The desulphurisation of shipping: Past,present and the future under a global cap

As from January 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is implementing a global 0.5% limit on the sulphur content of fuel, commonly known as the global sulphur cap. This limit is the latest policy in the efforts to reduce sulphur emissions from shipping, following the designation of emission control areas (ECAs) and other regional regulations. In this paper, a literature review is conducted of academic studies that have dealt with issues relating to the reduction of maritime sulphur emissions. Various recurring research themes are identified, spanning the areas of operations research, maritime economics and transport policy. The effects and implications of available compliance options are then analyzed from the perspectives of ship operators, shippers and consumers. Using lessons learned from the enforcement of ECA regulations, this is followed by an appraisal of various potential issues related to the enforcement of these new global regulations. It is found that a homogeneous enforcement regime is required to ensure a level playing field amongst ship operators and that the global sulphur cap may lead to serious market distortion, due to the potential short term rise of fuel prices. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for future research on sulphur emissions from shipping in the aftermath of the global cap and, looking forward, to its relationship to the IMO strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) shipping emissions.     

Key beliefs and attitudes for sea-level rise policy

This article reviews key measures of public opinion on sea-level rise (SLR): beliefs, attitudes, issue prioritization, and policy support. To do so, we first assess the influence of SLR beliefs and attitudes on issue prioritization and policy support using state-level data. Then, we compare the state findings to other surveys conducted in a hot spot of rising coastal waters, the U.S. Mid-Atlantic, to better understand the landscape of public opinion. Our findings indicate that, as in studies of climate change public opinion, belief certainty that SLR is happening and attitudes about its consequences significantly influence issue prioritization and policy support. Compared to climate change, SLR demonstrates less salience, but is similarly a low public priority. Nevertheless, the public supports governmental policies that address the issue, preferring strategies that discourage new construction in high risk areas and employ “soft” protection through natural barriers. Among the least popular approaches are those that implement hard barriers to defend against encroaching seas. Communication programs and public consultation by governments can benefit from the use of survey data to support evidence-based decision-making.     

Agent-based simulation framework for mixed traffic of cars,pedestrians and trams

In this paper, we report on the construction of a new framework for simulating mixed traffic consisting of cars, trams, and pedestrians that can be used to support discussions about road management, signal control, and public transit. Specifically, a layered road structure that was designed for car traffic simulations was extended to interact with an existing one-dimensional (1D) car-following model and a two-dimensional (2D) discrete choice model for pedestrians. The car model, pedestrian model, and interaction rules implemented in the proposed framework were verified through simulations involving simple road environments. The resulting simulated values were in near agreement with the empirical data. We then used the proposed framework to assess the impact of a tramway extension plan for a real city. The simulation results showed that the impact of the proposed tramway on existing car traffic would not be serious, and by extension, implied that the proposed framework could help stakeholders decide on expansion scenarios that are satisfactory to both tram users and private car owners.     

Are technology myths stalling aviation climate policy?

Emissions from aviation will continue to increase in the future, in contradiction of global climate policy objectives. Yet, airlines and airline organisations suggest that aviation will become climatically sustainable. This paper investigates this paradox by reviewing fuel-efficiency gains since the 1960s in comparison to aviation growth, and by linking these results to technology discourses, based on a two-tiered approach tracing technology-focused discourses over 20 years (1994–2013). Findings indicate that a wide range of solutions to growing emissions from aviation have been presented by industry, hyped in global media, and subsequently vanished to be replaced by new technology discourses. Redundant discourses often linger in the public domain, where they continue to be associated with industry aspirations of ‘sustainable aviation’ and ‘zero-emission flight’. The paper highlights and discusses a number of technology discourses that constitute ‘technology myths’, and the role these ‘myths’ may be playing in the enduring but flawed promise of sustainable aviation. We conclude that technology myths require policy-makers to interpret and take into account technical uncertainty, which may result in inaction that continues to delay much needed progress in climate policy for aviation.     

Human-like autonomous car-following model with deep reinforcement learning

This study proposes a framework for human-like autonomous car-following planning based on deep reinforcement learning (deep RL). Historical driving data are fed into a simulation environment where an RL agent learns from trial and error interactions based on a reward function that signals how much the agent deviates from the empirical data. Through these interactions, an optimal policy, or car-following model that maps in a human-like way from speed, relative speed between a lead and following vehicle, and inter-vehicle spacing to acceleration of a following vehicle is finally obtained. The model can be continuously updated when more data are fed in. Two thousand car-following periods extracted from the 2015 Shanghai Naturalistic Driving Study were used to train the model and compare its performance with that of traditional and recent data-driven car-following models. As shown by this study’s results, a deep deterministic policy gradient car-following model that uses disparity between simulated and observed speed as the reward function and considers a reaction delay of 1 s, denoted as DDPGvRT, can reproduce human-like car-following behavior with higher accuracy than traditional and recent data-driven car-following models. Specifically, the DDPGvRT model has a spacing validation error of 18% and speed validation error of 5%, which are less than those of other models, including the intelligent driver model, models based on locally weighted regression, and conventional neural network-based models. Moreover, the DDPGvRT demonstrates good capability of generalization to various driving situations and can adapt to different drivers by continuously learning. This study demonstrates that reinforcement learning methodology can offer insight into driver behavior and can contribute to the development of human-like autonomous driving algorithms and traffic-flow models.     

布达佩斯城市交通发展战略与启示

分别从概况、战略目标、实施策略等3个方面对布达佩斯城市交通发展的总体战略及公共交通、道路网络、静态交通、步行及自行车交通、交通管理等发展战略进行了阐述。由此得出,居民出行线路上任何一种交通方式的低效都将破坏整个交通链的效率,只有整个交通链所有交通环节的和谐发展,才能够使公共交通在运输服务上较小汽车具有竞争力;只有综合利用公共交通与私人交通,才能使城市交通与土地利用相协调。最后,结合布达佩斯和国内实践经验,总结提出了一种包含人口、经济、地理、环境、技术、制度等要素的“六棱形”城市交通发展战略规划模型。     

北京市小汽车交通发展研究

首先对北京市小汽车发展的历程进行了回顾,接着分析了现状和特点,并对北京市小汽车发展引发的诸多经济社会问题进行了反思。认为当前小汽车发展是超前消费,超过了经济发展速度,与城市化发展不协调,小汽车在交通出行结构中所占比例过高,加重了交通拥堵,给资源、环境造成了沉重的负担和影响。从可持续发展的理念出发,北京市小汽车发展的总体策略应该是：适量拥有、合理使用。政府管理部门要树立“公交优先”的思想,采取各种管理手段缓解交通拥堵,减少交通事故。     

新加坡公共交通发展经验及启示

通过实际考察和走访咨询,系统地总结了新加坡的公共交通发展经验。首先介绍了新加坡对小汽车和公共交通发展采取的＂推、拉策略＂,以及新加坡公共交通的发展历程。在此基础上,对新加坡公共交通发展的成功经验进行了归纳和总结,包括管理机制、公共交通设施建设、公共交通运营系统、政策法规等方面的内容。结合我国城市交通发展的现状和特点,对城市公共交通的发展提出了措施和建议。     

公共自行车近期文献综述

提供公共自行车服务的城市数量快速发展,从20世纪90年代末屈指可数发展到如今超过800个。通过综述近期公共自行车文献,总结公共自行车研究领域的若干议题。便捷性是出行者使用公共自行车的主要动机。省钱是促使低收入群体使用的原因,与停放站间距离是预测会员数量的重要指标。在一些国家,只有不到半数会员每月使用率少于一次。男性使用率高于女性,但性别失衡情况并未如私人自行车那样显著(至少在自行车使用率低的国家)。年会员最普遍的出行目的是通勤。与私人自行车使用者相比,公共自行车使用者不常佩戴头盔,但在法律强制佩戴头盔的国家,其使用水平则受到影响。公共自行车使用者相比私人自行车使用者不易受伤。未来发展方向包括电动自行车集成、GPS全球定位系统、无停放站系统和改进的公共交通一体化。指出应开展更多研究量化公共自行车在出行方式选择、尾气排放、拥堵和健康方面的影响。     

深圳市交通需求管理政策的法治思考

深圳市制定和实施了若干小汽车交通需求管理政策,完善相关政策的法制保障成为政策实施的关键问题。首先结合深圳市交通需求管理实践经验,梳理小汽车增量调控、停车收费政策的制定与实施情况。指出交通需求管理政策的制定与实施面临经济杠杆存在法理争议、行政手段法律依据不足和程序合法性存疑等法治障碍。进而提出在国家层面构建交通管理法治体系、在地方层面完善法律法规以及规范交通需求管理政策出台程序等完善路径。