TIL/T&P Masterclass presentation by Bernat Goni Ross on his MSc research and reporting tips. September 2012.

2. WHO AM I?
Bernat Goñi Ros
• BSc Environmental Science, specialization in Urban Planning (Autonomous
University of Barcelona)
• Worked as urban planner in Barcelona for 3 years
• MSc Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics (TU Delft)
• PhD Researcher (TU Delft)
• Driving behavior
• Traffic modeling and simulation
• Intelligent transport systems

3. MY MASTER THESIS
Committee members
Prof. dr. ir. Bart van Arem (TU Delft, CEG)
Dr. ir. Rob van Nes (TU Delft, CEG)
Dr. Hans van Ham (TU Delft, TPM)
Dr. ir. Miquel Estrada (UPC Barcelona TECH)
Final presentation date
21st June 2011

4. TRANSIT NETWORKS IN BARCELONA

5. THE RETBUS PROJECT
Elements
a) New BRT system
- High frequency (1 service/3 min)
- High speed (15 km/h)
- Hybrid grid-radial network concept
b) Changes to the existing bus network
Objective
Min [Transit User Costs + (Investment
Costs + Operating Costs)]
Implementation
2012-2015

6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1) To what extent will the implementation of the RetBus project be socially
beneficial and financially profitable?
2) What modifications could be made to the RetBus project so as to
improve its social and/or financial value?
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Cost-
Financial Cost-Benefit Analysis (FCBA)
• Will the project result in sufficient financial returns to justify the costs incurred by
the investors and operators?
Cost-
Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA)
• Will the project produce an increase in social welfare?

7. TWO PROJECT ALTERNATIVES
Alternative 1: TMB plan / Alternative 2: Cost-reduction plan

8. TRAVEL DEMAND FORECASTING MODEL

9. RESULTS:
CBA

10. RESULTS: SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS (I)

11. RESULTS: SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS (II)

12. CONCLUSIONS

13. REPORT WRITING: MY EXPERIENCE
Pay attention to:
1. Report structure
2. Report presentation
3. Writing process
4. Yourself

14. REPORT STRUCTURE
writing*
a) Guidelines on report writing*
b) Completeness
1. Title page 8. Research objectives
2. Acknowledgements 9. Methodology
3. Table of contents 10. Results
4. List of tables 11. Conclusions
5. List of figures 12. Recommendations
6. Summary 13. Bibliography
7. Introduction 14. Appendices
c) Quality
d) Balance
* Example: www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing

15. REPORT PRESENTATION
a) Facilitate the job to the reader.
b) Explain a story, don’t present only facts.
c) Keep it simple, but also complete and coherent.
d) Leave out all the irrelevant information.
e) Report formatting tools, e.g. LaTeX.
Proof-
f) Proof-reading.
g) Language review.

16. WRITING PROCESS
a) Write when the content is fresh in your mind.
b) Start writing early.
Make use of the meetings with your supervisors to write drafts of some parts
of the report and getting them reviewed (e.g. intermediate meeting report).
Get (parts of) the report reviewed by classmates, friends, etc.
c) Keep track of the comments you receive from your supervisors.

17. YOURSELF
(Tony
Ten Principles to Live by (Tony Schwartz, Harvard Business Review)
1. Always challenge certainty, especially your own.
2. Excellence is an unrelenting struggle.
3. Emotions are contagious, so it pays to know what you're feeling.
4. When in doubt, ask yourself, "How would I behave here at my best?"
7. Accept yourself exactly as you are but never stop trying to learn and grow.
9. You can't change what you don't notice and not noticing won't make it go away.
10. When in doubt, take responsibility.