Week 2 - Fundamental Concepts of Transportation Flashcards

(37 cards)

1
Q

What are the core components of transportation?

A
  • modes
  • infrastructure
  • networks
  • flows
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2
Q

Define modes

A

vehicles to move passengers or freight; mobile elements of transp (ex. cars)

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3
Q

Define infrastructure

A

physical support of transp modes (ex. routes, terminals, roads, bridges)

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4
Q

Define networks

A

systems of linked locations (nodes); functional and spatial organization of transp

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5
Q

Define flows

A
  • movement of people, freight, and info over network

- have origins, intermediary locations, and destinations

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6
Q

Explain why transportation is an indispensable part of economy and society (dimensions)

A

One of the most important human activities.

  • historical: changes brought by transport technologies, rise/cohesion of civilizations, and development of modern nations
  • economic: transport and economic development and the value of goods/services; influences land value
  • social: access to healthcare, welfare, and cultural events; shapes social interactions
  • political: nation building/unity; national defence; rules/regulations; subsidized mobility
  • environmental: pollution (GHGs/air quality), exploitation of natural resources
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7
Q

How is transportation a key economic sector in its own right in Canada?

A
  • 4.2% of national GDP

- until recently, truck driving was single largest occupation for men

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8
Q

Why does transportation occur?

A
  • goal is to overcome space (shaped by distance, time, admin divisions, and topography)
  • about changing the geographical attributes (locations) of people and freight (goods) from origin to destination - key is value is added along the way
  • a derived demand: it takes place because of some other economic activity/demand is taking place (ex. only take the bus to get to school; truck delivers concrete to construction site)
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9
Q

What is transportability?

A

The convenience at which passengers, freight, or info can be moved

  • relates to cost of movement (modal difference), attributes of what is being transported (fragility, state, value), institutional factors (laws, borders, tariffs)
  • similar to mobility: the relative ease of movement
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10
Q

What is an example of a good with high transportability?

A

cars, explosives b/c they have high value and are easy to transport

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11
Q

What is an example of a good with low transportability?

A

gravel, waste

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12
Q

What groups of people have the highest mobility?

A
  • the wealthier you are, the more you travel (income strongly related to mobility)
  • a challenge because as people become wealthier, they’ll desire more mobility, which means more GHGs
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13
Q

How much effort and money are we willing to put into travel?

A
  • 10-15% of household budget
  • income and travel positively correlated
  • most people commute about 1-1.5 hours per day
  • influences decisions on where to live, where to go, and how to get there
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14
Q

What are the roles transportation?

A

Key role in structure and organization of space and territories

  1. major influence on evolution of location theory (transp costs & influence on patterns of location)
  2. at local scale, one of major influences on urban morphology (why cities take certain form - new emphasis on TOD)
  3. at regional/national scale, influence/relationship with economic development (impact on economy - ex. trade influences transp b/c coastal cities )
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15
Q

What is Alfred Weber’s theory of industrial location?

A

The least-cost location largely driven by transport costs.
Ex. making beer, inputs are grain and water from 2 corners and third corner is town, where do you locate rail system?
- minimize costs to maximize profits under set of assumptions (ex. cost directly proportional to weight of goods)

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16
Q

What is the main ideas of transp roles?

A
  • importance in development of space
  • scale-dependent (global to local diffs in roles)
  • mode and time dependent (container ships vs. truck transport)
17
Q

In the evolution of transp systems, what is space/time convergence?

A

“shrinking” the world through speeding up modes with technology
- ex. ship to train to airplanes to jet planes to internet

18
Q

What is the historical evolution of transp systems?

A
  • related to spatial evolution of economic systems
  • strong links b/w transp and development, so major stages in evolution of economic systems are specifically related to tech innovations
  • must recognize that enhancements in communication tech plays critical role in this evolution (ex. rail & telegraph; highway & phone; supply chains & internet)
19
Q

What are the phases of world economy development?

A
1500-1780: mercantilism
1780-1880: industrial capitalism
1880-1970: monopoly capitalism (fordism)
1970-2010: corporate capitalism (post-fordism)
2010-?: sustainable capitalism
20
Q

Explain the pre-industrial era/mercantilism

A
  • Growth: commodities and crafts trade
  • production unit: workshop
  • production system: craft cities
  • limited to animal and wind power so low volumes and low speeds
  • land transport was long distances for high value goods
21
Q

Explain industrial capitalism/industrial revolution

A
  • Growth: textiles, steam power, metallurgy
  • production unit: factory
  • production system: industrial cities/regions
  • massive modifications were canal systems and railways
22
Q

Explain monopoly capitalism/fordism

A
  • Growth: electricity, petrochemicals, internal combustion engines
  • production unit: multinational corporations
  • production system: industrial clusters
  • economies of scale through assembly lines
  • first commercial air service in 1919
  • shift from coal to oil
23
Q

Explain corporate capitalism/post-fordism

A
  • Growth: aviation, electronics, info, communications tech
  • production unit: corporate system
  • production system: global production networks
  • mass development of telecommunications, globalization, and efficient distribution systems
24
Q

Explain sustainable capitalism

A
  • Growth: digital networks/devices, green energy, customized fabrications
  • production unit: collaborative supply chain
  • production system: hierarchical production networks
  • still have dual dependency (transp heavily relies on fossils fuels and road transp)
25
What is expected to be part of the next phase of world economic development?
- autonomous vehicles - electrification of transp - hyperloop
26
What is transp planning?
- focus on "the plan" but transp planning is a continuous process - effective transp planning is an integral and ongoing part of decision making in our communities - lots of components with lots of actors - ex. hierarchy: Planning Act > PPS > OP (transp mp, infrastructure mp, green space mp, design guidelines) > community design plan > zoning by-law > development review/approval
27
What does transp planning consider?
- efficient movement of people and goods (efficiency = least cost, time, resources/energy; uses measures of effectiveness for system performance & sustainability indicators) - different modes: intermodal (moving between; ex. container from ship to rail) and multimodal (considering all methods; ex. walk, then car, then bike) - thinks forward to future performance through quality & quantity (ex. changing needs and demands, changing state of facilities, impacts of changing social norms)
28
What can be TP be broken down into (4 key things)?
1. TP sets goals/objectives for transp that must consider range of factors - ex. land uses and kind of city we want (homogenous vs. mixed; sprawl vs. concentrated) 2. TP documents existing conditions through monitoring - ex. transit ridership; traffic volumes; primary destinations (employment, education, retail); travel patterns (peak hours - not planning for max capacity b/c inefficient most of time) 3. TP develops and selects measures of effectiveness using key indicators - mostly quantitative w/ some qualitative - ex. accidents frequency, severity, and type (auto-auto, auto-bike, etc.) - must consider location, available data sources, reliability, etc. 4. TP develops alternatives - finds range of alts & adapts to local context - evaluates alts against projections/forecasts (ex. pop growth, demographic change, economic conditions, changing social norms) - evaluation techniques use quantitative measures, models, case studies, and public input
29
What are the scale of TP?
1. facility level 2. corridor level 3. neighbourhood level 4. city 5. regional 6. national
30
Explain the facility level scale of TP
- micro level infrastructure items that can have highly variable character across areas - ex. design of bus shelters, street lights, crosswalks, pavement conditions
31
Explain the corridor level scale of TP
- segments b/w nodes - ex. sidewalks, lanes, land use, design - must consider purpose and function in network
32
Explain the neighbourhood level scale of TP
- lanes, pedestrian, bicycle strategies, land use, design - neighbourhoods have specific purposes/characters, even within same general land use category (ex. pre-war grid, post-war cul-de-sacs, mid/high-rise apartments)
33
What are the main neighbourhood layout models?
- Grid: road grid network few parks, high density, high mixed land use - Greenway: grid network of trails offset from disconnected road network, homes face trails, low density, medium mixed land use - Loop & cul-de-sac: disconnected road network, large parks, low density, low mixed land use - New urbanist: modelled after grid with more parks and trails, some cul-de-sacs, mainly alleys, low density, high mixed land use
34
Explain the city level scale of TP
- issues which must be addressed at city-wide scale - current/development planning (short term): ex. traffic impact studies - strategic/policy planning (long term): ex. transp MP, OP, road network startegies
35
Explain the regional level scale of TP
- issues relevant at larger scale | - ex. public TP, regional transp, major infrastructure, regional roads
36
Explain the provincial level scale of TP
- long range of issues with broad spatial impact and high cost - ex. 400-series highway, Metrolinx & GO
37
Explain the national level scale of TP
- borders, air travel, immigration, trade, strategically sig. infrastructure - ex. gateways and corridors program