Transport,economic competitiveness and competition: A city perspective

Stimulating the economy is a dominant policy objective, but on what basis are decisions being taken around transport and growth? We describe how transport studies and political geography offer two related, but poorly connected, theoretical approaches purporting to explain the relationship between transport and the economy. Yet in what ways does it matter that two different world views exist? We test these questions through an empirical case study of how city and regional officials use transport in attempting to realise economic objectives. Echoing theoretical approaches based in political geography, we find officials' own reasoning places emphasis on supply side improvements, especially connectivity within regions and on a high quality urban environment hoped to attract high GVA jobs. The decision-support tools are not well aligned to this reasoning, focussing on time savings and the justification of the value for money of proposed schemes relative to other investments in the region and nationally. In contrast to much theoretical work on competitiveness, employment growth is treated as exogenous with less emphasis given to which areas win and lose in the region. It is competition between weaker regional towns and cities that is prominent in officials' discourse. Such a gap between the thinking by officials, and the types of available transport investment decision-support tools, is of international significance. Given the centrality of the economy to where and what we invest in, the paper suggests a need for better knowledge about the efficacy of urban realm and other supply side improvements on job creation and on the influence of local autonomy in decision-making on investment selection and outcomes.     

Understanding the benefits of social tourism: Linking participation to subjective well‐being and quality of life

This paper aims to explore the relationship between well‐being, quality of life and holiday participation among low‐income families in the UK. There have been very studies that have examined quality of life (QOL) and subjective well‐being in relation to tourism and none that have attempted to apply measures to assess the benefits of holidays for those people who are generally excluded from participation. This is important in relation to social tourism because of the fundamental need to develop mechanisms to evaluate the impact of charitable funding for supporting low‐income families' participation in holidaymaking. This study evaluates the types of reasons given for financial assistance in applications to the Family Holiday Association including follow‐up research with a sample of successful applicants on the perceived benefits of the holiday, including questions on QOL factors. The findings are limited in scope but do indicate that increases in QOL were reported among low‐income families. The paper concludes by arguing that further research on adapted well‐being and QOL measures be applied to tourism consumption. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring public transport as an element of older persons' mobility: A Capability Approach perspective

This study employs Amartya Sen's Capability Approach as a guiding conceptual framework in the exploration of public transport as an element of mobility among the young-old living in Stockholm, Sweden. The aim is to shed light on the variation in mobility resources of those who perceive they can use public transport as their primary mode of transport and of those who perceive they cannot (‘mobility capability element’), as well as that of those using public transport and of those not using it (‘mobility functioning element’). Increasing residential density, being female and having a higher functional capacity were among the mobility resources which produced a positive increase in the likelihood of considering it possible to use, and the use of, public transport. The higher the ratio of cars to household member, the lower the likelihood of including public transport as a mobility capability element or as a mobility functioning element. Most of those who included public transport use as both a mobility capability element and a mobility functioning element were also users of the private car. There was also a tendency towards car use rather than towards no travel if the individual was not a user of public transport. Through the application of the Capability Approach, this paper facilitates further insight into the variation in mobility resources, corresponding mobility capability and mobility functioning elements of this group, with respect to public transport. It also opens up questions for the future employment of this conceptual framework within transport research.     

Sustainable transportation and quality of life

We consider the continuing increase in the use and density of automobiles (more vehicles with fewer people in them travelling greater distances over proportionally shorter roads) in relation to transportation sustainability and quality of life. The social dilemma perspective views this trend as the outcome of an unfortunate preference for short-term gains by car users at the cost of long-term losses to society. Approaches to measuring quality of life, its relation to sustainable transport alternatives, and the potential implications for informing policy, are considered.     

Temporal interdependencies in mobility decisions over the life course: A household-level analysis using dynamic Bayesian networks

Life trajectory analysis has been shown a powerful approach to understand the interdependencies between key life events, critical incidents and long-term mobility decisions such as residential move, job change and change in vehicle possession, which in turn constitute the context of daily activity-travel decisions. Because people in multi-earner households share resources, some of these long-term decisions affect them equally, while job change affects them differently because their job location likely differs. Current life course models in transportation research, however, have typically considered individuals' trajectories. To contribute to the further development of the relatively thin line of research in transportation studies, a dynamic Bayesian network approach is proposed to investigate the temporal interdependencies between life course events from a household perspective. Results show that the effects of child birth are much larger on residential and car ownership change than on job change for both household heads in dual-earner households. Moreover, the probability of residential and car ownership change increases when both spouses have relatively long commuting times. In case only the husband faces an excessive commuting time, households have a larger probability of moving house or purchasing an additional car. By contrast, in case only the wife faces an excessive commuting time, she is more likely to change job rather than the household taking particular actions to adjust to the problematic situation.     

Quality of life for the elderly: the transport dimension

The concept of quality of life is elusive and this paper reports on a study that has tried to deconstruct the concept in order to better understand what older people say quality of life means to them. The focus here is on the transport dimension where quality of life is broken down into mobility patterns, locality and social networks. The paper first sets the scene with a summary of secondary data and it then systematically presents data from interviews carried out with 1000 older people as part of the British Office for National Statistics Omnibus Surveys in Britain under the three headings mentioned above. A substantial amount of diversity and variation is found in the data by quality of life ratings and the expectations of the respondents. It is argued that both the active (travel related) and passive (locality and social networks) elements need to be brought together so that the quality of life for the elderly can be better understood.     

Why Canadians cycle more than Americans: A comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies

In spite of their colder climate, Canadians cycle about three times more than Americans. The main reasons for this difference are Canada's higher urban densities and mixed-use development, shorter trip distances, lower incomes, higher costs of owning, driving and parking a car, safer cycling conditions, and more extensive cycling infrastructure and training programs. Most of these factors result from differences between Canada and the United States in their transport and land-use policies, and not from intrinsic differences in history, culture or resource availability. That is good news, since it suggests the possibility of significantly increasing cycling levels in the United States by adopting some of the Canadian policies that have so effectively promoted cycling and enhanced its safety.     

Accessibility,mobility, and realized travel behavior: Assessing transport disadvantage from a policy perspective

Limited accessibility and mobility can result in decreased quality of life and well-being, as well as social exclusion. In the United States (U.S.), rural and small urban communities suffer from transport disadvantage due to a lack of transit and a low density of employment, education, recreation, and other opportunities. While the international literature has produced a number of methods and frameworks to assess transport disadvantage and its impacts, the U.S. has lagged behind in providing pertinent studies. The objective of this paper is to establish comprehensive measures that can support the identification, evaluation, and quantification of transport disadvantage in U.S. rural and small urban communities, considering both data availability and the unique characteristics of the U.S. The concept of transport disadvantage in this paper denotes the disadvantage of a specific population group or area that results from a difficulty accessing transportation and/or opportunities. To achieve this objective, this paper develops a spatial multi-perspective approach to account for the three essential elements of transport disadvantage: accessibility, mobility, and realized travel behavior.The developed approach provides an assessment of transport needs and need gaps that can be of benefit to small urban and rural communities and their planning practices, as well as to transport providers. The analysis in this paper suggests that—from a policy perspective—a combination of measures that account for all three essential elements of transport disadvantage should be considered, because the results of each measure complement those of the others. This paper illustrates the proposed approach using a case study of Indiana. The findings suggest that a great part of rural and small urban Indiana presents a low density of opportunities and that transport-disadvantaged residents of such areas might experience the impacts of low transit supply as well. In addition, the findings suggest that residents of rural and small urban areas travel longer distances on their day-to-day activities.This paper attempts to advance the national research pertaining to transport disadvantage and provide a framework that can support planning and policy decisions at the community as well as at the state level.     

Selling sustainable mobility: The reporting of the Manchester Transport Innovation Fund bid in UK media

This paper examines how complex transport projects are reported in the media using the Transport Innovation Fund bid for Greater Manchester as a case study. It demonstrates how projects are simplified and distorted in the media in a systematic way. Such distortion is explained by a scheme’s perceived newsworthiness, its complexity and the contemporary nature of news media production. The paper has implications for future research in this area and the implementation of sustainable transport policy. It urges transport professionals to both better understand, and engage directly with, the media if they are to maximise the benefits of efforts to shape travel behaviour.     

Evaluating rail transit benefits: A comment

Several recent articles criticize urban rail transit investments on grounds that they are ineffective at reducing traffic congestion and financially wasteful. This commentary challenges that view. It summarizes some of the findings of more detailed analyses of transit benefits and suggests that there is abundant evidence that high quality, grade-separated transit does reduce urban traffic congestion, and that urban transit improvements can be cost effective investments when all economic impacts are considered.     

Making urban road pricing acceptable and effective: searching for quality and equity in urban mobility

Urban Road Pricing has been proposed many times as a powerful instrument to fight congestion in urban traffic, but has systematically faced a hostile political envirionment, due to lack of confidence on its promised (traffic) results and fear of its political consequences. Lack of action in this front is contributing to stable or even growing congestion problems in most large cities.This paper tries to address the problem with a fresh look at the objectives of road pricing and at the reasons for that political hostility. For managing and developing the urban mobility system, efficiency and equity are normally taken as the basic economic objectives. Sustainability objectives may be integrated in the efficiency objective if we are able to represent adequately the costs of the resources consumed in the process. Political hostility is normally based on having to pay for what was freely available, and on the risk of exclusion for those with little revenue available for the extra cost of driving into the city.Pursuit of efficency leads to suggestion of marginal social cost pricing but this is hard to explain to the public and application of this principle is fraught with pitfalls since some components of that cost get smaller as traffic grows (noise related costs for example). Pricing is still a good option but the objective has to be something easier to understand and to serve as a target for mobility managers. That “new” objective is quality of the mobility system, with a meaning similar to that of “level of service” in traffic engineering, and prices should be managed to across space, time and transport modes in such a way that provision of service is made with good quality in all components.Pursuit of equity leads to some form of rationing, which has often been associated with high transaction costs and abuse by the administrators. But the use of electronic road pricing should allow easy ways to address the rationing process without such high costs. The basic proposition is that all local taxpayers receive as a direct restitution of their tax contribution a certain amount of “mobility rights”, which can be used both for private car driving in the tolled areas and for riding public transport.These principles are easily applicable with a variety of technical solutions for road pricing, from the simplest cordon pricing to the more sophisticated “pay-as-you-go” schemes. The paper addresses this question of implementation and argues for increasingly sophisticated schemes, as people get accustomed to the principles and finer targeting of demand segments may be needed.     

Transport policy and the provision of mobility options in an aging society: a case study of Ontario,Canada

This paper examines the provision of mobility options being one of the important policy areas vital to addressing transportation accessibility of the elderly. A provincial analysis, taking the case of the Province of Ontario in Canada, is warranted given that the country’s highly decentralized system puts provincial policies at the forefront in meeting this challenge. The paper evaluates the important progress made in this policy area and stressed the need to go beyond the traditional policy focus on the less able-bodied elderly and consider the increased heterogeneity of the elderly population with respect to lifestyle, preferences, resources, health and physical abilities. While significant efforts have been made, a more explicit recognition of population aging in Ontario’s transport policy motivation that could strongly influence transport strategies and investments attuned to the mobility concerns in an aging society remains to be seen. The paper summarizes the general concerns in the literature, policy developments, and the challenges in crafting solutions in terms of policy and research for Ontario and other regions with similar institutional setup.     

Mobility of older people and their quality of life

Population ageing will give rise to a substantial increase in the numbers of older people in society. Quality of life in old age is related to mobility, although the relationship is not clear, in part because the concept of mobility is not well defined. It is argued that it would be attractive to develop an operational concept of mobility, to allow the measurement of a group of benefits associated with individual movement which extend beyond those normally taken into account in travel and transport economics and modelling. This approach would be particularly worthwhile for investigating the loss of mobility with increasing age and the impact this has on quality of life, and for assessing the impact of measures aimed at enhancing the mobility of older people.     

Hospitality entrepreneurs managing quality of life and business growth

The hospitality industry is dominated by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).They are often led by entrepreneurs who face the challenge of simultaneously managing business decisions and their own wellbeing. The competitiveness of tourism destinations often depends on these entrepreneurs and therefore understanding their motivations and work patterns is critical. Research on individual wellbeing increasingly builds on the concept of quality of life (QoL). Hospitality and tourism literature so far predominantly focused on investigating QoL for tourists and residents, rather than for entrepreneurs’ QoL, even though being key stakeholders in the hospitality industry. Therefore, this study explores the factors influencing hospitality entrepreneurs’ quality of life (“HE-QoL”) and how these relate to business growth. Results of a 380 hospitality entrepreneurs’ survey identify six distinct factors of HE-QoL. Two groups of HE-QoL are identified with significant differences in fitness level activity, entrepreneurial competencies and business growth. Findings lead to recommendations to reduce stress to improve HE-QoL, and to develop entrepreneurial competencies, which help to cope with entrepreneurial challenges. Tourism destinations and politics can support hospitality entrepreneurs in these actions by creating conditions that foster social exchange in regional communities and trust in political and economic stability.     

Informal transport: A global perspective

Informal transport services—paratransit-type services provided without official sanction—can often be difficult to rationalize from a public policy perspective. While these systems provide benefits including on-demand mobility for the transit-dependent, jobs for low-skilled workers, and service coverage in areas devoid of formal transit supply, they also have costs, such as increased traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, and traffic accidents. This article reviews the range of informal sector experiences worldwide, discusses the costs and benefits of the sector in general and uses several case studies to illustrate different policy approaches to regulating them.     

Housing mobility and travel behaviour: A process-oriented approach to spatial mobility: Evidence from a new research field in Germany

During recent years, some effort has been made to understand the location changes in the life course underlying travel demand in Germany. Such studies have presented travel behaviour and long-term housing mobility as intertwined decision flows within the life course. This perspective calls for new methods, for example comparisons of travel behaviour before and after relocation, or comparisons between different ‘relocation types’. A number of studies have taken on this new perspective. Although there are certain methodological problems arising, notable progress has already been achieved towards a more precise understanding of travel demand. This includes the investigation of the use of transport modes as well as travelled distances and activity spaces. This contribution provides an overview on these studies. Theoretical groundwork, empirically validated aspects, and deficits and blind spots of research are being discussed.     

Life events and mobility milestones: Advances in mobility biography theory and research

The concept of mobility biographies has recently gained considerable currency in social-scientific transport research, reflecting increasing awareness of the long-term development of mobility practices. To complement existing work on the effects of major life events on mobility practices, we introduce the novel concept of ‘mobility milestones’, that is, mobility-related events across the life course that show a very high dependence on (infra)structural factors. Overall, the paper explicitly recognises the centrality of interactions between structural factors and human agency, thereby moving beyond a sole focus on individual travel behaviour.Initially, this paper reviews social and interdisciplinary research on mobility biographies, especially studies that use retrospective survey methodologies. Building on this review, we present an innovative online survey tool that has been deployed on the island of Ireland (n = 324) to record changes in individuals' mobility biographies and their connections with both life events and mobility milestones. This is followed by a discussion of key findings regarding the impact of starting college, residential relocation and changing employment, as well as buying a car or bicycle or getting a driving licence on individuals' modal choice.     

Airline ownership and control: A corporate governance perspective

Most countries require substantial domestic equity ownership of designated national airlines, yet changes in international capital markets have significantly altered the way control rights associated with equity are exercised. We argue that in a context of aviation deregulation and liberalization, a new generation of aviation financiers has appeared whose incentives and competence for control diminishes the relevance of the nationality provisions contained in most bilateral agreements. The paper describes recent developments in ownership and control and its impact on airline management.