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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Hirte, Georg; Laes, Renée |
| Abstract: | Once automatic vehicles are available, working from self-driving car (WFC) in the AV's mobile office will be a real option. It allows firms to socialize land costs for office space from the office lot to road infrastructure used by AV. Employees, in turn, can switch wasted commuting time into working hours and reduce daily time tied to working. We develop a microeconomic model of employer's offer and employees choice of WFC contracts and hours. Using data for Germany and the U.S., we perform Monte Carlo studies to assess whether WFC may become reality. Eventually, we study the impact of transport pricing on these choices. Our findings is, that WFC contracts are likely to be a standard feature of large cities given current wages, office, and current and expected travel costs. There is a clear decline of hours spent working in office. On average, WFC hours and distance traveled slightly exceed commuting figures. |
| Keywords: | autonomous driving,telecommuting,working from car,working from home,transport economics |
| JEL: | R40 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tudcep:0122&r= |
| By: | Alexius Wadell; Matthew Guttenberg; Christopher P. Kempes; Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan |
| Abstract: | Enabling widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption requires substantial build-out of charging infrastructure in the coming decade. We formulate the charging infrastructure needs as a scaling analysis problem and use it to estimate the EV infrastructure needs of the US at a county-level resolution. Surprisingly, we find that the current EV infrastructure deployment scales super-linearly with population, deviating from the sub-linear scaling of gasoline stations and other infrastructure. We discuss how this demonstrates the infancy of EV station abundance compared to other mature transportation infrastructures. By considering the power delivery of existing gasoline stations, and appropriate EV efficiencies, we estimate the EV infrastructure gap at the county level, providing a road map for future EV infrastructure expansion. Our reliance on scaling analysis allows us to make a unique forecast in this domain. |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2204.03094&r= |
| By: | Jackson Dorsey; Ashley Langer; Shaun McRae |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates an imperfect information discrete choice model of drivers’ refueling preferences and analyzes the implications of these preferences for electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Drivers respond four times more to stations’ long-run average prices than to current prices and value travel time at $27.54/hour. EV adopters with home charging receive $829 per vehicle in benefits from avoiding travel to gas stations, whereas refueling travel and waiting time costs increase by $9,169 for drivers without home charging. Increasing the charging speed of the existing network yields 4.7 times greater time savings than a proportional increase in the number of stations. |
| JEL: | L9 Q42 Q55 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29831&r= |
| By: | Redding, Stephen; Nakajima, Kentaro; Miyauchi, Yuhei |
| Abstract: | We provide new theory and evidence on the role of consumption access in understanding the agglomeration of economic activity. We combine smartphone data that records user location every 5 minutes of the day with economic census data on the location of service-sector establishments to measure commuting and noncommuting trips within the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area. We show that non-commuting trips are frequent, more localized than commuting trips, strongly related to the availability of nontraded services, and occur along trip chains. Guided by these empirical findings, we develop a quantitative urban model that incorporates travel to work and travel to consume non-traded services. Using the structure of the model, we estimate theoretically-consistent measures of travel access, and show that consumption access makes a sizable contribution relative to workplace access in explaining the observed variation in residents and land prices across locations. Undertaking counterfactuals for changes in travel costs, we show that abstracting from consumption trips leads to a substantial underestimate of the welfare gains from a transport improvement (because of the undercounting of trips) and leads to a distorted picture of changes in travel patterns within the city (because of the different geography of commuting and non-commuting trips). |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; urbanization; transportation |
| JEL: | O18 R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2021–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114353&r= |
| By: | David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | The cumulative opportunities measure accessibility is defined as the number of opportunities reachable under a given time threshold. The spacing between transit stations is fundamental for accessibility by transit, yet the stations cannot be easily relocated in built-up areas. This paper examines the relation between transit stop spacing and person-weighted accessibility for an urban train route through an analytical model, and identifies that for each type of transit (e.g., given some combination of vehicle acceleration, deceleration, top speed, dwell time, platform type), an optimal stop spacing exists that maximizes accessibility; neither short nor excessive stop spacing are efficient in providing accessibility. Rail is used as example, though the model and findings are applicable to bus services as well. This paper brings attention to the importance of stop spacing in accessibility, and provides guidelines for transit planning for the operational improvement of transit accessibility. |
| JEL: | R41 R14 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:optimumstopspacing&r= |
| By: | Nicholas Sheard |
| Abstract: | The mainline railways in Australia were initially built in three different gauges, with 'breaks-of-gauge' where passengers and goods transferred between them. This paper studies how the gauge situation affected regional development and the railway network in the 20th century. Regional breaks-of-gauge caused substantial local growth, with population and employment levels increasing by around 50% within a decade relative to otherwise similar places. However, these effects were unwound within two decades of the break-of-gauge being closed. There is little evidence for the gauge-segmented railway network causing different paces of regional development. The gauge muddle also appears to have led to a more limited railway network than if a uniform gauge had been used from the beginning. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration, Rail transport, Railway gauge, Trade frictions, Transport infrastructure |
| JEL: | H54 L92 N77 N97 R42 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-327&r= |
| By: | James B. Bushnell; Erich Muehlegger; David S. Rapson |
| Abstract: | This paper presents evidence that gasoline prices have a larger effect on demand for electric vehicles (EVs) than electricity prices in California. We match a spatially-disaggregated panel dataset of monthly EV registration records to detailed records of gasoline and electricity prices in California from 2014-2017, and use these to estimate the effect of energy prices on EV demand. Two distinct empirical approaches (panel fixed-effects and a utility-border discontinuity) yield remarkably similar results: a given change in gasoline prices has roughly four to six times the effect on EV demand as a similar percentage change in electricity prices. We explore the implications for optimal EV subsidies, which promote externality reduction benefits and correct for consumer misoptimization stemming from the undervaluation of future electricity costs. |
| JEL: | H23 Q49 Q55 R4 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29842&r= |
| By: | Aizawa, Hiroki; Kono, Tatsuhito |
| Abstract: | We investigate where retail stores agglomerate in a road network with radial roads and a ring road in a two-dimensional space. Per-distance travel cost on the radial roads can be different from that on the ring road. The transition of the two-dimensional agglomeration patterns of retail stores is investigated with decreases in the travel costs. Results show 1) a difference in improvement sequences in the radial and ring roads generates a difference in the agglomeration patterns with different welfare levels and 2) how the two-dimensional geographical position of shopping agglomerations ensuring the highest welfare level differs from that in equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration, Bifurcation, Monopolistic competition, Two-dimensional road network |
| JEL: | L1 R1 R4 |
| Date: | 2022–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112274&r= |
| By: | Hao Wu; Paolo Avner; Genevieve Boisjoly; Carlos K. V. Braga; Ahmed El-Geneidy; Jie Huang; Tamara Kerzhner; Brendan Murphy; Michał A. Niedzielski; Rafael H. M. Pereira; John P. Pritchard; Anson Stewart; Jiaoe Wang; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Access (the ease of reaching valued destinations) is underpinned by land use and transport infrastructure. The importance of access in transport, sustainability, and urban economics is increasingly recognized. In particular, access provides a universal unit of measurement to examine cities for the efficiency of transport and land-use systems. This paper examines the relationship between population-weighted access and metropolitan population in global metropolitan areas (cities) using 30-min cumulative access to jobs for 4 different modes of transport; 117 cities from 16 countries and 6 continents are included. Sprawling development with the intensive road network in American cities produces modest automobile access relative to their sizes, but American cities lag behind globally in transit and walking access; Australian and Canadian cities have lower automobile access, but better transit access than American cities; combining compact development with an intensive network produces the highest access in Chinese and European cities for their sizes. Hence density and mobility co-produce better access. This paper finds access to jobs increases with populations sublinearly, so doubling the metropolitan population results in less than double access to jobs. The relationship between population and access characterizes regions, countries, and cities, and significant similarities exist between cities from the same country. |
| JEL: | R41 R14 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:urbanaccessacrossglobe&r= |
| By: | Buh, Brian; Peer, Stefanie |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates which factors determine the intention to take a night train, emphasizing the role of environmental concern. We employ a Theory of Planned Behavior framework. We built a survey based on elicitation study, which resulted in an online survey being conducted on a convenience sample in Vienna (Austria). Our results show that in particular environmental concern and familiarity with night train services play a significant role in the formation of the intention to take a night train. Among the significant factors that are associated with a high intention to take a night train are the belief that night trains are comfortable, that one can save the cost of a night in a hotel, and that night trains tend to arrive at and depart from the city center. Factors that deter travelers from taking a night train include a high price, the sharing of cabins, and long travel times. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Concern, Mode Choice, Night Trains, Theory of Planned Behavior, Long-distance travel |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus009:8577&r= |
| By: | Manman Li; Mengying Cui; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a general framework to explore the interaction between land use and transport systems. Hypotheses about those relationships are generated. A series of statistical tests are conducted to explain the co-development of land use and transit networks for metropolitan areas at a micro-geographic scale and to disentangle causes and effects. The specific case of Minneapolis - Saint Paul (Twin Cities) metropolitan is examined using a panel of block-level land use and stop-level transit data. The results show that the development of land use, specifically, resident workers, can lead to the increase in bus demand, and thus further induce the increase in bus supply; the co-development of bus demand and supply is simultaneous on a yearly basis. |
| Keywords: | : accessibility, density, Granger Causality, land use, public transport, Twin Cities |
| JEL: | R41 R14 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:jobworkerdensitytransitnetworkdynamics&r= |
| By: | Catherine Taylor; Robert Waschik |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the macroeconomic effects of the introduction of automation in the long-haul trucking sectors in the United States, along with the output and employment impacts in the long-haul trucking sector itself, using the purpose-built computable general equilibrium (CGE) USAGE-Hwy model.1 We simulate the automation of long-haul trucking in the US by assuming that the fleet of long-haul trucks is converted for automation technology over the period 2021-2050 following a 'fast', 'medium' or 'slow' adoption path. After accounting for the cost of converting the fleet for automation, the efficiency and safety improvements contribute to an increase in real GDP and welfare in the US in 2050 of between 0.35-0.40 per cent. Despite the fact that automation technology obviates the need for most long-haul truck drivers, hiring of long-haul truck drivers remains positive throughout the simulation period in all scenarios, except for a five-year period under the 'fast' adoption of automation. Over this five-year period, at most 10,000 long-haul truck drivers per year are laid off. Given an annual occupational turnover rate for truck drivers of 10.5 per cent, the annual turnover of short-haul truck drivers in 2018 was almost 138,000, implying that the issue of layoffs of long-haul truck drivers should not be a significant concern when considering the adoption of automation in long-haul trucking. |
| Keywords: | autonomous vehicles, driverless trucks, computable general equilibrium |
| JEL: | O18 O33 C68 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-326&r= |