How large are tax subsidies to motor-vehicle users in the US?

There has been considerable discussion about the extent to which motor-vehicle use in the US is “subsidized,” making petroleum-based motor vehicle use more attractive than other transportation modes. Estimates of these subsidies vary widely, and in many cases can be criticized on methodological grounds. In this paper we estimate corporate-income-tax, sales-tax, property-tax, and personal-income-tax subsidies related to motor-vehicle use. Whereas previous estimates of sales-tax and corporate-income-tax subsidies have been built piecemeal, tax provision by tax provision, we offer an alternative method, based on the difference between actual tax payments of the motor vehicle industry compared to other industries. We estimate that the total “tax subsidy” to motor-vehicle users in the US may be in the range of $19–64 billion (10⁹) per year, or $0.11–0.37 per gallon ($0.03–0.10 per liter) of motor fuel. However, the amount of the subsidy, and hence the magnitude of its effect, depends greatly on the tax baseline with respect to which the subsidy is estimated. (The property-tax subsidy is particularly uncertain.) We emphasize that without doing a full equilibrium analysis, we cannot say how eliminating these subsidies would affect social welfare.     

Is economics good for aviation policy? Some problems in bridging the gap between theory and policy

This paper argues that airport economics is based on the concept of economics as the positive value free science of efficient allocation of scarce resources with given wants, ignoring the approach of economics as a moral science. It assesses critically the results on major policy issues. Although there is strong empirical evidence of natural monopoly of airports, no consensus has emerged. The effects of privatisation have been assessed in terms of cost efficiency, but not in terms of economic welfare and distribution. While airport economics has made theoretical progress, the policy recommendations on single versus dual till are less relevant than those from the older models. Airport expansion is assessed in many cases by economic impact studies instead of cost benefit analysis. Economists applying impact analysis, have contributed to an irrational policy discussion. The role for morals in the management of airports has been neglected, although there is evidence that incentives might backfire. The paper argues that airport economics based on economics as a moral science could improve airport economics, and make its policy recommendations more relevant.     

How suitable is CBA for the ex-ante evaluation of transport projects and policies? A discussion from the perspective of ethics

Nowadays in most western countries CBA is the standard method to ex-ante evaluate transport policy options. Despite its popularity CBA has often been criticized for several reasons, most of them related to the utilitarian perspective and related ethical considerations. This paper gives an overview of ethically relevant critics on CBA. Rather than rejecting CBA as the method to be preferred the paper concludes that researchers should be aware of its limitations and gives guidance on how to deal with the weaknesses of CBA from an ethical point of view.     

How air transport connects the world – A new metric of air connectivity and its evolution between 1990 and 2012

To understand as to how scheduled air services link a region to other markets, we develop connectivity and hub centrality metrics. These metrics measure the quality of all scheduled air services in terms of frequency, detours, layover time and destination quality using a valuation scale being derived from observed passenger behavior. By computing yearly scores for 1990 to 2012, we analyze the geography of and trends in worldwide connectivity and hub centrality. While we observe significant growth of aggregate connectivity, the trends are heterogeneous with regard to the type of connectivity as well as time and location.     

“Ideal” decision-making processes for transport planning: A comparison between Europe and South East Asia

In a recently completed research project on the decision-making process of sustainable urban transport planning issues for the European Union (EU) – entitled PROSPECTS (Procedures for Recommending Optimal Sustainable Planning of European City Transport Systems) – an “ideal” decision-making process for sustainable transport planning decisions in the European context was identified. A further EU-funded networking project (SPARKLE (Sustainability Planning for Asian Cities making use of Research, Know-How and Lessons from Europe)) considered the relevance of the PROSPECTS process to South East Asia, through seminars and workshops in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. This paper summarises various conclusions reached in these events. Whilst it was generally found that the basic element of the PROSPECTS approach transferred reasonably well to South East Asia, various key factors require revisions to be made to the approach. The most important of these factors are: differing traditions in planning; different weights in the transport-related objectives, use of only a limited set of potential policy instruments, fast growth rates (in both economic and travel terms); differences in types of vehicle used; and lack of data for use in assessment and modelling. These factors could be addressed in more detail in future research projects.     

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.     

How is ICT use linked to household transport expenditure? A cross-national macro analysis of the influence of home broadband access

Understanding of the interactions between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and physical mobility is a major area of research with practical applications in a number of fields. Very little, however, is known regarding how these relationships vary on a cross-national basis, including across countries at different stages in development. To address this gap, this paper presents an analysis of household transport expenditure as a function of the available variables, with a particular focus on the ICT. This analysis is based on a cross-sectional dataset from 2010 comprising information on 33 countries including average household transport expenditure, ICT represented by the percentage of households with Internet access at home, and a number of contextual macroeconomic and infrastructural variables.Using a log-log framework we find that, in our sample of countries, household transport expenditure is negatively associated with Internet penetration with an elasticity of − 0.394. We verify this to be robust to endogeneity using presence of restrictions on foreign ownership in the Internet market as an instrumental variable. We also control for potential differences in data quality across countries using the Corruption Perceptions Index. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to quantify this relationship at a cross-national level while also controlling for endogeneity and data quality issues. Among the control variables, we observe the estimated effects to be intuitive, and consistent with existing research and microeconomic understandings of the behaviour of individuals and households.     

How do cities approach policy innovation and policy learning? A study of 30 policies in Northern Europe and North America

This paper reports on a study of current practice in policy transfer, and ways in which its effectiveness can be increased. A literature review identifies important factors in examining the transfer of policies. Results of interviews in eleven cities in Northern Europe and North America investigate these factors further.The principal motivations for policy transfer were strategic need and curiosity. Local officials and politicians dominated the process of initiating policy transfer, and local officials were also the leading players in transferring experience.A range of information sources are used in the search process but human interaction was the most important source of learning for two main reasons. First, there is too much information available through the Internet and the search techniques are not seen to be wholly effective in identifying the necessary information. Secondly, the information available on websites, portals and even good practice guides is not seen to be of mixed quality with risks of focussing only on successful implementation and therefore subject to some bias. Officials therefore rely on their trusted networks of peers for lessons as here they can access the ‘real implementation’ story and the unwritten lessons. Organisations which have a culture that is supportive of learning from elsewhere had strong and broad networks of external contacts and resourced their development whilst others are more insular or inward looking and reluctant to invest in policy lessons from elsewhere. Solutions to the problems identified in the evidence base are proposed.City to city policy transfer is a very active process in the field of transport. Not enough is yet understood about its benefits or the conditions under which it is most effective. Such understandings should help to promote and accelerate the uptake of effective and well matched policies.     

How rural is too rural for transit? Optimal transit subsidies and supply in rural areas

The optimal supply of rail and bus in low density areas is studied by calibrating a demand and supply model with three modes (car, bus and rail) to an existing low density corridor. Varying the length of the network, the frequencies and the size of the populations, allows to study the trade-off between the consumer surplus losses of the public transport users and the transit operation and maintenance costs savings. We find that for an existing rail network, the optimization of frequency is the prime source of welfare gains. The rail network is marginally beneficial in the sense that keeping the network is welfare improving as long as there is no major repair or replacement investment needed. When population in the smaller towns decreases strongly, it becomes welfare improving to close the existing rail network but a bus service remains beneficial for at least part of the network.     

How does demand uncertainty affect food and beverage capacity in the hotel industry?

This study investigates the effect of demand uncertainty on hotels’ food and beverage (F&B) capacity using the operation data of international tourist hotels in Taiwan. The empirical results of this study show that demand uncertainty leads to an increase in F&B capacity. Moreover, the magnitude of this effect increasingly strengthens for hotels with larger F&B scales. Our results together with other studies on room capacity collectively indicate that hotels’ overcapacity problem resulting from demand uncertainty considerably varies with hotel scales and between different hotel sectors.     

Investigating links between transport disadvantage,social exclusion and well-being in Melbourne—Preliminary results

This paper summarises preliminary results of a study to extend knowledge associated with social exclusion and transport by quantifying social and behavioural implications of lack of public transport and the nature of the social well-being benefits associated with improving services. Metropolitan results are outlined including methodologies exploring the distribution of transport disadvantage in Melbourne, Australia and how this relates to public transport services. An exploration of high car ownership for groups on low income is also presented. Gaps in coverage of public transport are identified and future research outlined.     

The Northeast Asian air transport network: is there a possibility of creating Open Skies in the region?

Unlike in the US and the European Union aviation markets, the Northeast Asian markets are still very fragmented. As a result, the passenger and air freight collection/distribution systems in the region are very inefficiently organized. The primary reason for the inefficient and inconvenient air carrier networks in the region is the restrictive bilateral air services agreements between Asian countries. This paper documents the nature and extent of the restrictive bilateral agreements among China, Japan and Korea, evaluates several bilateral or trilateral approaches for liberalizing the regional air transport markets, and makes a proposal which would increase substantially the probability of achieving an Open Skies market in the region. In particular, the current approach to liberalize the bilateral air services agreements among China, Korea and Japan has limitations even in the medium term because of China's and, to a less extent, Japan's reluctance to remove price and capacity restrictions. Therefore, as an institutional solution we propose to create bi-national (for bilateral negotiations) or tri-national (for trilateral negotiations) ‘Trade and Transport Facilitation Committees’, that can pursue a practical avenue to tie air transport negotiations with those of other goods and services trade.     

How does the inclination to bicycle sway the decision to ride in warm and winter seasons?

Many cities are creating policies and programs aimed at expanding bicycling mode shares. Attitudes towards bicycling in combination with weather conditions, however, can strongly influence the decision to ride. In locations with wide annual seasonal variation, attitudes can radically alter demand on bicycle networks across the year. Though researchers have looked at weather impacts on bicycling, the link between attitudinal factors that might impact riding decisions and seasonal variation remains understudied. This paper investigates heterogeneous taste preferences about the inclination to bicycle for riders who ride only in the warm weather and those who ride all year long (including during severe winters). This research relies on survey data from Edmonton, Canada and presents results from a hybrid discrete choice model. After controlling for age, sex, education, income, the supply of bike lanes, and the latent variable “bicycling inclination,” the results indicate that attitudes have a significantly positive impact on the decision to ride across seasons. The findings suggest that public education and season-specific training programs—particularly aimed at adults and women—have the potential to increase bicycling all year around.     

The first rapid tram line in Poland: How has it affected travel behaviours,housing choices and satisfaction,and apartment prices?

The opening of the Poznań Rapid Tram (pol. Poznański Szybki Tramwaj, PST) in the year 1997 symbolically marked the beginning of a new era in the development of urban transportation systems in Poland. In this paper we would like to address the following question: more than one decade after the opening of the PST, what are its effects in terms of travel behaviours, housing choices and satisfaction, and apartment prices? In order to answer this question, we combined data on travel behaviours and housing choices from a survey based on a sample of nearly 300 households with data on housing prices from over 1400 real estate transaction records from the period between 2010 and 2013. Our results show that the proximity to PST affects travel behaviours, as respondents living close to PST stops confirmed that they use this form of transportation more often. There also seems to be some effect on housing choices; in locations close to PST stops we found many households living in rental housing, particularly university students. Also, about 20% of interviewees declared that they would pay more for apartments located closer to the rapid tram. However, that effect was only partly confirmed through the analysis of transaction prices. Using standard and spatial econometric regressions including variables like apartment size, floor number, amenities, and type of building we found a weak correlation between the proximity to PST and apartment prices. In conclusion, we argue that treating property price effects as the main justification for public transportation projects might be a doubtful choice, because in some cases the principal impacts of such projects might be visible in terms of residents' satisfaction and travel behaviours.     

Evaluating transport user benefits and social surplus in a transport market—The case of the Norwegian ferries

The article first infers how consumer surplus in a market is linked to revenue under different assumptions about fare elasticity and when using different types of demand functions. This information is added to producer surplus in order to derive social surplus. The method, thus, produces a simple approach for authorities to assess social surplus in a market and its benefits to the users. A modified exponential demand function is applied to calculate consumer surplus and social surplus for 97 ferry services in Norway regulated by the state. The calculations are based on empirical data concerning ferry fare, revenue data at service level and reasonable assumptions about fare point elasticity for services covering different distances.In 2007, these services generated welfare for the users (consumer surplus) and the society (social surplus) amounting to about 5.8 billion NOK and 4.3 billion NOK, respectively. Consumer surplus and social surplus varied considerably amongst the services. Only 3 of the 97 services operate with positive profits and, hence, without subsidies. About 21 of the services contribute negatively to social surplus. Many of these unprofitable services are the only transport alternatives in rural areas and could be argued to continue operation according to politically decided regional measures. Implicitly, maintaining all these 21 services means that the welfare for the people in these areas is valued as up to four times greater than the welfare of the people in the rest of society.     

Transport mode choice in South East Asia: Investigating the relationship between transport users’ perception and travel behaviour in Johor Bahru,Malaysia

The worldwide increase in private car dependency poses a set of significant environmental, economic and social sustainability challenges that continue to undermine the urban quality of life. Rapid motorisation, particularly in South East Asia (SEA), has emerged as a global concern given the region’s cumulative population, rate of industrialisation, and large-scale urbanisation. Thus, there is a compelling need to enhance our understanding of the underlying dynamics of how people perceive and use transportation such that transport planning is better placed to address the current, unsustainable travel patterns in SEA. Despite this need, there has been relatively limited SEA-based research that has endeavoured to examine travel perceptions and transport mode choice from a non-instrumental perspective. This research redresses this deficit by investigating the relationship between transport users’ perceptions and travel behaviours within SEA, with a particular focus on psychosocial drivers of transport mode choice interfaced with more traditional instrumental measures.Spatially stratified survey data have been collected in a case study area, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, comprising users from different transport user groups. Employing regression modelling, drivers of individual’s travel behaviour are examined. Results highlight the merit in recognising the role of non-instrumental motives alongside instrumental motives to explain transport mode choice. We conclude by highlighting that transport mode choices are motivated by a range of locational, socio-demographic, psychological and cultural determinants. The current research has contributed to a better understanding of transport mode choice in Johor Bahru and provides a foundation for future SEA-based travel behaviour research. Studies in this area can inform more sustainable travel behaviour in the SEA region.     

How efficient airways act as role models and in what dimensions? A superefficiency DEA model enhanced by social network analysis

In this empirical study, a five-stage methodology is used to examine the efficiency of 45 worldwide known airline companies from the financial, operation and marketing perspectives. Initially, the superefficient data envelopment model is run with inputs and outputs that are selected based on the literature review. However, because 21 out of 45 airline companies are found to be efficient based on this analysis, a stepwise regression-based mechanism is applied to four reduced models – one for each output variable – for better discrimination. The outputs are, namely, net profit margin (financial output), passengers carried, on-time departure performance (operational outputs), and customer satisfaction (marketing output). In this way, the significant input variables are found for each reduced model. In the third stage, in order to provide even more discrimination, social network-based eigenvector centrality values are used as the weights of the superefficiency scores, and the strengths and weaknesses of efficient airlines for each output are specified in terms of their related significant inputs. The results show that, when net profit margin is taken as an output, Vietnam Airlines has the top weighted superefficiency value and excels in terms of available seat kilometers and liquidity, but it should improve its debt level. Although Norwegian Airlines has the highest efficiency with respect to debt level, it is not the best role model because its eigenvector centrality value is relatively low. However, Norwegian airlines also has the highest weighted superefficiency and acts as a role model in terms of on-time departures with respect to this output. Its main strength is liquidity, and it has no significant weaknesses. On the other hand, in terms of overall satisfaction and passengers carried, Vietnam Airlines and Thai Airways are the leaders, respectively. Vietnam Airlines is the only superefficient company with respect to overall satisfaction, while the basic strengths of Thai Airways in terms of passengers carried are its employee and fleet, and it has no significant weakness. A final aggregation of the results is made by making pairwise comparisons of the relative importance of four outputs for 7 experts selected from different departments of airline companies. According to the results, Net Profit Margin has the highest priority, followed by On-time Departure and Overall Customer Satisfaction, while passengers carried has the lowest importance. Based on these relative priorities, it can be said that Vietnam Airlines can be accepted as the top performing airline company, followed by Norwegian Airlines.     

Mapping accessibility in Belgium: a tool for land-use and transport planning?

This paper compares the spatial structure of car accessibility to towns and to railway stations during peak and off-peak hours in Belgium for the country’s 2616 municipalities. A clustering method is applied. It is shown that in a highly urbanised country, the situation is far from being spatially equitable in terms of accessibility, and some areas are more favoured than others. Congestion increases spatial inequalities, differently according to absolute or relative measures of change. By means of examples, this paper shows that even simple accessibility indicators could be useful to support decisions taken by planners and politicians (e.g. as regards the development of residential, industrial and business park areas). Maps indicate the spatial inequalities in terms of accessibility to urban centres and transport nodes, and the impact of congestion on these inequalities. The absolute and relative time losses due to congestion affect different areas in different ways. The location of new developments further increases the congestion problem and the spatial disparities. This paper also insists on the caution that should be adopted when measuring and interpreting “accessibility”, its measurements, its inputs, its temporal changes in absolute and relative terms as well as the need for spatially disaggregated data.