Reducing the cost of peak hour transit service through contracting out service

Transit service contracting has responded to fiscal and financial woes of public transit agencies as the most uniquely attractive cost‐saving strategy at present. Most transit service contracting, however, has been in the traditional provision of entire fixed route bus service or commuter express bus service, and exclusive demand responsive service for the general public or for special disadvantaged population groups such as the elderly and/or the handicapped. This paper presents a new module in transit service contracting whereby the public and private operators jointly provide the peak service on the same route and at the same time. While the public agency provides the base demand of the service, the private provider provides the excess demand, both following the same schedules and similar service arrangements. In this paper, proposed service arrangements, costing and contracting procedures are discussed. It is also reported that substantial cost savings ranging from 32 to 57% with an average savings of 48% can be achieved if the excess peak hour bus transit service on highly peaked routes in public transit agencies is contracted to competing private operator(s).     

Effects of contracting on cost efficiency in US fixed-route bus transit service

Contracted service comprises a significant proportion of total operating expenses in the provision of fixed-route bus transit service in the US. Despite its importance, the literature on the economic effects of transit service contracting has been limited to only a few studies since the mid-1990s, and is inconclusive due to problems with the nature and methodology of the past studies.This paper examines how the cost efficiency of providing fixed-route bus transit service varies by the degree of contracting. I make several improvements to previous studies and conduct a regression analysis that: (1) addresses the endogeneity problem between the contracting decision and cost efficiency, (2) differentiates between agencies that contract out only a portion of service from those that contract out all service, (3) takes into account the moderating effects of several factors on the effect of contracting on cost efficiency, and (4) uses a relatively larger set of cross-sectional time-series data constructed from the National Transit Database from 1992 to 2000.The analysis results show that the combined effects of contracting lower operating costs by $4.09 and $2.89 per vehicle hour for partial and full-contracting agencies, respectively, in the average case. These average cost savings translate into 7.8% and 5.5%, using the average operating cost per vehicle hour of $53.06. However, this improvement is not universal, because the effects of contracting on cost efficiency vary by factors such as peak-to-base ratio, agency size, the wage gap between bus operators in the public and private sectors, and agency type.     

Contracting in highway maintenance and rehabilitation: Are spatial effects important?

Highway agencies around the world strive to improve practices for infrastructure maintenance and rehabilitation, using project delivery policies that range from total ‘in-house’ responsibility to complete privatization, with a number of flexible contracting policies such as performance-based contracting, variants of design-build-maintain, and lane rentals among others between these two extremes. In this paper, we present a methodology that duly accounts for underlying spatial effects and estimates the expected cost savings of innovative contracting policies for highway maintenance and rehabilitation relative to in-house execution of these activities. Spatial econometric modeling is used to analyze highway contract data from 49 countries. We also investigate the marginal effects of key explanatory variables on contract cost savings using spatial multipliers. Our findings show that there are significant relationships between cost savings and contract characteristics, and that there is an apparent direct relationship between the average cost savings of contracts in a country and contract average cost savings and contract sizes in neighboring countries.     

Estimating bus run times for new limited-stop service using archived AVL and APC data

In recent years, several transit agencies have been trying to be more competitive with the automobile to attract choice riders. Transit agencies can only be competitive if they can provide services that are reliable, have a short access and egress time, and have run times that are comparable to automobiles. Several transit agencies try to be competitive through offering faster service, such as limited-stop (express) bus service. This study uses AVL and APC data, in addition to a disaggregate data obtained from a travel behavior survey, to select stops and estimate run times for a new limited-stop service that will run parallel to a heavily used bus route (67 Saint-Michel) in Montréal, Canada. Three different scenarios are developed based on theory and practice to select stops to be incorporated in the new limited service. The time savings for each scenario are then evaluated as a range and a fourth scenario is developed. A limited-stop service is recommended based on selecting stops serving both directions of the route, major activity points and stop spacing. This study shows that implementing a limited-stop service would yield substantial time savings for both, the new limited service and the existing regular service running in parallel.     

境外工程承包业务的常见问题及其对策

在经济全球化和区域经济一体化的背景下,广西一些企业利用邻近东盟的地理优势,积极参与并实施"走出去"战略,开展境外工程承包业务。文章基于境外工程承包的实际经验,运用对外业务知识和政策,分析影响境外工程承包业务的相关问题,并提出针对性的对策。     

An actuary method for the estimation and comparison of urban bus transit cost of services

This paper presents a new cost allocation method developed for estimating the fully-allocated costs of the excess peak hour bus transit service provided by two public transit systems. The estimates were produced for the explicit purpose of carrying out a realistic comparison of these costs and the costs of the potential provision of the same service by private operators. The method utilizes the same service data for the analysis. The pragmatic estimation of the fully allocated costs of service by the public and private sectors enables a more accurate estimation of potential cost savings. Sensitivity analysis was also performed using the same costing procedure to determine the range of cost savings that are feasible in a competitive contract arrangement of private sector providers. The new method separates costs of the direct provision of service from other indirect costs and thus facilitates the identification of each cost item and its significance in comparative cost estimates.     

养护施工总承包模式下业主与承包商的博弈分析

文章以博弈论为理论基础,分析了养护施工总承包模式下业主与总承包商的博弈关系,提出了引导双方采用合理的策略以获得最大利益及保证工程产品达到较高质量水平的博弈对策,为养护施工总承包工程的管理和施工提供方法借鉴。     

Deregulating the bus industry in Britain: a rejoinder

In our critique for the Buses White Paper, we argued that ‘competition for licences’ could achieve most of the benefits of competition without the major disadvantages of ‘competition on the road’. In response to the comments of Beesley and Glaister, we explain how comprehensive franchising of good and bad routes alike would encourage effective competition, whilst providing conditions for the transparent continuation of cross‐subsidy where that was the choice of the local authority in question. We correct their misrepresentation of our arguments on the desirability of cross‐subsidy and on the case for minibuses, and explain why we believe that such cost savings as are achieved will be mainly at the expense of staff or customer service. Finally, we restate the case for believing that a unified planned timetable will provide a better service for a given level of resources than will uncoordinated competitive services.     

Energy savings in light rail through the optimization of heating and ventilation

This paper discusses the potential for energy savings in heating and ventilation of light rail vehicles. We present the results of a detailed monitoring campaign on one articulated tram in Ghent, Belgium. The results give insight in the energy use for heating and ventilation in light rail as a function of ambient weather conditions. After several months of monitoring, changes in the HV strategy were implemented and the monitoring was continued. Based on this monitoring data, an energy-use model was constructed for HV both before and after the heating and ventilation strategy changes. These models then served as input for a Monte Carlo simulation, providing average energy savings over 1 year as a result of the optimized heating and ventilation strategy.     

Life cycle assessment of bituminous pavements produced at various temperatures in the Belgium context

Bituminous mixture is the premier material for road construction in Belgium. Innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency of pavement constructions are necessary. Warm mix asphalt may provide significant energy savings to the asphalt industry, but the environmental impact of the total life cycle has to be investigated. The use of additives may counteract the reduced environmental impact due to energy savings. This paper presents the results of an environmental impact assessment of four wearing course test sections. Using life cycle assessment, hot mix asphalt is compared to a cold asphalt mix with emulsion and warm mix asphalt with two types of additives: a synthetic zeolite and an organic Fischer–Tropsch wax. Neither hot nor warm mix asphalt could be preferred based on the results of this study, because the additive has a major influence on the environmental results. It was seen that the production of bitumen, the transport and energy in order to generate heat mainly contribute to the total environmental impact. The results from the sensitivity analyses show that the total environmental impact of the life of the pavement can vary significantly based on the choice of the specific data source and service life.     

Agent based model for dynamic ridesharing

Dynamic ridesharing involves a service provider that matches potential drivers and passengers with similar itineraries allowing them to travel together and share the costs. Centralized (binary integer programming) and decentralized (dynamic auction-based multi-agent) optimization algorithms are formulated to match passengers and drivers. Numerical experiments on the decentralized approach provides near optimal solutions for single-driver, single-passenger cases with lower computational burden. The decentralized approach is then extended to accommodate both multi-passenger and multi-driver matches. The results indicate higher user cost savings and vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) savings when allowing multi-passenger rides. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to test the impact of the service provider commission rate on revenue and system reliability. While short term revenue can be maximized at a commission rate of roughly 50% of each trip’s cost, the resulting drop in system reliability would be expected to reduce patronage and revenues in the longer term.     

Efficient contracting and incentive agreements between regulators and bus operators: The influence of risk preferences of contracting agents on contract choice

Contracts that govern transactions between regulators and operators are an important feature of service delivery in public transport. This paper reviews the literature on efficient contracting in general and its application to public transport contracts and found little empirical evidence on the influence of risk preferences of contracting agents on contract choice, a fundamental premise of classical contracting theory. Departing from the existing literature, this paper develops a choice experiment to study public transport operators’ preferences for different contractual forms. People involved in the public transport industry across Australia are invited to do the survey but the respondents are mainly bus operators in New South Wales. The respondents are offered two hypothetical contracts with different risk profiles and incentives and asked to indicate their preferences as well as their acceptance to provide the services under the contract they prefer. A non-linear scaled multinomial logit model is estimated to establish the role of risk allocation on contract preference of bus operators and the optimal amount of risks and incentives, conditioned on the operators’ attitude towards risk. The results help authorities design performance-based contracts to obtain their objectives while maintaining the operators’ level of satisfaction.     

The cost saving potential of carsharing in a US context

Carsharing is a vehicle sharing service for those with occasional need of private transportation. Transportation planners are beginning to see great potential for carsharing in helping to create a more diversified and sustainable transport system. While it has grown quickly in the US in recent years, it is still far from the level where it can deliver significant aggregate benefits. A key element to the potential growth of carsharing is its ability to provide cost savings to those who adopt it in favor of vehicle ownership. This research seeks to quantify these potential cost savings. The costs of carsharing and vehicle ownership are compared based on actual vehicle usage patterns from a large survey of San Francisco Bay Area residents. The results of this analysis show that a significant minority of Bay Area households own a vehicle with a usage pattern that carsharing could accommodate at a lower cost. Further research is required to indentify how these cost savings translate to the adoption of carsharing.     

Benefit of speed reduction for ships in different weather conditions

Currently, the shipping industry is facing a great challenge of reducing emissions. Reducing ship speeds will reduce the emissions in the immediate future with no additional infrastructure. However, a detailed investigation is required to verify the claim that a 10% speed reduction would lead to 19% fuel savings (Faber et al., 2012).This paper investigates fuel savings due to speed reduction using detailed modeling of ship performance. Three container ships, two bulk carriers, and one tanker, representative of the shipping fleet, have been designed. Voyages have been simulated by modeling calm water resistance, wave resistance, propulsion efficiency, and engine limits. Six ships have been simulated in various weather conditions at different speeds. Potential fuel savings have been estimated for a range of speed reductions in realistic weather.It is concluded that the common assumption of cubic speed-power relation can cause a significant error in the estimation of bunker consumption. Simulations in different seasons have revealed that fuel savings due to speed reduction are highly weather dependent. Therefore, a simple way to include the effect of weather in shipping transport models has been proposed.Speed reduction can lead to an increase in the number of ships to fulfill the transport demand. Therefore, the emission reduction potential of speed reduction strategy, after accounting for the additional ships, has been studied. Surprisingly, when the speed is reduced by 30%, fuel savings vary from 2% to 45% depending on ship type, size and weather conditions. Fuel savings further reduce when the auxiliary engines are considered.     

Real-time partway deadheading strategy based on transit service reliability assessment

This paper presents a partway deadheading strategy for transit operations to improve transit service of the peak directions of transit routes. This strategy consists of two phases: reliability assessment of further transit service and optimization of partway deadheading operation. The reliability assessment of further transit service, which is based on the current and recent service reliability, is used to justify whether or not to implement a partway deadheading operation. The objective of the second phase is to determine the beginning stop for a new service for the deadheaded vehicle by maximizing the benefit of transit system. A heuristic algorithm is also defined and implemented to estimate reliability of further transit service and to optimize partway deadheading operation. Then, the partway deadheading strategy proposed in this paper is tested with the data from a transit route in Dalian city of China. The results show the partway deadheading strategy with the reasonable parameters can improve transit service.     

Crowding in public transport systems: Effects on users,operation and implications for the estimation of demand

The effects of high passenger density at bus stops, at rail stations, inside buses and trains are diverse. This paper examines the multiple dimensions of passenger crowding related to public transport demand, supply and operations, including effects on operating speed, waiting time, travel time reliability, passengers’ wellbeing, valuation of waiting and in-vehicle time savings, route and bus choice, and optimal levels of frequency, vehicle size and fare. Secondly, crowding externalities are estimated for rail and bus services in Sydney, in order to show the impact of crowding on the estimated value of in-vehicle time savings and demand prediction. Using Multinomial Logit (MNL) and Error Components (EC) models, we show that alternative assumptions concerning the threshold load factor that triggers a crowding externality effect do have an influence on the value of travel time (VTTS) for low occupancy levels (all passengers sitting); however, for high occupancy levels, alternative crowding models estimate similar VTTS. Importantly, if demand for a public transport service is estimated without explicit consideration of crowding as a source of disutility for passengers, demand will be overestimated if the service is designed to have a number of standees beyond a threshold, as analytically shown using a MNL choice model. More research is needed to explore if these findings hold with more complex choice models and in other contexts.     

Cost benefit analysis of urban minibus operations

Earlier work by the Transport Studies Group of the Polytechnic of Central London on minibus development in Britain for the Transport and Road Research Laboratory provided a financial analysis of intensive urban minibus operation. This is taken as the basis for the application of cost-benefit analysis. Unit operating cost savings and passenger benefits are taken into account, using typical demand elasticities derived from earlier work. Particular attention is paid to the problem of evaluating passenger benefits for which waiting time at the roadside is not necessarily an adequate proxy. A direct survey of passenger waiting times indicates that these do not necessarily decrease when a higher-frequency minibus service replaces a conventional bus service but the improved convenience produces an increase in ridership which may be assessed in terms of a demand curve shift to estimate benefits obtained.     

A dynamic station strategy to improve the performance of flex-route transit services

As an innovative combination of conventional fixed-route transit and demand responsive service, flex-route transit is currently the most popular type of flexible transit services. This paper proposes a dynamic station strategy to improve the performance of flex-route transit in operating environments with uncertain travel demand. In this strategy, accepted curb-to-curb stops are labeled as temporary stations, which can be utilized by rejected requests for their pick-up and drop-off. The user cost function is defined as the performance measure of transit systems. Analytical models and simulations are constructed to test the feasibility of implementing the dynamic station strategy in flex-route transit services. The study over a real-life flex-route service indicates that the proposed dynamic station strategy could reduce the user cost by up to 30% without any additional operating cost, when an unexpectedly high travel demand surpasses the designed service capacity of deviation services.     

The revenue and environmental benefits of new off-peak commuter rail service: the case of the Pascack Valley line in New Jersey

Although researchers have long argued in favor of off-peak transit service, studies that have empirically estimated its benefits regarding revenue generation, trip diversions, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission are rare. This study provides important evidence about the benefits of off-peak commuter rail service by focusing on the Pascack Valley line in New Jersey, where off-peak service was introduced in October 2007. The research involved two focus groups and an onboard survey of passengers. Benefits were estimated regarding additional revenue generation and reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and GHG emission. The research shows that the new off-peak service potentially reduced VMT by more than 12 million annually due to diversions from other modes. Although diversions from other modes resulted in a substantial reduction in GHG emissions, due to the additional diesel fuel used by the new trains, the net GHG savings were in the range of 28–49 %. The research further shows that both peak period and off-peak riders benefited from the new off-peak service. Evidence is found about an increase in new transit riders and a modest increase peak period usage because of the off-peak service.