Comparison of efficiency between public and private transport modes using excess commuting: An experience in Dar es Salaam

The excess commuting concept is well-known in developed countries. Since the introduction of the concept in the developed countries, the excess commuting framework has been used to derive a set of benchmarks and indices for the analyses of spatial mismatch, jobs-housing balance, and commuting efficiency in urban regions. However, there are very few studies which have examined excess commuting parameters in relation to mode of transport in the current excess commuting literature. Additionally, very few studies on excess commuting have been undertaken in developing countries with no evidence on any study in African cities. This paper attempts to add to the excess commuting literature by examining and comparing excess commuting parameters between public and private transport modes in Dar es Salaam city. The study investigated the effects of land use patterns in the year 2007 (the base year) and the projected land uses in the year 2030 on excess commuting parameters. The results suggest that public transport in Dar es Salaam is very good in terms of providing excellent options to get everywhere in the city as it connects homes and jobs as well as private transport. This is very different from cities in the more developed world, especially in the USA, where public transport is less effective at connecting origins and destinations. It was also found that the land use scenario in the year 2030 encourages a travel pattern that increases the actual average travel distance.     

Slowly coming out of COVID-19 restrictions in Australia: Implications for working from home and commuting trips by car and public transport

With the onset of COVID-19 restrictions and the slow relaxing of many restrictions, it is imperative that we understand what this means for the performance of the transport network. In going from almost no commuting, except for essential workers, to a slow increase in travel activity with working from home (WFH) continuing to be both popular and preferred, this paper draws on two surveys, one in late March at the height of restrictions and one in late May as restrictions are starting to be partially relaxed, to develop models for WFH and weekly one-way commuting travel by car and public transport. We compare the findings as one way to inform us of the extent to which a sample of Australian residents have responded through changes in WFH and commuting. While it is early days to claim any sense of a new stable pattern of commuting activity, this paper sets the context for ongoing monitoring of adjustments in travel activity and WFH, which can inform changes required in the revision of strategic metropolitan transport models as well as more general perspectives on future transport and land use policy and planning.     

Walking,cycling, and public transport for commuting and non-commuting travels across 5 European urban regions: Modal choice correlates and motivations

The objective of this study was to explore individual and contextual-level characteristics associated with active (walking and cycling) and public transport as main travel modes for both non-commuting and commuting purposes, in residents of five European urban regions. We also described participant-reported motivations for modal choice for each journey purpose. The study used multilevel models to investigate cross-sectional associations of individual (i.e. age, gender, educational level) and contextual (defined by a combination of residential neighbourhood characteristics in typologies) characteristics with the choice of active and public transport as outcome. Based on an online survey of 6037 residents of Ghent and suburbs (Belgium), Paris and inner suburbs (France), Budapest and suburbs (Hungary), the Randstad (including the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht in the Netherlands) and Greater London (United Kingdom), we observed associations with both individual and contextual characteristics.Results of the multilevel modelling show that the probability of using active or public transport as main mode varies depending on both individual and contextual characteristics. At individual level, relations with gender, age, education, weight status and having at least one child varied according to main transport mode and/or purpose. For example, overweight participants reported lower level of cycling for commuting and non-commuting travels than normal-weight participants. In the context of non-commuting travels, participants with one or more child reported less public transport use and more walking (vs participants without children). Among contextual-level variables, urban characteristics of the residential neighbourhood defined by four clusters (according to food environment, recreational facilities and active mobility opportunities) were associated with public transport and walking but not with cycling. For active transport the most important reasons were “I like to travel (on foot or by bike)” and “I want to be physically active” for both travel purposes. “Public transport facilities nearby” was indicated as the most important reason for public transport (for both trip purposes) – the second was “Journey time”.Our findings highlight the importance of exploring a combination of multiple correlates at individual and contextual level according to journey purposes and suggest that the role of health-related individual characteristics such as weight status need further exploration.     

Hinterland transportation in Europe: Combined transport versus road transport

The dominance of road for hinterland services could be challenged by using rail-road or waterway-road transport because of costs, congestion and growing environmental constraints. A common dynamic that is very favorable to the development of combined transport is shared among the actors of the transport chain but with different starting positions considering the ports of the Northern Range.But combined transport must still demonstrate that it can compete with road transport. Road transport and combined transport are not directly comparable because they do not offer the same physical transport service. The organizational patterns of road and combined transport are investigated. The example of hinterland services to and from the port of Le Havre to the Paris region is a particularly interesting case because of the very short distance. It is shown that the competitiveness of combined transport in terms of price varies greatly according to the way road transport it competes with is organized and that the commercial policy of combined transport operators plays a key role for explaining this competitiveness. Additional services such as additional dwelling times and specific custom advantages are paramount of importance to encourage the shift from road transport to combined transport.     

A nonparametric efficiency analysis of German public transport companies

In this paper, we present a nonparametric comparative efficiency analysis of 179 communal public transport bus companies in Germany (1990–2004). We apply both deterministic data envelopment analysis (DEA) and bootstrapping to test the robustness of our estimates and to test the hypothesis of global and individual constant returns to scale. We find that the average technical efficiency of German bus companies is relatively low. We observe that the industry appears to be characterized by increasing returns to scale for smaller companies. These results would imply increasing pressure on bus companies to restructure.     

Restating modal investment priority with an improved model for public transport analysis

We compare analytically and numerically the optimised performance of different urban public transport modes for three objectives: total cost minimisation, profit maximisation, and welfare maximisation. We find that under optimal operation, buses provide lower waiting time and operator costs, therefore the only possible advantage for rail is providing a lower in-vehicle time cost if trains are faster. Using Australian data, we found that bus rapid transit provides a lower total cost, higher profit and welfare, up to their capacity. Introducing passengers dislike of crowding and train-specific attraction elements might make Heavy Rail the most cost effective mode for high levels of demand.     

Active commuting in a university setting: Assessing commuting habits and potential for modal change

This paper describes the results of an online survey that examined commuting patterns, potential for change and barriers and motivators affecting transport decisions in a University population (n=1040 students, n=1170 staff). Overall, 21.5% of staff and 46.8% of students at The University of Western Australia regularly used active modes, and potentially an additional 30% of staff and students would switch to active modes. The results suggested that reducing barriers to using active modes, in particular reducing actual and perceived travel time by bus and bicycle would have the greatest impact on commuting patterns. Some policy applications appeared to hold particular promise, including an implementation of a subsidised public transport pass (U-Pass), increased student housing on or near campus, increased cost of parking, and improved bus services and cycle networks.     

A meta-model for passenger and freight transport in Europe

On the basis of the outcomes of five disaggregate national models for passenger transport, four national models for freight transport and two European transport models, a fast and approximate meta-model for passenger and freight transport in Europe has been developed. The meta-model for passenger transport includes a detailed segmentation of the population, which makes it possible to investigate the impact of policies on many different groups of the population. The meta-model for passenger and freight transport has been applied for a reference scenario for 2020 and to simulate many elements of the European Commission's Common Transport Policy. These policy measures were also assessed in terms of the consequences on the internal and external cost of transport.     

Developing new urban public transport systems: An irrational decision-making process

The decision-making process for planning new urban public transport systems in the UK is examined by studying 11 new and planned systems. The objectives of building the systems relate to transport and development issues. A number of key factors are taken into account during the decision-making process: forecast demand, image, deregulation of buses, technological innovation, private sector involvement and the funding mechanism. The requirement for proven technology and the forecast demand for the systems reduces the choice to one of light rail or bus. The effects of bus deregulation, funding and image, essentially reduce that choice to light rail or nothing. Cost should be kept low, which suggests a bus based system, but current legislation favours more expensive light rail systems. The conclusion is that although transport planners make rational decisions within the current political framework, the framework, and therefore some of the decisions, are not rational.     

The dynamics of modal shifts in (sub)urban commuting: An empirical analysis based on practice theories

A modal shift away from the private car onto low-carbon transport modes is an essential part of decarbonising the transport sector. The dynamics of modal shifts are, however, not yet well understood. In particular the interrelations between structural and individual dynamics require further investigation. Furthermore, a better understanding is needed of how new transport modes become integrated into existing mobility practices. In this article, we address these questions in a qualitative study of modal shifts in (sub)urban commuting in three major Swiss cities. We analysed the interview data by means of a qualitative content analysis informed by practice theories. We found that modal shifts can arise i) from dynamics related to the conditions of use of different transport modes, ii) the coordination of everyday mobility with other people, iii) the coordination of resources between different daily practices, and iv) from dynamics related to the intrinsic motivation of everyday mobility. We found that these different dynamics are intertwined and that to understand how modal shifts arise, they must be analysed conjointly, rather than in isolation. And we identified three patterns in how modal shifts play out, and which describe different ways in which the new transport mode becomes integrated into everyday mobility practices. The first pattern describes modal shifts which require no adaptation of existing commuting practices. The second pattern describes modal shifts after which a new everyday mobility routine must be built. And the third pattern describes modal shifts that coincide with a lifestyle change. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for decarbonising everyday mobility.     

Day-to-day variation in excess commuting: An exploratory study of Brisbane,Australia

Commuting patterns where most if not all 'trips are optimised relative to a given distribution of jobs and housing can result in personal and socio-economic benefits. Excess commuting indicators provide useful information for academics and policy analysts to evaluate how the actual commuting pattern deviates from an optimal pattern where commuting costs are minimised. While actual commuting patterns vary from day-to-day, academic researchers have yet to quantify the temporal variation in these indicators over short time periods. This may be due to the lack of available longitudinal data as input for excess commuting indicators. This study shows that new, open and/or big data (NOBD) (e.g. smartcard data) can be exploited to serve as the input for such analysis. In this regard, our study uses half a year's worth of smartcard data from Brisbane, Australia to first derive/aggregate origins and destinations by small areas of the probable commuting trips by transit on all 122 weekdays over the study period. The study quantifies the day-to-day variation in excess commuting indicators for these trips and finds that excess commuting indicators vary considerably from one day to the next. Nevertheless, daily variations occur within a relatively consistent range which can be planned for. Our research suggests that more conscious and systematic utilisation of NOBD could change how commuting flows in cities are quantified, monitored and planned. In addition, with NOBD, we can more efficiently detect daily outliers in commuting patterns.     

Low carbon transport strategy in Europe: A critical review

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this article are to depict ongoing trends regarding the transport system in Europe, to introduce readers to the challenges that Europe (and the rest of the world) will face in the future, to show which strategies Europe plans to deploy to mitigate the negative impacts the transport system imposes on the overall system, and finally to discuss the potential of these suggested strategies to contribute to the objectives of the European Union in the long run.     

Visitor and non‐visitor images of Central and Eastern Europe: a qualitative analysis

This study examines the image of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as a holiday destination. The countries are linked by having had communist governments and being inaccessible to tourists from outside the communist bloc. Currently, they seek new tourist markets and this study examines the views of a number of UK residents about destination image of CEE. The study examines, through semi‐structured interviews, images held by people who have and who have not visited CEE. The data is analysed qualitatively. Few significant differences were found between views of visitors and non‐visitors; most views were positive and associated favourably with ‘culture’. Negative images were usually associated with the eastern part of the area especially ex‐Yugoslavia. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effective regulation for sustainable public transport in developing countries

This paper has two key objectives. Firstly, using the findings from case study research undertaken in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Faisalabad (Pakistan) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), the paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of an appropriate regulatory framework and effective mechanisms of enforcement for sustainable urban transport systems in developing countries. Secondly, the paper highlights the critical importance of communication and co-ordination between stakeholders (defined here as transport users, providers and regulators) if regulation is to be effective. The views of poor and disadvantaged passenger groups—women, children, the elderly and disabled—are used in the paper to illustrate the importance of transport systems to their livelihoods, such as work, education, health and social pursuits. The case studies suggest that in the context of the failure of both the fully regulated public transport sector and the completely deregulated sector self regulation is a potentially useful alternative. In practice, self regulation has been achieved in the case study locations through the formation of cooperatives or associations of stakeholders such as users and operators.In the conclusion, the paper makes two key points. Firstly, that regulation must be open, honest and effective, but not so detailed or ‘heavy’ that it incites the potential for corrupt practices.Secondly, communication and co-ordination between stakeholders is critical if any form of regulation is to be effective—owners', employees' and passengers' associations have a vital role in this regard, as do Transport Forums consisting of all stakeholders. The participation of stakeholders and real and effective consultation are more important in the case of self regulation of public transport service provision than in other regulatory regimes.     

Spatial and socio-economic analysis of public transport systems in large cities: A case study for Belo Horizonte,Brazil

The main goal of this article is to evaluate the relationship between the spatial distribution of the population of the city of Belo Horizonte, one of the largest cities in South America, and its public transport network, seeking to ascertain whether the current bus network is able to meet the needs of the population. The methodology was based on data processing and vector information from different sources through spatial analysis tools. As expected, the results revealed a greater concentration of routes and bus stops in the central region of Belo Horizonte, which is the main commercial center of the municipality and its metropolitan region. However, the results suggest evidences of a disadvantage for the population with lower income, especially those living on the periphery. A possible explanation for this disadvantage is the invisibility of these communities due to their high level of irregular occupation. Under the eyes of public transport planning, they are not recognized, and, theoretically, do not generate demand for lines and bus stops     

An investigation of the relationship between public transport performance and destination satisfaction

The availability and perceived quality of local transport at tourist destinations has latterly been established as exercising an influence on visitor experience, overall satisfaction and repeat visitation. The dimensions of urban public transport performance used by overseas visitors to evaluate quality and their relative contribution to overall destination satisfaction are investigated by this paper for the case of Greater Manchester. It is concluded that the influence of public transport’s ease of use on destination satisfaction is greater than the influence of efficiency and safety. Overall, however, perceived performance of the public transport system has only a minor influence on destination satisfaction.     

The competitive landscape of air transport in Europe

Competition between airlines and airports increased significantly since the deregulation of the intra-European air transport market in 1997. The passenger has a wider choice in terms of routings and departure airports than twenty-five years ago and pays a lower price. In this paper we investigate in which parts of Europe airline and airport competition are most intense and how the competitive landscape has changed since the liberalisation of the intra-European market.Competition levels are modelled for all air transport markets available to consumers in each western-European municipality using a Multinomial Logit (MNL) model. This allows us to determine how competitive the air transport product available to consumers in each of those municipalities truly is and how competition levels have changed. As opposed to most other competition studies we take all viable direct and indirect flight alternatives into account, as well as competing alternatives from nearby (adjacent) airports. This makes it the most extensive analysis of competition in the European aviation industry performed to date.As expected the results show that airline competition, allowing for grouping of the airlines belonging to the same alliance together, has in general increased since the liberalisation of the intra-European market. This can mainly be ascribed to the rise of the low cost business model. The spatial analysis however shows an uneven outcome. Changes in airline competition are most pronounced in areas that were previously not well served, such as the more remote regions in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. In Germany airline competition is lagging behind due to the strong dominance of the STAR alliance. In large parts of Scandinavia, but also in parts of France and Spain, airline competition is considerably less. These areas are often served only by a handful of airports and/or airlines, limiting airline choice and therefore competition.     

Opportunities for innovation in public transport: Effects of regulatory reforms on innovative capabilities

It is believed that regulatory reforms of public transport could bring about a better quality of service. The expectations are that the regulatory reforms would lead to more innovation in the industry. This article focuses on the role of innovation in the public transport market, and how it is developed. The paper examines different effects of regulatory regimes with respect to innovative capabilities of the public transport services, both in the public and private sectors. Innovative capabilities include the implication of both technological and organisational innovations. Innovation is classified into three areas, namely: technical innovation, competence development and service innovation. In accordance with this classification, this study analyses the relationship between regulation and innovation along with the connection between public authority and private operator. This paper elaborates the theoretical framework derived from the innovation perspective and compares the innovative capabilities that occurred in both the Netherlands and Great Britain.     

Spatial-interaction network analysis of built environmental influence on daily public transport demand

Many studies have evaluated the influence of the built environment on public transport. Some studies assign subjective weights to environmental factors, which could oversimplify spatial heterogeneity and overlook the temporal dimension. On the other hand, the spatial-interaction network of public transport system is seldom considered. In this paper, we propose an improved framework to explore how individual factors unevenly affect public transport demand over space and time using a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model. The proposed framework extends the local built environmental factors by including two network factors extracted from the spatial-interaction network of the public transport system. We conduct a case study in Beijing, China using 686 traffic analysis zones (TAZs). The actual usage of public transport, namely the public transport index (PTI), is estimated by passenger flow divided by the total amount of human flow in a given TAZ. The daily patterns of the spatial heterogeneity in some selected places in the study area is identified and analyzed. It is also found that the estimated coefficient of the variables of the spatial-interaction network is significantly larger than other static environmental factors, indicating that spatial-interaction network can more effectively reflect spatiotemporal heterogeneity in public transport demand. This study provides a better decision-making support for more accurately identifying which factors are most worthy of development, and when and where they can be implemented to improve public transit services.     

Demand for cargo airships: An analysis of mode choice decision making in the freight transport industry

Despite their potential, cargo airships currently remain a theoretical concept. This research aims to examine the factors determining the demand for their services from the perspective of transport logistics professionals. An online freight mode choice experiment is conducted, supplemented with follow-up semi-structured interviews. Across freight types the sensitivity of the modes (road, rail, sea and airship) to the attributes (price, time, reliability and frequency) varied substantially. Willingness to pay for the cargo airship mode for travel time saved is estimated to be $23/tonne/hour. It is conservatively estimated that the potential market share of cargo airships in the Australian domestic freight market varies across airship models with LMH-1 having the lowest market share of 8% while ARH50 has the largest potential market share at 25%.