The demand for public transport: The effects of fares,quality of service,income and car ownership

This paper reports on key findings from a collaborative study whose objective was to produce an up-to-date guidance manual on the factors affecting the demand for public transport for use by public transport operators and planning authorities, and for academics and other researchers. Whilst a wide range of factors was examined in the study, the paper concentrates on the findings regarding the influence of fares, quality of service and income and car ownership. The results are a distillation and synthesis of identified published and unpublished information on the factors affecting public transport demand. The context is principally that of urban surface transport in Great Britain, but extensive use was made in the study of international sources and examples.     

Measuring traveler involvement in urban public transport services: The case of Kaohsiung

The city of Kaohsiung has been urgently reducing its rates of ownership and usage of privately owned motor vehicles. The most important strategy undertaken thus far has been to build mass rapid transit systems. This study aims to apply the Involvement Theory to construct an inventory to measure level of travelers’ involvement in public transport services. The results indicate that the number of low involvement travelers is the critical factor that determines whether the new public transport system can effectively operate. They also provide authorities with precise marketing strategies targeting different groups in order to allow the new public transport systems to sufficiently meet public needs.     

Regional road development,rural and urban poverty: Evidence from China

The study estimates the impact of road investments on overall economic growth, rural and urban growth, and rural and urban poverty reduction. To achieve these goals, an econometric model that captures the different channels through which road investment impacts growth and poverty is developed and estimated using provincial-level data for 1982–1999 in China. Low-grade (mostly rural) roads have benefit/cost ratios for national GDP that are about four times larger than the benefit/cost ratios for high-grade roads. In terms of poverty reduction, low-grade roads raise far more rural and urban poor above the poverty line per yuan invested than do high-grade roads. Another significant finding of the study is the trade-off between growth and poverty reduction when investing in different parts of China. Road investments yield their highest economic returns in the eastern and central regions of China, while their contributions to poverty reduction are greatest in western China (especially the southwest region).     

Land use and public transport integration in small cities and towns: Assessment methodology and application

It is widely accepted that land use and public transport planning should be harmonised in order to provide a viable alternative to car transport. Following the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) concept, many studies and plans aim to concentrate urban development in areas accessible by high-quality public transport. Encouraged by studies asserting the positive relation between urban density and public transport use, scholars and practitioners focused their attention on tools and strategies that increase urban density, thereby overlooking geographical contexts where these strategies cannot be applied. TOD might however be also a valuable strategy in low-density contexts, like lower density parts of metropolitan areas, or suburban areas and small towns. It seems therefore relevant and interesting to develop a methodology to explore the value of TOD strategies in such contexts. Our paper fills this analytical and application gap and proposes to extend the conceptualization and implementation of land use and public transport integration to areas where low-density urban development has already occurred (e.g., low-density suburbs, or areas where the protection of natural and cultural heritage precedes urban development). In such cases, where is not possible to increase urban density around transport nodes, the quality of the transport network plays a decisive role.The approach builds on the Node-Place Model by including evaluations of the quality of feeder networks. We applied the methodology to a case study in the Campania Region in southern Italy, indicating a possible way to evaluate land use and public transport integration while considering, at the same time, the quality of transport as network.The application of the methodology allowed to highlight imbalances between accessibility – by main and feeder transport – and land use intensity, and to sketch urban development strategies and priorities of intervention on the transport network.     

Accessibility gains and road transport infrastructure in Spain: A productivity approach based on the Malmquist index

Accessibility, the relative access to markets, is a strategic concept in all economic models with a spatial dimension and its prominence has been acknowledged in many economic research fields and policy debates. This paper is based on the assumption that infrastructure drives economic accessibility and, therefore, we can assimilate a production function approach where the road network constitutes a set of inputs yielding access to markets as output. Methodologically, we originally measure the infrastructure inputs accounting for the real used network and calculate a series of new final and intermediate demand gravity-based and locational indicators, which capture a wide range of economic transactions and represent different concepts of economic accessibility outputs. The value added of this paper is translating a non-parametric frontier approach (DEA) to a dynamic scope (Malmquist indices) by connecting the regional accessibility to the productivity of the road infrastructure inputs associated with each region. Results during 1995–2005 show a low relative accessibility of the Spanish NUTS-3 regions, although improvements have been greater over the last five years. Finally, we observe a U-inverted relationship between the accessibility gains during these years and the geographical localization.     

The politico-economic link between public transport and road pricing: An ex-ante study of the Stockholm road-pricing trial

A full-scale road pricing trial will be performed in Stockholm for 7 months in 2006. The road tolls are bundled with major improvements of public transport. The trial will be followed by a local referendum. We conduct numerical simulations with a model of modal choice to estimate the welfare effects of road tolls on commuters crossing the toll zone. We find that in the absence of revenue recycling, few commuters gain from the road-toll reform. However, the fraction of gainers rises considerably when public transport is improved as planned in Stockholm.     

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.     

Demystifying residents' walking behaviors: Active transport in South East Queensland,Australia

This study investigates the correlates of a resident's walking behaviors and aims to shed light on mechanisms through which walking may be encouraged. The results of this investigation paint a complex and nuanced picture of the residents’ walking behaviors in South East Queensland, Australia. The results suggest that sociodemographic characteristics separately may contribute greatly to whether or not one engages in walking behaviors. Further, cumulatively these differences might be greater for some groups of residents compared to others. One of the most prominent findings of the study is that the purpose, the characteristics of the origin, and the characteristics of the destination of a trip tended to be similar in the heterogeneity they exhibit over the distribution of time spent walking. For example, pick something up, undertake work, or engage in personal business, move to or from a workplace, shop, or social place are activities that tend to be associated with walking as a main mode of transport and a higher number of walking episodes. However, these trips tended to be short.     

Identifying attributes of public transport services for urban tourists: A data-mining method

The current work focuses on Quality of Service (QoS) of Public Transport (PT) attributes in urban tourist destinations. In particular, we aim to reveal which attributes are most significant for tourists prior to their arrival at their destination, as reflected in questions posted in TripAdvisor Question and Answer forums, a widely used social media platform.We used a data-mining method to classify questions into categories relevant to QoS, using a sample of 8905 items posted between 2005 and 2018 in TripAdvisor forums for seven urban destinations in the United States and Western Europe. We found four PT-QoS attributes: Pricing and ticketing, Accessibility, Trip duration, and Service availability (hours of operation and frequency). These attributes have similar relative significance for all destinations, origins, seasons, and years we checked. Hence, they can help service operators and policymakers to understand tourists' preferences and to adjust PT services accordingly.     

Livelihoods in motion: Linking transport,mobility and income-generating activities

During the past decade, there has been an increased focus on mobility in the social sciences linked to the so-called ‘mobility turn’, which claims that as mobility is so pervasive it should not be viewed as a rupture in society but as a normal way of life. This is certainly the case in urban contexts of sub-Saharan Africa where mobility forms an integral part of livelihood and income-generating activities. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research conducted in Accra, the capital of Ghana, this paper explores the mobility of urban residents in differing parts of the city in relation to their livelihood strategies. Through illustrating the ways in which the mobility of urban residents is aided or hindered by Accra's transport system, and by examining how this in turn influences their livelihood strategies, the paper contributes to an alternative new mobilities paradigm that is more considerate of, and builds upon insights from, the global South where such research has a longer pedigree than in the global North.     

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.     

The economic evaluation of transport infrastructure: needs for international comparisons

This paper describes very briefly the background of a symposium on a comparative approach to the evaluation of transportation infrastructure development. The symposium was held in Japan, inviting scholars and experts in the field from Europe and the US and was the beginning of discussions in this special issue.     

Car ownership and urban development in Chinese cities: A panel data analysis

Growth in car ownership has significant impacts on the use of urban space and management of urban environments, which makes it a topic of increasing interest especially for developing countries such as China. The dynamics of and factors influencing ownership in Chinese cities need careful investigation. Using fixed effects models applied to annual panel data (1994–2012; 293 cities) this study aimed to achieve the following: 1) assess the relationships between car ownership and average annual income per capita, population, built-up area, road area per capita, urban population density, number of taxis and bus passenger volume; 2) examine the variation of these relationships across geographical regions (East, middle, and West China) and city sizes (cities with small, medium, large, and super-large populations). The results showed that car ownership was positively associated with average annual income per capita, built-up area, road area per capita, urban population density, and number of taxis at the national level. All associations, except with the number of taxis, varied significantly across geographical regions. Built-up area, road area per capita, and number of taxis had different associations with car ownership depending on city sizes. The findings improve the understanding of relationships between car ownership and urban environments vis-a-vis variations in income and infrastructure per capita, population density, and transportation alternatives. These results have important policy implications for managing cars and health problems related to cars in China.     

The effect of public ownership and deregulation in the Scandinavian airline industry

We analyse why deregulation resulted in a temporary strong reduction in prices in Sweden, whereas in Norway the prices did not change significantly. SAS and Linjeflyg merged when the Swedish market was deregulated, whereas attempts to merge SAS and Braathens SAFE did not succeed. Upon deregulation in Sweden some of the carriers operating charter markets or regional secondary routes decided to enter the main routes. This put pressure on prices. Similar entries did not take place in the Norwegian market. We analyse whether the duopoly between SAS and Braathens SAFE is characterised by tacit collusion.     

The effects of road infrastructure improvement on work travel in Northern Iceland

Work travel is an important alternative to out-migration in rural areas characterized by a limited range of jobs. The size of local labour markets is determined in part by geography and tradition, but advances in transportation have the potential to move people and communities closer together and transform established mindscapes. In Iceland, the dispersion of the rural population, a challenging terrain, and unpredictable weather has made road infrastructure improvements a key component in regional development strategies. A large-scale tunnel project completed in 2010 was intended to strengthen a vulnerable rural area on the northern coast and expand the urban labour market of the regional centre of Akureyri. Traffic surveys and resident surveys conducted before and after the tunnels show a substantial increase in 17–34 km work travel between rural communities. Work travel 61–77 km to and from the regional centre did however not increase. The average length of work travel has shortened but the increase in commuting yielded a net increase in total km commuted. The tunnels increased work travel irrespective of age and education, but increased work travel by women with children in the household in particular. The results suggest that large-scale road infrastructure improvements may substantially strengthen rural labour markets within a driving distance of 15–30 min, but may not extend the edge of micropolitan labour markets 45–60 min from an urban centre of less than 20 thousand inhabitants.     

Determinants of car ownership in rural and urban areas: a pseudo-panel analysis

This paper examines the factors determining car ownership for households living in rural and urban areas. A dynamic car ownership model is estimated using a pseudo-panel approach, based on data from Family Expenditure Surveys in the UK for 1982–1995. The results show that rural households' car ownership is far less sensitive to motoring costs than that of their urban counterparts. The implication of these results is that general increases in the costs of car transport would pose a considerable economic burden for rural households, and that other area-specific transport measures may be more suitable, particularly from an equity point of view.     

The safe mobility of older drivers: a challenge for urban road designers

For many older adults in most of the Western world, continued mobility (with associated health, well-being, independence and quality of life) means access to a private vehicle, either as a driver or as a passenger. However older driver serious injury and fatality rates per distance travelled are higher than middle-aged drivers, and crash and injury rates are likely to increase in the coming decades as a result of the ageing population, increased car ownership and overall travel amongst older people. Evidence suggests that contributory factors to this high risk are (for most) frailty, (for some) the high proportion of driving in urban areas, and (for a few) reduced fitness to drive as a result of medical conditions and associated functional limitations. Australasia has recently adopted the ‘Safe System’ approach which aims to manage vehicles, the road infrastructure, speeds, and the interactions between these components, to ensure that when crashes do occur, crash energies will remain at levels that minimize the probability of death and serious injury. A system which aspires to achieving Safe System objectives cannot ignore the challenges that older road users pose – and will pose – to the transport system. This paper discusses the so-called ‘older driver problem’, presents crash data and evidence of the impacts of driving location and reduced fitness to drive on crash risk, and recommends countermeasures within the ‘Safe System’ context, with particular reference to urban road design and operation.     

The global distribution of the burden of road traffic injuries: Evolution and intra-distribution mobility

This research examines the evolution of the distribution across 187 countries of mortalities per 100,000, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLL) and years lived with disabilities (YLD) due to road traffic injuries between 1990 and 2010 using the distribution dynamics approach. Fatal and non-fatal burdens of road traffic injuries display contrasting external shape dynamics and intra-distribution mobility. The results show that while the shape of the global distribution of YLD due to road traffic injuries (RTIs) has become tighter over time, the cross-country distributions of mortalities, DALYs, and YLL from road crashes have become more dispersed. The implication of the results is that international efforts should make a priority of targeting the prevention of a greater spreading out of the distribution of the burden of fatal RTIs. The exchange of relative positions within the distributions is substantial, but there is no linear relationship between a country's change in its relative position for the burden of fatal and non-fatal RTI distributions. Thus, further research is needed to determine whether policy interventions dealing with the burden of fatal RTIs also alleviate the burden of non-fatal RTIs and vice versa.     

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.     

Study of vehicle ownership for urban and rural households in India

Private vehicle ownership has been growing in double digits over the last decade. This paper examines the factors determining vehicle ownership for urban and rural households in India. Separate nation-wide disaggregate vehicle ownership models for urban and rural areas in India are developed using readily available consumer expenditure survey dataset. A consumption based proxy variable is assumed to represent economic standard of households. Comparison between vehicle ownership behavior of urban and rural households show that rural households are more inclined to own private vehicle than urban households with same economic standards. Amongst households with regular salaried members, rural households' preference to own two wheelers is greater than that of urban households. While the presence of elderly member or children is considered, urban households showed more preference to own four-wheeler than rural households. As a first nation-wise study to understand the differences in vehicle ownership behavior in urban and rural areas of India, this study provides a lot of useful insights which could be valuable to various stakeholders.