Impact of regional population density on walking behavior

Land use can influence walking (measured by the number of steps) and so the health of people. This paper presents the result of empirical research on the impact of regional population densities (inhabitants per inhabitable area) on the number of steps (all steps, both outdoors and indoors). With data collected from almost 11,000 respondents in 148 Japanese regions, we estimate polynomial regression models, the total number of steps being the dependent variable and densities being the main independent variable. Regional population density significantly affects the number of steps after controlling for individual and household attributes. The estimated population density that maximizes the number of steps is around 11,000?persons/km². Increasing densities, up to levels of around 11,000?inhabitants/km², could increase walking and consequently the health of inhabitants. The population density elasticity of the number of steps is 0.046–0.049 in a simple log linear regression model without a peak.     

The role of volume-delay functions in forecasting and evaluating congestion charging schemes: the Stockholm case

This paper uses observations from before and during the Stockkholm congestion charging trial in order to validate and improve a transportation model for Stockholm. The model overestimates the impact of the charges on traffic volumes while at the same time it substantially underestimates the impact on travel times. These forecast errors lead to considerable underestimation of economic benefits which are dominated by travel time savings. The source of error lies in the static assignment that is used in the model. Making the volume-delay functions (VDFs) steeper only marginally improves the quality of forecast but strongly impacts the result of benefit calculations. We therefore conclude that the dynamic assignment is crucial for an informed decision on introducing measures aimed at relieving congestion. However, in the absence of such a calibrated dynamic model for a city, we recommend that at least a sensitivity analysis with respect to the slope of VDFs is performed.     

A latent class accelerated hazard model of social activity duration

Over the past decade, activity scheduling processes have gained increasing attention in the field of transportation research. However, still little is known about the scheduling of social activities even though these activities account for a large and growing portion of trips. This paper contributes to this knowledge. We analyze how the duration of social activities is influenced by social activity characteristics and characteristics of the relationship between the respondent and the contacted person(s). To that end, a latent class accelerated hazard model is estimated, based on social interaction diary data that was collected in the Netherlands in 2008. Chi-square tests and analyses of variance are used to test for significant relations between the latent classes and personal and household characteristics. Findings suggest that the social activity characteristics and the characteristics of the relationship between the socializing persons are highly significant in explaining social activity duration. This shows that social activities should not be considered as a homogenous set of activities and it underlines the importance of including the social context in travel-behavior models. Moreover, the results indicate that there is a substantial amount of latent heterogeneity across the population. Four latent classes are identified, showing different social activity durations, and different effects for both categories of explanatory variables. Latent class membership can be explained by household composition, socio-economic status (education, income and work hours), car ownership and the number of interactions in 2 days.     

Improving the coexistence of offshore wind farms and shipping: an international comparison of navigational risk assessment processes

The continued growth and evolution of the offshore wind industry, and the emergence of other novel marine uses such as wave and tidal generators, have upped the ante for spatial planners, as well as consenting and approval authorities in various coastal states. These stakeholders rely on processes such as navigational risk assessments (NRAs) to balance safety and efficiency requirements and to make optimal decisions over use of space. Given the increasingly complex and crowded seascape, however, there are some apprehensions about potential shortcomings in these NRA processes. There is also some concern that these inadequacies may lead to unsafe or inefficient marine spatial use. To understand how NRA processes can be improved further, a literature review is conducted, followed by a survey of respondents who are involved in the planning, consenting and/or approval of offshore wind farms across seven different countries. A summary of the NRA processes in these seven countries is presented, and several shortcomings are identified. Based on the findings of the survey, a list of recommendations is presented to enhance existing NRA processes—and to improve the coexistence of shipping and offshore wind farms (OWFs).     

Linear,non-linear,bi-directional? Testing the nature of the relationship between mobility and satisfaction with life

Transportation - Travel is one of the most important facilitators of life and has been widely acknowledged as a prerequisite for economic and social activity. Research developing in recent decades...     

Perceived risk of lock-in in the front-end phase of major transportation projects

Transportation - Lock-in is defined as the tendency to continue with an inefficient decision or project proposal. The front-end phase is critical to project success, yet most studies have focused...     

Congestion tolling in the bottleneck model with heterogeneous values of time

When analysing the effects of transport policies it is important to adequately control for heterogeneity: previous studies note that ignoring heterogeneity biases the estimated welfare effects of tolling. This paper examines the effects of tolling, in a bottleneck model, with a continuously distributed value of time. With homogeneous users, first-best public tolling has no effect on prices. With heterogeneity it does: low values of time lose, and high values of time gain. The average congestion externality decreases with the heterogeneity in the value of time. Consequently, the welfare gain of first-best tolling also decreases. The more heterogeneous the value of time is, the lower the relative efficiency of a public pay-lane. This finding contrasts with the previous literature. Earlier studies, using static flow congestion, conclude that the relative efficiency increases with this type of heterogeneity. With more heterogeneity in the value of time, the relative efficiency of a private pay-lane is also lower, while that of a public time-invariant toll is higher. Our results suggest that the welfare gains of different tolling schemes are affected differently by heterogeneity. Further, the impact of heterogeneity on the effects of a policy also depends on the type of congestion considered.     

Historic vehicles: an overview from a transport policy perspective

Historic vehicles (HVs) are the heritage of road transport that have surprisingly received little attention in the academic literature. This study presents an overview of the literature on HVs, focusing on the three topics that dominate the policy debate on transport: environmental, safety and congestion impacts. We observed that polluting emissions of HVs are per kilometre much higher (often a factor 5 or more) than those of moderns vehicles. The annual average mileage per vehicle per year of HVs is much lower than other vehicles. The lower active and passive safety levels of HVs are compensated by the way these vehicles are driven, resulting in the risk factors per kilometre being roughly equal or lower than other vehicles. The contribution of HVs to congestion is negligible. However, the transport policy discourse is divided on the topic of HVs. More comprehensive and effective laws and regulation are needed to protect this aspect of the heritage of road transport whilst concurrently avoiding or limiting the problems caused by them.     

National policy towards cars: the Netherlands

This paper describes the historical development of Dutch motorization after the Second World War and the policy of the Dutch Government towards the car. Developments are presented in a context of population growth and changes in population structure, in the economic situation, and in land use. Trends in the use of public transport and the bicycle are also highlighted. Special attention is given to the economic recession and the rise of unemployment since 1980.