Efficiency and productivity changes in Greek airports during the crisis years 2010–2014

The aim of this study is to evaluate the operating efficiency and productivity changes of the Greek airports, during the first years of the severe economic crisis in Greece (2010–2014), by using two methods: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity index (MPI). Findings have shown that, despite the dramatic effects of the economic crisis on the socio-economic life of the country, overall airport efficiency and productivity improved, mainly due to exogenous factors such as international tourism growth. The MPI reveals that over the period of the study, airports have experienced an annual average increase in total factor productivity (TFP) of 0.9% (an increase of 3.6% over the examined period). On examining the components of this productivity change, it becomes evident that this is due to the combination of both positive (a slight progress) annual average technology change (0.5%) and technical efficiency change (0.4%). The results also indicate that 65.8% of airports have an increase in average TFP during the period 2010–2014, ranging between 0.4% and 20%. However, as Greek airports operate at poor levels of efficiency, there is still considerable space for improvements in most of the airports.     

Economies of scale and density in urban rail transport: effects on productivity

This paper examines economies of scale and density in urban rail transport. It isolates the effects of constant and non-constant returns on output and productivity growth using data relating to 17 rail systems in cities around the world. Estimates reveal constant returns to scale but increasing returns to density. The productivity model shows that total factor productivity change has been of great importance in differentiating the output performance of urban rail systems. Our analysis of average labour productivity confirms the importance of shifts to other factors of production and technological change in explaining changing levels of output per worker.     

Total factor productivity analysis of the UK airport industry: A Hicks-Moorsteen index method

This study examines the total factor productivity (TFP) change of the UK airport industry from 2001 to 2009 using a Hicks-Moorsteen index method. The results show that the industry experienced an average annual growth in TFP of 0.32 per cent with efficiency change being the main contributor to the TFP growth. We find that private UK airports enjoy slightly higher TFP growth than those in public or mixed ownership. Regulation and airport size are found to have statistically significant effects on the airport productivity level.     

常规公交影响下的轨道交通吸引范围研究

根据我国城市轨道交通以常规公交换乘为主的现状，提出轨道交通和常规公交的关系定位，以及利用常规公交提高轨道交通辐射范围的观点。针对我国城市发展对轨道交通客流预测的影响，为解决一般方法存在的问题，在合理假设条件下，构建了常规公交影响下轨道交通站点吸引区域模型，并给出模型求解的算法步骤。     

The technical efficiency of Canadian urban transit systems

This paper uses a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to estimate technical efficiency scores for Canadian urban transit systems from 1990 to 1998. Bias and confidence intervals are estimated for the efficiency scores. A Tobit regression is used to analyze the sources of efficiency change. The paper finds that the original efficiency scores are biased. The bootstrap results indicate that the average technical efficiency of the transit systems is about 78%. Most transit systems experience increasing returns to scale. While higher average transit speed increases efficiency peaking decreases efficiency, which reinforces previous DEA efficiency studies.     

North American containerport productivity: 1984–1997

This paper undertakes two tasks: measurement of seaport infrastructure productivity growth in North America from 1984 to 1997, and exploration of several theorized causal relationships between infrastructure productivity and industry structure and conduct. A methodology is presented, data envelopment analysis (DEA), for measuring infrastructure productivity. Tobit regression is presented as a means of examining the determinants of infrastructure productivity in seaports. The study supports the presence of economies of scale at the containerport and terminal level. Among other factors, the longstanding relationship between seaports and the rail industry appears to remain a critical determinant of containerport infrastructure productivity.     

Size versus efficiency: a case study of US commercial airports

The paper presents a productivity analysis using data envelopment analysis (DEA) of 45 US commercial airports selected from the top 15 large, medium, and small hub airports. Financial and operational data, such as aircraft movements, number of airport gates, the annual number of enplaned passengers and runway capacity, is used. Initially, a DEA is deployed to analyze the efficiency and performance measures of airports within each group by comparing and cross-referencing them with each other. We then extend our analysis to identify those airports that are not efficient and are thus dominated by other airports that are more efficient.     

城市轨道交通车站旅客换乘效率评价模型研究

通过分析城市轨道交通车站换乘系统,从快速性、便捷性、舒适性和安全性方面构建城市轨道交通车站旅客换乘效率评价指标体系。运用灰色系统理论,建立基于综合灰色关联加权法的城市轨道交通车站换乘效率评价模型。以重庆轻轨2号线车站为例,计算了5个车站的换乘效率综合评价值并进行排序,认为该评价模型具有一定的可操作性和实用性。     

A productivity comparison of the world's major airlines

This paper measures and compares productivity and unit cost of the world's 23 major airlines using yearly panel data (1986–1993). An extensive effort was expended to put together a reliable database. These data are then used to accomplish the following: first, unit cost per unit of aggregate output is measured and compared. The effect of input price changes on the unit costs are also examined. Second, the ‘gross’ Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is measured and compared. In order to compare true productive efficiency across airlines and over time, a ‘residual’ TFP index is computed after removing effects of the variables beyond managerial control such as average stage length and composition of outputs. Log-linear TFP level, and TFP growth rate regressions are used to accomplish this task. Our results show that:

1. (a) during the sample period (1986–1993), the major European carriers and the carriers in newly industrialized countries in Asia have achieved significantly higher productivity growth than their North American counterparts;

2. (b) as a result, the productivity gap between North American and other carriers have diminished significantly;

3. (c) however, on average, the North American carriers still enjoy higher productive efficiency than the carriers in Asian NICs and European carriers, but the gap is closing very rapidly; and

4. (d) it is observed that, over time, the productive efficiency of carriers competing in the same markets tends to converge.

Finally, Asian NIC carriers clearly enjoy unit cost advantages over other major carriers. Our results show that European aviation liberalization which began in 1987 appears to have produced substantial productivity gains.     

Commercialisation and airport performance: The case of Ireland's DAA

Airport performance has been the subject of an increasing volume of empirical research in recent years. This paper bridges a gap in the existing literature through an in-depth case study analysis of the process of commercialisation in the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Ireland's state-owned airport company, and the corresponding impact on performance over the 1994–2014 period. We use a model of commercialisation to examine changes in the DAA's internal and external environments that show evidence of a more commercial focus. The DAA's economic performance is then analysed using total factor productivity (TFP) and labour productivity indicators, as well as basic financial indicators. Our analysis highlights the significant internal and external changes experienced by the DAA over the past two decades that have driven a continuous process of commercialisation. While TFP growth was positive or stable in half of the years that we examined, the overall level of TFP declined over our timeframe of analysis. Much of this decline was due to two considerable programmes of investment in long-lived infrastructure assets where a return in the short-term would not be expected.     

北京城市轨道交通商业资源市场化运作探析

轨道交通能够为城市带来巨大的社会效益,节约社会资源和出行成本,提高交通效率。分析了国外城市轨道交通商业资源市场化运作经验,总结了北京城市轨道交通商业资源运作模式,研究提出了北京轨道交通资源创新与规模经营的构想,以进一步促进规模经营和创新经营的发展。     

Technical efficiency and productivity changes in Spanish airports: A parametric distance functions approach

This paper contributes to the airport benchmarking literature in two ways. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt at using a stochastic distance function to measure airports’ productivity changes while considering multiple outputs. Secondly, we calculate the evolution and decomposition of the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) for Spanish airports. The average rate of productivity showed a slight annual improvement of 0.9%, and the core engine of this was 3% increase in technical progress rather than through efficiency. Results, by airport, identify those needing improvement, to be more attractive in the Spanish airport restructuring program.     

Metro and urban growth: Evidence from China

We investigate the effects of metro systems on urban growth in China. Using a difference-in-differences combined with propensity score matching framework, we find that metro systems have an economically significant positive effect on the urban GDP growth rate and that this effect is much larger for megacities with permanent populations of more than 6.15 million. Meanwhile, cross-city metro operations tend to increase economic concentrations in larger cities and expand GDP inequalities between cities connected by a cross-city metro. Our mechanism analyses further corroborate that a higher metro density has a positive effect on urban employment growth and a negative effect on the average wage of employees, but this does not improve urban total factor productivity (TFP), suggesting that a metro system is more likely to provide consumption amenities and employment access than it is to provide production amenities.     

Urban rail operators in Turkey: Organisational reform in transit service provision and the impact on planning,operation and system performance

Many cities around the world have seen efforts to restructure the provision of public transport. While transit authorities as public agencies continue to deliver transit services in some cities, many others have privatised these services, have opened up the market to private operators or have outsourced them to newly founded subsidiaries. The situation is no different in Turkey, where new legislation was enacted in the 1980s enabling local authorities to establish corporate companies under their own agency, and to shift to them the entire responsibility for running certain public transport operations. The motivation is often to increase efficiency, productivity and profitability in these operations, although there is a risk that planning and operation may become fragmented under such organisational reforms, making it difficult to maintain coordination in planning and to ensure the provision of an integrated service. This paper analyses this organisational change in public transport in Turkey, focusing on the planning, operation and performance of urban rail systems in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir.     

城市轨道交通换乘效率评价

在轨道交通线网规划中,轨道交通之间的换乘是一个重要的环节.换乘时间是直接反映换乘效率的指标.针对两条线路相交可以产生12个换乘方向,提出换乘时间、换乘距离、协调性、舒适度、安全性5个量化指标,利用层次分析方法对城市轨道交通之间换乘效率进行评价.     

A nonparametric efficiency analysis of German public transport companies

In this paper, we present a nonparametric comparative efficiency analysis of 179 communal public transport bus companies in Germany (1990–2004). We apply both deterministic data envelopment analysis (DEA) and bootstrapping to test the robustness of our estimates and to test the hypothesis of global and individual constant returns to scale. We find that the average technical efficiency of German bus companies is relatively low. We observe that the industry appears to be characterized by increasing returns to scale for smaller companies. These results would imply increasing pressure on bus companies to restructure.     

基于信息融合的城市轨道交通补贴决策的思考

基于信息融合的理论和方法,将城市轨道交通各个系统采集到的数据进行相关和集成融合计算出客流量、平均发车间隔和平均运距等.通过对车辆运营成本与乘客等车时间成本的分析,确定乘客总的等车时间成本是常量固定的社会成本.利用边际成本法建立城市轨道交通补贴决策模型,并结合长春市轻轨的运营数据进行实证分析,期以辅助城市轨道交通财政补贴决策.     

Total factor productivity decomposition,input price inefficiencies,and public transit systems

This paper decomposes the rate of growth of total factor productivity (TFP) in public transit systems among input demand effects, an indirect output effect, an indirect technical change, pure scale effects and pure technical change. An application of the decomposition to selected transit systems is provided. The application shows that the effects of the changes in input price inefficiencies on TFP are sizeable, and that the total subsidy effects on TFP are larger than the total effects from utility maximization behavior. Furthermore, the traditional sources of TFP (i.e., pure scale and technical change) reduce TFP and the Divisia index overestimates TFP in public transit systems.     

城市轨道交通合理站间距的研究

城市轨道交通作为城市综合交通体系的重要组成部分,其站间距的设置与客流吸引能力、旅客出行时间、列车运行效率等因素密切相关。通过分析城市轨道交通站间距设置的影响因素,提出合理站间距的设置方法及优化模型,结合实例计算并综合考虑各方面因素,推荐城市中心区车站的合理站间距以1050～1 150 m为最优,郊区车站的合理站间距以1 800 m左右为优。     

成都地铁一期工程社会经济效益分析

结合正在建设的成都市地铁1号线一期工程的具体情况,运用定性与定量分析相结合的方法,对可定量计算的社会经济效益的估算模型进行了重点论述,并对不可定量计算的社会经济效益进行了简要说明,尝试就城市轨道交通对国民经济的贡献进行较为合理的估算与分析,可为城市轨道交通项目投资决策提供参考。