The equity impacts of bus rapid transit: A review of the evidence and implications for sustainable transport

The paper offers an analysis of empirical evidence on the equity impacts of operational Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in the Global South. The focus is on vertical equity, i.e. whether BRT systems achieve progressive benefits for poorer segments of the population. Findings from Africa, Asia, and Latin America all suggest that BRT does offer significant benefits to low-income groups, in terms of travel time and cost savings, access enhancement, and safety and health benefits. However benefits are often skewed toward medium-income users and thus less progressive than they might be. Two primary reasons for this are insufficient spatial coverage and inappropriate fare policies. While many features of BRT potentially allow it to deliver pro-poor outcomes, such outcomes only materialize if BRT implementers pay specific and sustained attention to equity. The paper identifies key issues that need to be addressed to steer BRT implementation toward more socially sustainable outcomes—including better integration with other transit, paratransit, and nonmotorized transport services, and with the housing sector.     

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.     

Willingness to pay for travel time reliability in passenger transport: A review and some new empirical evidence

This paper reviews and critiques the modelling frameworks and empirical measurement paradigms used to obtain willingness to pay (WTP) for improved travel time reliability, suggesting new directions for ongoing research. We also estimate models to derive values of reliability, scheduling costs and reliability ratios in the context of Australian toll roads and use the new evidence to highlight the important influence of the way that trip time variability is included in stated preference studies in deriving WTP estimates of reliability in absolute terms, and relative to the value of travel time savings.     

ICT and transport behavior: A conceptual review

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have considerable importance for transport systems, as they provide access to travel information, planning tools, opportunities to share transport modes, to work at-a-distance, compare transport mode cost, make payment, improve safety and health, and to communicate travel patterns. Over the past decade, there has been massive growth in the availability of transportation ICT, in particular, smartphone applications. There is considerable evidence that ICTs have profoundly changed the ways in which transport systems are perceived and used, and mobilities performed, with far-reaching implications for transport mode choices and transport demand. Against this background, the paper seeks to conceptualize ICT with relevance for transport systems, and to discuss the implications for the environmental sustainability of the transport sector. Findings suggest that while some ICT innovations foster and support sustainable transport choices, others raise new and significant barriers to more sustainable transport futures.     

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.     

Demand for environmentally friendly vehicles: A review and new evidence

Although the need for more environmentally friendly vehicles was recognized some decades ago, this new market has not yet established itself. Consumer behavior needs to be studied to ascertain when people will decide to purchase hybrid or electric vehicles rather than conventional ones. An in-depth review of the state-of-the-art has identified existing deficiencies and these are addressed in this paper, proposing a new approach that is applied to the case of Santander in Spain. Emphasis is placed on the role of citizens in researching the local market and their requirements with respect to such vehicles; our model assumes variability in user preferences, an utmost requirement as concluded from the literature review. Results suggest that the highest demand for cleaner vehicles would be achieved in two ways: firstly, by penalizing conventional vehicles in terms of costs/km; secondly, by providing incentives directed at lowering the purchasing price of hybrid and electric vehicles. Finally, as demand becomes more elastic, the preferred strategy should initially focus on hybrid vehicles.     

The pursuit of cycling equity: A review of Canadian transport plans

Cycling is increasingly prioritized as a mode of transport with multiple socio-economic, environmental, and health benefits. However, the benefits associated with cycling are not always equitably distributed throughout society, meaning that some people (e.g. people with low incomes, immigrants and people of colour, women, and seniors) may not have access to safe and convenient spaces in which to cycle, with infrastructure inadequately accommodating the varying needs of all members of society. Based on a review of academic literature, as well as a critical review of city-level transport plans in Canada, we evaluate if and how transport plans in Canada are addressing equity, as well as the ways in which planning practice can more effectively provide for it. Findings from the review of Canadian transport plans revealed four key themes related to how plans can, and do currently address equity, including (1) socio-spatial network analysis (2) consideration of equity in projects and priorities, (3) equity-oriented funding mechanisms, (4) inclusive design and safety. While some plans were found to have addressed equity, many did not, or did so to a limited and ineffective way. As per the findings from the academic literature, many opportunities exist to advance the pursuit of cycling equity, including for example, the utilization of appropriate and effective methods of analysis, as well as locally tailored engagement and decision-making processes that effectively address the needs and concerns of local residents, particularly those who are most disadvantaged.     

Transport for the transport disadvantaged: A review of service delivery models in New South Wales

This paper discusses the service delivery models for providing transport for those in the community who cannot access mainstream public transport. A number of service approaches for providing transport for the transport disadvantaged are being tried in various States of Australia. The focus of this paper is on the experience in New South Wales and compares the approaches for providing transport to a specific target population through the Community Transport organisations with the community development approach and a broader approach of subsidy provisions under the commercial bus contracts.     

Complete streets at the municipal level: A review of American municipal Complete Street Policy

The Complete Streets Act of 2009 preceded a proliferation of municipal level complete streets policies across United States. These policies aim to challenge auto-centric street design standards in favor of “complete streets” that are safe for users of all abilities. This proliferation of “complete streets” policy is noteworthy progress in addressing the needs of non-motorized street users and sustainable transportation. However, research that critically and systematically analyzes the specific content of the policies and how they attempt to guide street design decision-making is limited. We address this gap through a review of municipal level Complete Street policy. We sampled a total of 113 municipal level complete streets policies drawn from The National Complete Streets Coalition’s database. We reviewed the policies to inventory their qualitative content, probe their definitions, and understand their implications for design and implementation. We conclude that most municipal Complete Street policies do not guide the negotiation of tradeoff between users within the street right-of-way. The policies are broad and defer to idealistic goals of safely accommodating all user types equally without recognizing the implicit hierarchy of accommodation. This study is limited to analyzing the content of the policies alone; we argue this is a necessary first step in critically thinking through Complete Street policy development and examining if current municipal policies are able to successfully challenge the primary accommodation of automobility. Without a critical analysis, there is a risk of replicating policy that is ineffective at achieving the core goals outlined by the Complete Streets concept.     

Policy transfer and the introduction of road pricing in Valletta,Malta

Charging motorists to pay for driving at times and/or in places where there is insufficient capacity to meet the level of demand has long been recognised by transport economists as an efficient way to address traffic congestion. However, only a few locations have actually decided to use this mechanism, with Valletta one of the more recent cities to introduce such a scheme. This paper aims to present a case study of road pricing in Valletta and the role played by policy transfer in its introduction. To do this, it applies data gathered from existing literature, in-depth interviews and direct observation with those involved in the policy development. Experience of road pricing was gained from London, Durham, Edinburgh and Stockholm. One of the major barriers to policy transfer was felt to be the unique geography of the island however international events, local conditions and a political champion driving change were critical factors to the successful implementation of the road pricing scheme. Policy transfer was deemed useful in terms of policy development, relations with stakeholders, scheme design and administrative approaches. This paper concludes by identifying the contributions of the case study of Valletta to the policy transfer literature.     

A review of British evidence on time and service quality valuations

A large amount of evidence has been amassed in Great Britain on the values of time and a wide range of service quality attributes. This paper reports meta-analysis of a large number of valuations of these attributes, including in-vehicle time, walk time, wait time, service headway, interchange, departure time adjustments, search time, late time and time spent in congested traffic conditions. This analysis yields insights into methodological issues, supports the appraisal of widely used conventions, can be used to provide estimated valuations for situations where none exist, and allows the assessment of particular findings against a large body of empirical evidence. The research findings challenge several conventions and provide a number of practical recommendations regarding the valuations of time and service quality to use in appraisal and areas for future research.     

Spatial spillover effects of transport infrastructure: evidence from Chinese regions

This paper examines the possibility of spatial spillover effects of transport infrastructure in Chinese regions. We estimate the regional spillovers of the transport infrastructure stock by applying a spatial Durbin Model for the time-period 1978–2009, and also three sub-periods, 1978–1990, 1991–2000 and 2001–2009. The results indicate that positive spillovers exist in each period due to the connectivity characteristic of transport infrastructure at the national level. At the regional level, transport infrastructure spillover effects vary considerably over time among China’s four macro-regions: the eastern region enjoyed positive spillovers all the time; the northeastern region had no significant spillover effects in 1978–1990, negative spillovers in 1991–2000, and positive spillovers in 2001–2009; the central region had negative spillovers for the three sub-periods; for the western region, negative spillovers can be observed after the 1990s. The analysis indicates that changes in spillovers among regions are closely associated with the migration of production factors in China during the last decades.     

Accessibility evaluation of land-use and transport strategies: review and research directions

A review of accessibility measures is presented for assessing the usability of these measures in evaluations of land-use and transport strategies and developments. Accessibility measures are reviewed using a broad range of relevant criteria, including theoretical basis, interpretability and communicability, and data requirements of the measures. Accessibility impacts of land-use and transport strategies are often evaluated using accessibility measures, which researchers and policy makers can easily operationalise and interpret, such as travelling speed, but which generally do not satisfy theoretical criteria. More complex and disaggregated accessibility measures, however, increase complexity and the effort for calculations and the difficulty of interpretation. The current practice can be much improved by operationalising more advanced location-based and utility-based accessibility measures that are still relatively easy to interpret for researchers and policy makers, and can be computed with state-of-the-practice data and/or land-use and transport models. Research directions towards theoretically more advanced accessibility measures point towards the inclusion of individual's spatial–temporal constraints and feedback mechanisms between accessibility, land-use and travel behaviour. Furthermore, there is a need for theoretical and empirical research on relationships between accessibility, option values and non-user benefits, and the measurement of different components of accessibility.     

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.     

The transport implications of Planning Policy Guidance on the location of superstores in England and Wales: simulations and case study

This paper uses simulation techniques to examine the transport implications of superstore location. In particular it argues that policies for superstore location advocated by central government in the United Kingdom would, if implemented, have had the effect of increasing the distances travelled for such shopping, have reduced access by public transport and on foot, and have increased the amount of travel through built up urban areas. The simulation outcomes are related to a brief case study of superstore locations in East Kent.     

Excess commuting: a critical review and comparative analysis of concepts,indices, and policy implications

The last three decades have witnessed substantial growth in the literature on excess commuting. Researchers have proposed and applied a number of commuting benchmarks and excess commuting indices that aim to evaluate the commuting efficiency and jobs-housing balance of cities. A comprehensive review and comparative evaluation of the proposed metrics in terms of their ability to capture the intended phenomena, while controlling for the other general characteristics of cities, has yet to be performed. This article attempts to fill this gap by examining four commuting benchmarks (minimum commute, maximum commute, random commute, and proportionally matched commute) and five excess commuting indices (excess commute, commuting potential utilized, commuting economy, normalized commuting economy, and effort). Our conceptual analysis of the indices is complemented with a comparative empirical analysis of commuting in thirty Canadian cities. We explore relationships between the indices and point out the strengths and limitations of each. The findings suggest that no single index can adequately capture the commuting performance of an urban area, while each index can be employed to address a specific policy question. Used together, the indices can provide a reasonably good understanding of urban form and commuting behavior.