Organizational form and performance in urban mass transit

Ownership and management for urban mass transit organizations have taken many forms over the years, with publicly‐owned and managed systems now dominant. In recent years, however, strong economic and political forces have increased pressures for privatizing urban mass transit services. This review analyses 20 studies from three countries (predominantly the U.S.A.) on the relationship between organizational form and fixed‐route bus transit performance. It concludes that previous research has not made a persuasive case for the whole‐scale privatization of either ownership or management of urban mass transit organization. Conclusions here are intended to apply to the U.S.A. as well as other countries with mixed enterprise systems in which choices about organizational form may have some consequence for performance.     

Restructuring the Greek Railways: Current Progress and Evaluation of Alternative Schemes

Abstract

This paper presents the rationale, the method, and the alternative choices in the process of restructuring the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE). The most likely alternative structures regarding ownership and management issues of the new entities that will inherit the old OSE organization, and discusses the strategic implications of these alternatives are discussed. A critical view of the process of Greek railway reform and the evaluation results of the alternative organizational structures for the new situation are presented. It first presents the current experience in European Union and other countries of Europe, and the relative position of the Greek railways vis‐à‐vis the most common practices. The most likely options for the new organizational structure are presented which will result from the application of the European Union Directives and the Greek Law 2671/98 for the reorganization of the Greek railways. Based on a more detailed presentation of expected income and expenditures (i.e. economic viability) of the alternatives, a structure and a roadmap to these reforms is recommended for a successful and, above all ‘implementable’, reform of the Greek railways under the current conditions. Finally, the process for change and restructuring is described in terms of the basic principles and procedures that should be followed, and in terms of the necessary steps and procedures for the transition from the current to the new situation.     

Strategic management of organizational turnarounds in the transit industry

The traditional wisdom that there are increasing returns to scale among bus transit systems has been shaken with recent research findings. The implication from the literature is that unless many transit systems restructure along new organizational lines the financial and service provision difficulties will continue. Very few public transit systems have attempted to strategically manage change and turnaround organizationally.The objectives of this research were to identify the salient factors in organizational turnarounds and to determine whether these factors were evident within transit organizations that have attempted to manage change strategically. The author reviewed the corporate turnaround literature and conducted four case studies of strategic planning/management within the transit industry.All four cases exhibited organizational declines or perceived declines as imminent. They initiated turnarounds through reorganizations and efforts at strategic management. The reorganizations that occurred at all four cases were relatively minor, involving some changes in function. Only minor changes in management occurred and commitment to strategic management varied. Strategic objectives were not quantifiable. All of the cases could have improved their communication below the middle-management levels. The measures of performance in general did not relate a specific strategy and program to a particular turnaround effect. Through management commitment and some minor organizational restructuring two cases achieved some degree of turnaround. Total commitment to strategic management, organizational change, adequate communication, and accurate performance measures are keys to definitive turnarounds.     

Taxicab operating characteristics in the United States

In 1982, a national survey of U.S. taxicab operators was conducted. This survey sought to assess the economic, operational and organizational status of the industry and to determine how these characteristics have been changing in response to rising costs and an economic recession. Two results of this survey are reported in this paper; the size structure and the organization of the industry. Both of these characteristics show that it has recently been undergoing two fundamental changes. These are the rapid switch away from employees as drivers to independent contractor drivers and decreasing average company size.     

Economic organization of intermodal transport

The paper considers in detail strategic changes occurring in the organizational context of intermodal transportation and discusses the application of economic approaches (primarily transaction-cost economics) for assessing the effectiveness of the appropriate governance structure in organizing the intermodal transport economic system. The paper reviews the developments in intermodal transportation, particularly in the context of logistics and supply chain management, and recognizes the trend for the formation of one-stop shopping megacarriers spurred by deregulation and market requirements. This culminates in the need to consider how companies should organize the economic governance of the intermodal transport system. The main governance structures include market (subcontracting) or hierarchy (internal organization). The transaction-cost economics approach is reviewed and applied at a conceptual level to provide the core basis upon which the assessment of the optimal governance structure in intermodal transport can be based. The review of the core economic principles indicates that the governance structure in intermodal transport is dependent on transaction costs, production costs and strategic considerations that a particular structure might entail and the policy implications thereof. The potential for empirical research in the application of the transaction-cost economics approach to intermodal transport is discussed and detailed direction for further empirical research is provided as well as discussion of policy implications particularly with respect to competition and antitrust.     

Control Concepts for Facilitating Motorway On-ramp Merging Using Intelligent Vehicles

Abstract

Congestion at motorway junctions is a traffic phenomenon that degrades operation of infrastructure and can lead to breakdown of traffic flow and associated reduction in capacity. Advanced communication technologies open new possibilities to prevent or at least delay this phenomenon, and innovative active traffic management systems have been developed in the recent years for better control of motorway traffic. This paper presents a review of control strategies for facilitating motorway on-ramp merging using intelligent vehicles. First, the concepts of the control algorithms are reviewed chronologically divided into three types of intelligent vehicle: completely automated, equipped with cooperative adaptive cruise control and equipped with on-board display. Then, a common structure is identified, and the algorithms are presented based on their characteristics in order to identify similarities, dissimilarities, trends and possible future research directions. Finally, using a similar approach, a review of the methods used to evaluate these control strategies identifies important aspects that should be considered by further research on this topic.     

Do the organizational forms affect passenger satisfaction? Evidence from Chinese public transport service

This paper presents a discussion on the relationship between organizational forms (including the ownership structure and the contractual practices) and passenger satisfaction of Chinese public transport service. To test this proposition, an original rich data set covering 4702 respondents and 58 public transport operators of 13 cities for the period 2013–2014 is used. We firstly estimate the passenger satisfaction based on customer satisfaction theory and PLS-SEM, and then take into consideration the mixed logit model to assess the effect between them. Conclusions drawn from the study are summarized as follows: ① The effect of organizational forms on the passenger satisfaction of public transport service is confirmed. ② Public transport services franchised to public ownership offer higher passenger satisfaction than those franchised to private ownership and mixed ownership. ③ Public transport services regulated by the management contracts incite more passenger satisfaction than those regulated by net cost contracts and gross cost contracts.     

大型建设工程项目的设计管理组织研究

研究了大型工程项目设计管理的组织结构及若干个重要的管理流程。大型工程项目的设计管理组织结构中应设置专门的设计协调组、纳入投资监理和业主方的合约财务处参与工作;为确保设计计划管理的执行,要制定专门的设计进度管理流程;必须严格制订和执行施工图质量控制流程,以确保设计成果的可靠性,还应制订设计变更的管理流程,严格控制变更对项目工程进度和投资的影响,并加强业主方项目经理对设计变更的管理和控制。     

On user charges for highway financing

At both the federal and state levels, the main source of highway infrastructure financing has been from road-user charges, particularly in the form of fuel taxes. Although there are widespread differences from state to state in highway user charge structures, the formof these structures, in most states, has remained basically unchanged ever since such charges were introduced several decades ago. Changes in vehicle characteristics and usage, economic changes and concernsof energy conservation, and environmental protection have made an impact on the methods of user charges that have been traditionally used. This paper surveys current practices of user charges in the U.S. and reviews their appropriateness in the light of the changes that have occured and would continue to occur in the next decade or even in the next century. A possible future policy direction on highway user charge structure that can incorporate the technological and other emerging developments is then examined.     

Organizational adoption behavior of CO2-saving power train technologies: An empirical study on the German heavy-duty vehicles market

This study analyzes the preference structure of buyer groups that influences their willingness to select CO₂-saving power train technologies for medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles (HDV). Based on the Technology–Organization–Environment framework for organizational adoption decision making and organizational buying criteria a theoretical construct was developed. Variables were validated in exploratory preliminary research and subsequently tested based on factor analysis using 27 survey items in a quantitative web-based study among 177 organizations operating HDV in Germany. Knowledge, experience, use and purchase consideration concerning alternative power train technologies and further measures to reduce fuel consumption were additionally queried. Based on a multiple linear regression analysis, key findings show that at the current stage of market maturity environmental attitude and corporate social responsibility exert the strongest significant influence on willingness to select CO₂-saving power train technologies. A hierarchical cluster analysis revealed six customer groups in order to yield behavioral market segmentation. Hereby it is shown that the performed transportation tasks do not determine the preference structures. Early adopting organizations are larger than average and driven by non-economic aspects as image or corporate social responsibility, whereas the mass market awaits lower purchasing prices. Crossing this chasm will be a major challenge for policymaker and manufacturers.     

Remaking transportation organizations for the 21st century: consortia and the value of organizational learning

The US faces a number of important issues in the way it organizes and manages transportation facilities and services. A key issue is how to create organizations that pay attention to customers and focus on results and performance. However, these two organizational characteristics are often difficult to achieve in formal organizations like governments, which are bound by requirements for procedural integrity. This paper examines a way out of this dilemma: transportation organizations can participate in voluntary consortia, which may offer more flexibility and adaptability and facilitate organizational learning. To gain new insights into the potential benefits of voluntary consortia this paper examines two case studies of transportation-related voluntary consortia, taking an organizational learning perspective. It concludes that although further research is needed, consortia may offer many benefits, including their ability to provide a quick, low-threat response to changing conditions.     

A bottom-up solution for the multi-facility optimal pavement resurfacing problem

Transportation infrastructure management has been a subject of growing economic importance in recent years due to the magnitude of agency expenditures. Increasingly sophisticated methods have been developed to model pavement deterioration and solve for optimal management strategies. However, it is unclear whether these more complex methods are providing more useful results. This paper presents a simple approach for optimizing the frequency and intensity of resurfacing for multiple highway facilities. It builds upon existing optimization methods for the single-facility, continuous-state, continuous-time problem and corresponding results, which include a threshold structure for optimal solutions. This threshold structure allows for mathematical simplifications and for a straightforward optimization approach to be applied to the multi-facility case. The approach is bottom-up rather than top-down, preserving facility-specific features to develop informative budget allocation results. Application of the approach in a case study indicates that solutions are likely to be robust to deterioration model uncertainty, which is consistent with previous facility-level findings. In addition, the methodology is shown to be robust to the form of the deterioration model.     

Advanced freight transportation systems for congested urban areas

Urban freight transportation constitutes both an extremely important and a rather disturbing activity. Increasingly, one observes efforts to measure and control freight movements within city centers. We introduce a possible organizational and technological framework for the integrated management of urban freight transportation and identify important associated planning and operation issues and models. We then describe a formulation for one of these problems, the design of the proposed logistical structure, and discuss algorithmic and implementation issues. Our model city and challenge is Rome.     

Organizational effects of experience from accidents. Learning in the aftermath of the Tretten and Åsta train accidents

This article explores possible signs on learning in organizations following two major railway accidents in Norway, the Tretten accident in 1975 and the Åsta accident in 2000. These are the most serious railway accidents to have occurred in the past decades and both involved collisions on a single track system. The two events have been analyzed and compared in order to investigate possible learning effects and possible differences in learning given the 25-year span between them. The study is based on the analysis of selected documents related to the accidents in general and the narrative components in the documentation related to learning in particular.Our findings indicate that learning from these events was not expressed as an explicit goal in the aftermath. Learning in these cases seems to be linked for a large part to a change in measures, technical, operational and organizational, but we have not observed any managed confirmation or comprehension processes. The Tretten accident report suggests that the possibility of human error should be mitigated through the implementation of technological barriers, while it omits all other elaborations and risk reducing measures. The Åsta accident report recommended that the work to introduce modern safety management principles that had already been initiated before the accident should be continued. Neither of the accidents yielded any new insights and the knowledge brought forward was merely perceived as confirmation of already-agreed changes.     

Issues on railway wagon asset management using advanced information systems

Wagon fleet is an essential component of the railways business. Motivated by the recent concern on freight wagon management in Europe and based on the experience from the deployment and pilot demonstrations of an advanced wagon management system in Europe, the current work presents main technological and organizational issues associated with a wagon pool, created and used by a railway operator partnership. The results include the identification of the essential hardware and software requirements for the implementation of such a system (user/wagon reservation, track-and-trace and energy-saver equipment, loading/unloading sensors, wagon dispatching and delay management functionalities) as well as the outcome of the investigation of significant organizational aspects of the system (imbalance between wagon offer and wagon demand, fair allocation of benefits among the users of the system, savings that can be achieved thanks to estimated time of arrival information, consideration of reliability metrics into the optimal empty wagons allocation problem).     

新加坡城市公共交通管理对广西的启示

文章从组织管理与规划管理两方面介绍了新加坡城市公共交通管理的成功经验,分析了该经验给广西城市公共交通管理所带来的启示,提出了广西城市公共交通的发展策略。     

城市道路隧道悬臂桩围护结构方案分析

在软弱地层中采用明挖法修建隧道时围护结构方案的选择是关键环节之一。文章结合昆明三环路下穿成昆铁路的隧道工程,通过对放坡明挖法、带支撑的钻孔桩围护结构、悬臂桩围护结构的比较,研究分析了城市隧道建设中采用悬臂桩围护结构的优越性及其技术特点。     

Influences on commuter trip departure time decisions in Singapore

This paper provides empirical evidence to support the widely held view that institutional factors such as official work start times and staggered working hours are powerful policy tools in traffic management and in influencing travel behaviour. This approach is to be preferred over continued investment in infrastructure given the scarcity of land in Singapore. A more efficient use of existing infrastructure could be achieved by spreading peak travel. Full utilisation of the Mass Rapid Transit will depend on changing the commuter's perception on multi mode travel in addition to using public transport. While many studies have been carried out on modal choice, research on commuter trip departure decisions have been few and remain largely least understood. This paper employs multinomial logit and simultaneous nested logit analysis to model the choice of departure time (using household data collected in Singapore in 1983). Preliminary findings show that schedule delay, travel cost, and journey time to be important influences on commuter's choice of trip departure time to work. Some difficulties are highlighted and suggestions for further research are made.     

双车道公路盾构隧道管片合理分块型式研究

文章以双车道公路盾构隧道为例,设计了三种不同分块型式的管片结构,并采用梁-弹簧模型模拟装配式管片结构,借助于有限元法分析了在不同拼装方式下管片结构的力学特性;通过对内力和变形的分析比较,并综合考虑设计、施工及其造价等因素,认为在最不利荷载作用下的管片结构宜采用10块分块型式;管片结构的正负弯矩值相差很大,故宜将内外两侧的钢筋分开进行配筋设计。     

Analysis of the efficiency of local government services delivery. An application to urban public transport

In recent years in the European Union (EU), we have witnessed an externalization process of the provision of local government services, in order to separate the political responsibility and the direct delivery of the service. The reasons that justify this process are focused on the belief that the private sector is more efficient in carrying out economic activities, the pressure to reduce the public deficit and the public debt, the search for management systems that bypass public administration procedures, and the increase of control on local governments in auditing and accountability issues.The objective of this paper is to compare the efficiency of public and private sectors in the provision of urban transportation services. This paper shows the results of an empirical study commissioned by the Regional Audit Office of Catalonia (Spain), in order to evaluate the efficiency with which urban transportation services are delivered in the most important cities of this region. This efficiency study has been carried out using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, multiple linear regression and logit and cluster analysis. The results allow us to conclude that, in the cities studied, exogenous factors are not relevant and the private management of urban transport service is not more efficient than public management.