On the effect of operational service attributes on transit satisfaction

Public transport (PT) providers aim to offer services that meet users’ satisfaction, and for this, they can control some operational service attributes such as frequency, speed, crowdedness and reliability. Understanding how these objective attributes affect user satisfaction is essential to improve it cost-effectively, but these associations have not been examined enough in the PT literature. This study aims to unveil how key transit operational variables actually experienced by users affect their satisfaction. We analysed data derived from a multiannual consumer satisfaction survey for the Santiago de Chile Metro system; between January 2013 and June 2016 (n?=?41,993), where approximately 1000 questionnaires were completed each month. We also gained access to a set of operational variables managed by Metro for the same period, including more than 1.4 million records. With this unique dataset, we first developed a structural equation model (SEM) with users’ perceived attributes, finding that safety, ease of boarding, response to critical incidents (CI), the number and type of CI endured, and information, were the variables that mostly affected satisfaction. We also examined heterogeneity in transit satisfaction with SEM-MIMIC models, by characterising the user population through their trip and socioeconomic characteristics, finding a striking result: that as users age they are more satisfied with the system. Next, we assessed whether including operational service attributes, such as crowding levels, frequency, commercial speed and CI, added predictive power to the proposed model. We found that the number of CI, speed, frequency and crowdedness, plus their variability (measured through the coefficient of variation), affected transit satisfaction at significant levels. Including these objective service attributes provided more explanatory power to the SEM-MIMIC transit satisfaction models. Policy recommendations for improving satisfaction, derived from our results, are: to implement an automatic control system for the number of passengers on Metro platforms (as safety and ease of boarding are critical issues for passengers); and to deploy a comprehensive tactical plan to address CI: determine which happen more often, take actions to minimise them and provide better responsive actions.

     

Airline industry deregulation and changes in systematic risk

Deregulation of U.S. Airline Industry may have lowered systematic risk because pricing freedom and route flexibility improved airline management reaction to various economic conditions. Reduced systematic risk offers lower cost of equity capital for the industry as a whole as well as for individual carriers. Previous research has had mixed results in identifying a relationship between deregulation and airline industry cost of capital. This study plots airline industry Beta coefficients across the years 1963 to 1987 and clears up previously conflicting research findings. Beta coefficients had been falling since the fuel crisis of 1974 and continued to fall through 1980. Fluctuations since deregulation have been relatively minor and systematic risk has leveled off at a significantly lower value than before deregulation. Studies which concentrate on the fluctuation in Beta since 1978 are dependent on the exact time period of analysis, and their conclusions that deregulation raised or lowered systematic risk are likewise suspect. A broader view of systematic risk changes in the deregulatory era shows airline Betas peaking from 1971 to 1973 and a gradual decrease as deregulation was being discussed, implemented, and legally mandated. This gradual decline from 1974 to 1980 may be attributed to such factors as fuel prices, interest rates, general inflation as well as deregulation. In any case systematic risk of the U.S. Airline industry has been lower since deregulation than in decades before.     

Error quantification of a high resolution coupled hydrodynamic-ecosystem coastal-ocean model: Part3, validation with Continuous Plankton Recorder data

Data collected during the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey has been used to validate a three-dimensional hydrodynamic ecosystem model simulation of the North-west European Shelf for the years 1988–89. The CPR time series is unique to the North Atlantic region as a validation tool. Data were extracted from the model to correspond with those collected by the CPR survey, and both the model and survey plankton data were standardised to allow the comparison of model biomass with survey counts. Simple linear regression and absolute error maps provide a qualitative evaluation of spatio-temporal model performance of simulated diatoms, flagellates, total phytoplankton and omnivorous mesozooplankton. Comparisons of z-scores indicate that the model reproduces the main pelagic seasonal features, and there is good correlation between magnitudes of these features with respect to standard deviations from a long-term mean. The model is replicating up to 62% of the mesozooplankton seasonality across the domain, with variable results for the phytoplankton. There are, however, differences in the timing of patterns in plankton seasonality. The validation exercise has highlighted that the spring diatom bloom in the model is too early, suggesting the need to reparameterise the response of phytoplankton to changing light levels in the model. Errors in the north and west of the domain imply that model turbulence and vertical density structure need to be improved to more accurately capture plankton dynamics.     

Effect of critical incidents on public transport satisfaction and loyalty: an Ordinal Probit SEM-MIMIC approach

Transportation - Supplying public transport systems with high levels of service quality is fundamental for retaining users and attracting new ones. Policies that improve transit service quality...     

大牛变身

正从生产中置引擎超级跑车化身SUV生产商,兰博基尼是不是放下了高昂的头颅,向主流消费低了头,弱化了自己的品牌形象?我们一探究竟为了达到目标兰博基尼拿出了全部的武器兰博基尼为Urus媒体试驾选择的酒店完全是一个超级豪华品牌的做派。酒店位于罗马的郊区,放眼看去满眼都是上世纪50年代的装修风格,遍布各种大理石和金色描边。重新修葺时甚至增加了一些软装和丝绒元素,让人质     

Design of Continuous and Discrete LQI Control Systems with Stable Inner Loops

Design approaches were proposed for both continuous and discrete LQI (linear quadratic with integral) controllers, if exist, to stabilize the inner loops in addition to stabilizing the closed loops and minimizing the quadratic cost functionals. Derived from the algebraic Riccati equations involved in continuous and discrete LQI control, the design approaches were straightforward obtained by setting the quadratic cost functionals to decoupled forms with positive definite weighting matrices. Examples were provided to verify the effectiveness of the approaches.     

Modelling the hydrodynamics and ecosystem of the North-West European continental shelf for operational oceanography

This paper outlines an approach to complex spatio-temporal marine ecosystem modelling as applied to the North Western European Continental Shelf. The model presented here combines an eddy-permitting (approximately 6 km horizontal resolution) baroclinic model, the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System (POLCOMS), with the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM). This has been run within an operational framework using operationally available high resolution atmospheric and lateral boundary forcing, allowing hindcast and near-real time nowcast simulations to be performed. The modelled surface temperature and chlorophyll distributions are presented, and interannual variations discussed. Validation of both the physical and ecosystem submodels show the system to be effective, whilst highlighting areas where improvements in the system can be made. Distinct regional differences in predictive skill are shown. The system presented is ready for operational implementation to provide products and services for use both scientifically and in coastal zone and shelf seas management activities. A programme of work to update the system is already in place.     

On nonlinear ship waves and wave resistance calculations

A finite difference method based on the Euler equations is developed for computing ship waves and wave resistances. Time marching is carried out using a time-splitting fractional-step method. The second-order central difference is used to discretize the spatial differentials, while the convection terms are discretized by the QUICK scheme. A body- and free-surface-fitted grid system with a cell-centered stencil is used. A Poisson equation for the pressure increment at each time step is solved to enforce mass conservation. The method is validated by comparing the numerical results with the experimental data for a Wigley parabolic hull. The characteristics of ship waves, such as the wave profile along the hull, the wave pattern on the free surface, the pressure distribution on the hull surface, and the wave-making resistance are reasonably predicted. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Received for publication on Oct. 13, 1998; accepted on Jan. 20, 1999     

Large-scale physical controls on phytoplankton growth in the Irminger Sea Part I: Hydrographic zones, mixing and stratification

Hydrographic surveys in three consecutive seasons in the Irminger Sea in 2001/2002 have revealed six physical regimes (zones) in which different surface mixing and spring re-stratification processes dominate. They are the South Irminger Current, the North Irminger Current, the Central Irminger Sea, the Polar-origin East Greenland Current, the Atlantic-origin East Greenland Current and the Reykjanes Ridge. The variations in restratification processes in particular have significant implications for the timing of shallow spring mixed layer development and therefore the timing and strength of the spring bloom. The relative roles of heat and freshwater in controlling re-stratification are examined for each hydrographic zone, and it is shown that the simplest concept of solar warming generating spring stratification is appropriate for the Irminger Current and the central Irminger Sea. However in the East Greenland Current and the Reykjanes Ridge zones, the springtime arrival of fresh or saline water at the surface dominates re-stratification and generates the earliest and strongest spring blooms of the region. In the cool fresh centre of the Irminger Sea the relatively low chlorophyll-a throughout the year cannot be wholly explained by stratification or nutrient concentrations. Details of the annual cycle in temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a and nutrients are presented for each hydrographic zone.     

世界公路桥梁检测方法研究

美国运输委员会的主要目标之一是提高我们国家的道路安全.针对这一目标,联邦、州和地方交通机构一致认为检测我们的近600 000座桥梁是非常重要的.这些机构每年投入大量资金到桥梁检测方面的行动.确保质量,使得我们的桥梁检查计划维持在最高的水平,且资金的利用尽可能有效.通过美国桥梁检查计划收集的数据不仅用来确保我们的桥梁对公众来说是安全的,而且有助于构建编制桥梁养护、维修、复原和更换的基础.因此,确保高质量的数据收集是在检测过程中进行的,这是极其重要的.