Introduction to Transportation Engineering

Dr. Bhargab Maitra

Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Lecture - 2
Elements of Concern and Components of Traffic System
Module 2 Traffic Engineering lesson 2.1 Elements of Concern and Components of Traffic
Systems
(Refer Slide time: 01:09)

(Refer Slide time: 01:14)

After completing this lesson the student will be able to develop a general understanding about
traffic engineering, identify various elements of concern in traffic engineering and the student
will be able to identify various components of traffic systems and appreciate their role in traffic
engineering perspective.
(Refer Slide Time: 01:51)

Introduction:
Let us first of all try to understand the subject area traffic engineering. What is traffic
engineering?

Traffic engineering is that phase of engineering which deals with safe and efficient movement of
people and goods on streets and highways. So it deals with safety and efficiency of movement of
people and goods on road system that is street and highways. Institute of transportation engineers
define that phase of transportation engineering which deals with planning, geometric design and
traffic operations these three major aspects on road system that is roads, streets and highways
then networks, terminals, abutting lands and relationships with other modes of transportation.
thats the way ITE Institute of traffic engineer defines traffic engineering subject. With this
background definition let us now try to address some of the basic issues in traffic engineering
perspective basically to create our mind set about the traffic engineering elements.
(Refer Slide Time: 03:45)

First issue is whether it is person movement or vehicle movement. Often we face this confusion
in traffic engineering what is our primary concern or real concern? Whether it is person
movement or movement of vehicles? It is worthwhile to mention that the real concern is the
movement of people and goods. So moving people and goods is the real concern. Obviously
movement of vehicle is just a way of accomplishing this. Therefore primarily people need to
move from one place to another place so there is movement of people and also goods are to be
transported from one place to another place. Hence the primary concern is movement of people
and movement of goods and how these people or goods are transported and vehicle is the means
for that, they are transported in vehicles. So vehicle comes afterwards and it is the resulting
volume that is creating road congestion and creating many peripheral problems in traffic
engineering. But let us not forget that the primary concern is movement of people and movement
of goods.
Of course it does matter the way it is transported in vehicles. So we cannot really deny the role of
models played that means how the demand is distributed in different modes and other model
characteristics. Therefore it is worthwhile to mention that it is necessary to appreciate the mode
of transport and type of roadway used for moving people and goods.

What is the effect of mode? What is the effect of road way type? What is the effect of mix of
traffic? All three aspects are also important. A road system if it is carrying say in terms of let us
consider the movement of people so some k number of people are to be transported and if all of
them use a car obviously that means there will be very large number of cars on the roads and
highway systems and probably that means very high level of congestion. But all the people if
they use public transportation system say bus transportation system obviously relatively much
lesser number of buses will be required and probably the road will apparently appear free and not
suffering with acute congestion level.
So definitely the models played or the way the demand is distributed into different modes that
have a very vital role to play in the overall traffic engineering perspective. Similarly all the roads
they do not share the same purpose. The way the road systems function it has really got an
impact on the overall performance or quality of service that is offered by the road system. Some
roads may be providing multiple access from any place you can enter into the road so that creates
substantial disturbance to the moving traffic stream. So obviously in a system you are allowing
entry and exit at any point where you have lot of pedestrian activities around, vehicles parked on
street etc has got all these elements and they will affect quality of traffic operation on road
system. So obviously effect of road way type is also important and we cannot also deny the
effect of mix of traffic or the traffic composition in the overall traffic engineering perspective.
The way the demands are distributed is the same road space which is used by cars, buses, by
commercial vehicles, by light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles so the way the
road system accommodates the traffic, the nature of traffic, the mix of traffic it really matters or
it really influences the performance or the overall characteristics of traffic operation. So effect of
mode, effect of roadway type and effect of traffic mix all these three are very important in traffic
engineering perspective.
(Refer Slide Time: 09:18)

Now the second question is goods movement or person movement.

In many occasions we think that road is primarily for passenger movement. That means we see
often cars are getting congested and with the volume of more cars the roads are getting congested
and the presence of a few commercial vehicles like trucks or other heavy types of vehicles, their
presence even aggravate the traffic congestion problem. So we apparently think that the road is
primarily for movement of passengers and trucks or goods vehicle are some sorts of disturbing
elements in the overall system because really they do create problems. But let us not forget the
fact that goods transportation provides the lifeline to any community. It directly adds to
economic development.
It is necessary to the transport raw materials and it is also necessary to transport the finished
products, both are important. So we must not forget the role of goods transportation in the overall
transportation engineering sphere and their contribution in the overall economic development. So
we have to consider and we have to take care of passenger transportation as well as goods
transportation, both are important. So I have indicated like this; roads primarily serve motoring
to public and the trucks are problematic elements, the answer is no because goods movement is
critical to the local economy, transportation of the raw material and the finished products both
are important therefore goods movement and person movement both are essential.
(Refer Slide Time: 12:03)

Mix of vehicle in Person Movement:

Person movement is normally accomplished by sharing the demand into different types of
modes. So in the context of traffic engineering our focus is generally on movement on streets and
highways. That means we are excluding for the moment the rail transportation, water
transportation and air transportation scenarios. So within and between cities and towns people
normally move in a mix of vehicles namely private vehicles, buses, paratransit systems, bicycles
and even walking so different modes of transportation do exist.

Each mode of transportation has its own utility in the overall system starting from walking to
movement by bicycle or non-motorized transport to faster travel even the car movement, the bus
movement and so on. So every vehicle type every movement has its own utility and contribution
in the overall transportation system so we have to consider all of them. And the beauty of the
road system is the same road space or whatever is the available road space we have to use them
for movement of various types of vehicles. In certain context we may restrict some type of
vehicle movement on certain roads during certain periods but thats a different question. But all
types of vehicles are to be accommodated.
And if we look at the developing country context in particular in developing country context
heterogeneous traffic movement is very, very common. In most of the developing countries the
traffic movement is heterogeneous and heterogeneous traffic movement adds to the complexity
operation and it makes traffic engineering a more complex task in developing country context.
(Refer Slide Time: 14:18)

Now with that background let us look at the various elements of concern. Basically through this
part we would like to develop our understanding about traffic engineering. Now it is probably
easy to develop a concept and understanding if we discuss the major concerns or the elements of
concern. Five major elements are shown in this flow chart. You have system of facilities
basically the road system, we shall discuss in detail about each of these components. We have
supply site or the system of facilities, we have demand and they interact with each other in
transportation system in the interface of control and this interaction creates operational
performance, congestion and all sorts of other things.
So, influencing the demand is another aspect, can we influence the demand, should we influence
the demand, if so then in which ways, then measuring the performance of the overall
transportation systems and then transportation systems management. So these are the five major
element of concern and let us try to understand each of these elements in detail.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:04)

First is System of Facilities:

System of facilities normally includes the physical root system. It is essentially the supply side of
a transportation system. So it includes roads which are used for moving vehicles, parking areas,
terminals and all other physical facilities and it also includes the control devices which are
present on roads. For example, signs, signals, and markings are all physical facilities so they
come under system of facilities. So, system of facilities includes both roadways for moving
vehicles, parking areas and terminals for transferring passengers and or storing vehicles. Now in
this context also we know that road systems in urban areas, in rural area they are different,
fundamentally they are different. The type of the system the purpose they all may be different.
So primarily we consider two types of road system urban areas and rural areas. Rural means
essentially non urban areas so normally we call them as highway roads in rural areas.
Now, further classification of facilities for moving vehicles in rural and urban areas is done
based on functional classification that is again an important aspect. Not that all roadways even in
urban area or even in rural area serve the same purpose. Two aspects are important. A road may
serve the purpose of providing access and then it may also serve for the true traffic movement
that means faster movement of long distance traffic, through traffic. So often these two aspects
are important, how much road is available for providing access and to what extent it is supposed
to handle the through traffic movement. Therefore these two major functions and their level of
influence may define functional classification of roads. We define a hierarchy of roads wherein
some cases the whole objective is through traffic movement and at the extreme end the whole
purpose may be providing access and there could be other types of roads which serve as a
combination of both these aspects, some may be more and some may be less.
Therefore functional classification is important, we shall also learn functional classification in
due course of time. Then we have control devices, these generally establish the character of the
road. These control devices include traffic signs, traffic signals, road markings and all these are

essentially for communication to diverse and establish control over the traffic. Controlling the
traffic or looking at the operational aspects of the traffic is also important when we look at how
to improve the efficiency of the traffic operations for a given facility and a given demand system.
Hence there the control devices will play a vital role so this also includes or defines the system of
facilities.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:11)

Then the second aspect is the travel demand. We all know that demands are generated by
activities. people live somewhere they need to travel to various places, places of work, places of
shopping, places of recreational facilities so for different purposes they need to travel and there is
a special distribution, residences are located somewhere, activities are located somewhere and
thats what generate the travel demand. The spatial distribution of activities they generate
demand. Thus there is demand and because there is demand we need to provide supply and
supply also influences the demand pattern, so it is a two way interaction. So it is basically
generated by activity and both spatial and temporal characteristics of distribution of demands are
important. Let us try to understand the spatial and temporal distributions of demand.
As I have already indicated because the facilities are located in different places it has got a
special characteristic. Thus naturally demand has also got a special dimension. if offices are
located somewhere in the vicinity and if residents are located in the suburb then it is obvious that
during the morning hours the peak hours the travel will be from residences to the vicinity area or
the office area and in the evening people again need to comeback so again there will be demand
between office areas or the vicinity to the suburb.
Obviously not that all places are equally loaded over the whole period of time some roads are
loaded some are free and at some other time may be there is congestion and may be sometime
there is no congestion on the road so it varies over distance, over space, space means the area and
also it varies over time. If you again think of the earlier example people are going to office. May
be between 9 and 10 all the roads towards the CVD area they will be congested. If you see may

be at 12 Oclock those roads are not congested because primarily the sharp demand is towards
the CVD area or where the main offices are located. So the same road whatever you find at 9
Oclock it is highly congested at 12 Oclock there may not be any congestion on that road so
demand has got both special and temporal characteristics and this is to be understood very
clearly if we have to address the traffic engineering and related issues.
As i indicated earlier mode selection is a crucial consideration because for the same person
demand or the passenger demand mode selection or mode split decides the actual traffic volume
and therefore the actual level of congestion on road at a given time. Remember that the process
of estimating true demand is often complicated by the fact that demand is frequently distorted or
limited by the available capacity. All physical facilities are capacitated. If you think of a road it
can handle only certain number of vehicles or certain volume of vehicles. So even if the demand
is more the road cannot accommodate any traffic volume higher than its capacity. So demand
may be distorted or limited by the available capacity. And also demands are subjected to
variation due to profile of populations say income, vehicle ownership, gender, age and other
socio economic attributes.
(Refer Slide Time: 24:56)

If you see the trip rate the way or the per capita trip made in a day, the number of trips it is
influenced by income, it is influenced by car ownership. Normally may be high income
households they make more trips, high personal income means more trips, higher vehicle
ownership means more trips so all these socio economic characteristics also do affect or
influence the demand pattern and that makes the whole demand estimation a complex task.

(Refer Slide Time: 25:46)

Next is influencing the demand. Now traffic engineer job often starts with a given pattern of
demand. This is just an example. If you see it is the volume of traffic in a road that versus time.
You normally get a pattern like this. Sometimes you may be getting a pattern like this also, may
be two peaks.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:14)

Morning when people are going to offices that time you find the traffic volume is more the road
is congested and then the traffic volume comes down and then again in the evening when people
are coming back or going to shopping or recreational places then again the demand is more. It is
interesting to note that the capacity of the system is fixed as shown by this dotted line, this is a

fixed value. So capacity is fixed and demand most of the times it is lesser than the capacity. And
at night time the demand is practically nil but the capacity does not change but it still remains so
it is only at certain hours of the day that demand is becoming more than capacity and the
congestion is created. So it may be worthwhile wherever it is possible wherever it is applicable
to think of or to influence this demand pattern to make a better use of the available capacity. Say
only during one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening the demand is more than the
capacity and we start thinking of widening the road to have a capacity level here.
Now, problem is only for the two hours, one hour in the morning say for example and one hour
in the evening and for that one why to increase the capacity of the road system, why to add more
capacity because adding capacity building roads is a very, very capital intensive solution. Rather
than that can we touch or can we influence the demand so that within the road system within the
available capacity we can have a better utilization of the capacity. So that way it is meaningful
and it makes sense to influence the demand.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:31)

There are three different ways we can influence the demand. One is shifting the temporal
distribution of demand. I have already mentioned the demand has got a temporal nature. At nine
o clock the road is highly congested and at 11 Oclock the road is relatively free. So basically we
can shift the temporal distribution of demand and that is one way how we can influence the
demand. The next one is to reduce the magnitude of the demand, can we really reduce the
magnitude of the demand itself and that will be very much meaningful in the overall perspective.
The other one is repackage the demand. We shall discuss in detail about all these three
approaches. Now the decision taken to effectuate these goals of influencing demand is called
transportation systems management the other elements of concern that I have mentioned.

(Refer Slide Time: 29:33)

Shift the temporal distribution of demand. By this time I am sure you all will appreciate the
problem may not be really too much demand but the problem may be too much demand at the
same time. If you see in the mid night, early hours in the morning, late hours in the night the
demand is practically nil. So it is not that if you consider 24 hour span in a day not that the
demand is very high as compared to the capacity rather the problem is too much demand at the
same time.
So it does make sense to influence a demand by trying to shift the temporal distribution of
demand. So the peak period is very largely a work trip peak because most of the time morning
and evening peaks constitutes of largely vehicles which are for work trips or people using
vehicle for work trips. So shifting of demand is really meaningful. What I mean by shifting of
demands rather shifting the peak hour demand, mitigate the peak hour demand let the total
demand be even same but can we distribute the peak hour demand over a larger period of time so
that at no hours the demand is more than the capacity. Reduce the peak and spread it over longer
hours and that can be achieved by staggered work hours, variable work hours and so on.
Now again let us try to understand this concept. In most of the cases you will find that in a city or
in a town all offices may be start at 9 Oclock so you find if it is so all offices are starting at 9
Oclock you will probably expect that everybody is going to office between 8 to 9 Oclock. So 8
to 9 probably is giving generating maximum demand the time demand is maximum and all the
road systems are congested. Can you not think of a system where some offices may be starting at
nine o clock, some are starting at eight o clock, some are starting at 10 Oclock and accordingly
the closing time also will change, instead of 4 Oclock or 5 Oclock some will close at 4 Oclock,
some will close at 5 Oclock, some will close at 6 Oclock but still there will be enough common
time, enough common working hours for interaction, exchange of ideas, meetings and all sorts of
other works. So keeping sufficient gaps sufficient overlaps we can still stagger the time. if we do
that then there is tremendous benefit because complete demand is shared in a better way with the

same road system, same facilities and capacities and people enjoy a better quality of service then
roads will definitely become lesser congested by this mechanism.
Flexible working hours: In an office also there could be different slots. Somebody may pick up a
slot from eight to four, somebody may pick up a slot from nine to five, and somebody may pick
up a slot from ten to six. So often these kinds of flexi hours it gives advantage or benefit to the
job makers and also to persons who are employed because they can accordingly schedule other
activities, may be husband and wife both are working one can go bit early in the morning and he
or she will come back early and the other can go at late hours may be they will start to work at
ten o clock and he or she will come home late. So that way it is beneficial for the employee and it
may bring tremendous benefit on the traffic operation, road system and the overall performance
of the transportation system.
So, if you look at the benefits it is reducing peak hour load through all these mechanisms and
making more efficient use of capacities of roads and also the transit systems. So transit systems
also most of the times you will find during the peak hour that transits are overloaded, buses are
completely loaded. so if we can stagger the demand rather than the load on transit system will
also be reduced will also spread over longer time so the benefit will be less crowding on transit
and better utilization of capacities.
(Refer Slide Time: 35:28)

Reduce the magnitude of demand: how can we reduce the magnitude of demand. Remember that
travel demand may be measured in terms of some combination of total trips and also length of
trips say person to kilometer traveled. In fact this is a more rational quantification of demand. If
we say only how much number of trips we may ignore whether they are short trips or long trips.
So if we consider a combination of total trips and length of person to kilometer then that gives a
rational and balance measure of the magnitude of demand. So magnitude of demand may be
reduced by the following ways:

shorter work weeks

shorter average trip length and
more work at home

All these are possible, nothing is impossible.

Shorter Work Weeks: Instead of may be a six day week it may be a five day week. the total
working hours in a week still remains the same. if some offices operate on a five day schedule
and some offices operate on a six day schedule obviously the starting and the closing times will
be different. Five days week means longer working hours in every working day and six day week
means relatively shorter working hours in every working day. Hence all the people will not go to
the office in the same time so that will again bring benefit. Thus we are reducing the demand
during the peak hours and there are number of benefits from that.
Shorter average trip length: Job shift to smaller cities and decentralized locations. in many cases
in most of the cities in developing countries you will find all offices all head offices are located
in the capital city may be majority of them are required to be located in capital city but in many
cases probably all the people from different states they need not come to the capital city you can
have district head quarters or zonal head quarters decentralize it so that all people do not require
to travel to the CVD area or to the same town for each and every work so that may reduce the
total demand.
More works at home: this is also a feasible option. Because with the development of computer,
networking facilities many things can be done in home also and that can substantially reduce the
overhead cost for physical facilities. A big office in a very expensive area or in a zone where the
land is used the rental is very high. a smaller office can be there but the productivity can still be
comparable. people can work in home, they can exchange ideas, they can interact and not that
everyday everybody will go to the office, it may sound very surprising but it may be possible
because if you have computer if you have network not that for every office for every system
every type of industry it will be possible but it may certainly work for some of the industries and
some of the types of job at least for some employment. So if we try to make use of this
computers and networking facilities certainly we may be able to reduce the travel demand at
least to some extent.

(Refer Slide Time: 39:09)

Repackage the demand:

Remember that we are talking about repackaging that means the total demand still may be the
same in terms of person movement but we are trying to repackage the demand. let us see how we
can repackage the demand. It can happen through the following:

Higher car occupancies

Shift to transit and paratransit

So what will happen is same volume of passengers may be transported but with lesser number of
vehicles. that means it may be possible that you allow a vehicle to take a shorter route when the
occupancy of the vehicle is higher may be for a car at least there should be three persons if you
want to use the shorter route. if it is only one person or less than three persons the vehicle will be
forced to take a longer route. so people will be encouraged to use higher occupancy or make
higher occupancy of the vehicle. The result or the benefit to the community is substantial, three
persons are traveling in the same vehicle so instead of three vehicles it is now one vehicle.
More people switch over to mass transportation system or public transportation system so again
there is reduction in the vehicle volume so there is lesser congestion on roads. Thus the benefits
are multidimensional. Benefits in terms of capacity utilization, benefits in terms of better
mobility, better travel speed, better environmental aspects and so on.
Programs and rules to encourage carpooling, vanpooling, express bus, park and ride, allocating
limited existing capacity to high occupancy vehicles are the different ways and means for
repackaging the demand.
Carpooling is, instead of three persons taking three cars and going to the same office area from
the same residence area say it is a six day per week schedule everybody is taking their own car to

the office but instead of that if the three of them use carpooling and they decide every two days
in a week one person will take his car and all three of them they will travel in the same car
because they start at the same time they go to the same area. So instead of three cars it is one car
now so congestion is reduced and again all sorts of benefits may be achieved. Similarly, we have
the vanpooling where in one vehicle so many people are traveling. This kind of repacking may
be encouraged by putting restriction to parking opportunities. if you take the vehicles parking
space is limited you may not get a parking space or you may have park your vehicle at a much
distant place or there may be some kind of parking charges these are all indirect ways and means
to encourage people to use mass transportation system or use some sort of repacking facilities
like carpooling, vanpooling and other things. So, congestion pricing also could be taken as an
instrument to encourage this kind of achievement.
(Refer Slide Time: 42:35)

Measuring the Performance:

Yes, it is necessary to understand how well a facility or system is working. It is necessary to
understand that. We need to understand this for various reasons. One is for assessing the existing
condition, how good or bad the existing system is and how it is operating. So we must be able to
measure the performance for assessing the existing condition, for evaluating alternative
improvements. Suppose presently the situation is not that good and you are thinking of
suggesting improvement measures there could be three different alternatives. Now how do you
know which alternative brings maximum benefit to the community. We must be able to quantify
it using proper measures. Hence it is also necessary for evaluating alternating improvements.
Quantifying associated cost and benefit, every alternative you say it will have some cost and it
will bring some benefit to the community and road users. so for quantifying the cost and benefit
also it is useful and for communicating results to both technical and non technical audiences, you
need to observe this carefully, you may be doing lot of engineering, you might be doing a lot of
other works but finally you have to communicate the results to technical and non technical

audiences. So if you can quantify it in a proper [not audible 44:10] and see that this is the benefit
or this is the gain by this activity then it will be easy for others to appreciate your effort and
accept the suggestion.
(Refer Slide Time: 44:55)

Facilities generally assessed by specific quantitative measures and by qualitative index of quality
of flow are called the level of service. So mostly we use this term to describe the quality of
traffic operation on a facility by level of service. Level of service has a qualitative aspect and it is
not normally expressed by letter code ranging from A to F where A indicates the excellent
quality and F indicates the worst or very poor or unsatisfactory operation, and B C D E R in
between. Now we often use a quantitative basis also for defining level of service. Level of
service is also a qualitative term so we often use a quantitative basis for defining the level of
service known as measure of effectiveness. Measure of effectiveness is a quantitative basis for
defining level of service. So they may be using many of these things as level of effectiveness.
Volume or the Flow Rates: Traffic volume or traffic flow we can express it in terms of may be
demand volume, in terms of may be discharge volume as to how much is coming out from the
road system and so on.
Speed or Delays: For speed again we have various types of speeds, spot speed, space mean
speed, average journey speed, stopped delays and so on. Thus many of these terminologies we
have already discussed and many of these things we will also discuss again in subsequent
lectures.
Trip Times: It may be the average travel time that is taking for the trips. We can use this one as a
measure of effectiveness. Sometimes it is rational to use volume to capacity ratio rather than
using only volume because if you say only volume that is two thousand vehicles, so two
thousand vehicles on a single lane road or a two lane road or a three lane road the effect is totally
different. So instead of using it only as the volume it is more rational and logical probably to use

a measure like volume to capacity ratio. You will know what is the relative loading or what is the
relative demand on that road as compared to the capacity or to what extent the road system is
loaded.
(Refer Slide Time: 47:07)

Volume to capacity ratio: Sometimes one can use aggregate system measures like total travel
time, volume to capacity ratio to total travel time, vehicle kilometer traveled, person kilometer
traveled, vehicle kilometer delay so all these can be measured can be considered and they are
basically indicating aggregate system measures. there are other measures for example vehicle
occupancy, the queue length queue length is particularly relevant when you have signalized
intersection may be the performance of the signalized intersection you can measure in terms of
what is the queue length you are getting in peak periods. Again the queue lengths may be
measured in terms of average queue length may be what the maximum queue length is and so on.
Sometimes you use measures like number of stops that is made during a journey so all these are
used as quantities or quantitative measures and many of these are also used for defining the level
of service.

(Refer Slide Time: 48:22)

Now, coming to the concept of Transportation Systems Management already we have created a
background for Transportation Systems Management. This essentially means application of
methods and procedures for increasing the efficiency and utilization of existing facilities.
Remember that it is consistent with the emphasis on making better use of existing resources
rather than planning on major new constructions. because remember that if you are thinking of
adding supply side as the only measure for solving congestion problem or transportation problem
it is a capital intensive approach it takes money. So in majority of the developing countries we
have serious financial constraints also. Thus these kinds of approaches may be more meaningful
because they try to improve this, we can try to ensure utilization of existing facilities rather than
just building roads and enhancing capacity. So objective of TSM is essentially to shift the focus
from high capital approaches to low cost more rapidly implementable projects.
Let me tell you in the context of a developing country these kinds of transportation systems
management TSM techniques have got a very vital role to play because we have limited
resources, our cities in majority of the cases they are not properly planned so it is very difficult
even to construct a road or to widen the road because of all other establishments, buildings and
other permanent structures. So this TSM technique can really be very much instrumental for
improving the overall traffic operations in urban areas and they are low cost techniques and are
more rapidly implementable. You need willingness to accept and implement such techniques in
reality.

(Refer Slide Time: 50:31)

The range of projects considered under TSM I have already given a background or
understanding. So let us look at the some of the range of products that may be considered.

Exclusive bus lanes

High occupancy lanes

Transit ways

Transit management improvement programs

Residential parking permit program

Innovative bus subsidies: It has to be innovative bus subsides basically to encourage the
transportation system management strategies and

Bus signal priorities

So you can see that majority of these types of projects are actually intended to encourage the use
of mass transportation system through some measures either directly or indirectly. So encourage
people to use more and more mass transportation systems rather than own personal vehicles. So
the TSM concept represents a fundamental shift in emphasis from build more to use it better
orientation. So it is a shift in approach from build more to use it better.

(Refer Slide Time: 51:50)

Now let us quickly look at the components of traffic system. You have four components
basically road users, vehicles, roadways and control devices. Traffic engineers normally have
very little or control on the first two aspects road users and vehicles but certainly they have better
control on roadways and control devices. Let us quickly go through these aspects.
(Refer Slide Time: 52:13)

Road Users: Human elements separate traffic engineering from most of the other engineering
because human elements are involved in it, the driver behavior and user behavior makes it
different from most of the other traditional engineering disciplines.

Several critical characteristics of road users may be quantifiable. We say we have no control on
road user but we can certainly take the characteristics of road user and consider them in the road
way design process or transportation engineering design process. For example, perception and
reaction time of drivers, visual activity both static and dynamic, in most of the cases we check
only static visual activity but dynamic visual activity also may influence the overall behavior
then other driving characteristics like hearing, psychological factors so design should account for
all these drivers characteristics. You will see that in geometric design part we will discuss in
detail how we can consider these aspects namely road users aspects in the design process.
(Refer Slide Time: 53:22)

Pedestrian Characteristics: They are also important because traffic engineering is not limited to
consideration of only motorists and their vehicles but it must also consider other users of
highway system like pedestrian. They are the essential elements of the transportation system or
traffic system. So pedestrian crossing sideways, and providing pedestrian signals phase wherever
it is necessary and appropriate comes into account, then vehicles there are variety of vehicle sizes
and different types of vehicles. So when we design the road we consider them in the design
process in terms of taking into consideration all these characteristics to design vehicle. Design
vehicle is normally the one whose weight dimensions and characteristics are used for deciding
the geometric features. Again we will talk about the design vehicles during our discussion about
the geometric design process.

(Refer Slide Time: 53:55)

Acceleration performance of vehicles is again an essential characteristic that comes into the
design process.
(Refer Slide Time: 54:27)

Breaking performance of vehicles: This is a very vital consideration. We consider the side
distance. We will discuss again in detail all these aspects in the geometric design part and we
will see how this breaking performance is used for a making the design elements or design
process particularly the stopping side distance requirement.

Coming to the roadways I have already discussed about the need for functional classification.
We try to design roads for safe and efficient movement of persons and goods. Therefore we go
for geometric design. We have a separate module under geometric design where we will discuss
at length about each and every aspect. You will see that we design cross sectional elements, we
design horizontal element, we design vertical elements considering the vehicle characteristic
considering the roadway characteristics and try to make a safer design which will ensure safe and
efficient movement of traffic on roads and highways.
(Refer Slide Time: 54:54)

(Refer Slide Time: 55:46)

Traffic Control Devices:

Remember that they are for the communication of traffic laws and regulations to drivers.
So through control devices we tell drivers about the laws like what they are supposed to do, what
they are not supposed to do and there are different control devices like road markings, traffic
signs, traffic signals etc. Remember that control devices are only measures of transmitting
operational rules to drivers. When vehicles are traveling they all know about operational rules
and regulations through the control devices. The signals will show the appropriate sign for the
vehicle that it is supposed to stop, the other signs will indicate what they are supposed to do and
what they are not supposed to do so they are the only measure of transmitting operational rules to
drivers so they must be very clear, easily interpreted and commanding of attention shape, color,
size of all the control devices are very, very important. Finally the regulatory aspect of control
devices must be enforced so that people dont violate. If there is a sign they should obey that, if
there is a signal they should obey that and that is again to be enforced, all these aspects are to be
enforced which is again an essential component.
(Refer Slide Time: 57:13)

Now let me quickly ask you some of the questions;

Why it is meaningful to attempt to influence the travel demand? Discuss different ways
of influencing the travel demand:

Explain the necessities for measuring the performance of transportation system:

Explain your understanding about transportation systems management: and the last
question is;

Identify major components of traffic systems:

The answers to these questions I will discuss after the next lesson or during the next lesson,
thank you.