TRF - 2020

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/17957

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Browsing TRF - 2020 by Author "De Silva, D"

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    item: Conference-Abstract
    Analysis on transport mode choices of school children in Colombo District, Sri Lanka
    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2020-12) Damsara, P; De Silva, D; Sirisoma, N; Perera, HLK
    The increase in the usage of private transport modes for school trips has become a major reason for traffic congestion in Colombo District during peak hours. Colombo District consists of 402 functioning government schools, with a total student population of 374,995. Those schools have been categorized into four categories based on the availability of classrooms. According to the Ministry of Education, there is a limitation which is imposed on the distance from home to school, in the student enrollment process. However, it has been identified that the distances are exceeding the limitation, with respect to the school type and location. As a result, students choose different transport modes based on many factors such as accessibility, connectivity, safety, reliability and comfort. This study focuses on identifying the distances from home to school and the respective transport mode choice of the students in Colombo District. In addition, the factors which affect those school children to avoid public transport modes were analyzed. The quantitative research approach has been used in developing the research methodology in several phases such as factor identification, mode choices and demand distribution. Data collection has been conducted through a questionnaire survey which covers 28 selected schools under four categories, with a total sample size of 2875 in all Divisional Secretariat Divisions (DSDs) of Colombo District. Stratified sampling technique was used to collect data from the above school types. Schools which have classes in all streams up to advanced level (1AB schools) show the highest percentage of students (44%) who travel a distance of 2-10 km from home to school, while other school types show the highest percentage of students (49%) who travel a distance range of less than 2 km. Further, it has been identified that 1AB schools have some students who travel more than 25 km daily for their school trips. School van/bus services are the main mode of transport which is used by the students of schools located in Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) area, while public transport modes such as bus, train and “Sisu-Sariya school bus service” are the main modes of transport which are used by the students outside the CMC area. Active transport modes are the least popular mode of travel in both CMC and Non-CMC area (13% each), while private transport modes, which consists of car/van/jeep, motorbikes and three-wheelers contribute 25% in CMC area and 33% in Non-CMC area. Furthermore, it has been identified that longer travel times, longer waiting times, poor accessibility, less security and less comfort are the main reasons for the students in Colombo District, to not use public transport services. Even though there is a dedicated public transport service (“Sisu-Sariya”), which have been provided for school children, it has been found that there is a considerable usage of private transport modes for school trips in the district. Therefore, this study recommends a procedure to develop an improved public transport system for school trips including a model for trip distribution patterns, network connectivity and system planning to attract more students into public transport services.
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    item: Conference-Abstract
    Applying Built – Operate - Transfer (BOT) systems for Sri Lankan expressways: a case study
    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2020-12) Perera, AP; De Silva, D; Perera, HLK
    Sri Lankan transport network had a massive development during the last decade experiencing highway infrastructure, with the utilization of foreign concessions and local government funds of the country. Road Development authority holds the pioneering authority to operate and maintain the highway and expressway network in periodically. The user benefits generated with the road network are travel time saving, developed infrastructure and living standards also with the social benefits which are not counter measured in quantitatively. As a developing country, a lack of financial stability for the infrastructure of the government may lead to foreign loans and concessions. The concessions lead to rapid involvement in the fund involvement for mega infrastructure projects as the necessity and demand of the country. The Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) concession model is becoming a major trend in the privatization of infrastructure projects and the concession period and interest rate are critical parameters for BOT contracts. In this study, a model is developed to demonstrate the potentiality of applying BOT system for the expressway network of the country. The demand estimation, operation and maintenance cost and toll revenue used as the inputs for this model and financial viability is observed with different scenarios. The concession period, interest rates and optimality of selection of BOT are decided with different criteria based on financial viability. As the Colombo-Katunayaka Expressway (CKE) meets the highest demand for traffic in the expressway network, inputs of CKE used to demonstrate the potentiality of applying BOT model and optimum subsidy level was determined with the application of variable concession periods. This BOT model is further developed to validate any expressway network in urban or suburban basis by considering traffic demand with the considerations of unit length costs and revenues in operations with the performed analysis for existing and proposed expressways in Sri Lanka The urban and sub-urban links were defined for expressways, by considering the actual traffic demands between each intersection of Outer Circular Highway (OCH), Southern Expressway and forecasted traffic on ongoing Central Expressway and proposed Ruwanpura Expressway and costs and revenue per unit length were determined for each link in respectively by applying actual data.