Evaluating CO2 emissions, cost, and service quality trade-offs in an urban delivery system case study

Growing pressure to limit greenhouse gas emissions is changing the way businesses operate. This paper presents the trade-offs between cost, service quality (represented by time window guarantees), and emissions of an urban pickup and delivery system under these changing pressures. A model, developed by the authors in ArcGIS, is used to evaluate these trade-offs for a specific case study involving a real fleet with specific operational characteristics. The problem is modeled as an emissions minimization vehicle routing problem with time windows. Analyses of different external policies and internal operational changes provide insight into the impact of these changes on cost, service quality, and emissions. Specific consideration of the influence of time windows, customer density, and vehicle choice are included.The results show a stable relationship between monetary cost and kilograms of CO₂, with each kilogram of CO₂ associated with a $3.50 increase in cost, illustrating the influence of fuel use on both cost and emissions. In addition, customer density and time window length are strongly correlated with monetary cost and kilograms of CO₂ per order. The addition of 80 customers or extending the time window 100 minutes would save approximately $3.50 and 1 kilogram of CO₂ per order. Lastly, the evaluation of four different fleets illustrates significant environmental and monetary gains can be achieved through the use of hybrid vehicles.The results demonstrate there is not a trade-off between CO₂ emissions and cost, but that these two metrics trend together. This suggests the most effective way to encourage fleet operators to limit emissions is to increase the cost of fuel or CO₂ production, as this is consistent with current incentives that exist to reduce cost, and therefore emissions.     

The estimation of transport cost functions: a methodological review

Abstract

The ex‐post facto cost of using private finance in roads is examined using a case study approach. The paper focuses on the first eight design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) roads commissioned by the UK Government’s Highways Agency and paid for through a system of shadow tolls. It carries out a financial analysis of the publicly available accounting information from the Highways Agency and its private sector partners for the first 6 years since the start of the 30‐year schemes in 1997. Publicly available financial information about the schemes was found to be limited and opaque. In 3 years, the Highways Agency had paid more than the construction cost. It was unclear whether the payments were higher than expected at financial close. Its private sector partners reported a post‐tax return on capital of 29% and an effective cost of capital of 11% in 2002, twice the cost of public finance. However, operating through a complex web of subcontracting creates additional, undisclosed sources of profit for their parent companies that make it difficult to establish the total cost of using private finance. The paper questions the wisdom of using private finance by providing evidence about the cost, including the cost of risk transfer.     

The History of the Transport Future—Evaluating Dutch Transport Scenarios of the Past

Abstract

This paper examines 42 business‐as‐usual (BAU) scenarios for future transport and traffic development in the Netherlands from the period 1970 to 2000. An important aspect of these scenarios is that they indicate the potential future state of the transport system if the policies in place at the time continue unchanged, thus raising issues which may require a policy response. This paper shows that in most of the important BAU transport scenario results of the past in the Netherlands, such as future car use and transport emissions, the policy makers were not misled. The prognoses for traffic congestion are an important exception as they underestimated the congestion problems that would arise. This paper shows that, based on the research it examines, BAU transport forecasting is an inaccurate practice. It is recommended that the BAU scenario designer communicates this high inaccuracy, enabling the policy maker to include the inherent future uncertainty in their decision‐making.     

Hailing a change: comparing taxi and ridehail service quality in Los Angeles

Transportation - For decades, taxis have provided for-hire vehicle service without significant competition from other modes. But in 2012, ride-hail services such as Uber and Lyft upended the taxi...     

Demand management of congested public transport systems: a conceptual framework and application using smart card data

Transportation - Transportation demand management, long used to reduce car traffic, is receiving attention among public transport operators as a means to reduce congestion in crowded public...     

Analyzing voter support for California’s local option sales taxes for transportation

Local and regional governments in the U.S. rely increasingly on voter-approved local option sales taxes (LOSTs) to fund transportation capital investments, maintenance, and operations. LOSTs typically present voters with lists of local transportation projects and programs to be funded by a ¼ to 1 percent sales tax increase. Most research on LOSTs are case studies, which make generalizations about LOSTs difficult. We conducted a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional analysis of LOST measures in California, the U.S. state with the greatest number of LOST measures. We examined 76 LOST measures put to voters between 1976 and 2016 to assess factors associated with voter support. LOSTs in California are enacted by counties, which we examined in addition to smaller intra-county geographies using both regression models and case studies. We tested several explanatory variables for association with voter support including macroeconomic and political context, planned measure expenditures, voter characteristics, and spatial distribution of proposed projects. We found that funding dedicated to public transit and returned to local jurisdictions predicts support at the county level, and that LOSTs that create new taxes—as opposed to extending or renewing existing taxes—are less popular with voters, all else equal. Our analyses of sub-county geographies revealed that political party affiliation is the strongest predictor of local voter support for LOSTs and that voters living adjacent to funded projects tended to be more supportive of LOSTs.

     

Incident reporting in Finnish shipping companies

The purpose of the International Safety Management Code (the ISM Code) is to promote safety culture in the maritime industry. Learning the lessons from incidents should help to improve safety performance since incidents and accidents can share the same root causes. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at incident reporting in the Finnish shipping industry, to study the reasons for poor incident reporting and to suggest improvements to increase reporting. The paper consists of a literature study, which focuses on previous studies concerning incident reporting, and an interview study, which focuses on Finnish shipping companies and their personnel. The interview study confirmed that incident reporting does not function properly within the Finnish maritime industry. The maritime personnel have an occupational culture which is incompatible with the rule-based safety management approach provided by the ISM Code. The willingness to report incidents could be increased if all seafarers were involved in the reporting process and the preparation of corrective actions. In addition, the reporting procedures should be streamlined and developed to a more user-friendly direction.     

The relative contribution of transportation to supply chain greenhouse gas emissions: A case study of American wheat

This life cycle assessment case study puts the supply chain contribution of transportation to greenhouse gas emissions in context with other contributors using American wheat grain as a representative product. Multiple locations, species and routes to market are investigated. Transportation contributes 39–56% of the supply chain emissions, whereas there is a 101% intra-species and 62% inter-species variation in greenhouse gas emissions from production, demonstrating that transportation is both of smaller magnitude, and less sensitive than other factors, in particular, field sequestration.     

Identification and assessment of aquatic resources for power plant sites on Maryland's Eastern shore

Abstract

A power plant siting procedure which accounts for the protection and preservation of aquatic resources, defined as sensitive life forms and life stages of economically valuable species of finfish and shellfish, is presented as it was executed on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Negative effects of power plant development and operation are generated principally by the cooling water intake and discharge system. The site‐selection procedure is thus presented as a two‐faceted process, termed regional screening, requiring the separate but simultaneous identification of land‐based sites and cooling systems. Criteria included in regional screening for cooling systems reflected life‐sustaining processes essential to the maintenance of aquatic resources. Major sources of effects of power plants on aquatic resources and siting principles as they affect aquatic resources are defined. Information‐gathering techniques included extensive interviews with key research scientists, state personnel, and numerous Chesapeake Bay watermen.