The economics of bus deregulation in Britain

This paper reviews some of the arguments which have been put forward on the economics of bus deregulation, particularly the paper by Gwilliam and others. It argues that the experience of road haulage licensing is relevant. The evidence there suggests that liberalization has not had the adverse effects that many predicted and that in most respects one could expect bus deregulation to have no less favourable consequences. The main difference between buses and road haulage is over how far bus drivers might revert to the old practices of the 1920s of chasing, tailing, etc. which were said at the time to be a major cause of consumer dissatisfaction. The paper reviews the economics of some of these practices and suggests which might be discounted and which need further attention.     

Public involvement in offshore oil development: Lessons from New England

Abstract

Public perceptions of the risks and benefits of offshore oil development off the New England coast are examined. The influence of these perceptions on state policies toward federal actions is analyzed. A distinct trend of issue identification, critical analysis, consensus building, and state or regional action is observed. Throughout this interactive process between the region and the federal government, even though divergent state positions have evolved, there is a growing regional acceptance of coastal zone management concepts.     

Shoreline Management Plans and Coastal Cells in Scotland

Coastal sediment cells have been identified for the Scottish coast and, following the example of England and Wales, a trend is emerging towards the production of shoreline management plans (SMPs) for parts the Scottish coast. However, much of the Scottish coast does not have the degree of intracoastal sediment exchange that gives coastal sediment cells their integrity, and so a cell-based strategy for coastal management may not be a suitable response. This article examines the nature of the sediment cells in Scotland, questions whether the adoption of SMPs for all sections of the coastline is an appropriate management response, and suggests alternatives that may better link to integrated coastal zone management.     

The demand for local access to coastal recreation in southern New England

Coastal lands provide popular outdoor recreation opportunities including beach recreation, fishing, boating, and wildlife viewing. Published studies measuring the demand for access to coastal lands generally have focused on the recreational value of intensively used beaches, which comprise only a portion of the New England coastline. This article examines the recreational demand for coastal access to a local, free‐access site in southern New England. The study uses data obtained from on‐site interviews conducted during the summer of 1995 at Gooseberry Island, Massachusetts. The estimated average value of a visitor‐day during the summer season is $3.06 for weekdays and $4.18 for weekends and holidays. While these values are at the low end of the range of values published in existing literature addressing beach recreation, the aggregate value of recreation benefits derived from public access to undeveloped coastal areas likely are significant.     

Optimal ship tracking on a navigation route between two ports: a hydrodynamics approach

The optimal trajectory from Calcutta port to Mumbai port is charted for a tanker transshipping from the East coast to the West coast of India during rough weather. Rough weather is simulated over Indian seas using the state-of-the-art WAM numerical wave model (WAMDI Group in J Phys Oceanogr 18:1775–1810, 1988), assimilating satellite (IRS-P4) wind fields. These simulated wave fields and two-dimensional (2D) directional wave spectrum are an absolute representation of the irregular seaway. Hence, the same for the monsoon month of August 2000 formed the input basis for this study. Loss of ship speed due to the wave field (i.e., nonlinear motion of the tanker in waves) and associated sea-keeping characteristics in the seaway are estimated (Bhattacharya in Dynamics of marine vehicles, Wiley, New York, 1978). The approach adopted in this paper is unique in that it takes into account both voluntary and involuntary speed reductions of the ship. It helps in ship tracking by the optimum route using inverse velocity as the weight function for the path in an efficient way. Dijkstra’s algorithm [Numer Math 1(3):269–271, 1959] is applied in an iterative manner for determining the optimum track. The optimum track information has broad scope for use in modern shipping industry for obtaining safe and least-time routing by avoiding schedule delays with economic fuel consumption.     

Public responses to policies designed to internalise environmental and social externalities from road transport in New Zealand

Based on a public survey of registered voters, we explore four options for internalising the social and environmental costs of road transport. The options were presented together with generalised factual information about their benefits and costs. Respondents are highly supportive of fuel use efficiency standards and exhaust gas quality standards, with lesser support for proposed initiatives of road user charges and speed reduction. Demographic analysis of responses enables identification of those who might favour or oppose particular options. In this case women are identified as being strongly supportive of the speed reduction option.     

Development of a path planning system using mean shift algorithm for driver assistance

The longitudinal and lateral vehicle control techniques have been widely used in several active driver assistance systems. The adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistant control, vehicle platooning and stop-and-go control are typical examples of the most important applications. In this study, a novel path planning method is proposed considering the driving environment such as road shape, ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles’ movement. The relative distance and velocity between the ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles are identified with respect to the predicted lane shape in front of the ego vehicle. Based on the identified information, the road shape and surrounding vehicles are mapped into the intensity image and the desired vector for the ego vehicle’s movement is determined by the maximum intensity density tracing method. The desired vehicle path is followed by the acceleration/deceleration control and the steering assist control, respectively. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed system, simulations are conducted and compared with ACC systems.