Social marginal cost pricing and second best alternatives in partnerships for transport infrastructures

According to the economic theory, if all the first-best conditions are met, social optimality involves the prices to be set equal to social marginal costs. When it is not possible to set prices equal to social marginal costs, due to the presence of constraints within the transport sector or distortions elsewhere in the economy, the theory suggests corrections to the SMC principle (second-best alternatives). But the implementation of second best alternatives can give rise to serious problems when transferred from theory to practice. This chapter will discuss in particular the problems that might rise when investment cost are included (totally or partially) in the social marginal costs rules, and in particular when private operators are involved.     

Modeling the cost sensitivity of intermodal inland waterway terminals: A scenario based approach

Cost characteristics of differently sized inland waterway terminals (IWTs) have not received much scientific attention. This observation is remarkable given the importance of costs in transportation decision-making. Classification of differently sized IWTs and their cost structure will lead to more insight into the container cost per terminal. Therefore, the goal of our research was to determine both the characteristics of the cost structure associated with different inland waterway (IWW) container terminal types and the sensitivity of the system to cost/TEU changes in input and operational conditions. We show that terminals with a higher container throughput encounter fewer costs, and can therefore charge a lower price. Assumed delays of 2 h per day on the waterside cause a 4.7–6.6% cost increase per container, mainly caused by extra labor costs. It is also assumed that the changing climate will influence terminal operations and results in extreme water levels (lasting two weeks occurring four times a year) causing a cost increase of 1.0–3.4%. Subsidies can cause cost reductions of 0.3–10.4% depending on the exact form, with the smaller terminals benefiting more because their investment costs are higher relative to operational costs. A subsidy can lower costs by up to 10.4%, but it is questionable whether small and medium terminals will have a lower cost price than the market price, showing that it is important for small and medium terminals to quickly grow in size.     

有机溶剂的回收

为达到有效利用资源、减少环境污染、降低生产成本的目的,利用溶剂回收机对废溶剂进行了回收。介绍了溶剂回收机的工作原理、使用范围、结构组成和操作方法,并以某汽车零部件生产厂家的涂装车间为例,对溶剂回收可产生的经济效益进行了分析。结果表明,从节约资源、保护环境等方面考虑,溶剂回收机非常适合在涂装行业及其他行业推广使用。     

地铁动力照明系统负荷对运营成本的影响

通过深圳地铁开通运行的实测数据,反映出目前地铁设计中配电变压器容量普遍偏大的情况,并指出设计负荷计算偏大的若干原因;通过计算,阐述配电变压器偏大对运营成本的影响。     

The environmental costs and economic implications of container shipping on the Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) has tremendous potential for ocean shipping between Europe and Asia due to the savings from shorter transit time and distance. However, the Arctic area is environmentally vulnerable and thus there is a trade-off between NSR’s impacts on environment vs. its economic benefits, especially when compared with the traditional route, such as through the Suez Canal Route (SCR). This study estimates the market shares of different transport modes and alternative shipping routes for the container transport market between Europe and Asia, and the resulting environmental costs. Our result suggests that NSR can be a viable option under the status quo. However, its environmental costs tend to be higher than SCR due to small ship size and low load factor in the present, thus the development of NSR would lead to worse environment outcomes. If these issues can be resolved, NSR can benefit from lower operational and environmental costs, which will lead to higher market share and social welfare. Otherwise, increased use of NSR may lead to higher total environment costs than the status quo.     

Incompleteness and clarity in bus contracts: Identifying the nature of the ex ante and ex post perceptual divide

In the transport sector, many types of contracts exist. Some are very precise, and strive for completeness; others are very ‘light-weight’ and are incomplete. Bus and coach contracts, won through competitive tendering or negotiation, are typically incomplete in the sense of an inability to verify all the relevant obligations, as articulated through a set of deliverables. This paper draws on recent experiences in contract negotiation, and subsequent commitment in the bus sector, to identify what elements of the contracting regime have exposed ambiguity and significant gaps in what the principal expected, and what the agent believed they were obliged to deliver. We develop a series of regression models to investigate the extent of discrepancy between the principal and the agents perceived ‘understanding’ of contract obligations. The empirical evidence, from a sample of bus operators, is used to identify the extent of perceived incompleteness and clarity across a sample of bus contracts. A noteworthy finding is the important role that a trusting partnership plays in reducing the barriers to establishing greater clarity of contract specification and obligations, and in recognition of the degree of contract completeness.     

城市公交线网的一票制差异化票价策略优化

针对城市公交系统客流空间分布和线网运力配置不均衡问题,提出公交线路间差异化定价策略,通过价格杠杆调节客流需求分布. 针对我国普遍采用的一票制模式,在分析乘客广义出行费用的基础上,利用基于Logit 的线路间客流分配方法,并以总社会成本最低为目标,以满足输送能力和收费额度等为约束,建立了固定需求下的城市公交线网的差异化票价策略优化模型. 根据模型特点,设计了基于模拟退火算法的模型求解方法,综合优化各线路的票价水平和发车频率. 最后,将提出的模型和算法应用到典型公交线网上,算例结果表明,优化方法在较低的收费额度下即可实现较为明显的网络改善效果.     

北京市居民出行时间成本研究

采用收入法,考虑出行目的、出行方式等因素,给出居民出行时间成本计算的方法与步骤,将居民出行时间价值货币化。以北京市2000年和2005年为对象年,估算了分目的、分方式出行对应的单位时间价值,并根据历年交通调查的数据,获取了当年北京市全社会小汽车、公共交通(包括轨道交通)、出租汽车的平均出行时间和出行量,计算得到北京市全社会当年居民出行的时间成本。     

道路货运企业规模经济分析

从生产成本和交易费用两个角度分析道路货运企业的规模经济,认为其生产活动不存在显著的规模报酬递增,但运输业务集成对其实现规模经济具有重要作用。针对我国道路货运业务集成难以开展的现状,政府要给予政策支持。     

融资租赁初始直接费用会计处理的思考

《企业会计准则第21号——租赁》中将融资租赁出租人承担的初始直接费用计入“长期应收款——应收融资租赁款”账户．出租人承担的初始直接费用实质上是融资租赁出租人为获取以后各期的租金收益发生的资本性支出,其应当构成融资租赁资产的成本,不应当作为一种债权资产处理,并由此对现行准则中有关融资租赁初始直接费用会计处理提出了改进建议．