The effect of government highway spending on road users' congestion costs

Policymakers attempt to reduce the growth of congestion by spending billions of dollars annually on our road system. We evaluate this policy by estimating the determinants of congestion costs for motorists, trucking operations, and shipping firms. We find that, on average, one dollar of highway spending in a given year reduces the congestion costs to road users only eleven cents in that year. We also find that even if the allocation of spending were optimized to minimize congestion costs that it still is not a cost-effective way to reduce congestion. We conclude the evidence strengthens the case for road pricing.     

人口规模与城市轨道交通的治堵效应

利用高德地图发布的道路交通拥堵延时指数大数据,结合断点回归方法,对全国省会城市2015年10月至2018年9月新开通的40多条轨道交通线路进行了分析。结果显示:轨道交通虽能缓解城市道路交通的拥堵状况,但效果并不明显,存在着异质性影响;常住人口在600万至900万人的城市新增轨道交通的治堵效应显著,不足600万人及超过900万人的城市,治堵效应不显著。进一步研究发现,造成治堵效应异质性及总体不显著的原因在于,地方政府兴建轨道交通的决策机制造成了站点布局、通车里程与出行总需求之间的错配。     

基于博弈论的城市道路交通拥挤收费分析

针对城市道路交通拥挤不断加剧,交通供需不平衡矛盾日益尖锐的现实问题,在分析城市道路交通拥挤收费基本原理的基础上,应用博弈论的分析方法,针对交通出行车与交通管理者之间的拥挤收费进行了博弈分析,以期对我国实施该政策具有借鉴意义。     

城市干道交通拥堵识别技术研究

为快速有效地进行城市干道的交通拥堵识别,文中提出一种基于朴素贝叶斯的城市干道交通拥堵识别算法。最后,基于南京市主干道的交通调查数据,对朴素贝叶斯算法以及基于径向基函数神经网络的城市干道交通拥堵识别算法进行对比。结果表明,朴素贝叶斯算法在对城市干道交通状态的识别上比基于径向基函数神经网络算法具有更好的准确性、优越性以及更低的误判率。     

On revenue recycling and the welfare effects of second-best congestion pricing in a monocentric city

This paper examines congestion taxes in a monocentric city with pre-existing labor taxation. When road toll revenue is used to finance labor tax cuts, 35% of the optimal road tax in our numerical model does not reflect marginal external congestion costs, but rather functions as a Ramsey–Mirrlees tax, i.e. an efficiency enhancing mechanism allowing for an indirect spatial differentiation of the labor tax. This adds a quite different motivation to road pricing, since welfare gains can be produced even in absence of congestion. We find that the optimal road tax is non-monotonic across space, reflecting the different impacts of labor supply elasticity and marginal utility of income, which both vary over space. The relative efficiencies of some archetype second-best pricing schemes (cordon toll, flat kilometer tax) are high (84% and 70% respectively). When road toll revenue is recycled lump-sum, the optimal toll lies below its Pigouvian level. Extensions in a bimodal framework show that the optimality of using road toll revenue to subsidize public transport depends on the initial inefficiency in public transport pricing.     

for whom the road tolls

How strong is the case for road pricing? Giles Keating, of Credit Suisse First Boston, argues the case for a comprehensive system of road pricing. It would reduce both congestion and the budget deficit by £16·5bn.     

城市交通拥堵的经济学分析和元胞自动机模拟

分析了城市道路系统的公共性和外部性。使用均衡分析的方法对城市交通拥堵进行了经济学分析,认为当城市道路的使用者超过一定数量时,道路交通的外部性凸显出来,由于这种外部性,道路交通系统总数处于过度使用的状态。最后使用元胞自动机对城市交通拥堵现象进行了模拟,发现为了改善城市交通堵塞,虽然需要增加交通供给,但是更为重要的是如何优化车流使得现有的交通供给得到充分的利用。     

浅议城镇道路规划

由于历史、认识、经济等方面原因,我国城镇道路建设落后于交通需求,道路网络的交通日渐拥挤,出现诸如交通堵塞、车多路少、出行困难、交通事故频发等一系列交通问题和矛盾,道路系统的规划问题更要引起城市规划建设工作者的注意。     

关于城市道路规划中存在的问题

随着城市化进程的加快,城市道路规划和建设的问题日益凸显出来了,本文指出了城市道路规划中存在的点滴问题:城市道路规划的随意性;城市道路规划重视道路交通功能、空间功能规划,轻视道路环境功能规划;城市道路规划缺乏严肃性,道路交通拥挤现象层出不穷;城市道路规划中没有体现"以民为本"的原则。这些问题的出现对我们的城市建设和发展产生了一定的影响。     

北京市占道施工收费标准调整研究

占道施工使原本就很拥挤的道路拥堵情况加剧,影响了居民的出行和正常的经济和社会活动的运转。因此,对这些占道施工进行一定的收费,无论是从占用社会公共资源进行补偿的角度,还是从影响正常社会经济活动的角度都是必要的。本文分析总结了占道施工分类情况及其对道路交通的影响,并结合目前北京市占道施工收费特点,依据地区经济发展程度和道路交通受影响程度,提出了占道施工收费标准调整的思路与测算方法。     

城市交通拥堵分析与治理——以三亚城市道路解放路为例

本文通过对海南省三亚市城市道路交通拥堵形成原因的分析,提出治理方案,达到缓解三亚城市道路交通拥堵的目的。     

TRAFFIC LIGHTS: WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION,DANGER AND DELAY

Since my 2006 article in Economic Affairs proposing traffic system reform, there has been a growing interest in the subject. Trials in deregulation have produced the results that students of the subject predicted – congestion‐free roads and sociable interaction between road‐users.     

Road Pricing and the Edge worth Paradox

Can road pricing cure traffic congestion? Dr Martin Mogridge, of the Transport Studies Unit of University College London, explains how taxing cars and subsidising buses could reduce traffic congestion. Readers who may find Dr Mogridge's technical argument difficult should refer to the box.     

Airlines’ strategic interactions and airport pricing in a dynamic bottleneck model of congestion

This paper analyzes efficient pricing at a congested airport dominated by a single firm. Unlike much of the previous literature, we combine a dynamic bottleneck model of congestion and a vertical structure model that explicitly considers the role of airlines and passengers. We show that a Stackelberg leader interacting with a competitive fringe partially internalizes congestion, and that there are various toll regimes that induce the welfare maximizing outcome, widening the set of choices for regulators. In particular, charging the congestion toll that would apply for fully competitive carriers and that ignores any internalization, to both the leader and the fringe, yields the first-best outcome.     

Reprint to: Infrastructure provision and macroeconomic performance

This paper studies the differences between private and government provision of infrastructure. Capital utilization decisions and their differential role in determining market prices for capital goods under the two regimes of infrastructure provision serve as a critical transmission mechanism for fiscal policy. A subsidy to private providers of infrastructure is preferable to direct government provision irrespective of how the subsidy or expenditure is financed. The case for private provision is much stronger in economies characterized by high levels of congestion. The choice between private and government provision also has a crucial effect on the design of optimal fiscal policy.     

Infrastructure provision and macroeconomic performance

This paper studies the differences between private and government provision of infrastructure. Capital utilization decisions and their differential role in determining market prices for capital goods under the two regimes of infrastructure provision serve as a critical transmission mechanism for fiscal policy. A subsidy to private providers of infrastructure is preferable to direct government provision irrespective of how the subsidy or expenditure is financed. The case for private provision is much stronger in economies characterized by high levels of congestion. The choice between private and government provision also has a crucial effect on the design of optimal fiscal policy.     

浅谈城市道路交通拥堵管理系统

随着我国汽车数量的急剧增加,在各种因素的影响下,大小交通事故频繁出现,严重影响了城市道路的行车效率。基于以上,对城市道路交通拥堵管理系统进行了分析与研究,介绍了该管理系统的平台,子模块的主要功能,并对关键技术进行着重的阐述。     

基于百度地图实时路况的昆明市道路拥堵研究

基于百度地图实时路况的调查资料,应用ArcGIS中全局空间自相关分析模块和局部空间聚集性模块方法,对昆明市交通拥堵进行时空分布特征研究。结果显示全局聚集分析中昆明市交通拥堵点呈现聚集性分布,局部空间聚集性分析中昆明市交通拥堵点局部聚集性强,分布区域集中在商业、客运中心和旅游休闲区域,空间上临近区域拥堵情况类似,土地利用性质对周围的交通存在显著的影响。拥堵的时间规律特征主要受人们活动规律的影响。     

Does public transit reduce car travel externalities? Quasi-natural experiments' evidence from transit strikes

One of the unanswered questions in the field of urban economics is to which extent subsidies to public transit are justified. We examine one of the main benefits of public transit, a reduction in car congestion externalities, the so-called congestion relief benefit, using quasi-natural experimental data on citywide public transit strikes for Rotterdam, a city with mild congestion levels. On weekdays, a strike induces travel times to increase only marginally on the highway ring road (0.017 min/km) but substantially on inner city roads (0.224 min/km). During rush hour, the strike effect is much more pronounced. The congestion relief benefit of public transit is substantial, equivalent to about 80% of the public transit subsidy. We demonstrate that during weekends, travel time does not change noticeably due to strikes. Furthermore, we show that public transit strikes induce similar increases in number of cyclists as number of car travelers suggesting that bicycling-promoting policies to reduce car congestion externalities might be attractive in combination with first-best congestion pricing.     

基于VISSIM的轨道交通站点施工期间导行方案设计

城市私家车的增加,使车辆需求与道路供给的矛盾愈加严重。为解决这个问题,发展公共交通是必要的。地铁具有运量大、效率高、安全性高等特点,更能满足城市发展的需求。但其施工期间对地面交通产生影响巨大,容易造成道路堵塞。因此,制定合理的交通导行方案尤为重要。文章以青岛市太行山路站施工期内为具体实例,对施工路段的道路、交通流等交通特性进行分析,确定影响范围,然后提出施工区交通组织优化方案,最后运用VISSIM进行仿真评价。结果表明,仿真周期内,通过施工交叉口的车辆数从373辆减少到263辆;同时,车流的平均排队长减小5,平均延误时间减少6秒。