Sustainability provisions in the bus-scheduling problem

The traditional vehicle scheduling problem attempts to minimize capital and operating costs. However, the carbon footprint and toxic air pollutants have become an increasingly important consideration. This paper studies the bus-scheduling problem and evaluates new types of buses that use alternative energy sources to reduce emissions, including some toxic air pollutants and carbon dioxide. A time-space network based approach is applied to formulate the problem to reduce the numbers of arcs in the underlying network; CPLEX is used to solve the problem. The results show that the bus-scheduling model can significantly reduce the bus emissions – hence reducing the carbon footprint of the transit operation – while only slightly increasing operating costs.     

Estimating transboundary economic damages from climate change and air pollution for subnational incentives for green on-road freight

Subnational incentives to adopt zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) are critical for reducing the external economic damages posed by transportation to air quality and the climate. Few studies estimate these damages for on-road freight, especially at scales relevant for subnational policies requiring cross-border cooperation. Here, we assess the damages to US receptors from emissions of air pollutants (PM_2.5, NO_x, SO₂, NH₃), and greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) from medium and heavy duty freight trucking, and the benefits of ZEV adoption by census division in the Province of Ontario. We develop an integrated modelling framework connecting a travel demand model, a mobile emissions simulator, and a regression based marginal damages model of air pollutants and climate change. We estimate $1.9 billion (2010 USD) in annual cross-border damages, or $0.16/VKT, resulting from scaled up atmospheric emissions from a ‘typical day’ of medium and heavy duty truck traffic volume for Ontario in 2012. This implies approximately $8000 per truck per year in damages, which could inform an economic incentive for emission reduction. The provincial goal of 5% ZEV adoption would reduce GHG emissions in 2012 by 800 ktCO₂e, yielding $89 Million (2010 USD) in cross-border benefits annually, with air quality co-benefits of $83/tCO₂e. This result varies between −19% and 22% based on sensitivity analysis for travel and emissions models, though economic damages are likely the largest uncertainty source. Such advances in subnational scale integrated modeling of the environmental impacts of freight can offer insights into the sustainable design of clean freight policy and programs.     

An empirical assessment of the CO2-sensitive productivity of European airlines from 2000 to 2010

Due to the ongoing increase in the number of commercial flights, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are expected to rise significantly. Balancing the pursuit of productivity growth with environmental-footprint control policies comprises a long-term regulatory challenge. In this light, the main goals of the present paper are: (i) to measure the CO₂ emissions of European airlines from 2000 to 2010, (ii) to compute airlines’ productivity in developing an environmental-sensitive productivity index, (iii) to compare the obtained results with those resulting from a traditional index, and (iv) to identify the drivers affecting productivity changes. Our results show that on average, airlines’ relative CO₂ emissions have decreased. Although the airlines we studied experienced an average productivity increase—both considering and not considering negative externalities production—environmentally sensible productivity growth is lower than traditional productivity growth. Finally, we find that improvements in load factor as well as a combined increase in stage length and aircraft size affect productivity changes positively, while fuel efficiency is significant only in the case of a CO₂-sensitive measure of productivity.     

Trucking industry adoption of information technology: a multivariate discrete choice model

The objective of this research is to understand the demand for information technology among trucking companies. A multivariate discrete choice model is estimated on data from a large-scale survey of the trucking industry in California. This model is designed to identify the influences of each of twenty operational characteristics on the propensity to adopt each of seven different information technologies, while simultaneously allowing the seven error terms to be freely correlated. Results showed that the distinction between for-hire and private fleets is paramount, as is size of the fleet and the provision of intermodal maritime and air services.     

Comparison of external costs of rail and truck freight transportation

In this article we estimate external costs for four representative types of freight trains. For each type of freight train, we estimate three general types of external costs and compare them with the private costs experienced by railroad companies. The general types of external costs include: accidents (fatalities, injuries, and property damage); emissions (air pollution and greenhouse gases); and noise. Resulting private and external costs are compared with those of freight trucking, estimated in an earlier article. Rail external costs are 0.24 cent to 0.25 cent (US) per ton-mile, well less than the 1.11 cent for freight trucking, but external costs for rail generally constitute a larger amount relative to private costs, 9.3–22.6%, than is the case for trucking, 13.2%.     

Evaluation of fuel cell auxiliary power units for heavy-duty diesel trucks

A large number of heavy-duty trucks idle a significant amount. Heavy-duty line-haul truck engines idle about 20–40% of the time the engine is running, depending on season and operation. Drivers idle engines to power climate control devices (e.g., heaters and air conditioners) and sleeper compartment accessories (e.g., refrigerators, microwave ovens, and televisions) and to avoid start-up problems in cold weather. Idling increases air pollution and energy use, as well as wear and tear on engines. Efforts to reduce truck idling in the US have been sporadic, in part because it is widely viewed in the trucking industry that further idling restrictions would unduly compromise driver comfort and truck operations. The auxiliary power units (APUs) available to replace the idling of the diesel traction engine all have had limited trucking industry acceptance. Fuel cells are a promising APU technology. Fuel cell APUs have the potential to greatly reduce emissions and energy use and save money. In this paper, we estimate costs and benefits of fuel cell APUs. We calculate the payback period for fuel cell APUs to be about 2.6–4.5 years. This estimate is uncertain since future fuel cell costs are unknown and cost savings from idling vary greatly across the truck fleet. The payback period is particularly sensitive to diesel fuel consumption at idle. Given the large potential environmental and economic benefits of fuel cell APUs, the first major commercial application of fuel cells may be as truck APUs.     

Heavy-duty trucking and the energy efficiency paradox: Evidence from focus groups and interviews

Theory suggests that profit maximizing firms have an incentive to incorporate cost-effective technologies into their products. However, simple net present value calculations comparing upfront costs of fuel-saving technologies to future savings suggest this is not always the case. This puzzle is commonly referred to as the “energy efficiency paradox.” A growing number of empirical studies examine why households may under-invest in energy efficiency. Fewer studies examine similar undervaluation by businesses. We explore investment decisions within the heavy-duty trucking sector for fuel-saving technologies via focus groups and interviews to gain insight into what factors might explain apparent underinvestment in fuel-saving technologies. We find some evidence that market failures related to lack of information about technology performance and network externalities contribute to slow adoption of some technologies. However, information about new technologies for tractors seems to generate limited spillovers. There is also some evidence of split incentives between owners and drivers, though companies have invested in a variety of technologies and approaches in an attempt to address these effects. Other factors important in trucking investment decisions that are not classic market failures include tradeoffs between fuel economy and other valued truck attributes, as well as uncertainty and risk associated with new technologies if decision-makers are loss averse.     

A study of social and economic implications of mobile sources on air quality in Lebanon

The work presented in this paper is aimed at investigating the economic effects of air pollution from mobile sources on public health in Lebanon. It is part of the effort to implement MedPolicies Initiative of the Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Program (METAP III whose objective is to encourage sustainable economic growth through the integration of environmental concerns in economic and fiscal policy-making in 13 Mediterranean countries. In each of these countries, the most significant sector is investigated. The transport sector in Lebanon is the predominant sector in terms of energy consumption and its associated air pollution impacts. A multidisciplinary effort is carried out for this purpose in which measurement and modeling of air pollution caused by motor vehicles, determination of the quantitative relationship between pollutants and public health, and an estimation of the effects of air pollution on public health have been carried out. This study is concluded by highlighting the mitigation options applicable for the country and for similar developing nations from social and economic points of view.     

Productivity changes in Taiwan's port industry incorporating environmental regulations on harbor water quality

Abstract

This paper evaluates the productivity changes in Taiwan's port industry for the period 2003–2007. Based on a ‘three-year-window’ data envelopment analysis method, Luenberger productivity indicators are employed to estimate the productivity changes that account for the success of attempts by port agents to control harbor water quality. This is one of the typical environmental concerns in port operations that prior studies on port productivity changes over time have not considered. The results show that the productivity of Taiwan's port industry has experienced growth over the study period, regardless of whether water quality has been considered or not. At a disaggregated level, however, if a port agent has succeeded in controlling water quality, but we do not consider it, the results will misclassify the agent by understating the port's productivity.     

Transport infrastructure and long-run economic growth in OECD countries

This paper provides an empirical evaluation of the growth impact of public infrastructure in a panel of 18 OECD countries during 1870–2009. This study goes beyond the traditional analysis of growth accounting models by exploring the indirect effect of stock of core infrastructure on output growth through its impact on productivity. Constructing a long-run historical dataset on infrastructural capital formation spanning from 1870, estimated results show that growth in both labour productivity and total factor productivity are positively, but not substantially, influenced by growth in the stock of infrastructure. Furthermore, applying the system GMM technique (Generalised Method of Moments) revels that although rate of returns to investment in infrastructure exceed the private rate in OECD countries, it is not as high as positive externalities associated with investment in equipment and structure investment.     

Impacts of highway congestion on freight operations: perceptions of trucking industry managers

To better understand how road congestion adversely affects trucking operations, we surveyed approximately 1200 managers of all types of trucking companies operating in California. More than 80% of these managers consider traffic congestion on freeways and surface streets to be either a “somewhat serious” or “critically serious” problem for their business. A structural equations model (SEM) is estimated on these data to determine how five aspects of the congestion problem differ across sectors of the trucking industry. The five aspects were slow average speeds, unreliable travel times, increased driver frustration and morale, higher fuel and maintenance costs, and higher costs of accidents and insurance. The model also simultaneously estimates how these five aspects combine to predict the perceived overall magnitude of the problem. Overall, congestion is perceived to be a more serious problem by managers of trucking companies engaged in intermodal operations, particularly private and for-hire trucking companies serving airports and private companies serving rail terminals. Companies specializing in refrigerated transport also perceive congestion to be a more serious overall problem, as do private companies engaged in LTL operations. The most problematic aspect of congestion is unreliable travel times, followed by driver frustration and morale, then by slow average speeds. Unreliable travel times are a significantly more serious problem for intermodal air operations. Driver frustration and morale attributable to congestion is perceived to be more of a problem by managers of long-haul carriers and tanker operations. Slow average speeds are also more of a concern for airport and refrigerated operations.     

A multi-criteria decision support methodology for implementing truck operation strategies

This study proposes a multi-criteria decision support methodology to enable the prioritization of potential alternative transportation system operations strategies and then demonstrates the effectiveness of the methodology using a case study involving truck operations. The primary feature of this methodology is its ability to help policymakers consider economic, public, and private sector standpoints simultaneously. The economic criterion is cost to the public sector where four criteria related to truck impacts on the transportation system are incorporated. These are traffic congestion, safety hazards, air pollution, and pavement damage. In addition, reliability and productivity are regarded as metrics representing the private sector viewpoint since they can significantly affect profitability. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative aspects of these standpoints. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this methodology, a corridor with some of the highest truck traffic in the US is selected as a case study and three forms of left lane restrictions for trucks are considered. For qualitative analysis, survey data were collected from two groups classified as public agency and transportation industry professionals who are experts in trucking. In addition, a micro traffic simulation model was used to produce various performance measurements that can describe quantitative impacts. As a result, the methodology provides a rational argument for prioritizing potential alternative truck strategies.     

Optimal fleet conversion policy from a life cycle perspective

Vehicles typically deteriorate with accumulating mileage and emit more tailpipe air pollutants per mile. Although incentive programs for scrapping old, high-emitting vehicles have been implemented to reduce urban air pollutants and greenhouse gases, these policies may create additional sales of new vehicles as well. From a life cycle perspective, the emissions from both the additional vehicle production and scrapping need to be addressed when evaluating the benefits of scrapping older vehicles. This study explores an optimal fleet conversion policy based on mid-sized internal combustion engine vehicles in the US, defined as one that minimizes total life cycle emissions from the entire fleet of new and used vehicles. To describe vehicles' lifetime emission profiles as functions of accumulated mileage, a series of life cycle inventories characterizing environmental performance for vehicle production, use, and retirement was developed for each model year between 1981 and 2020. A simulation program is developed to investigate ideal and practical fleet conversion policies separately for three regulated pollutants (CO, NMHC, and NO_x) and for CO₂. According to the simulation results, accelerated scrapping policies are generally recommended to reduce regulated emissions, but they may increase greenhouse gases. Multi-objective analysis based on economic valuation methods was used to investigate trade-offs among emissions of different pollutants for optimal fleet conversion policies.     

Transport emissions and travel behaviour: A critical review of recent European Union and UK policy initiatives

There are clear signs of a shift in the UK transport policy in response to concerns about the environmental impacts of road transport and anxieties about the implications of the projected future growth in demand.Much of the framework of UK transport policy is now determined at the overall European Union level. To date most European legislation and policy proposals have been concerned with reducing the specific externalities associated with the transport sector, with none of the measures involved likely to have more than a marginal impact on the growth in demand. The emerging research evidence suggests however that the private costs of car use in Europe may fall substantially short of its total social costs and there is an important emerging policy debate about how this gap might be closed.The UK has introduced a policy package designed to reduce the growth of car travel and its environmental impact, within which land-use planning measures feature prominently. The land-use policies, which to some extent represent a reassertion of many traditional UK planning policies, include: an emphasis on focussing new development in urban areas, increasing residential densities, strengthening the role of existing centres and improving provision for walking and cycling.A number of factors will constrain the effectiveness of the package in practice. There are also concerns about its impact on key environmental objectives, including air quality. There are important questions too about the welfare effects of increasing densities and about the wider impacts of the package on economic efficiency.     

Traffic control oriented impact on the persistence of urban air pollutants: A causeway bay revelation during emergency period

The continuous traffic flow is always considered to take a great extent responsibility for the air quality deterioration in urban areas. Meanwhile, traffic control is assumed to be one of the most effective ways to mitigate the high concentration situation as this may cut off the emission directly and satisfy the air quality objectives. Unfortunately, the overdevelopment of central business district area in megacities not only complicates the control plan, but also troubles the process of plan assessment. Because of the road blockages caused by the radical behavior during the Hong Kong protest in 2014, it offers an unexpected chance to evaluate the influence of traffic control oriented plan on urban (i.e., Causeway Bay) air pollution. Hence, we here investigated the six air pollutants concentrations that measured in the time series before, during and after the Hong Kong Protest period. The impact of traffic flow restriction on pollutants’ persistence has been quantified both qualitatively and quantitatively in this study. The results showed that the persistence of pollutants was a general property in Causeway Bay which dominated by the traffic flow pattern. The road blockages, considered as one kind of extreme traffic control plan, would strengthen the persistence of most pollutants (except ozone). Moreover, it also indicated that comprehensive consideration and further balance among different pollutants were necessary when try to reduce pollution in urban area by traffic control.     

Using grey system theory to evaluate transportation effects on air quality trends in Japan

Japan’s Air Pollution Control Law signed in 1968 prescribes the maximum permissible limits of motor vehicle exhausts as well as establishing mechanisms for monitoring air pollution In this paper, the grey relational grade of air pollutants from ambient air pollution and roadside air pollution monitoring stations is used to look at the relationship between air pollution and transportation. The results indicated that the ambient and roadside air quality increased by rose from 1975 to 2004 but less fast than the growth in traffic. Some of this may be attributable to the legislation but there have also been other measures since 1968 that have also contributed.     

Costs of air pollutants from shipping: a meta-regression analysis

ABSTRACT

This study estimated the external cost of air pollution from shipping by means of a meta-regression analysis, which has not been made before. Three pollutants, which were included in most of the primary studies, were considered: nitrogen oxides (NO_x), sulphur dioxides (SO₂) and particulate matters with a diameter of max 2.5 micrometres (PM_2.5). All primary studies included damages of health and a majority added impacts on agriculture and estimated the cost of air pollutants by transferring cost estimates from studies on costs of air emissions from transports in Europe. Different regression models and estimators were used and robust results were found of statistically significant emission elasticities of below one, i.e. total external costs increase by less than 1% when emissions increase by 1%. There was a small variation between the pollutants, with the highest elasticity for PM_2.5 and lowest for NO_x. Calculations of the marginal external cost of the pollutants showed the same pattern, with this cost being approximately six times higher for PM_2.5 than for the other pollutants. Common to all pollutants was that the marginal external cost decreases when emission increases. Another robust result was a significant increase in the cost of studies published in journals compared with other publication outlets. These findings point out some caution when transferring constant external unit cost of air pollutant from shipping, which is much applied in the literature, and the cost functions estimated in this study could thus provide a complementary transfer mechanism.     

Productivity,efficiency and technical change in the European railways: A non-parametric approach

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of productivity in the European railways in the period 1970–95. We use a non-parametric approach that enables changes in productivity to be broken down into variations in efficiency and technical change. The results indicate that the productivity growth is concentrated in the last period (1985–95), when the majority of the companies undertook processes of reforms. This increase in productivity is mainly due to technical progress. We also analyse the determinants of efficiency and, unlike other papers, the technical change, finding that the greater the degree of autonomy and financial independence, the higher the efficiency levels and technical change. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fuel price elasticities in the U.S. combination trucking sector

This paper estimates fuel price elasticities of combination trucking operations in the United States between 1970 and 2012. We evaluate trucking operations in terms of vehicle miles traveled and fuel consumption for combination trucks. Our explanatory variables include measures of economic activity, energy prices, and indicator variables that account for important regulatory shifts and changes in data collection and reporting in national transportation datasets. Our results suggest that fuel price elasticities in the United States’ trucking sector have shifted from an elastic environment in the 1970s to a relatively inelastic environment today. We discuss the importance of these results for policymakers in light of new policies that aim to limit energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.     

Driven to injustice? Environmental justice and vehicle pollution in Christchurch,New Zealand

Exposure to an array of air pollutants varies between different social groups. This inequity is one possible explanation for the disparities in health between areas of varying socioeconomic status. However, most studies of vehicle pollution and environmental justice have relied on crude and potentially inaccurate pollution estimates. Using geographically-detailed estimates of traffic-related air pollution, the study investigates whether exposure to pollution in Christchurch, New Zealand varies significantly between areas of different socioeconomic status. The findings suggest that mean exposure to pollution is highest in the most disadvantaged areas of the city. Furthermore, areas where car ownership levels are highest tend to have relatively low levels of pollution exposure. This suggests that there are social injustices in exposure to traffic-related air pollution across neighbourhoods within the urban area of Christchurch.