The Role of Tradable Credit Schemes in Road Traffic Congestion Management

Abstract

Road traffic congestion is not yet reflected in current market prices within the sector and has given rise to a number of instruments to mitigate the resulting negative impacts. The focus of this paper is the tradable credit scheme — an incentive-based economic measure — in order to address traffic congestion. The research questions are (1) whether the state-of-the-art in the literature suggests that tradable credit schemes could be feasibly introduced to mitigate congestion, and (2) whether a tradable credit scheme could have advantages over other instruments. A brief outline of congestion mitigation approaches is provided first to position this type of economic instrument with respect to other measures. The broad issues in the design of a tradable credit scheme are then presented. Most research to date has focused on the use of tradable credits to manage related pollution, but it is clear there is potential to design a scheme for traffic congestion management. To date this is a novel review of tradable credit schemes that has focused specifically on their role in road traffic congestion management.     

Should BEVs be subsidized or taxed? A European perspective based on the economic value of CO2 emissions

Battery Electric vehicles (BEVs) are generally considered as potentially contributing to the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Consequently, many countries have promoted (or are in the process of promoting) policies aimed at directly or indirectly subsidizing BEVs to accelerate their market uptake. The aim of this paper is to assess whether BEVs’ subsidies are justified (and by what amount) with reference to the carbon component, distinguishing by car segments and countries. To address these research questions, a simulation model is developed, based on the most recent and reliable data available. The model estimates and monetizes the Well-to-Wheel CO₂ emissions of six car segments in 28 European countries. The monetary value of the difference of the CO₂ emissions between the non-BEVs and the BEVs ranges from −€1133 (tax) to +€3192 (subsidy), depending on the car segment and on the nation considered. These results are then compared to the policies about alternative fuels adopted by the single EU countries, suggesting in some cases the necessity to rethink such incentives.     

Policy measures to promote electric mobility – A global perspective

Research that addresses policy measures to increase the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) has discussed government regulations such as California’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) or penalties on petroleum-based fuels. Relatively few articles have addressed policy measures designed to increase the adoption of EVs by incentives to influence car buyers’ voluntary behavior. This article examines the effects of such policy measures. Two of these attributes are monetary measures, two others are traffic regulations, and the other three are related to investments in charging infrastructure. Consumer preferences were assessed using a choice-based conjoint analysis on an individual basis by applying the hierarchical Bayes method. In addition, the Kano method was used to elicit consumer satisfaction. This not only enabled the identification of preferences but also why preferences were based on either features that were “must-haves” or on attributes that were not expected but were highly attractive and, thus, led to high satisfaction. The results of surveys conducted in 20 countries in 5 continents showed that the installation of a charging network on freeways is an absolute necessity. This was completely independent from the average mileage driven per day. High cash grants were appreciated as attractive; however, combinations of lower grants with charging facilities resulted in similar preference shares in market simulations for each country. The results may serve as initial guidance for policymakers and practitioners in improving their incentive programs for electric mobility.     

Efficient contracting and incentive agreements between regulators and bus operators: The influence of risk preferences of contracting agents on contract choice

Contracts that govern transactions between regulators and operators are an important feature of service delivery in public transport. This paper reviews the literature on efficient contracting in general and its application to public transport contracts and found little empirical evidence on the influence of risk preferences of contracting agents on contract choice, a fundamental premise of classical contracting theory. Departing from the existing literature, this paper develops a choice experiment to study public transport operators’ preferences for different contractual forms. People involved in the public transport industry across Australia are invited to do the survey but the respondents are mainly bus operators in New South Wales. The respondents are offered two hypothetical contracts with different risk profiles and incentives and asked to indicate their preferences as well as their acceptance to provide the services under the contract they prefer. A non-linear scaled multinomial logit model is estimated to establish the role of risk allocation on contract preference of bus operators and the optimal amount of risks and incentives, conditioned on the operators’ attitude towards risk. The results help authorities design performance-based contracts to obtain their objectives while maintaining the operators’ level of satisfaction.     

基于多点激励动力模型的支承体系斜拉桥行波效应分析

研究目的：地震激励的输入是大跨度桥梁结构抗震设计中最薄弱的环节。大跨度桥梁结构由于基础间间距较大，进行地震响应分析时应考虑行波效应的影响。目前，国内对于支承体系斜拉桥行波效应影响规律的研究成果并不多见。该文基于大型有限元分析软件MIDAS／CIVIL计算平台，较为准确地模拟了地震波对郑州市中心区跨铁路斜拉桥基础不同位置的激励差异，分析比较了该桥在不同波速地震波作用下的行波效应，对该类桥型地震响应行波效应的一般影响规律进行了讨论。研究结论：在一定的相位差范围内，考虑地震波的各单向行波效应和三向正交行波效应时，结构的内力与位移均呈周期性变化，并且变化周期与桥梁自振周期基本一致。同时，行波效应对支承体系斜拉桥地震响应峰值存在显著影响。     

高峰时段绕行票价优惠策略研究

上海轨道交通客流分布在时间和空间上呈现不均衡的特点.目前上海轨道交通售检票系统已实现一票换乘,乘客可依据乘坐的里程、时间、次数、舒适度等因素选择不同的乘坐路径.绕行票价优惠策略旨在寻找避开高峰时间客流拥堵区段的绕行路径,通过在绕行路径换乘站中设置刷卡标记等方式,实现对避堵绕行乘客的识别和票价计费的优惠,从而诱导乘客绕开高峰拥堵区段,达到均衡网络客流的目的.     

Quality incentives and quality outcomes in procured public transport - Case study Stockholm

Gross contracts appear to be the most common contract form for procured public transport in Sweden and elsewhere. This contract form, it has been argued, gives weak incentives for operators to deliver the desired quality level. Therefore many procuring public transport authorities amend contracts with quality incentives.This paper examines how such quality incentives influence quality outcomes with focus on cancelled departures and delays. The main findings are that the introduction of quality incentives are correlated with both increases and decreases of measured quality outcomes.We hypothesise that the results are driven by underlying cost changes for achieving desired quality objectives that exceed the possible revenues from the incentives. In interviews with the Stockholm public transport authority (SL) and some operators, two central observations surface. The first is that there are causes for quality failures that are not solely the responsibility of operators and that these are therefore not fully reached by the incentives, and the second is that the operators believe that they have exhausted what they can do under the current contracts.     

Reasons for participating in formal employer-led carpool schemes as perceived by their users

Abstract

Carpooling, the process by which individuals share a private vehicle for a particular journey or journeys, has been undertaken both formally and informally for a great number of years. A variety of computational methods for undertaking the ‘ride-matching’ element for the formation of carpools have been developed and subsequently made into integrated tools to allow the formation of multiple carpools. Such tools are commonly used by both Local Authorities and employers who are looking to establish and operate their own formal carpool scheme, increasingly using a web-based interface.

The aim of this paper is to understand how users enrolled with employer-led carpool schemes perceive the importance of several different factors in their decision to participate. It is a further aim to determine the importance they attach to employer provided priority parking spaces. A survey-based approach investigates the perceptions of users from six different employer operated carpool schemes in the UK.

The paper suggests that saving money was perceived as the most important reason for an individual's decision to use a formal employer-led carpool scheme – even amongst carpool schemes where the employer provides significant incentives to participate. No regular access to their own vehicle and ‘more sociable travel’ were generally perceived as less important reasons to participate. For employers who offer priority parking to carpoolers, this was generally valued as important by participants, even when the employment location did not have significant parking pressures.