Reducing the cost of peak hour transit service through contracting out service

Transit service contracting has responded to fiscal and financial woes of public transit agencies as the most uniquely attractive cost‐saving strategy at present. Most transit service contracting, however, has been in the traditional provision of entire fixed route bus service or commuter express bus service, and exclusive demand responsive service for the general public or for special disadvantaged population groups such as the elderly and/or the handicapped. This paper presents a new module in transit service contracting whereby the public and private operators jointly provide the peak service on the same route and at the same time. While the public agency provides the base demand of the service, the private provider provides the excess demand, both following the same schedules and similar service arrangements. In this paper, proposed service arrangements, costing and contracting procedures are discussed. It is also reported that substantial cost savings ranging from 32 to 57% with an average savings of 48% can be achieved if the excess peak hour bus transit service on highly peaked routes in public transit agencies is contracted to competing private operator(s).     

Operating differential subsidies: problems and alternatives for the United States

In this paper a proposal for a Competitive Rate of Return (CRR) based operating-subsidy system is made as an alternative to the existing US foreign-cost parity ODS system. Such an alternative, if adopted, could be successful in meaningfully relating US government maritime subsidy programmes to the legitimate financial needs of the industry. From the operator's viewpoint, the risk of drastic revenue fluctuations is removed, yet adequate opportunities are provided for firms with above average performance to be rewarded for their efficiency in higher than average profits. similarly, poorly run firms have an opportunity to lose money, in spite of government subsidies.

From the government's viewpoint, the CRR programme guarantees the provision of essential shipping services at the lowest possible cost. Because of substantial incentives to the operator on both the revenue and cost side of his profit equation, it is more likely that long-run government operating subsidies can be reduced under CRR than under the present system.

Although the CRR system has been described for use in determining subsidies for both bulk and general cargo carriers, it has been recommended that this system be considered first for implementation in the case of bulk vessels, because of the newness of the bulk subsidy programme. In addition, the 1970 Act gives MarAd the flexibility to initiate such a programme for bulk vessels without the necessity of new legislation.     

The Organization of Nautical Training and Executive Leadership

The aim of this paper is to indicate some of the distinctive problems of executive leadership which surround the control of authority in merchant navy training schools in the United Satates, Great Britain, and Spain. On the basis of extensive field interviews with the staff and directors of two American, three British, and two Spanish, schools, our purpose is to suggest the conditions which give rise to the need for particular kinds of leadership styles, depending upon the manner by which nautical education is organized [1]. More specfi-cally, our thesis is that their organizationl chartering arrangements (defined as contractual and quasi-contractual linkages with variious third parties to nautical education) mandate specific kinds of internal structural patterns within nautical schools which, in turn, produce the need for different styles of executive leadership.     

宽量程空-燃比传感器的检测

使用宽量程空/燃比传感器已经有几年了,但人们对此并不十分了解,沃伦先生告诉我们如何利用故障扫描仪处理这些数据。     

A generalized multiple durations proportional hazard model with an application to activity behavior during the evening work-to-home commute

The model developed in this paper generalizes (in the context of multiple exit states from a duration spell) extant competing risk methods which tie the exit state of duration very tightly with the length of duration. In the current formulation, the exit state is modeled explicitly and jointly with duration models for each potential exit state. The model developed here, however, is much broader in its applicability than only to the competing risk situation; it is applicable to multiple durations arising from multiple entrance states, multiple exit states, or a combination of entrance and exit states. Multiple entrance states occur frequently in many situations, but have received little attention in the literature. Explicit consideration of the entrance state is important, even in single or multiple competing risk models in order to accommodate the sample selection in duration based on the no-entry/entry (to the duration spell) outcome. The generalized multiple durations model developed in the paper is applied to an empirical analysis of activity behavior during the return home from work.     

Simulation of Multibody Vehicles Moving over Elastic Guideways1

This paper describes the present state of a general purpose computer program for calculating the dynamic response of vehicles travelling over guideways which may be elastic.

The linearized state-equations of motion for general multibody vehicles are constructed automatically by the program, these equations are supplemented by the equations for the active subsystems. Finally, the vehicle system equations are combined with the modal equations for elastic guideways and the complete set of coupled equations is solved simultaneously by numerical integration.     

The Influence of the Suspension System on Motorcycle Weave-mode Oscillations

The vertical motions of a large motorcycle on its tyres and suspension system are analysed, and the possibility of one of the natural frequencies being close to that of the lateral oscillation, the weave mode, is demonstrated. Interactions between the vertical and lateral modes, and the implications for motorcycle design and development are discussed.     

Analysis of within-household effects and between-household differences in maintenance activity allocation

This paper investigates the allocation of household individuals to out-of-home maintenance activities using the rich activity-travel diary data from the San Francisco Bay Area. Two inter-related decisions are considered in this context: (i) whether the given activity episode is performed individually (solo) or jointly, and (ii) the person who participates in the activity, if it is a solo activity. To account for the conditional nature of the solo activity person selection, a nested mixed logit modeling framework is proposed and implemented to jointly analyze person allocation for all maintenance activities performed by a household on a given day. The model is used to investigate within-household effects and between-household differences. The proposed model relaxes some important restrictions in person allocation models by accounting for various sources of correlations and relaxing the assumption of constant variance across households. The proposed model is used to analyze the differences in person allocation between different types of households. The results indicate that life-cycle and household role, income, gender, employment status, and several types of constraints (activities including cost, time-availability, vehicle-availability, coordination constraints, and child-care obligations) affect person allocation decisions in the context of maintenance activities. The empirical results indicate the presence of various sources of correlations across persons, over activities, and within-household that are significant. In addition, the data also provides evidence that the unobserved variances in person selection utilities are not constant across households. A better understanding of these within-household interactions and between-household differences may be used in activity-based simulation models and to develop more effective and focused demand management measures.     

Pantograph/Catenary Dynamics and Control

The pantograph-catenary system with its dynamic behaviour turned out to be a crucial component for new train systems required to run at higher speeds. With the present systems, operational limitations have to be accepted when running with several pantographs in the train set, when tilting trains are employed, when running on low quality catenary sections or when stricter noise reduction regulations are forcing lower noise emissions also for the pantographs. This paper gives an overview of the methods to describe the catenary and the pantograph system dynamics. Furthermore, aspects concerning the interaction between current collectors and overhead equipment, the acquisition of the model data and the verification are presented. Finally various constructions of passive pantographs and proposals for active control concepts are discussed.