Designing computable general equilibrium models for transportation applications

This paper presents a review of Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model applications for spatial economic and transport interaction modelling. This paper has three objectives (1) To deliver an up to date and comprehensive literature review on applications of CGE models in transportation, (2) To analyze the different methodological approaches and their theoretical and practical advantages and disadvantages, and (3) To ultimately provide guidance on designing CGE models for various transportation analyses. The content of the paper is as follows: first, a brief introduction to CGE models is provided. The history of CGE models is traced, ranging from their origins and seminal applications in economics, to their eventual adoption in transportation research. This is followed by a comprehensive review of the application of CGE models to transport projects and policies. Various applications in transportation are reviewed in terms of their intended application, as well as their treatment of space and time. Finally, these applications are contrasted with respect to their methodological approaches, with a close examination of various influential model choices. Here, the essential design choices made within these model applications are explained and debated, to clearly elaborate on the workings of the models and the design choices facing CGE model developers.     

A commuting model for the analysis of the impacts of a tramway project: application to the Lens area

Road congestion is not only an issue for major European urban agglomerations, but also for smaller ones. It is also the case of the Lens urban area, where car use is much higher than the average for medium-sized urban agglomerations in France. Local authorities put forward tramway projects to deal with the strongly negative externalities of congestion: travel time losses and pollution. To analyse its medium-term impact, we have developed a commuting with congestion model, inspired by the four-step traditional model, but with data made available from an origin–destination matrix. The results are encouraging but insufficient, and it is necessary to adopt supplementary measures in order to retrieve and justify the sizeable investments needed. Some measures prove to be very efficient, such as parking fees and urban tolls. Other measures, such as the subsidization of public transport, are partially efficient since they have an impact mainly on intra-urban commutes.     

Simulating deep CO2 emission reduction in transport in a general equilibrium framework: The GEM-E3T model

Transport sector restructuring to achieve deep GHG emission cuts has attracted much attention because transportation is important for the economy and inflexible in greenhouse gas emission reduction. The aim of this paper is to simulate transition towards low carbon transportation in the European Union until 2050 and to assess the ensuing macroeconomic and sectorial impacts. Transport restructuring is dynamically simulated using a new transport-oriented version of the computable general equilibrium model GEM-E3 which is linked with the PRIMES-TREMOVE energy and transport sectors model. The analysis draws from comparing a reference scenario projection for the EU member-states up to 2050 to alternative transport policy scenarios and sensitivities which involve deep cutting of CO₂ emissions. The simulations show that transport restructuring affects the economy through multiple channels, including investment in infrastructure, the purchasing and manufacturing of new technology vehicles, the production of alternative fuels, such as biofuels and electricity. The analysis identifies positive impacts of industrial activity and other sectors stemming from these activities. However, the implied costs of freight and passenger transportation are of crucial importance for the net impact on GDP and income. Should the transport sector transformation imply high unit costs of transport services, crowding out effects in the economy can offset the benefits. This implies that the technology and productivity progress assumptions can be decisive for the sign of GDP impacts. A robust conclusion is that the transport sector decarbonisation, is likely to have only small negative impacts on the EU GDP compared to business as usual.     

Fidelity of using scaled vehicles for chassis dynamic studies

There are many situations where physical testing of a vehicle or vehicle controller is necessary, yet use of a full-size vehicle is not practical. Some situations include implementation testing of novel actuation strategies, analysing the behaviour of chassis feedback control under system faults, or near-unstable situations such as limit handling under driver-assist feedback control. Historically, many have advocated the use of scale vehicles as surrogates for larger vehicles. This article presents analysis and experimental testing that examines the fidelity of using scaled vehicles for vehicle chassis dynamics and control studies. In support of this effort, this work introduces an experimental system called the Pennsylvania State University Rolling Roadway Simulator (the PURRS). In the PURRS, a custom-built scale-sized vehicle is freely driven on a moving roadway surface. While others have used scale-vehicle rolling roadway simulators in the past, this work is the first to attempt to directly match the planar dynamic performance of the scale-sized vehicle to a specific full-sized vehicle by careful design of the scale vehicle. This article explains details of this effort including vehicle dynamic modelling, detailed measurement of model parameters, conditions for dynamic similitude, validation of the resulting experimental vehicle in the time, frequency, and dimensionless domains. The results of the dynamic comparisons between scale- and full-sized vehicles clearly illustrate operational regimes where agreement is quite good, and other regimes where agreement is quite poor. Both are useful to understand the applicability of scale-vehicle results to full-size vehicle analysis.     

On the performance of rheological shock absorber models in full vehicle simulation

A comparative study of the performance of three rheological automotive shock absorber models as well as of an extended force-velocity relation in full vehicle simulation is performed. Simulation results for both the shock absorber test rig and a full vehicle crossing a single obstacle are compared with measured data. While the gain of accuracy by the extended force-velocity relation is marginal, the rheological models in general yield a noticeable improvement, which, however, in full vehicle simulation is less significant than in test rig simulation. Among the rheological models studied here, the one consisting of a nonlinear spring-dashpot element with an element modelling friction by a continuous transition from the compression to the extension range in parallel and a quadratic approximation of the static gas force exhibits the best global performance.     

Influences on bicycle use

A stated preference experiment was performed in Edmonton in Canada to both examine the nature of various influences on bicycle use and obtain ratios among parameter values to be used in the development of a larger simulation of household travel behaviour. A total of 1128 questionnaires were completed and returned by current cyclists. Each questionnaire presented a pair of possible bicycle use alternatives and asked which was preferred for travel to a hypothetical all-day meeting or gathering (business or social). Alternatives were described by specifying the amounts of time spent on three different types of cycling facility and whether or not showers and/or secure bicycle parking were available at the destination. Indications of socio-economic character and levels of experience and comfort regarding cycling were also collected. The observations thus obtained were used to estimate the parameter values for a range of different utility functions in logit models representing this choice behaviour. The results indicate, among other things, that time spent cycling in mixed traffic is more onerous than time spent cycling on bike lanes or bike paths; that secure parking is more important than showers at the destination; and that cycling times on roadways tend to become less onerous as level of experience increases. Some of these results are novel and others are consistent with findings regarding bicycle use in work done by others, which is seen to add credence to this work. A review of previous findings concerning influences on cycling behaviour is also included.     

钢桁梁施工图自动绘图系统研制中的几个问题

本文描述钢桁梁施工图自动绘图软件系统研制中几个重要技术问题及其解决方法。这些问题的合理解决能提高所研制软件的自动化程度。实用表明,应用此软件进行图形处理比传统的方法提高效率近10倍。     

Improvement of the volume-delay function by incorporating the impact of trucks on traffic flow

In current transportation modelling, travel time is the most important factor in decisions regarding transport modes, destinations and routes. The calculation of travel time is deployed by volume-delay functions (VDFs), a sub-model of route assignment procedure, using the correlation between increasing numbers of vehicles on a road and the road's restrictive capacity. By investigating existing VDFs, a clear gap is seen, demonstrating that current functions are not suited to reflect the empirically known large impact of trucks on passenger car travel times. This issue becomes crucial when transport models are used to reflect future scenarios where goods transportation is expected to increase greatly, and when transport models combine passenger and commercial traffic. This paper presents a new VDF which successfully includes trucks’ impact on traffic flow in the case of Germany and, with slight deviations, for North America. The function is developed using ideal-type data for German motorways. The differences between German and US data and their implications for VDFs are also discussed.     

An empirical investigation on consumers’ intentions towards autonomous driving

Major steps towards implementation of autonomous and connected transport are being taken nowadays. The trend of automation technology being used in vehicles by the most important vehicle manufacturing industries is expected to move closer to high or fully Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) through technological advancements in sectors of robotics and artificial intelligence. Vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities are planning to be available on market, in full scale, in the next years. In the longer term substantial benefits are mainly expected for accessibility to transport, safety, traffic flow, emissions, fuel use and comfort. All these potential societal benefits will not be achieved unless AVs are accepted and used by a critical mass of people. Addressing these challenges, this paper: (a) proposes a technology acceptance modelling process by extending the original Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explain and predict consumers’ intensions towards AVs, (b) based on the proposed TAM-extended framework, a 30-question survey was conducted in order to investigate the factors influencing consumers’ intensions to use and accept AVs. Results show that the constructs of perceived usefulness, perceived ease to use, perceived trust and social influence, are all useful predictors of behavioral intentions to have or use AVs, with perceived usefulness having the strongest impact. The insights derived from this study could significantly contribute to ongoing research related to technology acceptance of AVs and are expected to allow automobile industries to improve their design and technology.