Protection of Critical Waterborne Transport Infrastructures: An Economic Review

It is essential that transport infrastructures are protected against events which cause their failure. At an optimal level of protection, the sum of protection costs and expected residual damages following from disruptions will be minimized. In most cases however, this optimal level is not achieved because infrastructure protection is susceptible to various market and government failures. This brings us to the question who (a private or public actor) should do how much (the level of protection and intervention). This question is addressed in the present paper.

The starting point of the paper is the Directive of the European Council on the identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructures. We review the protection of critical waterborne transport infrastructures from an economic perspective. The review is based on a literature study and several interviews with Critical Infrastructure experts. For the studied infrastructures, we have identified causes and effects of their failure and examined the private–public roles in protecting them. Considering the market and government failures which occur in such configuration of roles, we propose several changes. We conclude that from a national policy perspective there are two important routes: (1) reinforcement of private sector roles among others by defining liabilities and providing information on risks and (2) strengthening of supra-national collaboration via improving and standardizing regulations, cost-sharing initiatives and penalty systems.     

Resolving the property right of transportation emissions through public–private partnerships

The application of public–private partnerships (P3’s) in the transportation sector has grown in popularity worldwide. Despite this important shift in the provision of transportation service, there are clear gaps in knowledge about the impacts of P3 projects, especially on emissions from transportation systems as a whole. Not only should policy makers evaluate the emissions impacts from P3 projects, but they should also think about innovative models that address or charge for emissions into P3 contracts. This addition to P3 contracts could provide a new solution to the long-existing property right paradox: who owns (is responsible for) emissions from transportation systems? This study attempts to fill the research gap by analyzing these innovative models. Using the road network of Fresno, California, as our case study, we offer a number of interesting insights for policy makers. First, average peak emissions costs range from 1.37 cents per mile (the do-nothing case) to 1.20 cents per mile (profit-maximizing cases) per vehicle. Although emissions costs from the P3 projects are lowest for the profit-maximizing cases, the system-wide emissions costs of these cases are highest because of spillover effects. Second, charging project owners for the emissions costs of P3 projects is not an effective way to reduce emissions or the total costs of travel, especially on a VMT basis. Instead, the public sector should implement emissions-included social cost-based price ceilings. When employing these limits, project owners could still be charged for the emissions costs. Finally, using total travel time as the only objective function for evaluating P3 projects can be misleading. Several P3 projects have shown better outcomes using total travel cost with the inclusion of emissions and fuel consumption costs, instead of using total travel time as the only objective function.     

On the value of highway travel time information systems

After the widespread deployment of Advanced Traveler Information Systems, there exists an increasing concern about their profitability. The costs of such systems are clear, but the quantification of the benefits still generates debate. This paper analyzes the value of highway travel time information systems. This is achieved by modeling the departure time selection and route choice with and without the guidance of an information system. The behavioral model supporting these choices is grounded on the expected utility theory, where drivers try to maximize the expected value of their perceived utility. The value of information is derived from the reduction of the unreliability costs as a consequence of the wiser decisions made with information. This includes the reduction of travel times, scheduling costs and stress. This modeling approach allows assessing the effects of the precision of the information system in the value of the information.Different scenarios are simulated in a generic but realistic context, using empirical data measured on a highway corridor accessing the city of Barcelona, Spain. Results show that travel time information only has a significant value in three situations: (1) when there is an important scheduled activity at the destination (e.g. morning commute trips), (2) in case of total uncertainty about the conditions of the trip (e.g. sporadic trips), and (3) when more than one route is possible. Information systems with very high precision do not produce better results. However, an acceptable level of precision is completely required, as information systems with very poor precision may even be detrimental. The paper also highlights the difference between the user value and the social value of the information. The value of the information may not benefit only the user. For instance, massive dissemination of travel time information contributes to the reduction of day-to-day travel time variance. This favors all drivers, even those without information. In these situations travel time information has the property that its social benefits exceed private benefits (i.e. information has positive externalities). Of course, drivers are only willing to cover costs equal or smaller than their private benefits, which in turn may justify subsidies for information provision.     

Consequences of public ownership and subsidies for mass transit: Evidence from case studies and regression analysis

The trend toward public ownership, public regulation, and public subsidization of the U.S. transit industry has recently come under attack. Many argue that the result has been reduced productivity, increased costs, and very little real benefit. This article examines the impacts of subsidies and public ownership in four large transit systems that cover a range of transit system types and financing arrangements. Evidence from the case studies is compared to the results of both time-series and cross-section regression analysis of operating and financial statistics for large samples of bus systems. Although the case studies and the regressions rely on different datasets and different techniques, they support the same conclusions. Increased subsidies and public ownership have kept down fares and permitted service expansion, but have also encouraged wasteful cost escalation. Thus, transit riders unquestionably have benefited from public takeovers of transit systems and burgeoning subsidies, but not nearly as much as they would have benefited if costs had not skyrocketed at the same time.     

Secrets of success: assessing the large increases in transit ridership achieved by Houston and San Diego transit providers

This paper summarizes and updates the findings from an earlier study by the same authors of transit systems in Houston (all bus) and San Diego (bus and light rail). Both systems achieved unusually large increases in transit ridership during a period in which most transit systems in other metropolitan areas were experiencing large losses. Based on ridership models estimated using cross section and time series data, the paper quantifies the relative contributions of policy variables and factors beyond the control of transit operators on ridership growth. It is found that large ridership increases in both areas are caused principally by large service increases and fare reductions, as well as metropolitan employment and population growth. In addition, the paper provides careful estimates of total and operating costs per passenger boarding and per passenger mile for Houston's bus operator and San Diego's bus and light rail operators. These estimates suggest that the bus systems are more cost-effective than the light rail system on the basis of total costs. Finally, the paper carries out a series of policy simulations to analyze the effects of transit funding levels and metropolitan development patterns on transit ridership and farebox recovery ratio.     

Evaluating the public investment mix in US freight transportation infrastructure

This research empirically evaluates the public sector investment in the US freight transportation infrastructure. In particular, the infrastructures to support the two most comparable modes of freight transportation – highway and intermodal rail – are examined as alternatives for public fund allocation. Indicators for public sector transportation infrastructure investment mix are established based on financial analysis of both private and social costs and benefits, as well as the propensity of freight shippers to utilize such infrastructures. The research results in recommendations for the aggregate allocation of public funds in the US based on these indicators. We find that approximately a quarter of truck freight could be handled at a 25% lower cost if rail infrastructure to support it existed. Because an additional 80% reduction in social costs could be achieved through this modal conversion, the public sector is a critical participant in creating a more efficient transportation infrastructure.     

Benefit-cost analysis for labor intensive transportation systems

Labor-intensive systems such as bikeways and pedestrian ways suffer in transportation planning in part because traditional benefit-cost analysis focuses on narrow, private transportation savings (e.g., reducing vehicle and time costs).Planners need benefit-cost frameworks which capture the community-wide effects of such innovative transportation systems — reduction in air pollution, less congestion, and increases in exercise and outdoor recreation. This study discusses practical methods for planners to include such categories in their analyses and applies these methods to two case studies. The analysis yields benefit-cost ratios which are much higher than those found in most public projects — suggesting negative returns to marginal automobiles in congested areas such as university campuses. The paper concludes with some suggested bikeway planning guidelines that emerge from expanded benefit-cost analysis.     

Bus rapid transit systems: a comparative assessment

There is renewed interest in many developing and developed countries in finding ways of providing efficient and effective public transport that does not come with a high price tag. An increasing number of nations are asking the question—what type of public transport system can deliver value for money? Although light rail has often been promoted as a popular ‘solution’, there has been progressively emerging an attractive alternative in the form of bus rapid transit (BRT). BRT is a system operating on its own right-of-way either as a full BRT with high quality interchanges, integrated smart card fare payment and efficient throughput of passengers alighting and boarding at bus stations; or as a system with some amount of dedicated right-of-way (light BRT) and lesser integration of service and fares. The notion that buses essentially operate in a constrained service environment under a mixed traffic regime and that trains have privileged dedicated right-of-way, is no longer the only sustainable and valid proposition. This paper evaluates the status of 44 BRT systems in operation throughout the world as a way of identifying the capability of moving substantial numbers of passengers, using infrastructure whose costs overall and per kilometre are extremely attractive. When ongoing lifecycle costs (operations and maintenance) are taken into account, the costs of providing high capacity integrated BRT systems are an attractive option in many contexts.     

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.     

Public transit and alternative fuels – The costs associated with using biodiesel and CNG in comparison to diesel for U.S. public transit systems

This study addresses the dearth of research that examines the impacts of alternative fuel use on operational costs of public transit in the U.S. Specifically, the study examines the impact on operational costs of shifting diesel gallons to biodiesel or to compressed natural gas (CNG) for an unbalanced panel of 269 public transit systems in the U.S. from 2008 through 2012, using an econometric cost function approach. We find that shifting all diesel gallons to biodiesel results in operational cost increases ranging from 1 to 12 percent, with smaller cost increases being realized with increases in system size. Shifting all diesel gallons to CNG results in operational cost increases between 5 and 10 percent – again with smaller impacts for larger systems. These findings suggest that there are some economies of using biodiesel and CNG with large scale production. That is, the cost increases associated with increased fuel prices, decreased fuel economy, increased maintenance costs, and increased fueling costs associated with biodiesel and CNG are mitigated somewhat by large scale production. The findings of this study suggest that increased operational costs are an important consideration in policies aimed at encouraging the use of alternative fuels by U.S. public transit systems.     

Public responses to policies designed to internalise environmental and social externalities from road transport in New Zealand

Based on a public survey of registered voters, we explore four options for internalising the social and environmental costs of road transport. The options were presented together with generalised factual information about their benefits and costs. Respondents are highly supportive of fuel use efficiency standards and exhaust gas quality standards, with lesser support for proposed initiatives of road user charges and speed reduction. Demographic analysis of responses enables identification of those who might favour or oppose particular options. In this case women are identified as being strongly supportive of the speed reduction option.     

A cost-competitiveness analysis of charging infrastructure for electric bus operations

This study investigates the cost competitiveness of different types of charging infrastructure, including charging stations, charging lanes (via charging-while-driving technologies) and battery swapping stations, in support of an electric public transit system. To this end, we first establish mathematical models to investigate the optimal deployment of various charging facilities along the transit line and determine the optimal size of the electric bus fleet, as well as their batteries, to minimize total infrastructure and fleet costs while guaranteeing service frequency and satisfying the charging needs of the transit system. We then conduct an empirical analysis utilizing available real-world data. The results suggest that: (1) the service frequency, circulation length, and operating speed of a transit system may have a great impact on the cost competitiveness of different charging infrastructure; (2) charging lanes enabled by currently available inductive wireless charging technology are cost competitive for most of the existing bus rapid transit corridors; (3) swapping stations can yield a lower total cost than charging lanes and charging stations for transit systems with high operating speed and low service frequency; (4) charging stations are cost competitive only for transit systems with very low service frequency and short circulation; and (5) the key to making charging lanes more competitive for transit systems with low service frequency and high operating speed is to reduce their unit-length construction cost or enhance their charging power.     

An ontology-based framework to support performance monitoring in public transport systems

Managers of public transport systems have been facing for years the strategic challenge of maintaining high quality of transport services to improve the mobility of citizens, while reducing costs and ensuring safety and low environmental impact. A well-established way to evaluate the performance achieved by the system or by specific activities is to monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPI). However, existing management systems, which refer to flexible yet large and complex data models, provide a limited support to define and select relevant KPIs for the objectives at hand, and even the identification of whether and how the data model is capable to achieve a certain informative need is a critical and time-consuming task. This work is aimed to propose a framework to ease the development of a monitoring system in the public transport domain. The approach is based on the ontological representation of all the knowledge regarding indicators and their formulas, business objectives, dimension analysis and their relation with the Transmodel, the European reference data model for public transport information systems. On its top, a reasoning framework provides logic functionalities to interactively support designers in a set of common design tasks: the choice of the most suitable indicators for the performance monitoring needs at hand, the definition of new indicators and the identification of the minimal set of Transmodel modules needed to calculate them. A case study is included to discuss these applications, while an evaluation shows the feasibility of the approach.     

Rail freight service productivity from the manager's perspective

To be beneficial to management, productivity concepts must be translated into terms that are meaningful to managers at all levels of the organization. Productivity per se is not nearly as important to these people as service quality and financial performance, especially since measured productivity can improve while profits or service levels decline. Productivity must, therefore, be related to an integrated set of performance measures that reflect costs, revenues, trip times and reliability, equipment availability and other matters of continuing concern to transportation companies. Planning and control are critical components of any program to improve productivity. The techniques required to measure and understand productivity are precisely those used in planning and in developing control systems. Furthermore, productivity is conceptually very close to cost analysis, which is a major focus of planning and control. Any transportation company has access to the data needed to develop a vast array of performance measures, including many productivity measures. This paper will illustrate the way that railroads can integrate productivity concepts within more global performance measurement systems. Specific attention will be given to terminal control systems, costing systems for origin-to-destination movements and life-cycle costing techniques for track maintenance planning.     

Sharing costs in Swedish road ownership associations

Usually transport systems, and roads in particular, are viewed as public goods. However, this is not always the case. In Sweden a large part of the road system is privately owned. Most of these privately owned roads are rural roads used by farmers and summer cottage owners, or used for forest transport. These roads are mainly provided by ownership associations.An important difference between public roads and these privately owned roads is that all investments- and maintenance decisions are made by the users themselves, who also have to pay the costs, whereas the usual case is that the owners/providers of a road-system are different agents than the users. Here the question is not how to charge the roads but how to split the costs of the roads among the users in an efficient and “fair” way.The motivation of this paper is the practical problem of how such an ownership association can divide the costs for the road network among the members in an efficient and “fair” way. The problem is treated from a game theoretical point of view, making use of the Shapley value. This means that the problem is associated with a game - a mathematical representation of the conflict situation. The Shapley value is a very important solution concept for cooperative games, like the game in this case. For games corresponding to this specific type of problems, it is shown that the Shapley value has excellent properties, such as beeing an element of the core, and beeing very easy to compute.     

Using risk analysis to determine the potential range of lifecycle costs for urban transit systems

Intense competition for limited public funding for urban transport projects can often result in proponents of individual schemes presenting minimized costs and maximized benefits to funding bodies to try to ensure that their scheme is chosen above others for funding. This presents public bodies with a problem, especially in an era when they are keen to attract private contributions for transit schemes. Risk modelling techniques can be of great assistance in ascertaining ranges of costs and benefits for individual submissions and deciding upon which projects should receive priority-not only those with greatest cost-benefit indices, but also those whose indices have low levels of associated risk to allay the fears of the traditionally risk averse private sector.     

Determining optimal frequency and vehicle capacity for public transit routes: A generalized newsvendor model

The level of service on public transit routes is very much affected by the frequency and vehicle capacity. The combined values of these variables contribute to the costs associated with route operations as well as the costs associated with passenger comfort, such as waiting and overcrowding. The new approach to the problem that we introduce combines both passenger and operator costs within a generalized newsvendor model. From the passenger perspective, waiting and overcrowding costs are used; from the operator’s perspective, the costs are related to vehicle size, empty seats, and lost sales. Maximal passenger average waiting time as well as maximal vehicle capacity are considered as constraints that are imposed by the regulator to assure a minimal public transit service level or in order to comply with other regulatory considerations. The advantages of the newsvendor model are that (a) costs are treated as shortages (overcrowding) and surpluses (empty seats); (b) the model presents simultaneous optimal results for both frequency and vehicle size; (c) an efficient and fast algorithm is developed; and (d) the model assumes stochastic demand, and is not restricted to a specific distribution. We demonstrate the usefulness of the model through a case study and sensitivity analysis.     

Analogy of fixed route shared taxi (taxi khattee) and bus services under various demand density and economical conditions

Taxi khattee is a fixed route unregulated shared taxi. It is a very common mode of transportation in Iran. Fixed route, unscheduled operation, open, unlimited pick‐up and drop‐off locations, and share ride are common features of taxi khattees. Low passenger capacity and working in high demand corridors provides for the possibility of high service frequencies any time of the day. Taxi khattees are similar to jitneys, which are obsolete or illegal in many countries. The aim of this research is to design transit network of an area using taxi khattees in addition to buses. The methodology employed in this paper simultaneously considers the costs to the users and operators on the one hand, and those of the public non‐users on the other hand. Taxi khattees are used in the design of a multimodal network along with buses to characterize the appropriate economic domain for their use. Moreover, their operation indices are compared against those of buses. A sensitivity analysis is carried out on various performance measures. Results show taxi khattees should be used in areas where population density is low, work force is inexpensive, social costs are not considered in fare calculation, and users' value of time is high. The study contradicts the common belief that since taxi khattees provide a high frequency compared to buses, they are economically plausible to use in a transit fleet. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic costs and environmental impacts of alternative fuel vehicle fleets in local government: An interim assessment of a voluntary ten-year fleet conversion plan

Vehicle fleets are widely viewed by policy makers as attractive first markets for introduction of alternative fuel technologies. Although, it is essential to understand the environmental benefits and economic challenges involved in fleet conversion, the literature provides little understanding of the implementation issues associated with alternative fuel vehicles. This paper examines the cost effectiveness and environmental impact of the conversion of a 180 plus vehicle fleet to alternative fuel vehicle technologies by a public organization at the mid-point of the project implementation. Using multi-year micro data on fuel usage, operational and capital expenditures, mileage and emissions, the paper examines conversion costs and infrastructure investments required, extent of user adoption, and emissions reductions achieved. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for managerial practice in local government fleet agencies and for future research.