Showing papers in "European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research in 2006"

Travel information as an instrument to change car- drivers' travel choices: a literature review

Abstract: This paper aims to provide insights that help transport academics and policy makers appreciate the potentials and limitations of information provision as a means to changing car-drivers’ travel choices. The focus is on a modal shift from private car to public transport and changes in car-drivers’ choices for departure times and routes towards a more even distribution of traffic within the available road network. These insights are gained through a review of more than 15 years of literature concerning the use and effects of travel information among car-drivers. Based on the performed review, a number of generic, integrative insights are derived, including the following: it appears that our expectations with respect to the effects of information provision on travel choices in general may be mildly optimistic, particularly for behavioural changes not involving changes in mode-choice. In the longer term, the effects of information provision, when presented to travelers in suitable formats, are likely to be somewhat stronger than the short term effects, due to learning dynamics.

Does the car make elderly people happy and mobile? Settlement structures, car availability and leisure mobility of the elderly

Abstract: According to gerontological mobility research, appropriate settlement structures at the neighbourhood level and car availability are both playing a prominent role in the maintenance of mobility of elderly people. However, car availability is strongly connected to other individual attributes like age, health and gender. The paper presents empirical results from Germany, which support the thesis that car availability is not a cause for mobility, but rather a result of a specific life situation and way of life of elderly people, which is associated with a specific type of mobility. What is more, there is no evidence for a significant influence of settlement structures on mobility. The contribution is based on multiple regression analyses of leisure mobility of elderly people living in three different spatial contexts.

Mid-term review of the European Commissions 2001 Transport White Paper

Abstract: In June 2006, five years after the publication of the last European Transport White Paper, the European Commission issued its mid-term review of the Transport White Paper entitled ‘Keep Europe moving – Sustainable mobility for our continent’ (CEC, 2006a). The mid-term review not only assesses progress towards the White Paper’s original objectives but also identifies a number of additional actions that might help reach the White Paper’s objectives and, more significantly, signals a number of shifts in priorities for European transport policy. The use of the term ‘sustainable mobility’ in the title of the mid-term review of the Transport White Paper serves to highlight a key dilemma of European transport policy, namely how to reconcile the free movement of people and goods, one of the basic pillars of the European Union, whilst at the same time protecting the environment and improving the health and safety of citizens. ‘Sustainable’ and ‘mobility’ reflect the two frequently competing aims of European transport policy. The dilemma is further exemplified in the text, which states for example that ‘efforts to achieve the goals of meeting growing mobility needs and strict environmental standards are beginning to show signs of friction’ (p8). Also interesting is the fact that the term ‘sustainable mobility’ has made a return. It featured several times in the 1992 European Transport White Paper, not least in the wordy sub-title of the document (‘The future development of the common transport policy – a global approach to the construction of the community framework for sustainable mobility’ – CEC, 1992), but then did not feature at all in the following Transport White Paper of 2001 (CEC, 2001).

Societal trends, mobility behaviour and sustainable transport in Europe and North America

Abstract: This contribution describes the work of Focus Group three of the European Union network Sustainable Transport in Europe and Links and Liaisons to America (STELLA). It examines especially social and behavioural aspects of sustainable transport from a transatlantic perspective. Significant societal trends (e.g. the ageing of societies) are surveyed and their implications for mobility behaviour are drawn. The sustainability of this behaviour is considered along with constraints and drivers of this behaviour in Europe and North America. The contribution takes up relevant policy issues and concludes with a discussion of a transatlantic research agenda on social and behavioural aspects of sustainable transport.

The demand for road-based passenger mobility in India: 1950-2030 and relevance for developing and developed countries

Abstract: The main aim of the paper is to estimate the demand for road-based passenger mobility in India and subsequently project the energy demand and CO2 emissions resulting from the same. Based on a data set of the four major motorized modes of transport – buses, cars (including jeeps and taxis), two-wheelers, and auto-rickshaws from 1950-51 to 2000-01, long-term trends in motorized traffic volume and modal split are projected up to the year 2030-31. It is found that the road-based traffic volume in India will increase from 3079 billion passenger-kilometers in 2000-01 to 12546 billion passenger-kilometers in 2030-31. Between 2000-01 and 2030-31, the aggregate share of private- and para-transit modes is projected to increase from 24.3% to 55.3% whereas the share of public transport mode is estimated to decrease from 75.7% to 44.7%. Based on the projected values of aggregate traffic volume, modal split, and modal intensities for energy demand and CO2 emissions, the paper then estimated the level of energy demand and CO2 emission from the road-based passenger transport sector in India. If there is no reduction in modal intensities, energy demand is projected to increase from 954 peta joules in 2000-01 to 5897 peta joules in 2030- 31 whereas CO2 emission is estimated to increase from 17.27 to 93.22 million metric tons of carbon equivalent during the same period. Even when we assume a reduction of 1% per year in energy and CO2 intensity of all modes of transport, energy demand and CO2 emission is projected to increase by a 4.6- and 4.0-fold respectively from 2000-01 to 2030-31.

ICT Innovation and Sustainability of the Transport Sector

Abstract: In this paper we address the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) on sustainable transport in two ways, i.e. by examining the relation between ICT use and transport demand and by examining the direct application of ICT in the transport system. Following a discussion of the various negative externalities of transport and a discussion of the latest insights into the impacts of ICT on transport demand, we examine the extent to which existing and potential ICT applications in the transport sector can assist in making transport sustainable or at least more sustainable than it is at present. We particularly focus on qualitative and quantitative impacts of several ICT applications on travel behavior (including fatalities) and on differences in the potential adoption of these innovations between the United States and Europe.

Environmental rating of vehicles with different fuels and drive trains: a univocal and applicable methodology

Abstract: A new and applicable environmental rating tool for use as a policy tool, called EcoScore, was developed and allows evaluating the environmental impact of road vehicles with different drive trains or using different fuels. A single environmental indicator integrates different aspects of the environmental impact of the vehicles such as global warming, air quality depletion and noise pollution. To integrate these different aspects, the Ecoscore methodology includes different damage categories like: global warming, human health impairing effects and harmful effects on ecosystems. The contribution of the different normalised damages to the single value, called Ecoscore, is based upon a weighting system. The methodology can also be used for the ranking of heavy duty vehicles and two-wheelers. However, in this paper, the methodology will be explained using passenger vehicles and light-duty vehicles as an illustration. The methodology will be implemented by the Flemish government as a policy tool for the promotion of cleaner vehicles. An extensive database including vehicle records and their related emission data was used to develop, to validate and to analyse the environmental rating system. A sensitivity analysis was carried out which allowed the evaluation of the robustness of the methodology.

Freight Transport, Seamlessness, and Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy

Abstract: Freight transport has emerged as one of the most critical and dynamic aspects of the transport sector where change has become the norm. It is now the main element supporting global commodity and more generally supply chains. Yet the lack of seamlessness and inefficiencies in general as well as the rising costs and complexities of shipping and delivering goods are adding to profit pressures faced by manufacturers across the globe. Our paper first discusses the concept of seamlessness, and then examines some of the consequences of the lack of seamlessness in terms of freight transport inefficiencies. We then begin to examine the new developments in which intermodality, technology (e-commerce), and logistics are changing and will have the impact of heightening competitive advantage and reducing constraint points in production value chains and global production networks. Finally the intent is to show how research on this theme might be advanced in a trans-Atlantic framework. (A)

Attitudes and Behavioral Responses to Parking Measures

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a study of attitudes and behavioral responses of car drivers to planned parking measures at the campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. In an on-street questionnaire, car drivers were asked their opinion about restricting access to the campus area for cars of non-university car drivers through (i) a barrier, (ii) proper identification when entering the campus area, and (iii) payment. The responses of more than 700 car drivers are used in a multinomial logit analysis. Most car drivers indicate to continue driving to the university by car. Almost half of the car drivers indicate that they will change their travel behavior should they have to pay for entering the campus area by changing transport mode or parking their car outside the campus area. Respondents are invariant with respect to different types of identification. The most favorite way of paying is by bank/credit card, followed by a special university card. (A)

Equilibrium traffic assignment on large Virtual Networks: Implementation issues and limits for multi-modal freight transport

Abstract: Multi-Modal freight models are traditionally built following the well known “four steps model” in which generation, distribution, modal-split and assignment are seen as separated modules. An alternative approach, now implemented in some software, is to represent the multi-modal network by means of a “mono-modal” one, in which each particular transport operation (loading or unloading operation, transhipments ...) is represented by a dedicated "virtual link", that represents a specific operation in the transportation chain. This approach, promoted by several authors, often referenced to as "super networks" or "virtual networks", is proven to give interesting results, but has the drawback to generate much larger networks than the pure geographic representation of the studied area. It has also some kind of "hidden trap", linked to transport distances, that will be presented in this paper and that can only be solved using appropriate assignment techniques. This paper presents some results obtained on a large multi-modal network, using different equilibrium assignment algorithms, in order to test their ability to give an appropriate solu-tion to the "distance trap". It however concludes that the implementation of classical equi-librium assignment techniques leads to solutions that are barely different from the one ob-tained by a simple all-or-nothing assignment, opening the way to alternative multi-flow solu-tions. (A)

The Impacts of Time Access Restrictions and Vehicle Weight Restrictions on Food Retailers and the Environment

Abstract: Urban freight transport has many sustainable aspects. It contributes to economic vitality and the competitiveness of a region. However, the less socially and environmentally friendly effects such as noise, pollutant emissions, and nuisance, are usually the central theme in designing urban freight transport policies. Restricting policies as time access restrictions and vehicle restrictions gain popularity among Dutch local authorities. More than half of the municipalities uses time access restrictions. In spite of the popularity of these policy measures, the effects on the distribution of retailers, the environment and the transport costs are not known yet. In this paper we present three case studies of food retailers, in order to examine the effects of time access restrictions and vehicle weight restrictions. We discuss the impacts on the transport costs and the distribution processes (on the retailer’s side) and the environmental impacts. To find these effects we design five scenarios, in which we vary the length of time access restrictions, the allowed weight of the weight restriction and the number of cities in which these regulations are used. In these scenarios we adapt, based on the likely reaction of the involved food retailers, the distribution activities to fit the regulations. The results show that the vehicle weight restriction as well as the time access restrictions have a negative impact on the retailers’ transport costs. In most cases we see that the policy measures also cause an increase in the pollutant CO2 emissions that are emitted during the distribution of the goods. The time access restrictions cause a cost-increase that develops more or less convexly, as more stores are affected by this policy measure. The turning point is around 45% of the stores affected. The weight restriction causes linear cost-increase as more stores are affected. Both policy measures affect especially the roundtrips that combine multiple less than truckload orders for different stores. The policy measures have a different effect on different retailers.

Empirical Analysis of Two-Leader Car-Following Behavior

Abstract: Several researchers have proposed that drivers do not just respond to the vehicle directly ahead, but also to the second, and even the third, fourth or fifth vehicle ahead. Little empirical evidence for this hypothesis has however been presented so far. We provide empirical evidence showing that drivers are not only reacting on the vehicle directly ahead, but also the ‘second leader’. This is achieved by analyzing vehicle trajectory data collected by observing a motorway traffic flow from a helicopter. These microscopic data enable estimation of individual car-following models. The extent to which this multi-anticipatory behaviour occurs turns out to be considerable: on average, the sensitivity with respect to stimuli coming from the second vehicle is half the sensitivity of the first vehicle ahead. For some vehicle triples, even higher sensitivities to the behaviour of the second leader than to the behaviour of the first have been observed. The estimation results show large differences in car-following behaviour between the different drivers. These differences can in part be explained by the vehicle-type composition of the considered vehicle triples. Trucks drivers show different behaviour than person-car drivers; drivers following a truck show dissimilar car-following behaviour than drivers following a personcar. Although not being a benchmarking study aimed at providing the best model of car-following behaviour, the research presented in this article shows that including multiple leaders can improve modelling of driving behaviour considerably.

Real-time hiring of vehicles for container transport

Abstract: This study concerns the deployment of large numbers of container transporting vehicles on a network consisting of (dedicated) roads and logistic sites such as container terminals. Each site is managed autonomously by a site manager. The fleet of vehicles is deployed by a fleet manager. On request of the site managers, the fleet manager allocates vehicles to be hired by the site managers. Next, within these allocations, each site manager issues transportation jobs and assigns these jobs to the allocated vehicles. The objective of the fleet manager is to avoid unpaid empty driving and to keep the size of its fleet just large enough the serve the demand for vehicles. The objective of the site managers is to minimize the operational costs. In this context a new coordination system is proposed to allocate vehicle capacity, operating on the basis of a win-win situation for all actors. The coordination takes place at two levels. One level concerns the drawing up of an adaptive fleet deployment plan. The other level resides under control of the individual site managers and concerns the assignment of transportation jobs to vehicles, given the allocations of the fleet deployment plan. Both use repetitive linear programming procedures. Small size simulation experiments show that the approach might be effective.

The adequate integration of sustainability into transport policy: some major dilemmas

Abstract: In this paper we discuss to what extent transport policy fails to integrate five types of external effects, and what kind of research needs follow from the objective to make transport sustainable. The discussion is a synthesis of the findings collected and synthesized in the framework of Focus Group 4 of the STELLA project. The assignment of Focus Group 4 was to draw up a set of recommendations for future transport policy-oriented research dealing with external effects, on the basis of a series of specialist workshops. Five different kinds of so-called external effects of transport were identified beforehand, being environment, safety and security, public health, land use and congestion. Safety and security as well as congestion are external effects in the sense that they are not ‘internalised’ in the price of the transport service, but they do affect predominantly others within the transport system. This means that with some delay the transport market still reacts to changes in the intensity of these effects, albeit biased or insufficient. The public goods character of both externalities however implies that public intervention is needed to attain better performance of these external effects, partly via internalisation of the external effects and partly via planning (i.e. by evaluating the trade-offs ex ante). The other external effects, however, are not only insufficiently internalised in the transport price, but they are also predominantly affecting parties outside the transport system. Consequently, changes in the intensity of these effects do not feed back directly into the transport market. In that case public intervention has even a more complicated task, since it takes more time and is more complicated to learn what are actually the right balances for the trade-offs between adequate access and, in turn, sustainability, spatial quality, and public health.

Is there a `Stick' bonus? A stated choice model for P&R patronage incorporating cross-effects

Abstract: This paper presents a universal logit model for P&R patronage. This model was estimated from a Stated Choice experiment, in which 805 car drivers chose among car, P&R and public transport alternatives. In addition to main-effects, attribute cross-effects were estimated denoting the utility change of an alternative due to changes in the attribute levels of another alternative. The results indicate that improving the levels of the P&R related attributes has a negligible effect on the utility of the car alternative, whereas worsening the levels of the carrelated attributes increases the utility of the P&R facility. Considering the estimated maineffects as well as the estimated cross-effects suggests that ‘stick’ (push) policy measures are more effective to stimulate P&R patronage than ‘carrot’ (pull) policy measures. The paper further reports that the extension of the model by adding cross-effects to the main-effects resulted in a better model fit and that the resulting model could more accurately predict the choices for new observations.

Pessimistic Equilibrium Flow and Its Network Design Implications

Abstract: Quality of service in urban transportation network is very important to the users of this network. Travel time in street networks is one, very important, aspect of this service, particularly for trips with purposes such as work or school. A conservative route choice concept based on a pessimistic view of travel time has been proposed to render a pessimistic equilibrium flow (PEF). This flow is different from a user equilibrium flow (UEF), particularly in congested networks, and has sometimes a lower total travel time than UEF. A street network design problem has been proposed to take into account the travel time fluctuations (or service quality) in the network. This design model is based on PEF and is called pessimistic network design (PND) model. It is shown by an example network that an implication of PEF consideration in a PND model is that projects with lower potential in getting congested are chosen as compared with the conventional network design problem. (A)

Institutions, regulations and sustainable transport, a review

Abstract: This policy research document examines institutional and regulatory aspects of sustainable transport from a cross- national perspective. While institutions appear to play an important role in the economic success of many countries, it is not so clear that they also support sustainable development. In fact, institutions are probably both supporting and constraining depending on the situation and it remains unclear what the net balance is. A number of examples of the role of institutions in transport are discussed. A research agenda is formulated with special attention to among others success and failure factors for regulatory reform, private versus public roles in transport, border effects and issues of fiscalcompetition.

Book Review T. Rothengatter & R.D. Huguenin (Eds.) Traffic and transport psychology: Theory and applications. Amsterdam, Elsevier.

Abstract: The book is the selected proceedings of the second international conference of traffic and transport psychology (TTP) held in Bern, Switzerland, in 2000. The first conference took place 1996 in Valencia, Spain, the third 2004 in Nottingham, UK (Rothengatter & CarbobellVaja, 1997; Underwood, 2005). A casual look at the three volumes from the conferences indicates that their structure and contents are similar. In the volume under review, keynote lectures, selected papers and poster presentations are included. A first part contains an introduction by the editors and three chapters addressing the general issue of theory in a field of applied research such as TTP. The remaining parts are dominated by reported empirical studies with some interspersed overview, conceptual, or discussion chapters. Truthfully representing current TTP research, these include road user characteristics (cognition and performance, social and differential psychology, and impairment), road safety (driver information and support systems, enforcement and training, and selection and rehabilitation), and mobility and the environment

Transatlantic Transport Research: Strategy and Scope

Abstract: The field of transportation research is in full motion. The need to address sustainability aspects of transportation prompts both intriguing policy questions and fascinating research challenges. On both sides of the Atlantic a great variety of research strategies and projects have been developed to cope with relevant research questions. The STELLA Transatlantic network aims to focus the attention on these issues with a view to the exchange of information, the execution of comparative research and the establishment of relevant network activities in order to design a future research agenda. The paper introduces the nature of these research questions from a transatlantic perspective and presents the contours of a realistic policy research agenda for transportation in a sustainability context.