantaged population groups is limited and the present study addresses this knowledge gap....

Young ethnic minority women face unique challenges when riding public transport. The present study contributes by providing a narrative-based examination of young ethnic minority women’s formation of fear and adaptive behavior when using public transport. Twenty-nine ethnic minority women, under the age of 30, participated in a semi-structured inte...

Women in South and Southeast Asia encounter unique mobility barriers which are a combination of poor services by public transport modes and underlying patriarchal societal norms. Although international organisations provide guidelines for national policy makers to develop inclusive public transport systems, women’s mobility remains restricted and u...

Traffic crashes involving pedestrians often occur when the gap acceptance selected is below the minimum critical gap. Social cues and situational awareness play a key role in pedestrians’ choices when crossing roads at unprotected mid-blocks. This paper investigates the effects of conformist behavior on pedestrians’ cautiousness relative to their a...

Crossing roads at mid-block sections often creates ambiguity about priority between pedestrians and drivers, resulting in conflicts, road crashes, death, and human injury. To share the road space safely, they need to anticipate other user behaviors whilst maintaining and modifying their own habitual and desired maneuvers. This study investigates th...

Ensuring equity is considered in all types of decision making, including with respect to cycling provision, is important. Studies have investigated equity in relation to provision of cycling infrastructure and facilities. However, identifying other factors that need consideration in cycling equity is important. This study explored the impact of cyc...

Most studies on the operation and planning of integrated systems have been based on the needs of public transport users without disabilities. However, people with disabilities face different challenges when riding public transport. This study adopts Weber’s Law "Just Noticeable Difference" to investigate the travel time savings and transfer time de...

Bicycling demand Bicycle facilities Latent segmentation-based negative binomial model Unobserved heterogeneity Spatio-temporal factors A B S T R A C T Cities around the world are investing in their cycle network as a way to reduce traffic congestions and improve population health. For effective infrastructure investment decision-making, it is criti...

The ability to travel freely and independently to participate in society is essential for an individual’s wellbeing and quality of life. People with disabilities are often unable to access public transport due to barriers in the urban environment and public transport systems. This review provides a comprehensive examination of the barriers faced by...

One of the most common areas in public transit planning that has been under investigation is the inclusion of “social justice”. In its simplest form, social justice demands more equitable access for all residents to resources that are provided by a city. However, public transit plans are typically guided by maximising tangible measures such as econ...

Research studies on mode shift toward sustainable transport, particularly cycling, have become more common in the last decade. Despite some success in increasing cycling usage, there exist many barriers, both environmental and societal. This study provides a review of the key equity findings to date in cycling usage and identifies knowledge gaps. B...

Circuity of transit networks, defined as the ratio of network to Euclidean distance traveled from origin to destination stop, has been known to influence travel behavior. In addition to the longer time spent in travel, for networks where fare is based on distance traveled, higher circuity also means higher fare for the same Euclidean distance. This...

Pedestrians crossing roads at unprotected mid-block sections is a common behaviour associated with traffic accidents. It is a calculated risk that pedestrians take based on prevailing traffic conditions and their motivation. However, there is limited understanding of these factors. This paper investigates the motivational factors associated with pe...

In many cities, public transport has a higher ridership level from women compared to men, yet most systems are not designed for them. Many female riders fear of being a victim. The negative experiences are usually associated with the urban environment in and around stations. Integrated public transport systems will require users to make more transf...

Access to public transit forms a vital part of the well-being of people with disabilities. However, people with disabilities continue to be challenged in accessing their local transit services. This study investigates the existence of any gaps in users’ needs and practitioners’ prioritization of accessibility features. Senior practitioners deemed e...

Fairness and justice in transport provision, or the lack thereof, is a growing concern among both researchers and policy makers, and it is vital for transport planners and decision-makers to undertake measures to tackle such issues. Fairness in transportation is defined based on the concepts of both equality and equity. Unequal usage of transportat...

Vulnerable road users contribute to nearly half of road deaths globally. In New Zealand, this group accounts for 26% of road deaths, which includes 8% of pedestrian crashes. This paper provides a critical review of the road safety policies from the pedestrian’s viewpoint for some of the best performing countries and discusses their effectiveness fo...

Globally, transport agencies are implementing integrated public transport systems to increase ridership. Transfers are a key component of such integrated systems; they facilitate connectivity among modes, allowing the system to function in unison. It is well known that transfers can cause users to feel anxious, due to the possibility of missed conn...

Globally, transport authorities are investing to improve the quality of public transport (PT) services by developing integrated networks. The success of these networks relies on multimodal transfers. However, making a transfer means more time will be spent outside the vehicle compared with a direct route, and for women, this means being exposed to...

Although the concept of social justice seems to be ubiquitous in most transportation plans, methods adopted to evaluate transit systems have little engagement with political theories to define justice. Without a proper definition, transport planners will be unable to design transit systems that achieve justice. The present study proposes a combinat...

Accessibility to public transport is increasingly recognized as a critical element in the livelihoods of people with disabilities. Although there have been advancements to better cater for the needs of people with disabilities, budgetary constraints mean that every issue cannot be addressed. There are still many barriers restricting independent tra...

The planning of public transport systems plays a critical role in improving accessibility for all users. It provides people with opportunities for employment, social activities and involvement in the community. In recent times, many transport agencies are investing in their public transport systems to transform them into an integrated system. Howev...

The disutility of transfers in multimodal public transport goes beyond the additional walking and waiting times. Although the magnitude of this pure transfer penalty has been proven to be an essential element in the structural design of public transport lines, the scarce available research reveals a wide range of values. The aim of this paper is to...

This paper seeks to determine the effects of uncertainty in out-of-vehicle times on route choice. Data were collected at two key interchanges in Auckland, New Zealand. Previous work modelled the data using a manual approach to fuzzy logic. This study extends that work by automating the process through defining a black-box function to match the surv...

In public transport (PT) operations planning, timetable synchronization is a useful strategy to reduce inter-route or inter-modal passenger transfer waiting time and provide a well-connected service. This work addresses the integrated PT timetable synchronization with vehicle scheduling problem for a given PT network. A new bi-objective integer pro...

This work models part of a public transport network (PTN), specifically, a bus route, as a small-scale multi-agent system (MAS). The proposed approach was applied on a case study considering a real world bus line within the PTN in Auckland, New Zealand. The MAS-based analysis uses modelling and simulation to examine the characteristics of the obser...

This study investigates existing users’ attitudes towards public transport from two perspectives. First, the effects of accessibility to various destinations and ease of access to terminals on public transport users’ attitudes are determined. Second, the contribution of social norm, as an information source, in the formation of users’ attitudes is...

This study developed a tool that can be used by planners to assess the quality of their regional public transport plan and to produce a well-integrated system. The five attributes of integration—network integration, integrated timed transfer, integrated physical connection for transfers, information integration, and fare and ticketing integration—w...

Public transport travelers require well-integrated, real-time information systems to use a network. The objective of this study was twofold: (1) to develop a model to determine the effect of personalized information provision through smartphones on user ability to plan multi-destination trips, and (2) to understand user perception of riding public...

Urban cities are struggling with congested networks, noise and air pollution. Government agencies respond by investing in infrastructures to create integrated public transport systems. Transfers are a key element for the success of network integration. This study explores commuters’ perception of transfers by adopting Weber’s Law “Just Noticeable D...

Urban cities are struggling with congested networks, noise and air pollution. Government agencies respond by investing in infrastructures to create integrated public transport systems. Transfers are a key element for the success of network integration. This study explores commuters’ perception of transfers by adopting Weber’s Law “Just Noticeable D...

The aim of the study was to construct a framework to determine interconnectivity among public transport routes using the information provided by Google Transit and to apply this framework to appraise and compare the network connectivity of Auckland, London, and Paris. Google Transit provides both spatial and network data that are sourced directly f...

Many authorities are investing in new infrastructure to improve the quality of public transport (PT) services in the hope to increase mode switch from cars. The goal is to provide users with an integrated multimodal PT network by facilitating transfers. There exists a lack in the clarity of the attributes which defines a planned transfer and the ef...

One of the most common strategies used by authorities to promote ridership of public transport (PT) has been to provide travelers with an integrated multimodal transport system. Effective interconnections are a key element in the success of integrated transport systems. This study seeks to explore the cognitive factors which influence travelers’ wi...

In the literature, there is a lack of clarity on attributes that classify a planned transfer as being a connection designed by policy makers and public transport network planners. This calls for a proper guideline to be developed to support policy makers and planners in designing "seamless" transfers. The present study has two main objectives. The...

Modelling public-transport users’ perception g cumulative S. J. Chowdhury & A. Ceder Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand Abstract Out-of-vehicle times for public-transport users have been shown to be perceived as being more onerous than in-vehicle time when making transfers....

Out-of-vehicle times were shown to be perceived as being more onerous than in-vehicle time by transit users when making transfers. The present study has two main objectives. The first objective is to determine the effects of uncertainty, in out-of-vehicle times during transfers, on transit users’ willingness to use transfer routes. The second objec...

From past travel behavior studies it is evident that several trip attributes have been established as key factors in travelers' decision to use public transport. Using these factors, the present study seeks to provide a psychological perspective of the inconvenience expressed by public transport users' when making transfers between public-transport...