Verkehrsverbund: the success of regional public transport in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

The Verkehrsverbund system of public transport organization offers a practical solution to the problem of providing integrated regional public transport service for the increasingly suburbanized metropolitan areas of Europe and North America. By carefully coordinating fares and services for all routes, all types of public transport, and all parts of the metropolitan region, Verkehrsverbund systems in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have greatly improved the quality of the public transport alternative to the automobile. Five Verbund systems were chosen for detailed analysis: Hamburg, Munich, the Rhein-Ruhr region, Vienna and Zurich. This article documents the success of each Verbund in attracting more public transport riders and, in most cases, increasing or at least stabilizing public transport's share of modal split. It also analyzes the reasons for the success of the Verkehrsverbund, including service expansion, improvement in service quality, more attractive fares, and extensive marketing campaigns. The five case study systems offer lessons for other public transport systems facing similar challenges of dealing with increasing auto ownership and suburbanization. The article concludes with an analysis of the most challenging problem of all: public transport finance. As shown dramatically by the five case studies, the service improvements and fare structures needed for truly effective regional public transport require substantial government subsidy. Fiscal austerity at every government level is leading to subsidy cutbacks in most countries of Europe and North America. The five case study systems examined in this article provide lessons on how to deal most effectively with limited subsidy funds in order to minimize service deterioration, fare increases and ridership losses.     

Moving best practice forward: Delphi characteristics,advantages, potential problems,and solutions

In the last 30 years, there has been increasing application of the Delphi technique to tourism research. However, mystification regarding Delphi characteristics and procedures is evident in the literature. Through critical examination, this paper seeks to demystify the Delphi and advance understanding of the technique, contribute to the evolution of methodological guidelines, and provide further guidance to tourism researchers. A generic Delphi procedure is introduced, a critical review of its advantages and potential problems is presented, and critical design decisions are identified. Expert panel design and management are emphasised through example and critical review. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Big data in smart tourism: challenges,issues and opportunities

In the era of digital transformation, Big Data have assumed a crucial role in changing the global travel and providing significant challenges and opportunities for established companies, as well as new entrants into the tourism industry. All these companies can get valuable information on Big Data for predicting tourist demand, enabling better decision-making, managing knowledge flows and interaction with customers, and providing the best service in a more efficient and effective way. This can result in improved productivity, increased customer satisfaction, personalized marketing campaigns, and more efficient operations. However, open research issues about the role of Big Data in the tourism industry can be still recognized. With these premises, this Editorial aims to present the articles included in the special issue of Current Issues in Tourism titled ‘Big data in smart tourism: challenges, issues and opportunities’, which has called for research contributing to the recent debates on the implications and challenges of the adoption of Big Data to improve the competitiveness of tourism destinations and companies. Main topics considered by the accepted articles include a literature review proposing a novel theoretical investigative frameworks, metrics and critical dimensions, and empirical investigations of the use of Big Data in different tourism contexts.     

Pedagogy,possibility, and pipe dreams: opportunities and challenges for radicalizing international volunteering

ABSTRACT

Many scholars studying international volunteering call for a pedagogy of social justice to accompany the experience. Very few outline any kind of comprehensive vision of how such a pedagogy might work. I take stock of the critiques, challenges, opportunities, and desired outcomes of a pedagogy of social justice in international volunteering in an effort to invigorate debate on how to radicalize volunteers and wield the neoliberal volunteering machine against itself. I call for an end to pedagogical calls and a beginning to pedagogical intervention and public pedagogies.     

Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany,Austria, and Switzerland

Throughout the world, urban areas have been rapidly expanding, exacerbating the problem of many public transport (PT) operators providing service over different governmental jurisdictions. Over the past five decades, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have successfully implemented regional PT associations (called Verkehrsverbund or VV), which integrate services, fares, and ticketing while coordinating public transport planning, marketing, and customer information throughout metropolitan areas, and in some cases, entire states. A key difference between VVs and other forms of regional PT coordination is the collaboration and mutual consultation of government jurisdictions and PT providers in all decision-making. This article examines the origins of VVs, their spread to 13 German, Austrian, and Swiss metropolitan areas from 1967 to 1990, and their subsequent spread to 58 additional metropolitan areas from 1991 to 2017, now serving 85% of Germany's and 100% of Austria's population. The VV model has spread quickly because it is adaptable to the different degrees and types of integration needed in different situations. Most of the article focuses on six case studies of the largest VVs: Hamburg (opened in 1967), Munich (1971), Rhine-Ruhr (1980), Vienna (1984), Zurich (1990), and Berlin-Brandenburg (1999). Since 1990, all six of those VVs have increased the quality and quantity of service, attracted more passengers, and reduced the percentage of costs covered by subsidies. By improving PT throughout metropolitan areas, VVs provide an attractive alternative to the private car, helping to explain why the car mode share of trips has fallen since 1990 in all of the case studies.     

Impact of bus rapid transit on housing price and accessibility changes in Sydney: A repeat sales approach

ABSTRACT

New public transport infrastructure is expected to improve accessibility for local residents, and thus contribute to increased land value. The contribution that a bus rapid transit (BRT) system can make to increased land value is less certain than for rail-based systems, with the literature mostly containing bus-based examples from developing countries with extensive BRT networks. This article considers a BRT system named the Liverpool–Parramatta Transitway (LPT) that was implemented in southwestern Sydney in 2003 to improve public transport accessibility in the local area. A repeat sales model is constructed to investigate the impact of the LPT on residential housing prices and accessibility changes using repeat sales data from before and after the opening of the LPT. This identified little price difference between properties close to LPT stations and outside of the area that could be considered as affected by the LPT service coverage. This outcome is at variance with the theoretical underpinning of land value uplift and other empirical evidence relating to the LPT. Hedonic models using the same repeat sales data investigate the study area in more detail, stratifying the sample by housing type and by comparing separate before and after models. These research outcomes identify the extent to which the BRT system has an impact on local housing prices through accessibility improvements to the study area and provide a deeper understanding as to how the quantification of land value uplift from BRT represents one element of the wider economic benefits of a BRT system.     

Public bicycle as a feeder mode to rail transit in China: The role of gender,age, income,trip purpose,and bicycle theft experience

A marriage between public bicycle and rail transit presents new opportunities for sustainable transportation in Chinese cities. To examine determinants of public bicycle usage for rail transit access, an intercept survey of feeder mode choice among rail transit users was conducted near rail stations in Nanjing, China. Mode choice models were estimated with five feeder mode alternatives, including car, bus, walk, private bike, and public bike. By differentiating between public and private bicycle modes in the mode choice models, the study reveals the effects of personal demographics, trip characteristics, and station environments on public bicycle usage for rail transit access. Results show that female, older, and low-income rail commuters are less likely to use public bicycle to access rail transit. Rail commuters with bicycle theft experience and making school- or work-related trips are more likely to use public bicycle to access rail transit. Land use variables are largely insignificant in this study except that density shows a positive relationship with walking to rail transit. The results on demographic differences raise equity concerns when it comes to investing in public bicycle systems. Policy implications are discussed for Chinese cities to equitably boost public bicycle integration with rail transit.     

Redistributive effects of bus rapid transit (BRT) on development patterns and property values in Seoul, Korea

This study investigates the redistributive effects of Seoul's bus rapid transit (BRT) system on development patterns and property values using an urban simulation model. The Seoul Metropolitan Integrated Urban Model (SMIUM) combines the Seoul metropolitan input-output model with random utility-based location choice models and endogenous real estate markets.The major findings of this study can be highlighted as follows. First, Seoul's BRT contributes to increased development density in urban centers, acting as a centripetal force to attract firms from the suburbs into urban cores and supporting arguments for Smart Growth proponents. Second, unlike its redistributive effects on nonresidential activities, the BRT has a limited effect on the redistribution of residential activities, implying that residential locations are less sensitive to accessibility improvements made by the BRT than are nonresidential locations. Third, reflecting the transferred space demands from the suburbs to the urban cores, the CBD reaps the highest property value gains, while all of the outer ring zones suffer from reduced property values.     

Understanding overall output efficiency in public transit systems: The roles of input regulations,perceived budget and input subsidies

This paper examines the combined effects of subsidies, regulations and perceived budget on overall output and technical efficiency in a sample of single-mode bus transit systems using an indirect production function. The main findings are that the average transit system is 67.21% output efficient and systematic and stochastic technical inefficiencies decrease output. In addition subsidies increase output, regulations decrease output and the overall budget effect is an increase in output. Additionally, it identifies the characteristics of two groups of transit systems whose perceived costs after subsidies and regulations are either less or greater than actual total costs.     

Kids on board: methodological challenges,concerns and clarifications when including young children's voices in tourism research

A knowledge gap exists concerning the dearth of children's voices in tourism research. One of the main reasons for this is attributed to the methodological challenges that confront researchers when interacting with child respondents. Based on a recent study conducted with young children between the ages of 5 and 6 years, this article discusses five methodological issues to contemplate prior to conducting research with children. This article raises important considerations for children's developmental phase, the use of appropriate props and prompts during data collection, and the positionality and pre-requisites of the researcher when designing methodologies for research with children.     

Combined impacts of highways and light rail transit on residential property values: a spatial hedonic price model for Phoenix,Arizona

This study analyzes the positive and negative relationships between housing prices and proximity to light rail and highways in Phoenix, Arizona. We hypothesize that the accessibility benefits of light rail transit (LRT) and highways accrue at nodes (stations and highway exits specifically), while disamenities emanate from rail and highway links as well as from nodes. Distance decay of amenities and disamenities is captured using multiple distance bands, and hypotheses are tested using a spatial hedonic model using generalized spatial two-stage least-squares estimation. Results show that proximity to transport nodes was associated significantly and positively with single-family detached home values. As a function of distance from highway exits and LRT stations, the distance-band coefficients form an inverted-U pattern consistent with a positive longer-range distance–decay accessibility effect minus a smaller and shorter-range distance–decay disamenity effect. The positive accessibility effect for highway exits extends farther than for LRT stations. Coefficients for the distance from highway and LRT links, however, were not significant. We also test the effect of highway design on home values and find that below-grade highways have relatively positive impacts on nearby houses compared to those at ground level or above.