Introducing Willingness‐to‐pay for Noise Changes into Transport Appraisal: An Application of Benefit Transfer

Abstract

Numerous research studies have elicited willingness‐to‐pay values for transport‐related noise. However, in many industrialized countries including the UK, noise costs and benefits are still not incorporated into appraisals for most transport projects and policy changes. This paper describes the actions recently taken in the UK to address this issue, comprising: primary research based on the city of Birmingham; an international review of willingness‐to‐pay evidence; the development of values using benefit transfers over time and locations; and integration with appraisal methods. Amongst the main findings are: that the willingness‐to‐pay estimates derived for the UK are broadly comparable with those used in appraisal elsewhere in Europe; that there is a case for a lower threshold at 45 dB(A)Leq,18h rather than the more conventional 55 dB(A); and that values per dB(A) increase with the noise level above this threshold. There are significant issues over the valuation of rail versus road noise, the neglect of non‐residential noise and the valuation of high noise levels in different countries. Conclusions are drawn regarding the feasibility of noise valuation based on benefit transfers in the UK and elsewhere, and future research needs in this field are discussed.     

Weaving marine food webs from end to end under global change

Marine food web dynamics are determined by interactions within and between species and between species and their environment. Global change directly affects abiotic conditions and living organisms, impinging on all trophic levels in food webs. Different groups of marine researchers traditionally study different aspects of these changes. However, over medium to long time scales perturbations affecting food webs need to be considered across the full range from nutrients to top predators. Studies of end-to-end marine food webs not only span organism sizes and trophic levels, but should also help align multidisciplinary research to common goals and perspectives. Topics are described that bridge disciplinary gaps and are needed to develop new understanding of the reciprocal impacts of global change on marine food webs and ocean biogeochemistry. These include (1) the effects of nutrients on biomass and production, (2) the effects of varying element ratios on food web structure and food quality, (3) bulk flows of energy and material in food webs and their efficiencies of transfer, (4) the ecological effects of species richness and the roles of microbial organisms, (5) the role of feeding behaviour in food web dynamics and trophic controls, (6) the spatial dynamics of communities and links between different food webs, (7) the combined effects of body size and behaviour in determining dynamics of food webs, and (8) the extent to which the ability of marine organisms (and communities) to adapt will influence food web dynamics. An overriding issue that influences all topics concerns the time and space scales of ecosystem variability. Threads link different nodes of information among various topics, emphasizing the importance of tackling food web studies with a variety of modelling approaches and through a combination of field and experimental studies with a strong comparative approach.     

Investigating links between transport disadvantage, social exclusion and well-being in Melbourne - Updated results

This paper updates results of an international study aimed at quantifying the links between transport disadvantage (TD), social exclusion (SE) and well-being (WB) in Melbourne, Australia. The study extends knowledge associated with SE and transport by quantify social and behavioural implications of lack of public and private transport and the nature of the social WB benefits associated with improving services.Study aims and methodology are outlined. Recent findings covered relate to car ownership on the urban fringe, patterns of transport disadvantage, the analysis of time poverty related to transport disadvantage, measuring the economic value of additional mobility and use of a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to relate WB and SE to TD and a series of explanatory factors.Overall results suggest that those without a car on the urban fringe adjust well with their circumstances by living close to activity centres. They demonstrate sustainable choices, trading off budgets and home location to balance mobility and accessibility. Poorer households with high car ownership value mobility and cheaper more remote fringe dwellings but demonstrate numerous strategies to reduce high car costs which are acknowledged as a significant burden. Analysis identifies 4 key types of transport disadvantage including a ‘vulnerable/impaired’ group which should be of much greater concern for targeted policy than others due to poor scoring on SE and WB scales. The economic value of new mobility is also explored with results suggesting $AUD 20 per average new trip which is four times larger than conventional values for generated travel.Analysis has also suggested that transport disadvantage can relate to socially advantaged as well as socially disadvantaged groups through time poverty. This was found to be an important mitigating factor when relating TD to WB. A statistically reliable structural equation model is developed suggesting the SE-WB link is strong (−.87) with a modest link between TD-SE (.27).Areas for future research in the project are also summarised.     

Applying Public Participation Geographic Information Systems for Coastal Wading Bird Conservation

Coastal estuaries in the northern Gulf of Mexico are important habitat for wading birds, but are threatened by land use and ecological changes. Conservation has been demonstrated to be more effective when stakeholders are included in the decision-making process. Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) facilitates the inclusion of stakeholder preferences in the planning process by allowing a direct spatial comparison with other ecological data. In this study, we used a PPGIS survey of residents of two counties on Alabama’s Gulf Coast to identify wading bird conservation hotspots as identified by local residents. Additionally, we assessed the ability of general public respondents to accurately identify wading bird habitat, determined whether participants associated wading bird habitat with particular land cover types, and examined whether respondents identified areas with high wading bird species richness. We found that respondents could accurately identify suitable wading bird habitat on a map of the study area, but underrepresented riparian forest, which is an important habitat for many wading bird species. Additionally, participants tended to prioritize areas that support higher wading bird species richness. Thus, this study demonstrated how PPGIS can function as an important tool for incorporating both stakeholder management preferences and identifying knowledge gaps.     

A simulation of the simple Mohring model to predict patronage and value of resources consumed for enhanced bus services

Choosing between the competing approaches to providing enhanced bus services requires the ability to predict the effects on patronage and overall benefits to society in terms of Value of Resources Consumed (VRC) of any proposed change. One common approach uses the Mohring model of 1972 and its successors to optimise one or more aspects of the supply of transit services given various level of demand. This paper simulates the operation of a simple circular bus route using the equations of a basic Mohring type model and a Decision Support System (DSS) to endogenise demand under the assumption that there is a fixed demand for travel but commuters can choose between the bus and private vehicle. The selected approach recognises that demand for a particular mode of travel is predicated on the speed of the vehicle in service which is itself determined by the demand for that vehicle (in this model or boarding and alighting time) rather than being determined exogenously. This creates an iterative feedback mechanism whereby changes to the attributes of the bus and car alter mode choice and the speed in service of the bus which, in turn, alters mode choice. The simulation is used to predict changes to patronage and VRC under scenarios regarding changes to the transport network (in terms of fares and running costs, frequency and spacing of bus stops) using parameters from both a Multinomial Logit (MNL) and a Mixed Multinomial Logit (MMNL). The results demonstrate that there are large differences in the size and, in some cases, direction of predicted changes to patronage, VRC and revenue, depending on whether the parameters of the MNL or MMNL model are used.     

Wave analysis of porous geometry with linear resistance law

The wave diffraction-radiation problem of a porous geometry of arbitrary shape located in the free surface of a fluid is formulated by a set of integral equations, assuming a linear resistance law at the geometry. The linear forces, the energy relation and the mean horizontal drift force are evaluated for non-porous and porous geometries. A geometry of large porosity has an almost vanishing added mass. The exciting forces are a factor of 5–20 smaller compared to a solid geometry. In the long wave regime, the porous geometry significantly enhances both the damping and the mean drift force, where the latter grows linearly with the wavenumber. The calculated mean drift force on a porous hemisphere and a vertical truncated cylinder, relevant to the construction of fish cages, is compared to available published results.