TIME
SESSION
LOCATION
8:00 – 9:00
Registration and morning networking
Great Hall Foyer
9:00 – 10:30
Opening and Introduction
The Hon John Graham MLC
Special Minister of State, Minister for Transport, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council
Plenary 1: From Oil Shocks to Electric Futures
Keynote speaker: Greg Bourne, Climate Council
Followed by: Panel discussion moderated by Dr Michelle Zeibots, University of Technology Sydney
UTS Great Hall
10:30 – 10:50
Morning tea
Great Hall Foyer
11:00 - 12:30
Paper presentation period 1
Paper 29
Enhancing pedestrian safety among CALD communities: Preliminary evidence from bilingual education interventions in Australia
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Nirajan Shiwakoti (RMIT University)
- Jie Yang (RMIT University)
- Nirajan Gauli (RMIT University)
- Richard Tay (RMIT University)
- Hepu Deng (RMIT University)
- Jian Chen (Institute for Social Neuroscience)
- Bharat Nepal (Western Sydney University)
- Jimmy Li (Chinese Community Council of Australia - Victoria Chapter - CCAV)
Pedestrian safety remains a key challenge in multicultural societies such as Australia, where culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities may face barriers to understanding and complying with local traffic rules. Despite growing recognition of culturally tailored safety interventions, there is limited empirical evidence integrating behavioural theory, with the evaluation of bilingual pedestrian safety programs for CALD communities, especially within the Australian context. This study evaluates a bilingual pedestrian safety education program targeting Chinese and Nepali communities in Melbourne, Australia. The program utilised culturally tailored videos and posters developed through prior community engagement.
Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), this study examines participants’ attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and behavioural intentions following exposure to the materials. This framework provides a structured and adaptable model that can be applied to other CALD communities with appropriate cultural and linguistic modifications.
Data was collected through four public forums with 260 participants, incorporating questionnaire surveys and qualitative written feedback. Descriptive statistical analysis and reliability testing were conducted, complemented by analysis of written feedback. Results indicate strong positive perceptions across all TPB constructs, with particularly high behavioural intention scores. Participants strongly valued bilingual materials, highlighting improved comprehension and engagement. The findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of bilingual pedestrian safety interventions for CALD communities. The study offers important implications for inclusive road safety policy and community-based education strategies in multicultural contexts.
Paper 32
Signal failure and driver behaviours: Cultural perspectives from urban Zimbabwe
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Patrick Simbarashe Matira (University of Zimbabwe)
- Crecentia Pamidzai Gandidzanwa (University of Zimbabwe)
- Billy Mukamuri (University of Zimbabwe)
Road traffic crashes remain a leading cause of preventable death in Zimbabwe, claiming approximately five lives per day. Despite growing recognition that road safety outcomes are shaped by more than infrastructure and enforcement, the socio-cultural dimensions of driver behaviour remain under-theorised in dominant transport planning frameworks. This paper has two objectives. First, drawing on sociological theory, it examines driver behaviour as an emergent property of culturally embedded systems of norms, meanings, and informal practices, an aspect largely neglected in engineering‑led models, behavioural approaches, and the Safe System paradigm. Second, it deploys an illustrative case study design, following Yin’s logic of analytical generalisation to theory rather than statistical generalisation to a population, to provide grounded empirical evidence that cultural embeddedness is directly observable in driver behaviour.
Observations were conducted at two signalised intersections in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, in December 2025, selected as a theoretically purposive quasi-experimental contrast: one intersection under functional signals and one under non-functional signals. The two-site design is not a sampling limitation but a deliberate theoretical instrument, sufficient to demonstrate condition-specific behavioural patterns and test the cultural propositions advanced. A total of 187 vehicle observations were recorded. Under functional signals, strategic violations predominated, particularly wrong-lane usage, signal running, and queue-jumping, consistent with risk compensation and the rational exploitation of predictable enforcement gaps. Under non-functional signals, coordination failures emerged, including one collision, four episodes of traffic disorder, and nine instances of pedestrian displacement. These condition-specific risk profiles are interpreted through the theoretical lens of habitus, normalised deviance, and negotiated compliance, illuminating the cultural logic of risk-taking and informal rule systems in Zimbabwean urban traffic. The paper contributes to debates on policy transferability and the limitations of universal transport models. It provides the theoretical and methodological foundation for a larger doctoral study on aberrant driving behaviours in Harare.
Paper 39
Writing on trains: why people do graffiti
Room Location
- Stephen Glackin (Swinburne University)
This paper provides an overview of why people do graffiti, and particularly why public transport and trains are such a high value target. Beginning with an overview of the origins of contemporary graffiti and illustrating some of its subcultural canons, it then shows the lived reality of graffiti writers. Such as the work ethic involved, the range of skills needed to access and paint trains, the primary motivations for doing so and the links to other crimes that can come from being involved in the subculture.
The aim of this paper is to provide some insights into the mind of the graffiti writer, illustrating the social elements, the gratification and the oppositional perspectives that many writers use to define themselves. It is provided as a means of understanding the phenomenon, which may go some way to assist authorities to better manage the issue, which has significant impact on Australian public transport.
Paper 70
A mixture of generalised pareto model for estimating pedestrian crash risk from traffic conflicts using AI-based analytics
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Saransh Sahu (Queensland University of Technology)
- Shimul Md Mazharul Haque (Queensland University of Technology)
| Extreme value modelling provides a statistical foundation for estimating pedestrian crash risk from traffic conflict data. The standard approach fits a single generalised Pareto distribution to conflict exceedances, assuming that all observations follow a homogeneous data-generating process. This assumption ignores structural differences between distinct conflict regimes and leads to biased crash frequency estimates. This paper proposes a new econometric modelling framework that uses a mixture of generalised Pareto distributions to represent the heterogeneous nature of vehicle–pedestrian conflicts. Each mixture component captures a distinct regime of interaction. A non-stationary extension models the regime-specific scale parameter as a function of observable traffic covariates, allowing conflict severity dispersion to vary with traffic conditions within each regime. Conflict severity is measured through risk force theory, a physics-based measure of the nearness to collision of interaction intensity. All parameters are estimated jointly using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. The framework is applied to 1,361 evasive-action vehicle–pedestrian conflicts extracted from 336 hours of video data at four signalised intersections in Brisbane, Australia. Results show that the mixture of generalised Pareto distributions provides a significantly better fit than the single generalised Pareto distribution. The non-stationary mixture extension reveals that pedestrian speed drives severity in the low-risk regime while vehicle speed drives severity in the high-risk regime. Predicted crash frequencies align closely with five-year observed crash records at both aggregate and site level |
Paper 48
Going the extra mile: Driver distributions for improved matching in ride-hailing
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Alexandra Waters (The University of Sydney)
- Andrés Fielbaum (The University of Sydney)
Ride-hailing systems face systematic inefficiencies when drivers are matched with users located far away. This paper investigates optimal static spatial distributions of drivers to minimise pick-up distances using an abstract hub-and-spoke network model to prevent this detrimental regime. Monte Carlo simulations were employed to evaluate all symmetric driver distributions across varying driver numbers ( = 4 to 2400) on networks with one and two nodes per branch. A trade-off between trying to match the stochastic demand, versus prioritising central locations, was evaluated. Results demonstrate optimal distributions closely mirror passenger demand locations, with drivers positioned at an average distance from the centre only 0.5−0.6% closer than passenger appearances. A clear economies of scale relationship was identified, with cost per driver decreasing approximately proportionally to ^−0.46 for single-node networks and ^−0.38 for two-node networks. Contrary to expectations from traditional hub-based transport design, minimal benefit was found in concentrating drivers at central nodes, with fewer than 1% of drivers optimally positioned centrally for large values. These findings provide foundational relationships for driver repositioning strategies applicable to ride-hailing and other spatial matching problems.
Paper 55
Passenger cognitive comfort: Eye-tracking metrics assessment of environmental risk perception on high-speed expressways
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Mohan Kumar Somavarapu (Monnah University)
- Avijit Maji (IIT Bombay)
- Nan Zheng (Monash University)
Automated driving systems (ADS) promise enhanced safety and efficiency, but their widespread adoption heavily hinges on passenger trust and cognitive (dis)comfort. To overcome the limitations of subjective post-drive surveys, this study utilises objective ocular(eye) metrics, average pupil diameter (PD), peak PD, and inter-blink interval (IBI) to quantify real-time passenger cognitive (dis)comfort during naturalistic highway driving. Fifty participants (33 male, 17 female) were tested on a 70-km expressway in an instrumented vehicle equipped with precise kinematic sensors and Tobii Pro Glasses 3. A professional driver executed 5,699 varied traffic events at different speeds, in different lanes, and during different manoeuvres. Seven independent variables, including ego vehicle speed (EVS), lateral clearance (LC), target vehicle type (TVT), and passenger position (PP), were analysed against standardised ocular z-scores using Kruskal–Wallis tests. Results establish average PD as the most robust indicator of cognitive discomfort. Physiological stress significantly spiked under specific conditions: when lateral clearance dropped below 1.0 m, when vehicle speeds exceeded 60 km/h, and during active overtaking manoeuvres compared to being overtaken. Additionally, Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and left-side seating positions (FL, RL) elicited substantially higher arousal than standard cars and right-side seating.
Peak PD successfully captured acute stress, showing high sensitivity to yaw rates above 3°/s, while prolonged IBIs indicated heightened visual fixation and suppressed blinking during spatially constrained, high-speed events. This research empirically identifies critical spatial and kinematic thresholds (e.g., LC < 1.0 m, EVS > 60 km/h) that trigger autonomic threat responses in passengers. Integrating these objective eye-tracking thresholds into ADS control loops allows for adaptive, comfort-aware driving styles. By proactively adjusting vehicle behaviour to respect human safety margins, developers can mitigate passenger anxiety, ensuring the safe, efficient, and inclusive deployment of autonomous mobility.
Paper 73
Learning methods, acceptance and use of advanced driver assistance systems in India
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Marsha Khan (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi)
- Sai Chand (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi)
Emerging technologies like the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are increasingly introduced in vehicles for enhanced safety and efficiency. In India, while the adoption of ADAS is gradually increasing, its potential benefits remain dependent on drivers’ acceptance and appropriate use. This study aims to investigate how users learn about ADAS and the factors that influence their acceptance. A structured survey was conducted with 120 drivers of ADAS-equipped vehicles. Modified Technology acceptance model was used, which incorporated Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Trust in Technology (TT), and Personal Innovativeness (PI) to predict Behavioral Intention (BI). Additional analyses examine point-of-sale information, usage patterns, and engagement in secondary tasks under different levels of automation. Findings revealed that the model explains 68.6% of the variance in behavioral intention. PU emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by TT and PEOU, while PI was not significant. Learning methods such as test drives, salesperson explanations, and internet sources were significantly associated with higher acceptance, although no significant relationship was found between learning methods and self-reported understanding. Similarly, the duration of explanation received at the point of sale also showed no significant effect on understanding or adaptation time. ADAS usage was strongly context-dependent. Most users reported frequent use of ADAS features on highways but disabled them in urban, stop-and-go traffic, which can be attributed to congestion, mixed traffic, and poor lane discipline. Notably, Level 2 ADAS significantly increased drivers’ likelihood of engaging in secondary tasks, indicating potential overreliance risks. Considering the rather early development stage of these systems in India, it is recommended that more research be conducted in this area.
Paper 31
Consistency of microscopic and macroscopic traffic simulation models for simultaneous parallel execution
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Yiming Bing (Sydney Grammar School)
- Pushkin Kachroo (University of Nevada)
| Microscopic and macroscopic traffic simulation models provide complementary perspectives on traffic dynamics: the former tracks individual vehicle trajectories via car-following rules, while the latter describes aggregate density and velocity fields through partial differential equations. Running both model classes simultaneously on the same road network enables real-time cross-validation of travel time predictions and density estimates, but requires careful treatment of consistency between the two representations. This paper presents a unified computational framework for the simultaneous parallel execution of microscopic and macroscopic traffic models on a shared road geometry. The microscopic layer employs the Optimal Velocity Model (OVM) with dynamic close-threshold car-following, while the macroscopic layer solves the Aw–Rascle–Zhang (ARZ) second-order system and, alternatively, the Lighthill–Whitham–Richards (LWR) first-order model using Rusanov numerical fluxes. We establish consistency by deriving the macroscopic equilibrium velocity–density relationship directly from the microscopic OVM steady-state via a fixed-point bisection procedure, ensuring that both models share identical fundamental diagrams. Initial conditions are synchronised through analytical density profiles that seed both micro car placement and macro cell averages. Micro-to-macro density estimation is performed via kernel density estimation (KDE), and macroto-micro vehicle synthesis places individual cars within the macroscopic velocity field. Numerical experiments on a 2500m ring road demonstrate close agreement in density evolution, velocity prof iles, and travel time fields between the parallel models across Gaussian and sawtooth initial density profiles. The framework enables simultaneous visualisation and comparison of both model outputs, providing a practical tool for validating simulation consistency in real-time traffic management applications. |
Paper 23
An international survey of motivations for public transport vs e-scooter travel in cities
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Mahesha Jayawardhena (Monash University)
- Alexa Delbosc (Monash University)
- Graham Currie (Monash University)
- Geoffrey Rose (Monash University)
Shared e-scooters are a novel mode of transport that is increasingly explored in the literature, yet their relationship with public transport remains debated. Most studies focus on how e-scooters can act as first- and last-mile connectors to public transport (complement) or to the extent to which they replace (compete with) public transport. Very few studies look at both of these relationships simultaneously to better understand why people use e-scooters to complement or replace public transport. This study investigates how shared e-scooters interact with public transport, identifying the ways in which they complement or compete with it. The analysis is based on findings from a revealed preference survey conducted across eight cities in North America, Europe, and Australasia. Additionally, this study also explores the factors that influence rider decisions to connect with or replace public transport. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to measure the relative importance of factors influencing riders’ decisions. The results show that shared e-scooters can complement and compete with public transport in a variety of ways. Shared e-scooters are frequently used in first and last-mile links and have some potential to divert car trips to public transport. Conversely, e-scooters can replace entire public transport trips or shorten public transport journeys by substituting only one leg of a trip. When looking at the factors motivating rider decisions, riders mainly choose shared e-scooters in the first/last mile because they offer a faster alternative to walking and because stations or stops are too far away. When replacing public transport, speed and enjoyment in shared e-scooters are the most influential factors, outweighing concerns about crowding or reliability in public transport.
Paper 84
Examining mode choice and induced demand effects of active transport infrastructure: The case of Brisbane’s green bridges
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Saeed Jaydarifard (Queensland University of Technology)
- Nayomi Kankanamge (University of the Sunshine Coast)
- Gonzalo Andrés Ríos Vásquez (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso)
- Hanns Aníbal de la Fuente-Mella (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso)
- Alexander Paz (Queensland University of Technology)
Governments are investing in active transport infrastructure to reduce congestion, improve public health, and advance sustainable mobility, yet evidence on behavioural impacts in car-oriented cities remains limited. Brisbane’s recently constructed green bridges provide dedicated corridors for walking, cycling, and micromobility across the Brisbane River. This study examined how these bridges influenced travel behaviour, with a focus on mode choice and the extent to which they could have generated induced demand. Data were collected via onsite intercept surveys of bridge users (n = 531), capturing sociodemographic characteristics, trip purpose, travel mode, perceptions of bridge impacts, and a trip-alternative question indicating how the trip would have been made if the bridge were unavailable. Mode choice was modelled using a mixed logit framework (walking, cycling, micromobility), and predictors of perceived trip inducement were examined using logistic regression. Walking represented the largest share of bridge use, particularly for exercise-related trips, while micromobility was more prevalent for leisure and commuting purposes. Mode choice varied systematically by trip purpose and user characteristics, with significant heterogeneity in preferences. Approximately 15% of trips were classified as perceived induced trips, concentrated in discretionary travel (leisure and exercise) rather than commuting. These findings provide new Australian evidence that high-quality river crossings are associated with both modal substitution and additional discretionary travel, underscoring the need to consider trip purpose and behavioural heterogeneity in infrastructure evaluation.
Paper 97
Feasibility of cyclist-compatible crossings connecting shared paths and spaces
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Benjamin Hartmann (University of Technology Sydney)
- Kasun Wijayaratna (University of Technology Sydney)
Shared pathways and pedestrian (zebra) crossings are increasingly central to developing safe, connected active transport networks for cyclists and pedestrians. Despite design guidelines that tacitly support such movement, current New South Wales (NSW) legislation prohibits cyclists from riding across pedestrian crossings. This report examines cyclist behaviour at crossings linking shared paths and evaluates whether legalising and redesigning these facilities would enhance safety, usability, and network cohesion. A five-stage mixed-methods approach was adopted, comprising observational analysis, legal feasibility review, safety and infrastructure evaluation, preliminary design development, and policy recommendations. Observational surveys at four NSW sites (Balgowlah, Manly, Ultimo, and Barangaroo) documented cyclist behaviours and interactions with pedestrians and vehicles. Crash data (2019–2023) and infrastructure audits informed a safety assessment, while legislative comparisons provided insight into the feasibility of reform. Results reveal low compliance with the dismount rule (4%), yet minimal conflicts involving cyclists and pedestrians (3%) or vehicles (8%). Most cyclists reduced speed or stopped to ensure safe passage, indicating cautious, adaptive responses. These findings suggest that existing prohibitions in NSW do not correspond to actual safety risks or cyclist and community expectations. Consequently, the report recommends legislative reforms to acknowledge cyclists as vulnerable road users and to allow crossing use under defined conditions, alongside design interventions such as raised platforms, traffic calming, and improved sightlines. Such measures stand to enhance safety, predictability, and overall efficiency of NSW’s active transport network.
Paper 104
A systematic review of surrogate safety indicators for micromobility and other vehicle interactions
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Jun Hwangbo (Safe Future Mobility Research Lab, Deakin University)
- Sajani Siriwardene (Safe Future Mobility Research Lab, Deakin University)
- Ashim Debnath (Safe Future Mobility Research Lab, Deakin University)
Micromobility devices, including bicycles, electric bicycles, and electric scooters, have expanded rapidly in cities over the past decade, raising significant safety concerns, particularly in their interactions with other vehicles. To investigate risks in such interactions, researchers have employed a range of surrogate safety indicators (SSIs) which were originally developed for motor-vehicle interactions. As a result, their applicability and suitability for micromobility contexts remain unclear, particularly because the validity of established thresholds for vehicles with different kinematic characteristics has not been systematically examined for micromobility interactions. To address this gap, this systematic review synthesised 64 studies on micromobility SSIs from studies published between 2000 and 2026. Each study was reviewed by SSI type, measurement modality, micromobility mode, region and threshold source. The analysis revealed three key trends in the literature. First, although 70% of the reviewed studies were published after 2020, bicycles still accounted for 61% of the studies, indicating an underrepresentation of other micromobility modes, such as e-scooters. Second, threshold provenance was often unclear as only five studies derived thresholds directly from micromobility-specific empirical data, while most relied on motor-vehicle studies or unattributed conventional criteria. Third, SSI measurement approaches varied widely, each associated with different threshold roles, contexts, and validity concerns. Together, these findings highlight a broader issue of unvalidated transfer of the SSI thresholds, which were originally developed for motor-vehicle interactions, to the wider micromobility contexts without sufficient validation. The findings of this study can be used in future research to improve SSIs for micromobility applications.
Paper 7
Decarbonising transport: Implications of the electric vehicle transition for transport planning and appraisal
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Isaac Mann (Endgame Analytics)
- Martin Chow (Endgame Analytics)
| The transition from Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) creates a nexus between the electricity sector and road transport. This is a bi-directional relationship: charging behaviours will have implications for the electricity grid, while the costs of driving will depend on electricity market dynamics. This paper explores the economic interactions between the National Electricity Market and transport costs. We model the consumer cost stack across varying charging profiles, including convenience, off-peak, and Vehicle-to-Grid scenarios. Results indicate BEVs substantially reduce vehicle operating costs compared to ICE equivalents, which may induce private travel demand and challenge public transport mode share. Furthermore, Vehicle-to-Grid technology introduces a novel opportunity cost for mobility, as driving forfeits potential revenue from grid support. We highlight the need to update transport appraisal guidelines to capture dynamic price signals, shifting road user charges, and changing externality valuations for robust infrastructure planning. |
Paper 45
Entry-level access and trim-level differentiation: Supply-side pricing of emerging vehicle technologies
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Heshani Rupasinghe (Queensland University of Technology)
- Md Mazharul Haque (Queensland University of Technology)
- Shamsunnahar Yasmin (Queensland University of Technology)
| The rapid integration of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and the transition toward battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are reshaping vehicle markets, yet limited empirical evidence exists on how these technologies are structured and priced by manufacturers. Existing studies typically treat vehicle price as a single outcome, overlooking the supply-side pricing architecture through which technologies are embedded at entry level and differentiated across trim variants. This study addresses this gap by developing a two-stage log-linear framework that decomposes vehicle pricing into (i) entry-level price, representing baseline market access, and (ii) trim-level price spread, capturing within-model vertical differentiation. Using household travel survey data from Southeast Queensland, Australia (2020/21–2024/25), the analysis estimates how fuel type, ADAS availability, efficiency and performance attributes, vehicle structure, and brand positioning influence both pricing components. The results show that ADAS features, particularly collision-avoidance and adaptive driving technologies, are strongly capitalised into entry-level prices, indicating increasing standardisation of safety technologies. In contrast, trim-level price spreads are more strongly driven by lane-support feature upgrades, suggesting that technologies are not monetised uniformly across trim structures. Higher entry-level price vehicles exhibit wider, but proportionally constrained, price spreads, consistent with vertical differentiation theory. Brand effects further show that EV manufacturers, particularly Tesla and BYD, adopt more compressed trim structures compared to conventional manufacturers. The findings demonstrate that standardisation and regulation shift technologies from trim-level differentiation toward baseline price formation, directly influencing what is accessible at the entry level. From a policy perspective, this highlights that technology diffusion depends not only on incentives, but also on pricing architecture, with implications for safety equity and electrification pathways. |
Paper 108
Estimating willingness to pay for amenities at heavy vehicle rest areas
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Thao-Mi Bui (BDO)
| Heavy vehicle rest areas (HVRAs) are critical to the freight supply chain in managing fatigue, improving road safety, and enabling truck drivers to comply with regulated driving hours (Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts 2022). Investment in the right amenities at HVRAs is therefore critical. However, no current guideline exists for valuing HVRA and government agencies responsible for delivering better HVRAs lack the tools for comparing them with investments in alternatives. This paper contributes to filling this gap by offering a set of robustly estimated willingness to pay (WTP) for HVRA amenities to support enhanced investment decision making. Specifically, this paper supports investment decisions by quantifying the value of rest stop facilities for heavy vehicle (HV) drivers in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. These quantified values can be used by practitioners undertaking cost-benefit-analysis to understand the optimal mix of amenities to provide at rest areas. This paper achieves this using a stated preference study of HV drivers in NSW. A novel binary discrete choice experiment (DCE) incorporating a best–worst scaling (BWS) component was implemented, where respondents evaluated hypothetical rest stops described by subsets of facility attributes and contextual trip conditions. Respondents completed choice tasks involving a decision to stop or continue driving, alongside identification of the most and least important facility attributes. Results indicate that HV drivers place significant value on core safety and hygiene facilities, including toilets, lighting, and security. They also exhibit preferences for operational features such as dedicated parking and trip-related amenities. The findings provide consistent parameters for practitioners seeking to evaluate the benefits of investing in HVRA facilities, and important insights for infrastructure planning and prioritisation of rest stop investments. |
Paper 114
Revisiting toll road appraisal: A logsum approach to reflect diverse values of time
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Daniel Veryard (Veitch Lister Consulting)
Economic appraisal of road projects typically estimates user benefits using equilibrium travel times and savings valued at a single equity value of time. The presence of toll roads complicates this picture, as travellers face a trade‑off between time and money and differ widely in their willingness to pay and so may choose routes that differ in travel time. Toll road models reflect this behaviour through multiple user classes with different values of time, but this heterogeneity is lost or mistreated in standard appraisal methods, leading to systematic understatement of benefits and sometimes counterintuitive disbenefits. This paper proposes a logsum based approach that measures changes in generalised time at the user class level before applying the equity value of time. A case study shows that this approach produces substantially higher and more behaviourally consistent user benefits, with material implications for investment decisions.
Paper 15
Objective and perceived healthcare accessibility for older adults: A comparative study of Perth, Australia and Shanghai, China
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Yini Sheng (The University of Western Australia)
- Doina Olaru (The University of Western Australia)
- Brett Smith (The University of Western Australia)
- Tristan W Reed (The University of Western Australia)
Healthcare accessibility is especially important for older adults, whose healthcare needs are often greater and whose mobility may be more constrained. This study compares objective and perceived healthcare accessibility for older adults in Perth, Australia and Shanghai, China. Objective accessibility was measured using cumulative opportunities based on travel times by car, public transport, and walking. Respondent-based travel times to preferred healthcare services were also used to capture travel burden. Perceived accessibility was measured using an adapted mode-specific Perceived Accessibility Scale. The results show clear differences between Perth and Shanghai. In both cities, car provided the broadest spatial access to healthcare services, while walking remained highly localised. Perth displayed a car-oriented accessibility pattern, whereas Shanghai showed stronger public transport accessibility within its denser urban structure. Perceived accessibility also differed significantly: older adults in Perth rated car access more positively, while respondents in Shanghai reported higher perceived accessibility by public transport and walking. Comparing objective and perceived accessibility revealed both alignment and mismatch. The findings suggest that healthcare accessibility for older adults is shaped not only by spatial and transport conditions, but also by how access is experienced within different urban contexts.
Paper 21
Mobility barriers and universal mobility opportunities in peri-urban Queensland: Evidence from Caboolture
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Laura Martinez-Buelvas (University of the Sunshine Coast)
- Lynette Cheah (University of the Sunshine Coast)
Transport disadvantage remains a persistent challenge in peri-urban areas, where lower population density and limited public transport reinforce reliance on private vehicles. This paper examines mobility barriers and opportunities for universal mobility initiatives in Caboolture, Queensland. A structured online survey of 163 residents captured travel behaviour, perceived accessibility, and preferences for alternative transport. The sample reflected a broad age distribution, with the largest group aged 35–44 years (22.1%), alongside a strong representation of younger adults (18–24: 19.6%), while women comprised 62% of respondents. Findings indicate a multimodal system structurally shaped by car dependence, with limited accessibility via public and active transport, particularly for essential trips. Despite this, many participants expressed willingness to reduce car use if viable alternatives were available. Qualitative insights highlight ways to overcome key barriers, including improving public transport service coverage and frequency, addressing safety concerns, and enhancing walking and cycling infrastructure. The results suggest that improving mobility requires integrated, accessibility-focused solutions. Potential universal mobility initiatives include enhanced service frequency and network coverage, demand-responsive and community transport services, improved first- and last-mile connectivity, safer and more continuous active transport infrastructure, and integrated multimodal systems. These findings support equity-oriented planning to improve mobility outcomes in outer-urban Queensland.
Paper 42
Data-driven refinement of evaluation indicators for municipal traffic culture levels
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Minkyung Kim (Hanyang University ERICA)
- Eunsol Cho (HyST Systematics)
- Cheol Oh (Hanyang University ERICA)
| The Traffic Culture Index (TCI) is widely used to assess traffic culture and traffic safety levels at the municipal level. In Korea, the TCI is administered nationwide. However, most evaluation indicators rely on questionnaire surveys or limited field observations, raising concerns regarding their objectivity and reliability. To address these limitations, this study evaluates the appropriateness and discriminative performance of current TCI indicators and proposes data-driven alternatives. For this purpose, an analytical framework was developed, consisting of appropriateness analysis and discriminative power analysis. Appropriateness was assessed by examining the relationship between indicator scores and regional traffic accident levels, while discriminatory performance was evaluated based on each indicator’s ability to distinguish municipalities with different traffic safety levels. The results identified the alcohol-impaired driving rate and speeding violation rate, both derived from self-reported survey data, as indicators requiring methodological improvement. These indicators were derived using publicly available enforcement data to enhance objectivity. The improved indicators were applied to all 229 municipalities nationwide and validated through rank correlation analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) utilizing traffic accident-based safety ratings. The findings show that the improved indicators exhibit statistically significant relationships with traffic safety outcomes and demonstrate enhanced discriminatory capability across municipalities. The significance of this study lies in deriving data-driven indicators for establishing more reliable municipal-level traffic culture evaluations and evidence-based traffic safety policies. |
Paper 77
Understanding seniors’ travel experiences and digital engagement: Implications for inclusive Mobility-as-a-Service
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Jiyoon Lee (Monash University)
- Selby Coxon (Monash University)
| Australia's ageing population faces growing challenges in navigating increasingly digitised transport systems, yet seniors’ lived travel experiences remain underexplored in the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) literature. This paper presents findings from a mixed-methods study with senior participants in Metropolitan Melbourne, combining a survey with semi-structured interviews and travel diaries. Three thematic findings emerged. First, seniors’ travel operates under a different logic from the working-age populations that MaaS typically targets, which is driven by wellbeing, social participation and independence rather than efficiency with mode choices shaped by accessibility and familiarity rather than cost or speed. Second, digital engagement among seniors is selective and task-dependent, showing varied digital literacies. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated specific digital behaviours without producing broad digital confidence, and information fragmentation across transport platforms constitutes a system-level failure that disproportionately burdens older users. Third, seniors perceived current MaaS designs as oriented towards younger, tech-savvy users, yet welcomed information consolidation and simplified payment while showing little interest in mode bundling and micro-mobility subscriptions. Five distinct senior user groups were identified based on shared travel and digital engagement patterns, demonstrating the heterogeneity within this demographic and its implications for service design. The findings suggest that inclusive MaaS should prioritise information consolidation over mode bundling, build on existing practices, embed human support as a structural feature, and accommodate the social nature of seniors' travel. The paper contributes qualitative evidence to inform people-centred transport planning for ageing populations. |
Paper 74
Mean-variance transport capacity planning with minimum-charge contracts: An air freight forwarding application
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Kannapha Amaruchkul (National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)
- Akkaranan Pongsathornwiwat (National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)
| Freight forwarders often reserve transport capacity in advance through minimum-charge contracts, while relying on higher-cost non-contractual capacity when realised demand exceeds the reserved capacity. This creates a capacity-planning trade-off under demand uncertainty: reserving too little increases exposure to expensive non-contractual procurement, whereas reserving too much leads to under-utilised contracted capacity and minimum-charge payments. This paper studies this trade-off by formulating a mean--variance transport capacity-planning model for a freight forwarder that must determine advance capacity reservations before demand is realised. The model captures reservation limits, minimum chargeable-weight rules, and non-contractual procurement for demand exceeding reserved capacity. Demand uncertainty is represented using day-of-week predictive distributions estimated from historical shipment data, and the risk-aversion parameter controls the trade-off between expected procurement cost and realised cost variability. The model is evaluated using operational data from the Bangkok--Narita air freight lane. Forecasting-based reservation policies are compared with the forwarder’s current policy and a perfect-information benchmark in terms of realised cost, service level, and contracted-capacity utilisation. The results show that the current policy achieves high service reliability through substantial over-reservation, but at the cost of low utilisation and high procurement cost. In contrast, the proposed mean--variance policies can reduce procurement cost and improve utilisation while controlling exposure to high-cost non-contractual procurement. The results also show that risk aversion and forecast quality jointly affect recommended reservation levels: stronger risk aversion generally increases reserved capacity and improves service reliability, while more accurate forecasts reduce the need for excessive contractual buffers. |
Paper 83
Logistics decision-making under risk: A scoping review of research approach, context and decision priorities
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Emma Stucki (University of Waikato)
- Nadia Trent (University of Waikato)
- Cécile L'Hermitte (University of Waikato)
| The quality of decisions made in logistics systems under risk has a decisive impact on supply chain performance, especially relating to disruption response and resilience. We conducted a scoping review on decision-making in logistics under risk to establish how contextual, methodological, and behavioural influences currently shape the literature. Findings show heavy methodological leanings on quantitative modelling, tendencies towards risk generalisation, isolation of decision-making according to logistics function, and limited inclusion of human behavioural influences. Evaluating the scope of the literature holistically, three advancements for the field are suggested: First, increasing complexity and human behavioural influences in decision-making models. Second, prioritise the identification of risk type in any decision-making risk research. Finally, include qualitative and human behavioural approaches to increase realism in decision-making conclusions. |
Paper 85
From GPS breadcrumbs to functional activities: Cleaning telemetry data despite geospatial obfuscation
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Nadia Trent (University of Waikato)
- Monique Stinson (U.S. Department of Transportation)
- Johan Joubert (KU Leuven)
Truck GPS data, sourced through third-party telematics providers, offer valuable intelligence to freight transportation studies. Vexing researchers, many third-party data providers intentionally obfuscate the exact geographic coordinates in the data to protect their clients’ sensitive data. This paper addresses a practical and underexplored problem in freight analysis: how to infer functional activities when detailed geographic coordinates are unavailable and spatial context is deliberately aggregated. We implement an unsupervised HDBSCAN pipeline, followed by frequent pattern mining, to develop a parsimonious set of merging operations that produce 33.1% cleaner trip chains that better reflect plausible freight activity patterns. Event-duration and inter-event-time distributions shifted in intuitive ways, while spatial autocorrelation results confirm that global and local freight activity patterns were preserved after cleaning. By relying only on attributes commonly retained in anonymised commercial datasets, the approach expands the usability of third-party telemetry data and provides a more reliable foundation for subsequent freight modelling, planning, and policy analysis.
Paper 126
Designing a context-sensitive discrete choice experiment for heavy-duty vehicle decarbonisation in Australia: Instrument development and descriptive survey evidence
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Annisa (University of NSW)
- Elnaz Irannezhad (University of NSW)
- Taha Rashidi (University of NSW)
- Seyed Hossein Hosseini (University of Sydney)
| Reducing emissions from heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) is central to Australia's freight decarbonisation challenge, yet Australia-specific evidence on how freight operators evaluate alternative vehicle technologies across different operating conditions remains limited. In response to this gap, this paper presents two related contributions. First, it describes the development of a behaviourally grounded, context-sensitive discrete choice experiment (DCE) designed specifically for Australian HDV operators. Second, it reports descriptive findings from a completed survey, documenting operator profiles, operating contexts, and stated technology preferences prior to formal econometric estimation. The DCE uses a labelled design with three alternatives: conventional diesel, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and renewable diesel vehicles, and is explicitly informed by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Diffusion of Innovations (DoI). A defining feature of the instrument is its routing logic, which assigns respondents to vehicle-class-relevant choice tasks based on their dominant operating context (short-haul or long-haul). The experimental design was generated using an Ngene D-efficient framework. The results highlight the diversity of the Australian HDV sector in terms of fleet size, business type, and freight task. Diesel remained the most frequently selected technology, while renewable diesel attracted greater interest than BEVs, particularly among long-haul operators. Preliminary multinomial logit (MNL) results indicate that this difference is largely explained by technology attributes, such as purchase cost, operating cost, and emissions, rather than by intrinsic preferences for specific technologies. Attitudinal responses showed that perceived behavioural control, particularly concerns about charging infrastructure access, was the strongest reported barrier to adoption. These findings support the survey design and provide a basis for subsequent mixed logit, latent class, and hybrid choice modelling. |
12:40 – 1:20
Lunch
Great Hall Foyer
1:30 – 3:00
Workshops
Beyond the black box: Building transparent transport models with open-source software
Pedro Camargo (Outerloop)
Room: B11.B2.104
Introduction to behavioural insights: Designing better transport policies and services
Alex Iljin (WA Department of Transport)
Room: B11.B3.103
Reducing trauma and improving safety on rural and regional roads: Sustainable road sealing innovation towards Net Zero
A/Prof. Sanjay Nimbalkar
Room: B11.B2.102
Connecting models, methods and meaning in transport research
Jennifer Kent (The University of Sydney)
Room: B11.B3.104
Autonomous Vehicle Workshop – Tier V/ Toyota
A/Prof. Simona Mihaita (University of Technology Sydney)
Room: TBA
TfNSW operational tour: Rail Operations Centre: (ROC)
A guided visit to the Rail Operations Centre (ROC), the Sydney Trains 24/7 control facility that manages Sydney's suburban rail network.
Hosted by Transport for NSW.
Departure location to be advised.
TfNSW operational tour: Transport Management Centre: (TMC)
Visit the Transport Management Centre (TMC) and experience a behind the scenes look at how Transport for NSW keeps the state moving every day.
The TMC is the operational heart of the New South Wales transport network
Hosted by Transport for NSW.
Departure location to be advised.
TfNSW operational tour: Central Station Transformation & Clock Tower
This walking tour offers a rare opportunity to experience both the historic and contemporary layers of Australia's busiest transport hub. Discover the stories behind Central Station's transformation, and visit the historic Clock Tower, a Sydney landmark that has kept the city running on time since 192
Hosted by Transport for NSW.
Departure location to be advised.
3:10 – 3:30
Afternoon Tea
Great Hall Foyer
3:40 – 5:10
Paper presentation period 2
Paper 24
Operating speeds at traffic calming devices: A multi-site study from the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Karl Sinnamon (Department of Transport and Main Roads)
- Rodney Zinn (Sunshine Coast Council)
- Adrian McCallum (University of the Sunshine Coast)
- Laura Martinez-Buelvas (University of the Sunshine Coast)
| Inappropriate vehicle speeds on local streets contribute to increased crash risk and injury severity. This study examines the operating speeds of four commonly implemented traffic-calming devices on the Sunshine Coast, Australia: flat-top road humps, modified T-intersections, centre blister islands, and single-lane angled slow points. Vehicle speeds were collected at 42 sites using pneumatic tube counters, with analysis focused on 85th percentile speeds at each device. Across all device types, observed 85th-percentile speeds were substantially lower than the posted 50 km/h speed limit, with mean operating speeds ranging from approximately 31 km/h to 35 km/h. Differences between device types were modest, with all treatments achieving similar levels of speed reduction at the point of measurement. Variability in performance was associated with design characteristics and site-specific conditions, including alignment and degree of horizontal or vertical deflection. The findings indicate that, when designed and implemented in accordance with relevant guidelines, a range of traffic calming devices can achieve comparable reductions in operating speed at localised points. Rather than identifying a single “most effective” device, the results suggest that device selection should consider contextual factors such as road geometry, surrounding land use, and implementation constraints. |
Paper 38
Predicting the unseen: a case study of unsafe situation prediction for bicycles using machine learning
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Aisyah Jannah (RMIT University)
- Sara Moridpour (RMIT University)
- Richard Tay (RMIT University)
- Bo Du (Griffith University)
| Bicycles are micromobility vehicles that help reduce traffic congestion, promote a healthier lifestyle, and support sustainable modes of transportation. Nevertheless, bicyclists are among the most vulnerable road users due to their minimal physical protection compared to other motorised vehicle users. Providing timely warnings to cyclists in dangerous situations is valuable for enhancing their safety, particularly in urban areas with mixed traffic conditions. This study aims to develop Machine Learning (ML) models to predict the bicycle’s next 1 sec situation binary class (safe or unsafe) when interacting with another vehicle, using current microscopic traffic parameters. The unsafe situation is defined based on Time to Collision, one of the most widely used Surrogate Safety Measures (SSMs), and two ML algorithms were used and compared, including Random Forest (RF) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). This study used a mid-block location in Melbourne CBD as a case study. The results showed that XGBoost is more accurate than RF in predicting bicyclists’ situations. By developing a safety prediction model specialised for cyclists, this paper provides some insights that support the development of effective interventions to enhance vulnerable road user safety. |
Paper 40
Pedestrian fatality risk on multilane highways in India: Land use, infrastructure and temporal patterns
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Mariela Patricia Gonzalez Chirino (Curtin University)
- S Zaung Nau (Curtin University)
- Ash Doshi (Curtin University)
- Mohammed Quaddus (Curtin University)
- Elliott Panos (Main Roads Western Australia)
| Pedestrian crash risk remains disproportionately high along multilane highways in India, particularly in locations where roadside development is not supported by adequate infrastructure. This study examines the associations between micro-level infrastructure, land use characteristics, and pedestrian fatality risk, while characterising the temporal patterns of fatal pedestrian crashes along a major highway corridor. Fatal crash data from 2017–2022 along National Highway 44 in Haryana were analysed using an integrated approach. Temporal analysis was used to identify high-risk periods, and a negative binomial regression model was applied to examine the infrastructure and land use factors associated with pedestrian fatality risk. Results indicate that service roads (IRR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.17–0.83), earthen shoulders (IRR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.47–0.91), and street lighting (IRR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48–0.92) were associated with lower pedestrian fatality risk. In contrast, junctions (IRR = 2.03, 95% CI: 1.49–2.78), bus stop locations (IRR = 1.90, 95% CI: 1.17–3.09), commercial land use (IRR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.64–3.03), and mixed land use (IRR = 1.90, 95% CI: 1.33–2.72) were found to be major factors associated with higher pedestrian fatality risk. Temporal analysis indicated that fatal crashes were concentrated during evening and nighttime periods. These findings highlight the importance of considering interactions between infrastructure design and surrounding land use to improve pedestrian safety along highway corridors. The results support targeted interventions, including strategic placement of bus stops, improved lighting, and better junction design, and provide practical insights for transport planning in India and other countries with similar highway environments. |
Paper 129
Safer school zones: A spatial analysis of crash risk in Perth
Room Location: B11.B2.101
- Mariela Patricia Gonzalez Chirino (Curtin University)
- S Zaung Nau (Curtin University)
- Ash Doshi (Curtin University)
- Mohammed Quaddus (Curtin University)
- Elliott Panos (Curtin University)
| Road safety in urban and regional zones remains a critical concern for transport planners, policy makers and communities, due to its concentration of vulnerable users and competing transport demands from land-use characteristics of its surrounding area. This paper presents a spatial, multi-dimensional analysis of road crash risk around school zones in the Perth metropolitan area, Western Australia, over the period 2019–2023. Road crash data, traffic volumes, public transport provision and socio-economic indicators are integrated into a spatial framework. The findings indicate that crash risk around school zones is not randomly distributed but follows a persistent spatial structure aligned with major transport corridors and mixed land-use environments in Perth. While crash frequency is widely distributed across the metropolitan area, significant severity outcomes are concentrated in specific urban locations, especially near major intersections and arterial roads. The results also show that public transport accessibility does not necessarily reduce crash risk in high-activity areas, and socio-economic vulnerability overlaps with several high-risk zones. Overall, the research highlights that crash risk in school environments is shaped by the interaction between traffic dynamics, urban structure, and exposure patterns. The results support the need for targeted, place-specific interventions that extend beyond school frontages and consider broader transport network conditions. |
Paper 62
M2SimVR: Multi-modal mobility simulation with VR, E-scooter, driving simulator, SUMO and unity integration
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Zhiwei Yang (The University of Queensland)
- Saeed Mohammadian (The University of Queensland)
- Zuduo Zheng (The University of Queensland)
| This paper presents a novel and flexible open-source simulation platform that integrates OpenStreetMap (OSM), SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility), Unity 3D, Virtual Reality (VR), an electric scooter (e-scooter), and a Logitech driving wheel to create a realistic, interactive driving and riding simulator. The platform supports multimodal traffic scenarios involving vehicles, e-scooters, and pedestrians. SUMO handles the microscopic traffic modeling of non-player vehicles and e-scooters, while Unity provides immersive 3D visualization with VR integration, pedestrian simulation, and real-time player inputs via physical devices, including an e-scooter handlebar (sensed by Arduino) and a Logitech driving wheel. The Traffic Connection Interface (TraCI) API is used to synchronize traffic simulation in SUMO and Unity. The platform enables the simulation of real-time interactions among various road users in diverse urban settings such as shared paths, crossings, and intersections. Custom scenarios can be created to investigate behavior, safety, and dynamics across different transport modes. Comprehensive data, including road user trajectories, energy consumption, and vehicular emissions, can be collected for analysis. This platform offers a powerful tool for research on mixed traffic environments, human-machine interaction, cooperative mobility, and sustainable transport solutions. |
Paper 68
How local cycling culture influences commuting choices in greater Melbourne: A mixed logit study
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Sapan Tiwari (RMIT University)
- Afshin Jafari (RMIT University)
| Cycling is widely recognised as a sustainable mode of transport with clear health, environmental, and congestion-reduction benefits. However, its uptake for commuting remains relatively low despite these advantages. Understanding the factors that influence commuters’ mode choices is critical to promoting cycling as a viable alternative to other modes. While travel time and cost are well-established determinants, the role of local cycling culture (LCC) has received no attention in the literature. This paper investigates how neighbourhood-level cycling, referred to as LCC, shapes commuting behaviour in Greater Melbourne. Using data from the Victorian Integrated Survey of Travel and Activity (VISTA), we estimate both multinomial (MNL) and mixed logit (ML) models across three commute distance scenarios, with the ML models capturing preference heterogeneity beyond the limitations of the MNL model. The findings show high time and cost sensitivities for short commute trips. LCC has a positive impact on cycling uptake but exhibits substantial heterogeneity, particularly for mid-range trips, where cultural influences vary significantly across individuals. The results illustrate that the most significant behavioural shifts occur when reduced travel times coincide with local cycling. The findings of this study underscore the need for integrated strategies that combine infrastructure and cultural norms, rather than relying on uniform interventions. |
Paper 76
How are bikeway planning recommendations made? A decision-oriented review of problem types and method families
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Xueqing Shi (University of New South Wales)
- Yan Liu (University of New South Wales)
- Christopher Pettit (University of New South Wales)
| Academic studies use many methods to plan bikeway infrastructure, but the tools named in a paper do not by themselves identify the spatial decision made or which analytical mechanism had the main substantive role in forming the recommendation. This review asks how bikeway planning recommendations are structured and produced in the academic literature. We conducted a systematic mapping review of English-language, peer-reviewed studies published from 2005 to March 2026. The search covered Scopus and Web of Science, and manually identified papers were assessed against the same eligibility criteria. The final sample contained 118 papers. Twelve papers reported two separable decision stages, giving 130 stages for stage-level analysis. A theory-informed iterative process combining deductive and inductive analysis produced three problem types and eight primary method families. Selection accounted for 62 stages (47.7%), Prioritization for 36 (27.7%) and Connection for 32 (24.6%). Formal optimization/search accounted for 44 stages (33.8%) and multi-criteria aggregation/outranking for 33 (25.4%). The strongest pairings were Selection with formal optimization/search, Prioritization with multi-criteria aggregation/outranking and Connection with pathfinding/routing, although neither dimension determined the other. Publication activity was concentrated after 2015, with 104 of the 118 papers published from 2016 onward. In the later periods, problem types were more evenly distributed and a broader mix of primary method families was observed. Among the 12 two-stage papers, nine changed problem type and nine changed primary method family, with these figures counted separately. The resulting decision-oriented map links planning needs, problem definition and method choice. It is a typology of the included sample rather than a universal classification of bikeway planning. |
Paper 79
Changing usage patterns on shared paths under emerging mobility technologies: Evidence from Melbourne
Room Location: B11.B2.104
- Amelia Poetter (Monash University)
- Robbie Napper (Monash University)
| The rapid uptake of technological innovations in micromobility has raised questions about whether existing shared path infrastructure can accommodate a growing diversity of users. While much of the literature focuses on safety and design responses, less attention has been paid to how shared path use is changing through the interaction of technology, infrastructure, and user behaviour at a system level. This paper examines changes in shared path use in Melbourne using a range of data sources, with a focus on speed, distance, and temporal patterns as indicators of behavioural change. Results show limited evidence of substantial growth in overall demand. Changes in speed distributions, rather than volume or mode share, provide the clearest evidence that increased uptake in e-mobility use is reshaping shared path use. These patterns suggest that shared paths are adapting primarily through behavioural substitution rather than the addition of new users. Over the last four years, micro-mobility and bike usage throughout the week has become more consistent. In parallel, the speeds observed from users of bike lanes converged around 25km/h. The distribution of speeds on shared paths in the weekday morning peak has shown a reduction in median speed and steady convergence year on year. In contrast, on weekends, on the same paths over the same time period, speeds have also converged, but have increased. The findings highlight the importance of interpreting infrastructure performance through behavioural indicators that reflect the interaction between people, place, and emerging mobility technologies. |
Paper 10
Valuing flood evacuation resilience using Hedonic Price Modelling in Sydney, Australia
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Alex Svanberg (Transport for NSW)
- James McIntosh (Transport for NSW)
- Roman Trubka (Transport for NSW)
| While extensive research has valued the economic impact of flooding, there is a significant gap in understanding the specific value of flood evacuation resilience. This paper aims to delineate and quantify the Willingness to Pay (WTP) for efficient flood evacuation, as distinct from the WTP to avoid general flood risk. Using the flood-prone Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley (HNV) in Western Sydney as a case study, the study integrates the NSW State Emergency Service's Flood Evacuation Model (FEM) with a Hedonic Price Model (HPM). The analysis evaluates the economic benefits of the proposed Flood Evacuation Road Resilience (FERR) program, an initiative that aims to improve evacuation travel times and road network capacity without altering the actual flood levels. The empirical results confirm that both flood risk and evacuation travel times are distinctly monetized into the local land market. Cross-sectional modelling of 2023 land valuations demonstrates that residential properties ordered to evacuate during a 1:500 Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) flood event are valued 1.8% lower than comparable properties not subject to evacuation orders. More critically, the study reveals that residential land values decrease by 0.4% for every additional hour of FEM-estimated evacuation travel time during a 1:500 AEP event. Ultimately, this methodology provides a novel empirical foundation for monetizing the benefits of road network resilience and incorporating evacuation efficiency into future Cost-Benefit Analyses for disaster management. |
Paper 25
Decarbonising transport: The electrification of freight
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Isaac Mann (The University of Sydney)
- Martin Chow (The University of Sydney)
| The electrification of road freight establishes a nexus between the transport and electricity sectors, presenting a decarbonisation pathway for heavy vehicles. This paper evaluates the financial viability of long-haul battery electric trucks compared to diesel equivalents. Cost modelling of a 1,000-kilometre B-double movement between Brisbane and Sydney demonstrates that electric trucks can achieve operator cost parity. Savings in energy and maintenance offset capital premiums, with off-peak charging schedules delivering a 6% cost reduction. Conversely, peak charging renders the electric alternative 1% more expensive. Cost competitiveness depends heavily on travel distance, achieving parity at approximately 700 kilometres per day, which reduces to under 300 kilometres under sustained high diesel prices. While barriers such as infrastructure deficits and regulatory misalignment remain, government intervention and strategic charging can accelerate the transition to zero-emission freight technologies. |
Paper 82
Housing price responses to metro upgrades and extensions: Evidence from Sydney
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Alexei Roudnitski (The University of Sydney)
| This paper estimates the impact of the Sydney Metro Northwest on housing prices across the announcement, construction, and implementation phases of the Chatswood–Tallawong corridor. Using detached-house transaction data from 2009–2022, we apply a Difference-in-Differences framework comparing properties within 700 metres walking distance of Metro stations to nearby control properties located within a 1500-metre radius. During the announcement phase, housing prices per 2 increased by approximately 5.75% on average. Substantial heterogeneity is observed across corridors, with prices rising by 12.31% along the converted Chatswood– Epping corridor compared with 3.8% along the newly constructed Epping–Tallawong extension. Construction-phase effects remain positive overall, while implementation-phase effects are statistically insignificant, suggesting that housing market responses occur primarily before service commencement. The analysis incorporates forward-looking accessibility measures within a Difference-in-Differences framework. The results indicate that housing prices respond more strongly to anticipated long-run accessibility gains associated with future CBD connectivity than to contemporaneous accessibility changes realised at the initial network opening. These effects are consistently larger along the converted corridor, suggesting that accessibility improvements are more strongly valued where investments upgrade established transport networks and existing economic activity. Overall, the findings indicate that housing market responses to major rail investments depend on both expectations regarding future connectivity and the pre-existing urban structure of affected locations, with implications for transport appraisal and land-value capture policy. |
Paper 89
George Street after the CBD and South East light rail: Are there signs of higher value land use change?
Room Location: B11.B3.101
- Vartguess Markarian (Markarian Economics Pty Ltd)
| Proponents are increasingly looking to justify major transport projects on the role they play in ‘shaping’ cities and regions. This is leading to a greater reliance on wider economic benefits (WEB) and benefits from land use change, while expectations of transport user benefits remain largely unchanged. This outcome recognises that, where market imperfections exist, new transport infrastructure can produce a range of additional benefits, such as outcomes with land use change. This paper explores the concept of higher value land use, including its micro-economic foundations. It adopts the case of George Street Sydney, before and after the construction of the CBD and South East Light Rail (CSELR) project, to identify whether the conditions for higher value land use change exist. Aggregate data on floor space, jobs and businesses are then presented to identify any early signs of higher value land use change. These data are analysed in the context of the key conditions which underpin land use benefit realisation. In doing so, the paper also acknowledges that these ex-post data include the effects of factors such as underlying macroeconomic trends, the impact of Covid-19 and location specific feasibility of land use change. Finally, this paper draws some conclusions, including the challenges associated with isolating the impact of the transport project from the range of other factors which can affect changes in land use. |
Paper 99
Context-aware LSTM model for drivers' speed selection behaviour prediction at exit ramp terminals
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Gayathri Aluwala (Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad; Deakin University)
- Digvijay S. Pawar (Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad)
- Ashim Debnath (Deakin University)
| Predicting driver longitudinal behaviour at freeway exit ramp terminals is critical for ramp safety analysis and the development of Connected and Automated Vehicles and cooperative Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. However, existing predictive models rely predominantly on kinematic inputs alone, without accounting for the spatial context of the exit ramp environment, limiting their accuracy over longer forecast horizons. This study proposes a context-aware deep learning framework that augments kinematic inputs, instantaneous speed and longitudinal acceleration, with two spatial context features: distance to the painted gore and the speed deviation from the posted speed limit at the gore at a given time. Three models were evaluated: Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM), and a hybrid Convolutional Neural Network with LSTM (CNN+LSTM). Each model was evaluated under baseline (kinematic inputs only) and context-aware configurations at both global and local/site-specific levels. Speed and longitudinal acceleration were predicted across forecast horizons of 2 to 10 seconds at four exit ramp terminals comprising diagonal, semi-direct and direct interchange ramp configurations. Exit speed analysis showed that speeds at the gore consistently exceeded posted speed limits at all sites. Incorporating spatial features reduced Normalised Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) across all horizons and models. The Context-BiLSTM achieved the best performance, reducing speed NRMSE by up to 22.8% at the 10-second horizon. Globally trained models demonstrated high transferability for speed prediction, whereas acceleration prediction required site-specific calibration for local geometry variations. These findings provide a foundation for developing context-aware predictive models to inform in-vehicle assistance systems, real-time motion planning, and proactive ramp terminal safety management. |
Paper 131
AequilibraE 2.0: The next generation of high-performance open-source solution for transport modelling
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Jake Moss (Outer Loop Consulting)
- Pedro Camargo (Outer Loop Consulting)
| Over a decade after its release, AequilibraE has established itself as the most relevant Open-Source transport modelling software available. As the software becomes feature-complete and its adoption grows, a new generation of the library is needed to solidify its position as the premier Open-Source alternative for transport modelling. This paper describes AequilibraE's current standing and the upcoming changes for the 2.0 release, scheduled for late 2026. |
Paper 143
Strategic planning model for wireless charging infrastructure configuration for electric trucks in New Zealand
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Amalie Zeraïria (University of Auckland)
- Andrea Raith (University of Auckland)
- Richard Boucherie (University of Twente)
| Heavy-duty freight electrification requires strategically planned charging infrastructure that accounts for operational constraints, charging demand, and large-scale freight movement patterns. However, existing approaches often treat charging location planning, capacity allocation, and operational scheduling separately, limiting their applicability to realistic freight systems. This paper presents a scalable exact optimization framework that combines the charging location problem, capacity allocation and operational planning of truck recharge locations, all appreciating spatiotemporal capacity at charging locations that can be used for charging infrastructure configuration. The problem is formulated as an integer linear programming model, solved with the Gurobi Solver. To mimic realistic freight operations, two model variants incorporating en-route charging and path deviation behaviour are developed. The framework is showcased and validated through a large-scale case study on heavy-duty truck freight in New Zealand, based on realistic truck movement data. For this case study static wireless charging techniques are investigated. Results demonstrate how operational flexibility, particularly allowable path deviation, substantially alters charging infrastructure configuration and utilisation. The proposed framework functions as a generalizable planning tool that estimates the charging infrastructure required to support different levels of freight electrification and identify strategic charging network expansion. |
Paper 153
A congestion-aware rerouting framework for connected autonomous vehicles in disrupted urban networks
Room Location: B11.B2.103
- Ali Davoodi (Monash University)
| Urban transportation networks are highly vulnerable to congestion, particularly under disruptive events such as road blockages, incidents, and capacity reductions. While real-time navigation applications aim to reduce individual travel times, they can unintentionally intensify congestion by routing large numbers of drivers onto the same alternative paths. Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles (AVs) present new opportunities for improving network efficiency through centralized and coordinated routing strategies. This study proposes an online dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) framework that models three classes of travelers: offline human drivers, online human drivers using real-time navigation, and centrally controlled AVs. Within the proposed framework, AVs predict future network conditions through simulation-based travel time forecasting and are dynamically rerouted to mitigate congestion at the network level. The framework is applied to a large-scale urban network under short-term disruption scenarios and evaluated across different AV penetration rates. Results demonstrate that coordinated AV rerouting substantially improves overall network performance. In particular, the proposed strategy reduces total travel cost (TTC) by more than 64% compared with scenarios without AV rerouting. The findings highlight the potential of centrally managed AV routing to enhance traffic resilience and alleviate congestion in disrupted urban networks. |
Paper 43
Asset management education in Australia and New Zealand: A review, gap analysis, opportunities and issues
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Sue Mcneil (University of Delaware)
| Universities, professional organizations, and private sector providers offer a range of asset management certificates, certifications, diplomas, degrees, and courses. In Australia and New Zealand, industry partners recognize the need for a variety of educational opportunities. However, there is no catalogue or clear understanding of the breadth and depth, and the delivery mechanisms of the current offerings. The objective of this paper is to review asset management courses offered within Australia and New Zealand, complete a gap analysis, and identify opportunities, issues and next steps. The review is based on an extensive online search for educational opportunities in asset management. Summary data were developed, and gaps were identified. Drawing on over 40 years of experience teaching infrastructure and asset management, largely in transport, opportunities to address these gaps were identified. The search identified 128 educational opportunities: 7 certificates, 3 certifications, 105 courses (including 4 short courses), 6 degrees, 3 diplomas, and 4 workshops. Analysis revealed that there are very few undergraduate courses and few rigorous courses for professionals focused on data analysis, modelling, risk, and decision analysis, particularly those emphasizing transport. Opportunities include raising awareness of asset management in undergraduate courses, exploring postgraduate course development for students and professionals, and offering short courses focused on skills and tools for professionals. Next steps involve engaging with industry partners, surveying professionals to understand their constraints and needs, and working with colleagues to explore integrating asset management into undergraduate curricula, while recognizing the competing objectives and constraints on professionals' resources and the substance of university curricula. |
Paper 63
Evaluating the performance of recycled aggregates blended with natural gravel for unbound granular pavement applications
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Sanjay Nimbalkar (University of Technology Sydney)
- Nariman Khorsandiardebili (University of Technology Sydney)
- Yekta Nateghi (University of Technology Sydney)
- Piyush Punetha (University of Technology Sydney)
- Kashemun Nahar Zim (University of Technology Sydney)
- Tanmoy Das (University of Technology Sydney)
| Escalating pressure on natural resources, together with rising waste generation and environmental pollution, has intensified the need for sustainable construction practices in the pavement industry. In this context, the use of recycled materials for pavement construction have attracted significant interest because of their potential environmental and socio-economic benefits. This study examines the mechanical performance of blends comprising natural gravel (NGA) with recycled crushed glass (RCG) and mixed recycled aggregates (MRA) for unbound granular pavement application through a comprehensive laboratory testing programme. The results indicate that NGA:MRA and NGA:RCG blends typically exhibit mechanical performance comparable to, and in some cases superior to, that of pure NGA. All the blends (NGA:MRA and NGA:RCG) showed higher peak effective friction angles than pure NGA; however, peak apparent cohesion of the blends decreased with increasing recycled material content. Although pure MRA exhibited the highest shear strength among the tested materials, it also showed pronounced strain softening and excessive dilation, highlighting its potential performance risks when used alone. These issues with MRA were effectively mitigated upon blending it with NGA. Overall, the findings suggest that appropriately designed blends of recycled and natural aggregates can enhance structural stability, offering a viable and sustainable alternative for unbound granular pavement substructure applications. |
Paper 64
Performance of gravel-recycled plastic composites under direct simple shear loading
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Hafsa Farooq (University of Technology Sydney)
- Mohammad Adnan Farooq (University of Technology Sydney)
- Piyush Punetha (University of Technology Sydney)
- Sanjay Nimbalkar (University of Technology Sydney)
- Tanmoy Das (University of Technology Sydney)
| The use of recycled plastic waste in pavement substructure layers offers a sustainable approach for infrastructure development. This study investigates the mechanical behaviour of natural gravel aggregate (NGA) blended with varying percentages (2%, 4% and 8%) of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polypropylene (PP). Using a high-precision direct simple shear (DSS) apparatus, a series of monotonic and cyclic tests were conducted. Results indicate that the addition of 2 to 4% plastic content improves shear strength by enhancing interlocking. This research identifies critical thresholds for plastic inclusion in sustainable, resilient pavement foundations. |
Paper 132
Synchronising transport delivery ecosystems: Cross-platform data flows, configuration drift and governance risk in transport infrastructure projects
Room Location: B11.B3.103
- Julie Jupp (University of Technology Sydney)
- Ryan Townsend (University of Technology Sydney)
- Aaron Traylen (University of Technology Sydney)
| Major transport infrastructure projects are often described as operating through a common data environment (CDE), yet large programmes increasingly function through federated ecologies of CDEs, discipline platforms, document-control systems and asset information environments. This creates a governance problem that is not adequately explained by conventional interoperability accounts: a file may move while its metadata, revision lineage, workflow meaning and decision-use authority do not remain equivalent. This paper develops a log-based method for analysing cross-platform CDE synchronisation as empirical evidence of transport delivery ecosystem behaviour. Drawing on anonymised synchronisation data from a complex linear infrastructure project, the study analyses pair-coded transactions across three well-known CDE platforms. The findings show that synchronisation performance is strongly conditioned by platform-pair mappings, vendor schema maturity, workflow constraints and lifecycle change. The overall volume-weighted success rate was high, but directional rates varied across pairwise interfaces with higher workflow and metadata complexity. The paper further shows how unresolved equivalence gaps can affect delivery outcomes by increasing the risk of rework, design coordination errors, assurance delay and handover uncertainty where project actors rely on records that are available but not demonstrably authoritative. It argues that configuration risk is systemic rather than transactional and emerges when information appears to have moved successfully, but the metadata, workflow meaning, revision lineage or authority needed to use it safely has not been preserved or verified across platforms. The contribution is conceptual and methodological: it reframes configuration drift on complex projects as an information governance risk for which measurable indicators can be specified, introduces cross-platform equivalence as an object of assurance, and proposes governance interventions for transport agencies seeking to move from platform-level document control to lifecycle management of cross-platform information equivalence. |
Paper 37
Spatial platoon context vs. architectural complexity: Predicting headway degradation in high-frequency bus networks
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Nicholas Hurley (Monash University)
- Liton Kamruzzaman (Monash University)
- Graham Currie (Monash University)
| Service reliability in high-frequency transit networks is frequently compromised by headway instability and vehicle bunching. Whilst recent operations research applies complex deep learning architectures to predict headway degradation in bus networks, some approaches still treat vehicles as isolated entities, though recent works have begun to explore spatial interactions. Furthermore, forecasting absolute headways using temporal features may bias models toward schedule memorisation, potentially obfuscating the physical mechanics of transit delays. This study investigates whether predicting headway degradation requires deep historical sequence memory or if an instantaneous spatial snapshot of the transit platoon is sufficient. Utilising five months of continuous GTFS-Realtime telemetry from Melbourne, Australia, the predictive target was redefined as kinematic convergence (the predicted physical change in the spatial gap between consecutive buses) 15 minutes into the future. A range of predictive architectures, spanning baseline linear regression to deep sequence models, was supplied with an identical Platoon Spatial Matrix, which captured the real-time distance and rolling speed of the target and two preceding vehicles. Evaluation across 30 diverse routes demonstrates that predictive error variance is strongly associated with route topography rather than algorithmic complexity. Lightweight instantaneous snapshot architectures (DNN) consistently matched or outperformed deep sequential models, typically yielding comparable Mean Absolute Error (MAE) within a ~20-metre margin on high-speed corridors, and achieving up to a ~9% MAE improvement on volatile suburban routes. Even when equipped with explicit positional encodings and temporal recency biases, the highly parameterised Transformer offered limited predictive gains on stable corridors and underperformed on complex routes where historical momentum was less predictive. These results suggest that transit delay may operate as a backward-propagating kinematic shockwave associated with immediate spatial proximity, indicating that computational simplicity and high-quality spatial features can provide sufficient predictive capacity without the need for algorithmic depth. |
Paper 91
Designing demand-responsive transport across operational scenarios: A simulation-based analysis
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Chia-Jung Yeh (The University of Sydney)
- Chinh Ho (The University of Sydney)
- John Nelson (The University of Sydney)
| This paper proposes a data-driven framework for evaluating and enhancing existing demand-responsive transport services by developing a travel demand model and an agent-based simulation approach. The framework enables the exploration of “what-if” scenarios, helping planners identify the most efficient operational model given the geographical and contextual settings. Leveraging detailed origin-destination operational data, a hurdle Tweedie generalised additive model is developed to estimate demand, capturing both zero-inflation and time-dependent non-linear relationships. The estimated demand is fed into an agent-based simulation model to examine system performance under different operational settings. The scenarios, including alternative operational models and fleet sizes, are tested, and performance is evaluated using a set of operational indicators. The results highlight clear trade-offs between service quality and efficiency, offering insights into how existing services can be reconfigured. In the case study of The Ponds service in New South Wales, findings indicate that a smaller fleet size is more appropriate under the current operational model. The proposed framework provides a practical tool for operators to analyse current service performance and explore improvement strategies using their own data, enabling iterative operational enhancements and service refinement. |
Paper 136
From symptoms to solutions: TRAID for transit reliability diagnosis and intervention prioritization
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Shreya Gupta (Queensland University of Technology)
- Shubham Sharma (Queensland University of Technology)
- Ashish Bhaskar (Queensland University of Technology)
| Routine public transport performance assessment is essential for monitoring service quality and typically relies on efficiency and reliability indicators, each capturing only a partial view of system performance. When evaluated independently, these indicators fail to account for interactions among operational factors, limiting comprehensive system understanding and constraining causal diagnosis. As a result, evidence-based selection of interventions remains challenging. To address this gap, this paper introduces TRAID (Transit Reliability Assessment with Integrated Diagnostics), a data-driven framework that integrates context-specific performance indicators through cross-metric and sequential analysis to generate cause-specific diagnostic patterns linked to targeted interventions. The framework, by design, is a three-stage analytical pipeline. First stage assesses route-level performance using a dual-metric diagnostic (DMD) graph, which jointly evaluates schedule adherence and operational efficiency across six diagnostic zones. Each zone is associated with specific failure modes and a restricted set of potential causes, providing more accurate causal diagnostics than standalone indicators. The second stage examines underperforming routes identified in the first stage at the segment level, characterizing stochastic and persistent performance degradation via variability-based profiling, pinpointing critical on-route pain points, and mapping them to context-specific localized interventions. Stage three, at the network level, ranks these segments using a productivity-weighted prioritization scheme based on the potential impact on transport-users, identifying system-wide critical pain points to guide resource-constrained interventions. Through a proof-of-concept study using GTFS-static and real-time data from Brisbane’s Bus Upgraded Zone (BUZ) network, this paper demonstrates the effectiveness of TRAID in diagnosing diverse transit operational issues, pinpointing bottlenecks, and mapping issues to appropriate interventions. |
Page 148
What shapes willingness to pay in public transport? Age effects and older adults’ preferences beyond fare price
Room Location: B11.B3.104
- Fahimeh Golbabaei (Queensland University of Technology)
- Francisco Javier Mafla Hernandez (Queensland University of Technology)
- Alexander Paz (Queensland University of Technology)
| This study examines the determinants of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for public transport across different age groups, with a particular emphasis on older adults, using Mixed Logit (MXL) models applied to survey data from 481 respondents. The results reveal that WTP is shaped by a multidimensional set of factors, including comfort, social influence, environmental considerations, improvement implementation time, frequency, and age. Changes in service frequency have only a modest behavioral effect, contributing little to overall WTP. Age emerged as a particularly influential variable: individuals aged 65 and over displayed markedly higher price sensitivity and placed little value on social, environmental, or time‑related improvements, resulting in lower WTP for these attributes. In contrast, younger and middle‑aged users—who prioritize these dimensions—were more willing to accept higher fares when they perceived accompanying social, or service‑quality benefits. Comfort consistently enhanced perceived utility across all models, confirming its universal relevance in transit attractiveness. Policy implications suggest that fare strategies should maintain affordability for older adults to ensure inclusive access, while younger segments may be more responsive to improvements that align with social or ethical values. These findings highlight the importance of integrating social dynamics, perceived improvement value, environmental attitudes, and demographic‑specific sensitivities into transport policy design. Future research should delve deeper into social norms and implementation timelines to better capture their behavioral effects and inform equitable, user‑responsive public transport development. |
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