1,720,997 research outputs found
Setting the scene : background and overview of regulatory reform in the transport sector
Full text linkThis book concerns the regulation of transport within a European context, covering air, rail, road passenger and freight, urban public transport, inland waterways, short sea shipping and intermodal transport. All these sectors have experienced substantial changes over the last three decades and this book aims to present the main such changes and their impacts. Over this period, and since the publication of the first European Commission (EC) Transport White Paper in 1992 (European Commission, 1992), important reforms of the transport sectors have been introduced in individual member states and supported by various EC initiatives, including implementation of several Directives and a number of Green and White Papers, most recently in 2011 (European Commission, 2011). Even though this has not been an objective of the Commission, there have been changes in ownership structures moving away from significant state intervention towards more autonomous entities and even private sector involvement for both transport infrastructure and operations. Some progress has also been achieved in terms of competition for transport operations, facilitated amongst others through third-party access rights to the markets
The whole-life impacts of transport-charging interventions on business performance: A time-marching framework
No full textA major concern of business with respect to transport-charging interventions is the context of revenue-investment policy, particularly how the timing of improvements may alter the time lags between fewer car journeys and more public transport journeys, and the problems for business in the intervening periods. The authors present a conceptual framework and case study of the whole-life effects on business performance. The impacts of charging occur as a sequence of gradually interacting changes, rather than as a single set of impacts, and positive amenity effects brought about through revenue hypothecation occur incrementally, taking years to achieve full effect. In the case study, a Delphi panel of business leaders predicted the time-marching effects of workplace-parking levies and road-user charging over a 24-year period in Nottingham. The findings revealed that the temporal nature of hypothecation results in minor fluctuations in performance for some business sectors in the first few years, but that these tail off as benefits gradually overwhelm disbenefits resulting in modest increases in performance for most sectors in the medium to long term. Many local authorities are reluctant to implement charging interventions due to concerns about economic vitality; it is expected that the results will inform policy and future research in this area
Railways in Europe : a new era?
No full textThis issue provides a snapshot of European rail at the start of 2009, while detecting the main changes which took place over the last two decades. It then examines the scope for improving the position of passenger and freight railways in European transport and the role that railways can play in delivering current European transport policies. In the current transportation policy arena the challenges for European railways are enormous but so are the opportunities, both of these are highlighted in this special issue, the papers each examining diff erent perspectives
Regulating transport in Europe
No full textThis book is the first such output of the Florence School of Regulation, Transport Area. The Transport Area, launched in 2010, is the latest addition to the Florence School of Regulation, complementing the Energy (launched in 2004) and the Telecommunications and Media Area (launched in 2009). Even though regulation and regulatory policy is often seen as being in conflict with the regulated firms, the Florence School operates with the assumption that both only reflect two faces of the same coin: neither without firms, nor without regulation, will there be functioning transport markets, both in Europe and elsewhere. This book perfectly illustrates our philosophy and comprehensive approach to the problems at hand.This book concerns the regulation of transport within a European context, covering air, inland waterways, rail, road passenger and freight, urban public transport, and short sea shipping. All these sectors have experienced substantial changes over the past two decades, in terms of ownership, competition and liberalization, and the book explores the main transformations and their impacts. The authors address these issues, with a specific focus on the effects of the organization and regulation of transport systems on their performance. They also provide timely policy recommendations, including possible European future policy initiatives. This comprehensive book will appeal to academics and practitioners in Europe in the fields of regulation, legal studies, transport economics and planning, and also political science. Undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in Europe with core-modules linked to issues on regulation, transport, economics, European politics, European affairs and network industries will also find that this is an essential resource.- Preface
– 1. Setting the Scene: Background and Overview of Regulatory Reform in the Transport Sector. Matthias Finger and Torben Holvad
– 2. Air Transport. Javier Campos
– 3. Rail Transport. Chris Nash
– 4. Inter-urban Road Freight. Jan Burnewicz and Monika Bak
– 5. Long-distance Coach Services in Europe. Didier van de Velde
– 6. Urban Public Transport. Rosário Macário
– 7. Inland Waterways. Tilman Erich Platz and Kees Ruijgrok
– 8. Short Sea Shipping in Europe: Issues, Policies and Challenges. Adolf K.Y. Ng, Sergi Saurí and Mateu Turró
– 9. Intermodal Transport. Walter Vassallo
– Inde
Railways in Europe : a new era?
No full textThis issue provides a snapshot of European rail at the start of 2009, while detecting the main changes which took place over the last two decades. It then examines the scope for improving the position of passenger and freight railways in European transport and the role that railways can play in delivering current European transport policies. In the current transportation policy arena the challenges for European railways are enormous but so are the opportunities, both of these are highlighted in this special issue, the papers each examining diff erent perspectives
Public Transport Provision in Two Cities – Oxford and Odense
Full text linkIn the last decade(s) significant changes in the regulatory structure of urban public transport have been implemented in a number of European countries including United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany and Denmark. Although, there are differences between the countries in terms of the details of the reforms general trends include some form of deregulation in order to enable entry to the public transport industry. In most cases deregulation has been linked to the introduction of competitive tendering procedures for the selection of the public transport service operators such that increased competition is mainly off the road rather than on the road. These trends are supported by EC initiatives; in particular the proposals for the revision of Regulation 91/1893 include provisions for competitive tendering for public transport services where contracts should be valid for a fixed term. This paper will provide a comparison of public transport provision in two cities, Odense and Oxford, in terms of organisational and regulatory frameworks used for bus service provision. A comparison of these cities is interesting because public transport is organised in significantly different ways – in Oxford; bus services are based on an open entry model, whereas bus services in Odense are provided by a public entity (Odense Bytrafik). In contrast to the rest of Great Britain usage of buses in Oxford has increased significantly since bus deregulation was implemented through the Transport Act 1985
An Analysis of Efficiency Patterns for a sample of Norwegian Bus Companies
Full text linkIn recent years significant progress has been made concerning measurement of efficiency in relation to productive activities, see e.g. Fried et al. (1993). In particular, non-parametric frontier methods such as Data Envelopment Analysis (put forward in Charnes et al. (1978)) and Free Disposal Hull (suggested by Deprins et al. (1984)) have been developed with applications across a wide range of sectors including transit services. This paper examines the efficiency variations of 157 of the 175 Norwegian subsidised bus companies using non-parametric frontier methods. A range of different efficiency measures within the non-parametric frontier tradition will be presented. The efficiency measures will be decomposed into pure technical inefficiency, scale inefficiency and inefficiency due to the convexity assumptions included in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). As such this information will provide a very detailed picture of the differences in performance among the included bus companies. Specific attention will be given to the efficient observations, in order to identify so-called superefficient observations. In addition, to the calculation of efficiency measures emphasis will also be put on possible explanations of the obtained results. This work will be undertaken within a regression analysis framework, whereby the efficiency scores are related to a set of independent variables. Explanations are important in order to determine the scope for enhancing efficiency for specific observations. The key issue will concern the extent to which efficiency variations are caused by controllable factors. In some cases measured inefficiency may be caused by factors outside the control of the individual company, e.g. the topographic or demographic conditions.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 includes a brief overview of non-parametric efficiency measurement techniques emphasising the range of options available within this approach. In Section 3 the data used for the efficiency analysis are presented. The results of the efficiency analysis are presented in Section 4 including different types of efficiency measures and possible explanatory factors for the identified efficiency patterns. Section 5 concludes with final remarks including possible areas of further research
Contingent Valuation Methods.Possibilities and Problems
No full textValuation of external costs created from transport is important to undertake in order to improve the decision-making basis for transport policy. In particular, this information could be utilised with respect to policy measures for the internalisation of external costs as well as with respect to appraisal of specific transport investment projects. A number of methods towards the valuation of external costs have appeared in recent years in parallel with the increased awareness about the environmental problems created by transport. These methods include approaches based on assessing the resources required to reduce the costs as well as utility-based approaches. In particular, the so-called contingent valuation method has been put forward as a way to determine the willingness to pay for various environmental goods/functions for a sample of individuals. This method has been applied in a wide range of empirical context in the last two decades. This paper will provide a critical assessment of contingent valuation methods. In particular, the paper will consider the theoretical and empirical possibilities and problems provided by this method. The paper will include the following sections. Section 1 will identify the need to valuate external costs. In section 2 an overview of contingent valuation methods will be given. This will be followed in section 3 by an examination of the possibilities and problems involved in this method. Section 4 concludes with final remarks and suggestions for further research to improve the method
Railways in Transition: A Review of Five Countries
Full text linkThe organisation of passenger railways is currently undergoing significant changes in a number of countries in Europe as well as in the rest of the World. Traditionally, railways have been organised nationally as state monopolies responsible for both infrastructure and services, but recent years have seen a move away from this model. In particular, infrastructure and services have been separated in EU countries (although in other parts of the world vertical integrated railways are still present) and there have also been initiatives regarding deregulation, internationalisation and privatisation. A key motivation for initiating reforms of the railway sector in the different countries is often a perceived lack of customer orientation and the cost inefficiencies due to a lack of competitive pressure. In this paper railway reforms in five countries will be reviewed: Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark. These countries cover a number of dimensions of railway reform including privately vs. publicly owned companies, vertical integration vs. vertical separation, tendering vs. no tendering
Metro systems in Europe : a comparison of the Copenhagen and Bucharest metros
No full textThis is a book section from Urban transport XVII : urban transport and the environment in the 21st century: Over the last sixteen years, the Wessex Institute of Technology has convened annually the International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment in order to facilitate the sharing of research on a subject of growing importance to cities around the world. Urban transportation systems can enhance or degrade the quality of urban life by their impact on the environment as well as their operation and accessibility. Municipal authorities put a priority on transportation systems that minimize ecological and environmental impacts, are sustainable, and help to improve the socio-economic fabric of the city. At the same time, systems must ensure the safety and security of the public while retaining system efficiency. All of these concerns are addressed by research presented at the conference and contained in this book. Topics covered include: Transport Modelling and Simulation; Urban Transport Planning and Management; Public Transport Systems; Land Use and Transport Integration; Traffic Integration and Control; Transportation Demand Analysis; Advanced Transport Systems; Intelligent Transport Systems; Safety and Security; Safety of Users in Road Evacuation
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