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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Justin Tyndall (University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Department of Economics, University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization) |
| Abstract: | Traffic fatalities in the US have been rising among pedestrians even as they fall among motorists. Contemporaneously, the US has undergone a significant shift in consumer preferences for motor vehicles, with larger Sport Utility Vehicles comprising an increased market share. Larger vehicles may pose a risk to pedestrians, increasing the severity of collisions. I use data covering all fatal vehicle collisions in the US and exploit heterogeneity in changing vehicle fleets across metros for identification. Between 2000 and 2018, I estimate that replacing the growth in Sport Utility Vehicles with cars would have averted 1,100 pedestrian deaths. The largest Sport Utility Vehicles appear particularly culpable for pedestrian deaths. |
| Keywords: | Transportation; Safety; Health; Traffic Fatalities; Externalities |
| JEL: | I1 R41 R42 R48 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2020-4&r= |
| By: | Fabien Leurent (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - IFSTTAR - Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | Shared Scooter Services (S3) have been deployed in many cities to provide public transport to individual users on a free-floating basis. The article brings about an analytical traffic model for such service under ring shape, i.e. postulating there is a ring road along which the scooters are required to park and expected to be driven, in order to avoid detours and increase vehicle productivity as well as local availability to potential users. Opportunistic Riding is also postulated: on their way, every user takes the first available vehicle which they encounter. Also postulated are the homogeneity in both space and time. With respect to the ring circumference, the daily volume of potential trips, the statistical distributions of trip lengths, walk speeds an ride speeds, as well as the fleet size, operation period and transaction times, analytical formulas are provided for (i) access lengths and times, together with usage probability, (ii) ride lengths and times, (iii) vehicle occupation at the fleet level, (iv) the average number of available vehicles. Traffic equilibrium is shown to exist and to be unique. Its characteristic equation is recast as a fleet sizing rule according to demand volume and target access length, which stand respectively as the quantitative and qualitative service objectives. |
| Keywords: | shared mobility services,free-floating scooters,vehicle occupation,fleet sizing,stochastic model,traffic equilibrium |
| Date: | 2021–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03213262&r= |
| By: | Fabien Leurent (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - IFSTTAR - Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | Shared Scooter Services (S3) have been deployed in many cities to provide public transport to individual users on a free-floating basis. The article brings about an analytical traffic model for such service under ring shape, i.e. postulating there is a ring road along which the scooters are required to park and expected to be driven, in order to avoid detours and increase vehicle productivity as well as local availability to potential users. Prior booking is postulated, supposedly on a web app. Also postulated are the homogeneity in both space and time. With respect to the ring circumference, the daily volume of potential trips, the statistical distributions of trip lengths, walk speeds an ride speeds, as well as the fleet size, operation period and transaction times, analytical formulas are provided for (i) access lengths and times, together with usage probability, (ii) ride lengths and times, (iii) vehicle occupation at the fleet level, (iv) the average number of available vehicles. Traffic equilibrium is shown to exist and to be unique or bi-valued with one fluid state versus one congested state. Its characteristic equation is recast as a fleet sizing rule according to demand volume and target access length, which stand respectively as the quantitative and qualitative service objectives. |
| Keywords: | shared mobility services,free-floating scooters,vehicle occupation,fleet sizing,stochastic model,traffic equilibrium,prior booking |
| Date: | 2021–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03213292&r= |
| By: | Egger, Peter; Loumeau, Gabriel; Loumeau, Nicole |
| Abstract: | We document an unprecedented change in the size and the quality of China's transport-infrastructure network between 2000 and 2013. This documentation is based on hand-collected and digitized data on roads and railways. The changes are summarized and portrayed as shortest-possible transport times of people and goods between 330 prefectures of mainland China. A quantitative model of China's prefectures and a Rest of the World, featuring both goods trade and migration, suggests that the long-run consequences of the transport-infrastructure changes induce regional convergence of lagging-behind prefectures in terms of population density and, to a lesser extent, in terms of real per-capita income. Not only changes in highway and high-speed-railway networks but also ones in lower-level road and railway networks are quantitatively important. Key drivers behind the effects are the facilitation of goods transport as well as technology diffusion, while the reduction of mobility costs and the diffusion of amenities appear less important. |
| Keywords: | General-equilibrium models; migration; regional economics; structural estimation; Transport Infrastructure; Transportation problem |
| JEL: | F14 R13 R41 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15372&r= |
| By: | Bushnell, James; Muehlegger, Eric; Rapson, David |
| Abstract: | The operational costs of electric vehicles are lower than those of gas-powered vehicles. This advantage is often cited by manufacturers, advocates, and policy-makers as a significant benefit of driving electric vehicles. Yet, the question of how consumers value operational costs when purchasing an electric vehicle is largely unexplored. While prior research has suggested that gasoline prices are an important factor for conventional vehicle buyers, consumers may not have the same awareness of electricity prices as they do for salient gasoline prices. The question of whether consumers accurately assess the costs and benefits of using electricity as a transportation fuel has important implications for electric vehicle adoption and for achieving deep decarbonization of the transportation sector through electrification. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2021–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt5f80503b&r= |
| By: | Waetjen, David; Shilling, Fraser |
| Abstract: | Accurate data on crashes and other traffic incidents are critical for analyzing the rates, costs, and causes of crashes, and for evaluating the effects of safety policies and engineering solutions. There are two official sources of data on traffic incidents in California: 1) the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS),1 managed by the California Highway Patrol (CHP), which includes post-processed data on traffic incidents leading to human injury or death; and 2) Caltrans’ Performance Measurement System (PeMS),2 which includes data on traffic incidents as well as traffic counts, lane closures, and other information. Both databases draw from CHP incident reports that describe the location, conditions, and other important details and observations surrounding each incident. Traffic safety researchers rely heavily on both databases, but each has limitations. PeMS data are limited to state highways. Incident data can take months to appear in SWITRS and may omit crucial information. |
| Keywords: | Engineering |
| Date: | 2021–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt6027909j&r= |
| By: | Blanco, Magdalena; Cabrera, Jose Maria; Carozzi, Felipe; Cid, Alejandro |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of mandatory motorcycle helmet use laws on the severity and volume of road accidents in Uruguay by exploiting a change in the enforcement of the traffic law. Using event-study, differences-in-difference and synthetic control methods, we report a sharp increase in helmet use and a 40 percent reduction in the incidence of serious or fatal motorcyclist accidents as a result of the change in enforcement. The change translates into an increase in minor injuries, indicating a shift in the distribution of accident severity. We find no evidence of other behavioral responses in terms of either the volume or type of accidents. We show that additional costs of enforcement for the relevant government agencies were negligible and estimate the health benefits of the policy. |
| Keywords: | Helmet Use; law enforcement; Traffic Accidents |
| JEL: | H89 I12 I18 R41 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15501&r= |
| By: | Lüth, Hendrik (Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | In this study the impact of car scrappage schemes is reassessed and disentangled for six OECD countries, namely Japan, Germany, South Korea, the Slovak Republic, the United Kingdom and the United States, following a rather novel empirical approach, the Synthetic Control Method using Time Series (SCMT). Scrappage schemes were implemented in many countries in response to the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and were hotly debated among economists and policymakers, as many disagreed about the sustainability of the programs’ effects. With the use of the synthesized control units constructed transparently with SCMT, the effects of car scrappage schemes on vehicle registrations can be observed and calculated over time. Results suggest that despite scrapping subsidies induced some intertemporal substitution, net effects on car registrations remained positive in all investigated countries with the notable exception of the United Kingdom, where additional sales were completely crowded out by subsequent consumer reticence. |
| Keywords: | synthetic control method; scrappage schemes; automotive industry; intertemporal substitution; SCMT; pull-forward effects |
| JEL: | L52 L62 |
| Date: | 2021–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:vhsuwp:2021_190&r= |
| By: | Edward L. Glaeser |
| Abstract: | The downsides of density, including traffic congestion, contagious disease and crime, were common in Victorian London and classical Rome, just as they are today in Sao Paulo and Lagos. Our urban past provides lessons for developing world cities today. The first lesson, that I highlight, is that political power, not commerce, has long driven the growth of the world’s largest cities, and that fact remains true for many developing world mega-cities today. The second lesson is that while market access fundamentally shaped the cities of the past, the power of transport to determine urban fortunes has declined. Transportation infrastructure no longer transforms cities unless it is accompanied by complementary investments, such as education. The third lesson is that infrastructure, such as sewers and roads, functions best when combined with incentives, which can ensure the adoption of sewers and discourage the abuse of highways. The fourth lesson is that the development of many western cities relied on a nexus of property rights for landowners, including the right to build, buy, alienate, mortgage and rent, that are far more limited in many developing world cities. The fifth lesson is that there is a menu of institutions for managing infrastructure, including direct public control, independent public authorities and public private partnerships. Local conditions, especially the level of public capacity, will determine the best choice among those institutions. |
| JEL: | N90 O18 R00 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28814&r= |
| By: | Vanden Eynde, Oliver; Wren-Lewis, Liam |
| Abstract: | Complementarities between infrastructure projects have been understudied. Our paper examines interactions in the impacts of large-scale road construction, electrification, and mobile phone coverage programs in rural India. We find strong evidence of complementary impacts between roads and electricity on agricultural production: dry season cropping increases significantly when villages receive both, but not when they receive one without the other. These complementarities are associated with a shift of cropping patterns towards market crops and with improved economic conditions. In contrast, we find no consistent evidence of complementarities for the mobile coverage program. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure, India, Complementarities, Roads, Mobile phone |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2104&r= |
| By: | Shiqin Liu; Carl Higgs; Jonathan Arundel; Geoff Boeing; Nicholas Cerdera; David Moctezuma; Ester Cerin; Deepti Adlakha; Melanie Lowe; Billie Giles-Corti |
| Abstract: | Pedestrian accessibility is an important factor in urban transport and land use policy and critical for creating healthy, sustainable cities. Developing and evaluating indicators measuring inequalities in pedestrian accessibility can help planners and policymakers benchmark and monitor the progress of city planning interventions. However, measuring and assessing indicators of urban design and transport features at high resolution worldwide to enable city comparisons is challenging due to limited availability of official, high quality, and comparable spatial data, as well as spatial analysis tools offering customizable frameworks for indicator construction and analysis. To address these challenges, this study develops an open source software framework to construct pedestrian accessibility indicators for cities using open and consistent data. It presents a generalized method to consistently measure pedestrian accessibility at high resolution and spatially aggregated scale, to allow for both within- and between-city analyses. The open source and open data methods developed in this study can be extended to other cities worldwide to support local planning and policymaking. The software is made publicly available for reuse in an open repository. |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2105.08814&r= |