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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Timo Gschwind (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany); Michael Drexl (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany and Deggendorf Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | In the dial-a-ride problem (DARP), user-specified transport requests from origin to destination points have to be served by a fleet of homogeneous vehicles. The problem variant we consider aims at finding a set of minimum-cost routes satisfying constraints on vehicle capacity, time windows, maximum route duration, and maximum user ride times. We propose an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) for its solution. The key novelty of the approach is an exact amortized constant-time algorithm for evaluating the feasibility of request insertions in the repair steps of the ALNS. In addition, we use two optional improvement techniques: a local-search based, intra-route improvement of routes of promising solutions using the Balas-Simonetti neighborhood, and the solution of a set-partitioning model over a subset of all routes generated during the search. With these techniques, the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of solution quality. New best solutions are found for several benchmark instances. |
| Keywords: | Dial-a-ride problem, Adaptive large neighborhood search, Feasibility testing |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1624&r=tre |
| By: | Emde, Simon; Gendreau, Michel |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:84551&r=tre |
| By: | Price, Richard |
| Abstract: | The UK is embarking on a significant institutional reform to put long-term infrastructure planning on a firmer basis. The creation of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), building on experience in Australia and elsewhere, should help promote a better evidence-based discussion on the UK’s infrastructure needs and political choices, and to put infrastructure design and delivery on a surer footing. Interactions with the system of economic regulation need to be worked through, but the NIC will help governments to give a clearer statement of long-term policy within which regulators can operate and ensure projects are delivered efficiently. Funding and financing challenges however have yet to be fully addressed across the infrastructure planning and delivery chain – not just in the UK but globally. A number of initiatives are beginning to tackle this policy gap, and recent UK experience suggests ways in which projects can be brought to market in ways which secure private investment and secure the interests of consumers and taxpayers. There is a major opportunity to deliver better infrastructure efficiently if we can get this right. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure investment Finance Funding PPP economic regulation water energy policy government |
| JEL: | G23 G24 G28 G38 H54 L51 L90 O18 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74977&r=tre |
| By: | Detros, Keith C.; Navarro, Adoracion M.; Napalang, Ma. Sheilah G.; Agatep, Pia May G. |
| Abstract: | Road funds like the Motor Vehicle User's Charge (MVUC) Fund in the Philippines are a kind of earmarked funds. Though without shortcomings, earmarking funds through the MVUC continues to be relevant as it is able to ensure a stable flow of resources for public road expenditures. The study identifies the shortcomings and areas for improvement. In assessing the different stages of the MVUC process, the study finds that transparency and efficiency in collection have to be improved through automation and accurate recording. It also finds that project identification and investment programming need to adhere to the recommended procedures in the operating manual. As there are indications of fund underutilization, the study recommends accelerating the utilization of funds through advanced project development and investment programming. After examining five MVUC-funded projects, the authors find that an impact monitoring system is present in only one case that is recently finished, and the sparse data available are not enough to quantitatively establish impacts. Nevertheless, findings from field visits and interviews with beneficiaries reveal that there are positive benefits from the MVUC mechanism. An examination of successful cases in other countries also reveals good practices that are worth looking into, such as ensuring that the road fund administrator is strictly an administrator rather than project implementer, advanced preparation of long-term vision and medium- to short-term road investment programs, and variations of the reimbursement-basis payment system that is supported by strong audit systems. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, public finance, road fund, earmarking |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2016-26&r=tre |
| By: | McCoy, Daire; Lyons, Sean; Morgenroth, Edgar; Palcic, Donal; Allen, Leonie |
| Abstract: | Can improving local infrastructure in underdeveloped areas encourage entrepreneurial activity? If so, which infrastructures and by how much? This paper analyses the impact on new business establishments of broadband infrastructure, motorways, airports and railways and a range of other local characteristics such as availability of human capital and access to third level educational facilities. The sample period spans the introduction and recent history of broadband in Ireland, and during this period 86% of the current motorway network was constructed. Human capital, measured as the percentage of the population with a third level qualification and proximity to a third level institution prove to be important determinants of new firm establishments. Availability of broadband infrastructure is significant, but its effects may be mediated by the presence of sufficiently high educational attainment in the area. Transport infrastructure access is significant for some sectors. For all sectoral groupings examined, firm establishments seem to favour a more diverse local sectoral mix rather than a concentrated one. |
| Keywords: | New business establishments,ICT,Infrastructure,Count panel regression model |
| JEL: | R3 R11 D22 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse16:148688&r=tre |
| By: | Ryan Kellogg |
| Abstract: | What are the implications of gasoline price volatility for the design of fuel economy policies? I show that this problem has a strong parallel to Weitzman's (1974) classic model of using price or quantity controls to regulate an externality. Changes in fuel prices act as shocks to the marginal cost of complying with the standard. Assuming constant marginal damages from fuel consumption, an application of Weitzman (1974) implies that a fixed fuel economy standard reduces expected welfare relative to a “price” policy such as a feebate or, equivalently, a fuel economy standard that is indexed to the price of gasoline. When the regulator is constrained to use a fixed standard, I show that the usual approach to setting the standard—equate expected marginal compliance cost to marginal damage—is likely to be sub-optimal because the standard may not bind if the realized gasoline price is sufficiently high. Instead, the optimal fixed standard will be relatively relaxed and may be non-binding even at the expected gasoline price. Finally, I show that although an attribute-based standard allows vehicle choices to flexibly respond to gasoline price shocks, the resulting distortions imply that the optimal fuel economy standard is not attribute-based. |
| JEL: | H23 L51 L91 Q48 Q50 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23024&r=tre |
| By: | Cosar, Kerem; Pakel, Banu Demir |
| Abstract: | We quantify the effect of container technology on transport costs and trade by estimating the modal choice between containerization and breakbulk shipping using micro-level trade data. The model is motivated by novel facts that relate container usage to shipment, destination and firm characteristics. We find container transport to have a higher first-mile cost and a lower distance elasticity, making it cost effective in longer distances. At the median distance across all country pairs, the box decreases variable shipping costs between 16 to 22 percent. The box explains a significant amount of the global trade increase since its inception: a quantitative exercise suggests that Turkish and U.S. maritime exports would have been about two-thirds of what they are today in the absence of containers. |
| Keywords: | Containerization; Globalization; International Trade; Transportation |
| JEL: | F10 F14 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11750&r=tre |
| By: | Laura Alfaro (Harvard Business School, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit); Maggie X. Chen (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Falling transportation costs and rapid technological progress in recent decades have precipitated an explosion of cross-border flows in goods, services, investments, and ideas led by multinational firms. Extensive research has sought to understand the geographic patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI). This chapter reviews existing theories and evidence specifically addressing questions including: How is FDI distributed across space? Why does the law of gravity apply? How do the costs of transporting goods, tasks, and technologies influence firms' decisions to separate tasks geographically and locate relative to one another? We discuss a variety of theoretical mechanisms through which transport cost and other geographic friction influence FDI and present the key empirical studies and findings. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:17-061&r=tre |
| By: | Jessica Lynn Peck (Ph.D. Program in Economics, Graduate Center, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of the introduction of Uber in New York City in May 2011 on drunk-driving outcomes. A difference-in-differences estimation of this effect implies a 20-30% decrease in the alcohol-related collision rate for the affected New York City boroughs, or about 40 collisions per month. With differentiated treatment effects for each effected county, the difference-in-differences effect is higher for Manhattan, average for the Bronx and Brooklyn, and lower for Queens. A synthetic control analysis shows similar effects that are pronounced over time in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and a permutation test confirms the effect is not commonly reproducible using untreated counties. |
| Keywords: | drunk driving, alcohol, taxi, ride-sharing |
| JEL: | H75 I12 R41 |
| Date: | 2017–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgc:wpaper:013&r=tre |
| By: | Moises Lenyn Obaco Alvarez; Vicente Royuela; Xavier Vítores |
| Abstract: | We present a new approach to shape functional urban areas in terms of proximity. It uses travel time from urban cores to connect them and to determine its hinterland. It only needs information that nowadays it is available for most countries. In addition, we test this approach to a developing economy to show that it might be applied to the developing world. We compare it with commuting patterns, which is the common approach in literature. This might be a solution to identify functional areas in the developing world, where the characteristic is the lack of data to apply sophisticated methods. We also test internal migration and gravitational equation as proxies to define hinterland. We hope that this contribution helps to fill the gap at the time to work with developed and developing regions jointly, something impossible so far. |
| Keywords: | Integrated cities; Ecuador; FUAs; Travel time |
| JEL: | R12 R14 R52 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p238&r=tre |