Xenia Karekla

• Ph.D.
• Research Associate at University College London

Whilst buses can improve societal well-being, they can also contribute to increasing car ownership due to their abrupt movements. High acceleration can be responsible for passenger injuries that require hospitalisation and for the development of fear of falling in the elderly, which turn people away from buses. Hence, to promote buses as a form of...

Buses are a form of active transportation and can improve people's well-being. However, their high level of acceleration can make them less attractive to users. Even worse, they can be responsible for severe injuries that require hospitalisation or for the development of fear of falling, particularly experienced by older people. Evidence has shown...

This work presents the travel patterns and preferences of 29 regular bus users. Through questionnaires, they state what they want to be able to do during bus journeys, e.g. where they want to sit, and which of these the current service allows. They express which of the examined accelerations better represent the service they are provided and point...

In a previous work of the authors, the impact of acceleration on people’s walking on the lower deck of a bus was examined. The importance of investigating the impact of bus acceleration when people are walking on the bus staircase is also recognised. As many falls occur on steps or stairs, especially during stair descending, eliminating non-collisi...

In a previous work of the authors, the impact of bus acceleration in level walking was presented. However, climbing stairs is physically more challenging than level walking and results in a high number of falls, hence substantial medical costs. Understanding the impact of a dynamic environment, such as that of a bus, on people’s gait whilst walking...

The numerous falls reported on buses due to sudden accelerations indicate the importance of examining the effect of dynamic environments on people’s gait and balance. Although such falls are more common for the elderly and increase the cost of medical care, they also reduce younger passengers’ satisfaction for the service. This study investigates t...

Air pollution is at the highest levels ever and there is currently a worldwide initiative by transport engineers and urban planners to redesign public transport modes and cities to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The environmental impact of everyday activities is more apparent in developing cities which take longer to adapt to...

Road transport is considered responsible for 70% of all GHG emissions, making it the largest polluter of all transport modes (EC, 2016). As an example of the Latin American context, in Chile 28% of its GHG emissions are generated by the transport sector, and with private cars gaining ground over public transport year after year, the levels of GHG e...

This thesis is exploring the movement of bus passengers in the dynamic environment of a London double-decker bus and aims at defining an acceptable level of acceleration that would provide an accessible bus service to users of all age groups. In addition, it is investigating whether passengers start their journeys with an inherent balance disadvant...

As people grow older, they tend to have reduced body capabilities and balance, therefore fall more frequently. One third of people over 65 fall at least once a year. When moving from a standing position towards a target, the body is put off balance until the lifted foot touches ground again. As numerous falls on buses are reported, assessing whethe...

Around 15% of the global population live with some kind of disability suffering from isolation and reduced quality of life. They travel three times less often than the general public due to poor infrastructure and as they feel uncomfortable when their disability is noticed by others. There is a need to understand the challenges these individuals fa...

This paper examines whether a dwell time reduction on a high-intensity metro service, as a result of a series of accessibility enhancements, can contribute to an increased level of service and accessible public transport for passengers together with a reduction in costs for the operator. Actual train operation data were collected by on-site observa...

It is recognised that the beneficiaries of accessible transport services and facilities are not limited to elderly and disabled people, yet the benefits to ordinary people and transport operators have seldom been considered. Based on London Underground's platform hump programme, in which part of the platform is raised in order to minimise the verti...

This paper investigates the effects of mobile phone use while driving on traffic speed and headways, with particular focus on young drivers. For this purpose, a field survey was carried out in real road traffic conditions, in which drivers' speeds and headways were measured while using or not using a mobile phone. The survey took place within a Uni...