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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Elena Koncheva (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Nikolay Zalesskiy (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Pavel Zuzin (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Liberalization of regional public transport market in Russia has led to continuing decline of service quality. One of the main results of the liberalization is the emergence of inefficient spatial structures of regional public transport systems in Russian regions. While the problem of optimization of urban public transport system has been extensively studied, the structure of regional public transport system has been referred less often. The question is whether the problems of spatial structure are common for regional and public transportation systems, and if this is the case, whether the techniques developed for urban public transport planning and management are applicable to regional networks. The analysis of the regional public transport system in Perm Krai has shown that the problems of cities and regions are very similar. On this evidence the proposals were made in order to employ urban practice for the optimization of regional public transport system. The detailed program was developed for Perm Krai which can be later on adapted for other regions. |
| Keywords: | regional public transport system, trunk and feeder public transport system |
| JEL: | R42 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:01/urb/2015&r=tre |
| By: | André De Palma (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - Polytechnique - X - CNRS, ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan); Robin Lindsey (Sauder - Sauder School of Business [British Columbia] - University of British Columbia); Guillaume Monchambert (ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan) |
| Abstract: | There is a large operations research literature on public transit system design. An extensive economic literature has also developed on public transit capacity investments, service frequency, and optimal pricing and subsidy policy. These two branches of literature have made significant advances in understanding public transit systems. However, in contrast to the literature on automobile traffic congestion, most of the studies have employed static models that cannot account for travelers' time-of-use decisions and the dynamics of transit congestion and crowding. The time profile of ridership is driven by the trade-off that users face between traveling at peak times and suffering crowding, and avoiding the peak by traveling earlier or later than they would like. A few studies have explored this trade-off using simple microeconomic models that combine trip-scheduling preferences as introduced by Vickrey (1969) with a crowding cost function that describes how utility from travel decreases with passenger loads. In this paper we use this modeling framework to analyze usage of a rail transit line, and assess the potential benefits from internalizing crowding externalities by setting differential train fares. We also present results on optimal train capacity and the number of trains put into service. |
| Keywords: | public transport, crowding, pricing, optimal capacity |
| Date: | 2015–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01223169&r=tre |
| By: | Gayle, Philip; Thomas, Tyson |
| Abstract: | Much of the literature on airline cooperation focuses on the price effects of cooperation. A key contribution of our paper is to empirically examine the product quality effects of airline cooperation. Two common types of cooperation among airlines involve international alliances and antitrust immunity (ATI), where ATI allows for more extensive cooperation. Additionally, this paper examines the extent to which domestic mergers affect the quality of international air travel products. The results suggest that increases in the membership of a carrier’s alliance or ATI partners and domestic mergers are associated with the carrier’s own products having more travel-convenient routing quality. Therefore, a complete welfare evaluation of airline cooperation and mergers should not ignore product quality effects. |
| Keywords: | Product quality; Airline competition; International alliance; Antitrust immunity; Mergers |
| JEL: | L13 L40 L93 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67788&r=tre |
| By: | M. Rouhani, Omid |
| Abstract: | The major risk associated with the provision of toll facilities results from uncertain future demand/revenue generated from the facilities. In this paper, I examine various options for mitigating toll revenue risk and provide a set of recommendations as to how revenue risk mitigation should be pursued. In addition to conducting more careful traffic revenue studies and risk analyses, policy makers can provide more flexible tolling schedules, adopt advanced toll collection technology, and limit the non-compete clause included in many toll road deals with private operators. |
| Keywords: | Risk mitigation; revenue risk; pricing method; toll collection technology; non-compete clause. |
| JEL: | D61 R42 |
| Date: | 2015–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67662&r=tre |
| By: | Arrigo, Ugo; Di Foggia, Giacomo |
| Abstract: | The last decade has seen significant developments in the liberalisation and deregulation of the railway industry in Europe. One characteristic has been vertical disintegration and the separate regulation of previously state-owned companies. This study has focused on the measurement of the quality of rail infrastructure managers’ policies, infrastructure output and productivity. The objectives of the benchmarking have been targeted to determine what and where improvements are called for and to analyse the determinants of high performance levels in those organisations that have been shown to maintain high quality standards in their service delivery. That is why this paper has founded worthwhile to reclassify, using homogeneous criteria, the income statements of six European rail infrastructure managers. In an effort to fine-tune the analysis the paper has also rebuilt the traffic data in these countries in order to compute productivity and cost indicators for the rail infrastructure networks. The results, based on indicators of unit cost, suggest that the two most productive rail network is in Sweden, with a network that is efficiently managed leading to reduced cost, and Germany, which has a network characterised by significant rail traffic, which is then able to improve productivity and to bring down the unit cost. The Italian case is ranked third among the six networks and is also to be considered the only rail infrastructure in which traffic and productivity have increased while the production cost has decreased. The remaining three networks show mixed results. The cost of the Spanish rail network is relatively low but this advantage is eroded by weak traffic. Great Britain has a rail infrastructure that is fairly expensive in terms of production cost and this factor is only partially offset by an intense circulation. The French network, finally, has a production cost in line with the average, along with a productivity below the average in terms of trains per km of rail track and where only a higher average train load can rebalance this situation |
| Keywords: | reti ferroviarie, infrastruttura ferroviaria, ferrovie, trasporti, rail network, infrastructure manager |
| JEL: | H0 L52 L9 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67799&r=tre |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Tabuchi, Takatoshi |
| Abstract: | We consider the role of a nonlinear commuting cost function in determination of the equilibrium commuting pattern where all agents are mobile. Previous literature has considered only linear commuting cost, where in equilibrium, all workers are indifferent about their workplace location. We show that this no longer holds for nonlinear commuting cost. The equilibrium commuting pattern is completely determined by the concavity or convexity of commuting cost as a function of distance. We show that a monocentric equilibrium exists when the ratio of the firm agglomeration externality to commuting cost is sufficiently high. Finally, we find empirical evidence of both long and short commutes in equilibrium, implying that the commuting cost function is likely concave. |
| Keywords: | Commuting; Land rent; Wage gradient |
| JEL: | R13 R41 |
| Date: | 2015–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67689&r=tre |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Spending from the Highway Trust Fund exceeds its revenues. What options do lawmakers have to address the fund's imbalance? How does the unique classification of surface transportation programs in the federal budget limit the effectiveness of standard spending controls? |
| JEL: | R40 R48 H61 |
| Date: | 2014–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:454160&r=tre |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Using the rising amounts of renewable transportation fuels required by the Renewable Fuel Standard will be difficult. CBO looks at how those requirements and alternatives would affect fuel and food prices and greenhouse gas emissions. |
| JEL: | Q10 Q16 Q18 Q20 Q28 Q40 Q42 Q48 Q50 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:454771&r=tre |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Public spending on transportation and water infrastructure totaled $416 billion in 2014; about one-quarter of that spending came from the federal government. Adjusted to remove the effects of inflation in the prices of materials and other inputs, public purchases of infrastructure fell by 9 percent from their peak in 2003 to their 2014 level. That decline occurred almost exclusively within the category of capital purchases, which fell by 23 percent after adjusting for inflation. |
| JEL: | H54 H76 R42 R53 |
| Date: | 2015–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:499100&r=tre |
| By: | Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt; Nicolai Wendland |
| Abstract: | We show that an employment potential capitalisation model, which establishes a spatial relationship between the price of land and the spatial distribution of employment through a transport matrix, produces estimates of the spatial decay in bilateral commuting probabilities that are very close to the decay observed in commuting data. |
| Keywords: | Accessibility, commuting, employment, gravity, land price, potential |
| JEL: | R12 R23 R33 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0188&r=tre |
| By: | Abeliansky, Ana L.; Martínez-Zarzoso, Imnaculada; Prettner, Klaus |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of 3D printing technologies on the volume of trade and on the structure of FDI. A standard model with firm-specific heterogeneity generates three main predictions. First, 3D printers are introduced in areas with high economic activity that also face high transport costs. Second, technological progress related to 3D printing machines leads to a gradual replacement of FDI that relies on traditional production structures with FDI based on 3D printing techniques. At this stage international trade stays unaffected. Finally, at later stages, with 3D printing machines being widely used, further technological progress in 3D printing leads to a gradual replacement of international trade. Empirical evidence indicates that countries subject to higher transport costs and with high levels of economic activity are indeed among the ones that import more 3D printers. Anecdotal evidence also supports the second and third predictions of the model. |
| Keywords: | 3D printing,FDI,trade,technological change,transport costs |
| JEL: | F10 F23 O33 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:262&r=tre |
| By: | Shaun Larcom; Ferdinand Rauch; Tim Willems |
| Abstract: | In February 2014, strikes by staff on London's underground network enabled a sizeable fraction of commuters to find better routes, according to research by Shaun Larcom, Ferdinand Rauch and Tim Willems. Many commuters were forced to experiment and around one in 20 stuck with their new routes after the strike was over. |
| Keywords: | experimentation, learning, optimization, rationality, search |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:455&r=tre |