Regulation of the informal transport sector in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil: welfare impacts and policy analysis

In Brazil, the explosion of informal transport activity during the past decade has had profound effects on formal public transport systems and is a source of great controversy in the urban transportation sector. A variety of policies have been proposed to manage the growth of the sector. This study seeks to understand how proposed policies will impact the users of these systems. A corridor in Rio de Janeiro with substantial informal activity was used as a case study. Measures of welfare changes in a discrete choice framework were used to estimate proposed policies’ impacts on users. Eleven candidate policies were evaluated, ranging from the eradication of the informal modes and investment in formal modes, to the legalization of the informal modes. Benefits were compared with costs and the distribution of benefits across income classes was explored. Net benefits from some policies were found to be substantial. Legalizing the informal sector was found to benefit users slightly but further investments in the sector are probably inefficient. Users benefited most from improvements in formal mass transit modes, at roughly 100–200 dollars per commuter per year. Finally, policies to foster a competitive environment for the delivery of both informal and formal services were shown to benefit users about 100 dollars per commuter per year. Together, the regulation of the informal sector and investments in the formal sector serve to reinforce the movement towards competitive concessions for services and help reduce the impacts of cartelization and costly in-road competition.

Logistical restructuring and road freight traffic growth

The forecasting of road freight traffic has relied heavily on the close correlation between GDP and road tonne-kilometers. It has not been rooted in an understanding of the causes of freight traffic growth. The research reported in this paper has investigated this process of traffic growth in two ways: first, by analysing official data on the production, consumption and movement of food and drink products, and second, by conducting a survey of the changing freight transport requirements of 88 large British-based manufacturers.The analysis of secondary data shows how, in the food and drink sector, the relationship between the real value of output and road vehicle-kms hinges on four key parameters: value density, handling factor, average length of haul and consignment size. An attempt is made to explain variations in these parameters.The survey of manufacturers suggests that the growth of lorry traffic is the net result of a complex interaction between factors operating at four levels of logistical management: strategic planning of logistical systems, choice of suppliers and distributors, scheduling of product flow and the management of transport resources. Changes in the frequency and scheduling of freight deliveries in response to tightening customer service requirements and just-in-time management appear to have become a more prevalent cause of freight traffic growth than the physical restructuring of logistical systems. Manufacturers anticipate that their road freight demand will broadly increase in line with sales and be largely unaffected by road transport cost increases at the levels currently proposed. The paper concludes by examining their likely reactions to a much sharper increase in the cost of road freight movement.     

Improved customs inspection at a small international airport: Case study: Colombo

The present procedures for processing arriving passengers at the Colombo International Airport cause inordinte waiting times. An alternate plan, which is based on state of the art customs procedures, and which can reduce waiting times significantly while maintaining a high level of enforcement, is proposed. The present and proposed procedures are analyzed and compared with respect to passenger waiting times, using deterministic queueing theory. An optimal inspection rate of passengers by the customs service is proposed taking into account the fraction of inspected passengers, the waiting time of passengers and the cost of customs processing.     

A study of passenger discomfort measures at the Hong Kong mass transit railway system

This note investigates the important attributes relating to the crowding effects at the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations in Hong Kong. Data was collected at two sets of three MTR stations to study the responses of the passengers due to the discomfort at crowded vehicles and platforms. Stated preference surveys were used to study the effects of passenger discomfort measures.     

The impact of job assignment rules for straddle carriers on the throughput of container terminals

Straddle carriers represent a critical resource in the handling of containers within a container terminal. It is essential that they are deployed in an as efficient manner as possible. The research presented in this paper is motivated by the need to critically evaluate job assignment rules for straddle carriers that operate in a multiple straddle environment. This is achieved by developing a discrete event simulation model using industrial simulation software to model a container terminal located in Melbourne, Australia. The model accounts for variables such as the number of straddle carriers needed, the speed of straddle carriers, the arrival rate of trucks, and the job assignment rule. A principal finding of the study is that increasing the number of straddles in the present set‐up from 6 to 7 has a negligible effect on daily throughput. However, an increase in the number of straddles to 7 is expected to have a profound effect on reducing the average waiting time of trucks within the terminal from over 16 minutes to under 9 minutes, a decrease of 46.5%. However, a further increase in the number of straddles results in no further increase in daily throughput. It was observed that the throughput of the terminal is very sensitive to the speeds at which straddles travel. The management of the terminal has proposed a new heuristic job assignment rule for straddles, because the present rule does not assign the jobs to straddles closest to the truck requesting to load or unload a container. As a result a new heuristic job assignment rule was tested. The simulation results revealed that both the old and new rules performed equally well using performance indicators such as average container flow time, daily throughput, average waiting time of jobs, number of jobs in the queue, and straddle utilisation. Therefore, the new rule will not improve these performance measures if implemented     

An investigation of passenger interchange and train standing time at LRT stations: (i) Alighting,boarding and platform distribution of passengers

The train standing-time at a station is a determinant of the line capacity and the necessary fleet-size. Its determination is usually based on the assumption that boarding and alighting is uniform at all doors of a train. Uniform boarding and alighting is conceivable if passengers distribute themselves uniformly on station platforms while waiting for trains. The validity of the uniformity assumptions is tested using data from two stations (one CBD, one suburban) of the Calgary, Alberta LRT system. It is shown that passenger distribution on the platform, alighting and boarding is not uniform and is closely related to the location of platform access points. Some strategies that will encourage uniformity are discussed. However, procedures that can estimate the standing time for non-uniform boarding and alighting need to be developed.     

An investigation of passenger interchange and train standing time at LRT stations: (ii) Estimation of standing time

The standing-time of trains at urban rail stations is pertinent to determining the line capacity and fleet size. The assumption of uniform boarding and alighting leads to under-estimation of the standing time. It is shown that the train standing-time is related to the fraction of boarders and the maximum demand for boarding and alighting at a door. It is further shown that the probability distribution of passengers at a door depends on the platform entrance locations. A methodology that takes into account the above factors is proposed for estimating the train standing-time.     

A computer model for finding the time-dependent minimum path in a transit system with fixed schedules

This paper describes the development of a computer model and algorithms for finding the time-dependent minimum path between two stations in a multi-route, multi-mode transit system running to fixed schedules. Selection of the minimum path can be based either on journey time or on weighted time. A worked example using a simple transit network is given to illustrate how the model works. The model has several applications in transport planning: it can be used for generating route schedule information to guide transit users, for assisting in route schedule coordination, and for analyzing transit system accessibility.