Fuel price elasticities for single-unit truck operations in the United States

This paper provides fuel price elasticity estimates for single-unit truck activity, where single-unit trucks are defined as vehicles on a single frame with either (1) at least two axles and six tires; or (2) a gross vehicle weight greater than 10,000 lb. Using data from 1980 to 2012, this paper applies first-difference and error correction models and finds that single-unit truck activity is sensitive to certain macroeconomic and infrastructure factors (gross domestic product, lane miles expansion, and housing construction), but is not sensitive to diesel fuel prices. These results suggest that fuel price elasticities of single unit truck activity are inelastic. These results may be used by policymakers in considering policies that have a direct impact on fuel prices, or policies whose effects may be equivalent to fuel price adjustments.     

Benchmarking road safety performance by grouping local territories: A study in the Netherlands

The method of benchmarking provides an opportunity to learn from better performing territories to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of activities in a particular field of interest. Such a field of interest could be road safety. Road safety benchmarking can include several indicators, ranging from performance indicated by crash statistics, to indicators that also account for consequences in costs or the underlying state of the road safety system and relevant organisation and processes at actor level. The structure and culture of a territory is identified as a basic context of road safety performance. This is regarded as important information to use in grouping of territories to get more homogenous or equal and comparable conditions to learn from ‘the best in class’.The main aim of this study is to assess the usability of different groupings using the physical structure for benchmarking road safety performance at local territorial level. A traditional grouping of municipalities in the Netherlands was compared with a simple grouping of these municipalities based on their level of urbanisation and an advanced grouping in which more indicators such as differences in demography, growth and road structure were taken into account. As in other studies, urbanisation showed to be the most predominant structural factor for grouping local territories and related to differences in road safety performance. However, if information would be needed for specific target groups, other factors like age and gender distribution or the distribution of the road network can provide valuable additional insight and better homogenous starting points for benchmarking. Especially benchmarking of rural territories may profit from such extra distinctive characteristics.     

Gauging interventions for sustainable travel: A comparative study of travel attitudes in Berlin and London

So-called ‘soft’ policy instruments that respond to the psychological aspects of travel are regularly acknowledged as necessary complements to ‘hard’ infrastructure investments to effectively promote sustainable travel in cities. While studies investigating subjective orientations among travellers have proliferated, open questions remain including the role of recent technological advances, the expansion of alternative mobility services, locally specific mobility cultures and residential selection. This paper presents the methods, results and policy implications of a comparative study aiming to understand mobility attitudes and behaviours in the wider metropolitan regions of Berlin and London. We specifically considered information and communication technology (ICT), new types of mobility services such as car sharing, electric cars and residential preferences. In each region, we identified six comparable segments with distinct attitudinal profiles, socio-demographic properties and behavioural patterns. Geocoding of the home address of respondents further revealed varying contextual opportunities and constraints that are likely to influence travel attitudes. We find that there is significant potential for uptake of sustainable travel practices in both metropolitan regions, if policy interventions are designed and targeted in accordance with group-specific needs and preferences and respond to local conditions of mobility culture. We identify such interventions for each segment and region and conclude that comparative assessment of attitudinal, alongside geographical, characteristics of metropolitan travellers can provide better strategic input for realistic scenario-building and ex-ante assessment of sustainable transport policy.     

Preface and Acknowledgments

Abstract

The term “mitigation”; has been used in connection with habitat losses attributable to federal water projects as early as the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1934. Most of the current requirements to mitigate habitat losses associated with water development projects apply to wetlands, as they are biologically productive and have been destroyed at an increasing rate during recent years by developers seeking prime land in the coastal zone. A case study of the Port of Coos Bay and the City of North Bend, Oregon, provides an actual experience of estuarine mitigation in a dredging project and an airport fill. The case was developed as part of a larger curriculum research study for seaport management. This article is primarily written as a case with a brief introduction and discussion of mitigation requirements, followed by the text of the case and ending with a series of hypotheses for further research.     

A bi-objective bi-level signal control policy for transport of hazardous materials in urban road networks

A bi-objective bi-level signal control optimization for hazardous material (hazmat) transport is considered to assess trade-offs between travel cost and environment impacts such as public risk exposure. A least maxi-sum risk model with explicit signal delay is presented to determine generalized travel cost for hazmat carriers. Since the bi-level signal control problem is generally a non-convex program, a bundle method using generalized gradients is proposed. A bounding strategy is developed to stabilize solutions of the bi-level program and reduce relative gaps between iterations. Numerical comparisons are made with other risk-averse models. The results indicate that the proposed bi-objective bi-level model becomes even amiable to signal control policy makers since provides flexible solutions whilst is acceptable to carriers since takes account of travel delay at signal-controlled junctions. Moreover, the trade-offs between public risk and generalized travel costs are empirically investigated among different risk models with a variety of weights. As a result, the proposed model consistently exhibits highly considerable advantage on mitigation of public risk whilst incurred less cost loss as compared to other alternatives.     

私人小汽车拥有权管制政策效应分析

随着中国城镇化和机动化进程加速,已有多个城市实施了私人小汽车拥有权管制政策。为了给政策完善提供有价值的参考,有必要对该政策产生的宏、微观效应进行分析和评估。以上海市为例,基于公共管制理论,综合运用多种经济计量方法,从宏观层面测算额度管制对私人小汽车增长的限制效果,发现政策成熟期之后私人小汽车年增幅约减少26%~35%。同时,由年度数据分析拍卖市场中额度投放量、竞拍人数和年平均中标价的外部影响因素和内部关联机制。进一步,从微观层面验证月度数据对应的拍卖市场关键变量之间的互动关系,并强调宏微观结论的相互应验和一致性。     

Transport Innovation: Coping with the Future

An efficient transport system is a crucial precondition for economic development and an asset in international mobility. Mobility of passengers and transport of goods are considered key elements for a modern society. The transport sector is also a sector of continuous technological innovation. However, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding future transport technology and policy, as well as a large variation in ways to deal with this uncertainty. With regard to the latter it may be helpful to use more than one foresight method, e.g. a combination of methods each with a different emphasis on expertise, creativity and interaction with actors. Such a multiple method approach allows for the identification of those futures or future developments that are robust. This paper provides an introduction to the topic of transport innovation as well as providing a context for the four papers which follow in this special issue, illustrating the importance of taking such a multiple method approach.     

Technological innovations in the transport sector: the need for cooperation to meet environmental interests

Environmental problems have become urgent in many countries. A large contribution to the solution of environmental problems is expected from technological change. This raises the issue of how technological change takes place, and more in particular how technological change can be promoted that is beneficial to long term sustainability objectives.

In the paper we discuss this topic in the context of the transport sector. This is relevant because transportation contributes significantly to various types of pollution, existing trends might lead to even more negative impacts and finally there are high expectations about the potential of future technological development to reduce the environmental impact of transportation.

We approach the issue of technological change towards more environmentally sound development from the perspective of technology dynamics and sustainable development. We argue that additional theoretical insights are needed especially when one wants to study technological change in the context of environmental problems. We therefore discuss a strategy of cooperation between government and firms in network. Special attention is paid to the role of the government in networks and the use of a new type of instruments.     

Do social norms regarding carbon offsetting affect individual preferences towards this policy? Results from a stated choice experiment

This study investigates the idea that people’s willingness to offset flight-related carbon emissions is a function of the collective participation rate, which can be regarded as a social norm, towards carbon offsetting. Additionally, we reveal people’s preferences toward two other environmental policies; a baggage allowance and airline eco-efficiency index. A discrete choice experiment is designed and administrated among a sample of air travelers. The results indicate that carbon offsetting generates utility, with people gaining more utility when the collective participation rate is high. Additionally, it was found that the baggage allowance and the eco-efficiency index strongly influenced respondents’ airline choices. People also became more sensitivity towards a baggage allowance and the eco-efficiency label, when the collective offsetting rate was high.