<Emphasis Type="Italic">Not</Emphasis> driving alone? American commuting in the twenty-first century

This paper investigates recent commuting trends by American workers. Unlike most studies of commuting that rely on data from the American Community Survey this study utilizes the American Time Use Survey to detail the complex commuting patterns of modern-day workers. Changes in the price of gasoline in recent years suggest that the incidence of “driving alone” should be on the decline. Indeed, results show that the sensitivity of modal commuting with respect to changes in gasoline prices appears to be relatively large. We estimate the gasoline-price elasticity of driving alone to be 0.057 and the gasoline-price elasticity of carpooling to be 0.502. Additional factors also affect commuting, including socio-economic characteristics and social desires. However, it is changes in gasoline prices that appear to account for nearly all of the recent variation in the mode chosen for commuting.     

Reducing car dependence in the heart of Europe: lessons from Germany,Austria, and Switzerland

Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, and Zurich – the largest cities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland – have significantly reduced the car share of trips over the past 25 years in spite of high motorisation rates. The key to their success has been a coordinated package of mutually reinforcing transport and land-use policies that have made car use slower, less convenient, and more costly, while increasing the safety, convenience, and feasibility of walking, cycling, and public transport. The mix of policies implemented in each city has been somewhat different. The German cities have done far more to promote cycling, while Zurich and Vienna offer more public transport service per capita at lower fares. All five of the cities have implemented roughly the same policies to promote walking, foster compact mixed-use development, and discourage car use. Of the car-restrictive policies, parking management has been by far the most important. The five case study cities demonstrate that it is possible to reduce car dependence even in affluent societies with high levels of car ownership and high expectations for quality of travel.     

Signalized intersections with variable flow rates: I analysis and simulation

One of the most common measures of signalized intersection operation is the amount of delay a vehicle incurs while passing through the intersection. Traditional models for estimating vehicle delay at intersections generally assume fixed signal timing and uniform arrival rates for vehicles approaching the intersection. One would expect that highly variable arrival rates would result in much longer delays than uniform arrival rates of the same average magnitude. Furthermore, one might expect that signal timing that is adjusted according to traffic volume would result in lower delay signal when variations in flow warrant such adjustable timing. This paper attempts to test several hypotheses concerning the effects of variable traffic arrival rates and adjusted signal timing through the use of simulation. The simulation results corroborate the hypothesis concerning the effect of varying arrival rates. As the variance of the arrival rate over time increases, the average delay per vehicle also increases. Signal timing adjustments based on traffic appear to decrease delay when flow rates vary greatly. As flow variations stabilize, the benefits of signal adjustments tend to diminish.     

Locating and sizing park-ride lots with interactive computer graphs

Two alternative methods for conducting a preliminary analysis of the problem of locating and sizing park-ride lots for an urban bus transit system are examined. These alternative methods are tested using a large and complex street network representing the northern half of the City of Seattle, Washington. Four design criteria are identified and an overall measure of system performance is devised. The problem is to determine the size and location of three park-ride lots that will maximize the performance of the system. The first method utilizes a computing system called LOCATOR II in an interactive graphic mode. In an experimental setting, five students use LOCATOR II to locate three park-ride lots and their solutions are found to exhibit a very high average level of performance. The second method does not involve a direct interaction with the computing system but does use LOCATOR II in a batch mode. Several students participate in three rounds of the batch mode experiment and the performance of their designs is somewhat poorer than the designs found in the interactive graphics experiment. Overall, the experimental results show that relatively inexperienced persons can find a high performance design for a reasonably complex problem quickly and inexpensively. These designs can provide a good starting point for the detailed consideration of many of the other aspects of the problem of providing a high performance bus transit service in an urban area.     

From broken windows to a renovated research agenda: A review of the literature on vandalism and graffiti in the rail industry

The execution of vandalism and graffiti on rail property has a significant impact on rail authorities, the patronisation of rail services, expenditure, and the timely operation of services. There are also important social costs which stem from passengers feeling unsafe, not to mention the environmental costs of removing graffiti and repairing vandalism. In this review paper, we focus on the social, non-technical determinants of and deterrents to vandalism and graffiti in the rail industry. First, we consider the definitions of graffiti and vandalism that are often conflated. After providing some clarification on terminology, and proposing a media-centred approach to vandalism and graffiti, we consider various theorisations of the psychosocial determinants of vandalism and graffiti behaviour. We then turn to an empirical discussion of different technical and social, non-technical prevention programmes that have been trialled. With a focus on identifying what works and under what circumstances, we refer to international case studies of successful vandalism reduction initiatives from Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia. Based on a review of literature and practice, we outline a future research agenda to address vandalism and graffiti. We recommend lines of further research covering: theory, empirical data collection and practical initiatives. Specifically, we note the need for a trans-theoretical model of vandalism and graffiti, further ethnographic research and improved evaluation and benchmarking strategies. This is the first review dedicated to the topic of vandalism and graffiti in the rail industry and the first review of non-technical, social deterrents to vandalism and graffiti broadly.     

Welfare effects of road pricing and traffic information under alternative ownership regimes

This paper models strategic interactions between a road supplier, a provider of traffic information, and road users, with stochastic travel times. Using a game-theoretical analysis of suppliers’ pricing strategies, we assess the social welfare effects of traffic information under various ownership regimes. The results show that the distortive welfare effect of monopolistic information pricing appears relatively small. Collusion of the road operator and information provider yields higher social welfare than independent pricing by two firms. The intuition behind this result resembles that behind the welfare effects of double marginalization, but is not exactly the same, as traffic information is not strictly complementary to road use.     

The seafaring labour market in Brazil

The most recent reports on the supply and demand for seafarers suggest that there is an increasing lack of officers for the expanding world's merchant fleet. With a focus on Brazil, this paper discusses a particular seafaring labour market highlighting specific challenges that need to be overcome. The paper looks into the current condition of the imbalance in Brazilian seafaring labour market as well as the prospects for merchant marine officers from the only two maritime schools in the country. Key issues on demand forecast and supply expectation, policy amendment, promoting maritime career, sea career commitment and maritime career empowerment are discussed to illustrate possible means to overcome the imbalance.