The salience of megaregional geographies for inter-metropolitan transportation planning and policy making

Researchers have argued that megaregions are a crucial spatial scale to address infrastructure modernization, growth management, economic development and environmental impacts because processes affecting these domains are highly concentrated within megaregional spaces. This paper evaluates the conceptual issues and policy salience of megaregional planning in the U.S. by analyzing the results of a 2018 survey of 382 designated MPOs. Drawing upon the survey results, we find support for the notion that MPO partnerships operating at the megaregional scale are somewhat widespread and involve MPOs along with other partners, like state DOTs and councils of governments. A subset of common concerns—especially multi-modal freight, major transportation corridors, economic development, intercity rail service, and air quality—appear to motivate megaregional partnerships. MPOs were most likely to engage in megaregion-scale collaborations requiring relatively low levels organizational time and resources versus more substantive collaborative efforts to develop joint plans or coordinated project investments. At the same time, few MPO respondents viewed megaregional scale planning collaborations as a high priority or as highly effective. For the majority of MPOs, it appears likely that the costs of such collaborations currently outweigh prospective benefits. Survey respondents identified increasing staff funding, requiring state DOTs’ statewide plans to address megaregional issues, and facilitating and enabling inter-local agreements for megaregional planning as actions that would enhance the salience and effectiveness of megaregional planning. These actions will likely occur only if planning at this scale is embraced as an important priority by federal and state policy makers.     

The impact of high-speed rail investment on economic and environmental change in China: A dynamic CGE analysis

This study investigates the impact of high-speed rail investment on the economy and environment in China using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The analysis is implemented in a dynamic recursive framework capturing long-run capital accumulation and labor market equilibrium. A national level impact was simulated through direct impact drivers including land use conversion, output expansion, cost reduction, productivity increase, transport demand substitution and induced demand. The results suggest that rail investment in China over the past decade has been a positive stimulus to the economy, while the effect on CO₂ emissions generation has been large. Overall, the economic impacts of rail investment are achieved primarily through induced demand and output expansion, whereas the contribution from a reduction of rail transportation costs and rail productivity increases were modest. In addition, negligible negative impacts were found from land use for rail development and the substitution effect among other modes. Emissions reduction from substitution of rail for other modes was small and offset by output expansion due to lowered rail transport costs and induced demand.     

Consideration of high-speed rail service in the United States

A number of states have placed high-speed rail service on their institutional agendas in recent years. Analysis of why some states have been giving serious consideration to the possibility of high-speed rail service while other states have not examined economic and political forces, as well as the transportation problem environment and established transportation commitments. States paying serious attention to high-speed rail service tend to have large populations and large land areas, two of the most fundamental aspects of the transportation task environment.     

An investigation into the feasibility of increasing rail use as an alternative to the car

With rail travel largely seen to be a more sustainable method than road-based transport, this paper examines the market segments amongst existing motorists that would be most likely to travel by train in the UK. The analysis is based on a large survey in London and the south-east of England, the area surrounding the routes operated by the train company First Capital Connect. Findings show that train travellers tend to be middle-aged and of a higher social grade, typically taking commuting or business trips. Individuals living within four miles of a station are considerably more likely to travel by rail than those further away. Given the competition from road-based transport, it is of particular interest that the measure highlighted to increase rail use for those living further away from the rail network is to enhance car parking at train stations.     

An analysis of rail freight operational efficiency and mode share in the British port-hinterland container market

The growth in container shipping poses considerable challenges to efforts to reduce the negative externalities associated with freight transport. There are particular concerns about the impacts of the associated port-hinterland freight flows. Through empirical research, this paper examines trends in the operational efficiency of the British port-hinterland container rail freight market and to assess the impacts of any changes on the overall sustainability of this market. Original survey work conducted in 2007 and 2015 has allowed longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the characteristics of this market.The survey findings reveal that rail’s mode share of port container throughput (in TEU) has increased from 14.7% in 2007 to 16.6% in 2015 and it is likely that its share of the associated hinterland activity has also risen. Rail was carrying 25% more TEU by 2015 without an increase in train service provision. Increases in mean train capacity and mean load factor were observed, leading to growth in the mean train load from 44 TEU in 2007 to 55 TEU in 2015. This considerable improvement in operational efficiency is expected to have reduced the negative externalities per unit of transport activity associated with the rail-borne hinterland container flows, though scope is identified for further improvements in sustainability.     

Rate base and rate of return methodologies for determining reasonable rates for captive rail traffic

Proponents of Stand-Alone Costs (SAC) as the maximum limit on rates for captive rail traffic under the Staggers Act propose to use the replacement Cost Annuity (RCA) methodology to measure SAC rather than the pre-existing ICC rate base methodology, Net original Cost (NOC). The case for using the RCA methodology argues that the resulting very large write-up of the rail industry rate base would not constitute a windfall gain to the carriers and would be economically efficient. The rationale for RCA, however, is based on a number of questionable assumptions. Although the case for RCA denies the relevance of the history of rail regulation, the transition problem cannot be ignored in establishing a reasonable rate for captive shippers in the transition to a less regulated rail industry. A “compensated switch” to Trended Original Cost (TOC) is proposed for the rail industry.     

Energy consumption in China’s logistics industry: A decomposition analysis using the LMDI approach

The logistics industry plays a critical role in boosting China’s economic development, although at significant externality costs. Using the 1980–2010 data, we examine the historical evolution of energy consumption in China’s logistics industry. The logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method was used to analyze the key factors that drove the chronicle changes in logistics energy consumption in China. Changes in energy consumption of China’s logistics industry are attributed to growth in logistics activity, modal shift in freight transportation, increases in transport intensity, and overall improvements in energy intensity: (1) China’s logistics industry enjoyed fast growth with an average annual growth rate of 9.65% from 1980 to 2010. Increase in logistics activity has been the major force driving up logistics energy consumption (accounting for 48.8% of logistics energy increase); (2) Logistics energy consumption increased by 22.91 times, averaging at 11.9% growth per year. Fuel consumption in highway transportation has become more dominant in logistics energy consumption; (3) While changes in logistics activities, transportation modes and transport intensity pushed up logistics energy consumptions, improvements in energy intensity helped significantly to curb the energy rise in China’s logistics industry.     

Do Public Transport Improvements Increase Agglomeration Economies? A Review of Literature and an Agenda for Research

Public transport improvements may increase economic productivity if they enable the growth and densification of cities, downtowns, or industrial clusters and thereby increase external agglomeration economies. It has been argued that the potential agglomeration benefits are large; if so, understanding them better would be useful in making funding decisions about public transport improvements. We reviewed theoretical and empirical literature on agglomeration as well as a small number of articles on transportation's role in agglomeration. The theoretical literature is useful in understanding possible avenues by which transportation improvements might affect agglomeration, although there is little discussion of public transport specifically. Relevant empirical studies tend to focus on metropolitan regions and use a generalized measure of transportation cost. But public transport impacts on agglomeration are likely to be different from road investment impacts. We identified several ways of conducting research building on this literature that would help evaluate the agglomeration impacts of public transport proposals: tracing the links between transport, agglomeration, and productivity; better motivating research using theories of agglomeration mechanisms; taking scale and redistribution into account; exploring the functional form of agglomeration economies; accounting for endogeneity in model structure; and considering development context.     

The role of transportation sectors in the Korean national economy: An input-output analysis

The transportation industry has been playing an important role in the economic development of Korea and, thus, has become a critical factor in sustaining the well-being of the Korean people. This paper attempts to analyze the economic impacts of four transportation modes using input-output (I-O) analysis, with specific application to Korea. To this end, we apply the I-O models to the Korean I-O tables generated by the Bank of Korea, paying particular attention to the four transportation sectors in Korea (rail, road, water, and air transportations), considering them as exogenous, and then determining their impacts. Specifically, the production-inducing effects, supply shortage effects, sectoral price effects, forward linkage effects, and backward linkage effects of the four transportation modes are quantitatively derived over the period 2000–2010. For example, the production-inducing effect of a KRW 1.0 production or investment in transportation is larger in the petroleum and transportation equipment sectors than in other sectors. Furthermore, the rail and road transportation sectors have greater supply shortage effects than the other transportation sectors. Finally, the potential uses of the results of this analysis are presented from the perspective of policy instruments, and policy implications are discussed.     

Empirical analysis of transportation investment and economic development at state, county and municipality levels

Numerous studies have found positive correlation between transportation infrastructure investment and economic development. Basically these studies use a conventional production function model augmented by a public capital input, mainly highways, rail and other transportation facilities. While the range of the measured economic growth effects varies widely among studies, the positive elasticity between transportation investment and economic development is now commonly accepted. Still a major puzzling issue is that the magnitude of the measured effect seems to decline significantly as the econometric model is further refined, mainly with regard to space and time lags. That is, the use of national or state data produces elasticity results, which are much larger than when using county or municipality data. Similarly, when we introduce into the econometric model a lag between the times when the transportation investments are made and when the economic benefits transpire, the measured elasticities decline with the size of the lag. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to investigate these issues analytically and empirically and provide a plausible explanation. We do so by using alternative econometric models, applying them to a database, which is composed of longitudinal state, county and municipality observations from 1990 to 2000. The key result is that transportation investments produce strong spillover effects relative to space and time. Unless these factors are properly accounted for many reported empirical results are likely to be overly biased, with important policy implications.     

Rail freight transportation: A review of recent optimization models for train routing and empty car distribution

This paper describes two types of rail transportation problems in detail. These are train routing and makeup, and empty car distribution problems. Some of the recent optimization models which address these problems are reviewed and the areas for potential improvements in rail transportation literature are identified. The type of interactions which exist between routing, makeup, and empty car distribution decisions are highlighted and potential areas for future research are identified.     

Regulatory reform and freight mode choice

Reform of trucking Vehicle Weights and Dimensions (VWD) regulations in Canada is now underway. The effect these reforms will have on the freight transportation industry are only recently the subject of research. This paper is part of this new research effort, aimed at understanding how regulatory reform in the trucking sector will affect the existing competitive relationship between trucks and the railways. The paper presents the results of study and research into modelling the relationship between mode choice and the service characteristics that are affected by VWD reform.Using several periods of data, a series of econometric models are developed which help to elucidate the relative relationships between the mode service characteristics for both of the principal interprovincial freight modes. A technique is developed and presented to model railway user costs in order to overcome the complex and often unrepresentable pricing activities of Canadian railways.The strength of the developed econometric models is presented, including their significance and statistical reliability. This is further reinforced by the similarities exhibited by all the models in the series. The selected model is applied to predict market service responses required of the railway industry in order to compete with the trucking sector now adapting to the new regulations.The impact of the newly implemented vehicle weight and dimension reform on the rail transportation industry is analyzed and railway industry improvements aimed at maintaining its market share are presented. The results predicted by the model show that railway user cost reductions should be moderate, and likely less than the level of inflation over the period of time when trucking converts its fleet to take advantage of the new regulations.Abbreviations AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials - CCMTA Canadian Conference of Motor Transport Administrators - EPI End products, inedible commodity classification - GVW Gross Vehicle Weight - NA 1988 VWD National Agreement - RTAC Roads and Transportation Association of Canada - VWD Vehicle Weight(s) and Dimension(s) - WA 1988 VWD Western Agreement     

甘肃省道路运输市场化水平分析及建议

文章参考当前国内经济市场化程度测评指标体系,结合道路运输业发展特点及实际,构建了道路运输市场化评价指标体系,并利用该指标体系对甘肃省道路运输市场化发展水平进行了定量分析,综合测算了当前甘肃省道路运输市场化进程的阶段性成果。同时,针对当前甘肃省道路运输市场发展中存在的问题,提出了推进道路运输发展的对策。     

Investigating the market for inter-modal freight technologies

Freight carried by rail has traditionally been mainly low value bulk commodities. The market for transport of such commodities appears at best static and is forming a smaller proportion of the total demand for freight transport. There is thus an urgent need for rail operators to develop practical and cost effective inter-modal systems, which offer high quality services to consignors of consumer goods whose premises are not usually connected to the rail network. Much long-haul traffic of this type is international. In continental Europe, a number of inter-modal technologies—including swapbodies and piggyback—have long been in use. Development of similar technologies for use within the more constrained loading gauge of Great Britain, has received a great boost from the impending opening of the Channel Tunnel. The alternative technologies are discussed, before turning to ways of stimating the market for them. A large part of the paper is devoted to reporting on a computerised survey using our LASP (Leeds Adaptive Stated Preference) technique. The reason for using hypothetical Stated Preference data is the inadequate nature and extent of data on actual choice decisions, particularly in circumstances in which confidential freight rates are individually negotiated and little general merchandise goes by rail. By bringing together the results of this survey with information on costs and quality of service, the likely future market for inter-modal freight technologies is assessed. It is seen that the potential for inter-modal services within Britain is very limited, although there should be a good opportunity on the major corridor from London to Scotland through the West Midlands and the North West. When the Channel Tunnel is opened, however, the potential for services between Britain and continental Europe will be enormous, provided that an adequate quality of service can be offered.     

Enhancing the developmental impact of rail transit

A number of forces currently at work in the United States are fostering the rebirth of urban rail transportation. In order to maximize the beneficial economic and developmental impact of future rail investment, certain procedures and techniques must be employed in the planning, design, and implementation of rail systems. The paper offers a set of guidelines and principles for transportation and land use policy makers.     

Willingness to pay for public transportation options for improving the quality of life of the rural elderly

Transportation for the rural elderly is an increasing concern as baby boomers age and young people continue to exit rural communities. When the elderly are no longer able to drive, they rely on alternative forms of transportation, including public transportation systems. Currently, such systems are usually not good substitutes for driving a private car, especially in rural areas. Because expanded rural transportation systems would likely be funded by taxpayers, an understanding of their preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for non-medical transportation options is essential. To help understand WTP and preferences, a choice experiment survey was administered to taxpayers in three counties (Atascosa, Polk, and Parker) in Texas. Results indicate taxpayers’ value transportation services for the elderly and are willing to support them. They value more flexible options over base levels of the attributes presented, but they may not always prefer the most flexible options. Respondents’ WTP for the same transportation attribute was similar across counties, but differences in socio-demographic coefficients suggest that transportation systems may need to be customized to meet local needs. Furthermore, county residents’ WTP may not cover the cost of desired improvements to the transportation systems.     

A comparison of the sustainability of public and private transportation systems: Study of the Greater Toronto Area

A macroscopic assessment of the impacts of private and public transportation systems on the sustainability of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is undertaken from economic, environmental and social perspectives. The methodology draws upon the urban metabolism and sustainability indicators approaches to assessing urban sustainability, but compares modes in terms of passenger-kms. In assessing the economic sustainability of a city, transportation should be recognized as a product, a driver and a cost. In 1993, the traded costs of automobile use in the GTA were approximately balanced by the value of the automobile parts and assembly industry. But local transit costs 1/3 to 1/6 of the auto costs per person-km, in traded dollars, mainly because local labour is the primary cost.Public transportation is more sustainable from an environmental perspective. Automobile emissions are a major contributor to air pollution, which is a serious contemporary environmental health problem in Toronto. Public transportation modes are less energy intensive (including indirect energy consumption) and produce CO₂ at an order of magnitude lower, although these benefits are partially undermined by under-utilization of transit capacity and the source of electricity generation.The social benefits of automobile use are likely more significant than costs in determining GTA residents' preferential mode choice. The speed and access of auto use provide important economic benefits, e.g. relating to employment and product choice. Nevertheless, offsetting the service attributes of private transportation are large social costs in terms of accidents. The costs of automobile insurance provide one tangible measure of such negative impacts.In order to improve the sustainability of the GTA, innovative approaches are required for improving the performance level of public transportation or substantially reducing the need for the service level provided by automobiles. Efforts such as greater integration of bicycles with public transit, or construction of light-rail systems in wide roadways, might be considered. But to be sustainable overall, a transportation system has to be flexible and adaptable and so must combine a mixture of modes.     

Testing the decentralization effects of rail systems: Empirical findings from Israel

Many sustainable urban development approaches are based on mass public transportation ventures, especially railway development, which has been considered a panacea for the unfavorable effects of suburban development. But rail transit also improves accessibility to the fringes, thus encouraging an exodus to the suburbs. This paper explores suburbanization and sprawling effect of commuter rail transit on the rural exurbia of the Tel Aviv metropolis by analyzing its effect on residential location decisions. The findings indicate that the suburban rail system was a determinant factor in the location choice of households which migrated from the inner parts of the Tel Aviv metropolis, since it allowed them to maintain strong commuting connections to their residential origin. This suggests that rail transit, along with its potential to strengthen the inner cities, also accelerates suburbanization and counter urbanization.     

State regulation of railroads

The scope of state authority to regulate railroads tends to be broader in states with relatively concentrated populations and in states where economic sectors likely to ship by rail, especially mining, are relatively small. Regulatory scope is generally not related to the size of the railroad industry, number of railroads, or ideological-cultural factors.