Description

The conference is an initiative of the World Conference on Transport Research Society. WCTR conference is held every 3 years since almost 50 years.

The aims of the conference are to bring together experts in all areas of transport research from all parts of the world and to stimulate the exchange of ideas in the field of transport policy and practice.

The conference covers the following topic areas (Special Interest Groups, or SIGs):

• A: Transport Modes – General
• B: Freight Transport and Logistics
• C: Traffic Management, Operations and Control
• D: Activity and Transport Demand
• E: Transport Economics and Finance
• F: Transport, Land-use and Sustainability
• G: Transport Planning and Policy
• H: Transport in Developing and Emerging Countries
• I: Infrastructure Design and Maintenance

Please visit this page to know more about each of these SIGs and their sub-SIGs.

Program

Program overview

First day keynote speakers

Chairs: Professor Catherine Morency and Martin Trépanier

	Professor Foutse Khohm, FRQ-IVADO Research Chair on Software Quality Assurance for Machine Learning Applications, Polytechnique Montréal He received a Ph.D in Software Engineering from the University of Montreal in 2011, with the Award of Excellence. He also received a CS-Can/Info-Can Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Prize for 2019. His research interests include software maintenance and evolution, machine learning systems engineering, cloud engineering, and dependable and trustworthy ML/AI. His work has received three ten-year Most Influential Paper (MIP) Awards, and six Best/Distinguished paper Awards. He initiated and co-organized the Software Engineering for Machine Learning Applications (SEMLA) symposium and the RELENG (Release Engineering) workshop series.
	Disruption: Travel Behavioural Changes & Transportation System Challenges in a Post-COVID World Professor Eric Miller, Director of the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI), University of Toronto Professor Eric Miller is a pioneer in the development and application of agent-based microsimulation model systems in large urban contexts. As director of the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI), his research is centered in the implementation of activity-based travel models for use in operational practice. This includes the development of integrated transportation-land use models that permit the analysis of the two-way interaction between transportation systems and urban form. His work serves to improve urban transportation best practices and policy decision-making and, thereby improves the quality of life in urban settings.
	On the Emerging Physical Internet: Progress and Challenges Toward Resilient, Sustainable, Hyperconnected Freight Transportation and Logistic Ecosystems Professor Benoit Montreuil, Coca-Cola Material Handling & Distribution Chair and Professor and Co-Director Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, Georgia Tech Benoit Montreuil is the Coca-Cola Material Handling & Distribution Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also Director of the Physical Internet Center and Co-Director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute. Dr. Montreuil is leading the International Physical Internet Initiative, engaging academic, industry and government leaders worldwide into research and innovation projects on smart, hyperconnected and sustainable logistics, supply chains, transportation, businesses and regions. His main research interests generically lie in developing concepts, methodologies and technologies for creating, optimizing, transforming and enabling businesses, supply chains and value creation networks to thrive in a fast evolving hyperconnected world.

Second day keynote speakers: Showcasing WCTRS Distinguished Scholars

Chairs: Professors Tae Oum and Lori Tavasszy

	What is Causality in Modeling? And What Data Do We Need to Extricate Causal Insights? Professor Chandra Bhat, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA; WCTRS Steering Committee member (STC), University Distinguished Teaching Professor, Joe J. King Endowed Chair Professor in Engineering Dr. Chandra R. Bhat has been a pioneer in the formulation and use of statistical and econometric methods to analyze human choice behavior for transportation and urban policy design. His current research includes the social and environmental aspects of transportation, planning implications of emerging technology and mobility options, equity considerations in transportation safety, and data science and predictive analytics. He is a recipient of many awards, including the 2022 Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Theodore M. Matson Memorial Award, the 2017 Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Frank M. Masters Award, and the 2013 German Humboldt Award. He was listed in 2017 as one of the top ten transportation thought leaders in academia by the Eno Foundation. His former students are now leaders in the travel modeling field, and many have received national-level dissertation/thesis awards for their research under Dr. Bhat’s guidance. Dr. Bhat currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research – Part B.
	Behavior-Based Traffic Network Reliability Research Framework Professor Haijun Huang, Beihang University, Beijing, China; Vice President of Beihang University and Director of Key Laboratory of Complex System Analysis and Management Decision, China Ministry of Education Prof. Hai-Jun Huang received a Ph.D in transport operations research from Beihang in 1992. His research interests include road traffic flow models, transport network modeling, travel behavior analysis and congested road-use pricing. He has been the principal investigator of more than 10 national research grants and published more than 270 papers in such journals as Transportation Research series, Transportation Science and Operations Research. In 2011, he got the national prize for achievements in natural science, and in 2012 the Fudan prize for excellent research in management sciences. In 2011, he was selected as the IAC member of ISTTT, and in 2020 the member of WCTRS Steering Committee. He is now serving as the editor-in-chief of Transport Policy, the associate editors of Transportation Research Part E and Transportation Science, the editorial board member of Transportation Research Part C.
	Science and Policy of Decarbonizing Transportation, As Seen by a Professor, Policy Wonk and ex-Regulator Professor Dan Sperling, Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy and founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California at Davis, and next WCTRS Secretary General designate Dr. Sperling is a global leader on sustainable transportation policy and technology. He has launched 4 international centers within ITS-Davis, which he founded over 30 years ago—in China, Europe (Paris), Mexico, and India. In addition to his faculty position, he held the transportation seat on the California Air Resources Board for 16 years and served as Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies in 2015-16. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2022, and won the 2018 Roy Crum award from TRB, its highest research award and the 2013 Blue Planet Prize from the Asahi Glass Foundation for being “a pioneer in opening up new fields of study to create more efficient, low-carbon, and environmentally beneficial transportation systems.” He served twice as lead author for the IPCC (sharing 2007 Nobel Peace Prize), has authored or co-authored over 250 technical papers and 13 books, and has made over 1000 public presentations.
	Evolution of Aviation Network: Global Airport Connectivity Index since 2006, Impact of COVID-19 and future research Professor Anming Zhang, Vancouver International Airport Authority Professor in Air Transportation, Professor, Operations and Logistics Division, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Anming Zhang is a Professor in Operations and Logistics and holds Vancouver International Airport Authority Chair Professor in Air Transportation at Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. He is the President of the World Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) and was, in 2020, the President of Transportation and Public Utilities Group (TPUG) of American Economic Association. Prof. Zhang has published widely in the areas of transportation and industrial organization. He is the recipient of the “Yokohama Special Prize for Outstanding Young Researcher” awarded at the 7th World Conference on Transportation Research (WCTR) in Sydney, Australia in 1995, and of the Best Paper Prize at the International Transport Economics Association (ITEA) Conference on Transportation Economics, Toulouse, France in 2014. Currently, he is also in the Executive Committees of WCTR and ITEA, Associate Editor of Transportation Research Part A and the Co Editor-in-Chief of Transport Economics and Management (TEAM).

Social events

Registration includes breaks and lunches, and the welcome cocktail. A gala dinner with be held on Thursday evening (additional fee).

Technical tours

Many technical tours will be available during the event. Details to come.

Venue

The 16th World Conference on Transport Research will be held on-site at the Palais des congrès in Montreal, Canada, from 17 to 21 July 2023.

The Palais des congrès (convention centre) is located at the heart of downtown Montreal and there are plenty of accommodation options all around the site. The Palais is connected to the Montreal subway (Place d'Armes station) system and you will receive a public transport pass to travel across the city.

Accommodation (Stay 22)

You can use this map to find hotels all around the Palais, in partnership with Stay 22. Check the dates before booking. As prices may vary, you can also check with hotel websites.

Please visit our Registration section for more information on fees and visa for travel (if needed).

Dates

Please remind these important deadlines for the conference.

As soon as possible: request for visa letter (please visit our Registration section for more details)
30th April: deadline for early registration fee (presenters must register before this date)
31st May: deadline for paper updating in Easychair
10th July: deadline for online registration
17th July: conference begins (on-site registration)
Summer is a busy season in Montreal. Please plan your trip early (flight and accommodation). See our Venue section.

Registration

Registration is now open! Please follow this link to access full information on fees and register to the conference.

Visa application

You may need a visa to come to Canada. Please check this on the Government of Canada website. Please take attention to the visa processing time.

If you need a visa, we will have to send you an invitation letter for the application. Click here to fill a form asking for the information that are needed.. As we are receiving a lot of inquiries, priority is given to authors and those who have already registered to the conference.

Committees

Conference Directorate

• President, the WCTR Society, Tae OUM (Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CANADA)
• Chair Scientific Committee, Lóránt TAVASSZY (Delft, NETHERLANDS)
• SCC Vice-chair Conference, Gopal PATIL (Mumbai, INDIA)
• Secretary General, Greg MARSDEN (Leeds, ENGLAND)
• Chair of Local Organizing Committee, CIRRELT Director Martin TREPANIER (Montreal, CANADA)
• Local Conference President, Catherine Morency (Montreal, CANADA)

Scientific committee

• Scientific Committee Chair: Lori TAVASSZY (TU Delft, The Netherlands)
• President, the WCTR Society, Tae OUM (Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CANADA)
• Vice Chair for SIGs: Hideki NAKAMURA (Nagoya University, Japan)
• Vice Chair for Prizes: Sergio JARA-DIAZ (University of Chile, Chile)
• Vice Chair for Conferences: Gopal PATIL (IIT-Bombay, India)
• Vice Chair for Publications: Anming ZHANG (University of British Columbia, Canada)
• Vice Chair for Publications (Procedia): Fusun ULENGIN (Sabanci University, Turkey)
• Vice Chair for Communications: Maria ATTARD (University of Malta, Malta)
• Editor-in-Chief for Transport Policy: Xiaowen FU (Hongkong Polytechnic University, China)
• Editor-in-Chief for Case Studies in Transport Policy: Rosário MACÁRIO (Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal and University of Antwerp, Belgium)
• WCTR 16 Conference Director: Catherine MORENCY (Ecole Poltytechnic Montreal, Canada)
• WCTR 16 Conference Vice-Director: Martin TREPANIER (Ecole Poltytechnic Montreal, Canada)
• Young Initiative Lead: Laetitia DABLANC (Université Gustave Eiffel, France)
• Topic Area A- Thierry VANELSLANDER (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
• Topic Area B- Johan WOXENIUS (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and Michael BROWNE (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
• Topic Area C- Zong TIAN (University of Nevada at Reno, USA)
• Topic Area D- Bhargab MAITRA (IIT-Kharagpur, India)
• Topic Area E- Georgina SANTOS (Cardiff University, UK)
• Topic Area F- Haixiao PAN (Tongji University, China) and Masanobu KII (Kagawa University, Japan)
• Topic Area G- Stephen ISON (De Montford University Leicester, UK) and Maria ATTARD (University of Malta, Malta)
• Topic Area H- Binyam REJA (World Bank, China) and Meng LI (Tsinghua University, China)
• SIG A1 Chair: Martin DRESNER (University of Maryland, USA)
• SIG A1 Co-Chair: Chikage MIYOSHI (Cranfield University, UK)
• SIG A1 Co-Chair: Yuichiro YOSHIDA (Hiroshima University, Japan)
• SIG A2 Chair: Thierry VANELSLANDER (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
• SIG A2 Co-Chair: Enrico MUSSO (University of Genova, Italy)
• SIG A3 Chair: John PRESTON (University of Southampton, UK)
• SIG A3 Co-Chair: Yung-Cheng (Rex) LAI (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)
• SIG A3 Co-Chair: Melody Khadem SAMENI (Iran University of Science and Technology, Iran)
• SIG A4 Chair: KE Seetha RAM (Asian Development Bank Institute, Philippines)
• SIG A4 Co-Chair: Yoshitsugu HAYASHI (Chubu University, Japan)
• SIG B1 Chair: Kun WANG (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China)
• SIG B1 Co-Chair: Aseem KINRA (University of Bremen, Germany)
• SIG B3 Chair: Ralf ELBERT (Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany)
• SIG B3 Co-Chair: Jason MONIOS (Kedge Business School, France)
• SIG B3 Co-Chair: Gunnar STEFANSSON (University of Iceland, Iceland and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
• SIG B4 Chair: Michael BROWNE (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
• SIG B4 Co-Chair: Anne GOODCHILD (University of Washington, USA)
• SIG B5 Chair: Sushant Sharma (Texas A&M University, USA)
• SIG B5 Co-Chair: Lori TAVASSZY (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
• SIG C1 Chair: Xiaobo QU (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
• SIG C1 Co-Chair: Xiaopeng LI (University of South Florida, USA)
• SIG C2 Chair: Keshuang TANG (Tongji University, China)
• SIG C2 Co-Chair: Zong TIAN (University of Nevada at Reno, USA)
• SIG C2 Co-Chair: Azusa TORIUMI (University of Tokyo, Japan)
• SIG C3 Chair: Ashish BHASKAR (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
• SIG C4 Chair: Wael ALHAJAYSEEN (Qatar University, Qatar)
• SIG C4 Co-Chair: Babak MEHRAN (University of Manitoba, Canada)
• SIG D1 Chair: Caroline BAYART (Laboratoire d’Economie des Transports, Lyon, France)
• SIG D1 Co-Chair: Catherine MORENCY (Polytechnique Montréal, Canada)
• SIG D2 Chair: Chandra BHAT (University of Texas at Austin, USA)
• SIG D3 Chair: Bhargab MAITRA (ITT-Kharagpur, India)
• SIG D4 Chair: Juan CARRASCO (University of Concepcion in Chile, Chile)
• SIG E1 Chair: Füsun ÜLENGIN (Sabanci University, Turkey)
• SIG E1 Co-Chair: Özay ÖZAYDIN (Dogus University, Turkey)
• SIG E2 Chair: Georgina SANTOS (Cardiff University, UK)
• SIG E2 Co-Chair: Paolo BERIA (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)
• SIG E2 Co-Chair: Marco PERCOCO (SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy)
• SIG F1 Chair: Masanobu KII (Kagawa University, Japan)
• SIG F1 Co-Chair: Rolf MOECKEL (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
• SIG F2 Chair: Patrick JOCHEM (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
• SIG F2 Co-Chair: Wei-Shiuen NG (International Transport Forum, OECD, France)
• SIG F3 Chair: Ye LI (Tongji University, China)
• SIG G1 Chair: Greg MARSDEN (University of Leeds, UK)
• SIG G1 Co-Chair: Louise REARDON (University of Birmingham, UK)
• SIG G2 Chair: Guenter EMBERGER (Vienna University of Technology, Austria)
• SIG G2 Co-Chair: Yacan WANG (Beijing Jiaotong University, China)
• SIG G2 Co-Chair: Takeru SHIBAYAMA (Vienna University of Technology, Austria)
• SIG G3 Chair: Stephen ISON (De Montfort University, UK)
• SIG G3 Co-Chair: Maria ATTARD (University of Malta, Malta)
• SIG G4 Chair: Helena TITHERIDGE (University College London, UK)
• SIG G4 Co-Chair: Caroline MULLEN (University of Leeds, UK)
• SIG G6 Chair: Lawrence FRANK (University of California, San Diego, USA)
• SIG G6 Co-Chair: Haneen KHREIS (University of Cambridge, UK)
• SIG H1 Chair: Shinya HANAOKA (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
• SIG H2 Chair: Ashish VERMA (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India)
• SIG H2 Co-Chair: Keping LI (Tongji University, China)
• SIG H5 Chair: Varameth VICHIENSAN (Kasetsart University, Thailand)

Local organizing committee

• Ahsan Habib, Dalhousie University
• Babak Mehran, University of Manitoba
• Catherine Morency, Polytechnique Montréal
• Claude Comtois, Université de Montréal
• Francesco Ciari, Polytechnique Montréal
• Geneviève Boisjoly, Polytechnique Montréal
• Lina Kattan, University of Calgary
• Luis F. Miranda-Moreno, McGill University
• Marie-Soleil Cloutier, Institut nationale de la recherche scientifique
• Martin Trépanier, Polytechnique Montréal
• Matthew Roorda, University of Toronto
• Nicolas Saunier, Polytechnique Montréal
• Owen Waygood, Polytechnique Montréal
• Nicolas Saunier, Polytechnique Montréal
• Radhwane Boukelouha, Polytechnique Montréal
• Trevor Hanson,University of New Brunswick
• Ugo Lachapelle, Université du Québec à Montréal
• Yan Cimon, Université Laval
• Zachary Patterson, Concordia University

Support staff:

• Jean-François Bruneau, CIRRELT-IVADO
• Radhwane Boukelouha, Polytechnique Montréal
• Lucie-Nathalie Cournoyer, CIRRELT/Université de Montréal
• Lucie L'Heureux, CIRRELT/Université de Montréal
• Danielle Maia de Souza, Université de Montréal
• Pierre Marchand, CIRRELT/Université Laval
• Pierre-Léo Mongeon-Bourbonnais, Polytechnique Montréal
• Nathalie Sargo Andrade, CIRRELT/Université de Montréal