University of Leeds

COMPULSORY MODULES
Principles of Transport Modelling (15 credits)
Overview of modelling within the general land-use/transport interaction, definition of terms and basic principles. Introduction to the 4-stage modelling process. The first stage (generation): car ownership forecasting, category analysis, regression analysis and modelling trip ends. The second stage (trip distribution): estimating the trip matrix. The third stage (modal split): predicting mode use. The fourth stage (assignment): network assignment. Alternative models: time series, National Road Traffic Forecasts, choice of model and recent advances.

Transport Data Collection and Analysis (15 credits)
Statistics: Summary measures; Normal, Binomial and Poisson distributions: confidence intervals: hypothesis testing; contingency tables; linear regression. Data Collection overview: sources of transport data; transport data in developing countries; inventory and condition data; system usage data (demand); speed, delay and congestion data; accident data; environmental data; trip matrix data; interviews and questionnaires.

Transport Planning and Policy (15 credits)
Introduction to transport planning; Approaches to transport planning; objectives-led planning; environment; economy; equity; safety; option generation; monitoring; transport economics; appraisal; markets and planning; pricing; integrated transport policy.

Principles of Transport Economics (15 credits)
Determination of transport prices, costs, resource allocation and subsidy. Topics likely to be covered as follows: Marginal Cost Pricing Rule. Indivisibilities, Joint and Common Costs, Peak Loads. Pricing under Monopoly, Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition, Second Best Pricing. Non uniform pricing. Uniform (Ramsey) pricing, Cost and Production Theory. Statistical Cost Analysis, Economies of Scale, Density and Scope. Cost and Productivity Efficiency Measurement. User Costs: Waiting Time, Boarding and Alighting Time, Capacity Constraints. User Costs: Route Structure, Vehicle Size. External Costs. Congestion, Accidents and Environmental Effects. Road Pricing. Subsidy, Cross Subsidy. Determining Optimal Levels of Subsidy and Investment.

Welfare Economics and Cost Benefit Analysis (15 credits)
Introduction to welfare economics: revision of the conditions for Pareto optimality: Compensation tests: Public goods and externalities: Shadow pricing and market imperfections: Discounting for time and choice of discount rate: Alternative approaches to consumer surplus: Indirect utility and expenditure functions: Aggregation and distributional issues; social welfare functions: Valuation of intangibles: Risk, uncertainty and option values.

Principles of Transport Engineering (15 credits)
Highway design standards. Highway capacity. Principles of junction design. Principles of route location. Principles of horizontal and vertical alignment. Engineering aspects of road safety (inc signing & lighting). Principles of pavement design. Earthwork quantities. Environmental impacts. Design of public transport infrastructure (inc for conventional and guided bus and LRT and for multi-mode interchanges).

OPTIONAL MODULES

Accessibility Planning (15 credits)
Background to accessibility planning, the rationale for conducting it and where it fits in the current transport planning agenda; Definitions of accessibility, their construction and sensitivity to change; Equality, diversity and accessibility planning – incorporating user needs into accessibility planning; Techniques for assessing accessibility gaps (focus groups, surveys, diaries, community audits, tracker studies) and their application; the location decisions of business and public services; Option generation, the appraisal of options and different mechanisms for funding and implementing accessibility interventions; Case studies in accessibility planning

Deterioration and Maintenance of Pavements (15 credits) <)br />Background to highway maintenance, best value, asset management implications, condition trend monitoring. Design of pavements international perspective, generic pavement types and modes of deterioration, materials used in pavements and properties thereof, laboratory testing. Data collection, visual survey, ground penetrating radar, roughness, deflection testing. Repair techniques, design of strengthening using overlay and other techniques, materials specification, whole life costing, contractual aspects, construction quality control and applications.

Economics of Transport Appraisal (15 credits)
Principles of appraisal, the benefit algorithm and extensions to networks. The implications of fixed/variable demand. Benefit valuation - treatment of operating costs, travel time, safety, environmental and development impacts in appraisal. Capital budgeting, risk and uncertainty and multi-criteria analysis in transport. The COBA method.

Economics of Transport Regulation (15 credits)
Theories of regulation; market failure; responses to market failure; privatisation; competition policy; non-market failure Sectoral applications: local buses; long-distance buses; railways; taxis; air transport - US; air transport - Europe; road freight; shipping policy; airports; private road transport.

Freight Transport Planning and Management (15 credits)
Equipment and Warehousing; Stock Control: Mode Choice; Vehicle Routing and Scheduling; Depot numbers and locations; Distribution systems in practice. Social Costs of freight transport; Regulatory Framework and Charges for the use of the freight infrastructure.

Modelling Traffic Pollution (15 credits)
Introduction to air quality and traffic modelling, and an understanding of the role of traffic meteorology and pollution monitoring. General description of the modelling processes and an overview of their uses in policy and decision-making and in traffic and transport management and control. Monitoring and measurement of traffic characteristics for input to traffic models. Modelling of emissions, meteorological conditions, dispersion and chemical reactions. Empirical models for real time emissions prediction. Modelling procedures for management and control in the short and long term. Controlling hot spots and episode days, assessing impact of demand management strategies, land use, transport policy, introduction of clean fuels etc. Forecasting methods. Case studies using Airviro and ADMS air quality systems. Assessing the impact of traffic pollution on health.

Monitoring Traffic Pollution (15 credits)
Brief history and review of current policy on air quality. Description of pollutants and their effect on health, primary and secondary pollution, role of meteorology, types of monitoring system available, uses and limitations. Description of the Automatic Urban Network background monitoring system, analysis of data to establish exceedences to fulfill the requirements of the UK and European directives. Definition of episode days. Data collection methodologies, data cleaning procedures for quality assurance. Verification and validation procedures. Relationships between traffic activity and pollution. Case study of the roles of monitoring in air quality management.

Network Analysis Models (15 credits)
Basic Components of Assignment Models. Wardrop Equilibrium Models. Solution algorithms. Elastic assignment. Trip matrix estimation. Data quality and error analysis. Network aggregation. Applications: capacity changes, road pricing. Developing country applications. SATURN training: network coding, model principles, convergence, calibration, validation, case studies.

Public Transport Planning and Management (15 credits)
Introduction. Demand and supply analysis. Principles of bus and rail operations. Determining fares and service levels. Subsidy and investment. Competition and ownership. Developing country issues. The future of public transport.

Road Infrastructure Design (15 credits)
Link design: road capacity, horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, overtaking areas, crawler lanes; Junction design: roundabouts, multilevel intersections, high speed weaving areas, priority junctions; Parking facilities: surface, multi-storey.

Safety of Transportation (15 credits)
British and international accident patterns; safety data sources, their use and misuse; identification of hazard and diagnosis of safety problems; problem diagnosis using traffic behaviour data; number versus rates - interpretation of safety information; human factors in road accidents; alcohol and speed - effects on safety; human factors and new technology - HMI issues; vehicle factors in accidents and injury prevention. Measures; infrastructure problems and solutions; system safety and safety audit; safety education; safety modelling; vulnerable road users; telematics for safety (ISA and advanced driver assistance systems).

Social Research methods for Transport (15 credits)
Critical issues in social research methods; asking questions: interviews: individuals and groups, questionnaires, focus groups; participative methods and consultation; mixed and combined methods; ethical issues; sampling considerations; visual, other sensory and multi-sensory methods; mobile methods; participant and covert observation.

Stated Preference Analysis Methods (15 credits)
Conventional orthogonal design and practical, logit models, simulation procedures and testing of designs, alternative design procedures and testing of them, analysis and interpretation using logit models, joint RP and SP models theory and practice, survey issues, application of SP models, several computer based exercises.

Sustainable Land-use & Transport Planning (15 credits)
Aims of sustainable land-use and transport planning; approaches to urban planning; urban planning & travel patterns; zoning and development control exercise; designing for sustainability: local, city, national; integrated case study

Traffic Control Systems (15 credits)
Basic principles and definitions; saturation flow measurement and estimation; pcu values; delays at isolated junctions; Webster's method for optimising timings; signal controlled pedestrian crossings; phases and stages; design of sequences, including early cut-off, late start; effect of flares, short lanes, long greens; co-ordinated network control principles; current UTC systems; platoon dispersion; TRANSYT; signalised roundabouts; vehicle and pedestrian detectors; vehicle responsive signals; SCOOT; queue management principles and techniques; use of transport telematics with traffic control; current developments.

Traffic Management (15 credits)

Approaches to traffic management. Conflict groups, IUTM process; Priority Measures: bus priority measures, priorities for cyclists and pedestrians. Capacity Measures: routeing control (one-way systems, banned turns, tidal flow, HOV lanes), traffic control at road works, rural traffic management, motorway control and incident detection, variable message signs, route direction signing, route guidance and driver information systems; Restraint Measures: road pricing systems, lorry management, parking control measures; Environmental Traffic Management: speed restriction measures, traffic calming; New Technology: road transport telematics.

Transport in Developing Countries (15 credits)
The course will consider the economic, financial, institutional and demographic characteristics of developing countries and their significance for transport sector policies. The special problems to be highlighted include road infrastructure investment appraisal; rural road policy and investment; road maintenance planning, management and finance; infrastructure finance, including the contribution of the private sector; environmental, safety and security policies; traffic management; public transport fare and regulatory policies; the roles of mass transit, non-maligned transport and the informed sector.

Transport Econometrics (15 credits)
Statistical background: inference, hypothesis testing, parametric and non-parametric methods; Ordinary Least Squares and Maximum Likelihood estimation: assumptions, violation of assumptions Multicolinearity; misspecification; omitted variables Non-linearities; functional form; Non-Linear Least Squares; Cross-section data; Time – series data; Dynamic models; Pooled and Panel data; Discrete and limited dependent variables; Stochastic Frontier Models

Transport and the Environment (15 credits)
Environmental effects of transport; problems of identification; assessment and attenuation; noise; vibration; air pollution; pedestrian delay and danger; severance; accidents; visual intrusion and aesthetics; toxic freight; construction effects; land consumption and land-use effects; planning blight and compensation; global climate, energy and resource use; and sustained sustainability. Appraisal.

Transport Investment Appraisal (15 credits)
Principles of economic appraisal; revenue; construction and operating costs; valuing travel time savings; valuing accident savings and environmental impacts; economic development benefits; shadow prices; discounting capital budgeting; risk and uncertainty; introduction to COBA9; evaluating public transport projects; multi-criteria analysis; introduction to spreadsheet exercise; SACTRA; induced traffic and economic appraisal. Appropriate case studies and computer based exercises will be used.

Transport Microsimulation Models (15 credits)
Role of traffic and pedestrian models. Fundamentals of traffic flow characteristics: empirical speed-flow-concentration relationships. Analytical techniques: shock-wave analysis, queuing models, probabilistic models of traffic flow. Traffic simulation models: car-following, gap-acceptance and lane-changing models. The DRACULA traffic microsimulation model. Pedestrian facilities & surveys. Concept of level of service. Analytical techniques in pedestrian modelling. The LEGION pedestrian microsimulation model.

Understanding Travel Behaviour (15 credits)
Introduction to studying transport and travel; introduction to analytical skills and comparative analysis; understanding travel from the mobilities perspective; understanding travel from the economics perspective; understanding travel from the social-psychologist perspective and understanding travel from the time/space perspective; comparative analysis to explore complementarities and synergies from each perspective and to explore the impact on, and usefulness of these understandings in the development of policy.

Top of page

Tools

University of Leeds

Funding Possibilities

Transport as a Career