PHOEBE will gather for its fifth consortium meeting from 13 to 14 December at the premises of Technische Universität München (TUM) in the Bavarian capital of Munich. We spoke with our host Arunava Putatunda (Doctoral researcher at TUM) about the impact of PHOEBE on the university and its research, as well as our plans for the consortium meeting.
Good morning Arunava, could you summarise our third physical consortium meeting at TUM?
Since its start, the project PHOEBE has been more than one year old at the time of our meeting. In the last year, the team has worked hard to gather relevant information through desk research, which will enable PHOEBE to look beyond the state-of-the-art in road safety.
Moreover, the team worked on developing an initial framework for the entire project and reviewed state-of-the-art analytical models about traffic safety and flow, travel demand and behaviour and socio-economic assessment. Additionally, we carried out major brainstorming sessions, debates and meetings concerning the data collection for the three pilots.
In Munich we will discuss issues like further fine-tuning of the project framework, data needs and outreach and communication, including a communication and event plan for 2024, as well as project management topics and KPIs for our three pilots.
Let’s first look back onto the first year of PHOEBE. What was TUM’s main undertaking in PHOEBE and on which deliverables have you worked so far?
TUM were working on three crucial components of the project:
- Reviewing state-of-the-art literature:
on the topics of mode choice and travel demand modelling, induced travel demand modelling and socio-economic assessment of the traffic interventions. - Development of the initial detailed project framework:
collaborating with all the project collaborators, the methodology of the suitable analytical model, selection on the topics mentioned above and data needs pertaining the topics discussed above. - Drafting of two deliverables:
‘Literature and state-of-the-art review’ (D1.1) and on the ‘detailed initial framework of the project, model and method selections and the data requirements’ (D1.2).
TUM has great expertise in transport modelling. What aspects will you assess in PHOEBE and specifically concerning ‘mode shift and induced demand modelling’?
TUM has an excellent track record of working on transport travel demand and behaviour modelling. In PHOEBE, we plan to investigate some important and less explored aspects of travel demand and behaviour modelling that relate to the risk perceptibility of the population concerning the choice of transport modes. In addition, we plan to investigate the causes and effects of induced travel demand on mode choice and the socio-economic impacts of the interventions concerning traffic safety.
How will PHOEBE contribute to the broader research of TUM?
We are one of Germany’s largest publicly funded universities, which is committed to serving the people, nature, and society by imbibing cutting-edge sustainable research practices and promoting sustainable innovations. The components of PHOEBE that we have already discussed will allow a better understanding of the traffic safety and broader impacts of the newer modes of transport, such as micro-mobility.
Looking towards 2024, what are your aims within PHOEBE?
We plan to start 2024 with the required data collection, followed by the model development processes, namely model estimation, calibration, and validation. These models will be the foundation of the project’s framework. Another significant milestone of the project is to link the developed models from all the collaborators to form a seamless analytical forecasting system. We will likely start brainstorming this process during the third quarter of 2024.
Thank you for these detailed elaborations. Let’s briefly talk about our visit to Munich. Which locations will TUM show the consortium?
Since the 5th consortium will be very close to Christmas, we plan to visit the city centre of Munich with its Marienplatz, the main square where the charming Christmas Market is located. I am sure that this year, we will have a white Christmas, and a couple of Glühwein with local German delicacies, such as Makronen, Schneeballen, Stollen and Kletznbrot, which will be a perfect time out for all during the consortium.