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Summary: In an era of reduced government funding, transit operators struggle to reduce operating costs and increase revenues. Energy costs account for an important share of the total costs of urban and suburban bus operators. Using a case study of one operator in Lisbon, Portugal, this talk will expand upon the empirical research on bus transit operation costs and identify the key factors that influence the energy efficiency of the overall bus fleet. Our results of a multivariate analysis find the following dimensions influence transit energy efficiency: vehicle type, commercial speed, road grades and bus routes; and to a lesser extent elements related with engine failures and malfunctions. In addition to these findings, the methodology is a decision-support tool for the bus operator in optimizing energy efficiency. The transferrability of these results and analytical tools to other contexts will also be discussed.

Bio: João de Abreu e Silva is an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon. He is a civil engineer and holds a Ph.D. in Territorial Engineering. His research work has been focused in three thematic areas of transportation planning. The first one relates to the interactions between the various dimensions of travel behavior, transportation systems and land use patterns/urban environment. The second focuses on data collection and models to support the evaluation of transport policy issues related to intelligent transport systems, freight traffic and risk and uncertainty in transport forecasts. The third theme is transversal to these areas and it is related with equity issues in transport policy. He has supervised and co-supervised several graduate students. João has also worked in consultancy projects related with transport demand estimation, contributing to bridge the gap between practitioners and academic research. His teaching activities in IST are mainly focused at Master and PhD level, in relevant areas for his research activities.

João de Abreu e Silva's seminar is sponsored by the NITC visiting scholar program.