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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Fitch, Dillon; Mohiuddin, Hossain; Handy, Susan |
| Abstract: | Bike-share services have rapidly expanded in cities worldwide and attracted substantial ridership, especially as electric and dockless bike- and scooter-share services have entered the market. These services have the potential to offer a healthier and more environmentally sustainable mobility option if used as an alternative to car travel and a connection to transit. However, little is known about the influence of bike-share systems on individual travel behavior; particularly if bike-share trips are replacing vehicle trips and increasing transit use. To address this knowledge gap, researchers at the University of California, Davis surveyed Sacramento-area residents before and after the 2018 implementation of a JUMP/Uberoperated dockless electric bike-share program to examine how the micromobility service influenced general travel behavior and attitudes. Surveys were sent to residents in downtown Sacramento, West Sacramento, and Davis within the bike-share service area and to a control group in Sacramento outside the service area. Key findings from the research are summarized in this brief. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2020–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt8gm3w9qp&r=all |
| By: | Jérôme Creel; Mario Holzner (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Francesco Saraceno; Andrew Watt; Jérôme Wittwer |
| Abstract: | The Recovery Fund recently proposed by the EU Commission marks a sea-change in European integration. Yet it will not be enough to meet the challenges Europe faces. There has been much public debate about financing, but little about the sort of concrete projects that the EU should be putting public money into. Here we propose a 10-year, €2tn investment programme focusing on public health, transport infrastructure and energy/decarbonisation. It consists of two pillars. In a national pillar Member States – broadly as in the Commission proposal – would be allocated €500bn. Resources should be focused on the hardest-hit countries and front-loaded we suggest over a three-year horizon. The bulk of the money – €1.5tn – would be devoted to finance genuinely European projects, where there is an EU value added. We describe a series of flagship initiatives that the EU could launch in the fields of public health, transport infrastructure and energy/decarbonisation. We call for a strengthened EU public health agency that invests in health-staff skills and then facilitates their flexible deployment in emergencies, and is tasked with ensuring supplies of vital medicines (Health4EU). We present costed proposals for two ambitious transport initiatives a dedicated European high-speed rail network, the Ultra-Rapid-Train, with four-routes cutting travel times between EU capitals and regions, and, alternatively, an integrated European Silk Road initiative that combines transport modes on the Chinese model. In the area of energy/decarbonisation we seek to “electrify” the Green Deal. We call for funding to accelerate the realisation of a smart and integrated electricity grid for 100%-renewable energy transmission (e-highway), support for complementary battery and green-hydrogen projects, and a programme, modelled on the SURE initiative, to co-finance member-state decarbonisation and Just Transition policies. The crisis induced by the pandemic, coming as it does on top of the financial and euro crises, poses a huge challenge. The response needs to take account of the longer-run structural challenges, and above all that of climate change. The European Union should rise to these challenges in the reform of an ambitious medium-run recovery programme, appropriately financed. An outline of such a programme is set out here by way of illustration, but many permutations and options are available to policymakers. |
| Keywords: | Recovery Fund, European Green Deal, Just Transition, transport infrastructure, electricity transmission, public health, Covid-19, EU, investment |
| JEL: | H51 H54 I18 Q21 Q28 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q48 R41 R42 R48 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:pnotes:pn:38&r=all |
| By: | Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska; Marek Kott; Joanna Kott |
| Abstract: | Limited consumer knowledge reduces the chances of spread of alternative fuel vehicle (AFV). In our empirical survey conducted in the first quarter of 2020 among 1002 Poles planning to buy a car in the next 12 months or who have just bought it, we examine what socio-economic and attitudinal factors influence their knowledge about AFV. We explore how the understanding of the differences between HEV, PHEV and BEV, and brand recognition are associated with the consumers’ socio-economic attributes and a general interest in automotive technologies. To the best our knowledge this is the unique study among consumers of Central and Eastern Europe, characterized by lower exposure to AFV and lower purchasing power. Our results indicate that men, living in larger cities, with higher education and interest in modern automotive technologies are predominated to have higher AFV knowledge and are more probable to buy such a car in the future. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge; E-mobility; Electric vehicles; Plug-in electric vehicles; Hybrid electric vehicles; Consumers; Telephone survey |
| JEL: | C80 C93 D80 L91 L94 |
| Date: | 2020–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahh:wpaper:worms2014&r=all |
| By: | Stephen P. Holland; Erin T. Mansur; Nicholas Z. Muller; Andrew J. Yates |
| Abstract: | We determine the environmental benefit of using electric buses rather than diesel or CNG for urban transit. For diesel and CNG we calculate air pollution damages by combining emission rates with damage valuations from the AP3 integrated assessment model and the social cost of carbon. For electric buses we calculate air pollution damages by combining the damage valuations with estimates of the marginal increase in emissions from electricity usage. The environmental benefit is positive on average across all counties in the contiguous U.S. when comparing electric to either diesel or CNG. The environmental benefit of operating an electric bus fleet (rather than diesel) is about $65 million per year in Los Angeles and above $10 million per year in six other MSAs. Including the environmental benefit, we calculate the net present value (NPV) of bus investment. Relative to diesel, the NPV benefit of an electric bus is positive in about two thirds of urban counties. Relative to CNG, the NPV benefit is negative in all counties. |
| JEL: | D62 H23 Q53 R40 |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27285&r=all |
| By: | Barajas, Jesus; Brown, Anne |
| Abstract: | Transit has long connected people to opportunities but access to transit varies greatly across space. In some cases, unevenly distributed transit supply creates transit service needs gaps which may impede travelers' abilities to cross space and access jobs or other opportunities. With the advent of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, however, travelers now have a new potential to gain automobility without high car purchase costs and in the absence of reliable transit service. Research remains mixed on whether ride-hailing serves as a modal complement or substitute to transit or whether ride-hailing serves to fill transit service needs gaps. This study measures transit supply in Chicago and compares it to ride-hail origins and destinations to examine if ride-hailing fills existing transit service gaps. Findings reveal clustering of ride-hail pickups and drop-offs across the City of Chicago, but that the number of ride-hail pickups and drop-offs is most strongly associated with high neighborhood median household income rather than measures of transit supply. At the same time, temporal variations in transit supply and ride-hail trips suggest that a potential complement between transit and ride-hailing exists at select times. Policymakers should consider ways to encourage ride-hailing companies to fill transit gaps in low-income communities when options to increase service are limited. |
| Date: | 2020–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:y4jwk&r=all |
| By: | Santamaria, Marta (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies the gains from infrastructure investments and shows that reshaping the highway network after a large economic shock, the division of Germany, had positive welfare and income effects. To address the endogeneity between infrastructure and economic outcomes, I develop a multi-region quantitative trade model where infrastructure is chosen by the government to maximise welfare. I calibrate the model to the prewar German economy and estimate the key structural parameter of the model using the prewar Highway Plan. I exploit the division of Germany,a large-scale exogenousshock to economic fundamentals, to show that the model can predict changes in highway construction after the division. Using newly collected data, I document that half of the new highway investments deviated from the prewar Highway Plan. I ?nd that the reallocation of these investments (one-third of the network) increased real income by 0.69% to 2% each year, compared to the construction of the original prewar Plan. Finally, I find a large cost of path-dependence : the ability to reshape the full network in anticipation of the division could have increased real income by an additional 1.85%. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:456&r=all |
| By: | Giulia Brancaccio; Myrto Kalouptsidi; Theodore Papageorgiou; Nicola Rosaia |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore efficiency and optimal policy in decentralized transportation markets that suffer from search frictions, such as taxicabs, trucks and bulk shipping. We illustrate the impact of two externalities: the well-known thin/thick market externalities and what we call pooling externalities. We characterize analytically the conditions for efficiency, show how they translate into efficient pricing rules, as well as derive the optimal taxes for the case where the planner is not able to set prices. We use our theoretical results to explore welfare loss and optimal policy in dry bulk shipping. We find that the constrained efficient allocation achieves 6% welfare gains, while the first-best allocation corresponding to the frictionless world, achieves 14% welfare gains. This suggests that policy can achieve substantial gains, even if it does not alleviate search frictions, e.g. through a centralizing platform. Finally, we demonstrate that simple policies designed to mimic the optimal taxes perform well. |
| JEL: | F1 L0 L91 R4 R48 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27300&r=all |
| By: | Bert van Wee (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses how regulations can determine environmental and safety outcomes in transport systems. It explores the relationships between regulations and direct and indirect costs, and between regulations and benefits. It also discusses the ethical issues, such as the fact that cost-benefit analysis evaluates welfare effects but tends to ignore equity issues. |
| Date: | 2019–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2019/07-en&r=all |
| By: | Krenz, Astrid; Strulik, Holger |
| Abstract: | We investigate the regional distribution of the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany. We use a novel digital mobility dataset, that traces the undertaken trips on Easter Sunday 2020 and instrument them with regional accessibility as measured by the regional road infrastructure of Germany's 401 NUTS III regions. We identify a robust negative association between the number of infected cases per capita and accessibility by road infrastructure, measured by the average travel time to the next major urban center. What has been a hinderance for economic performance in good economic times, appears to be a benevolent factor in the COVID-19 pandemic: bad road infrastructure. Using road infrastructure as an instrument for mobility reductions we assess the causal effect of mobility reduction on infections. The study shows that keeping mobility of people low is a main factor to reduce infections. Aggregating over all regions, our results suggest that there would have been about 63,000 infections less on May 5th, 2020, if mobility at the onset of the disease were 10 percent lower. |
| Keywords: | Digital technology,Mobility data,Regional road infrastructure,Germany,COVID-19 |
| JEL: | R11 R12 I18 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:396&r=all |
| By: | Eric Melander (University of Namur and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | How do reductions in interaction costs shape the diffusion of social movements? In this paper, I use a natural experiment from Swedish history to answer this question. During the thirty-year period 1881-1910, Swedish society underwent two transformative developments: the large-scale roll-out of a national railway network and the nascence of grassroots social movements which came to dominate economic, social and political spheres well into the twentieth century. Using exogenous variation in railway access arising from initial plans for the network, I show that well-connected municipalities were more likely to host a local movement and subsequently saw more rapid membership growth and a greater number of distinct organisations. The mobility of individuals is key: results are driven by passenger arrivals into connected municipalities, not freight arrivals. I implement a market access framework to show that, by reducing least-cost distances between municipalities, railways intensified the influence exerted by neighbouring concentrations of membership, thereby enabling social movement spread. |
| Keywords: | social movements, railways, collective action, interaction costs, market access JEL Classification: D71, D83, N33, N73, O18, R40, Z13 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:471&r=all |
| By: | Rex Deighton-Smith (Jaguar Consulting Pty Ltd) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a case study of the application of Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) to the legislation that established Australia’s Road Safety Remuneration System. It highlights two considerations: first, how RIA can provide important information to policy makers, despite complexity and a lack of data preventing a full cost benefit analysis. Second, that RIA can only be influential when adopted as part of a well-designed and fully functioning process, particularly where the policy environment is a politically charged one. |
| Date: | 2019–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2019/05-en&r=all |
| By: | Yujie Hu; Fahui Wang; Chester Wilmot |
| Abstract: | Residential segregation recently has shifted to more class or income-based in the United States, and neighborhoods are undergoing significant changes such as commuting patterns over time. To better understand the commuting inequality across neighborhoods of different income levels, this research analyzes commuting variability (in both distance and time) across wage groups as well as stability over time using the CTPP data 1990-2010 in Baton Rouge. In comparison to previous work, commuting distance is estimated more accurately by Monte Carlo simulation of individual trips to mitigate aggregation error and scale effect. The results based on neighborhoods mean wage rate indicate that commuting behaviors vary across areas of different wage rates and such variability is captured by a convex shape. Affluent neighborhoods tended to commute more but highest-wage neighborhoods retreated for less commuting. This trend remains relatively stable over time despite an overall transportation improvement in general. A complementary analysis based on the distribution of wage groups is conducted to gain more detailed insights and uncovers the lasting poor mobility (e.g., fewer location and transport options) of the lowest-wage workers in 1990-2010. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2006.03498&r=all |
| By: | Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Vernon, Victoria (Empire State College) |
| Abstract: | Remote work is rapidly increasing in the United States. Using data on full-time wage and salary workers from the 2017–2018 American Time Use Survey Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, this paper examines the characteristics of teleworkers, the effects of teleworking on wages, and differences in time-use patterns between office and work-at-home workdays. We find that some teleworkers earn a wage premium, but it varies by occupation, gender, parental status, and teleworking intensity. Teleworkers also spend less time on commuting and grooming activities but more time on leisure and household production activities and more time with family on work-at-home days. |
| Keywords: | working from home, telework, telecommuting, commuting, home-based work, alternative work arrangements, work-life balance, time use, wages |
| JEL: | J22 J31 D13 |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13260&r=all |