Introduction to the Theme Issue: The Role of Geography in Contemporary Coastal Management Policy and Practice

This article provides a brief introduction to the theme issue on “The role of geography in contemporary coastal management policy and practice.” The theme is addressed through a suite of seven articles that collectively consider how geographical understandings and methods relate to contemporary coastal policy and practice. The key theme to emerge from the articles is that geography forms an underlying framework for considering integrated coastal management, largely due to the integrative nature of geography itself.     

Mathematical properties and constraints representation for bottom-up approaches to the evaluation of GHG mitigation policies

Bottom-up models, including MARKAL, MESSAGE and AIM, are widely used when analyzing the effect of greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement policies. These bottom-up models are mostly formulated as a linear programming (LP) optimization model to find both the minimal cost combination of abatement technologies and energy flows while satisfying demands. It is not unusual that the bottom-up modeling involves a great number of technical, industrial, socioeconomic and environmental constraints. Investigating representative constraints needed for analyzing GHG abatement policies, this study proposes how to implement these constraints in bottom-up modeling.     

Modeling the relationships among urban passenger travel carbon dioxide emissions,transportation demand and supply,population density,and proxy policy variables

To support the development of policies that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by encouraging reduced travel and increased use of efficient transportation modes, it is necessary to better understand the explanatory effects that transportation, population density, and policy variables have on passenger travel related CO₂ emissions. This study presents the development of a model of CO₂ emissions per capita as a function of various explanatory variables using data on 146 urbanized areas in the United States. The model takes into account selectivity bias resulting from the fact that adopting policies aimed at reducing emissions in an urbanized area may be partly driven by the presence of environmental concerns in that area. The results indicate that population density, transit share, freeway lane-miles per capita, private vehicle occupancy, and average travel time have a statistically significant explanatory effect on passenger travel related CO₂ emissions. In addition, the presence of automobile emissions inspection programs, which serves as a proxy indicator of other policies addressing environmental concerns and which could influence travelers in making environmentally favorable travel choices, markedly changes the manner in which transportation variables explain CO₂ emission levels.     

A Pareto-improving hybrid rationing and pricing policy with multiclass network equilibria

This paper extends the work on Pareto-improving hybrid rationing and pricing policy for general road networks by considering heterogeneous users with different values of time. Mathematical programming models are proposed to find a multiclass Pareto-improving pure road space rationing scheme (MPI-PR) and multiclass hybrid rationing and pricing schemes (MHPI and MHPI-S). A numerical example with a multimodal network is provided for comparing both the efficiency and equity of the three proposed policies. We discover that MHPI-S can achieve the largest reduction in total system delay, MHPI can induce the least spatial inequity and MHPI-S is a progressive policy which is appealing to policy makers. Furthermore, numerical results reveal that different classes of users react differently to the same hybrid policies and multiclass Pareto-improving hybrid schemes yield less delay reduction when compared to their single-class counterparts.     

Commuters’ behavior towards upgraded bus services in Greater Beirut: Implications for greenhouse gas emissions,social welfare and transport policy

Climate change is one of the most critical environmental challenges faced in the world today. The transportation sector alone contributes to 22% of carbon emissions, of which 80% are contributed by road transportation. In this paper we investigate the potential private car greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and social welfare gains resulting from upgrading the bus service in the Greater Beirut Area. To this end, a stated preference (SP) survey on mode switching from private car to bus was conducted in this area and analyzed by means of a mixed logit model. We then used the model outputs to simulate aggregate switching behavior in the study area and the attendant welfare and environmental gains and private car GHG emissions reductions under various alternative scenarios of bus service upgrade. We recommend a bundle of realistic bus service improvements in the short term that will result in a reasonable shift to buses and measurable reduction in private car emissions. We argue that such improvements will need to be comprehensive in scope and include both improvements in bus level of service attributes (access/egress time, headway, in-vehicle travel time, and number of transfers) and the provision of amenities, including air-conditioning and Wi-Fi. Moreover, such a service needs to be cheaply priced to achieve reasonably high levels of switching behavior. With a comprehensively overhauled bus service, one would expect that bus ridership would increase for commuting purposes at first, and once the habit for it is formed, for travel purposes other than commuting, hence dramatically broadening the scope of private car GHG emissions reduction. This said, this study demonstrates the limits of focused sectorial policies in targeting and reducing private car GHG emissions, and highlights the need for combining behavioral interventions with other measures, most notably technological innovations, in order for the contribution of this sector to GHG emissions mitigation to be sizable.     

Why do some motorbike riders wear a helmet and others don’t? Evidence from Delhi,India

Road traffic accident fatalities lead to important private and social costs in the metropolitan areas of most low and middle income countries. An important share of these fatalities is due to injuries to the head and the neck. Helmets can provide efficient protection, but many drivers do not use them. We focus on helmet use behavior among motorbike users in Delhi. We use a detailed data set collected for the purpose of the study. To guide our empirical analysis, we rely on a model in which drivers decide on self-protection and self-insurance. The empirical findings suggest that risk-averse drivers are more likely to wear a helmet and that this has no systematic effect on speed. Helmet use also increases with education. Drivers who show a higher awareness of road risks seem to be both more likely to wear a helmet and to speed less. Controlling for risk awareness, we observe that drivers tend to compensate between speed and helmet use. The results can provide a basis for awareness-raising policies. They also show that improvements to the road infrastructure risk leading to risk-compensating behavior.     

幸福感在交通政策中的作用

幸福感、生活质量和幸福正逐渐影响众多不同领域,例如经济、国家标准和公共健康。尽管心理幸福感的重要性日益受到重视,但却鲜有人关注交通系统对生活满意度的影响。首先,探讨幸福感在交通政策中所发挥的作用,并阐述幸福感对未来交通政策的启发作用。其次,回顾心理学文献,提出一个假设的模型即交通会通过提高重要生活领域的可达性或者物质环境的机动性及外部性从而对生活满意度产生间接或直接影响。对交通领域的初步研究为该模型提供了支持。最后,阐述政策建议和可使用该框架进行研究的领域。     

The origin of California’s zero emission vehicle mandate

The California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) rule, adopted in 1990, is arguably one of the most daring and controversial air quality policies ever adopted. Some consider it a policy failure, while others credit it with launching a revolution in clean automotive technology. This paper is the first systematic empirical study of the policy process that resulted in the adoption of the ZEV mandate. We draw upon theoretical frameworks of the policy process, empirical data from public documents, and personal interviews with key stakeholders, to explain how a confluence of technology, policy, and political circumstances created a window of opportunity that led to the adoption of this policy. We expect the conclusions of our analysis to be useful to other policy debates that involve technological innovation.     

城市交通系统的公共政策研究

城市交通系统是一个复杂的动态系统,由它产生的城市交通问题具有普遍性、紧迫性和长期性。因此,要解决城市交通问题既要参考国内外经验,又要立足实际。只有循序渐进地不断修正城市交通政策,才能切实提高政府的执政能力,建立一个适应城市经济发展和满足市民实际需求的城市交通系统。     

广州市票务政策对轨道交通客运量的影响

票务政策是影响城市轨道交通客运量规模最直接有效的工具.为了充分发挥城市轨道交通疏解城市交通拥堵的作用,在借鉴国内外城市相关票务经验的基础上,解析广州市城市轨道交通票务现状,并建立交通规划模型,对客流规模的敏感性进行了定量研究.对票价的调整措施提出了建议,并对票价调整前后的客流效果进行了评价.