Civil Engineering
      University of Toronto

 

 

 Ahmed Osman Idris, B.Sc., M.Sc.
 Ph.D. Candidate - Transportation Engineering and Planning

       

Contact Information       Biography       Research Interests       Current Research      Experience       Titles and Professional Affiliations       Publications

Contact Information:
Address:
35 St. George Street, GB 105, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A4, Canada.
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, American University in Cairo (AUC).
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, Calgary, Canada.
                                                             
Responsibilities:
                                                              - Assistance in providing intelligent transportation support with concentrations on advanced public transit systems
                                                              -
Assistance in defining and developing transportation and public transit models for integration into the geospatial cyber-infrastructure
                                                              -
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
                                                              - Classifying and analyzing the current traffic surrounding the project
                                                             
- Estimating the peak hour volumes and calculating peak hour factors

                                                              - Estimating the number of trips attracted to the project during its life time

                                                             
- Assigning the attracted trips to the surrounding transportation network
                                                              - 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)
                                                              - Monitoring and measuring the settlement of the equipments of the plant and prepare the daily and monthly reports for plant areas including
                                                                (Inside and Outside Battery Limits, Jetty and Breakwater)

                                                              - Monitoring the shoreline changes due to erosion and deposition (using total station)

                                                             
- Drawing drafts and maps using AutoCAD


       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 15th19th, 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 15th19th, 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 15th19th, 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, 2012Washington 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, 2012Washington 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, 2012Washington 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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