Civil Engineering
University of Toronto
Ahmed Osman
Idris, B.Sc.,
M.Sc.
Ph.D. Candidate - Transportation Engineering and Planning
Contact Information:
Address: 35
St. George Street, GB 105
Cell.: (001) 647-207-1010
Tel. : (001) 416-978-5049 -
Fax: (001) 416-978-5054
Email:
a.osman@utoronto.ca;
osmanah3@ecf.utoronto.ca
Website:
www.ahmedosmanidris.com
Personal Blog:
www.oscoway.blogspot.com
Biography:
Ph.D. (In Progress):
Transportation Engineering,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
(UofT).
M.Sc. (2007)
:
Transportation Engineering,
Construction and Building Engineering Department, Arab Academy for Science and Technology and
Maritime Transport (AASTMT).
Diploma (2004) : Professional
Diploma in GIS, Center for
Adult & Continuing Education,
B.Sc. (2002)
: Construction & Building Engineering, Arab
Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT).
Research
Interests:
Public Transportation;
Geographic Information Systems for
Transportation (GIS-T); Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS);
Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS); Transportation
Planning and Demand Analysis.
Current
Research:
Modal Shift
Optimized Transit Route Design
Increasing modal shift from auto to transit is a desirable objective for
achieving better system-wide mobility. Automobile users might consider shifting
to transit if they have an affordable and a good quality
service available. Given
the constrained fleet and crew resources of transit companies due to the costly
transit operations, it is essential to optimize various transit network elements
and maximize the quality of the offered service in order to realize the maximum
transit ridership. Transit route design is concerned with determining various
design elements, such as service frequency and fleet size.
In addition, as the first points of
contact between passengers and transit service, transit stop locations and
spacing are crucial design elements in terms of ensuring maximum service
coverage and reasonable accessibility. The route design process currently
depends on the experience of the planner, in which a set of service standards
and guidelines are followed to specify the minimum acceptable
level of service.
That is succeeded by generating and examining a number of design scenarios based
on different combinations of design elements in order to select the best
alternative. However, current design approaches are criticized for yielding
suboptimal designs in terms of maximizing modal shift from auto users toward
transit. Another limitation is being unable to capture the effect of the
proposed design on the existing demand along other transit routes and whether
the attracted demand is resulting from a mode shift or a transit route shift.
This
research
proposes a modelling framework for generating optimal transit route designs that
maximize demand attraction. The framework builds upon and extends the powerful
capabilities of the existing microsimulation learning-based approach for transit
assignment (MILATRAS), to tackle the route design problem. MILATRAS currently
models transit assignment given a fixed set of transit routes and transit
demand. The proposed work will add to MILATRAS a modal shift module to enable
evaluating the impact of transit investments that usually target auto drivers.
Modal shift barriers such as attitudes and habit formation will be captured in
the model by specifying a threshold or inertia against shifting between modes.
The proposed approach to transit route design problem is divided into two main
stages. Firstly, tools will be developed to generate a set of competing
candidate route designs based on shortest path algorithms, service guidelines
and constraints regarding several design aspects such as minimum stop spacing
and maximum route length. Secondly, an optimization tool will be developed to
select the optimum transit route alignment and design characteristics,
considering demand variability among both modes and routes.
Such approach is more desirable for transit network planning than the previous
approaches in terms of its practical realism for real-world applications.
Further, it will not only optimize the overall cost for both passengers and the
operator, but also the objective function will incorporate the desired level of
modal shift between both competing modes. Furthermore, the interaction between
the level of service of the transit route and the variability of demand will be
captured.
Experience:
Assistant Lecturer :
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
(UofT).
Full-Time (09/2008 - Present)
Academic activities includes assisting
in teaching and grading the following graduate and undergraduate courses:
CIV 100 : Engineering Mechanics;
CIV 231/331: Transport I - Introduction to Transportation Systems;
CIV 516 : Public Transit Operations and Planning;
and
CIV 1520 : Travel Survey Methods.
Assistant Lecturer :
Construction & Building Engineering Department,
AASTMT, Alexandria, Egypt.
Full-Time (02/2007 - 08/2008)
Academic activities includes assisting
in teaching and grading the following undergraduate courses and laboratories:
CB 271: Construction Surveying 1, (and laboratory);
CB 312: System Analysis for Construction Engineers;
CB 370: Surveying;
CB 472: Transportation Engineering;
CB 573: Construction Surveying 2, (and laboratory); and
CB 574: Highway Engineering and Construction.
Transportation Engineer
Part-Time
(05/2011
- Present) :
Project Funded by GEOIDE, NEPTIS and TECTERRA.
Project:
Plan Your Place: a geospatial
cyber-infrastructure for sustainable community planning
Responsibilities:
-
Assistance in providing intelligent transportation support with
concentrations on advanced public transit systems
-
Developing tools to examine the mobility impacts of
sustainable neighborhood design and supporting transportation policies
Part-Time
(12/2007
- 03/2008) :
Academy Center of Engineering, Consultancy and Development
(ACECD).
Project: Traffic Impact Assessment of an
Entertainment/Commercial Center, Maamora, Alexandria, Egypt.
Responsibilities:
- Estimating the status of the current transportation network surrounding the
project
- Estimating the peak hour volumes and calculating peak hour factors
- Calculating the level of service before and after the construction of the
project
- Estimating the required parking areas
Surveying Engineer :
Academy Center of Engineering, Consultancy and Development
(ACECD).
Part-Time
(11/2004
- 11/2006)
Project: Precise Leveling for Settlement Monitoring of the
Egyptian Liquefied Natural Gas (ELNG) Plant,
Idku, Egypt.
Responsibilities:
- Establishing the bench marks network for the plant (using total station &
precise level)
(Inside and Outside Battery Limits, Jetty and Breakwater)
Teaching Assistant :
Construction & Building Engineering Department,
AASTMT, Alexandria, Egypt.
Full-Time
(09/2002 - 02/2007) Academic activities includes assisting
in teaching and grading the following undergraduate courses and laboratories:
CB 221: Construction Engineering Drawings;
CB 271: Construction Surveying 1, (and laboratory);
CB 312: System Analysis for Construction Engineers;
CB 370: Surveying;
CB 416: Construction Management 2;
CB 460: Soil Mechanics & Foundation;
CB 472: Transportation Engineering;
CB 517: Techniques of Planning, Scheduling & Project Control;
CB 573: Construction Surveying 2, (and laboratory); and
CB 574: Highway Engineering and Construction.
Titles and Professional Affiliations:
Social Affairs Officer, The Egyptian Students Association
in North America (ESANA).
President, The Egyptian Students Association at
the University of Toronto (ESA-UofT).
Member, Intelligent Transportation Systems Society
of Canada (ITS Canada).
Member, Institute of
Transportation Engineers (ITE).
Member, The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE).
Member,
Egyptian Syndicate of
Engineers.
Pending Review / In Press / Working Papers:
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M. and Shalaby, A., "A
Mixed RP/SP Socio-Psychometric Survey to Measure Personal Attitude and Habit
Formation for Mode Shift Modelling."
Working Paper, the
13th
International
Conference
of
The
International
Association
for
Travel
Behaviour
Research
(IATBR),
July
15th
– 19th,
2012, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada.
Tudela, A., Carrasco, J. A., Nurul Habib, K. M. and
Osman, A. O.,
"Social
Exclusion and Transport: An Assessment of the Role of Socio-Demographics,
Personal Networks, Personality Traits, and Activity-Travel Participation."
Working Paper, the
13th
International
Conference
of
The
International
Association
for
Travel
Behaviour
Research
(IATBR),
July
15th
– 19th,
2012, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada.
Abdulazim, T., Osman, A. O. and Nurul Habib, K. M.,
"An
Innovative Way of Collecting Data on Habit and Inertia Defining Mode Choice:
Application of Smartphone Sensor Technologies."
Working Paper, the
13th
International
Conference
of
The
International
Association
for
Travel
Behaviour
Research
(IATBR),
July
15th
– 19th,
2012, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada.
Tudela, A., Nurul Habib, K. M., Carrasco, J. A. and
Osman, A. O.,
"Making
explicit the role of psychological factors on mode choice: a hybrid mode choice
model by using data from a psychometric survey."
Pending Review, the
91st
TRB
Annual Meeting,
January
22nd
-
26th,
2012, Washington
D.C.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M. and Tudela, A.,
"Role of Psychological
Factors in Mode Choice Decisions: A Comparative Study on Two Cities with
different Cultural and Urban Settings."
Pending Review, Journal of Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M. and Shalaby, A.,
"Modal
Shift Forecasting Model for Transit Service Design."
Working Paper, the
12th International Conference on Advanced Systems for Public
Transport (CASPT), July 23rd – 27th, 2012, The Ritz –
Carlton Santiago, Chile.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M. and Tudela, A,
"Role of Psychological
Factors in Mode Choice Decisions: A Comparative Study on Two Cities with
different Cultural and Urban Settings."
Pending Review, the
91st
TRB
Annual Meeting,
January
22nd
-
26th,
2012, Washington
D.C.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M. and Shalaby, A.,
"Evaluating
the Impacts of Adding a New Subway Line by Developing RP Mode Choice Model: A
Case Study on Sheppard Subway Line in Toronto."
Working Paper, the
3rd Annual TRANSLOG 2011 Conference on
Transportation and Logistics, June 15th - 16th,
2011, Hamilton Convention Centre, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M., Tudela, A. and Shalaby, A.,
"Investigating
the Effects of Psychological Factors on Commuting Mode Choice Behaviour."
Pending Review, Journal of Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology
and Behaviour.
Osman, A. O., Shalaby, A. and Nurul Habib, K. M.,
"Demand Sensitive Candidate Route Generation Algorithm (DSCRGA)." Pending Review,
ITE Journal.
Refereed Journal Papers:
Osman, A. O., Shalaby, A. and Nurul Habib, K. M.
(2012)
"Towards a Learning-based Mode Shift
Model: A Conceptual Framework." Forthcoming,
Transportation Letters: The International Journal of Transportation Research.
Foda, M. A. and Osman, A. O. (2011)
"A Vector-Raster GIS
Approach for Selecting Suitable Bus Stop Locations Along Urban Transit Line."
Journal of Al Azhar University, Engineering Sector,
Vol. 6, No. 18, pp. 250-261.
Foda, M. A. and Osman, A. O. (2010)
"Using GIS for Measuring Transit Stops Accessibility
Considering Actual Pedestrian Roads Network."
Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 13, No. 4,
pp. 23-40.
Foda, M. A. and Osman, A. O. (2008)
"A GIS Approach to Study the Bus Transit Network Accessibility, Case Study: The
City of Alexandria."
Journal of Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport,
Vol. 34, No. 65, pp. 32-39.
Conference Papers / Presentations:
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M., Tudela, A. and Shalaby, A.
(2012)
"Investigating
the Effects of Psychological Factors on Commuting Mode Choice Behaviour."
Paper accepted for presentation
at the
91st
TRB
Annual Meeting,
January
22nd
-
26th,
2012, Washington
D.C.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M. and Tudela, A.
(2011)
"Semantic Approach to
Capture Psychological Factors Affecting Mode Choice: Comparative Results from
Two Countries in America."
Paper Presented at the
9th
International Conference on Transport Survey Methods (ISCTSC), November 14th
– 18th,
2011, Termas de Puyehue, Chile.
Osman, A. O. (2011) "Rail Systems: Space-Time
Relationships."
Invited Guest Lecturer, CIV 331:
Transport I - Introduction to
Transportation Systems, University of Toronto,
Canada, September 23rd, 2011.
Osman, A. O., Nurul Habib, K. M., Tudela, A. and Shalaby, A.
(2011)
"Investigating
the Effects
of Psychological Factors Measured in
a
Semantic Scale on
Commuting
Mode Choice
Behaviour." Paper Presented at
the 12th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and
Urban Management (CUPUM 2011), Lake
Louise, Alberta, Canada,
July 5th-8th,
2011.
Tudela, A., Nurul Habib, K. M., Carrasco, J. A. and
Osman, A. O. (2011)
"Incorporating
the explicit role of psychological factors on mode choice: a hybrid mode choice
model by using data from an innovative psychometric survey." Paper Presented at
the 2nd
International Choice Modelling Conference
(ICMC
2011),
Oulton Hall, Leeds, England,
July
4th-6th, 2011.
Osman, A. O. (2011)
"Enhanced Ridership Forecasting Model
for Improved Transit Service Planning."
Presented at the Recent Advances in Transit Research and Practice Workshop,
Cities Centre, University of Toronto, Canada, June 15th, 2011.
Kattan, L., Shalaby, A. and Osman, A. O. (2011)
"Developing Tools to Examine the Mobility Impacts of Sustainable Neighbourhood
Design and Supporting Transportation Policies."
Presented at the Plan Your Place Workshop 1: Project Planning and
Priorities,
University of Calgary, Canada, May 24th, 2011.
Osman, A. O. (2010)
"Modal Shift Optimized Transit Route
Design Model."
Presented at the Transportation Research Seminar, Toronto ITS Centre and Testbed,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, November 5th, 2010.
Osman, A. O. (2010)
"Demand Sensitive Candidate Route
Generation Algorithm (DSCRGA)."
Presented at the Transportation Research Seminar, Toronto ITS Centre and Testbed,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, October 15th, 2010.
Osman, A. O. and Shalaby, A. (2010)
"A Modal Shift
Optimized Transit Route Design Model."
Paper presented at the 2nd
Annual Conference on Transportation and Logistics (TRANSLOG),
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, June 15th-16th, 2010.
Foda, M. A. and Osman, A. O. (2006)
"GIS Tools to Analyze the Public Bus Transit
Service Network, Case Study: The City of Alexandria."
Paper presented at the
16th International Conference on Computer Theory and Applications (ICCTA),
Alexandria, Egypt, September 5th-7th, 2006.
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