Is it expensive to be poor? Public transport in Sweden

Transportation - One of the reasons to subsidise public transport is to improve the mobility of low-income groups by providing affordable public transport; however, the literature describes a...     

Surface street traffic volume and single-family house price

This study investigates the relationship between surface street traffic volume and single-family house prices in a relatively small city in the US. Hedonic price models are estimated using data from 9670 transactions that occurred between January 1998 and March 2011. It is discovered that parcels fronting or adjacent to a high-traffic street sell, on average, at an 8.1% discount compared to similar parcels that are not so situated. Restricting the analysis to parcels on or adjacent to a high-traffic street, house price and traffic volume are found to be negatively related; a doubling of volume from any particular traffic count, ceteris paribus, reduces selling price by an average of 2.1%.     

The role of public transport for feasibility and acceptability of congestion charging – The case of Stockholm

In the Stockholm Trial, congestion charges and the expansion of public transport services were closely linked together in marketing efforts, as well as in political decisions. In this paper, we analyse the role that public transport may have played in increasing acceptability and feasibility of the scheme. We study four aspects of the relationship between charging and public transport provision: (i) the initial modal share, (ii) contribution to modal shift (iii) compensation to losers (iv) revenue hypothecation. Our analyses, based on a combination of primary and secondary data, support the hypothesis that public transport contributed to the successful implementation of congestion charging in Stockholm through all those four mechanisms.     

Injection Characteristics of Palm Methyl Ester Blended with Diesel Using Zuech’s Chamber

This research attempts to characterize the injection of palm biodiesel blended with diesel in a Zuech’s chamber. Thailand conventional diesel (mandated blend of biodiesel at 5 % or B5), palm biodiesel (B100) and four other biodiesel blends ratios (B20, B40, B60 and B80) were investigated with single hole injector of 140 and 200 μm diameters, injection pressure of 40 MPa to 160 MPa, constant back pressure of 4.5 MPa and energize time of 2.5 ms. The results show that increasing biodiesel blending ratios leads to longer injection delay, larger injection pressure drop, smaller injection quantity discharge coefficient (C_d) and shorter injection duration. With increasing biodiesel blending ratio, high Cavitation number from biodiesel viscosity decreases Reynolds number. Increasing injector diameter from 140 μm to 200 μm has reduced injection delay, increased fuel injection quantity, discharge coefficient and remaining injection duration. The increasing of injection pressure were improve, injection delay, injection duration, injection quantity and discharge coefficient until injection pressure 120 MPa. In addition at injection pressure over 120 MPa are decrease injection quantity and discharge coefficient, it effect form the cavitation phenomena. Increasing of viscosity, density, Bulk modulus and sound velocity were effect to increase injection delay, with reduce injection quantity, injection duration and pressure drop during injection process.     

Treatment of seasonal tickets for public transport in estimation and application of mode/destination choice models

A new model system dealing with trips of length up to 100 km has recently been developed in Norway. A new way of dealing with seasonal passes for public transport is used in the travel-to-work model. The objective was to account for the fact that a respondent that posses a seasonal pass for public transport may behave as if public transport is free on the day they report a travel diary. On the other hand, we can not assume that public transport is free for respondents that used other modes of transport or that public transport is free to alternative destinations. This problem was solved by defining seasonal pass as a separate alternative in the form of a nest that included all modes of travel. The cost of a seasonal pass is a common cost for all modes in the nest and will thus not affect the choice within the nest. The estimation of this specification is compared with the more common approach of assigning an average cost per day based on the cost of a monthly pass and the number of workdays in a month. The comparison indicates that the “average cost per day” approach may produce biased estimates for several parameters. It also turns out that the cost parameter for seasonal pass is higher than the parameter for “out of pocket” cost, probably reflecting that there will be some uncertainty with respect to the actual use of a seasonal pass.     

Assessment of sea surface temperature observational networks in the Baltic Sea and North Sea

The satellite and in situ Sea Surface Temperature (SST) observational networks in the Baltic Sea and North Sea are evaluated based on the quality of the gridded SST products generated from the networks. A multi-indicator approach is applied in the assessment. It includes evaluation of data quality, effective data coverage, field reconstruction error and model nowcast error. The results show that the best available full-coverage SST product is generated by assimilating the SST observations to obtain a yearly mean model bias of 0.07 °C and RMSE of 0.64 °C. The effective data coverage rate is 31% by using AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data from NOAA (National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration) satellites 12, 14 and 16. The data redundancy increases rapidly with the number of infrared sensors. Using either NOAA satellite 12 or all 3 satellites makes a small difference with regard to derived effective coverage and the ocean model nowcast error. The influence of using the in situ SST observations in the SST field reconstruction is negligibly small. Instead, the major role of in situ SST observations is in calibrating the satellite observations. To study the relative importance of data quality and data coverage, an assessment is done for two satellite products: one product is based entirely on NOAA 12 data and has larger coverage but lower quality. The other product is a subset of the SAF products (derived from NOAA 14 and 16) and has lower coverage but higher quality. Based on current monitoring, modelling and assimilation technology, the results suggest that the data quality is an important factor in further improving the quality of the gridded SST products. Recommendations are made for possible further improvements of the existing SST observational networks.     

Ballast Water Risk Indication for the North Sea

The ballast water from ships carries marine organisms that have invasive potential. The International Maritime Organization Ballast Water Management Convention (2004) requires ballast water exchange or ballast water management (BWM) systems either onboard or ashore. Ships can be exempted on the basis of risk assessment, when exclusively sailing between specific ports or in an enclosed area. In reply to our questionnaire, the shipping sector argues that the North Sea is ecologically homogeneous and exemptions could therefore be granted. This paper proposes that the North Sea area is, in fact, not homogeneous in terms of hydrographical and biological conditions; therefore, ballast water is a relevant transport mechanism for organisms. Within the North Sea, the short shipping routes indicate a high risk for survival. We examined actual simulation models for ballast water risk assessment in the North Sea, and we have identified the major parameters that need to be included in such models. These models provided a basis; they further need to be combined and adapted for the purpose of evaluating the rationale for an exemption. We concluded that exemptions from BWM are not recommended for the North Sea area. Anticipating the Ballast Water Management Convention, ship owners might do well to study possibilities for installing BWM systems onboard.     

Reduction of VIV using suppression devices—An empirical approach

Helical strakes are known to reduce and even eliminate the oscillation amplitude of vortex-induced vibrations (VIV). This reduction will increase the fatigue life. The optimum length and position of the helical strakes for a given riser will vary with the current profile.

The purpose of the present paper is to describe how data from VIV experiments with suppressing devices like fairings and strakes can be implemented into a theoretical VIV model. The computer program is based on an empirical model for calculation of VIV. Suppression devices can be accounted for by using user-defined data for hydrodynamic coefficients, i.e. lift and damping coefficients, for the selected segments.

The effect of strakes on fatigue damage due to cross flow VIV is illustrated for a vertical riser exposed to sheared and uniform current. Comparison of measured and calculated fatigue life is performed for a model riser equipped with helical strakes. A systematic study of length of a section with strakes for a set of current profiles is done and the results are also presented.