Managing passenger behavioral intention: an integrated framework for service quality,satisfaction, perceived value,and switching barriers

This paper seeks to improve our understanding of passengers’ behavioral intention by proposing an integrated framework from the attitudinal perspective. According to the literature in marketing research, we establish a causal relationship model that considers “service quality-satisfaction-behavioral intentions” paradigm, perceived value theory, and switching barrier theory. Exploring passengers’ behavioral intention from satisfaction and perceived value help to understand how passengers are attracted by the company, while switching barriers assist in realizing how passengers are “locked” into a relationship with the current company. Furthermore, in order to capture the nature of service quality, we adopt a hierarchical factor structure which serves service quality as the higher-order factor. In this study, coach industry is selected as our research subject. The empirical results, as hypothesized, show that all causal relationships are statistically significant, and perceived value us the most important predictor of satisfaction and passengers’ behavioral intention. In conclusion, the managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Building legitimacy for risky policies: The cost of avoiding conflict in Stockholm

The controversial nature of urban congestion charging policies makes them politically risky. Urban planners, policy makers and politicians are forced to consider how they can legitimately introduce a policy that the public may not want. Implementation in London, and failure in Edinburgh, raise questions about whether they should seek full citizen support, or work strategically towards implementation in the face of public opposition.This paper reports on an investigation of the Stockholm congestion charging trial (SCCT). It analyses the strategy developed by the city authorities to create legitimacy for the implementation of the SCCT. The SCCT is examined in two steps, firstly how the ‘trial + referendum’ approach was successful in securing public acceptance, and secondly how key aspects of the design of the trial and the subsequent referendum were adjusted in response to emerging risks, demonstrating the pragmatic approach of the city leaders managing the policy process. The study suggests that the city leaders chose a clearly pragmatic approach, grounded in compromise, yet subtly designed to avoid openly confronting the status quo. The strategy was continuously adapted and adjusted, in the face of emerging risks, and clearly served to create consensus while avoiding difficult questions of urban mobility.     

Integrated Control Methodologies for Road Vehicles

Summary This paper considers the scope, methodologies and architectures for the design and development of interacting control systems in road vehicles. The increasing use of electronic controls leads inevitably to an increase in overall system complexity. Given the time and economic constraints of the modern automotive industry, it is not feasible to synthesise and validate the full set of vehicle controls in the form of a unified and centralized controller. On the other hand a fully decentralized approach to control system development and operation will induce performance limitations from un-modelled or unexpected interactions; at worst, such interactions can cause instability and loss of function. There is now increasing pressure to achieve control coordination whilst maintaining a modular approach to the overall system design. With this in mind, the paper provides a framework to review current practice in integrated vehicle control, assesses recent developments in control integration methodologies that are most relevant to the vehicle application, and formulates an enhanced multi-layer architecture that includes explicit coordination functionality. Overall emphasis is placed on the role of control system architecture, the resulting flow of control information and the implications for control system design. An example from handling dynamics is presented, demonstrating the viability of new and flexible approaches. In conclusion a number of outstanding research problems are highlighted.     

The ‘Four Dimensions of Behaviour’ framework: a tool for characterising behaviours to help design better interventions

This paper sets out the rationale and structure of a tool for assisting policy-makers and practitioners to understand behavioural challenges and open up thinking on the design of effective ‘behaviour change’ interventions. The ‘Four Dimensions of Behaviour’ (4DB) framework is based on the theoretical and empirical research in a range of policy domains including transport and pro-environmental behaviour more generally. The 4DB framework characterises multifaceted behaviours along dimensions of actor, domain, durability and scope. Its application in workshop or structured settings opens up diverse and non-exclusive discussion on designing interventions to match salient behavioural characteristics. The use of the 4DB framework in the transport domain is demonstrated for travel behaviours of interest to policy-makers using examples of buying plug-in vehicles (PiVs), commuting by bicycle, eco-driving and making business trips by train.     

蛇欲吞象 谈何容易

今年1月5日,保时捷汽车控股集团宣布终于收购欧洲最大乘用车制造商大众公司50.76％的股份。这一度让人们以为汽车业史上历时最长、最不可能完成的一项收购案终于结束。这意味着一家雇员仅12000名,年产量只有10万辆汽车的公司竟然收购了雇员373400名,2008年年产辆达到623万辆的汽车工业巨子。     

Understanding bikeability: a methodology to assess urban networks

Transportation - A fully separated bicycle network from vehicular traffic is not realistic even for the most bicycle-friendly cities. Thus, all around the world urban cycling entails switching...     

提高文化用纸中填料含量的新技术

一种新技术，该技术依靠一种独特的方法实现填料预絮凝，可使造纸厂在不影响质量的前提下提高填料含量     

Development of a Human Use Objectives Framework for Integrated Management of the Eastern Scotian Shelf

Under the 1997 Oceans Act, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is required to lead and facilitate the development of integrated management plans for Canada's oceans. One of the integrated management projects is the Eastern Scotian Shelf Integrated Management Initiative (ESSIM), through which DFO is working with a range of stakeholders to develop and implement an integrated ocean management plan for the eastern Scotian Shelf. As part of this Initiative, DFO has undertaken a program to develop a set of objectives and related indicators for ocean management. This includes the development of a framework, objectives, and indicators for human use of the resource including the social, economic, and institutional (governance) components of ocean management, areas that have received little attention internationally. This article provides some background to ESSIM and human uses of the resources of the eastern Scotian Shelf; briefly reviews objectives-based management and human use objectives internationally; outlines the process undertaken to develop the Human Use Objectives Framework; presents the resultant objectives and indicators that were developed; and highlights some of the lessons learned and challenges for their implementation.     

The potential for British coastal shipping in a multimodal chain

A strategy to revitalize coastal shipping within Great Britain is investigated. An examination of the regulatory environment shows government, at both the EU and British levels, aware of the environmental benefits of coastal shipping compared to road freight transport, if only mildly supportive in tangible terms. The geography of Great Britain and the modern preference for just-in-time deliveries have severely restricted the ability of coastal shipping to compete effectively with road freight transport. The primary objective of the paper is to investigate whether coastal shipping could be integrated into a multimodal door-to-door supply chain, where it is currently hampered by high costs of transhipment, slow transport speeds, and the incongruity of load sizes between land and sea modes. Integration requires the co-operation of all organizations within the multi-modal supply chain. However, coastal shipping companies have been known to be individualistic and mistrusting of alliances. Therefore, a Delphi study is undertaken to investigate the standpoint of leading managers in such companies towards multimodal integration. The results of the Delphi study indicate that managers are in favour of multimodal developments, in particular cooperation between coastal shipping and road haulage. However, there was agreement that the business is highly competitive, and this may prevent the forms of collaboration required for multimodal systems. The secretive nature of the coastal shipping sector could impede joint marketing to promote a mode of transport that is often ‘invisible’ to shippers. There was little consensus on the relationship that should exist between coastal shipping and ports, a topic worthy of further investigation.     

Car-free city centres

In a car-free city centre car traffic is limited by an area-wide ban to its functionally necessary share. This usually includes delivery and service vehicles and residents' cars. The lock-out of unnecessary car traffic must not be an isolated measure, but part of a pulland-push approach. The most important supporting measure concerns the provision of attractive public transport services. Case studies from Bologna, Lubeck, Aachen, York, and Nuremburg are reported.