Crowding and public transport: A review of willingness to pay evidence and its relevance in project appraisal

This paper reviews public transport crowding valuation research, using a number of primary studies conducted in the UK, USA, Australia and Israel. We identify three measures used to value crowding (a time multiplier, a monetary value per time unit and a monetary value per trip), and associated ways of representing crowding in stated preference experiments. Although a number of different types of crowding in terms of location are identified, namely in-vehicle, access-way, entrance and platform/station, the majority of reviewed studies investigate only in-vehicle crowding. Despite the different characteristics of the reviewed studies, they all report that crowding would increase the value of travel time savings, which can be viewed as an additional component of generalised time. This paper also comments on the role that the WTP for crowding reduction can play in project appraisal, and suggests some important avenues for future public transport crowding valuation research.     

Policy in motion: reassembling carbon pricing policy development in the personal transport sector in British Columbia

British Columbia’s carbon tax is an example of a relatively systemic climate pricing policy in the North American transport sector. This research uses Actor-Network Theory to retrace and reassemble the development of the tax from inception to implementation. From the fieldwork, six stages of the policy development process emerged, beginning with the surfacing of the concept of tax shifting in 1998 to the implementation of a carbon tax in 2008. This article explores how British Columbia’s experience aligns with lessons from the carbon taxation literature relating to a range of themes including education, leadership, timing, administration, taxation level, revenue allocation and communication.     

Tourism Policy in Jamaica: A Tale of Two Governments

This paper explores the role of public policy in the development of tourism in Jamaica. It focuses on two separate and contrasting periods. In the first, 1972–80, referred to here as 'The Socialist Era', the Jamaican government pursued goals of self-reliance combined with seeking to integrate tourism into Jamaican life. In the second period, 1980–89, 'The Period of Capitalism', emphasis was shifted to reducing government intervention and pursuing foreign exchange earnings. A comparison of tourism development during these two periods reveals that during the 'Socialist Era' some success was achieved in the Jamaicanisation of tourism but at the same time government policies contributed to an overall decline in the industry as measured by the traditional indicators of tourist arrivals, hotel occupancy, hotel provision and employment. During the 'Period of Capitalism' a change in policy is associated with a successful recovery of tourism numbers but an increasing tension between locals and tourists. The study cannot provide causal explanations of the links between policy shifts and tourism development. The wide range of external variables, including oil crises and world inflation, that occurred during the periods is too great to admit this kind of certainty. However, the policy background provides an important context for understanding the link between policy and development in one of the oldest and most well-developed tourist destinations in the Caribbean.     

The Airbus 380 and Boeing 787: A role in the recovery of the airline transport market

This paper focuses on the potential role of the new A380 and B787 aircraft in the evolving air transport market. It looks at the way these aircraft can fit into the overall operations of global market. It considers the alternative ways in which these aircraft designed primarily for super-long-range services may be deployed in other ways within a network context.     

The impact of car ownership and public transport usage on cancer screening coverage: Empirical evidence using a spatial analysis in England

A spatial analysis has been conducted in England, with the aim to examine the impact of car ownership and public transport usage on breast and cervical cancer screening coverage. District-level cancer screening coverage data (in proportions) and UK census data have been collected and linked. Their effects on cancer screening coverage were modelled by using both non-spatial and spatial models to control for spatial correlation.Significant spatial correlation has been observed and thus spatial model is preferred. It is found that increased car ownership is significantly associated with improved breast and cervical cancer screening coverage. Public transport usage is inversely associated with breast cancer screening coverage; but positively associated with cervical cancer screening. An area with higher median age is associated with higher screening coverage. The effects of other socio-economic factors such as deprivation and economic activity have also been explored with expected results. Some regional differences have been observed, possibly due to unobserved factors.Relevant transport and public health policies are thus required for improved coverage. While restricting access to cars may lead to various benefits in public health, it may also result in worse cancer screening uptake. It is thus recommended that careful consideration should be taken before implementing policy interventions.     

High-speed rail and air transport competition in Western Europe: A supply-oriented perspective

Increasingly air transport growth raises the question of its impact on the environment. Public authorities and researchers are relying more and more on high-speed trains (HSTs), whose efficiency is supposed to lead to a modal shift from airplanes. However, most transport studies focus on the evolution of demand rather than supply, although it is basically the latter that determines environmental damage. In light of this fact, this paper aims to compare the overall dynamics in the supply of air transport in Europe compared to the HST supply and to examine empirically five city-pairs. The development of high-speed rail remains limited compared to the increase of air services. For a given city-pair, the decline in the number of flights depends on various conditions, including length of the HST journey and the strategies adopted by the airlines. Some carriers reduce their supply in terms of the number of seats but increase the number of flights in order to compete more effectively with the HSTs. Moreover, the competition between low-cost airlines and HSTs should be kept in mind and re-examined in a few years.     

Air transport demand and economic growth in Brazil: A time series analysis

We investigate the relationship between air transport demand (passenger-kilometer: PAX) and economic growth (GDP) between 1966 and 2006 in Brazil. Special attention is paid to stationary features and the existence of a long-run equilibrium between variables to work in a vector autoregressive environment. Our findings suggest that GDP and PAX are co-integrated. Impulse-response analysis indicates a strong positive reaction of PAX due to a positive change in GDP. However, GDP reacts to a change in PAX in a slower and moderated way. We interpret these findings as an empirical evidence of air transport multiplier effects in the economy.     

Understanding attitudes towards public transport and private car: A qualitative study

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of public transport users and car users in order to obtain a deeper understanding of travellers’ attitudes towards transport and to explore perceptions of public transport service quality. The key findings indicate that in order to increase public transport usage, the service should be designed in a way that accommodates the levels of service required by customers and by doing so, attract potential users. Furthermore, the choice of transport is influenced by several factors, such as individual characteristics and lifestyle, the type of journey, the perceived service performance of each transport mode and situational variables. This suggests the need for segmentation taking into account travel attitudes and behaviours. Policies which aim to influence car usage should be targeted at the market segments that are most motivated to change and willing to reduce frequency of car use.     

Individuals' social preferences in joint activity location choice: A negotiation model and empirical evidence

Out-of-home leisure activities are often conducted jointly by individuals implying that location and travel choices made for these activities are the result of a group interaction. Current utility-theoretic approaches assume an aggregated group utility function and hence ignore aspects of the group decision making process. In this study, an empirical model of joint-activity choice is developed that, in contrast, assumes a negotiation process. A social utility function describes how individuals deal with preference differences in the group. The model is estimated based on an experimental activity-travel choice task where group settings are mimicked. A sample (N = 315) from a national panel of individuals participated in the experiment. Estimation results based on a discrete mixture model show that individuals display a preference for locations in which losses are equally distributed in the group even when this comes at the costs of the total group outcome. Results further show that the social utility function is asymmetric: compromise solutions are favored more strongly when consequences relate to costs (travel costs) than when they concern rewards (attractiveness). Furthermore, there is considerable heterogeneity in how people make social trade-offs. It is concluded that the model offers new insights in location preferences for joint activities that should be taken into account in spatial choice models and accessibility analysis.     

Tourism Policy,Tourism Organisations and Change Management in Alpine Regions and Destinations: A European Perspective

Tourism is of great economic importance and significance for the European East Alpine regions. But to an increasing degree, low productivity resulting from the small-business structure of the Alpine region weakens the economic and social leadership of tourism. In the last few decades overcoming these difficulties often included substantial supporting of institutionalised tourism organisations by tourism policy, with the intention to bundle forces and to achieve growing global competition. Change in international tourist markets demands the pursuance of completely new strategies, particularly because the small-business structure of Alpine tourism in the past has always been the basis for its many positive effects for the local and regional population alike. By keeping its function of balancing regional economic growth, tourism policy's main responsibility for the future in the East Alpine region will be to create the prerequisites required for an adaptation to the new situation in the tourist markets. In addition, the support of tourism organisations is needed for achieving corporate success, which cannot be realised by individual entrepreneurs in the tourist industry owing to their small-business structure. The key to adaptation lies in the improvement of qualifications. This improvement should lead to the development of new skills for tourist cooperations as a basis for the strategic transition from institutionalised tourism organisations to flexible and market-oriented destination management companies.     

Managing motorization in sustainable transport planning: the Singapore experience

The primary objective of this paper is to make a connection between the Singapore story of land transport policy development and the pathway towards sustainable transport planning. Its innovation is to allow a parallel growth in motorization and public transit. The Singapore experience shows how a range of well-coordinated policies including efforts to control the number of cars in both ownership and usage, and at the same time increase the availability and rider-ship of public transit contribute to a sustainable transport system. The Singapore model provides a valuable reference for not only developing an alternative approach towards sustainable transport in countries where motorization is desired but also for understanding the various parameters important to the formulation of management policies. In particular, the paper contends the Singapore experience provides a model for Asian nations and cities.     

A spatial analysis of air transport access and the essential air service program in the United States

In the United States, the goal of essential air service (EAS) is to provide a minimum level of air transport service from smaller, often remote communities to the national network. While supporters of EAS tout the economic benefits of connecting rural and isolated communities, critics cite high costs, low use and antiquated eligibility requirements as factors which compromise the value of the program. In this paper, a comprehensive database of US airports is combined with network analysis techniques and a geographic information system to evaluate population access (at the census tract level) to EAS airports for 2006. Results suggest that redundant coverage of EAS market areas by alternative Federal Aviation Administration designated hub airports can contribute to EAS airport market leakage and that alternative definitions of EAS community eligibility have the potential to dramatically increase programmatic efficiency and reduce federal monies spent on EAS subsidies.     

Inter-urban competition and air transport in the deregulated era: The Nashville case

American cities are acting in a competitive environment as a result of forces like economic restructuring, capital mobility, and state devolution. Since the late 1970s, the federal government has dismantled the spatial boundaries of investment through the deregulation of several important sectors of the economy, including the airline industry. Transportation geographers have investigated how deregulation allowed airlines to develop a hub-and-spoke system. However, post-deregulation airline development has yet to be approached from the perspective of urban entrepreneurialism. Another layer of inter-urban competition has been added through new geographical patterns of airline investment, and capturing hub status through airport development may be especially valuable for mid-size cities. Most large cities have hub status, while small cities have no realistic chance of becoming major players in the air transportation network, thus making the hub an opportunity for mid-size cities. A case study of Nashville, Tennessee illuminates the strong local emphasis on airport expansion in the deregulated environment. Local business and government have been active and innovative, although not always successful, in policies that improve Nashville’s accessibility and position in the urban hierarchy.     

Monetary values of freight transport quality attributes: A sample of Tanzanian firms

This paper presents the findings of a stated preference research conducted in Tanzania (East Africa). The objective of the survey was to determine the relative importance as well as monetary values attached to freight transport quality attribute by shippers in this region. In-depth interviews with the logistic managers of companies that produce and ship goods were conducted. The freight transport quality attributes considered in this survey were flexibility, frequency, loss and damage, reliability, and transit time. The monetary values of these attributes have been computed as willingness to pay for their improvement as well as willingness to accept compensation for a decrease in their quality. The results show that shippers in this region consider travel time, loss and damage and frequency as the most important quality attributes. This may have relevant implications for the infrastructural transport policies to be implemented in the country.     

Exploring the network structure and nodal centrality of China’s air transport network: A complex network approach

This paper uses a complex network approach to examine the network structure and nodal centrality of individual cities in the air transport network of China (ATNC). Measures for overall network structure include degree distribution, average path length and clustering coefficient. Centrality metrics for individual cities are degree, closeness and betweenness, representing a node’s location advantage as being directly connected to others, being accessible to others, and being the intermediary between others, respectively. Results indicate that the ATNC has a cumulative degree distribution captured by an exponential function, and displays some small-world (SW) network properties with an average path length of 2.23 and a clustering coefficient of 0.69. All three centrality indices are highly correlated with socio-economic indicators of cities such as air passenger volume, population, and gross regional domestic product (GRDP). This confirms that centrality captures a crucial aspect of location advantage in the ATNC and has important implications in shaping the spatial pattern of economic activities. Most small and low-degree airports are directly connected to the largest cities with the best centrality and bypass their regional centers, and therefore sub-networks in the ATNC are less developed except for Kunming in the southwest and Urumchi in the northwest because of their strategic locations for geographic and political reasons. The ANTC is relatively young, and not as efficient and well-developed as that of the US.     

A review of Short Sea Shipping policy in the European Union

Short Sea Shipping (SSS) has attracted a lot of attention in the European Union in the last 15 years. It is considered as a mode favoured to alleviate road congestion. Alas, promises have not been met and cargo transfers have not reached their objectives yet, despite strong financial will and a programme for modal shift implemented by the European Union (EU). The hypothesis raised by this paper is that Short Sea Shipping has not been well defined in the EU and market potential for modal shift from land to sea has been overestimated. Therefore, this has a great impact for policy-making. Studies have covered many topics such as its implementation using case studies, cost-benefit analysis compared to land-transport modes, general European shipping policy and its environmental contribution. Therefore, little has been written on the role of public institutions in its implementation and no critical assessment of the success of supporting public programme in the EU has been done. This paper explains how the lack of a final definition has led to misadapted public policies favouring modal transfer in the EU and how misknowledge of SSS markets has led to the overestimation of the modal shift potential.     

The impacts of road tolling: A review of Norwegian experience

Road tolling has been used extensively for funding of national roads in Norway since 1982. The article, which is primarily based on review of literature, identifies the impacts of tolling in four key policy areas: economic efficiency, regional development, regional redistribution and democracy. Toll financing may change the ranking of projects but does hardly reduce construction costs. The recurrent budget has been quite stable and toll revenues therefore represent net additional resources for road investment. Regionally, tolling has led to a shift of road investments to more central areas. Tolling has increased local political influence compared to national influence.