Evaluating and implementing transport measures in a wider policy context: the ‘Civilising Cities’ initiative

In the UK, local authority transport departments are being encouraged to implement transport schemes that can contribute cost-effectively to achieving a wide range of corporate policy objectives. The ‘Civilising Cities’ initiative, funded by the UK's RAC Foundation and the Department for Transport, seeks to identify—through a set of Pilot Projects—how packages of transport measures (usually in partnership with initiatives from other agencies) can contribute to improving local quality of life. One key feature of the project has been the development of a comprehensive Indicator Framework for cross-sector evaluation, that has defined a set of indicators covering nine areas of quality of life: neighbourhood, environment, transport, health, education, local economy, crime, participation and lifestyle. The paper outlines the philosophy behind the project, the range of policy instruments being examined and describes the Indicator Framework and its application.     

Bussing between hegemonies: the dominant ‘frame’ in Oxford's transport policies

In 1972, a revolution in local transport policy in Oxford resulted in the dominant doctrine of the previous 30 years—providing for car use—being replaced by an alternative policy ‘frame’ focussed around the promotion of bus use. Although subsequently challenged in the 1970s and 1980s, the pro-bus policy community remained sufficiently strong to implement a further level of bus-oriented policy in the 1990s. Bus use in Oxford has returned to levels not observed since the 1960s, against a trend of decline nationally. The present paper examines how the policy problems came to be framed around the bus and how the frame evolved to accommodate changes in the funding and regulation of public transport. The extent to which the Oxford experience informs future policy-making towards demand management in urban areas is considered and the explanatory value of the concept of framing is revisited.     

Assessing the ‘value’ of new transport initiatives in deprived neighbourhoods in the UK

In the context of growing policy awareness in the UK of the links between transport and social exclusion, this paper describes case-study research of four different transport projects funded under the UK Department for Transport's Urban Bus Challenge Fund (UBC) with the specific aim of facilitating social inclusion in the areas they serve. Through surveys and interviews with end-users, the study qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated the value of these new services to local residents in terms of their increased economic opportunities and other quality of life benefits. It also aimed to identify their wider contribution to the renewal and regeneration of the deprived areas they serve through depth interviews with professional local stakeholders.     

Urban transport policy transfer: “bottom-up” and “top-down” perspectives

The paper provides insights into the urban transport policy transfer process, focusing particularly on the transfer of the transport policy within the EU. The themes of the paper are structured according to five of the “Dolowitz and Marsh questions”: what is transferred?; why do actors engage in policy transfer?; who are the key actors involved in the policy transfer process?; from where are the lessons drawn?; and what restricts or facilitates the policy transfer process? The methodological approach taken for considering each question involves two steps. Firstly, a “bottom-up” step considers the views of policy transfer from a “city perspective”, for which use is made of results from interviews recently carried out within the EU project “Transport Research Knowledge Centre” (TRKC). These interviews were intended to ascertain the information needs of seven “representatives” of European cities, all of whom were involved in the Cities Reference Group of the EU project “Citymobil”. These seven cities have widely varying characteristics in terms of size and geographical location (across Europe). By discussing information needs, the interviewees provided many insights into the transport policy transfer process. Secondly, a “top-down” step considers the policy transfer questions from an “EU perspective’; use here is made of various transport policy documents published by the European Commission (EC). For each of the five questions, “bottom-up” and “top-down” perspectives are examined and compared. The final section of the paper draws conclusions, providing a number of recommendations to both city authorities and the EU on how urban transport policy transfer might be enhanced in the future.     

漫谈‘危机感’

近闻,有家交通企业在年终总结生产经营工作时,对企业在激烈的市场竞争中求生存、谋发展颇有一种‘危机之感’于是,他们提出新年度要办的第一件事是对职工进行市场竞争忧患意识的教育,决心狠抓管理,练好内功,以一流的服务,一流的质量称雄市场。此举值得称道。     

‘Devolution’ of transport powers to Local Government: Impacts of the 2004 Traffic Management Act in England

The concept of ‘Devolution’—the transfer of powers away from the Central Government to more local bodies of Government, has been used across many different areas of policy and by many different national governments. This paper examines the devolution of transport powers to the existing Local Traffic Authorities in England via the 2004 Traffic Management Act. The paper first presents a summary of how several different nations have undertaken this process of devolving transport powers and responsibilities to either new or existing bodies. It then presents research from an electronic survey concerning how English Local Traffic Aut`horities are choosing to use some of the new powers available to them and their opinion on complementary areas of transport policy. Research is also presented from structured telephone interviews, concerning how individual Local Authorities perceive the efficacy and equity of the new legislation. Overall, the results show that only some of these new powers are likely to be used by English Local Authorities, with limited variation in how different types of LTA are choosing to implement these new powers. The structured telephone interviews provided some evidence that rural Authorities in particular are more dissatisfied with the legislation and consider some of the measures unhelpful. The results provide some insights on the formulation of devolved policy applicable to existing Local Government bodies and the varying benefits that can be perceived to apply to different types of Local Authority. Conclusions are drawn on some of the practical difficulties arising from the English experience, and lessons of relevance are drawn for other nations considering a similar devolution of transport powers.     

Experiencing ‘natural’ heritage

There have been a number of studies conducted on visitation patterns to the Wet Tropics rainforest in north-east Queensland, Australia. However, little has been undertaken in exploring the visitors' attitudes and behaviours (based on activities pursued) in the rainforest, and their ‘experience’ of this World Heritage environment. This papers sets out to advance research in this area by drawing on over 1000 surveys conducted with domestic and international visitors in various sites in the rainforest throughout 2008. Broad trends emerged that when on-site, visitors demonstrated a propensity to learn from the environmental and cultural information relevant to these rainforest sites. In terms of activities, visitors participated in a range of passive and active rainforest activities, the most popular of which included rainforest walks (76.4% of respondents), viewing scenery (72.6%) and viewing wildlife (59.3%). The significance of these findings is that they deepen our understanding of how ‘natural’ heritage visitor sites are gazed upon, experienced and consumed by visitors.     

雪域‘孤岛’奇闻录

奔腾不息的雅鲁藏布江水、世界第一神奇的雅鲁藏布江大峡谷、绵延不断的喜马拉雅山脉,构成了雪域“孤岛”奇特的地貌,同时也孕育了这封闭世界里的奇闻趣事。 过江龙果—一剧毒而可食 珞巴族是一个以狩猎闻名于世的民族,在猎取野兽时,毒箭帮了他们的大忙。野兽中毒箭后药性大发,奔跑不足2∞米便倒地毙命。涂于毒箭上的毒药,由两种植物混合制成,一种是生长在高海拔的一支蒿,另一种就是过江龙果。     

Interdependent,imagined, and embodied mobilities in mobile social space: Disruptions in ‘normality’, ‘habit’ and ‘routine’

This article draws on ethnographic research of everyday mobilities to further understanding of interdependent mobilities practices in relation to normality, habit and routine. The contention here is that a rethinking of ‘normality’, ‘habit’ and ‘routine’ reveals how mobilities are interdependent, imagined and embodied. We draw from Lefebvre's (1991) notions of social space and rhythmanalysis to illustrate the relationality of these aspects of mobility. In doing so, we build on recent theorisations of habit in the field of mobilities, which have opened this concept as a key site for interrogating body–society relationships arguing that both ‘routine’ and ‘normality’ have similar potential in revealing the regulation and control of everyday spaces. We consider everyday embodied engagements with mobile space and how these become normalised, habitualised and routinised. This paper draws from a Research Council UK Energy Programme funded project, ‘Disruption, the raw material for carbon change’, which uses ‘disruption’ as a lens through which to reveal potential for changes in mobility practices that result in carbon reduction. Our exploration of interdependent, imagined and embodied mobilities concurs with existing scholarship in the mobilities field that argues for a rethinking of individualised conceptions of ‘normality’, ‘habit’ and ‘routine’ in seeking an understanding of mobilities that are socially, culturally and materially contingent.     

Community Based Tourism in Namibia: ‘Reality Show’ or ‘Window Dressing’?

Since the 1970s, the African continent has experienced exponential growth in tourism, where growth in numbers of visitors has not necessarily meant economic, social or environmental benefits for the host community. A review of the literature concerning tourism development and its effects on local communities forms the basis for the investigation of the reasons behind community based tourism (CBT) being identified as a tool for development in Namibia. An assessment of the planning and implementation phases of the CBT strategy enables consideration on the role played by international and national governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in laying down policies and providing proactive support for CBT related projects. This paper presents the results of an ongoing empirical research conducted since 2003 in the Kunene region of Namibia, which is an important part of the overall Namibian tourism destination, with world-renowned resources such as Etosha National Park, the Himba culture, Epupa Falls, the desert-adapted elephant and the rhino, to name just a few. By attempting an overall assessment of the Namibian current CBT situation, a set of considerations are offered with regard to its practicalities and in terms of benefits, problems and future outlooks for this sector.     

Visitor Management in Protected Areas: From ‘Hard’ to ‘Soft’ Approaches?

Historically, visitor management in protected areas has been concerned largely with visitor impacts and emphasis has been placed on managing negative impacts. This has involved controlling visitor numbers, attempting to modify visitor behaviour and also modifying the resource. These approaches can be divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ categories (Ling Kuo, 2002). ‘Hard’ visitor management approaches involve physical management, regulatory management and economic management. ‘Soft’ approaches make use of education and interpretation. While the approach of managing impacts has its merits, and has met with some success, it has tended to assume that the visitor is ‘guilty until proven innocent’ (Mason, 2002). Such an approach has also tended to ignore the role of visitor experience in relation to visitor management. This paper critically evaluates a number of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to visitor management, focusing specifically on interpretation and codes of conduct in protected natural areas in New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica. It argues that the traditional approach of managing visitor impacts should be supported by a far greater emphasis on managing visitor experience. It proposes that placing emphasis on managing visitor experience should allow a more holistic perspective to be employed, in which the visitor can be put within a context that includes both the destination community and the environment visited. Such an approach, it is argued, should not only lead to better informed and behaved visitors, but a reduction in negative visitor impacts.     

Integration of HSR and air transport: Understanding passengers’ preferences

Different solutions for the integration of high-speed rail (HSR) and air transport could be implemented, ranging from very basic integration to more sophisticated systems which include ticket and handling integration. A discrete choice experiment is conducted to better understand passengers’ preferences. We estimate a number of flexible choice models, taking into account the existence of systematic and random taste heterogeneity. We obtain a range of willingness-to-pay values for service quality attributes, finding some important results that can be used to infer policy conclusions about the real attractiveness of the Air–HSR integrated alternative. In this respect, we find that schedule coordination which reduces connecting time will be crucial.     

On constituting cyclists as ‘hazards’

‘Hazard perception’ has become an integral part of novice driver education and training. Cyclists are often identified as one of many ‘hazards’ to look out for. We speculate that constituting cyclists as ‘hazards’, something that presents a danger or threat, may foster negative attitudes toward cyclists. Rather than accepting cyclists as ‘hazards’, our study examined the conditions that have made it possible to identify cyclists as ‘hazards’ in novice driver preparation. Informed by Michel Foucault's work on discursive practices, the analysis focused on the ‘road safety’ literature (1900–2017), the changing context in which road safety knowledge has been produced and the implications for the production of road space. This literature is important given the authority of scientific knowledge in western societies and its role in managing and governing populations. We found a shift in the middle of the twentieth century from drivers being identified as ‘hazards’ to drivers being identified as perceivers of ‘hazards’. At this time, researchers began studying drivers for their ability to recognise hazards: cyclists were routinely listed among the ‘hazards’ drivers should perceive. Out of 200 articles published on drivers' ‘hazard perception’ since the 1960s, one third categorised cyclists as ‘hazards’. Such research has informed the development and implementation of ‘hazard perception’ tests and, following Foucault, it participates in producing road space and shaping how drivers can think about themselves and other road users. While ‘scientific’ studies constitute cyclists as potential threats or sources of harm they lend authority to negative views of cyclists. We suggest ‘traffic participation’ as a more inclusive approach to driver education and training.     

A hedging policy for carriers’ selection under availability and demand uncertainty

We address a stochastic dynamic distribution problem where a family of products needs to be shipped from a warehouse to a distribution center (DC). Uncertainty is on carriers’ availability and demand at the DC. Internal, external and spot carriers must be optimally selected to minimize the expected discounted cost of transportation, inventories and shortages. We numerically prove that an optimal selection policy, SDMBSP, is based on three thresholds of the available inventory in the DC. A simulation model is proposed and proves the robustness of the SDMBSP and its outperformance over two other carrier selection policies.     

Current challenges in a ‘Distressed’ industry

This paper examines the current airline industry downturn and shows that the most recent available financial and operating estimates for the industry in 2009 look optimistic. Airline share prices have been worse affected than other sectors and air cargo has turned down sharply. While the financial position for the larger European airlines starts in a stronger position that pre-September 11th 2001, aircraft orders outstanding are higher and the economic fundamentals much worse.     

先行‘官’——雷双悬

交通运输是国民经济发展的先行行业,而雷双悬同志就是这个行业的先行“官”——湖南省衡阳汽车运输总公司总经理。 他这一生似乎与汽车运输有缘,1962年大学未毕业,便投身人民解放军大学校当了一名汽车兵。在部队,他是一名好战士、好教官;1967年转业到湘运,更是一名好司机、好技术员、好队长、好站长、好经理。至今他已在运输行业辛勤耕耘了33个春秋。1983年,曾在本企业开过7年车,担任过8年基层领导并先后改变     

业务流程再造‘BPR’集装箱运输管理现代化

一、我国集装箱运输发展面临的机遇与挑战 随着全球综合物流时代的到来及国际集装箱多式联运的开展,件杂货运输的集装箱化程度越来越高。集装箱吞吐量已经成为衡量港口作用和地位的主要标志。 在我国加入WTO后,我国港口企业必将面临前所未有的挑战,同时还会逐步失去中央政策的保护和某些特权,而以市场为主体参与平等竞争。为适应市场竞争的需要,国有港口企业必须尽快改变目前普遍存在的随意性企业管理方式,建立起管理正规化机制。     

Implications for CARICOM member states in the search for a ‘liberally controlled’ air transport market: The case of regional tourism to Barbados

This study presents an analysis of the state of aviation liberalisation in CARICOM (Caribbean Community) and its implications for regional tourism to Barbados as a member state in CARICOM. The evidence shows that improvements to the regulatory aviation environment in CARICOM would aid improvements in intra-regional tourism. Given the benefits that have been obtained globally, previous studies have been deductive and analysed the benefits of a less restrictive aviation environment in the region. However, the inductive approach of this study reveals that before there can be a successful attempt at any such liberalism in CARICOM, there are pre-existing constraining factors which must be addressed since they will hinder the effectiveness of any such policy. The study therefore proposes that the effectiveness of the existing regional multilateral agreement is hindered by political interference, not only in the overall context of aviation bureaucracy, but also in the business operations of the regional carriers.