A behavioural modelling framework with a dynamic travel strategy path choice approach is presented for unreliable multiservice transit networks. The modelling framework is especially suitable for dynamic run-oriented simulation models that use subjective strategy-based path choice models. After an analysis of the travel strategy approach in unreliable transit networks with the related hyperpaths, the search for the optimal strategy as a Markov decision problem solution is considered. The new modelling framework is then presented and applied to a real network. The paper concludes with an overview of the benefits of the new behavioural framework and outlines scope for further research.

The paper compares the characteristics of urban freight transport in some European cities, implementing a methodology which uses similar interviews with retailers and transport operators. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the similarities and differences in terms of socio-economic characteristics and commercial structures, and current distribution patterns followed by different transport and logistics operators. The study shows the flexibility of the methodology used in different applicative contexts and points out that there are some different patterns of urban distribution that need to be taken into account when implementing city logistics measures.

Bus travel time analysis is essential for transit operation planning. Then, this topic obtained large attention in transport engineering literature and several methods have been proposed for investigating its variability. Nowadays, the availability of large data quantities through automated monitoring allows more in-depth this phenomenon to be pointed out with new experimental evidence. The paper presents the results of some analyses carried out using automatic vehicle location (AVL) data of bus lines and automated vehicle counter (AVC) data on some corridors in the urban area of Rome where the bus services are mixed with other traffic and travel times are subject to high degrees of variability. The results show the effect of temporal dimension and similarity between travel time and traffic temporal patterns, and could open the road for the improvement of the short-term forecasting methods, too.