The GRAAL of carpooling: GReen And sociAL optimization from crowd-sourced data

Carpooling, i.e. the sharing of vehicles to reach common destinations, is often performed to reduce costs and pollution. Recent work on carpooling takes into account, besides mobility matches, also social aspects and, more generally, non-monetary incentives. In line with this, we present GRAAL, a data-driven methodology for GReen And sociAL carpooling. GRAAL optimizes a carpooling system not only by minimizing the number of cars needed at the city level, but also by maximizing the enjoyability of people sharing a trip. We introduce a measure of enjoyability based on people’s interests, social links, and tendency to connect to people with similar or dissimilar interests. GRAAL computes the enjoyability within a set of users from crowd-sourced data, and then uses it on real world datasets to optimize a weighted linear combination of number of cars and enjoyability. To tune this weight, and to investigate the users’ interest on the social aspects of carpooling, we conducted an online survey on potential carpooling users. We present the results of applying GRAAL on real world crowd-sourced data from the cities of Rome and San Francisco. Computational results are presented from both the city and the user perspective. Using the crowd-sourced weight, GRAAL is able to significantly reduce the number of cars needed, while keeping a high level of enjoyability on the tested data-set. From the user perspective, we show how the entire per-car distribution of enjoyability is increased with respect to the baselines.     

高速公路合流区上匝道混合车流通行能力经验计算法

研究高速公路合流区上匝道混合车流的通行能力的计算问题。利用已有的高速公路合流区外侧车道交通特征分析结论,推求在外侧车流不同车头时距分布特征下的上匝道混合车流汇合概率模型。运用回归技术和统计方法,建立了加速车道合流点分布概率的实测经验模型。对可接受间隙理论的原型进行了形式上的修正,最终建立高速公路合流区上匝道的混合车流通行能力经验模型,它是主路交通量、匝道交通量、加速车道长度、匝道混合车流比例以及各自的临界间隙和随车时距的函数。最后结合实例介绍经验模型的数值积分求解方法,并证实该经验计算方法具有较高的实效性和可操作性。     

提高投标中标率之浅见

介绍了施工投标中,影响中标率的主要因素,为提高中标率应重点做好编标的组织管理、报价编制依据和技巧、投标报价的决策等几项工作。     

Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport

Without questioning the fact that to achieve efficiency emitters should pay for the true costs of their actions (a core principle of economic policies such as pollution taxes), we find sufficient evidence in the literature to demonstrate that many other policy instruments can be used in combination with taxes and permits to ensure that the transport needs of the present generation can be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet any needs of their own.The policies and policy aspects considered in this paper broadly fall into three categories: physical policies, soft policies, and knowledge policies. All three aim to bring about changes in consumers’ and firms’ behaviour, but in different ways. The first category includes policies with a physical infrastructure element: public transport, land use, walking and cycling, road construction, and freight transport. We also consider the particular challenges for mobility in developing countries, and how these may be addressed. Soft policies, on the other hand, are non-tangible aiming to bring about behavioural change by informing actors about the consequences of their transport choices, and potentially persuading them to change their behaviour. These measures include car sharing and car pooling, teleworking and teleshopping, eco-driving, as well as general information and advertising campaigns. Finally, knowledge policies emphasise the important role of investment in research and development for a sustainable model of mobility for the future.The main findings can be summarised as follows.

Physical policies

An increase in the use of public transport, combined with a decrease in the use of private cars, can reduce traffic congestion and, more importantly, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, as public transport generally causes lower CO₂ emissions per passenger kilometre than private cars. Public transport fares are subsidised in most places, which can be justified by economies of scale and by the fact that public transport can reduce total road transport externalities. London, Singapore, Portland and Curitiba are all examples of good practice at government level, having achieved reliable, frequent and integrated public transport.Policies to increase public transport use must be part of an integrated policy. Integrated policy refers to integration across different modes of transport, different government objectives (such as the economy, health and the environment), considering the needs of different social groups, and coordinating action between the relevant government institutions. There is evidence that a lack of coordination can jeopardise the achievement of policy objectives.A sustainable model for transport policy also requires integration with land-use policies. These may be somewhat limited within the bounds of existing cities, but as cities grow and new cities are built, urban planners must put more emphasis on land use for sustainable transport in order to reduce congestion and CO₂ emissions. Sustainable land-use policy can direct urban development towards a form that allows public transport as well as walking and cycling to be at the core of urban mobility.Walking and cycling, which improve general health and produce no tailpipe emissions, constitute an excellent alternative to motorised transport on short-distance trips within towns and cities. The policies which can incentivise walking and cycling include crime reduction to make streets safer, well-maintained and clean pavements, attractive street furniture, safe crossings with shorter waiting times, dedicated cycle paths, showers in offices, and lower speed limits, to name but a few.Road construction and expansion used to be seen as one of the most promising ways to reduce traffic congestion. However, in the mid-1990s, the issue was reassessed and it was found that building and expanding roads, increased, rather than decreased, congestion, and ultimately induced higher levels of travel demand. The reason for this is that the extra capacity reduces the general cost of travelling and the less expensive the travel, the more it will be demanded. Regarding freight modal shift, road transport is much more polluting than rail per tonne-km of goods transported and therefore a shift towards greater use of rail in freight transport is desirable. Inadequate infrastructure is the main obstacle preventing this modal shift taking place.Developing countries face great mobility challenges: rural areas are often extremely poorly connected to transport infrastructure, such that, in contrast to the situation in developed countries, the benefits of road construction can strongly outweigh the total costs (including environmental ones). The main challenge, however, is to develop a solution to the problems arising from the combination of urbanisation and motorisation. Integration of transport and land-use policy will be key to rising to this challenge.

Soft policies

Car sharing and car clubs can also potentially reduce CO₂ emissions, although the aggregate reduction in congestion and emissions has not been measured with an adequate degree of precision in the literature. Teleworking and teleshopping can potentially reduce congestion and also CO₂ emissions. However, the evidence for this reduction is rather mixed, as it is unclear whether these measures lead to overall reductions in road transport.Eco-driving campaigns aim to inform and educate drivers in order to induce them to drive in a fuel-efficient and thus environmentally friendly way. There seems to be some consensus in the literature that eco-driving could lead to reductions in CO₂ emissions of around 10 per cent.Information and education policies have often been advocated as instruments which may affect behavioural change. We find in this paper that these types of measures are necessary, but not sufficient for behavioural change. Advertising and marketing may go a long way in changing peoples’ behaviour. In California, for example, Kahn (2007) finds the “Prius” effect: the Toyota Prius is preferred by consumers relative to other similarly green vehicles, probably due to extensive marketing and celebrity endorsements. Family life changes are also found to trigger changes in behaviour ( [Goodwin, 1989] and [106]). People whose lives are being changed by some important development (birth of a child, retirement, etc) tend to respond more to changes in the relative attractiveness of different transport modes. Advertising campaigns promoting a modal shift towards public transport, for instance, may thus be more successful if targeted at people in the process of important life transitions.

Knowledge policies

Research and Development is crucial for developing sustainable and low-carbon transport for the future, and it is essential that governments provide incentives to undertake R&D, so that new low-carbon technologies in the transport sector can be demonstrated and applied at a large scale.Finally, we consider the issue of policy combination and integration. There is evidence that the combination and integration of policies can lead to positive side-effects and synergies. Policy integration is crucial in order to rise to the challenges we face in moving towards a sustainable mobility model. We conclude that classical economic policies may be successfully combined with a number of policy measures discussed in this paper in order to achieve sustainability in transport.     

The cost of second best pricing and the value of risk premium

Private provision of public infrastructure (PPP) is meant to give incentives to increased efficiency in construction as well in operation and maintenance of the infrastructure e.g. within the transport sector. Efficiency is not only (private) economic efficiency, but also social efficiency e.g. social marginal cost pricing of use of the infrastructure.Is it possible to design contracts concerning payment mechanisms and financial instruments for transport infrastructure that will stimulate social efficiency and optimal allocation of risks between parties? The paper discusses whether different targets can be met and whether compromises may lead to acceptable second best solutions.PPP implies an opportunity to let the user-payment give desired incentives in the form of Social Marginal Cost Pricing (SMCP). A PPP project is a set of contracts and agreements between several parties, including the Government, the private contractor, subcontractors, banks and infrastructure users. These contracts should be designed to give the right incentives to the parties to achieve optimal risk allocation and utilising of resources.Long contract-periods are a common feature of PPPs. The paper examines the way that financial solutions should be designed to achieve the goals for the PPP-projects concerning economic and social efficiency. The expected size and variation of the income stream from the project will influence the loan conditions offered by banks concerning interest rates, guarantees and repayment and also the ability to attract investors. The balance between equity and loans again influences the conditions of the loans. An additional problem is asymmetric information between parties. The private contractor usually knows more about the task than the Government (hidden knowledge), and the Government cannot have full knowledge of the efforts of the contractor (hidden actions).     

Workshop report - Social inclusion

The topic of social inclusion is now maturing in the Thredbo conference series, being viewed as an important consideration in many aspects of land transport, the benefits extending beyond the socially excluded targeted population. The social inclusion workshop included presentations on new empirical evidence on the value of providing those at risk of social exclusion with mobility options, and how this links to improvements in personal wellbeing, often through mediating influences such as social capital. Work was presented on the role of transport services specifically targeted to those at risk of exclusion, particularly taxi services and school bus services, as well as how to modify fare structures to maximise inclusion in an efficient, mature transport system. The value of Universal Design principles to groups both at risk of being excluded as well as the current travelling public, was shown. The workshop affirmed the importance of including these wider benefits of inclusion in cost-benefit evaluations of transport. The issue of how best to move knowledge into strategic and operational policy, and the transferability of both knowledge and policy between different countries and settings, was discussed. This paper concludes with suggestions arising from the workshop in relation to policy and research, as well as recommendations for Thredbo 12.     

The place of transport in facilitating social inclusion via the mediating influence of social capital

Social policy makers rarely associate the ability to be mobile with having a role in the facilitation of social inclusion. This paper provides an initial exploration of the association between a person’s travel patterns and their risk of social exclusion. Information is drawn from a major Australian Research Council transport study which interviewed 535 people from Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It includes an analysis of the extent of the person’s bonding and bridging social networks, their connectedness to the community, self-assessed level of well-being and their beliefs about whether or not they are able to control outcomes in their life. It was found that those who had the greatest risk of social exclusion, travelled less often and less distance, owned fewer cars and used public transport less, than those who were more socially included. However, those who were more at risk of social exclusion did not identify their lower trips as due to either a lack of transport, or problems with the public transport system. The ability to have good bridging networks appears to be related to increased trip-making and promotion of social inclusion but not necessarily self-assessed well-being which is satisfied by bonding networks.     

Investigating heterogeneity in social influence by social distance in car-sharing decisions under uncertainty: A regret-minimizing hybrid choice model framework based on sequential stated adaptation experiments

The present study is designed to investigate social influence in car-sharing decisions under uncertainty. Social influence indicates that individuals’ decisions are influenced by the choices made by members of their social networks. An individual may experience different degrees of influence depending on social distance, i.e. the strength of the social relationship between individuals. Such heterogeneity in social influence has been largely ignored in the previous travel behavior research. The data used in this study stems from an egocentric social network survey, which measures the strength of the social relationships of each respondent. In addition, a sequential stated adaptation experiment was developed to capture more explicitly the effect of social network choices on the individual decision-making process. Social distance is regarded as a random latent variable. The estimated social distance and social network choices are incorporated into a social influence variable, which is treated as an explanatory variable in the car-sharing decision model. To simultaneously estimate latent social distance and the effects of social influence on the car-sharing decision, we expand the hybrid choice framework to incorporate the latent social distance model into discrete choice analysis. The estimation results show substantial social influence in car-sharing decisions. The magnitude of social influence varies according to the type of relationship, similarity of socio-demographics and the number of social interactions.     

环境监测在高速公路环境保护验收调查中的应用

通过高速公路竣工环境保护验收调查的应用实例,分析了高速公路建设的环境影响因素,根据高速公路施工期和营运期的环境影响特点,确定了高速公路竣工环境保护验收监测工作方案,对气、水、声、生态验收监测结果进行了分析,总结了高速公路竣工环境保护验收监测工作需要注意的几个关键问题。     

社会排斥视角下的我国城市中低收入家庭住房政策研究

文章从社会排斥的视角探讨我国城市中低收入家庭的住房政策,着重分析现有的住房政策所带来的社会排斥问题,以及采取怎样的措施来避免社会排斥现象的发生,从而为修正现有的住房政策打下良好的基础。