Infrastructure deployment under uncertainties and competition: The biofuel industry case

Technological paradigm shifts often come with a newly emerging industry that seeks a viable infrastructure deployment plan to compete against established competitors. Such phenomenon has been repeatedly seen in the field of transportation systems, such as those related to the booming bioenergy production, among others. We develop a game-theoretic modeling framework using a continuum approximation scheme to address the impacts of competition on the optimal infrastructure deployment. Furthermore, we extend the model to incorporate uncertainties in supply/demand and the risk of facility disruptions. Analytical properties of the optimal infrastructure system are obtained, based on which fast numerical solution algorithms are developed. Several hypothetical problem instances are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and to quantify the impacts of various system parameters. A large-scale biofuel industry case study for the U.S. Midwest is conducted to obtain additional managerial insights.     

An empirical assessment of the CO2-sensitive productivity of European airlines from 2000 to 2010

Due to the ongoing increase in the number of commercial flights, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are expected to rise significantly. Balancing the pursuit of productivity growth with environmental-footprint control policies comprises a long-term regulatory challenge. In this light, the main goals of the present paper are: (i) to measure the CO₂ emissions of European airlines from 2000 to 2010, (ii) to compute airlines’ productivity in developing an environmental-sensitive productivity index, (iii) to compare the obtained results with those resulting from a traditional index, and (iv) to identify the drivers affecting productivity changes. Our results show that on average, airlines’ relative CO₂ emissions have decreased. Although the airlines we studied experienced an average productivity increase—both considering and not considering negative externalities production—environmentally sensible productivity growth is lower than traditional productivity growth. Finally, we find that improvements in load factor as well as a combined increase in stage length and aircraft size affect productivity changes positively, while fuel efficiency is significant only in the case of a CO₂-sensitive measure of productivity.     

Valuation of strategic options in public–private partnerships

This paper investigates the feasibility of and develops an economic valuation model for strategic options in Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDAs). A CDA is a form of public–private partnership whereby the right to price and collect revenues from toll roads is leased to a private entity for a long but finite period of time. In exchange, this provides local and state governments with a quick influx of cash and/or additional infrastructure. Uncertainty associated with such long-term leases is of substantial public concern. This paper examines five different strategic options, namely a buyout option, a conditional buyout option, a revenue-sharing option, and two types of minimum revenue guarantee options. The buyout option in particular could give the public sector additional control over the future use of leased facilities and address potential concerns regarding long-run uncertainty and possible unforeseen windfalls for the private sector. The paper’s contributions include the analysis, feasibility assessment and valuation of several strategic options, sensitivity analysis of the solutions, an economic consumer demand-based revenue model for purposes of cash flow simulation, and analysis of option price sensitivity to “moneyness”. The main conclusion is that strategic options can provide useful risk reduction, but generally have significant value relative to the lease itself. By scaling down payoffs, options could be realistically included in CDAs and other PPPs. For some parameter values, option values to the developer and public authority are offsetting, allowing for costless risk reduction.     

Adding a new station and a road link to a road–rail network in the presence of modal competition

In this paper we study the problem of locating a new station on an existing rail corridor and a new junction on an existing road network, and connecting them with a new road segment under a budget constraint. We consider three objective functions and the corresponding optimization problems, which are modeled by means of mixed integer non-linear programs. For small instances, the models can be solved directly by a standard solver. For large instances, an enumerative algorithm based on a discretization of the problem is proposed. Computational experiments show that the latter approach yields high quality solutions within short computing times.     

一类分数阶非线性微分方程组的显式算法

讨论了一类分数阶微分方程组的一种数值算法,根据Caputo导数的性质,将分数阶微分方程组转化为Volterra积分方程组,再利用求解普通积分方程的Adams技巧,建立了分数阶微分方程组的一种显式数值算法,证明了该算法的收敛性与稳定性,并给出了数值仿真实例,证实了算法的有效性.     

Profile-speed data-based models to estimate operating speeds for urban residential streets with a 30 km/h speed limit

A speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour (km/h) has been widely introduced for urban residential streets to ensure traffic safety and allow these streets to fulfil other intended functions. However, excessive speeds on these roads are very common, causing traffic safety problems and threatening the liveability of neighbourhoods. An effective and active way to deal with speeding is the application of a performance-based design approach, as mentioned in previous research. In a performance-based design approach, street geometrics and roadside elements are selected based on their influence on the desired driving speeds. The relationship between driving speeds and street features therefore needs to be determined. Although several studies have developed operating speed models for urban streets, all of these models were calibrated based on data for streets with speed limits of more than 30 km/h. The present research is designed to investigate the influence of various roadway and roadside characteristics on operating speeds on urban tangent street sections with a 30 km/h speed limit using profile-speed data. A simultaneous equation regression with a three-stage-least-square (3SLS) estimator was used for the modelling effort. The driving speed models developed in this study incorporate several street design factors, which provide helpful information for urban planners and street designers to cope with speeding issues on residential streets.     

Establishing speed–flow–density relationships for exclusive motorcycle lanes

Abstract

The motorcycle is a popular mode of transport in Malaysia and developing Asian countries, but its significant representation in the traffic mix results in high rates of motorcycle accidents. As a result, the Malaysian Government decided to segregate motorcycle traffic along its new federal roads as an engineering approach to reduce accidents. However, traffic engineers needed to know the maximum traffic a motorcycle lane could accommodate. Despite substantial literature related to speed–flow–density relationships and capacities of various transport facilities, there is a knowledge gap regarding motorcycle lanes. This paper establishes motorcycle speed–flow–density relationships and capacities of exclusive motorcycle lanes in Malaysia. Observations of motorcycle flows and speeds were conducted along existing and experimental motorcycle lanes. Motorcycle speed–density data were aggregated and plotted for two types of observable motorcycle riding behaviour patterns that were influenced by the widths of a motorcycle lane: the headway pattern (lane width ≤ 1.7 m) and the space pattern (lane width > 1.7 m). For both riding patterns, regression analysis of motorcycle speed–density data best fits the logarithmic model and consequently the motorcycle flow–density and speed–flow models are derived. Motorcycle lane capacities for headway and space riding patterns are estimated as 3300 mc/hr/lane and 2200 mc/hr/m, respectively.     

Evaluating transport infrastructure decisions under uncertainty

This study uses a hybrid approach, combining cost–benefit analysis (CBA), multiple criteria decision analysis, and Dempster–Shafer Theory, to evaluate transport infrastructure decisions. This approach not only retains the advantages of CBA, but it also facilitates the incorporation of incomplete information into the evaluation process. A particular advantage of this hybrid approach is that it can synthesize evaluation results into an easily understood unit, namely utility. A case study of Taiwan's Tamsui-Taipei Riverside Highway Project is used to illustrate the evaluation method. The evaluation results show that, whereas government officials and city council members support the highway project, academic researchers oppose it. Overall, the decision group tends to positively approve this transport infrastructure investment. These results also reflect the actual situation in Taiwan as stakeholders grapple with the issues arising from the proposed Tamsui-Taipei Riverside Highway Project.     

A new fuzzy approach to estimate the O–D matrix from link volumes

Abstract

Estimation of the origin–destination (O–D) trip demand matrix plays a key role in travel analysis and transportation planning and operations. Many researchers have developed different O–D matrix estimation methods using traffic counts, which allow simple data collection as opposed to the costly traditional direct estimation methods based on home and roadside interviews.

In this paper, we present a new fuzzy model to estimate the O–D matrix from traffic counts. Since link data only represent a snapshot situation, resulting in inconsistency of data and poor quality of the estimated O–Ds, the proposed method considers the link data as a fuzzy number that varies within a certain bandwidth. Shafahi and Ramezani's fuzzy assignment method is improved upon and used to assign the estimated O–D matrix, which causes the assigned volumes to be fuzzy numbers similar to what is proposed for observed link counts. The shortest path algorithm of the proposed method is similar to the Floyd–Warshall algorithm, and we call it the Fuzzy Floyd–Warshall Algorithm. A new fuzzy comparing index is proposed by improving the fuzzy comparison method developed by Dubois and Prade to estimate and compare the distance between the assigned and observed link volumes. The O–D estimation model is formulated as a convex minimization problem based on the proposed fuzzy index to minimize the fuzzy distance between the observed and assigned link volumes. A gradient-based method is used to solve the problem. To ensure the original O–D matrix does not change more than necessary during the iterations, a fuzzy rule-based approach is proposed to control the matrix changes.