Decision-making for light rail

In transport literature there is an ongoing discussion on the potential of light rail in mitigating congestion and supporting mobility around urban centres. Throughout Europe and the United States, many policy makers see light rail as an interesting option to improve the accessibility of urban centres. The Dutch national government wanted to support swift light rail realization in a number of promising situations.Several projects gained support from the national government for implementation. However, the decision-making on a local level was not nearly as swift as expected and not in line with the promise. This paper presents an analysis of that perceived slowdown and shows that the approach of the national government with a strict focus on light rail and a detachment from the local processes has played an important role in the slowdown. It shows that light rail can very well be a solid option. However, its successful implementation is not solely dependent on light rail suitability for the mobility patterns in the region, but very much on the approach of the implementation of those supporting the option.     

Russia's waterborne trade and transport: issues in market transformation

During the Soviet era most of the Union's international non-oil trade was transported over water. Following the former Soviet Union's break-up, the share of water transport in accomodating Russia's trade has become modest, as the railways carry most goods that are traded domestically or with the new republics of the Commonwealth of Independence States, which are now treated as foreign countries. Adjusting the Russian Federation's water transport industry and related infrastructure to the changed geo-political and regional economic conditions proves difficult. While the country inherited a fair share of the former Soviet merchant fleet, it is deprived of port assets which were originally built to serve all-Union trades but are now located in other republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Major reforms are required to streamline the provision of port services and the ports' commercial performance. The Russian Government took several steps in 1992 which effectively put the national water transport carriers on a commercial footing. The effect has been that many carriers chose to leave the national transport scence and engage in trades which do not include Russia. The Government is now confronted with the need to reduce dependence on foreign-owned vessels and to modernize the national merchant fleet. Difficult policy decisions have to reverse these trends so that national maritime industry asstes become more available to meet the country's needs.     

Causes and effects of FDI by the Norwegian maritime industry

This paper analyses foreign direct investments (FDI) in Asia by the Norwegian maritime industry. It focuses on three topics: (1) Why do Norwegian maritime companies invest abroad? (2) What are the effects of maritime foreign direct investments on the Norwegian maritime milieu? (3) What are the effects of these investments on the host country? By analysing specific Norwegian maritime companies, it was found that the FDIs have partly been induced by the instability of the Norwegian policy towards this sector. Several firms also point at the importance of being closer to the Asian market as a significant reason for FDI, and the Norwegian ship equipment industry tends to 'follow' the shipping companies abroad. The domestic effects of FDI are uncertain, and are likely to depend on the motivation behind the investments. Finally, using Singapore as an example, it is argued that the host country effects of FDI tend to be positive.     

Simplified Analysis of Steady-state Turning Behaviour of Motor Vehicles. Part 1. Handling Diagrams of Simple Systems.

An approximate method is presented which produces a handling diagram useful for the study of steady-state turning behaviour at different values of steer angle, path radius and speed In three successive parts the steady state response of simple and more elaborate vehicle models and the stability of the resulting motion are discussed.     

Modeling travel time reliability of freeways using risk assessment techniques

Travel time reliability is considered to be one of the key indicators for the performance of transport systems and is measured in various ways. This paper synthesizes both reliability concepts: traffic breakdown, the indicator of the instability of travel times, is treated as the risk, whereas travel time variability, the indicator of the uncertainty of travel times, is considered as the consequence of this risk. An analytical formula, using risk assessment technique, explicitly expresses the cost of travel time unreliability as the sum of the products of the consequences (i.e. variability) and the corresponding probabilities of breakdown. It provides a novel measure of travel time reliability and is applicable in network performance evaluations. An empirical example based on a large dataset of freeway traffic flow data from loop detectors shows that the developed travel time reliability measure is both intuitively logical and consistent.     

The identification of factors influencing destination choice: An application of the repertory grid methodology

A common problem of all cognitive-behavioural models of destination choice is that of the identification of factors influencing the behaviour of interest. This paper considers the applicability of Kelly's repertory grid methodology to identify the factors influencing consumer choice of shopping centres. Firstly, some methodological issues in the assessment of the relative importance people attach to certain variables in deciding where to shop are discussed. Secondly, the main findings of an application of the repertory grid methodology are presented. The paper concludes by discussing some implications of the measurement of the determinants of choice behaviour and the construction of mathematical models of destination choice.     

Optimal Control Model Applications and Field Measurements with Respect to Car Driving

The well-known optimal control model has been applied only rarely to car driving, although its structure suits the modelling demands of driving by allowing for a multitask application and providing possibilities for the evaluation of driving in terms of supervisory control. Two series of Supervisory Driver Model predictions are stated for lateral position control in a straight driving scenario with disturbances generated internally by the driver. The first series of model calculations predicts lateral position variations and the time that a driver's vision can be occluded during the observation and control of different combinations of display variables (lateral position, lateral speed, yaw rate, lateral acceleration and yaw acceleration). The second series of predictions concerns two extreme sets of display variables in relation to driving speed and driving experience. Model predictions for the observation and control of all display variables give occlusion times which correspond with data from instrumented car studies with experienced drivers. However, with exclusive observation and control of the lateral position cue, predicted occlusion times are less than found in experimental results of inexperienced drivers. It is suggested that inexperienced drivers are also controlling yaw rate and/or both acceleration cues.     

Measuring inefficiency in the Norwegian bus industry using multi-directional efficiency analysis

This paper deals with methods of measuring and analyzing efficiency in the transport industry. The aim of the paper is to introduce and demonstrate the advantages of Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) in the case of cost data with limited substitution possibilities. For this purpose we reconsider the Norwegian bus data that has previously been analyzed using econometric models and Data Envelopment Analysis; Jørgensenet al. (1995, 1997) and Odeck and Alkadi (2001). It is shown how, using MEA, it becomes possible to disaggregate inefficiency into different components corresponding to different types of cost generating variables and thereby providing both managers of the bus companies and policy makers with more detailed information on possible improvements in performance.     

On the Theory of Nonlinear Dynamics and its Applications in Vehicle Systems Dynamics

We present a brief outline of nonlinear dynamics and its applications to vehicle systems dynamics problems. The concept of a phase space is introduced in order to illustrate the dynamics of nonlinear systems in a way that is easy to perceive. Various equilibrium states are defined, and the important case of multiple equilibrium states and their dependence on a parameter is discussed. It is argued that the analysis of nonlinear dynamic problems always should start with an analysis of the equilibrium states of the full nonlinear problem whereby great care must be taken in the choice of the numerical solvers. When the equilibrium states are known certain linearizations around one chosen state may be applied carefully in order to facilitate or speed up the numerical solution of the dynamical problem. It is argued, however, that certain problems cannot be linearized. The applications of nonlinear dynamics in vehicle simulations is discussed, and it is argued that it is necessary to know the equilibrium states of the full nonlinear system before the simulation calculations are performed.