Transport Economics

This book reveals and discusses existing and potential problems derived from the transport economics domain in relation to their environment, and the social, political and economic impacts, with reference to a wide range of transport modes. It is suitable not only for academics or students, but also for people working in the transport industry. From this book, readers will learn how to apply economic principles to transport, drawing specifically upon a number of case studies of different areas of Great Britain. This book is particularly useful for those who are interested in the subject of transport economics, but may not have studied economics, statistics or mathematics.

The characteristics of public open spaces in the city center play an important role in attracting people to walk when they attend their daily needs, entertainment and interact with other physical and even nonphysical feature of the built environment. The notion of car-free streets or pedestrian malls, especially in the downtown or the historical city centers has been emerged as a critical challenge faced to whose are responsible for urban managing, besides of urban planner and architects as well. Many factors (outside and inside) contribute to take the decision in transforming these streets into the pedestrian malls. Sulaimani as the other historic cities, although has the most compacted and traditional structure, especially in original and commercial part of the city, has suffered from the congested city center which day by day increases, the related urban problems and became more un-friendly. The study will identify the considerations that promote the decision makers in order to t...

In freight transportation, decisions regarding the choice of transport
mode (or chains of modes) and shipment size are closely linked.
Building on this basic insight, in this paper we estimate and review
various joint econometric models using the Swedish National
Commodity Flow surveys. Robust parameter estimates from this
exercise will be used to update the current deterministic Swedish
national freight model system (the SAMGODS model) to a
stochastic one.

This is an earlier and substantially lengthier version of the European Commission’s Green Paper on Ports and Maritime Infrastructure, which I had prepared as a member of Commissioner Neil Kinnock’s wise men group.

The Green Paper has often been described as the most influential port policy document ever produced by the EC. The current version does not in any way commit the European Commission and interested readers are advised to refer to the final version of the Green Paper as published by the EC.

The present work requires careful and persistent reading so that the reader bypasses the necessary bureaucratic 'superficiality' and identifies my core arguments which, I am happy to say, have not changed to the slightest in the 15 years since its publication. Many of these arguments had been described as ‘politically dangerous’ and, consequently, did not find their way into the Green Paper. I quote one of them in p.7 (emphasis added):

…The Commission’s White Paper on the future development of the common transport policy  laid down a new vision for transport policy, following the principle of sustainable mobility; i.e. a strategy that acknowledges the need for a more balanced transport system that would fulfil its economic and social role while, at the same time, containing its effects on the environment. The overall objective of such an approach, as clearly described by the European Parliament , is to …promote sustainable, efficient transport systems which meet the economic, social, environmental and safety needs of European citizens; help reduce regional disparities; and enable European business to compete effectively in world markets… Again, the ‘challenge’ is apparent: a more balanced  pan-European transport system with the above objectives is in stark contrast with hub-porting; concentration of traffic to selected ports; longer distances; and consequent transport externalities. It is thus increasingly felt that the European Commission needs to depart from its all-pleasing ‘statements’ and make hard-nosed decisions in order to effectuate its cohesion and regional development objectives which are the overarching ones…(unquote).

A closing note of caution on my use of the word 'superficiality': With remarkable consistency, European institutions involved in the maritime sector have been focusing all along on issues such as safety and environmental protection; issues which, among others, have allowed the proliferation of various monopolies in the port sector. I believe this has not happened accidentally. I believe instead that the focus on the ‘secondary’ has obscured and diverted attention from the ‘primary’, which comprises the ‘politically sensitive’ issues of port pricing; infrastructure financing; state aids; transparency of port accounts; and, finally, a European ‘port governance’ model.

ABSTRACT OF INNOVATION UNIVERSAL AUTOMOBILE WAGON

1. Scope
Scope of project is design of Efficient Wagon for transportation of Two wheelers . Project seeks to tap vast and growing market by developing a suitable rail based automobile transportation.  .  Annual Production of automobile in India is around 23.9 million in 2015-16 , out of which 80% production is of Two Wheeler.
2. Salient Features 
We have designed a unique wagon having salient features as under;
a)Rake consists of three units of 9 wagons each , each unit having 2 A Cars & 7 B Cars. Total length of train comes out to be 626 m
b)Wagon Profile is with MMD-2004 from top to bottom
c)Wheel dia used is 720 mm & floor height is 830 mm
d) Foldable platform used to increase capacity by loading two wheeler, three wheeler, auto cars etc in two tears.
e)Other higher equipments such as truck/bus chassis, JCBs, HYDRAs, etc can be loaded after folding  platform.
f)Vestibule system is used to connect A-B-B cars instead of independent doors.
g)Used either RDSO approved components such as BOGIES, COUPLERS, AIR- BRAKES, or AAR approved such as CTRB, Wheel Sets , SDB etc.
h) Speed potential of 100KMPH & TLD is less than 3t/m axle load 16 t
3. Comparison with Existing System
a)Increased capacity by 154% for loading two wheeler compared to NMG. For Auto car increase in capacity is from 2% to 18 % compared to BCACMB  design depending upon model and OEM
b)Can transport almost all type of automobiles while existing wagons has many limited auto car transportation capacity .
c)Even in case of Auto Cars SUVs such as ERTIGA, INNOVA etc can be loaded in these wagons where as existing BCACMB cannot fit. 
d) Parcel Cargo/LTL can also be transported.
4. Private Investment
a)Potential to attract private investment of 1800 Crs in wagons by considering modest share of IR Investment in terminal is additional
b) IR revenue of Rs 2600 Crs and AFTO revenue of 500 Crs annually.
c) NO Investment from IR is required.

Since its appearance in 2003, the what has come to be known as “The Erasmus Report” has been making headlines throughout the world. This, mainly due to its finding that “liner shipping conferences have a stabilizing effect on freight rates and are thus a low cost ‘necessary evil’ for trade promotion and for the survival from destructive competition of this most crucial of industries”.

Unfortunately, this result was not to the liking of DG COMP who, as it became clear, had already made its decision to do away with conferences, expecting the Erasmus Report to just rubber stamp its decision. Ten years later (2012) the Report continues to prove how right it was. European shippers now vehemently complain about rate volatility and this is just music to my ears.

This is a pre-publication version of the final chapter of my book Transport Justice: Designing Fair Transportation Systems.
In the chapter, I propose a radically new perspective on the financing of transport infrastructures and services, making available billions of dollars for investments in a fairer transport system.

Empirical studies have shown that demand for multimodal transport systems is highly correlated with activity schedules of individuals. Nonetheless, existing analytical equilibrium models of multimodal systems have only considered trip-based demand. We propose a new market equilibrium model that is sensitive to traveler activity schedules and system capacities. The model is based on a constrained mixed logit model of activity schedule choice, where each schedule in the choice set is generated with a multimodal extension of the Household Activity Pattern Problem. The extension explicitly accounts for both passenger choices of activity participation and multimodal choices like public transit, walking, and vehicle parking. The market equilibrium is achieved with Lagrangian relaxation to determine the optimal dual price of the capacity constraint, and a method of successive averages with column generation finds an efficient choice set of activity schedules to assign flows over the dynamic network load capacities. An example illustrates the model and algorithm, effects similar to Vickrey’s morning commute model can be observed as a special case. A case study of the Oakville Go Transit station access “last mile” problem in the Greater Toronto Area is conducted with 166 survey samples reflecting 3,680 individuals. Results suggest that a $10 fixed parking fee at Oakville station would lead to a reduction of access auto share from 54.8% to 49.5%, an increase in access transit share from 20.7% to 25.9%, and a disutility increase of 11% for the of single-activity residents of Oakville.

Pipelines are one of the most important transportation modes. In USA it is responsible for almost 17% of total ton-mile produced. However, in Brasil, this modal, despite representative, is concentrated in few companies and has little relative share. In this paper, the authors reviews the main characteristics of pipelines as well its advantages, disadvantages, commodities carried, investment level, costs and future.

A study was carried out to assess the effect of speed bumps on road traffic noise levels. Noise levels of different categories of vehicles were measured before and after speed bumps. Vehicles were categorized as passenger cars, passenger vans, three wheelers, motorcycles, and lorries.Depending on the vehicle category, the maximum noise level varied between 71 and 80 dB (A)under uninterrupted traffic conditions. The maximum noise level increased by over 5 dB (A) due to speed bumps for lorries and three wheelers. The results indicated that there is a considerable effect on the noise levels at a short distance from the speed bump perhaps due to the action taken by drivers to increase the speed of the vehicles. The equivalent noise level at 20 m from the speed bump was found to be on average 1.2 dB (A) higher than at the speed bump. The LAeq values at 80 m after the speed bumps were found to be similar to the average noise level at the speed bump. Since speed bumps are often placed near schools and other public places, the noise impact should be taken into consideration when planning speed bumps.

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.

Economic development in Northern Canada is constrained by the cost of transportation and logistics.  The limited transportation options available increase the direct costs of shipping and add to the indirect costs of inventories. Concerns about climate change impacts, delays in environmental approvals and uncertainty regarding First Nations land claims further increase investment risk. As a result, the transportation solution offered by airships is gathering increased interest in northern Canada.
This paper examines the market opportunity for a new generation of transport airships in Arctic logistics.  The paper begins with an overview of the logistical options available and potential roles for airships.  Subsequently, airship technology development is examined with respect to the product life-cycle theory and the observation of tipping points. The paper concludes with some thoughts on policy changes necessary to make this technology available in northern Canada.

Phronetic organizational research is an approach to the study of management and organizations focusing on ethics and power. It is based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, usually as ‘prudence’. Phronesis is the ability to think and act in relation to values, to deliberate about ‘things that are good or bad for humans’ in the words of Aristotle (1976:1140a24–b12). Phronetic organizational research effectively provides answers to the following four value-rational questions, for specific problematics in management and organization studies: 1. Where are we going with this specific management problematic? 2. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? 3. Is this development desirable? 4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, have become a very popular mass transit option in many cities for mitigating the growing traffic congestion that characterise urbanisation. This is because BRT systems have been found to cost less, are flexible and can be built and operated incrementally. This study uses a household panel dataset and employs the difference-indifference analysis to examine how the first phase of a basic BRT-Lite system implemented in Accra, Ghana, affected commuting behaviour and traffic conditions. The results show that there was a reduction, by approximately 18 percent, in the average time it takes people to travel to work on the treatment corridor, 18 months after the introduction of the basic BRT-lite system. In spite of this, the study also found that the introduction of the new improved and affordable transit system, did not lead to any dramatic changes in how people commute in Accra. The paper explores the reasons for the modest change in how people travel.

The Aalborg Project may be interpreted as a metaphor of modern politics, modern administration and planning, and of modernity itself. The basic idea of the project was comprehensive, coherent, and innovative, and it was based on rational and democratic argument. During implementation, however, when idea met reality, the play of Machiavellian princes, Nietzschean will to power, and Foucauldian rationality-as-rationalization resulted in the fragmentation of the project.

Transport Justice develops a new paradigm for transportation planning based on principles of justice. Author Karel Martens starts from the observation that for the last fifty years the focus of transportation planning and policy has been on the performance of the transport system and ways to improve it, without much attention being paid to the persons actually using – or failing to use – that transport system.

There are far-reaching consequences of this approach, with some enjoying the fruits of the improvements in the transport system, while others have experienced a substantial deterioration in their situation. The growing body of academic evidence on the resulting disparities in mobility and accessibility, have been paralleled by increasingly vocal calls for policy changes to address the inequities that have developed over time. Drawing on philosophies of social justice, Transport Justice argues that governments have the fundamental duty of providing virtually every person with adequate transportation and thus of mitigating the social disparities that have been created over the past decades.

Critical reading for transport planners and students of transportation planning, this book develops a new approach to transportation planning that takes people as its starting point,
and justice as its end.

In response to high urbanization rates in developing countries, many city authorities are embarking upon large scale public transport improvement programmes. Supportive land use environments will be necessary to reduce operating subsidies to within sustainable limits for these developing economies. In past decades, the literature on the relationship between land use and public transport viability has been dominated by city population density, which is posited to have a strong causal link. This has led to the recommendation of minimum density thresholds for viability. However, for some rapidly growing cities in developing countries, public transport systems have not attained sustainable subsidy levels despite city population densities significantly above the purported thresholds. The aim of this paper is to investigate the significance of population density as an indicator of public transport viability in rapidly growing developing city contexts generally, and in South African cities in particular. A public transport corridor operating cost model was developed for this purpose. The cost modelling results suggest that the causal link between city population density and public transport viability is only leveraged through particular land use and density distributions, and that many rapidly growing cities have land use and density distributions that are unsupportive. It is estimated that when densification occurs on the periphery of a low-density city, the resulting changes in public transport trip lengths, departure profile and seat renovation can in fact be detrimental to the overall viability of services. The paper demonstrates that population density distribution, land use mix and corridor length can each have considerably stronger causal links to public transport viability, than city population density in isolation. Integrated land use-transport strategies should therefore give equal attention to these three land use characteristics and city population density. Abstract In response to high urbanization rates in developing countries, many city authorities are embarking upon large scale public transport improvement programmes. Supportive land use environments will be necessary to reduce operating subsidies to within sustainable limits for these developing economies. In past decades, the literature on the relationship between land use and public transport viability has been dominated by city population density, which is posited to have a strong causal link. This has led to the recommendation of minimum density thresholds for viability. However, for some rapidly growing cities in developing countries, public transport systems have not attained sustainable subsidy levels despite city population densities significantly above the purported thresholds. The aim of this paper is to investigate the significance of population density as an indicator of public transport viability in rapidly growing developing city contexts generally, and in South African cities in particular. A public transport corridor operating cost model was developed for this purpose. The cost modelling results suggest that the causal link between city population density and public transport viability is only leveraged through particular land use and density distributions, and that many rapidly growing cities have land use and density distributions that are unsupportive. It is estimated that when densification occurs on the periphery of a low-density city, the resulting changes in public transport trip lengths, departure profile and seat renovation can in fact be detrimental to the overall viability of services. The paper demonstrates that population density distribution, land use mix and corridor length can each have considerably stronger causal links to public transport viability, than city population density in isolation. Integrated land use-transport strategies should therefore give equal attention to these three land use characteristics and city population density.

At the same time that case studies are widely used and have produced canonical texts, it may be observed that the case study as a methodology is generally held in low regard, or is simply ignored, within the academy. For example, only 2 of the 30 top-ranked U.S. graduate programs in political science require a dedicated graduate course in case study or qualitative methods, and a full third of these programs do not even offer such a course. In contrast, all of the top 30 programs offer courses in quantitative methods and almost all of them require training in such methods, often several courses. In identifying this paradox of the case study’s wide use and low regard, Gerring rightly remarks that the case study survives in a “curious methodological limbo,” and that the reason is that the method is poorly understood. In what follows, we will try to resolve Gerring’s paradox and help case study research gain wider use and acceptance.