Research Methods
Part A: Sampling and probability; descriptive statistics probability distributions; combining variables; precision of estimates; making predictions from one variable; making predictions from several explanatory variables, goodness of fit tests.
Part B: Visit to Robinson Library; research management and organisation; selecting a topic; producing a good literature review and clear objectives; procedures for collecting data and presenting results; how to appraise and draw sound conclusions; guidelines and structure of the dissertation.
Part C: Collection of speed data (NT/RNB) during Week One, followed by the statistical analysis of the data, including the use of Excel (JCA).
Project Management
Typical procedures for realisation of civil engineering projects; types of contract; an introduction to contract law and the ICE conditions of contract; contract documents; preparation of bills of quantities; an introduction to project planning and control; estimating and tendering; quality assurance; motivation and organisation theory.
Design of Transport Infrastructure
Photogrammetry and air survey techniques; design of highways, railways, air- and sea-ports; pavement design, construction and maintenance for highways and airports; design of parking and interchange facilities. Conceptual Design Project.
Traffic Management Techniques
Objectives of traffic management; functional hierarchy of streets, relationship between and measurement of traffic stream variables; link and junction control, capacity and level of service; traffic management models. Policy and techniques for managing traffic demand in central and residential areas, commercial/industrial development. Car and lorry parking; surveys, policy and control. Techniques for influencing vehicle speed facilities for pedestrians. Techniques to assist cyclists; provision for buses; control of movement by HGVs; access for emergency vehicles. Introduction to traffic-signals, definitions and controller logic; saturation flow and pcu'’ isolated intersections - Webster's method; provision for pedestrians and cyclists; OSCADY, MOVA, LINSIG; control of traffic in a network; TRANSYT; SCOOT. Traffic Management Project.
Travel Demand Forecasting
Evolution of transportation planning; objectives and philosophy; land use demographic, car ownership and income forecasting; survey design and data collection; trip-end forecasting; trip distribution forecasting; mode choice forecasting; route assignment; discrete choice models; stochastic and deterministic user equilibrium; trip table and path flow estimation.
Transport Safety
Introduction; Government Policy; Definitions and Terms; Trends in Accidents; Data Collection and Recording; Accident Reporting; The Driver, the Vehicle and the Road Environment: Strategies for Accident Cost Reduction; Accidents, Exposure, Risk and Traffic Flows; Temporal and Spatial Variations in Accidents; Identification of Accident Blackspots; Conflict Analysis; Road Environment Factors; Economic Evaluation of Accidents; Safety Audits; The Role of the Police; Road Safety Education and Training.
Management of Urban Transport in Developing Countries
The nature and scale of the urban transport problem in developing countries. Functional use of street-space, segregation of traffic. Appropriate traffic management policies and techniques. Low-cost modes: the pedestrian, cyclists, slow moving vehicles. Modes of public transport: low-cost modes, mass transport by bus and metro, paratransit. Movement of freight and goods. Traffic signs and signals. Traffic regulation and enforcement. Parking. Accidents, low-cost remedial measures. Road safety education and training. Valuation of life and accident reduction measures. Institution building.
Transport Policy in Practice
Evolution of Transport Policy in the UK and Europe. Economics of Travel Choice Behaviour. Behavioural Responses to Travel Demand Management Techniques. Forecasting Responses Using Revealed and Stated Preference. Local Transport Planning and Land-Use. Gender Issues and Transport for the Disabled. Transport, the Environment and the Benign Modes. Transport Planning for Rural Areas. Traffic Impact Assessment.
Railway Management, Economics and Planning
Railway Management; Railway Management and Business Planning, Railway Ownership and Structure, Railway Safety, Rail Freight. Railway Economics; Railway macro-economics, Major schemes, Railway micro-economics, Estimating the demand for new stations and services. Railway Planning; Public transport network modelling, Timetabling and rostering, Track and signalling infrastructure design, Terminal and station design.
Public Inquiry Into a Transport Scheme
To instruct students in the various procedures that transport projects must undergo before implementation can commence. To develop the skills of students in presenting technical information in appropriate ways to varied audiences. To give students experience of working in a multi disciplinary environment, where specialists must communicate and work together effectively. To give students a sense of enthusiasm for the study of Transport through conveying its importance to society, and relevance in the modern world.
The Economic and Financial Appraisal of Transport Activities
Purposes of evaluation; procedures for comparing and ranking alternatives; viewpoint, scale and boundary-setting; concepts employed in evaluation using an introduction to micro and macro economic concepts and methods. Socio-economic evaluation of transport schemes; principles of discounted cash flow; techniques of cost-benefit analysis; selection of appropriate evaluation method; problems of ranking under budget constraint. COBA and its role in Project Appraisal. Financial appraisal and Private Finance Initiatives. Valuation of costs and benefits – the estimation of user-benefits; concepts of consumer surplus, shadow pricing and opportunity cost; concepts of consumers' surplus, shadow pricing and opportunity cost; valuation of travel-time savings; valuation of accidents, damage and subjective costs; valuation of vehicle-operating costs and the shadow-pricing of resources. To develop an overview of the role which economics can play in the analysis of natural resource and environmental problems.
Management and Operation of Public Transport Systems
Trends in car ownership and public transport patronage; comparative analysis of characteristics of urban public transport (bus and rail); inter-city transport; rural transport; effects of legislation for public transport; methods for defining and measuring quality of service; role of management information in public transport management and operations (including automatic vehicle locationing techniques); bus service planning and operational control; personnel and financial management; marketing public transport and passenger information systems.
Intelligent Transport Systems and e-Services
Introduction to ITS research programmes from across the world; main ITS technologies in communications and computing; putting ITS in the political context of European white papers and the UK Integrated Transport White paper and subsequent 10 year plan for transport; charging and payment systems (congestion charging, tolling, smartcards and e-commerce); traffic management systems (UTMC, NCMS, TCS, data collection and dissemination); provision of information (in-vehicle, roadside VMS, mobile platform delivery, digital TV and the internet, e-kiosks and public assessable information points); standards and need for interoperability; a sample of key application areas (freight and fleet management, safety systems, public transport, design for all/accessibility and citizen centric traveller-support applications); understanding how to develop and business case and financial plan for ITS and e-services investment.
Operation of Marine Transport Systems
Trade and markets: major trade routes and cargo flows. Fleet and other statistics. Productivity. Role of freight markets. Chartering. Industrial carriers, common carriers. Liner trades and conferences. Ship types. Analysis of freight rates. Matching supply and demand. System operation: unitised and bulk carrier transport systems. Close, semi-closed and open systems. Competition with other modes. Port and cargo handling operations. Obsolescence and sale and purchase of ships, and influence of rate of change of technical developments. Economics: elements of revenue and expenditure. Increasing profitability. Discounted cash flow calculations. Estimating. Budgeting and financial performance. Comparison of alternative vessels. Sources of capital. Rates of return.
Design and Analysis of Marine Transport Systems
General structure of marine transport systems and fleet planning, theory of international trade, barriers to trade and relationship of balance of trade with relative currency values, linear optimisation with single and multiple objectives, transportation and transhipment algorithms, theory of queues and port planning, utility analysis, scheduling.
Some funding support for full time UK students is available, although it is limited as EPSRC no longer funds Masters courses. Click here to find out more.
The UTP is supported with funds from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which provides monies for studentships as well as co-operative activities.