Time windows in workers' activity patterns: Empirical evidence from the Netherlands

This paper assumes that activities at the home and work location are important determinants of individuals' paths through time and space. Fixed activities at these locations determine to a large extent the duration and timing of time windows – blocks of time available for participation in travel and out-of-home non-work activities. Taking the time spent at home and at the workplace as a starting point, this paper classifies activity patterns on workdays into six groups with distinct home- and work-stay patterns. For this, data are used from the 1998 Netherlands National Travel Survey. The six clusters vary in terms of the duration and timing of time windows and some of the differences can be explained by commute characteristics, types of non-work activities performed, workers' sociodemographic attributes, and their spatiotemporal environment. However, the impact of sociodemographic and spatiotemporal variables on cluster membership is shown to be weak.     

Policy packages for modal shift and CO2 reduction in Lille,France

This paper proposes different policy scenarios to cut CO₂ emissions caused by the urban mobility of passengers. More precisely, we compare the effects of the ‘direct tool’ of carbon tax, to a combination of ‘indirect tools’ – not originally aimed at reducing CO₂ (i.e. congestion charging, parking charges and a reduction in public transport travel time) in terms of CO₂ impacts through a change in the modal split. In our model, modal choices depend on individual characteristics, trip features (including the effects of policy tools), and land use at origin and destination zones. Personal “CO₂ emissions budgets” resulting from the trips observed in the metropolitan area of Lille (France) in 2006 are calculated and compared to the situation related to the different policy scenarios. We find that an increase of 50% in parking charges combined with a cordon toll of €1.20 and a 10% travel time decrease in public transport services (made after recycling toll-revenues) is the winning scenario. The combined effects of all the policy scenarios are superior to their separate effects.     

Traffic and emissions impact of congestion charging in the central Beijing urban area: A simulation analysis

Congestion charging is being considered as a potential measure to address the issue of substantially increased traffic congestion and vehicle emissions in Beijing. This study assessed the impact of congestion charging on traffic and emissions in Beijing using macroscopic traffic simulation and vehicle emissions calculation. Multiple testing scenarios were developed with assumptions in different charging zone sizes, public transit service levels and charging methods. Our analysis results showed that congestion charging in Beijing may increase public transit use by approximately 13%, potentially reduce CO and HC emissions by 60–70%, and reduce NOx emissions by 35–45% within the charging zone. However, congestion charging may also result in increased travel activities and emissions outside of the charging zone and a slight increase in emissions for the entire urban area. The size of charging zone, charging method, and charging rate are key factors that directly influence the impact of congestion charging; improved public transit service needs to be considered as a complementary approach with congestion charging. This study is used by Beijing Transportation Environment and Energy Center (BTEC) as reference to support the development of Beijing’s congestion charging policy and regulation.     

Including congestion effects in urban road traffic CO2 emissions modelling: Do Local Government Authorities have the right options?

Tailpipe emissions from vehicles on urban road networks have damaging impacts, with the problem exacerbated by the common occurrence of congestion. This article focuses on carbon dioxide because it is the largest constituent of road traffic greenhouse gas emissions. Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are typically responsible for facilitating mitigation of these emissions, and critical to this task is the ability to assess the impact of transport interventions on road traffic emissions for a whole network.This article presents a contemporary review of literature concerning road traffic data and its use by LGAs in emissions models (EMs). Emphasis on the practicalities of using data readily available to LGAs to estimate network level emissions and inform effective policy is a relatively new research area, and this article summarises achievements so far. Results of the literature review indicate that readily available data are aggregated at traffic level rather than disaggregated at individual vehicle level. Hence, a hypothesis is put forward that optimal EM complexity is one using traffic variables as inputs, allowing LGAs to capture the influence of congestion whilst avoiding the complexity of detailed EMs that estimate emissions at vehicle level.Existing methodologies for estimating network emissions based on traffic variables typically have limitations. Conclusions are that LGAs do not necessarily have the right options, and that more research in this domain is required, both to quantify accuracy and to further develop EMs that explicitly include congestion, whilst remaining within LGA resource constraints.     

Are French millenials less car-oriented? Literature review and empirical findings

Generation effects play a key role in shaping long-term trends in travel behaviors. Though cohorts born until the 1970s have been increasingly car-focused, a reversal of this trend was noticed among the millenials. Determining whether this break-in-trend resulted from changes in living conditions and economic difficulties, or demonstrates a shift in attitudes away from the car, is critical to future travel trends. We bring a contribution to this debate in the French context, through a literature review followed by empirical findings, using the French Base of Local Household Travel Surveys. Through age-cohort analysis, we find evidence of changing travel patterns among the millenials, taking the form of a shift from driving to transit, along with a decline of car ownership. However, travel attitudes of the millenials play little role, as they do not differ substantially from their elders. Besides, we show that generation effects disappear once a large number of structural factors are controlled for. It looks like the main driver of change in travel behaviors comes from a shift in residential patterns, in relation with longer studies and a delayed entrance into the workforce, and possibly because of increasing work pressure, degraded transport conditions and changes in residential attitudes and desired lifestyles. In the end, these assumptions should be further explored, along with complementary research tracks, including the role of economic factors, the effects of learning experience, as well as heterogeneity in travel patterns, in relation with issues of social and spatial equity.     

Residential segregation and commuting patterns of migrant workers in China

In China, many rural migrant workers experience residential segregation and live in urbanizing villages, due to China’s unique institutional context (e.g. land tenure system, hukou system) as well as exclusionary housing regulations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether these urbanizing villages provide good job accessibility for rural migrant workers. We explore this problem by investigating the commuting patterns of migrant workers. Through a survey conducted in 2009 across four mega-regions in China that are currently experiencing rapid urbanization, we collected individual level information on rural migrant workers’ commute distances and durations, demographics, household socioeconomic status, and whether the migrant worker is living in an urbanizing village or not. From residential address information collected in the survey, we constructed a group of built environment variables. Using IV Tobit models to address the endogeneity issues associated with residential location choice, our analyses show that these urbanizing villages actually provide relatively good accessibility to job opportunities. This result is different from what is suggested by the spatial mismatch literature based on U.S. data. This research helps to fill the gap in the literature on the relationship between residential segregation, built environment and travel behavior in the Chinese context. The findings have implications for policymaking, especially when many government officials are proposing to demolish urbanizing villages without fully realizing the benefits of these villages. This research could also provide useful information for other developing countries facing residential segregation of migrants or immigrants.     

大城市中心区实施拥堵收费的影响评价研究

文章在分析大城市中心区拥堵收费实施条件与方式的基础上,定性分析实施拥堵收费对居民出行行为以及中心区动静态交通的影响,最后提出基于模糊评价理论的中心区拥堵收费影响评价模型.     

加法与减法——中美城市交通综合治理的观察和思考

基于对中美城市交通的观察和思考,阐述不同的城市用地模式决定了不同的大众出行方式选择。借鉴美国的经验与教训,结合中国城市现状和发展需要,寻求缓解城市交通拥堵的方法与措施。指出中国大城市,特别是特大和超大城市,应重视公共交通系统的结构调整和完善。一是继续大力发展具有较高机动性和大运量的高铁、地铁和轻轨系统,构筑城际直达以及沿主要交通走廊布线的轨道交通网络层次;二是在此基础上,梳理地面巴士系统,使之定位于满足可达性需求的支线集散网络层次。最后,还探讨了其他一些相关措施,以减少低速、低效出行,做好综合治理城市交通的"加法"与"减法"。     

苏州古城交通分析及改善策略

苏州古城已有2500余年的历史,古城布局工整、脉络分明,功能完备,迄今仍然作为苏州市区的核心地区担负着重要的城市职能。随着城市经济和机动化交通的快速发展,与国内其他城市中心区一样,苏州古城也出现了道路拥堵、环境污染等一系列由交通引发的问题。从分析苏州古城用地情况出发,即从道路网络的发展演化过程、路网容量、布局结构、交通流空间分布以及现有交通模式等角度研究造成现状交通问题的种种原因,并从疏解古城城市功能,完善道路设施和交通发展政策等方面提出初步解决古城交通问题的几点策略,以供缓解苏州古城交通问题和其他遇到类似问题的城市做参考。     

泛亚铁路资本运作方式探索

泛亚铁路有东线、西线、中线三种方案,每种方案的国际资本构成将会各不相同;中国在每种方案里的投资策略也各不相同;泛亚铁路工程的中国资本运作方式有多种,其中值得重视的有向泛亚铁路股份有限公司投资入股、BOT投资方式、逆向BOT投资方式、给予沿线有关国家以国家贷款(以泛亚铁路的收益为担保)等;泛亚铁路工程资本运作应重点解决为各类投资主体提供必要国家保护、予以适当外汇管理优惠和税收优惠等问题;良好的泛亚铁路工程资本运作将使东盟——中国自由贸易区17亿人民从中受惠.