The Potential of a Legislative Approach to Managing Beach Use: The Case of Beach Bylaws in the Republic of Ireland

This article examines the use of inland mined sand and offshore dredged sand for beach nourishment projects in North Carolina, focusing on the question of whether inland mined sand is economically preferential for hot‐spot erosion control. Excavation, processing, and transport costs are presented, and cost efficiencies of hypothetical beach nourishment projects are compared. Cost analyses indicate that inland mined sand is economical for small projects (10,000–50,000 cubic yards), given that a clean sand source can be located within 15 miles of the nourishment site. The two factors primarily influencing per cubic yard costs of inland sand are overland transportation expenses and processing costs. The use of dredged offshore sand is less expensive for large projects (> 100,000 cubic yards) due to the economies of scale affecting dredge mobilization. Large beach nourishment projects in North Carolina will most likely continue to utilize offshore dredged sand.     

TBM及其在中国的应用(4)

3.12中国利用西方国家的TBM经验加速发展本国TBM技术的理由 3.12.1技术开发和革新是需要时间的     

Flexible transport services: A new market opportunity for public transport

The term Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) has been increasingly applied in the last 10 years to a niche market that replaces or feeds (usually via small low floor buses or taxis) conventional transport where demand is low and often spread over a large area. More recently, the concept of DRT as a niche market has been broadened to include a wider range of flexible, demand-responsive transport services and is increasingly referred to as Flexible Transport Services (FTSs). The contention of this paper is that well-implemented FTS has the potential to revitalise bus-based public transport services which are traditionally based on fixed networks with variable geographical coverage and levels of service.     

Inferring attribute non-attendance from stated choice data: implications for willingness to pay estimates and a warning for stated choice experiment design

There is a growing interest in traveller behaviour research to explore alternative information processing strategies (often referred to as heuristics or rules) adopted by individuals when assessing packages of attributes describing alternatives in a choice set, and making a choice. One popular attribute processing rule relates to attributes not being considered (i.e., being ignored), for all manner of reasons, referred to in the small but growing literature as attribute non-attendance or non-preservation. Researchers have used a mixture of methods to study the role of attribute non-attendance, including supplementary questions on whether each attribute is ignored or not, and methods in which the functional form of the utility expressions defining an alternative can recognise the possibility, up to a probability, of an attribute being ignored. Although supplementary questions are worthy of further consideration, despite the controversy as to the reliability of the response, recent interest has focused on ways to establish the incidence of attribute non-attendance without recourse to such evidence. In this paper we use an existing data set of choice amongst four attributes describing alternative car non-commuting trips, to illustrate the proposed method, and to compare values of travel time savings under each possible combination of non-attendance attributes relative to a model in which all attributes are assumed to be fully attended to. The paper reveals a major concern with the way that attribute levels and ranges are selected in the design of choice experiments, which can induce non-attendance situations where willingness to pay estimates cannot be obtained.     

Can scale and coefficient heterogeneity be separated in random coefficients models?

There is growing interest in the notion that a significant component of the heterogeneity retrieved in random coefficients models may actually relate to variations in absolute sensitivities, a phenomenon referred to as scale heterogeneity. As a result, a number of authors have tried to explicitly model such scale heterogeneity, which is shared across coefficients, and separate it from heterogeneity in individual coefficients. This direction of work has in part motivated the development of specialised modelling tools such as the G-MNL model. While not disagreeing with the notion that scale heterogeneity across respondents exists, this paper argues that attempts in the literature to disentangle scale heterogeneity from heterogeneity in individual coefficients in discrete choice models are misguided. In particular, we show how the various model specifications can in fact simply be seen as different parameterisations, and that any gains in fit obtained in random scale models are the result of using more flexible distributions, rather than an ability to capture scale heterogeneity. We illustrate our arguments through an empirical example and show how the conclusions from past work are based on misinterpretations of model results.     

Socioeconomic factors affecting the job satisfaction levels of self-employed container truck drivers: a case study from Shanghai Port

The job satisfaction level (JSL) of self-employed container truck drivers (SCTDs) is vital to the container trucking industry’s (CTI) stability in China. An anonymous field survey of 645 SCTDs was conducted at Shanghai Port. Three ordered probit models were, respectively, developed to analyze the drivers’ JSLs, their attitudes, and reactions to a CTI downturn. This study contributes to the literature that the demographic variables were not statistically significant for the SCTDs’ current JSLs, while higher income SCTDs with fewer expenses were expected to have higher JSLs. During an industry downturn, drivers with families in Shanghai showed more job dissatisfaction. More working hours, lower income, expensive diesel fuel, a high consumer price index (CPI), and a low freight-to-distance ratio (FDR) significantly lowered the JSLs. An increase in the price of diesel fuel and the CPI, and a lower FDR exposed the industry to risk and instability. Additionally, credible evidence indicated that as the dissatisfaction levels of SCTDs rise in a downturn, SCTDs implement more practical measures that may negatively affect the industry’s stability as well as society’s. Based on these findings, managerial or policy implications were proposed to efficiently improve SCTDs’ JSLs and CTI stability in Shanghai.     

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.     

Contracting regimes for bus services: What have we learnt after 20 years?

This paper reviews a number of themes that have played a crucial role in the debate on alternative contracting regimes for the provision of urban bus services. We have selected four crucial issues to reflect on: (i) contractual regimes (in particular competitive tendering as compared to negotiated performance-based contracts, as means to award the rights to provide service); (ii) contract completeness (focussing on ex ante and ex post elements); (iii) building trust through partnership; and (iv) tactical or system level planning for bus services. Experience in these areas suggests that competitive tendering has frequently not lived up to expectations and that negotiation is likely in many circumstances to deliver better value for money.     

Recent developments in Flexible Transport Services

This paper focuses on recent experiences in the evolution of Flexible Transport Services (FTS). It describes how previous manifestations of FTS provided dedicated solutions for special groups, often in parallel to the conventional public transport network, but highlights that in numerous countries across Europe there is now a discernable trend towards open access FTS providing services for the whole community and often feeding the conventional public transport network to provide wider access and opportunities. This is as a result of policies intended to mainstream services for people with disabilities and moves to tackle social exclusion amongst other groups while at the same time reducing the very high costs per trip associated with STS.To meet these policies, and the higher expectations and different travel behaviours of citizens to-day, it is suggested that FTS will need to radically reposition itself in terms of scale, so that there is mass coverage and ability to function as a full transport mode. This will require breakthroughs in concepts; business models; organisational and operational models; and in supporting technologies. A proposed solution to this is the Flexible Agency for Collective Mobility Services (FAMS) which provides an organisational structure and business model for FTS that incorporates the required supporting technologies.     

The place of transport in facilitating social inclusion via the mediating influence of social capital

Social policy makers rarely associate the ability to be mobile with having a role in the facilitation of social inclusion. This paper provides an initial exploration of the association between a person’s travel patterns and their risk of social exclusion. Information is drawn from a major Australian Research Council transport study which interviewed 535 people from Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It includes an analysis of the extent of the person’s bonding and bridging social networks, their connectedness to the community, self-assessed level of well-being and their beliefs about whether or not they are able to control outcomes in their life. It was found that those who had the greatest risk of social exclusion, travelled less often and less distance, owned fewer cars and used public transport less, than those who were more socially included. However, those who were more at risk of social exclusion did not identify their lower trips as due to either a lack of transport, or problems with the public transport system. The ability to have good bridging networks appears to be related to increased trip-making and promotion of social inclusion but not necessarily self-assessed well-being which is satisfied by bonding networks.