Economic appraisal of universal design in transport: Experiences from Norway

Economic assessment of universally designed transport projects has not been studied in depth in the transport planning literature. Universal Design (UD) refers to the design of transport systems in a way that they are accessible to all users, irrespective of the users’ abilities. This definition of UD has not yet gained roots in the transport economic literature. The conventional thinking is that UD is for the few, i.e., the impaired, and given that they are few in numbers, UD projects will generally be unprofitable from a socioeconomic point of view because benefits will be low while investment costs will be too high. The objective of this paper is to prove the opposite: UD projects benefit all users of the facility, whether impaired or not, and the additional costs of implementing them are generally low; hence, their net present values are high and positive. We build on collaborative work between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) and the Institute of Transport Economics (TOI) aimed at creating guidelines for assessing the economic merits of UD projects. Therefore, in this paper, we: (1) define how UD is to be understood in the context of road and public transport; (2) describe the types of benefits and costs that accrue to users if UD projects are implemented; (3) address how the benefits and cost can be valued in monetary terms; and (4) using three different types of projects, demonstrate that UD projects are surprisingly profitable from a socioeconomic point of view. Finally, we address the implications of our findings and explain why governments need to be concerned with UD of transport systems.     

The tax treatment of company cars, commuting and optimal congestion taxes

In Europe, the preferential tax treatment of company cars implies that many employees receive a company car as part of their compensation package. In this paper, we consider a model in which wages and the decision whether or not to provide a company car are the result of direct negotiation between employer and employee. Using this framework, we theoretically and numerically study first- and second-best optimal tax policies on labour and transport markets, focusing on the role of the tax treatment of company cars. We obtain the following results. First, higher labour taxes and a more favourable tax treatment of company cars raise the fraction employees that receives a company car; congestion and congestion tolls reduce it. Second, in countries that provide large implicit subsidies to company cars, eliminating the preferential tax treatment of company cars may be an imperfect but quite effective substitute for currently unavailable congestion tolls. The numerical illustration, calibrated using Belgian data, suggests that it yields about half the welfare gain attainable through optimal congestion taxes. Third, the favourable tax treatment of company cars justifies large public transport subsidies; the numerical results are consistent with zero public transport fares. Finally, we find that earlier models that ignored the preferential tax treatment of company cars may have substantially underestimated optimal congestion tolls in Europe. The numerical illustration suggests that about one third of the optimal congestion toll we obtain can be attributed to the current tax treatment of company cars.     

饱和度约束的单点有限公交优先控制策略

为减小公交信号优先对社会车辆的影响,在交叉口不发生交通拥堵的前提下,提出了以饱和度为约束条件的公交车有限优先策略,并建立了非优先相位无绿灯时间补偿和有绿灯时间补偿的两种有限公交优先控制策略.用VISSIM软件对比研究了两种有限公交优先策略与无公交优先策略、绝对公交优先策略的效益.结果表明,在所有场景下,与无公交优先策略...     

温拌沥青混合料应用研究

通过室内车辙试验、冻融劈裂试验、浸水马歇尔试验,表明温拌沥青混合料各项主要指标满足现行规范的要求,通过与普通沥青混合料的对比分析,表明温拌沥青混合料的部分指标要优于普通沥青混合料.结合国内现有规范,提出了温拌剂的添加方式,推荐了施工温度的参考范围,提出了施工过程的控制措施和碾压工艺,为今后温拌沥青混合料的施工提供了一定的参考.通过成本分析表明,温拌沥青混合料增加了施工成本,但是能够取得良好的环境效益.     

联合作战效益指标体系及评估方法研究

通过分析影响联合作战效益的主要因素,构建了联合作战效益指标体系,并提出一种模糊综合评判方法。该方法通过构建评估因素参数和评估等级参数之间的模糊关系矩阵,运用平均加权算法求出评估因素参数的综合隶属度,较好地解决了作战效益评估的模糊性和不确定性问题。     

聚丙烯纤维再生混凝土路面工程经济性分析

文章利用价值工程原理分析了聚丙烯纤维再生混凝土在工程应用中的可行性和经济性,提出在再生混凝土中掺入聚丙烯纤维应用到公路路面上不仅可以节省成本,还可以带来一定的经济效益和社会效益,性价比高于普通骨料再生混凝土。     

The Potential Economic Benefits of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems: The Southeast Atlantic Region

The Southeast Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) collects, manages and disseminates coastal oceanic and atmospheric observation information along the Atlantic coast of the southeastern United States. This article estimates the benefits of SEACOOS information in eleven benefit categories. Following a methodology used in similar studies of other U.S. coastal regions, we evaluate the impacts of conservative changes in economic activity in each benefit category. The annual economic benefit of SEACOOS information is $170 million (2003 $), an estimate that falls between annual benefits of $33 million for the Gulf of Maine region and $381 million for the Gulf of Mexico.     

呼准铁路增建第二线引入呼和浩特枢纽方案研究

为合理选择呼准铁路增建第二线引入呼和浩特枢纽方案,考虑呼和浩特枢纽的客运功能、货运功能,与城市规划的结合、环境影响、地形地质条件、工程投资等因素,使研究方案技术经济合理,运输径路顺畅,综合社会效益优。呼准铁路增建第二线引入呼和浩特枢纽方案,结合呼和浩特枢纽的现状及整体布局,使其直接引入呼和浩特南站,货流方向顺直,建议以此方案开展进一步研究工作。     

强化项目成本管理 提高企业经济效益

从项目成本（人、材、机、工期、隐性成本、安全等）控制这一重要因素出发，着重阐述了工程项目成本控制管理与方法，为工程项目获得最大的经济效益提供了一定的理论基础。     

汽车驾驶模拟器推广应用的成本效益分析

借助汽车驾驶模拟器仿真技术对驾驶人员进行训练,具有十分重要的意义,不仅能有效缓解目前我国汽车驾驶培训系统面临的压力,而且可以避免环境污染,减少能源消耗,降低培训成本。就汽车驾驶模拟器参与驾驶培训与传统单一实车培训进行对比分析,从成本、效益的角度上探讨了推广应用汽车驾驶模拟器的经济性和可行性。