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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Passmore, Reid; Watkins, Kari E.; Guensler, Randall |
| Abstract: | Many cities are focused on increasing bicycle use through development of infrastructure such as bicycle lanes and multi-use paths. Traditionally, travel demand models (TDMs) are used to evaluate the demand for (and impact of) proposed transportation projects. However, the vast majority of TDMs cannot be used to evaluate the impact of bicycle projects. Improved TDMs are needed to help estimate the impacts of new bicycle projects on cycling activity and prioritize the construction of the most beneficial bicycle projects with limited transportation department resources. To more accurately model bicycle travel, preference-based route assignments are needed. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology created a semi-automated process for developing an all-streets network to be used in TDM applications. The researchers combined detailed roadway characteristic information from three different transportation networks in GIS shapefile format and used BikewaySim, Georgia Tech’s newly developed shortest-path calculator for cycling trips, to compare shortest-path routing on the newly created all-streets network versus the simplified TDM network for a 12-square-mile study area in Atlanta. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Bikeways, Routes and routing, Shortest path algorithms, Travel time |
| Date: | 2022–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt8np1r2zx&r= |
| By: | Kevin Remmy |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a structural model of endogenous product attribute choice in the presence of indirect network effects to study electric vehicle (EV) subsidies. Using data on the German EV market from 2012-2018, I find that a support scheme increased EV sales by 98% but led to strong range distortions. When designing subsidies, these distortions create a trade-off between optimizing different policy objectives. Large purchase subsidies maximize EV sales whereas large charging station subsidies maximize consumer and total surplus. The results suggest that policymakers should carefully weigh the benefits of increasing EV sales against the distortions this causes. |
| Keywords: | network externalities, product attribute choice, elctric vehicles, subsidies |
| JEL: | D12 D62 H23 L62 Q55 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2022_335&r= |
| By: | Rodier, Caroline; Garcia Sanchez, Juan Carlos; Harrison, Makenna; Francisco, Jerel; Tovar, Angelly; Randall, Creighton |
| Abstract: | Carsharing, in which members have access to a network of shared vehicles for short-term rentals, has existed in the US for more than two decades. Within the last six years though, carsharing services have proliferated under a wider variety of business models. These programs are increasingly seen as a means of increasing transportation access in underserved communities—particularly in those with limited public transit service. The recent incorporation of electric vehicles in carsharing programs is also seen as a promising public policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Government support for carsharing has accelerated, with state and federal agencies investing millions of dollars in support of equity and sustainability goals. As funding grows, it becomes increasingly important to learn from carsharing services that have already been implemented. Researchers at the University of California, Davis and the non-profit organization Mobility Development reviewed evaluations of the travel, emissions, and equity effects of past US carsharing programs and analyzed the evolution of carsharing and its various business models. The aim of the research is to inform the design of and improve the value of investments in future electric carsharing programs, and this policy brief summarizes these findings and provides policy implications. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Business, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Carsharing, electric vehicles, pilot, evaluation, equity |
| Date: | 2022–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt8cx2q5vj&r= |
| By: | Palm, Matthew; Allen, Jeff (University of Toronto); Zhang, Yixue; Aitken, Ignacio Tiznado; BATOMEN, BRICE; Farber, Steven; Widener, Michael |
| Abstract: | Public transit agencies face a transformed landscape of rider demand and political support as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. We explore people’s motivations for returning to or avoiding public transit a year into the pandemic. We draw on a March 2021 follow up survey of over 1,900 people who rode transit regularly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and who took part in a prior survey on the topic in May, 2020. We model how transit demand has changed due to the pandemic, and investigate how this relates to changes in automobile ownership and its desirability. We find that pre-COVID frequent transit users between the ages of 18-29, a part of the so-called “Gen Z,” and recent immigrants are more attracted to driving due to the pandemic, with the latter group more likely to have actually purchased a vehicle. Getting COVID-19 or living with someone who did is also a strong and positive predictor of buying a car and anticipating less transit use after the pandemic. Our results suggest that COVID-19 heightened the attractiveness of auto ownership among transit riders likely to eventually purchase cars anyways (immigrants, twentysomethings), at least in the North American context. We also conclude that getting COVID-19 or living with someone who did is a significant and positive predictor of having bought a car. Future research should consider how the experiencing of having COVID-19 has transformed some travelers’ views, values, and behaviour. |
| Date: | 2022–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:xrk2p&r= |
| By: | Guannan Miao; Enrico Wegner |
| Abstract: | This paper updates the OECD International Transport and Insurance Cost (ITIC) of Merchandise Trade database, which covers more than 180 countries and partners, and over 1000 products from 1995 to 2020. Transport and insurance costs, also known as CIF-FOB margins, are estimated using a gravity model. A cross-validation procedure is used to evaluate model performance. In addition to describing the methodology, the paper highlights that transport and insurance costs are declining as a fraction of trade value, but this reduction has been flattening out in more recent years. However, an alternative measure, the explicit CIF-FOB margins per kilogramme imported, suggests that transport and insurance costs have been actually rising since 2002. Both CIF-FOB margins and cost per kilogramme imported show increases in 2020 when compared to 2019. This is robust to corrections for compositional changes. The methodology is used to produce the International Transport and Insurance Costs of Merchandise Trade data base and the data is made publically available on .Stat under the International Trade and Balance of Payments heading. |
| JEL: | C23 F14 L91 |
| Date: | 2022–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stdaaa:2022/02-en&r= |
| By: | Barajas, Jesus M. PhD; Natekal, Asiya PhD; Abrams, Carolyn MURP |
| Abstract: | To provide California with recommendations for how to advance transportation equity, this study examines how state DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are implementing equity-based planning. The research team conducted a content analysis on the long-range transportation plans (LRTPs) and active transportation plans of six state DOTs, and the LRTPs and federal transportation improvement documents of six California MPOs to identify equity practices and performance measures in those plans. They also interviewed representatives from five state DOTs to identify methods the organizations are using to advance equity. Every organization acknowledged the importance of considering equity, but the nature and degree with which equity practices were implemented varied considerably. Outreach and engagement were the most common equity practices. Many DOTs had developed or were developing performance metrics for equity, but several lacked appropriate disaggregate data to identify effects on people of color or other marginalized population groups. Few organizations explicitly identified how equity was guiding decision-making in their plans. Innovative practices included establishing listening sessions to define transportation equity, centering public health in decision-making, developing creative ways to direct funding to the neediest communities, and institutionalizing equity through leadership positions or bottom-up decision-making within functional areas. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Systemic racism, equity (justice), transportation departments, metropolitan planning organizations, long range planning, performance measurement, decision making |
| Date: | 2022–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt7q36991f&r= |
| By: | Conlisk, Sarah |
| Abstract: | In early 2020, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spread to the United States and upended normal life. Using trip-level data on over 17 million taxi rides taken in Chicago from 2018-2021, I document how tipping behavior changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. I find that the average non-zero tip increased by almost 2 percentage points, from roughly 26% to 28% of the taxi fare. Meanwhile, the likelihood that a passenger left a tip at all declined by roughly 5 percentage points, down from a pre-pandemic likelihood of 95%. My preferred specification suggests that the effect on the intensive margin dominates that in the extensive margin, leading to an aggregate increase in tipping generosity during the pandemic. I leverage granularity in the data to explore the mechanisms behind these trends and offer two explanations consistent with the data. First, passengers responded to the two economic shocks of the pandemic – unemployment and savings overhangs – by varying their tipping rates accordingly. Second, passengers internalized the increased risk of COVID-19 infection as an additional cost for taxi drivers and increased their tips as compensation. My analysis testifies to the sustainability of tipping in times of crises and offers theoretical insight into what drives tipping behavior. |
| Date: | 2021–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:brvhp&r= |
| By: | Daniel Agness (UC Berkeley); Travis Baseler (University of Rochester); Sylvain Chassang (Princeton University); Pascaline Dupas (Stanford University); Erik Snowberg (UBC and University of Utah) |
| Abstract: | People’s value for their own time is a key input in evaluating public policies: evaluations should account for time taken away from work or leisure as a result of policy. Using rich choice data collected from farming households in western Kenya, we show that households exhibit non-transitive preferences consistent with behavioral features such as loss aversion and self-serving bias. As a result, neither market wages nor standard valuation techniques (such as the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak—BDM—mechanism of Becker et al., 1964) correctly measure participants’ value of time. Using a structural model, we identify the mix of behavioral features driving our choice data. We find that these features distort choices when exchanging cash either for time or for goods. Our model estimates suggest that valuing the time of the self-employed at 60% of the market wage is a reasonable rule of thumb. |
| Keywords: | value of time, non-transitivity, labor rationing, loss aversion, self-serving bias, Kenya |
| JEL: | D10 D19 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:econom:2022-2&r= |