bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Foldable Containers: a New Perspective on Reducing Container-Repositioning Costs
Authors: Konings Rob , Thijs Remmelt
Published: November 2023

There is little doubt that the requirement to reposition empty containers is one of the more persistent problems in the container transport industry, and is a key factor in cutting operating costs. Empty container transport involves high costs, particularly for shipping lines, since they generally bear these container management costs. Not surprisingly, shipping lines try to reduce the costs of moving empty containers as much as they can. Most strategies are focussed on improving the instruments to match cargo with empty containers. However, due to trade imbalances transport movements of empty containers remain to some extent unavoidable. Therefore, foldable containers seem an attractive option from the point of view of saving transport costs as well as handling and storage costs. So far, however, these containers have not been introduced successfully. In this paper we analyse why previous initiatives for foldable containers failed and discuss the conditions required for successful commercial applications. Although the economic advantages of foldable containers seem evident, we explain that these types of boxes have to cope with scepticism about technical performance, the complexity of the folding and unfolding process in particular, as well as logistical and organisational problems with using foldable containers.
European Perspectives
Authors: Stead Dominic
Published: November 2023

This new regular section looks at emerging issues with a definite pan-European focus and high significance for transport and/or infrastructure research. Three general inter-related themes will be examined in the new section – policy , practice and research . The connections between these themes will also be the focus of the section. Sometimes the section will primarily address one of these themes and at other times it will address two or all three of the themes. The policy theme will include recent developments in European transport policy and also recent developments in environmental, regional development and economic policy where there are specific implications for transport. The practice theme will include issues such as European benchmarking and pilot projects as well as recent developments in different transport industries across Europe (shipping, aviation and rail for example) and prospects for the future. The research theme will include topics such as recent developments in European research priorities and funding opportunities for transport and/or infrastructure research.
Book Review
Authors: Orfeuil Jean-Pierre
Published: November 2023

This book is based on the Eighth meeting of the International Association for Travel Behavior Research, held in Austin, Texas, in September 1997. IATBR is an active and joined together community2 focused on the improvement of methods aimed at measuring, representing, modelling and forecasting travel behaviour. This community developed in the seventies in reaction to aggregate models and their caveats. In that period, an impetus has been given in three directions: disaggregate approaches, with the project to capture the essence of individual rationality through more and more sophiticated models based on revealed or stated preferences; activity-based approaches, which have clearly demonstrated that analysing travel demand needs to go from trip-based approaches to tour-based and day-based approaches and put on the agenda such questions as the interrelations among persons (of a common household), the need to consider in-home as well as out-of-home activities and to improve dramatically the methods of data collection and mobility measurement; dynamic approaches, with a central message that the focus of the analysis should shift from the state of behaviour to changes in behaviour, with a specific attention to the speed of adjustments; If the three of them have now joined the same community, the book deals only at the margin with the second direction, the dynamic approach, even though a section is devoted to very short term behavioural response in the framework of ITS developments. This association acts as a home for dissemination and cross fertilization of ideas produced in the field of travel behavior by such disciplines as economics, psychology, sociology, urban planning, geography and transport engineeering. This position ‘across the boundary lines’ is reflected in the diversity of the areas of interest. Reviewing a six-hundred page, twenty-eight chapter book is always a hard task, not only because choosing between themes and authors is difficult and necessarily unfair, but because the book may also have different audiences, with different interests. Let’s consider, in that respect, what this book is not, and what this book is dealing with.
Automobility among the Elderly
Authors: Rosenbloom Sandra , Ståh Agneta
Published: November 2023

The paper describes the aging of the population in developed countries on several continents, the growing automobility of the elderly, the significant environmental, safety, mobility, and community design and land use implications of that automobility, and the implications for research and policy analyses.
Agent Behaviour Issues Arising with Urban System Micro-Simulation
Authors: Hunt J.D.
Published: November 2023

A large co-ordinated program of work is underway exploring techniques for integrated land use transport modelling, including elements of agent-based micro-simulation. The intention is to demonstrate the practical viability of these techniques and help provide guidance in their further development and use in policy analysis considering transport policy and the impacts of transport on society. This has given rise to a number of questions about the nature of the behaviour of the agents being considered (including people, households, business establishments and developers) and about potential methods for implementing practical representations of this behaviour. This paper describes the modelling system and techniques being considered, and sets out some of the questions about behaviour and its representation that have arisen together with some of the more promising ideas and approaches being considered for addressing these questions.
Effects of Anticipatory Control with Multiple User Classes
Authors: Taale Henk , van Zuylen Henk
Published: November 2023

In this paper the integrated traffic control and traffic assignment problem is studied. This problem can be considered as a non-cooperative game in which the traffic authority, that controls the traffic signals, and the road users are the players, who use their own strategy and seek their own optimum. The game theoretical formulation leads to several different control strategies in which users’ reactions to traffic control decisions are taken into account. Users’ reactions can be the choice of route, departure time or even mode, but here only route choice is considered.

In this paper some of these control strategies for traffic signal control are described: Webster control, Smith’s P , Anticipatory Control and System Optimum Control. The first two control strategies are well known and described in the literature. The anticipatory control strategy can be formulated as a bi-level optimisation problem and this problem is solved using genetic algorithms. Also the system optimum solution can be found using genetic algorithms, simultaneously optimising route flows and green times.

In the paper the assignment method, together with the traffic model, is formulated. In the assignment several user classes, each with its own perception of route costs, are defined and taken into account. For several simple example networks the traffic control methods are tested and it is shown that taking route choice into account is beneficial to the network performance. Further research will focus on the improvement of the traffic model used in the control optimisation, realistic networks and the problem of departure time choice.
Land-Use and Transport
Authors: Van Wee Bert , Maat Kees
Published: November 2023

Numerous studies of the interaction between land use and transport have been carried out in the past. In this paper we evaluate a selection of Dutch studies. Before reviewing the studies, we present a conceptual model for passenger transport (section 2), give an overview of the way in which land-use influences travel behaviour (section 3). We also give an overview of transport in Dutch land-use policy plans (section 4) and a categorisation of research (section 5). We then review empirical studies (section 6) and model-simulation studies (section 7) of the impact of land-use on transport. This is followed by a synthesis of the results and look at the transferability of results to other countries (section 8), a discussion of the policy implications of our findings (section 9) and some suggestions for further research (section 10).
Valuing a Road Network Improvement using Stated Preferences Methods
Authors: Bengochea Morancho Aurelia , del Saz Salazar Salvador
Published: November 2023

In this paper we address, from a double perspective, the social valuation of transport improvements caused by the construction of a new motorway. First, we estimate the value citizens confer on this infrastructure as a whole. Second, we assess the time savings and the reduction in the risk of accidents the new motorway might be expected to bring about in relation to roads used at the moment. To do this, we use two approaches based on individuals’ stated preferences: the contingent valuation method and conjoint analysis. The results show the social benefits of this project to be positive, although to what extent depends on initial assumptions. The information provided in this study will be useful to public managers since it can be incorporated in a cost-benefit analysis on the social profitability of this public investment.
Land-Use and Travel Behaviour. A Survey of Some Analysis and Policy Perspectives
Authors: Lundqvist Lars
Published: November 2023

This paper discusses interactions between land-use and travel behaviour in the light of recent developments on the policy arena, in particular the increasing emphasis on sustainable development of urban and regional systems. Schemes for integrated analyses of land-use and transport and for comparing urban structures in terms of land-use dispersion and travel behaviour are presented. The new national transport policy of Sweden has a strong emphasis on environmental and safety objectives. However, increasing vehicle kilometres of travel (VKT) and decreasing transit shares are characteristic for the projected development of Stockholm until the year 2030. Only very drastic integrated policies can reduce VKT to a level consistent with long-term environmental targets. Land-use policies play a small role in this context. A transit-oriented settlement structure on the sub-regional scale tends to be more important than increased density on the regional scale. Compact cities and local jobhousing balance may provide the potential for sustainable transport behaviour, but other policies and strong incentives are needed to reverse current urban development trends. With current trends other urban forms (e.g. “decentralised concentration” or “corridor development”) are likely to be more efficient in terms of VKT.
Book Review: Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and Peter J. Goldrick: Shopping Choices with Public Transport Options
Authors: Timmermans Harry
Published: November 2023

This book has been motivated by the observation that by and large studies of spatial shopping behaviour have not taken into account transport mode, while most transport studies ignored the attributes of shopping centres. The study, described in this book represents an attempt to bridge this gap. To that effect, the authors try to identify and analyse the importance of different factors, which are taken into account by shoppers in their shopping centre choice in regions with a wide choice of public transport. In addition, they analyse shoppers' perceptions of transport modes in the context of shopping trips. They start however with a review of trends of retail decentralisation and transport planning.
EU Task Force on Rail Infrastructure Charging. Summary Findings on Best Practice in Marginal Cost Pricing
Authors: Thomas John , Dionori Francesco , Foster Adrian
Published: November 2023

This paper sets out alternative best practice approaches to marginal cost pricing of rail infrastructure adopted in a number of EU Member States. It draws on the findings of a report submitted to the European Commission in June 2002 and provides a summary of two different approaches to the adoption of marginal cost pricing. The Swedish/Finnish approach uses econometric modelling to estimate marginal wear and tear costs whereas the UK model first provides a top-down estimate of the aggregate level of variable costs across the network and then uses relationships between vehicle characteristics and wear and tear costs to allocate the aggregate level of variable costs across vehicle types. Significant differences between countries are found in the variability of infrastructure wear and tear costs to levels of traffic. The resulting derived marginal cost also differ widely. The paper provides possible reasons for these differences but recognises that the understanding of the interface between wheel and rail and hence knowledge of cost causation remains fairly limited. The findings of the paper therefore need to be read in the context of further research being required into railway infrastructure cost causation.
Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST)
Authors: Wiederkehr Peter , Gilbert Richard , Crist Philippe , Caïd Nadia
Published: November 2023

OECD countries recognized in the mid-1990s that transport trends were not sustainable and that existing policy frameworks seemed unlikely to be able to move society towards more sustainable transport systems. A new approach to transport policy was required that would be consistent with the broad definition of sustainable development. To this end, the project on Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) was initiated to give some precision to the concept of EST through the use of criteria that have environmental significance and can be quantified. A method known as ‘backcasting’ was used to develop policies and strategies for achieving a desired future state through targeted action. This paper summarizes the results of the project, which involved twelve OECD countries that undertook case studies at local, regional, national and international scales.

The project concluded that some 40 per cent of the effort necessary to meet the EST criteria will come from technology and 60 per cent from demand-side management and a shift towards more sustainable transport modes. EST is attainable, but only if a broad range of instruments is deployed. These include regulations and standards, fiscal measures, changes in governance arrangements, and education, the provision of information, awareness raising, and attitude change, all assembled into coherent packages of instruments applied with careful consideration to phasing.
Backcasting as a Tool for Sustainable Transport Policy Making
Authors: Geurs Karst , van Wee Bert
Published: November 2023

This paper describes the backcasting approach used in the OECD’s Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Study, in which several countries participated. The backcasting approach can be seen as an innovative tool for policy making, which aims at generating alternative images of the future. These images have been thoroughly analysed as to their feasibility, consequences and policy implications. Here, results and implications for backcasting shown in the Netherlands case study are highlighted and conclusions drawn that EST criteria will only be attainable if a substantial increase in development of technology and stringent behavioural adaptations, with changes in economic structures at an international level, are assumed. If EST is to be realised, measures will have to be taken and instruments will have to be implemented in the short term. Timely implementation will probably mean a necessary radical change in the current Dutch policy ‘life cycle’.
Book Review
Authors: Button Kenneth
Published: November 2023

Academic interest in transport economics waxes and wanes. It was initiated (at least in its modern form) in France in the 1840s and 1850s to handle issues of investment and pricing of transport infrastructure. The advent of the railways raised challenges of monopoly power, regulation and, in some countries, appropriate ownership. The internal combustion engine brought with it initially economic questions associated with traffic congestion and more recently concerns with environmental degradation. Regulation issues returned to the forefront from the 1980s as new approaches to economic regulation emerged and as there was increased interest in making fuller use of market instruments. Overlapping this, the globalization of trade and the formation of trade blocks such as the European Union has led to a more detailed look at the role transportation plays in the economic development process.
Land-use/transport Interaction Models as Tools for Sustainability Impact Assessment of Transport Investments
Authors: Geurs Karst T. , van Wee Bert
Published: November 2023

Interest in the appraisal of the sustainability impacts of transport policies has grown the last few years, expressing the need for a balanced treatment of economic, environmental and social impacts. This paper represents a first step in creating a framework for Sustainability Impact Assessments; it will also review operational land-use/transport interaction models as assessment tools. An in-depth analysis of the potential impacts of land-use and transport policies, and scenarios, on the economy, society and the environment will present new challenges to land-use/transport interaction models. The first challenge is related to modelling behaviour: i.e. the model should estimate land-use, transport and accessibility impacts in a theoretically sound and consonant manner, and consistently link the full set of (long-term) land-use and (short-term) travel-behavioural responses to these policies. The second challenge is to improve methodologies to (better) include the wider (macro-)economic effects and the passive values. The third challenge is to generate more knowledge for understanding ecological and social impacts, and for the development of related indicators and methodologies to calculate them. A fourth, and final, challenge is related to the presentation and integration of the sustainability impacts, not only including the economic, ecological and social impacts, but also finding the ‘right’ balance between them. Although recent model developments facilitate a far more comprehensive analysis than is common practice today, there is certainly a need for theoretical and practical research for conducting Sustainability Impact Assessments of land use and transport policies and scenarios.
Table of Contents
Authors: _ _
Published: November 2023

Table of Contents
Behavioural effects of Advanced Cruise Control Use
Authors: Dragutinovic N. , Brookhuis Karel A. , Hagenzieker Marjan P. , Marchau Vincent A.W.J.
Published: November 2023

In this study, a meta-analytic approach was used to analyse effects of Advanced Cruise Control (ACC) on driving behaviour reported in seven driving simulator studies. The effects of ACC on three consistent outcome measures, namely, driving speed, headway and driver workload have been analysed. The indicators of speed, headway and workload have been chosen because they are assumed to be directly affected by the ACC support, their relationship with road safety is reasonably established and they are the most frequently used outcome measures in the sample of analysed studies.

The results suggest that different operational settings of ACC that are important for the level of support provided by the system, are significant for the effects ACC have on various aspects of driving behaviour, i.e. on mean driving speed and mean time headway. The obtained effect sizes clustered in two groups, with more intervening ACCs having the effects of an increased driving speed and decreased mean time headway.

These results are further discussed in the context of road safety, especially in the context of behavioural adaptation.
Transatlantic Transport Research
Authors: Black William R , Nijkamp Peter , Reggiani Aura
Published: November 2023

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.
Freight Transport, Seamlessness, and Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy
Authors: Capineri Cristina , Leinbach Thomas R.
Published: November 2023

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.
ICT Innovation and Sustainability of the Transport Sector
Authors: Black William R. , van Geenhuizen Marina
Published: November 2023

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.
Port competition and selection in contestable hinterlands; the case of Austria
Authors: Langen Peter W. De
Published: November 2023

This paper deals with port competition and port selection for cargo to/from Austria. Austria is located centrally in Europe and seaports in at least five countries are used for imports and exports. Changes of market shares over time of different ports serving Austria are analysed. Switching of cargo between ports does take place, but friction prevents instantaneous switching. Consequently, it took a decade for the new potential of inland shipping to Austria, resulting from the opening of the Rhine-Main-Donau canal, was fully realised. A survey was held to analyse port choice decisions of two types of decision makers: shippers and forwarders. These results show shippers and forwarders have similar views on port selection, but shippers have a less price-elastic demand.
Book Review David A. Hensher and Kenneth J. Button (eds.) Handbook of Transport and the Environment
Authors: Givoni Moshe
Published: November 2023

Nowadays, any transport policy which does not account for its environmental implications should be considered inappropriate. Therefore any decision making regarding the transport system must reflect and consider the likely environmental consequences it might have. Moreover, many changes to the transport system are nowadays proposed not to improve transport operation but to reduce its environmental impact. In these settings, the Handbook of Transport and the Environment brings together the up-to-date knowledge we have on the interrelationship between transport and the environment. The word Environment is used here in its broader sense although naturally the focus is more on the core problems of climate change and air pollution.
Reply: Prof. Karel Brookhuis
Authors: Brookhuis Karel
Published: November 2023

Fast Transport on Request (FTR) is proposed in the Netherlands as an alternative relief, if not a real solution, to the strongly rising parking and congestions problems that this small country faces. The private car is steadfast favourite, however, and will be so in the (near) future, ceteris paribus (Steg, 1996, SCP, 2005). There is no ground to embrace the view that without particular, drastic changes a dramatic “modal shift” from car to Public Transport (PT) will occur. Within the category PT the bus is inferior to the train as far as comfort perception and travel preferences are concerned (Steg, 1996, 2003). FTR is not presented as a bus, but still… at first sight FTR seems not to be the remedy, yet, at least not without degrading the private car as a mode of transport.
The European Green Paper on Urban Mobility
Authors: Stead Dominic
Published: November 2023

The 2006 mid-term review of the European Transport White Paper heralded plans for a new European Green Paper on Urban Transport in order to “identify potential European added value to action at local level” (CEC, 2006: p14).1 After a 5-month consultation process between January and June 2007 with European, national, regional and local stakeholders, the Green Paper on Urban Transport was published in September 2007 (CEC, 2007). The result is a document which sets out a series of questions and issues, rather than any new policy instruments or solutions. It provides little clarity about the precise future role of the European Union in urban mobility policy, and the potential European added value.
Bus Priority on Roads Carrying Heterogeneous Traffic: a Study using Computer Simulation
Authors: Arasan Venkatachalam Thamizh , Vedagiri Perumal
Published: November 2023

The desirable goal in passenger transportation is moving more people in fewer vehicles. This goal, in respect of road transport, can be attained by encouraging public transport modes like buses by assigning priority. This paper is concerned with application of micro simulation technique to study the impact of provision of reserved bus lanes on the flow of highly heterogeneous traffic on urban roads. The specific objectives of this paper are (i) to modify and validate a newly developed model of heterogeneous traffic flow using field observed data and (ii) to apply the validated simulation model to study the impact of exclusive bus lanes introduced on urban arterials for a wide range of traffic volume levels. The impact of introduction of an exclusive bus lane is measured in terms of the reduction in speed of other categories of motor vehicles, due to the consequent reduction in road space, over a wide range of traffic volume. The main finding of this paper is, that if an exclusive bus lane is provided under highly heterogeneous traffic conditions,(prevailing in Indian cities), then, the maximum permissible volume to capacity ratio that will ensure a level of service of C for the traffic stream comprising all the motor vehicles, except the buses, is about 0.53.
Slot allocation and use at hub airports, perspectives for secondary trading
Authors: Wit Jaap De , Burghouwt Guillaume
Published: November 2023

The growing excess demand for airport capacity makes an efficient use of capacity at congested airports in Europe in increasingly urgent issue. The key question addressed here focuses on the perspectives for a more efficient use of existing airport capacity through various market based options, especially with regard to hub airports in Europe. To that end the following steps are taken. First, the existing allocation system for scarce airport capacity is described and the inefficiencies in the system are identified. More efficient market based approaches are introduced, ranging from congestion pricing to primary slot auctioning and secondary slot trading. The exemption of the ‘grey’ slot trading market in London is explained. Thereafter, we describe the controversy between the two objectives of slot allocation, i.e. efficient use of slots in the upstream market and sufficient competition in the downstream air transport markets. The substantially different approaches chosen by the US and the EU with respect to preferred market based slot allocation options is analysed in this context of conflicting objectives. We also take account of the Commission’s decision to tolerate slot trading at coordinated airports in Europe. Finally, we discuss the impact of secondary slot trading at hub airports in Europe. We confront the slot trading approach with the hubbing system operated at major congested airports in Europe. Since hubbing results in a daily sequence of peak and off-peak periods, the use of hub airport capacity is inefficient, especially during periods of idle capacity. Finally, we address whether slot trading will improve an efficient use of hub airport capacity and if so, how will the hubbing system adapt to these new conditions. We will use Amsterdam Airport as an example.
Book Review: Priemus, H., Flyvbjerg, B. and Van Wee, B. (eds.) Decision-Making on Mega-Projects – Cost-Benefit Analysis, Planning and Innovation
Authors: Nijkamp Peter
Published: November 2023

Mega-projects take place in many domains of public policy. Examples are airports, artificial islands, new underground systems, river front developments, new motorways or railways, and so forth. Such mega-projects are not only characterized by large sums of (often public) money spent, but also by complexity, uncertainty, long duration, spatial spillovers and multiple actors or stakeholders. A particularly intriguing feature of mega-projects is that normally the actual costs are far higher than the anticipated or estimated costs. This creates always some suspicion on the solidity of the planning and implementation of such projects, in particular because it is at the end the taxpayer who is the victim.
Book review: Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl (2008) Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil
Authors: Banister David
Published: November 2023

Having read this book, one is left with a feeling that the important issues raised should have been at the forefront of policy debates for many decades, not just now. The basic argument is that transport must move away from its almost complete dependence of oil to alternative energy sources. Transport consumes nearly 60% of all oil (2005), and it is in a very vulnerable position as it is dependent on this one source, a potentially unstable set of supply conditions, volatile prices, and substantial increases in demand. This is not a good business strategy, and the risks and uncertainties seem to have grown substantially in the last two years with oil prices rising by nearly three times to around $150 per barrel.
Liberalisation of Rail Freight Markets in the Old and New EU-Member States
Authors: Ludvigsen Johanna , Osland Oddgeir
Published: November 2023

This article examines whether the European Commission succeeded in reducing the negative socio-environmental externalities of road transport in Northern, Central and South-eastern Europe by introducing the First Infrastructure Package and Interoperability Directive that opened rail freight markets to competition. Using results from the EC-sponsored REORIENT project, the article searches for causal links between the completeness of legislative adherence and the occurrence of market rivalry. In so doing, it draws on the New Public Management (NPM) theorem which provided conceptual underpinnings for liberalisation policy and the notion of path-dependency warning that effectiveness of any public policy is contingent on the features of its implementation context. The article contrasts the adoption of rail deregulation directives by the old and rich EU-states in the Nordic region with the newly liberated, more recent EU-members in Central and South-eastern Europe in order to expose how the political, economic and cultural features of these countries affected the quality of legislative compliance and market rivalry. This method unearthed a clearly polarised picture of inter-country compliance and competition pattern. Norway, Sweden and Finland exhibit high levels of legal adherence without however, much intra-rail competition. Cut-off from the government subsidies, these countries’ state railways compete today with road operators, without however facing much rivalry from truckers. On the other hand, the new EU-members still lag on legislative conformance, but their licensing authorities granted operating permits to quite many private entrants. These carriers compete fiercely with the national incumbents, but the rail service quality they provide does not as yet threaten the dominance of truck in national freight transport. As a result, no inter-modal competition exists there. These findings indicate that liberalisation of rail freight market has not as yet reduced the road-rail imbalance in European freight markets nor curbed the negative socio-environmental externalities associated with motorised transport. Methodologically, this article exposed the analytical shortcoming of the NPM theorem and the strong empirical relevance of the path-dependency hypothesis.
Preliminary Monetary Values for the Reliability of Travel Times in Freight Transport
Authors: Jong Gerard De , Kouwenhoven Marco , Kroes Eric , Rietveld Piet , Warffemius Pim
Published: November 2023

In The Netherlands, major infrastructure projects are assessed using cost-benefit analysis, following official guidelines. Until recently, the reliability of travel times could not be included in the cost-benefit analysis, because the corresponding monetary valuation was unknown. In recent years, the literature on valuing reliability of travel times was reviewed for the Dutch transport ministry. The outcomes of this were discussed at an expert workshop, which led to an agreement on preliminary monetary values for passenger transport. A key concept is that of the reliability ratio. This is defined as the value of reliability (measured as the standard deviation of travel time) divided by the value of travel time itself. For freight transport a follow-up study was carried out, which transforms the results of earlier stated preference research into a reliability ratio. The paper presents and explains the preliminary values, focussing on the derivation of reliability values for freight transport. It also describes how these values can be used in practical project evaluations.
Overcoming Financial Barriers
Authors: Binsted Anne , Paulley Neil
Published: November 2023

The funding process and the availability of both revenue and capital funding can create a barrier to the effective design, implementation and maintenance of sustainable transport and land-use schemes. The DISTILLATE Funding Project therefore sought to identify the nature of these barriers, how they are being experienced by local authorities, and the ways in which they could be overcome. This paper provides an overview of the findings of this project. The methodological approach included a series of consultations with transport practitioners and their counterparts in public health, environmental strategy, land-use planning and corporate policy units, three literature reviews, semi-structured telephone interviews with transport practitioners, two workshops and continual engagement with five case-study partners. The results of these research activities have been encapsulated within a Funding Toolkit, which has been designed to enable significant improvements in the way in which local authorities can manage, and overcome, funding barriers. Other research products include a guidance note for the funders of transport schemes, which provides stakeholders with an overview of the barriers faced by local authorities and recommendations about how they can be alleviated. This paper gives an overview of the research findings and details the role that both local authorities and the funders of transport and land use schemes can play in alleviating the impact of funding barriers.
Improved Partnership Working for Local Authority Transport Planning
Authors: Forrester John
Published: November 2023

Diverse perspectives need to be brought together to facilitate the organisational delivery of more sustainable transport plans and policies. This necessitates close-working partnerships and good cross-sector learning. This paper looks at the rationales for design of, and anticipated roles for, two tools to assist this process: one a guide to cross-sector and intra-organisational partnership working written specifically for local authority transport practitioners; and the other an online framework within which practitioners can better identify and utilise other products from the research programme. Whilst grounded in UK research and experience, the lessons learned are generic to the European context. The paper also investigates the success of DISTILLATE’s own interdisciplinary approach and relates this to the literature, in particularly to the idea of ‘double loop learning’ by which individuals and organisations (research and practitioner) can acquire the new knowledge necessary to make the step-change towards more sustainable transport systems and practices. This is followed by a discussion of the implications of this for supporting decision-making more widely in the field of transport and infrastructure.
Space-Time Prism Vertices: Exploring Gender Differences and Multiple-Peak Distributions in Arrival and Departure Times
Authors: Soo Joyce
Published: November 2023

This paper investigates gender differences in the origin and terminal vertices of the time-space prism. Using the stochastic frontier method, separate models are constructed for females and males, based on data extracted from activity/travel diaries collected in The Netherlands. As activity patterns become more diverse, multiple peak distributions in arrival or departure times may be observed, to which the stochastic frontier method cannot be applied without violating its assumptions. By disentangling the multiple peak distributions, we demonstrate how this may be circumvented. The results indicate that the factors relating to the male and female prism vertices are not the same and are not in the same order of importance. The results are also discussed in relation to accessibility, further research directions and Dutch policies on gender equality.
Prospect Theory and Choice Behaviour Strategies: Review and Synthesis of Concepts from Social and Transport sciences
Authors: Kaa Evert Jan Van De
Published: November 2023

Utility Theory is commonly considered as the most useful descriptive theory of human choice behaviour. Alternative concepts are only incidentally considered. This paper reviews alternative assumptions and empirical findings about human choice behaviour. To facilitate comparison and synthesis the review starts with the proposal of a generic framework of choice behaviour. The micro-economic assumptions of Utility Theory and Prospect Theory are then mapped onto this framework. These are compared with each other and other assumptions against the background of theoretical and empirical findings from behavioural economics, several other social disciplines and transport sciences. An extension of Prospect Theory with assumptions about the valuation of attributes and the employment of different decision rules yields a functional concept of choice behaviour that is able to describe most of the reviewed empirical findings to a larger extent than Utility Theory.
Sign-dependent Value of Time in Stated Preference: Judgment Bias or Exposure of Genuine Preference?
Authors: Kaa Evert Jan Van De
Published: November 2023

Stated choice surveys may be the most common approach to obtain monetary values of travel time. The large surveys of 1988 and 1997 in the Netherlands and of 1994 in the United Kingdom produced some puzzling outcomes, such as differences in monetary valuation between travel time gains and losses. This has given rise to controversies about the behaviour that might have caused this ‘sign effect’, which are not decisively settled. This paper shows that Prospect Theory and the heuristic judgment concept as developed in behavioural sciences can shed more light on these controversies2. It starts with an introduction of some basic principles of these lines of work before re-examining the Dutch and UK surveys from these points of view. It is concluded that the sign effect is not caused by biases that stem from heuristic judgment but follows from lossaversive valuation of time and money attributes as assumed in Prospect Theory.
On the (Ir)relevance of Prospect Theory in Modelling Uncertainty in Travel Decisions
Authors: Timmermans Harry
Published: November 2023

This paper reflects on the relevance of prospect theory for transportation research. By discussing the original purpose and context of this theory of risky choice and the models that have been derived from the theory, the shortcomings and boundaries of the theory are discussed. It is argued that many applications in transportation and travel behaviour research may have stretched the domain of this theory too much, and that the theory lacks the necessary set of mechanisms and concepts to serve as a comprehensive theory of repeated travel choices under uncertainty. The discussion of shortcomings may serve to define a research agenda for further developing operational choice models.
Going soft: on how Subjective Variables Explain Modal Choices for Leisure Travel
Authors: Acker Veronique Van , Mokhtarian Patricia L. , Witlox Frank
Published: November 2023

Most studies on the link between the built environment and modal choice characterize and model this relationship by objectively measureable characteristics such as density and diversity. Recently, within the debate on residential self-selection, attention has also been paid to the importance of subjective influences such as the individual’s perception of the built environment and his/her residential attitudes and preferences, resulting in models that take account of both the objective and subjective characteristics of the built environment. However, self-selection might occur on other points than residential location as well. Expanding the analysis to also include both objective and subjective characteristics at other model levels (i.e., not only stage of life characteristics but also personal lifestyles; not only car availability but also travel attitudes, not only modal choice but also mode specific attitudes) is the purpose of this paper. To this end, a modal choice model for leisure trips is developed using data on personal lifestyles and attitudes, collected via an Internet survey, and estimated using a path model consisting of a set of simultaneously estimated equations between observed variables. While controlling for subjective lifestyles and attitudes, the effects of the built environment and car availability on modal choice can more correctly be determined and thus insights into self-selection mechanisms can be gained. Moreover, we compared the results of a model with and without these subjective influences. The results show that subjective characteristics at various model levels are important decisive factors of modal choices for leisure travel.
Efficiency Comparison of Various Parking Charge Schemes Considering Daily Travel Cost in a Linear City
Authors: Zhang Xiaoning , Wee Bert Van
Published: November 2023

In this paper, we introduce a new duration dependent parking fee regime based on the travel cost for an entire day, rather than a single commute trip. Commuters are assumed to reside at one end of a linear city and work in a business center at the other end. A two-stage differential method is used to derive user equilibrium travel patterns for both morning and evening rush hour commutes. Both individual travel cost and system travel cost are derived as functions of travel demand. We then compare the efficiency of the duration dependent parking fee regime with that of three previously proposed pricing regimes in the context of elastic travel demand. Results show that a pricing regime with both time-varying road tolls and location dependent parking fees is most efficient, followed by a regime with time-varying road tolls alone. Depending on the parking fee rate, a uniform duration-based parking fee regime may or may not be more efficient than a no-pricing regime. Under the duration dependent parking fee regime, an optimal parking fee rate can be obtained by minimizing system cost or maximizing social surplus, which gives rise to a system-wide performance no worse than that in the no-pricing regime.
Voluntary Carbon Offsets a Solution for Reducing Tourism Emissions? Assessment of Communication Aspects and Mitigation Potential
Authors: Eijgelaar Eke
Published: November 2023

Contrary to most sectors, to date the tourism and aviation industries have not managed to level off greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, effective mitigation through technological innovation or structural and behavioural change cannot be expected shortly. Airlines and tourism companies appear to use carbon offsetting as a last resort. However, offsetting is generally acknowledged as a second-best solution for mitigating emissions, after reducing energy use. This paper seeks to determine the mitigation potential of voluntary carbon offsetting by comparing public and industry awareness of climate change and aviation emissions, and attitudes to various mitigation measures with relevant online communication by 64 offset providers. Methods were a literature review and online content analyses. Overall, the gaps that were identified between awareness, attitude and actual behaviour are not bridged by provider communication. From this perspective, the mitigation potential of voluntary carbon offsetting for achieving reductions of tourism transport emissions is estimated as low. The same conclusion is reached by comparing carbon dioxide volumes of flight offsets with actual air travel emissions. Current sales of flight offsets compensate less than 1% of all aviation emissions.