Analysis of the economic and social parameters of the Three-Wheeler Taxi service in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has an extensive Three-Wheeler Taxi service comprised of around 300,000 vehicles. These vehicles, which first made an entry to Sri Lanka’s roads in the early 1980s, account for around 15% of the active motor vehicle fleet at present. Three-Wheelers Taxis also account for around 6% of the passenger kilometres. These vehicles are mostly individually operated with some owned by the operator and others hired on a monthly or daily basis. The industry is unregulated with vehicle registration and driving licenses being the only instruments of regulation. Fares are unregulated. However, most operators belong to associations which are loose collections of operators found in a given locality. These associations impose a degree of self regulation with respect to fares. They also tend to demonstrate oligapolistic behaviour.The paper is based on a survey of 200 operators and 100 passengers from a Divisional Secretariat area in Colombo District. The survey covered a number of details pertaining to ownership, management and fare structures, as well as opinions on the service attributes by users. The survey also covered perceptions of operators to determine the social, economic and transport implications of the services provided. Details were also obtained on the profiles of the operators and their expectations.The paper provides the results of the analysis of this data and draws a number of conclusions on the economics of the industry as well as the social aspects associated with it. It also discusses the characteristics of the users of these three wheelers as well as their typical use. The analysis also investigates complementarily of service provision between three wheelers as an access mode to buses and railways. This analysis has been used to develop an understanding of the manner in which the industry has grown over the last two decades and how it is being operated today. It also identifies areas wherein the industry has become inefficient and assesses the degree of over pricing that exists due to this. The data also helps to determine the relationship between unemployment and provision of self-employed transport services.The paper concludes with a synopsis of the profile of the industry and its role within the wider transport sector and with respect to ownership. It also discusses the positive and negative impacts of the lack of regulation on the industry.     

Securing public values in public transport projects: Four Dutch cases on innovation

Public transport projects, like its operations, most often have a substantial dependence on public funding. The rationale behind the public contribution is that governments on different levels want to secure certain public values by supporting public transport, e.g., mobility, accessibility, sustainability, social inclusion. These are all public values that public transport, projects and operations are expected to support. Evaluations show that the outcomes of the projects are often different than expected. The goal of the research described here was to understand what happens to the public values during the process of project realisation. Four Dutch projects were researched: ZuidTangent (a bus rapid transit project near Schiphol); ParkShuttle (a people mover near Rotterdam); Phileas (guided bus rapid transit near Eindhoven); and RandstadRail (a light rail conversion near The Hague). All the projects were initiated with innovation as one of the key elements/values. Moving away from the traditional ante-post analysis, we saw patterns in the way in which public values shift during the project. First, the projects under study show how too much focus on innovation can harm the project. Second, we see crowding out of values; high ambitions of key values during the early phases of the project lead to neglect of values which were not key to the project. Third, although more innovation was a key reason to introduce competition in the governance of Dutch public transport, it became apparent that introducing competition has complicated execution of these innovative projects significantly.     

Competition in Brazilian bus and coach services - The results of recent competitive tendering processes

This paper analyses the terms and the results of a sample of some recent Brazilian bidding processes for the concession of public passenger transport services: namely, urban and metropolitan bus or regional coach services. The analysis is based on selected issues relating to competitiveness and upon the legal framework that applies in this sector. It was concluded that, given the lack of bidding processes for concessions in the bus and coach sector in Brazil, the fact that some bidding processes have been carried out should be considered a sign of progress. However, these auctions have not necessarily prioritised competitiveness, since many barriers to entry into the systems were imposed by the bidding terms. Future competitive tendering processes should seek to abide by stricter principles of competitiveness, if they wish to avoid the entire effort expended on conducting such processes serving only to mask nothing more than formal obedience to the law and to discredit the bidding process in the eyes of Brazilian citizens.     

公交联动发车模型的研究

乘客的候车时间可分为2部分(在出发站点的等待时间及在换乘站的换乘时间),仅考虑换乘时间最短的区域公交协调调度模型无法降低乘客在出发站点的等待时间。针对此问题,提出了公交联动发车的概念及需满足的条件。在对乘客类型分类的基础上,分析了弹性乘客候车时间的计算方法,统计了各类型乘客的各部分候车时间,以所有乘客总的候车时间最短为目标建立公交联动发车模型。针对模型变量多的特点,选用遗传算法进行了求解。采用实例对模型的有效性进行了验证。结果表明,在维持发车间隔不变的基础上,联动发车模型较区域协调调度模型在降低乘客候车时间方面具有明显的优势,乘客候车时间降低了15.2%。      

Creating bus timetables with maximal synchronization

This paper addresses the problem of generating a timetable for a given network of buses so as to maximize their synchronization. It attempts to maximize the number of simultaneous bus arrivals at the connection (transfer) nodes of the network. Transit schedulers, taking into account the satisfaction and convenience of the system's users, appreciate the importance of creating a timetable with maximal synchronization, which enables the transfer of passengers from one route to another with minimum waiting time at the transfer nodes. In this paper, the problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming problem, and a heuristic algorithm is developed to solve the problem in polynomial time. The efficiency of this algorithm, compared to optimal solutions, is illustrated through a series of examples.     

政府在发展城市公共交通中的作用研究

针对城市公共交通在我国城市交通结构q-所占比重低、并有下降趋势的问题,本文就我国城市交通的具体情况分析了造成该问题的主要原因,进而通过参考发达国家扶持城市公共交通发展的先进经验,指出我国政府在发展城市公共交通中应起的作用。     

The role of paratransit: some reflections based on the experience of residents’ coach services in Hong Kong

Paratransit refers to urban transport services “somewhere between private passenger transport and conventional public transport in terms of cost and quality of service” [Rimmer (1980), Paratransit: A commentary. Environ. Plan. A 12, 937–944]. Since the 1980s, a new form of paratransit—residents’ coach, which provides exclusive transport services to residents living in private housing estates—has emerged in Hong Kong. What was the background underlying the emergence and subsequent growth of residents’ coach services? Also, what was the role of residents’ coach in the public transport system of Hong Kong? With the completion of more railway extensions, should residents’ coach services be replaced? If so, what are the potential impacts on people’s life? This paper addresses the above research questions through a large-scale questionnaire survey that examined not only people’s modal choice but also their residential choice, socio-economic background and attitudes. The findings suggest that transport policy makers should pay more attention to examine new forms of paratransit and the ways of integrating them into the overall public transport system, both spatially and temporally. It is only through the development of an efficient and multi-modal transport system can the maximum potential of paratransit in filling the transport gap between conventional mass transit and private cars be realized.     

试论城市公共交通法的以人为本原则

文章对城市公共交通法的基本原则的进行界定、选择,确定了城市公共交通法的基本原则。然后对城市公共交通法的以人为本原则进行论述,就城市公共交通以人为本原则的内涵各个方面进行分析,对城市公共交通法的立法、执法具有一定指导意义。     

城市公交调度优化模型及算法研究

基于公交线路各站点的客流情况,同时考虑到公交公司的发车能力,建立适合于优化公交调度的数学模型。该发车间隔优化模型兼顾了乘客和公交运营公司的双方利益,将乘客的等待时间转化为乘客付出的广义费用来衡量乘客的利益,以运营公司全天的发车所需费用来衡量公交运营公司的利益,同时,以公交车平均满载率和全天总发车次数作为约束。所得优化结果,既减少了公交公司的运营成本,又节约了乘客的候车时间,能较好地兼顾乘客及运营公司的利益。     

城市公交企业商业模式探讨——以深圳公交为例

结合深圳公交当前的产业体制,基于特许经营政策稳定、成本规制政策连续、公交市场需求稳定三个假设条件,提出深圳公交企业”特许经营、政府补贴、合同管理、考核兑现”的商业模式,探讨了公交企业商业利润的实现途径,阐述了深圳公交企业商业模式创新的三个路径选择：建设智能公交、发展新能源战略、整合公交资源。