我们对"强制险"公共决策的质疑

7月1日,乳名"强制险"的"机动车交通事故责任强制保险",在七嘴八舌吵了两年之后,终于以国务院行政法规的名义,不容分辩地走进1亿多车主的生活.再过三个月,没有购买"强制险"的车主,将面临被"法办"的危险.车主的"不幸",正是我们每个可能会成为受害人的公众的"大幸".我们对中国第一个国家法定险的诞生表示欢迎,却对它分娩前后的公共决策,多有质疑.     

为公共出行管理"放管服"叫好

进入2021年,北京多区陆续撤销公共自行车运营.一位居住在昌平区回龙观的居民向昌平城管委咨询,昌平会不会随之退出?2021年5月4日,北京市昌平区城管委给出了回复.回复是这样说的: 根据市委市政府《关于研究取消本市公共自行车补贴有关工作的会议纪要》(第338号)文件的要求,自2021年1月1日起,全市所有公共自行车停止运营补贴.     

你家门口的公共自行车 "退役"了吗?

近日,北京市西城区、内蒙古呼和浩特市公共自行车将退出运营的消息引发社会关注.在此之前,武汉、广州等地的公共自行车早已相继宣告退出. "公共自行车"(Public Bicycle) ,或 "自行车共享"(Bike Sharing) 的概念最早起源于欧洲.在1965 年(也有文献称1967年),荷兰阿姆斯特丹一个无政府主义组织将一些涂成白色、没有上锁的自行车放在公共区域,期望供人们长期免费使用,称为 "白色自行车计划".     

从汤"纳粹"到票"纳粹"--话说美国的服务态度

从中国来到美国,感到一个明显的区别是商业服务的质量和态度. 不是说中国的不好,中国的商业服务,依仗着劳力多,倒是有一些美国的商业不能相比的,比如大件货物给你免费送货上门.在这方面来说,中国确实很方便.但是在顾客是上帝这方面,美国一般来说有很多做法是中国的商业服务业所缺乏的,比如退货不问理由,店员服务态度良好等等.     

"治超"进行时--"治超"近期动态综述

全国集中治超工作取得重要成效 记者在9月21日召开的全国交通系统治理车辆超限超载办公室主任座谈会上了解到,自去年6月20日以来,在国家各有关部门和广大一线执法人员的共同努力下,全国集中治超工作取得了重要成效.     

"长安"夫如何"西北"青未了--关于原西安公路交通大学的旧事重提

在长安大学"两办"办公楼--会展中心的大厅左侧墙上挂着一个杜甫<望岳>诗的框匾,诗的首联不用说是"岱宗夫如何,齐鲁青未了"了.     

北京公交一卡通背水一战

近日,北京市公交印刷厂对自己的前途陷入了迷茫.这家始建于1951年的印刷厂,目前承担着几乎所有公交车、地铁、城铁车月票的印刷.     

The effects of AVL accuracy upon public service bus system performance

Through an examination of the dependence of several key performance parameters of a public bus system upon Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) estimation accuracy, it becomes possible to place in perspective the value of AVL technology to improved public conveyance performance. Important bus transportation system performance measures dependent upon AVL estimation accuracy are: (1) Headway Control Error; (2) Time-Of-Passage Error, and (3) Required Layover Reserve. An analytical model of the dependence of these bus system performance measures upon AVL estimation error has been constructed. In addition, error models of three basic types of AVL systems, i.e., dead reckoning, proximity, and radio location have been developed and validated by experimental comparisons. By employing both sets of models, i.e. for the bus transport and AVL systems it becomes possible to recommend appropriate AVL technologies that best meet the performance requirements of a public bus service. The accompanying text synopsizes the noted models and provides an example of their use.     

An analysis of public bus transit performance in Indian cities

Maintaining and enhancing public transit service in Indian cities is important, to meet rapidly growing mass mobility needs, and curb personal motor vehicle activity and its impacts at low cost. Indian cities rely predominantly on buses for public transport, and are likely to continue to do so for years. However, the public bus transit service is inadequate, and unaffordable for the urban poor. The paper explores the factors that contribute to and affect efforts to improve this situation, based on an analysis of the financial and operational performance of the public bus transit service in the four metropolitan centres and four secondary cities during the 1990s. Overall, there were persistent losses, owing to increasing input costs and declining productivity. The losses occurred despite rapidly increasing fares, and ridership declined. The situation, and the ability to address it, is worse in the secondary cities than the metropolitan centres. We suggest a disaggregated approach based on the needs and motivations of different groups in relation to public transit, along with improved operating conditions and policies to internalize costs of personal motor vehicle use, to address the challenge of providing financially viable and affordable public bus transit service.     

What does a one-month free bus ticket do to habitual drivers? An experimental analysis of habit and attitude change

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a temporary structural change would induce a lasting increase in drivers' public transport use. An experiment targeting 43 drivers was carried out, in which a one-month free bus ticket was given to 23 drivers in an experimental group but not to 20 drivers in a control group. Attitudes toward, habits of, and frequency of using automobile and bus were measured immediately before, immediately after, and one month after the one-month long intervention. The results showed that attitudes toward bus were more positive and that the frequency of bus use increased, whereas the habits of using automobile decreased from before the intervention, even one month after the intervention period. Furthermore, the increase in habitual bus use had the largest effect on the increase in the frequency of bus use. The results suggest that a temporary structural change, such as offering auto drivers a temporary free bus ticket, may be an important travel demand management tool for converting automotive travel demand to public-transport travel demand.     

Efficiency of the public and private bus transport sectors in Sri Lanka

The public and private bus sectors are in direct competition in most bus routes in Sri Lanka. Consequently, Sri Lanka is an ideal location to study their relative efficiencies. Five dimensions of transit performance are analyzed for comparing the relative efficiencies of the two sectors: cost efficiency, labour efficiency, input efficiency, revenue generation and safety. Productivity ratios are utilized for measuring the dimensions of transit performance. The productivity ratios for cost efficiency, labour efficiency in terms of total staff, input efficiency, revenue generation and safety in terms of accidents per bus showed the private bus transport sector to be more efficient than the public bus transport sector.     

A fuzzy multicriteria model to evaluate the privatization of the public bus operations

A double model based on fuzzy synthetic decision and a fuzzy multicriteria decision is presented for this study. In a basic level decision, we use a fuzzy synthetic decision to reduce the sub-criteria calculation work. In a higher level decision, the approximation reasoning allows the decision maker to make his best choice. These methods are more in accordance with the thinking processes of the human mind when complex issues are involved. Therefore, this paper will use a fuzzy linguistic approach, instead of the traditional approach to avoid the interference of the numerical estimates for weight and performance of alternatives. In the end, a heuristic algorithm for the evaluating process is developed and demonstrated in a case study.     

Reforming the urban public transport bus system in Malta: Approach and acceptance

The islands of Malta have joined the European Union in 2004 and have for the past decade suffered a decline in the patronage of its public transport service. Offered under a monopoly by an Association of individual owner drivers, the public transport service has not changed dramatically since its start in the early 1900s. Instead, an organic growth alongside the main routes linking new areas to the public transport network and a declining level of service pushed even more the local population to switch to private mobility. This has classified the islands amongst the countries in the world with the highest levels of motorisation. In 2008, following a general election and a general strike held by the public transport operators over the Government’s intentions to remove monopolies, the new Minister for Transport published his intentions to reform public transport from its roots. This reform included the removal of the monopolies protecting the incumbents as well as developing a new network of services which cater more effectively to the public’s travelling demands. This paper deals with the public transport reform and through direct observation details the processes involved in the regulation of public transport as well as the design of the new public transport network. The paper concludes with the critical factors which led to implementation of the reform and how this is applicable to cities worldwide.     

The effects of non-contingent free bus tickets and personal commitment on urban bus ridership

To compare the effects of free rides and commitment to a performance goal on increasing bus ridership in an urban setting, 83 non-bus riding automobile drivers were exposed to one of the following conditions. (1) Control where route and schedule information were provided. (2) Commitment, where subjects agreed to ride the bus twice a week during the treatment period. (3) Free Tickets, where an unlimited supply of free bus tickets were provided. (4) Free Tickets Plus Commitment, where the free transit and commitment conditions were combined. While there were no systematic differences between the experimental conditions, each of them produced significantly higher levels of ridership than the no-treatment control group during the 4 week treatment period and two subsequent follow-up periods. These results suggest that both free rides and agreement to a specific performance goal can overcome many of the obstacles which prevent individuals from initiating and maintaining regular patterns of bus ridership.     

Introducing alternative fuel vehicles in Hong Kong: views from the public light bus industry

Hong Kong was the first place in the world to implement a trial scheme to convert all public light buses (PLBs) on the road from diesel to alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). The scheme, however, did not receive much support from PLB operators. At present, there is a rich literature on households’ demand for AFVs (especially in the USA). However, there have not been many studies about the demand for commercial AFVs in the business and public transport sectors. Since light buses running on alternative fuels are not widely available in the Hong Kong market, a stated preference (SP) survey was conducted to solicit the preferences of PLB operators on eight commercial vehicle attributes and seven forms of government support. The SP data are analyzed by multinomial logit (MNL) models. Detailed analyses on market segmentation and price elasticities follow. The results are of theoretical and practical significance.     

The economics of bus deregulation in Britain

This paper reviews some of the arguments which have been put forward on the economics of bus deregulation, particularly the paper by Gwilliam and others. It argues that the experience of road haulage licensing is relevant. The evidence there suggests that liberalization has not had the adverse effects that many predicted and that in most respects one could expect bus deregulation to have no less favourable consequences. The main difference between buses and road haulage is over how far bus drivers might revert to the old practices of the 1920s of chasing, tailing, etc. which were said at the time to be a major cause of consumer dissatisfaction. The paper reviews the economics of some of these practices and suggests which might be discounted and which need further attention.