Promoting social inclusion in a deregulated environment: Extending accessibility using collective taxi-based services

Bus based public transport has enjoyed revitalisation in many urban areas but outside large towns and cities its provision and quality remains erratic. Many rural settlements have infrequent services giving rise to social exclusion through transport disadvantage.The UK Government highlighted a need in Towards a Sustainable Transport System (2007) for radical new thinking on rural accessibility to help meet goals of quality of life and accessibility for all and to help meet the challenge in finding carbon friendly ways of meeting rural transport needs. This paper reports work undertaken for the Commission for Integrated Transport, an advisory body to UK Government, on how shared taxi-schemes could be developed within a deregulated environment to meet rural accessibility needs. This is based on an analysis of institutional barriers and comparison between successful mainland European schemes and UK schemes. The paper considers economic viability and the levels of subsidy currently used to provide accessibility in rural areas to show the potential for making current expenditure on rural transport in the UK ‘work harder’ to deliver a collective taxi-based service as part of the public transport mix so as to increase rural accessibility.     

Sustainability assessment of inland transportation in China: A triple bottom line-based network DEA approach

The transport sector accounts for nearly one third of the world’s total energy use, while inland transport alone is responsible for half of the global petroleum consumption. The expansion of motorization in newly industrialized economies necessitates setting realistic targets. To support decision-makers in better assessment of transport sustainability performance, we introduce a systematic triple bottom line-based approach to evaluate inland transport, considering social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The proposed network data envelopment analysis (DEA) measure organizes the three components of the system into a parallel structure, allocates shared input across subsystems, and incorporates undesirable output. The empirical application determines the efficiency of regional inland transportation systems in China from 2006 to 2015. The results indicate a rise in overall transport efficiency between China’s 11th and 12th five-year development plan periods and link the economic growth with a decrease in environmental transport efficiency in the Central and Western zones and with a decline in social efficiency in the Eastern zone. Since 2012, the social sustainability remains the weakest component of inland transport, which requires special attention by policy-makers to support vulnerable groups of transport users. This study provides further insight into the investigated measures and proposes recommendations for the improvement of inland transport in China.     

Assessing the social costs of urban transport infrastructure options in low and middle income countries

ABSTRACT

This paper develops cost models for urban transport infrastructure options in situations where motorcycles and various forms of taxis are important modes of transport. The total social costs (TSCs) of conventional bus, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Monorail, Metro (Elevated Rail), car, motorcycle, Taxi and Uber are calculated for an urban corridor covering operator, user and external costs. Based on the parameters for a 7?km corridor in Hanoi, Vietnam, the results show the lowest average social cost (ASC) transport modes for different ranges of demand. Motorcycle might be the best option at low demand levels while conventional bus has advantages with low-medium demand. At medium demand levels, bus-based technologies and Monorail are competitive options while Metro, with a higher person capacity, is the best alternative at the highest demand levels. Compared to other modes, the ASCs of car and Taxi/Uber are greater because of high capital cost (related to vehicles) per passenger and low occupancy. Transport planners and decision makers in low and middle income countries (LMICs) can draw on the findings of this study. However, various limitations are identified and additional research is suggested.     

略析新时期新词语在报纸媒体中的传播

从新词语出自何处的角度,现代汉语的新词语可分为首次出现型和再出变用型这两大类型。从对传播和流通于报纸上的新词语所作的统计调查中可以发现,新词语数的多寡和其内容结构反映出语言外部世界对语言内部词汇体系及于影响的大小程度,生动表明出语言内外部相互影响制约的互为联动关系,亦由此构筑出了新时期现代汉语词汇发展的新特点。     

中耳炎病理过程中的内通风引流阻塞

为探讨中耳炎病理过程中的中耳内通风引流阻塞的形成和病理影响 ,对2 90耳各型渗出性中耳炎颞骨连续切片进行光镜组织病理学观察研究。结果显示中耳内通风引流通道易被粘膜炎性水肿、粘连、包裹性积液和肉芽组织不同程度地阻塞 ,阻塞部位以上区域比前半中耳腔区域有更高的渗出液积存率和肉芽组织发生率 ,提示内通风引流阻塞是早期渗出性中耳炎向慢性发展的重要原因。     

Investigating links between transport disadvantage, social exclusion and well-being in Melbourne - Updated results

This paper updates results of an international study aimed at quantifying the links between transport disadvantage (TD), social exclusion (SE) and well-being (WB) in Melbourne, Australia. The study extends knowledge associated with SE and transport by quantify social and behavioural implications of lack of public and private transport and the nature of the social WB benefits associated with improving services.Study aims and methodology are outlined. Recent findings covered relate to car ownership on the urban fringe, patterns of transport disadvantage, the analysis of time poverty related to transport disadvantage, measuring the economic value of additional mobility and use of a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to relate WB and SE to TD and a series of explanatory factors.Overall results suggest that those without a car on the urban fringe adjust well with their circumstances by living close to activity centres. They demonstrate sustainable choices, trading off budgets and home location to balance mobility and accessibility. Poorer households with high car ownership value mobility and cheaper more remote fringe dwellings but demonstrate numerous strategies to reduce high car costs which are acknowledged as a significant burden. Analysis identifies 4 key types of transport disadvantage including a ‘vulnerable/impaired’ group which should be of much greater concern for targeted policy than others due to poor scoring on SE and WB scales. The economic value of new mobility is also explored with results suggesting $AUD 20 per average new trip which is four times larger than conventional values for generated travel.Analysis has also suggested that transport disadvantage can relate to socially advantaged as well as socially disadvantaged groups through time poverty. This was found to be an important mitigating factor when relating TD to WB. A statistically reliable structural equation model is developed suggesting the SE-WB link is strong (−.87) with a modest link between TD-SE (.27).Areas for future research in the project are also summarised.     

交通拥挤的经济学分析

本文以交通拥挤问题为研究对象,用微观经济学的方法分析其产生的原因、现有的解决方案,并以上海为例分析了适合我国国情的最优策略之一--"公交优先"系统的经济学意义.     

我国综合交通系统的社会贡献评价研究——以2000-2017年数据为例

本文首先介绍了研究背景,提出研究目的。通过梳理国内外相关文献,提出现有研究尚未涉及综合交通系统社会贡献方面。在解析综合交通社会贡献机理基础上,根据我国2000—2017年社会系统和综合交通数据确定我国社会系统发展指数S和交通系统发展指数T的组成指标,在每种交通方式内采用因子分析法确定各指标权重,结合各指标数值得到S和T数值。应用格兰杰检验法证明T是S的原因,由S关于T的回归函数可得我国综合交通社会贡献评价函数,处理后得到最佳状态数值,发现实际数值与之相比仍有较大提升空间。最后,提出相关政策建议。     

Specification and calibration of a microscopic model for pedestrian dynamic simulation at signalized intersections: A hybrid approach

Macroscopic pedestrian models for bidirectional flow analysis encounter limitations in describing microscopic dynamics at crosswalks. Pedestrian behavior at crosswalks is typically characterized by the evasive effect with conflicting pedestrians and vehicles and the following effect with leading pedestrians. This study proposes a hybrid approach (i.e., route search and social force-based approach) for modeling of pedestrian movement at signalized crosswalks. The key influential factors, i.e., leading pedestrians, conflict with opposite pedestrians, collision avoidance with vehicles, and compromise with traffic lights, are considered. Aerial video data collected at one intersection in Beijing, China were recorded and extracted. A new calibration approach based on a genetic algorithm is proposed that enables optimization of the relative error of pedestrian trajectory in two dimensions, i.e., moving distance and angle. Model validation is conducted by comparison with the observed trajectories in five typical cases of pedestrian crossing with or without conflict between pedestrians and vehicles. The characteristics of pedestrian flow, speed, acceleration, pedestrian-vehicle conflict, and the lane formation phenomenon were compared with those from two competitive models, thus demonstrating the advantage of the proposed model.