arXiv subjects

Yiheng Qian

Publications and source records attributed to Yiheng Qian.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Modeling E-Bike Route Choice in Washington, DC: A Path Size Logit Approach

Understanding e-bike route choice is essential for developing effective cycling infrastructure, yet empirical evidence remains limited. This study investigates shared e-bike route choice in Washington, DC, using Global Positioning System (GPS) trajectory data from the Capital Bikeshare system. A Path Size Logit model is estimated using a hybrid choice set consisting of observed routes and corresponding shortest paths, integrating Geographic Information System (GIS)-based infrastructure variables with computer vision-derived street-level visual features extracted from Street View images (SVI). The results indicate that e-bike riders tend to choose routes that minimize conflicts with both motor vehicles and pedestrians while maintaining travel continuity. Roadway hierarchy substantially moderates the influence of bicycle facilities, with the presence of bicycle facilities having a much greater impact on route choice along major roads than along minor roads. Longer trips also exhibit stronger preferences for cycling infrastructure. Incorporating street-level visual features improves model performance, although their effects are generally smaller than those of road infrastructure, with trees being the only greenery component showing a consistently positive effect. Standardized effect sizes further identify the most behaviorally important route attributes. These findings provide practical evidence for cycling infrastructure planning in the e-bike era.

stat.AP↗

arXiv2026

How Infrastructure and Streetscape Shape E-Scooter Route Choice: Evidence from Washington, DC

E-scooters have emerged as an important micromobility mode for short urban trips, yet evidence on route choice behavior remains limited. This study examines e-scooter route choice in Washington, DC using GPS trajectory data and a Path Size Logit model. In addition to roadway and infrastructure characteristics, the model incorporates visual streetscape features extracted from Google Street View imagery using computer vision techniques. The results show that the effectiveness of cycling infrastructure depends strongly on roadway context. On major roads, only protected bicycle facilities significantly increase route attractiveness, whereas on minor roads both protected and designated lanes provide utility gains. Sidewalks constitute the most frequently used riding environment, yet only asphalt-paved sidewalks are associated with positive utility, suggesting that sidewalk riding may reflect the absence of attractive on-street alternatives rather than a preference for pedestrian infrastructure. Tree coverage, particularly during summer, as well as building and wall coverage, are positively associated with route choice. Likelihood ratio tests and value-of-distance analysis indicate that roadway infrastructure exerts a stronger influence on route choice than visual streetscape features, although the latter provide additional explanatory power. These findings support targeted infrastructure investment and the integration of streetscape improvements as a complementary strategy for enhancing micromobility route attractiveness.

stat.AP↗

arXiv2026

Persona-aware and Explainable Bikeability Assessment: A Vision-Language Model Approach

Bikeability assessment is essential for advancing sustainable urban transportation and creating cyclist-friendly cities, and it requires incorporating users' perceptions of safety and comfort. Yet existing perception-based bikeability assessment approaches face key limitations in capturing the complexity of road environments and adequately accounting for heterogeneity in subjective user perceptions. This paper proposes a persona-aware Vision-Language Model framework for bikeability assessment with three novel contributions: (i) theory-grounded persona conditioning based on established cyclist typology that generates persona-specific explanations via chain-of-thought reasoning; (ii) multi-granularity supervised fine-tuning that combines scarce expert-annotated reasoning with abundant user ratings for joint prediction and explainable assessment; and (iii) AI-enabled data augmentation that creates controlled paired data to isolate infrastructure variable impacts. To test and validate this framework, we developed a panoramic image-based crowdsourcing system and collected 12,400 persona-conditioned assessments from 427 cyclists. Experiment results show that the proposed framework offers competitive bikeability rating prediction while uniquely enabling explainable factor attribution.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2024

How do transportation professionals perceive the impacts of AI applications in transportation? A latent class cluster analysis

Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in transportation. As a new and emerging technology, AI's potential to advance transportation goals and the full extent of its impacts on the transportation sector is not yet well understood. As the transportation community explores these topics, it is critical to understand how transportation professionals, the driving force behind AI Transportation applications, perceive AI's potential efficiency and equity impacts. Toward this goal, we surveyed transportation professionals in the United States and collected a total of 354 responses. Based on the survey responses, we conducted both descriptive analysis and latent class cluster analysis (LCCA). The former provides an overview of prevalent attitudes among transportation professionals, while the latter allows the identification of distinct segments based on their latent attitudes toward AI. We find widespread optimism regarding AI's potential to improve many aspects of transportation (e.g., efficiency, cost reduction, and traveler experience); however, responses are mixed regarding AI's potential to advance equity. Moreover, many respondents are concerned that AI ethics are not well understood in the transportation community and that AI use in transportation could exaggerate existing inequalities. Through LCCA, we have identified four latent segments: AI Neutral, AI Optimist, AI Pessimist, and AI Skeptic. The latent class membership is significantly associated with respondents' age, education level, and AI knowledge level. Overall, the study results shed light on the extent to which the transportation community as a whole is ready to leverage AI systems to transform current practices and inform targeted education to improve the understanding of AI among transportation professionals.

stat.AP↗