The treatment of capital costs of vehicles in evaluating road schemes

There are two ways in which new road schemes may influence capital expenditure on vehicles. Firstly, by improving utilisation of existing vehicles, the size of fleet needed to perform a given volume of work may be reduced. This will clearly reduce the amount of capital tied up in motor vehicles at any point in time, and to the extent that vehicle life is determined by age rather than mileage run, will also yield savings in terms of investment in new vehicles. Secondly, by generating additional road traffic, road schemes may lead to an increase in the stock of vehicles in use.This paper argues that the current treatment of vehicle depreciation and interest charges in U.K. cost data fails to allow correctly for either of these items. Errors of logic occur in the way in which the capital stock of vehicles is valued, and in the fact that certain overheads are ignored even when fleet size changes. Moreover, the empirical evidence supporting the current partitioning of depreciation into overhead and running cost components, and the assumption of constant hours in service after an increase in journey speed seems of doubtful validity.An alternative method of calculating vehicle capital costs, based on the concept of annual capital charge, and making explicit the assumptions with respect to vehicle utilisation, is advocated, and the sensitivity of results to the view taken of the latter is demonstrated by means of specimen calculations.     

On the Depreciation of Automobiles: An International Comparison

Since older automobiles are less efficient and technologically obsolete, over-aged capital stocks are associated with higher environmental burden. Given the rapid growth of over-aged car stocks in many poor countries, the knowledge of depreciation data, depreciation patterns, and their determinants in developing countries becomes increasingly important for effective environmental policies. This paper refers to used automobile prices and generates depreciation data for a sample of 54 car models from 30 countries. We found the following results:(1) Overall, geometric depreciation appears to be a good approximation to real depreciation rates. (2) Depreciation rates are significantly lower in developing countries than in industrialized countries. (3) When using corrected prices the depreciation rates increase substantially. The average depreciation in OECD countries is 31%, whereas in non-OECD countries it is about 15%. Besides prices for new cars, the economic life of automobiles is particularly dependent on real income. In the long-run, an income increase by $1000 is likely to increase the annual depreciation rate by 2.7% in OECD countries and 3.6% in non-OECD countries.     

汽车折旧计算中品牌因素的处理方法

文章在对现有折旧计算方法进行研究的基础上,提出了汽车折旧计算中品牌因素的处理方法.即收集不同品牌汽车的使用年限和总行驶里程等数据,利用它们参与二手车价格的计算,使计算的结果符合不同品牌二手车的实际交易价格.     

Consumer preferences for battery electric vehicles: A choice experimental survey in China

To accelerate the diffusion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), consumer preferences for different products and policy attributes must be determined. Although previous studies have investigated consumer preferences for some product attributes, including purchase price, operation cost, driving range, and charging time, limited studies have discussed the broader aspects of product attributes, such as battery warranty and depreciation rate. Moreover, market-oriented incentives, including the personal carbon trading (PCT) scheme and the tradable driving credits (TDC) scheme, can theoretically be effective alternatives to expensive purchase subsidies. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence that confirms the influence of these two schemes on BEV adoption. To fill these gaps, we conducted a stated preference choice experimental survey in China and investigated the effect of product attributes, existing policy incentives, and two emerging market-oriented incentives on BEV adoption. Our results reveal that along with the main product attributes, battery warranty has a significant positive effect on inducing mainstream consumers to adopt BEVs while no preference difference occurs among existing policy incentives after purchase subsidies are abolished. For young consumers, almost all incentives that reduce the operation cost (e.g., PCT) or increase convenience (e.g., TDC) can increase their adoption of BEVs. These findings can provide important implications for the government with regard to designing novel incentives and promoting BEV adoption.     

Use of hybrid vehicles in Japan: An analysis of used car market data

Despite the rapid market penetration of hybrid vehicles (HVs), their usage and contributions to environmental protection have not been examined by vehicle traveling data. In this paper, we analyzed Japan’s used car market data to understand how HVs are used on the street. We find GV drivers with high travel demand switched from GVs to HVs during the transition period. Despite HV owners driving much longer distances than conventional gasoline vehicle (GV) owners, they emit less carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, owing to better fuel economy. We also find that HV owners spend roughly the same amount of money annually as GV owners. However, the per-kilometer travel cost of HVs is much lower than that of GVs even if the depreciation cost of the vehicle and vehicle related taxes are included in the analysis.     

Continuous approximation for skip-stop operation in rail transit

Operating speed of a transit corridor is a key characteristic and has many consequences on its performance. It is generally accepted that an increased operating speed for a given fleet leads to reduced operating costs (per kilometer), travel and waiting times (three changes that can be computed precisely), an improved comfort and level of service, which can attract new passengers who are diverted from automobile (items harder to estimate precisely). That is why several operation schemes which aim to increase the operating speed are studied in the literature, such as deadheading, express services, and stop skipping.A novel category of solutions to this problem for one-way single-track rail transit is to perform accelerated transit operations with fixed stopping schedules. The concept is quite simple: as the time required for stopping at each station is an important part of travel time, reducing it would be a great achievement. Particular operations that take advantage of this idea already exist. This paper focuses on one of them: the skip-stop operation for rail transit lines using a single one-way track. It consists in defining three types of stations: AB stations where all the trains stop, and A and B stations where only half of the trains stop (stations type A and B are allocated interchangeably). This mode of operation is already described in the literature (Vuchic, 1973, Vuchic, 1976, Vuchic, 2005) and has been successfully implemented in the Metro system of Santiago, Chile.This work tackles the problem with a continuous approximation approach. The problem is described with a set of geographically dependent continuous parameters like the density of stations for a given line. Cost functions are built for a traditional (all-stop) operation and for skip-stop operation as described above. A simple example is presented to support this discussion. Finally, a discussion about the type of scenarios in which skip-stop operations are more beneficial is presented.     

Simulating a rich ride-share mobility service using agent-based models

Transportation - Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the integrated and on-demand offering of new mode-sharing transport schemes, such as ride-share, car-share or car-pooling. MaaS schemes may solve...     

Optimal cordon pricing in a non-monocentric city

This paper examines the effect of cordon pricing based on an urban spatial model of a non-monocentric city where trips may occur between any pair of locations in the city. The model describes the spatial distribution of trip demand and traffic congestion under alternative pricing schemes. We evaluate the efficiency of resource allocation by comparing three schemes: no-toll equilibrium, first-best optimum, and optimal cordon pricing. Optimal cordon pricing is defined as a combination of cordon location and toll level that maximizes the social surplus in a city. Simulations show that cordon pricing is not always effective for congestion management: cordon pricing tends to be effective as the urban structure is more monocentric.     

Railroad noise: economic valuation and policy

In developed countries noise annoyance is an important source of environmental concern. Research on noise annoyance caused by railroad traffic is relatively underdeveloped. Here, a causal chain model is presented in which railroad traffic density, noise emission, noise immission and noise annoyance are causally related. Noise level, habituation and railroad usage are determinant factors. Noise annoyance causes social and economic costs, such as property value depreciation. Policy measures, aimed at reducing social and economic costs, are incorporated in various stages of the causal model. These measures can be subdivided into noise regulation and direct prevention measures. Stricter threshold values lead to higher total costs, but may lower social costs per capita. Economic feasibility of policy measures is usually analyzed by means of a cost-benefit case study. Methods of analysis used are diverse and ad hoc. Therefore, results of different case studies are not easily compared in terms of research synthesis.     

An economic and operational evaluation of urban car-sharing

Utilising cost benefit analysis techniques, in exactly the same way as the UK Government evaluates new roads and public transport schemes (i.e. COBA), car-sharing can be shown to produce very high net benefits to society. This paper shows that if a scheme were to be set up in the West Midlands area, UK, then even with the most conservative estimates of car-share participation, net benefits would be comparable to those produced by major road schemes. Indeed, slightly less conservative estimates of participation give net benefits in excess of road schemes.     

A systems approach to area traffic control

Since the first pilot scheme for area‐traffic control was introduced in the city of Montreal (1959–60), computer control of traffic in urban areas through the adaptation of existing traffic‐signal systems has been provided to an increasing extent. This area of work may pose problems for the professional traffic engineer whose background in computer technology and general digital electronics may be limited.

In considering the engineering implications of such schemes a systems approach is important and is adopted here. Three existing and representative schemes are briefly mentioned in order to outline basic features. A more detailed examination of the various system elements follows with mention of data collection and transmission, and the role of the control computer.

The paper continues with a reconsideration of the three representative schemes in the light of the detailed treatment of system components. It concludes with a tentative assessment of the present position of area traffic control schemes and some suggestions as to the future development.     

Pareto-improving transportation network design and ownership regimes

Private provision of public roads signifies co-existence of free, public-tolled and private-tolled roads. This paper investigates the Pareto-improving transportation network design problem under various ownership regimes by allowing joint choice of road pricing and capacity enhancement on free links. The problem of interest is formulated as a bi-objective mathematical programming model that considers the travel cost of road users in each origin-destination pair and the investment return of the whole network. The non-dominated Pareto-improving solutions of toll and/or capacity enhancement schemes are sought for achieving a win-win situation. A sufficient condition is provided for the existence of the non-dominated Pareto-improving schemes and then the properties of those schemes are analyzed. It is found that, under some mild assumptions, the optimal capacity enhancement is uniquely determined by the link flow under any non-dominated Pareto-improving scheme. As a result, the joint road pricing and capacity enhancement problem reduces to a bi-objective second-best road pricing problem. A revenue distribution mechanism with return rate guarantee is proposed to implement the non-dominated Pareto-improving schemes.     

How much noise reduction at airports?

Airport noise nuisance is a negative externality especially when it occurring near urban areas. Like all externalities, noise nuisance may be a reason for government intervention. When intervening, governments should set quantitative policy targets with care. In practice, this issue is generally neglected. This line of research sets the first step towards determining optimal policy targets in the case of noise nuisance near airports, more specifically in the case of Amsterdam Airport. We use hedonic pricing to establish the benefits of noise reduction. Furthermore, we develop a bottom-up cost function to analyze the costs of reducing noise for airlines. We then equate marginal costs and benefits to establish the optimal level of noise reduction, which appears to be 3 dB in the case of Amsterdam Airport. Welfare increasing measures include alternative approach procedures, regional substitution of planes within existing fleets and early depreciation of noisy planes increase welfare. Reducing the number of flights has a negative effect on net welfare.     

Estimating mortality impacts from vehicle emission reduction efforts: The Tune In and Tune Up program in the San Joaquin Valley

As a response to profoundly poor air quality and associated environmental justice concerns in the San Joaquin Valley region in California, the Tune In & Tune Up (TI&TU) program provides residents with free vehicle emissions testing and vouchers for smog repair. We used data on approximately 19,000 repaired TI&TU vehicles from 2012 to 2018, and several estimation techniques, to quantify a range of nitrogen oxides (NO_X) emissions prevented as a result of the program. We then calculated resulting mortality impacts from reduced exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in the form of secondary nitrates. After applying a novel smog repair emissions abatement depreciation function, we find that six years of operation of the TI&TU program has reduced NO_X emissions by approximately 53–302 tons by the end of 2018. Using a concentration response function for ambient PM_2.5, we found that between 0.055 and 0.31 premature deaths have also been avoided. We present multiple methods for assessing public health impacts, which can be used as guidance for evaluating similar transportation-based emission reduction programs.     

Surrogate‐based optimization of cordon toll levels in congested traffic networks

The benefit, in terms of social surplus, from introducing congestion charging schemes in urban networks is depending on the design of the charging scheme. The literature on optimal design of congestion pricing schemes is to a large extent based on static traffic assignment, which is known for its deficiency in correctly predict travel times in networks with severe congestion. Dynamic traffic assignment can better predict travel times in a road network, but are more computational expensive. Thus, previously developed methods for the static case cannot be applied straightforward. Surrogate‐based optimization is commonly used for optimization problems with expensive‐to‐evaluate objective functions. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of a surrogate‐based optimization method, when the number of pricing schemes, which we can afford to evaluate (because of the computational time), are limited to between 20 and 40. A static traffic assignment model of Stockholm is used for evaluating a large number of different configurations of the surrogate‐based optimization method. Final evaluation is performed with the dynamic traffic assignment tool VisumDUE, coupled with the demand model Regent, for a Stockholm network including 1240 demand zones and 17 000 links. Our results show that the surrogate‐based optimization method can indeed be used for designing a congestion charging scheme, which return a high social surplus. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy savings due to land transportation management in Singapore

Singapore has been actively engaged in implementing various land transportation policies and traffic management schemes since the early 1970s to reduce traffic congestion. This paper examines the benefits in energy savings arising from the following five major schemes: (a) the Area Licensing Scheme, (b) the computerised Area Traffic control System, (c) the adaptive traffic control system, (d) the exclusive bus lane scheme, and (e) the island-wide expressway system. The analyses are made based on the findings of a two-year study that developed vehicle fuel consumption models for Singapore traffic. The Area Licensing Scheme that restricts traffic flow into the Central Business District (CBD) is found to have the greatest energy impact, followed by the island-wide expressway system and the traffic-signals control systems within the CBD.     

右江航道鱼梁滩整治研究

文章针对右江鱼梁滩航道存在的问题,根据鱼梁滩滩段的特点,在对其滩性进行分析的基础上,提出鱼梁滩整治原则;通过建立水平比尺1∶80、垂直比尺1∶50航道物理模型,对2个设计整治方案和11个修改整治方案进行了试验。试验结果表明:采用修改方案11可使滩头比降得到调整,流态得到改善,航道纵向流速在整治流量以下,一般<1.9m/s,可基本满足滩头降水和航道流速的控制要求。     

Comparing smart scheme effects for congested highways

A high level objective for many international governments and local operators is that highways should be managed in a way that is sustainable in terms of a Low Carbon Energy future. Recent initiatives such as the Strategic Transport Technology Plan and the policy and legal framework promoted by the European Commissions’ Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Directive and ITS Action Plan may assist with this objective. However, many levels of complexity are inherent within the (ITS) schemes that are now part of highway management, due to the linkage of various technological components to complex systems and services. Maintaining efficient, sustainable co-operative performance is therefore a major task, with inconsistencies between product suppliers, network managers and operators. As a result, it is of considerable interest to the highway operators and high level policy makers to be able to assess the performance of individual ITS schemes and furthermore, to be able to compare performance between ITS schemes. In this paper, an illustration is provided of a methodology that can be used to assess the performance of ITS schemes according to a set of sustainability criteria. A case study is introduced which compares the performance of anticipated Active Traffic Management (ATM) schemes for what the road network operator (Highways England) perceive to be the four most congested highways in England (in terms of annual average daily traffic flows). Appropriate action can then be taken to improve the energy and sustainable management of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and transport systems for the benefit of a smarter, sustainable and efficient future.     

Modeling intermodal equilibrium for bimodal transportation system design problems in a linear monocentric city

This paper investigates the intermodal equilibrium, road toll pricing, and bus system design issues in a congested highway corridor with two alternative modes - auto and bus - which share the same roadway along this corridor. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the demand and supply sides of the bimodal transportation system, the mode choice equilibrium of travelers along the continuum corridor is first presented and formulated as an equivalent variational inequality problem. The solution properties of the bimodal continuum equilibrium formulation are analytically explored. Two models, which account for different infrastructure/system regulatory regimes (public and private), are then proposed. In the public regulatory model, the road toll location and charge level are simultaneously optimized together with the bus service fare and frequency. In the private regulatory model, the fare and frequency of bus services, which are operated by a profit-driven private operator, are optimized for exogenously given toll pricing schemes. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the application of the proposed models. Sensitivity analysis of residential/household distribution along the corridor is carried out together with a comparison of four different toll pricing schemes (no toll, first best, distance based, and location based). Insightful findings are reported on the interrelationships among modal competition, market regulatory regimes, toll pricing schemes, and urban configurations as well as their implications in practice.