Incentives in Bus Concession Contracts: A Review of Several Experiences in Latin America

Abstract

This paper reviews the incentive structure of concession contracts in several Latin American transit reforms. It also presents a conceptual analysis of the optimal design of concession contracts. The conceptual discussion and case studies reviewed indicate that payment to operators should be linked to operational variables and that some demand risk should optimally be transferred to operators. Performance standards linked to fines and penalties are not sufficient to guarantee good quality of service, particularly in citywide reforms and where institutional capacity ― in terms of size, experience and expertise of staff ― is lacking and regulatory processes are slow, bureaucratic and cumbersome. This review may be useful for policy-makers designing transit reforms in other countries. The policy lessons of the paper are particularly relevant to cities in the developing world but they are also important for reforms in other countries.     

The economic impact of logistics infrastructure: the case of PLAZA – the Zaragoza Logistics Platform

Abstract

The economics literature offers many examples of studies of the economic impact of transportation infrastructure such as highways, ports, and airports; however, little attention has been paid to other types of infrastructure such as logistics platforms. This article is a first assessment of the economic effects of the largest logistics platform in Europe – PLAZA, the Zaragoza Logistics Platform – located in Spain. More precisely, this paper analyzes the economic significance of PLAZA on the economy of the Aragon region where it is located. The methodology is based on the application of input–output analysis to the final demand of logistics platform-based companies in a manner that is similar to well-established studies of the economic impacts of tourism on tourist expenditure. This makes it possible to quantify the various levels of economic effects (direct, indirect, and induced) in terms of jobs, salaries, and wages, turnover, gross operating surplus (GOS), and gross value added (GVA). The conclusions reveal the economic importance PLAZA has for the regional economy of Aragon, representing just over 2% of total GVA and 3% of turnover.     

A proposal for cost-related and market-oriented train running charges

This paper examines some key aspects of a charging system for promoting railway transport, including charges reflecting a clear relationship with costs (transparency) and charges reflecting the quality of the infrastructure manager's service. Train running charges recover track-related costs and can help to develop a charging system that meets these requirements. To orient train running charges to the market, a method for processing track maintenance and renewal costs is proposed whereby the quality of the service provided by an infrastructure is measured according to its utility to the railway undertaking. To achieve transparency, a single indicator is used for cost planning and the subsequent levying of costs on railway undertakings. The paper includes an example of how proposed train running charges would be calculated according to data from 14 European countries. The example shows that short-distance trains generate the lowest maintenance and renewal costs, followed by long-distance trains and freight trains.     

A fuzzy stochastic approach to the multicriteria selection of an aircraft for regional chartering

This article deals with the problem of decision support for the selection of an aircraft. This is a problem faced by an airline company that is investing in regional charter flights in Brazil. The company belongs to an economic group whose core business is logistics. The problem has eight alternatives to be evaluated under 11 different criteria, whose measurements can be exact, stochastic, or fuzzy. The technique chosen for analyzing and then finding a solution to the problem is the multicriteria decision aiding method named NAIADE (Novel Approach to Imprecise Assessment and Decision Environments). The method used allows tackling the problems by working with quantitative as well as qualitative criteria under uncertainty and imprecision. Another considerable advantage of NAIADE over other multicriteria methods relies in its characteristics of not requiring a prior definition of the weights by the decision maker. As a conclusion, it can be said that the use of NAIADE provided for consistent results to that aircraft selection problem. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introducing shared life experience metric in urban planning

Transportation - Historically cities are formed to provide interaction and communication opportunities for communities. As cities become smarter, new forms of interactions are formed and the...     

Existence,relatedness and growth needs as mediators between mode choice and travel satisfaction: evidence from Denmark

Transportation - Understanding the link between mode choice and travel satisfaction is essential for promoting sustainable travel by expanding utility theory to include also the eudaimonic value of...     

Uncertainty in predictions of oil spill trajectories in a coastal zone

A method is introduced to determine the uncertainties in the predictions of oil spill trajectories using a classic oil spill model. The method considers the output of the oil spill model as a function of random variables, which are the input parameters, and calculates the standard deviation of the output results which provides a measure of the uncertainty of the model as a result of the uncertainties of the input parameters.In addition to a single trajectory that is calculated by the oil spill model using the mean values of the parameters, a band of trajectories can be defined when various simulations are done taking into account the uncertainties of the input parameters. This band of trajectories defines envelopes of the trajectories that are likely to be followed by the spill given the uncertainties of the input.The method was applied to an oil spill that occurred in 1989 near Sines in the southwestern coast of Portugal. This model represented well the distinction between a wind driven part that remained offshore, and a tide driven part that went ashore. For both parts, the method defined two trajectory envelopes, one calculated exclusively with the wind fields, and the other using wind and tidal currents. In both cases reasonable approximation to the observed results was obtained.The envelope of likely trajectories that is obtained with the uncertainty modelling proved to give a better interpretation of the trajectories that were simulated by the oil spill model.     

Benthic megafauna communities under the influence of the South Atlantic Central Water intrusion onto the Brazilian SE shelf: A comparison between an upwelling and a non-upwelling ecosystem

The structure and dynamics of the benthic invertebrate megafauna of the Southeastern Brazilian shelf were studied over a 2-year period. Two regions presenting different oceanographic conditions, Ubatuba-SP and Cabo Frio-RJ were compared in terms of biomass, density of organisms and species richness. Two to three 30-min tows were undertaken at each of the stations, located at 40 and 100 m isobath, in a normal transect offshore of both regions. Faunal distributional patterns correlated with water mass dynamics, depth and sediment parameters. In the Cabo Frio region, subjected to a Ekman-driven seasonal coastal upwelling, the impact of the South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) on the inner shelf leads to a change in the benthic communities, with a high dominance of top carnivores such as the crab Portunus spinicarpus and the sea-star Astropecten brasiliensis, which accounted for the larger part of the total biomass. Distinct species associations were found in each of the two regions and the total biomass at Cabo Frio inner shelf was almost twice that of Ubatuba during the 2002 summer, when a marked upwelling was verified. The relationship between megabenthic biomass and input of organic matter to the sea floor during upwelling events is discussed.