Multilevel modelling of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) trips in Greater Manchester based on area-wide socio-economic data

Providing public transport in areas of low demand has long proved to be a challenge to policy makers and practitioners. With the developing economic, social and environmental trends, there is pressure for alternative solutions to the policy of subsidising conventional bus services. One potential solution is to adopt more flexible routes and/or timetables to better match the required demand. Therefore such ‘on demand’ or ‘Demand Responsive Transport’ (DRT) services (known as paratransit in the US) have been adopted in a number of locations. This paper seeks to explore the effects of area-wide factors on the demand of DRT by reporting the results of a statistical analysis of DRT service provision in the metropolitan region of Greater Manchester, the public transport authority of which offers one of the largest and most diverse range of DRT schemes in the UK. Specifically, this paper employs a multilevel modelling approach to investigate the impact of both DRT supply-oriented factors at the service area level and socio-economic factors at the lower super output area (LSOA) level on the average number of trips made by DRT per year. This hierarchical or ‘nested’ structure was adopted because typically the LSOAs within the same Service Area may share similar characteristics. It is found that the demand for DRT services was higher in areas with low car ownership, low population density, high proportion of white people, and high levels of social deprivation, measured in terms of income, employment, education, housing and services, health and disability, and living environment.     

Solving procurement problems in public transport: Examining multi-principal roles in relation to effective control mechanisms

Despite the EU’s increasing role in regulating public transport procurement, few studies have considered this aspect when analysing procurement problems of public transport. This paper examines how the institutional relationships between different actors, including international governmental bodies, in public transport effects the possibility of exerting control over a county public transport authority (PTA) in a multi-principal setting. The analysis is carried out using empirical material from an infringement process including a Swedish PTA and the EU. The conclusions have clear policy implications for the procedural order when exerting control over the PTA in cases of procurement problems. It is for example shown, that the implementation process would be much more efficient if the regulations allowed the EU to impose sanctions directly towards the local authorities without having to involve the national government when the procurement laws are violated.     

编者的话

全球汽车行业用于研发的投入每年高达数百亿欧元,且这一数字随着汽车技术的发展而不断增长。当下越来越多的跨国公司趋向于通过联合开发来实现优势互补和成本降低,如宝马与标致雪铁龙携手开发发动机,福特与丰田共同开发混合动力系统,欧洲汽车工业协会     

Conceptualizing Social Outcomes of Large Marine Protected Areas

There has been an assumption that because many large marine protected areas (LMPAs) are designated in areas with relatively few direct uses, they therefore have few stakeholders and negligible social outcomes. This article challenges this assumption with diverse examples of social outcomes that are distinctive in LMPAs. We define social outcomes as inclusive of both social change processes and social impacts, where “social” includes all perceptual or material human dimensions. We draw on five in-depth case studies to report social outcomes resulting from proposed or designated LMPAs in Bermuda, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Kiribati, Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands & Guam. We conclude: (1) social outcomes arise even in remote LMPAs; (2) LMPA efforts generate social outcomes at all stages of development; (3) LMPAs have the potential to produce outcomes at a higher level of social organization, which can change the scope and type of affected populations and, in some cases, the nature and stakes of the outcomes themselves; (4) the potential for LMPAs to impart distinctive social outcomes results from their unique geographies and/or intersection with high-level politics and policy processes; and (5) social outcomes of LMPAs may emerge in the form of social change processes and/or social impacts.     

Learning from Ecosystem-Based Management in Practice

We explore how marine ecosystem–based management (EBM) is translated from theory to practice at six sites with varying ecological and institutional contexts. Based on these case studies, we report on the goals, strategies, and outcomes of each project and what we can learn from these efforts to guide future implementation and assessment. In particular, we focus on how projects dealt with the challenges of working across geographic scales and diverse governance arrangements. While we hypothesized that EBM in the United States would be distinct from EBM in developing countries due to differences in social and political factors, we found that sites faced similar challenges. Variation among sites appeared to be more closely related to the preexisting management context and the scale at which the projects began rather than to clear differences between the United States and developing country contexts. EBM project implementers were able to overcome many of these challenges by focusing on a limited number of specific objectives, starting at a small scale, pursuing adaptive management, and monitoring a diverse set of indicators. These findings are directly relevant to current and future EBM efforts in these and other places.     

编者的话

<正>2012北京车展已经落下帷幕,喧嚣和热闹过后,留给我们更多的是关于中国汽车工业发展之路的思考。盼望已久的《节能与新能源汽车产业发展规划》终于出台,尽管规划对于技术路线的表述尚有可争议之处,但节能减排无疑是未来的主流趋势。本期"东方时评"撰     

Camionetas: Informal travel among immigrants

Camionetas are mini-vans privately operated as jitney services, run by immigrants for immigrants throughout cities in the US, Mexico, and Central America. Media accounts have portrayed camionetas as part of an unscrupulous industry that endangers and exploits riders, primarily farm workers and other undocumented laborers. Using interviews and ethnography, we analyze who patronizes camionetas in Southern California, and why. Patrons discussed why they use this service, their attitudes about it, other transportation options, and access to employment. Finally, we conducted empirical tests to determine whether these services are as exploitative of their riders as portrayed. This research suggests that camionetas are primarily used by Mexican immigrants with varied socio-economic characteristics who want to travel inter-regionally and transnationally. Patrons praised camioneta service for timesaving, Spanish-speaking drivers, more flexible and “out-of-the-way” stops, the inclusion of Spanish music and television in the vehicle, and door-to-door service. Our ethnographic evidence suggested that the camionetas operating in Southern California were comfortable and safe. But statistical tests suggest that undocumented patrons in our sample may face price discrimination due to the paucity of travel opportunities that do not require US identification. This research informs policy debates about transnational vehicle travel, safety, privatized transit, and access among marginalized groups.     

编者的话

2009年的中国汽车市场产销两旺，快速增长的市场需求使得汽车企业纷纷加大投资、扩大生产规模。然而，新一轮集中扩能之后，市场能否消化所增加的生产能力？有关产能过剩的担忧再次成为业内关注的话题。工信部、发改委对于汽车企业产能规划和投资情况的调查，显示了政府对于这一问题的重视。本期“东方时评”《产能过剩隐忧与有效控制》指出，需要汽车企业理性进行投资决策、国家主管部门进行有效引导和管理，才能防止隐忧成为现实。     

编者的话

<正>我国汽车产业快速发展的同时,如何增强产业安全性,是一个新的课题。商务部已经联合相关企业、部门和组织建立了实施产业保护和贸易救济的体系,但这仅仅只是基本要求,更多的研究还需进一步深化。本期"东方时评"《金融危机后我国汽车产业安全的对策研究》就如果提高汽车产业安全进行了阐述,同时指出,"增强民族汽车产     

编者的话

汽车电子技术的进步，以及汽车行业对于安全性、环保性、舒适性要求的日益增加，推动了整个汽车传感器市场的发展。未来，传感器技术将呈现微型化、集成化、智能化的特点。本期专题，专家们将围绕传感器这一话题，就其未来的技术发展及市场应用进行探讨。