Utilizing Simulation Techniques in Sustainable Transport Planning

A2. Knowledge and critical understanding of investigative techniques in business analytics;

A3. The value of data to businesses, consumers and the economy as a whole, and the major mechanisms through which value is created from data;

A4. Different types of business analytics techniques and their roles in releasing the value of data.

Coursework Brief:

Consider a university’s ‘Sustainable Transport Plan’, which is a wide-ranging strategy for the transportation of students,staff and members of the public to travel to and from the university campuses sustainably. Major aspects of the plan examine the following:

• Travel to and from the university using uni-link buses and other public transport such as trains and taxis; the use of personal cars;

• Provision and usage of cycling and walking routes;

• Provision and usage of car/cycle parking, including the examination of parking fees, promotion and monitoring of the car-sharing scheme;

• Effective home-working for staff and students, including the provision of IT facilities such as video conferencing to facilitate home working;

• Health and safety of students, staff and members of public on an any of the travel routes and on campus such as safety when walking, cycling or using the uni-link inter-change;

• The effect of time-tabling (of lectures, classes, etc.) on student and staff travel; and

• The impact of travel to and from the university on the environment and local community.

Specify and discuss which type of simulation, i.e. Monte Carlo simulation, Discrete Event Simulation and/or System Dynamics can be used to model the following issues of the ‘Transport Plan’?

(a) Forecasting issues;

(b) Risk management;

(c) Queuing problems; and

(d) Environmental Sustainability

Note that each issue may be addressed by more than one type of simulation model- your answer should be clear how each type of simulation could contribute to modelling the issue.

Submission Deadline: Please note that the submission deadline for Southampton Business School is 16.00 for ALL assessments.

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