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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Abate, Megersa (VTI) |
| Abstract: | The 2000s were dominated by rising fuel prices and economic recession. Both had an impact on the structure of the trucking industry and how freight was moved. This paper examines how fuel prices shaped trucking industry’s network characteristics such as the average length of haul, average load, and capacity utilization. In particular, we show the effect of fuel price on average length of haul using 29 quarterly independent surveys from the Danish heavy goods vehicle (HGV) trip diary from 2004 to 2011. The results show that the average length of haul is sensitive to changes in fuel price: a DKK 1 (0.18$) increase in diesel price/liter leads to a 4 percent decrease in the average length of haul in the 2004-2007 period. This implies that firms improve transport efficiency by reducing the number of kilometers needed to transport a tonne of cargo as a short run response to fuel price increases. This result, however, is not confirmed for the years following the 2008 financial crisis. It also depends on where in the distribution of the average length of haul one looks. |
| Keywords: | Fuel Price; Networks; Trucking industry; Capacity utilization |
| JEL: | L92 Q41 R40 |
| Date: | 2014–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2014_026&r=tre |
| By: | Yanhao Wei (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | As demand increases, airline carriers often increase flight frequencies to meet the larger flow of passengers in their networks, which reduces passengers' schedule delays and attracts more demand. Focusing on the “network effects", this paper develops and estimates a structural model of the U.S. airline industry. Compared with previous studies, the model implies higher cost estimates, which seem more consistent with the unprofitability of the industry; below-marginal-cost pricing becomes possible and appears on many routes. I also study airline mergers and find that the network effects can be the main factor underlying their profitability. |
| Keywords: | Network effects, airline networks, differentiated product markets, airlines, merger |
| JEL: | L13 L93 D62 C31 |
| Date: | 2014–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:14-041&r=tre |
| By: | Apostolos Giantsidis |
| Abstract: | Mobility Management refers to the policies and soft measures for the achievement of a more sustainable and efficient transportation system. During the last few years, many cities and even regions have started implementing transportation policies based on Mobility Management for the modification of the transportation system and the benefits from the use of the alternative means of transport (alternately: in order to modify their transportation system and to benefit from alternative means of transport). Serres is a small city in the northern part of Greece that has also undertaken Mobility Management measures, aiming to promote cycling and hence modify the travel behavior of its citizens and the image of the city. To this purpose, Serres took part in the EU program PIMMS TRANSFER. This program intends to promote cooperation between European cities and the exchange of good practices in the transportation system. To pursue the program's objective, the city of Serres built new infrastructure, set special storage places for bicycles, distributed bicycles for one year to the employees of the Municipality and the entrepreneurs of the city, developed educational events for the right usage and the proper maintenance of the bicycles and, promoted the usage of bicycles through brochures and leaflets to the entrepreneurs of the city and the employees working in the city centre. In this paper, I analyze the above quoted measures as well as complementary actions such as school events and, educational programs. Consequently, the current situation and in particular the transportation system in the city is analyzed by examining policy documents and interviews of key policy makers. Additionally, I will present future plans and strategies for further promotion of cycling and the bicycle: cycling paths, pedestrianization and parking outside the city. Finally, I will present a comparison to other European cities with similar demographic, geographic and mobility characteristics as Serres. I found that the participation of the city in the PIMMS TRANSFER program played a crucial role for the promotion of cycling. Among policy makers' actions, those with the highest impacts were from soft measures which had been taken under the guidance of the other participants, in order to let the citizens know the benefits of cycling. New infrastructure and promotional measures were quite effective, too, as the willingness of the citizens to use bicycles increased, as well as cycling for leisure activities and sports. However, cycling as a mean of commuting for daily activities is not very popular yet, because of the lack of infrastructure. |
| JEL: | R41 R42 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p390&r=tre |
| By: | Huijink, S. (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Kant, G. (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Peeters, M.J.P. (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | In practice, many package transportation companies lower their costs by hiring outside carriers to serve orders that cannot be served efficiently by their own trucks. The problem which takes the order outsource option into account is the Vehicle Routing Problem with Private Fleet and Common Carrier. In this variant of the Vehicle Routing Problem, orders are either delivered by an outside carrier, the common carrier, which receives an order specific price for this or by the own fleet, the private fleet, such that the total costs, which is the sum of the outside carrier costs and the delivery costs of the own fleet, is minimized. This paper presents two Adaptable Variable Neighborhood Search heuristics which are highly competitive and several new test instances which are based upon efficiency instead of necessity. |
| Keywords: | routing; logistics; metaheuristics; pricing; variable neighbourhood search |
| JEL: | C44 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiucen:cf934dcb-56ce-4047-b08e-d0851c0e50fb&r=tre |
| By: | Guillaume Burghouwt; Frédéric Dobruszkes |
| Abstract: | Comparing air service growth in Amsterdam and Brussels, this paper aims to understand how the strategies of airlines and public authorities allow certain medium-sized cities to succeed in exceeding their local market by connecting passengers, while others do not. In contrast to Brussels, Amsterdam has become one of the most air serviced European cities, reaching a highly disproportionate level of service given both its size and its airport catchment area. Amsterdam has reached its rank thanks to a successful, global hub-and-spokes strategy led by KLM and its partners. Such a success story would have been impossible without support from the State pursuing the expansion of numerous, liberal bilateral air service agreements and a regional development strategy which facilitated the expansion of Amsterdam Schiphol airport in the 1990s. Finally, this paper shows how public and corporate governances might be able to convert themselves to the rules of the market economy. |
| Keywords: | Air transport; airlines strategy; liberalisation; airport planning; hub-and-spokes; Amsterdam; Brussels |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/178190&r=tre |
| By: | Marco Alderighi (Università della Valle d’Aosta, The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy); Alberto A. Gaggero (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, Italy); Claudio A. Piga (Keele Management School, United Kingdom, The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at investigating how the pricing strategy of European airline carriers is affected by code-share agreements on international routes. Our data cover several routes linking the main UK airports to largest European destinations and includes posted fares collected at different days before departure. By analyzing the temporal profile of airline fares, we identify three main results. First, code-share increases fares especially for early bookers. Second, the higher prices in code-shared flights are offered by marketing carriers. Finally, when flights are in unilateral code-share, the pricing profile is flatter than under parallel code-share. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:27_14&r=tre |
| By: | Fausto Hernández-Trillo (Division of Economics, CIDE); Arturo Antón-Sarabia (Division of Economics, CIDE) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the methodology of Parry and Small (2005) to estimate the optimal gasoline tax for a less-developed, oil-producing country. The relevance of the estimation relies on the differences between less-developed countries LDCs and industrial countries. We argue that lawless roads, general subsidies on gasoline, poor mass transportation systems, older vehicle fleets and cities’ unregulated growth make the LDC tax rate differ substantially from rates in the developed world. We find that the optimal gasoline tax is $1.91 per gallon at 2011 prices and show that the estimate differences are in line with the factors hypothesized. In contrast to the existing literature on industrial countries, we illustrate that the relative gasoline tax incidence may be progressive in Mexico and, more generally, in LDCs. |
| Keywords: | gasoline tax, gasoline subsidy, tax incidence, Mexico |
| JEL: | Q40 Q48 H21 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emc:wpaper:dte555&r=tre |
| By: | Eren Inci; Robin Lindsey |
| Abstract: | In many downtown areas, privately operated parking garages compete with each other and with publicly operated curbside parking. Garages exercise market power by charging fees that vary with parking duration. Curbside space is scarce, and drivers have to search for it. This creates a congestion externality and enhances garages' market power. We show that with inelastic parking demand setting differentiated hourly curbside parking fees can support the social optimum without regulating garage fees. Second-best uniform curbside fees can also perform well. In general, first-best and second-best parking fees are sensitive to parking supply and demand conditions, and therefore should be tailored to local circumstances. |
| Keywords: | endogenous outside option; parking; price discrimination; search costs; spatial competition |
| JEL: | D62 L13 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p344&r=tre |
| By: | Arghya Ghosh; Kieron Meagher |
| Abstract: | In spatial competition, public infrastructure plays a crucial role in determining product market outcomes. In our model, consideration of infrastructure’s impact on the product market drives the voting behavior of consumers in their dual role as voter/taxpayers. The spatial heterogeneity of consumers produces conflicting political interests and in many cases inefficient outcomes. However across both exogenous and endogenous market environments product market competition consistently leads to higher levels of publicly funded infrastructure than monopoly/collusion. Furthermore, competition’s boost to the popular support for infrastructure investment is often excessive while monopoly leads to underinvestment. |
| JEL: | D43 L13 H40 H54 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2014-618&r=tre |
| By: | Jörg Paetzold; Hannes Winner |
| Abstract: | We provide first field evidence on evasion spillovers as an important determinant of the individual compliance decision. Exploiting discontinuities in a self-reported commuter tax allowance, we observe a substantial share of taxpayers misreporting their claims. Using exogenous variation in job changes we find that individual evasion decisions are in uenced by the compliance behavior of other co-workers, with job changers from low- to high-cheating companies starting to evade much more after they move. In contrast, movers from high- to low-cheating companies do not alter their reporting. The most likely explanation is information transmission, including increased knowledge about the possibilities for non-compliance. |
| Keywords: | Tax Evasion, Self-Reporting, Spillover Effects, Information Frictions |
| JEL: | H24 H26 D83 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2014_11&r=tre |