Autonomy of urban light rail transport systems and its influence on users, expenditures, and operational costs

The aim of this paper is to study and highlight various effects of automizing urban light rail transport systems by examining the impact of such structures on common users, as well as the expenditures and operational costs involved. By providing an overview of different transportation networks through the three categories of expenditure— transportation, maintenance, and administration—an idea of the general operational cost can be established. Additionally, by indicating the aforementioned cost, the effect of the grade of automation on costs can be determined and explained. However, this paper does not include an attempt to estimate these costs; it only states what may affect such costs. Furthermore, the factor of safety is considered by underlining the changes expected to occur with the implementation of such networks. The implementation of autonomous rail systems would result in lower operational costs, which is discussed in this paper based on another study. At the same time, the factor of safety was also observed as simultaneously increasing, as were the overall experiences of users, both in terms of aesthetics and function. The only setback found by the research is that some users would be reluctant to use a network without an operator.