Making do: The effects of a mass transit strike on travel behavior

A brief transit strike in early December 1976 disrupted bus services to the city of Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County. That strike provided an opportunity for testing a variety of approaches to increase ride-sharing and to reduce traffic congestion, and for examining the effect of the strike on traffic congestion and on individual travel behavior. Even though over 60% of the commuters to the CBD use transit, the effects of the strike were relatively mild. There was some increase in traffic flow into the CBD and some spreading of the peak period. The largest proportion of the transit commuters who made trips to the CBD during the strike were dropped off by a non-commuter, increasing highway traffic. The most severe impact was felt by those transit commuters who had no cars in the household; 25% of these commuters (only 3% of the total CBD commuters) stayed home from work on the first day of the strike. Most attempts to mitigate the impact of the strike had little effect, largely because most commuters were able to manage adequately during the short strike. The anticipated parking problem, on which much of the contingency planning was focused, did not emerge, largely because of the use of carpooling and drop-off mode by many of the transit users.     

Time-series model for vehicle speeds

This paper presents a time-series model for the spot speeds of vehicles on a road section. Based on time-series analysis techniques, the model incorporates information on the extent of existing dependency between the speeds of successive vehicles. The model for the data is chosen while relying heavily on the data, and thus emphasis is given to their special characteristics. The advantages of using the model are examined with regard to the relative speed of two successive vehicles along a road section. The results are compared with those obtained by using a model of independent observations; fewer errors are obtained with the time-series model. Therefore, it is concluded that the sequence of speed observations contains valuable information which should be incorporated into speed models.     

Comment Some reflections on port competition in the United States and western Europe

'Port competition' is a rather puzzling expression. This paper approaches it literally, searching for precise meanings. In seaports that contain complex and changeable mixtures of public and private enterprise, who competes and why? The answers to these questions are not conclusive but suggestive indications are found in the US, UK and northwestern Europe. Finally, we discuss what seem to be the key influential factors which may impact on the competitiveness of a port.     

Privatization trends at the world's top-100 container ports

Over recent years, the role of the private sector in seaports has been greatly expanded. Yet, in practice, the extent of privatization in ports can vary significantly, in part due to the different methods employed to bring about private sector participation. This paper identifies and analyses, through a survey of ports, recent trends in regard to privatization at the world's top-100 container ports. The survey has benefitted from, and seeks to extend, a previous survey undertaken by the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH). Findings suggest that, although the influence of private sector actors in ports is growing, the role of public sector agencies also remains significant.     

Maritime policy in Scotland

This paper begins by defining the meaning of the term ‘maritime policy’. Since devolution in the UK, the opening of the new Scottish parliament in 1998 and the creation of the Scottish Executive, little effort has been made to establish a distinct maritime policy for Scotland. As was evident prior to devolution, the primary emphasis from any maritime policy perspective has continued to be a focus on lifeline island ferry services. This ignores significant developments in several other key maritime transport sectors, and this paper provides examples of areas that require some form of policy response, including intra-European short sea shipping, UK coastal shipping, urban/river transport and global container shipping. Long-standing institutional bias against maritime transport coupled with subsidy devoted almost entirely to land transport systems has resulted in a quite distorted marketplace. This suggests that a maritime policy is now imperative if maritime transport is to play a more significant role in the overall transport system. Further discussion centres on the need to consider, from a Scottish policy perspective, the role of various state-sponsored maritime service providers and how these bodies might fit better within evolving policy. The conclusion is that formulation of a maritime policy by the Scottish Executive is overdue and that a degree of restructuring of transport responsibilities within the Executive, combined with adequate resource allocation towards the maritime industry, will be necessary in order that market distortions can be overcome, so enabling Scotland to fully exploit the competitive and environmental advantages that maritime transport can provide.     

Law enforcement in the ocean

The combating of the present great variety of criminal activities occurring at sea mainly involves measures to be taken on land, in particular in ports.However, also actual enforcement at sea will continue to play an essential (complementary) role. This article surveys the rules of international law governing law enforcement measures at sea. These rules are complex, because distinctions have to be made between the various jurisdictional zones at sea and between the positions of the flag state, the coastal state and the port state. Traditionally, ships in the high seas (all sea areas beyond a narrow band of territorial sea) were under the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state. In an increasing number of situations, the coastal state now has law enforcement authority over foreign ships in expanded areas up to 200 nautical miles offshore. But apart from these situations, flag state jurisdiction still prevails beyond the territorial sea. This makes effective law enforcement difficult. In practice, many obstacles can be overcome by making more effective use of the authority of the port state, and by concluding new international agreements providing for specific enforcement systems.     

Public goods and the public financing of major European seaports

Seaports are recognized for their importance in facilitating trade growth and associated economic development. These attributes often give rise to the notion that seaports, or infrastructure elements of seaports, are public goods. Public goods are regarded as goods or services which a market acting in isolation might have difficulty in providing, or at least providing in sufficient quantity and/or at a competitive price. An important element of a public good relates to its non-rival consumption, the implication being that it is impossible to exclude anyone, whether they pay or not. Key questions this paper seeks to address are, what constitutes public goods in seaports, to what extent is it necessary for the public sector to provide these goods, and can such intervention lead to market distortion in respect of competing ports? The paper describes the more common examples of public goods in seaports. This is followed by discussion of public and private sector investment at major north European seaports. The paper considers the potential for market distortion due to public sector expenditure on so-called public goods in seaports, and proposes that a more cohesive policy for major ports, particularly those very large containerports serving a common European hinterland, is necessary in order to deliver a sustainable transport system in the long term.     

Ridership estimation for short-range transit planning

The objective of this research was to develop a simple transit ridership estimation model system for short-range planning. The main feature of the model system is that it exploits knowledge of transit link volumes which are obtained readily from on-off counts. Extensive use is made of default values for model parameters, taken directly from the transportation literature. The remaining parameters can be derived easily from generally available land-use and socioeconomic data. Expensive household surveys and time-consuming model calibrations are not required. A sequence of simple trip generation, trip distribution and modal split models generate trip-purpose specific transit trip tables, denoted as “trial” trip tables. These trip tables and observed transit link volumes are used in a linear programming model which serves as a correction mechanism. The gain in accuracy is achieved by using the ridership information contained in the transit link volumes. The corrected trip tables may be used in a pivot-point analysis to estimate changes in ridership and revenue. The results of a test application of the model system indicate that it can generate accurate ridership estimates when reliable transit link volumes are available from on-off counts, and when the trial transit trip tables as derived from the first three component models are reasonably accurate.     

An investigation into the suitability of an enclosed seaport for cruise ships the case of Leith

This paper considers port infrastructure, in terms of the physical limitations placed on vessel size, at the major cruise ship ports in northern Europe. Physical design characteristics and vessel size restrictions common to these ports are identified. The same physical design charactersitics and vessels limitations are considered in the context of a port with cruise ship ambitions, viz. Leith. The subsequent analysis suggests that infrastructure design weaknesses at a given port, in this case the presence of an entrance lock and tidal delay, may act as a deterrent to cruise ships. Primary data gathered from cruise lines and from observation of cruise ship activity at Leith supports this hypothesis. These findings have implications for both seaports and cruise lines.     

The political economy of ports in the United States and Great Britain

Abstract

This is an exploration of the political economy of ports in the United States and Great Britain. A number of technical, economic, and political issues concerning ports are examined. Particular attention is paid to the institutional evolution of ports from private to public ownership, and its consequences for port efficiency. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations designed to reverse the trend toward port nationalization in both countries.