Browsing by Author "Wickramasinghe, V."

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item: Conference-Full-text
A Bus route-efficiency analysis using stochastic frontier model
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2024) Wijesinghe, N; Mudunna, R.; Herath, D; Wickramasinghe, V.; Gunaruwan, T. L.
This research analyzes the efficiency of bus routes in Kandy, Sri Lanka, utilizing a Stochastic Frontier Model (SFM). The primary objective is to identify inefficiencies and provide recommendations for optimizing bus operations. The data collection was done through collecting relevant documents maintained at bus depots. These documents included records of revenue, number of buses, distance covered, fare structure, load factors, route length, and bus capacities. The analysis reveals that over 60% of routes cluster around a moderate efficiency range, indicating potential for improvement. Notably, a significant number of routes (potentially 24 or more) achieve efficiency scores exceeding 90%, serving as exemplars of efficiency. Conversely, some routes score as low as 10%, necessitating further investigation to address inefficiencies. The SFM results, with an R-squared value of 0.84, indicate the model explains approximately 84% of the variation in revenue per kilometer. Key recommendations include optimizing bus schedules to increase load factors, adjusting trip lengths to balance operational costs and passenger demand, and re-evaluating bus allocations to ensure resource efficiency. These findings provide actionable insights for enhancing the efficiency of bus routes in Kandy, contributing to improved public transportation services and resource allocation.
item: Conference-Full-text
Commuters' willingness to pay for comfort level improvement of public bus transport service in Kandy
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2024) Herath, P.M.G.D.M.; Wickramasinghe, V.; Dharmarathna, W.R.S.S.; Edirisinghe, A.G.H.J.; Gunaruwan, T. L.
Due to higher travel time, higher waiting time, and low comfort level in public transportation modes, commuters have being shifting to private transport modes causing an increase in traffic congestion, accidents, and environmental issues. Therefore, improving the comfortability of the public bus transport system is very important since it is one of the key factors affecting the mode choice of commuters. This study is set to identify the Willingness to Pay (WTP) ability of commuters for an improved comfortable bus service. The data for the study was collected through a questionnaire survey in Kandy, which is the second busiest city in Sri Lanka. Binary Logistic Regression was used to identify the factors affecting the WTP of the commuters and the WTP value. According to the results, it was identified that the frequency of bus usage is a significant factor which affects the WTP of a commuter. Furthermore, it has been identified that a daily commuter is willing to pay 1.5 times the bus fare while the rare users and private vehicle users are willing to pay about 2 times the current bus fare for a comfortable bus service.
item: Conference-Full-text
Investigating the impact of speed hump heights on vehicle speed reduction
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2024) Wijesundara, H; Hunukumbura, W; Wickramasinghe, V.; Gunaruwan, T. L.
This study investigates the impact of the height of speed humps on vehicular speed reduction, focusing on two common heights of 50mm and 75mm. Drones were used to capture the motion of vehicles prior and after passing the speed humps. Those surveys were performed in August 2023 in two straight road sections in Kurunagala, Sri Lanka. Tracking software was used to extract the speed trajectories from which speed of each vehicle at 5-meter intervals up to 70 meters before and after the speed hump were obtained. The study encompassed five vehicle categories. Analysis revealed a consistent reduction in vehicle speeds across all vehicle categories in response to height of speed humps. Two-sample t-test conducted for each vehicle category indicate statistically significant differences in speed reduction between the 50mm and 75mm hump heights, with p-values ranging from 0.023 to 0.037 well below the standard significance level of 0.05 for Three-wheelers, Cars, Small vehicles, and Heavy vehicles, respectively. However, Motorbikes exhibited a p-value of 0.286, indicating there is no statistically significant difference in speed reduction based on hump height. These findings provide a valuable foundation for evidence-based decision-making in urban road infrastructure development and maintenance, ultimately fostering safer and more comfortable transportation systems.
item: Conference-Full-text
Post encroachment time (pet) to estimate crash risk of right-turn vehicles entering two-way two lane divided highways
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2024) Wijekoon, L.; Samarakoon, T.; Wickramasinghe, V.; Gunaruwan, T. L.
When a minor road vehicle enters a multi-lane highway with a right turn, higher number of conflict points are created due to the complexity of the vehicle trajectories. Right turn vehicle entering a two-lane two-way divided highway from a minor road, therefore created four conflict points including 3 crossing conflict points and one merging conflict point. This research study focuses on minimizing the imposed Crash Risk due to a right-turn vehicle entering from a minor road to a two-lane two-way divided highway at an unsignalized T-intersection. Crash Risk is defined using Post Encroachment Time (PET). Data obtained from CCTV recordings were extracted using a tracker software to find PET related to each conflict. PET data was represented as percentage cumulative frequency graphs, and thereby estimated the percentile PET values. 15th percentile cumulative frequency of conflicts are at 2.4s, 1.4s, 3.0s and 6.0s of PET values in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th lanes respectively. Out of 4 lanes based on 15th percentile PET value, 2nd lane seems to be the most critical lane.