The Movingo integrated ticket: seamless connections across the mälardalen region of Sweden

ABSTRACT

The need for improved public transport (PT) ticketing in ever-growing deregulated PT markets has made well-designed integrated ticketing systems a priority area of intervention for PT service providers around the world. Yet, very little practical evidence of its impacts are reported in Sweden and in the world at large. The focus of this study was the impacts of the Movingo integrated ticketing scheme in terms of PT patronage, user satisfaction and the perceived quality of the ticketing set-up. Three travel surveys were conducted along the Stockholm-Uppsala route. Methods including logistic regression and correlated t-tests were used to analyse the samples. The findings suggest that the scheme made rail commuting more attractive resulting in an overall increase of about 24% in ticket sales with 3% – 15% car commuters reporting that they patronised PT services after the project. The scheme also resulted in increased rail commuter satisfaction. The overall perceived quality of the ticketing set-up did not however improve due to interoperability challenges. Service providers’ uncertainty about equitable distribution of revenue among the participating service providers, interoperability challenges and the lack of interest among most of the participating service providers to sell Movingo tickets are some issues to be addressed.     

我国水运业上市公司竞争力的实证分析

在充分理解企业竞争力的内涵和特点的基础上,从实际可操作性出发,以水运业上市公司2001年年报中的数据资料为依据,利用多元统计分析中的主成分分析方法对我国水运业上市公司的竞争力进行了全面性地定量实证分析,从而希望能为各水运企业的发展规划提供一些指导性的建议。     

Organic carbon budget for the Gulf of Bothnia

We calculated input of organic carbon to the unproductive, brackish water basin of the Gulf of Bothnia from rivers, point sources and the atmosphere. We also calculated the net exchange of organic carbon between the Gulf of Bothnia and the adjacent marine system, the Baltic Proper. We compared the input with sinks for organic carbon; permanent incorporation in sediments and mineralization and subsequent evasion of CO₂ to the atmosphere. The major fluxes were riverine input (1500 Gg C year^− 1), exchange with the Baltic Proper (depending on which of several possible DOC concentration differences between the basins that was used in the calculation, the flux varied between an outflow of 466 and an input of 950 Gg C year^− 1), sediment burial (1100 Gg C year^− 1) and evasion to the atmosphere (3610 Gg C year^− 1). The largest single net flux was the emission of CO₂ to the atmosphere, mainly caused by bacterial mineralization of organic carbon. Input and output did not match in our budget which we ascribe uncertainties in the calculation of the exchange of organic carbon between the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Proper, and the fact that CO₂ emission, which in our calculation represented 1 year (2002) may have been overestimated in comparison with long-term means. We conclude that net heterotrophy of the Gulf of Bothnia was due to input of organic carbon from both the catchment and from the Baltic Proper and that the future degree of net heterotrophy will be sensible to both catchment export of organic carbon and to the ongoing eutrophication of the Baltic Proper.     

The association of the population recruitment of gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, with Mississippi River discharge

Gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, which constitutes a major industrial reduction fishery in the USA, spawn across the northern Gulf of Mexico with a focus of spawning about the Mississippi Delta. This species is estuarine dependent; adults spawn over the continental shelf and their larvae are transported, by mechanisms that are presently not well understood, to estuarine nursery areas. Larval gulf menhaden, along with some other surface oriented larval fishes, appear to aggregate along the Mississippi River plume front, while evidence of the ecological consequences of this aggregation in terms of the feeding, growth, and survival of larvae is ambiguous. On an annual scale, Mississippi River discharge is negatively associated with numbers of half year old recruits. Discharge of the Mississippi River and the population recruitment of gulf menhaden may be plausibly linked through the action of the river's plume and its front on the shoreward transport of larvae. Greater river discharge results in an expansive plume that might project larvae farther offshore and prolong the shoreward transport of larvae. An indirect, decadal scale, positive response of recruitment and river discharge is possible, but not certain. Recruitment became elevated after 1975 when river discharge increased and became highly variable. This response might owe to enhanced primary and secondary production driven by nutrient influx from the Mississippi River.     

Development and Deployment of Public Transport Policy and Planning in Taiwan

Over the past decade, the escalating roadway congestion and environmental deterioration due to heavy use of private vehicles have provoked the Taiwan government to realize the importance of public transport systems. Under the “carrot-and-stick” rationales, the government has formulated public transport policies and exercised a series of related initiatives by providing sufficient and higher quality of public transport services so as to attract more private vehicle users. In this paper, the planning philosophy and policy formulation of Taiwan’s public transport development are highlighted. The most important initiatives, including the Five-year Enhancement of Mass Transportation Program and the upgrading public transport schemes in the National Development Plan are examined. Based on previous experience and lessons, we point out the most challenging issues that the government will encounter. Suggestions for the future of public transport planning are also addressed.     

Aggregate expenditure elasticity for transport and communication in Australia

For the purpose of estimating Engel elasticity, one needs to find the best functional form among various alternatives. In this paper, a new function, which is called the double semi-log Engel function turns out to be the best functional form for the transport and communication items in Australia on the basis of the distance function (D²) criterion, and the non-nested hypothesis testing procedure. This function is then used to estimate total expenditure elasticity, and the percentage change in consumer demand due to changes in total expenditure and total expenditure inequalities; using the 1975–76 Household Expenditure Survey data. The results of the analyses demonstrate that transport and communication is a necessary item in Australia on the basis of two criteria, viz., its elasticity is not significantly greater than unity, and the percentage change in demand increases with a decrease of the total expenditure inequality [emphasised by Iyengar (I960)]. Policy implication of the analyses has also been discussed.     

Meta-analysis of public transport demand

The present study uses meta-regression in order to explain the wide variation in elasticity estimates obtained in previous demand studies, and provide summaries of several bus demand elasticities.One important finding as to the price elasticity is that the often cited rule of thumb of −0.3 holds good if quality of service represented by vehicle-kilometres is treated as an exogenous variable, but not when it is treated as endogenous.Based on the results it is recommended that demand models should include car ownership, price of petrol, own price, income and some measure of service among the explanatory variables and that the service variable should be treated as endogenous.In previous meta-studies in this field focus has been on own price elasticity only while this study also includes elasticities with respect to, level of service, income, price of petrol and car ownership. The short run for the US are found to be −0.59, 1.05, −0.62, 0.4 and −1.48 respectively.     

短波收信天线交换系统的初步设计

根据短波通信业务对收信天线交换的发展需求，简要介绍了短波收信天线交换系统的功能与结构，并对系统的功能模块进行了初步设计。     

铁路货物运输的随机过程分析和及时送达概率估计

应用随机过程理论，分析铁路运输系统中货物及时送达的概率分布，得到货物运输延续时间的平均值，为实现用户要求的运到期限提供了合理保证，并可通过评估与货主商定的运到期限与实际货物送达时间误差的概率，来找到货物及时送达过程中的关键环节，改进货物送达流程。最后举例说明它的应用。