Emerging cycling policy in Moscow,Russia: The role of international policy transfer

Over the past four decades, commuter cycling has become a planning issue in cities that did not have established cycling cultures. This category includes post-Socialist cities with recent and strong automobility systems and limited cycling planning experiences. This article seeks to demonstrate how transfer of policy ideas from other contexts has contributed to the emergence of cycling policies in the largest post-Socialist city, Moscow, Russia, in the mid 2000s - 2016. Policy transfer means the diverse processes of acquiring policy ideas from other planning contexts and adapting this knowledge to shape local policies. The article is based on the results of a study that combined policy transfer questions with policy ethnography methodology that entailed prolonged field work and interviews with diverse policy actors and beneficiaries. This article aims to answer a question: How did policy learning, transfer and translation contribute to the emergence of Moscow's cycling policy? The article concludes that policy transfer facilitated cycling planning in Moscow by providing fast solutions, informing and legitimizing policy decisions, and temporarily leveraging cyclists' advocacy efforts. However, policy learning and transfer do not guarantee acceptance or successful implementation of policies. Integration of cycling into transport policies depends on an interplay of local institutional, political, and socio-spatial factors that influence decision-making. Constraints to implementing cycling policies include a peculiar car-culture, technocratic planning with a significant role of state actors and other elite groups, and insufficient opportunities for Moscow's cycling community to influence policy-making. These findings contribute to the transport policy and geography literature by exploring the role of policy transfer in cycling planning and by focusing on a less known transport policy context: post-Socialist cities outside the European Union.     

Spatial context and the complexity of daily travel patterns: an international comparison

The analysis of travel patterns is an important research topic in transportation research and urban planning. It provides the background information necessary to better understand the complex relationship between urban structure, the transportation system and household travel patterns. To what extent do travel behaviour reflect the properties of the urban structure and the transportation network, or do these patterns largely follow their own regularities? Can different patterns be observed across different space-time settings, or can common patterns be observed, largely independent from such contexts? To better understand these relationships, this paper reports on some of the findings of analyses, conducted to identify underlying structures in various aspects of travel patterns. Travel patterns, derived from activity and travel diary data collected in Portland (USA), Midlands (UK), Fukuoka (Japan), Canadian metropolitan areas, and the South-Rotterdam region (The Netherlands) are compared. The results indicate that travel patterns are largely independent from spatial setting, except for some extreme cases.     

The planned and the perceived city: A comparison of cyclists' and decision-makers' views on cycling quality

IntroductionTraffic jams, congestion and pollution demand sustainable modes of transport. To increase the appeal of cycling, bicycle-users' perceptions and needs should be acknowledged by decision-makers. However, traditional transport planning mainly focuses on quantitative, infrastructural data. To address this gap, this study explores to what extent decision-makers are aware of cyclists' needs and perceptions. Furthermore, the study compares the assessments about cycling of decision-makers and cyclists in the city of Leipzig, Germany.MethodsQualitative Interviews with 13 cyclists and similarly structured interviews with 6 experts from politics and planning were compared using qualitative content analysis. Two main topics were examined: (1) the reasons for cycling and (2) the perceived environment (built, natural and individually perceived). To integrate the spatial context, the interviewees draw sketch maps which were analyzed and compared using geo-information systems.ResultsExperts assume that main roads with cycling infrastructure are decisive for fast and safe cycling and cyclists agree with this statement. However, cyclists further refer to the positive effects of green spaces, the experience of the natural environment (e.g. fresh air) as well as the healthy and recreational effect of cycling. Cyclists prefer taking side roads and are prepared to use detours to integrate the natural environment and avoid traffic jams, noise and air pollution – these aspects were rarely acknowledged by decision-makers.DiscussionWe conclude that urban planners need to involve cyclists' perceptions more explicitly. Integrating cyclists' experiences in planning processes using sketch maps and interviews are beneficial, complementing quantitative approaches to enhance the understanding of cyclist behavior. The findings are essential to stress the importance of participatory approaches in urban planning to promote a sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly urban development appropriate to citizens' needs.     

An integrated performance evaluation approach for the Indian international airports

This paper deals with the applications of best worst method (BWM) and multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) method to assess the performance of 32 major Indian international airports based on eight evaluation criteria. The BWM is applied to derive the criteria weights based on the opinions of four decision makers, while MABAC method is employed to rank the considered airports from the best to the worst along with the identification of their relative strengths and weaknesses. The advantages of these methodologies are also enumerated. It is observed that annual revenue is the most important evaluation criterion, followed by the total number of passengers. Based on this integrated analysis, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Surat International Airport respectively emerge out as the best and the worst performing international airports in India.     

An analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions profile of airlines flying the Australian international market

International commercial flights (with the exception of flights between countries in European Union including Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) are currently not subject to greenhouse gas emission reduction regulation. To formulate effective and efficiency policy to manage greenhouse gas emissions from air transport, policy makers need to determine the emissions profiles of all airlines currently flying into their country or region. In this paper, we use 2012 data on airlines' aircraft characteristics, passenger load and cargo load (obtained from statistics reported by Australian Government Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics) to estimate the volume and carbon efficiency on each international route flying to and from Australia. This is the first study to use actual passenger and cargo load data to determine the greenhouse gas (specifically CO₂) efficiency of airlines operating in the Australian international aviation market. Airlines' CO₂ emission profile is dependent on many factors including but not limited to the aircraft used, payload, route taken, weather conditions. Our results reveal that the airlines’ CO₂ emission profile is not only dependent on the aircraft used and the number of passengers but also the amount of cargo on each flight.     

An environment-adjusted dynamic efficiency analysis of international tourist hotels in Taiwan

The paper is the first study to combine four-stage approach and dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the efficiencies of 45 international tourist hotels in Taiwan during 2002–2011. Using the four-stage approach of Fried et al. [1999. Incorporating the operating environment into a nonparametric measure of technical efficiency. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 12(3), 249–267] and the dynamic DEA model by Tone and Tsutsui [2010. Dynamic DEA: A slacks-based measure approach. Omega, 38(3), 145–156], the study considers the effects of the external operating environments and carry-over activities between two consecutive terms, and calculates managerial efficiency of international tourism hotels in Taiwan. The empirical results show that dynamic DEA provides more stable pure managerial efficiencies than traditional DEA, reflecting the continuity of the links between terms. Then the study employs Tobit regression to estimate the effects of location, management style, and occupancy rate on input slacks. The location in resort area leads to less slacks of employee and room. The chain system helps reduce slacks in room and area of meal department. The slack of employee and room gets lower while occupancy rate gets higher. After controlling the three external environment variables, the efficiency scores of 28 hotels increase, 9 hotels fall, and other 8 hotels still sustain on the efficient frontier.     

An intersectional analysis of barriers to cycling for marginalized communities in a cycling-friendly French City

In French cities like Grenoble, cycling is an increasingly popular form of urban mobility. Yet a lack of disaggregated modal data makes it unclear who does and who does not have access to biking. An intersectional analysis of 19 narrative and semi-structured interviews with policymakers, residents with different identities, and bike service providers demonstrate that some people perceive unique barriers to biking, related to their identities. For example, this study finds that racism, financial precarity, a lack of accessible information about services, and spatial inequalities may prevent some people from biking despite Grenoble's advanced cycling infrastructure and services and that these barriers may compound for certain people, reinforcing the preliminary body of research on intersectional barriers to urban biking. The study further finds that the lack of disaggregated demographic data on urban mobility in France might be preventing inclusive bike policy. The paper concludes by arguing that local policymakers would benefit from applying an intersectional analysis in understanding who is and is not biking, to promote everyday biking in a more inclusive way.     

Evaluating the multi-period operating efficiency of international airports using data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index

For the most part, airports are publicly or semi-publicly owned and operated with fixed assets. As such, airports have been often considered little more than infrastructure providers for airlines. However, as airports have begun to offer a variety of ancillary services including passenger transfers, re-fueling, parking, and shopping, they no longer play second fiddle to airlines. To come into their own, a growing number of airports realized their need to develop competitive strategies that can attract more air traffic and generate greater revenue. Such strategies start with the assessment of their competitiveness in terms of operating efficiencies relative to others. To help airport authorities identify major drivers for enhancing the airport operational efficiency and the subsequent competitiveness, this paper evaluates the comparative efficiencies of international airports for a multi-year period (2006–2011) using data envelopment analysis intended for dynamic benchmarking and Malmquist productivity index built on time-series analysis. Our study indicates that the productivity of an airport was influenced by exogenous factors such as shifts in government policies and technological advances rather than endogenous factors driven by improvements in managerial practices.     

Factors influencing cargo airlines’ choice of airport: An international survey

This paper identifies and evaluates the myriad of factors that influence the choice of airport by freighter-operating airlines. The findings are presented from an international postal survey of airlines operating freighter aircraft on a scheduled non-integrated basis. A number of factors such as night curfews, freight forwarders and airport charges are found to be influential and these are examined against a number of dependent variables such as the airline's home region and operational patterns in order to identify key variations.     

Processing passengers efficiently: An analysis of airport processing times for international passengers

With immense and growing pressure on stakeholders in international airport terminals to process passengers faster than previously, there is a great benefit to understanding which factors affect passenger processing times and in which situations. In addition, storing and analysing the collected data in batch is itself a difficult and time consuming task that could be made much simpler with sequential analysis. We aim to present a method for airport managers to discover which variables are important to understanding passenger processing times and identifying problematic passenger profiles without the need for high computational capacity and full historical datasets.In this paper we introduce Bayesian hierarchical models as a method of sequentially processing data, reducing computation time and obviating storage of large amounts of raw data. We use a range of exploratory models to identify which variables are important to predicting passenger processing time using a dataset from a day of operations at an international airport terminal, then compare a range of regression models. A Bayesian hierarchical regression model based on the model of best fit discovered through exploration is then applied to two subsets of data. We demonstrate that sequential updating based on daily data achieves similar results to batch processing based on full historical datasets and can therefore be used as an alternative in appropriate circumstances. Using the presented models, we find that the airline operating a flight is the most important variable to determining passenger processing time, followed by each passenger's age, sex and nationality. We demonstrate that in our dataset, the passenger profiles correlated with higher mean processing times overall were not the same as those passengers most problematic for meeting processing time targets.     

Operational performance evaluation of international major airports: An application of data envelopment analysis

This paper uses data envelopment analysis to assess the operational performance of 20 major airports around the world. It is found that the form of ownership and the size of an airport are not apparently correlated with operational performance of airports. In contrast, the existence of a hub airport, the location of the airport, and the economic growth rate of the country in which the airport is located are all related to the operational performance of airports. The 20 airports are put into four groups according to their efficiency values.     

A comparison of training activities in the Austrian and German accommodation trade using the TrainingActivityDegree

This article introduces the TrainingActivityDegree (TAD), a new method for the quantitative measurement of training activities, by presenting the empirical results from a practical application in which the training activities in the Austrian and German accommodation trade were compared. In the accommodation trade survey, a clear need for a method for acquiring reliable data of training activities in a fragmented branch such as the accommodation trade arose. Consequently the TAD index was developed. The practical application within an exploratory survey demonstrates its suitability for acquiring and comparing training participation, not only in the Austrian and German accommodation trade. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Socially desirable responding: the case of self-reported values in tourism surveys

This study explored associations between socially desirable responding and self-reported values in tourism surveys. Measures of egoistic values, altruistic values, and biospheric values were significantly associated with self-deception/assertion of positives, but neither with self-deception/denial of negatives nor with impression management. Researchers and marketers may take into account that self-reports of personal values could be distorted by tendencies for self-deception to some extent.     

Promoting passenger comfort and wellbeing in the air: An examination of the in-flight health advice provided by international airlines

Cases of airline passengers developing deep vein thromboses and contracting infectious diseases during flights have led to airlines' provision of in-flight customer health advice coming under increased scrutiny. By means of a manifest content analysis of the information provided in 50 international airlines’ in-flight magazines, this paper examines the nature and presentation of the health advice that is supplied and comments on the different approaches individual airlines adopt.     

Analysis of the impact of street-scale built environment design near metro stations on pedestrian and cyclist road segment choice: A stated choice experiment

The mismatch between the design of the micro-scale built environment around metro stations and pedestrian/cyclist preferences causes inconvenience and dissatisfaction. How to design streets near metro stations to provide a walking/biking friendly built environment is still a key question in promoting the use of metro systems. To identify which general attributes of the street-scale built environment are relevant for pedestrians/cyclists and increase walkability/cycle-ability, this paper reports the results of a stated choice experiment in which eight built environment attributes were systematically varied: street segment length, average number of building floors on both sides of the street, retail shops in frontage of streets, street crossing facilities for pedestrians/cyclists, width of sidewalks/bicycle paths, greenery, density of street lamps and crowdedness of pedestrian/cyclists to understand their influence on a road segment choice and preferences. A total of 803 respondents were recruited from Tianjin, China to complete the stated choice experiment through on-street face-to-face interviews. A multinomial logit model was estimated to unravel pedestrian/cyclist preferences using the stated choice data. The results indicate that pedestrians and cyclists have similar preferences for road segments with building lower than 6 floors, 50% retail shops in frontage, more greenery, lamps between 15 m and 30 m, more crossing facilities, wider sidewalk/bike lane and not crowded. These significant built environment attributes can be used in urban design projects with a walking/biking friendly built environment around a metro station.     

An empirical analysis of Canadian international air policy: effects of dual carrier designation and partial liberalization

This paper assesses the impact on air traffic of Canada's policy of allowing two Canadian flag carriers (dual-designation) to operate in select Canadian international markets. The secondary objective is to assess the effect of Canada's partially liberalized bilateral air services agreements. Using panel data covering Canada's 33 bilateral markets over the 1982–1994 period, we find the following results: (a) dual designation/operation of Canadian carriers in a country-pair market increases total traffic volumes in the market as well as increases the combined passenger volume and market share of Canadian carriers, and (b) Canada's partially liberalized bilateral air services agreements have significantly increased air traffic in those country-pair markets.Two policy implications follow from this research. First, Air Canada's recent merger with Canadian Airlines is expected to have a significant negative impact on total traffic volumes as well as on Canadian carrier traffic volumes and market shares on the country-pair markets both Air Canada and Canadian served previously. Second, not only the US style full liberal bilaterals or open skies, but also partial liberalization of bilateral markets Canada adopted appears to generate consumer welfare benefits.     

Impact of international tourism on the Chinese economy

Since 1990, international tourism to China has grown dramatically, as has the rest of the Chinese economy. Its impact on the Chinese economy is estimated for 1997, the last year for which sufficient input–output, social accounting and tourist expenditure data are available when the paper was written. With these data, a so‐called type II input–output model is constructed, which enables to estimate direct, indirect and induced impacts. The results show that 1.64% of gross domestic product, 1.40% of household income and 1.01% of Chinese employment is dependent on international tourism. The differences are explained by the sectoral composition of the tourist expenditures, together with the sectoral differences in capital/labour ratios, labour productivity and backward linkages. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.