Trajectories and transitions: mobility after parenthood

Transportation - Life events, such as childbirth or retirement, provide a crucial opportunity in which an individual’s habitual travel routines are disrupted and they may be especially...     

Factors influencing travel mode choice among families with young children (aged 0–4): a review of the literature

Life events, such as the birth of a child, disrupt habitual travel behaviour and provide a valuable opportunity to influence the adoption of sustainable transport practices. However, in order for sustainable travel practices to be adopted, an understanding is required of the factors that influence travel mode choice among families with young children. Research in this field is particularly timely given many in the millennial generation, a comparably large cohort, are approaching this life stage. This comprehensive literature review develops a framework of factors influencing travel mode choice among families with young children. The findings reveal a multitude of factors influence decisions about mode choice, and, in particular, encourage travel by car, when travelling with young children. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research about travel among families with young children, a largely overlooked group of transport users.     

Coastal Tourist Interest in Value-Added,Aquaculture-Based,Culinary Tourism Opportunities

Despite increasing focus on sustainable aquaculture investment in the U.S. coastal zones, the aquaculture industry continues to face skepticism among consumers due to perceived negative environmental impacts, and health and food safety concerns. Partnering with culinary tourism and local food promotion efforts has potential for improving public outreach about the benefits of aquaculture, especially in coastal destinations where sustainable marine aquaculture and tourism are both occurring. Culinary tourism implies that local foods reflect the local livelihood and culture, and may be important to the tourist's experience. Aquaculture is becoming increasingly valuable to coastal destinations for assuring the steady availability of local seafood to meet demand and retaining commercial fisheries as a means to differentiate themselves to tourists. This study examined the role of subjective knowledge and attitude about aquaculture, and their effect on intention to participate in value-added culinary aquaculture tourism experiences. The study found that tourists' subjective knowledge and attitude about aquaculture influenced intentions to participate in culinary aquaculture tourism. In order for farmers or tour operators to be successful in diversifying with value-added culinary aquaculture, attention needs to be paid to educating consumers, which may be possible through strategic partnerships with tourism organizations, chefs, and restaurants.     

TRIP DISTRIBUTION MODELLING USING FUZZY LOGIC AND A GENETIC ALGORITHM

This article examines possibilities for the application of soft computing techniques for the prediction of travel demand. The model, based on fuzzy logic and a genetic algorithm, successfully solves the trip distribution problem. The possibilities of using the proposed model in solving trip generation, modal split and route choice problems have also been indicated. The model has been tested on a real numerical example. Exceptionally good correspondences between estimated and real values of passenger flows have been obtained.     

Improvement of external transport cost evaluation in the context of Lithuania’s integration into the European Union

This paper starts by reviewing the main components of social marginal costs and environmental costs in the context of transport, and it draws on the experience in Europe concerning the means by which these costs can be valued. That experience is then translated to the situation in Lithuania, where many of the same issues are now being debated. A multicriteria method is proposed to internalize these costs, both from the perspective of the state and of the carriers. Costs need to be raised substantially if the social and environmental factors are to be paid for by the transport users, and such action would bring Lithuania closer to the best practice currently in operation in the European Union.     

A proposal for cost-related and market-oriented train running charges

This paper examines some key aspects of a charging system for promoting railway transport, including charges reflecting a clear relationship with costs (transparency) and charges reflecting the quality of the infrastructure manager's service. Train running charges recover track-related costs and can help to develop a charging system that meets these requirements. To orient train running charges to the market, a method for processing track maintenance and renewal costs is proposed whereby the quality of the service provided by an infrastructure is measured according to its utility to the railway undertaking. To achieve transparency, a single indicator is used for cost planning and the subsequent levying of costs on railway undertakings. The paper includes an example of how proposed train running charges would be calculated according to data from 14 European countries. The example shows that short-distance trains generate the lowest maintenance and renewal costs, followed by long-distance trains and freight trains.     

Cultural Models of the Coast in Australia: Toward Sustainability

Cultural models of the coast affect—and are affected by—our marine ethics, frameworks for coastal ownership, and management practices. The coast can be seen as an ecosystem with intrinsic values, a commodity that can be bought and sold, a community place where people meet, a landscape with aesthetic appeal, a productive system that generates profits, a property to be managed, or a spiritual realm that relates to proper order and reverence. Each of these cultural constructions interacts with the others and this can create conflicts over rights and responsibilities. Each construction has implications for who should manage the coast, to what ends, and by what means. This article explores the negative and positive implications of seven cultural models to the Australian coast and makes suggestions about the value of Australian Indigenous and sustainability perspectives to a durable human relationship with the coast. Examples are drawn from recent coastal developments in Australia, such as Native Title debates, the marine protected area process, and Coastcare.     

SCUBA Diver Specialization and Behavior Norms at Coral Reefs

SCUBA diving is an increasingly popular activity that provides a number of benefits to coastal communities. However, the sustainability of recreational diving on coral reefs is largely dependent on the health of reef ecosystems. Divers can minimize their impacts to coral reefs through responsible diving behaviors, which are in part guided by social norms. The behavioral obligation and sanction components of twelve diving behaviors were determined for Florida Keys divers throughout the course of a year. Recognizing that recreationists are not homogenous, these norms were compared according to diver specialization level. Specialized divers felt a stronger obligation not to touch corals and to pick up garbage from the sea floor than did less specialized divers. Specialized divers also reported they would feel greater embarrassment for losing buoyancy control, touching corals, taking pieces of dead corals, or touching marine mammals. The findings point to a connection between specialization level and social norms, and a relationship to ensuring continued reef health.     

Effect of critical incidents on public transport satisfaction and loyalty: an Ordinal Probit SEM-MIMIC approach

Transportation - Supplying public transport systems with high levels of service quality is fundamental for retaining users and attracting new ones. Policies that improve transit service quality...     

Parenthood and cars: A weakening relationship?

Transportation - A wide body of research supports the notion that the travel behaviour of families with children tends to be car dependent. Yet recent literature suggests a more varied set of...