Evaluating sustainable transport strategies with incomplete information for Taipei City

This study uses a hybrid approach to deal with incomplete information in evaluating and prioritizing transport sustainability strategies for Taipei City. Fifteen strategies taken from the three categories of land use planning, shifting modes, and using clean energy are examined. A sustainability compound index covering aspects of society, economy, environment, energy, and finance is constructed to measure transport sustainability.     

Social construction of port sustainability indicators: a case study of Keelung Port

This study developed Port sustainability indicators (PSIs) using social construction of technology (SCOT). A case study of Keelung Port was conducted. An indicator generator was proposed to generate initial PSIs using a linkage-based framework, and the initial PSIs were grouped into environmental, economic, and social aspects. Subsequently, 34 expert-based PSIs were selected by using rough sets theory (RST). The decision group consisted of representatives from the Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC), academic researchers, and industry representatives.

Besides the decision group, the following groups were involved in the stakeholder analysis: the Department of Navigation and Aviation, Ministry of Transportation and Communications (DONA, MOTC), industry representatives, legislators, the Keelung City Government (KCG), local Keelung residents, and the general public. The SCOT approach offered a counterbalance to the expert-based approach in developing indicators. For the scientific frame and the operational frame, this study suggested 34 expert-based PSIs and 2 additional indicators chosen by legislators and local Keelung residents: annual traffic fatalities in the area surrounding the port and employment of Keelung residents by the TIPC. For the actors in the public-relations frame, 12 PSIs were suggested, and 10 PSIs were suggested for the actors in the nonprofessional frame.     

Evaluating gravel transport sustainability: A case study of Taiwan’s northeast corridor

We use social-eco-efficient analysis in the form of SEEbalance to evaluate gravel transport sustainability for trucking and two kinds of intermodal transportation. Results show that switching from trucks to intermodal transportation can improve the sustainability of gravel transportation in the northeast corridor of Taiwan. Sensitivity analysis shows that rail combined with truck intermodal transportation has competitive advantage despite the terminal’s location factor.     

A structural analysis of vehicle design responses to Corporate Average Fuel Economy policy

The US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations are intended to influence automaker vehicle design and pricing choices. CAFE policy has been in effect for the past three decades, and new legislation has raised standards significantly. We present a structural analysis of automaker responses to generic CAFE policies. We depart from prior CAFE analyses by focusing on vehicle design responses in long-run oligopolistic equilibrium, and we view vehicles as differentiated products, taking demand as a general function of price and product attributes. We find that under general cost, demand, and performance functions, single-product profit maximizing firm responses to CAFE standards follow a distinct pattern: firms ignore CAFE when the standard is low, treat CAFE as a vehicle design constraint for moderate standards, and violate CAFE when the standard is high. Further, the point and extent of first violation depends upon the penalty for violation, and the corresponding vehicle design is independent of further standard increases. Thus, increasing CAFE standards will eventually have no further impact on vehicle design if the penalty for violation is also not increased. We implement a case study by incorporating vehicle physics simulation, vehicle manufacturing and technology cost models, and a mixed logit demand model to examine equilibrium powertrain design and price decisions for a fixed vehicle body. Results indicate that equilibrium vehicle design is not bound by current CAFE standards, and vehicle design decisions are directly determined by market competition and consumer preferences. We find that with increased fuel economy standards, a higher violation penalty than the current stagnant penalty is needed to cause firms to increase their design fuel economy at equilibrium. However, the maximum attainable improvement can be modest even if the penalty is doubled. We also find that firms’ design responses are more sensitive to variation in fuel prices than to CAFE standards, within the examined ranges.     

Evaluating transport infrastructure decisions under uncertainty

This study uses a hybrid approach, combining cost–benefit analysis (CBA), multiple criteria decision analysis, and Dempster–Shafer Theory, to evaluate transport infrastructure decisions. This approach not only retains the advantages of CBA, but it also facilitates the incorporation of incomplete information into the evaluation process. A particular advantage of this hybrid approach is that it can synthesize evaluation results into an easily understood unit, namely utility. A case study of Taiwan's Tamsui-Taipei Riverside Highway Project is used to illustrate the evaluation method. The evaluation results show that, whereas government officials and city council members support the highway project, academic researchers oppose it. Overall, the decision group tends to positively approve this transport infrastructure investment. These results also reflect the actual situation in Taiwan as stakeholders grapple with the issues arising from the proposed Tamsui-Taipei Riverside Highway Project.