|
on Transport Economics |
| By: | Andor, Mark Andreas; Dehos, Fabian; Gillingham, Kenneth; Hansteen, Sven; Tomberg, Lukas |
| Abstract: | The pricing of public transportation is a frequently debated subject, and a notable current trend is leaning towards flat-rate pricing. In the previous year, Germany introduced a flat-rate ticket, enabling individuals to access public transportation across the entire country for just 9 euros per month during the months of June through August. In this paper, we first examine the extent to which the 9-Euro Ticket policy was able to induce a shift from cars to public transport. To this end, we evaluate the policy's impact on mobility behavior and emissions, and compare our results with other analyses of the policy that use different empirical approaches. The combined evidence shows that the flat-rate access induced only a marginal shift from car to public transport. The 9-Euro Ticket has primarily been used to expand personal mobility rather than to substitute between modes of transportation. In a further step, we subject the 9-Euro Ticket to a cost-benefit analysis based on its achieved carbon reduction. When compared to other climate policies, the costs appear disproportionately high. We use these results as a starting point to discuss flat-rate pricing for public transport in conjunction with evidence from programs in other European cities and insights from economic theory. Synthesizing the collected sources, we conclude that there are better options. Instead of a flat-rate ticket, we call for a cheap and dynamic public fare system that prices peak times higher than off-peak times to avoid overcrowding during peak hours. At the same time, a dynamic road pricing system should be introduced. This would further reduce the negative externalities of driving, generate revenues to support public transport, and provide a stronger incentive to switch from car to public transport. |
| Keywords: | Public transport, dynamic pricing, congestion charging, road pricing, flat-rate tariffs, 9-Euro ticket |
| JEL: | R48 Q48 Q51 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:279544&r=tre |
| By: | Melorango, Siivi; Shirgaokar, Manish |
| Abstract: | Transit in the U.S. is considered secondary to automobile travel; bus services are especially stigmatized. Facing declining ridership and overall diminished financial support, many agencies are confronted with making difficult choices about how to supply efficient and effective services. We analyze the 2019 National Transit Database focusing on U.S. agencies providing bus services. We study three measures each of efficiency (cost per vehicle revenue mile, fare revenues per unlinked passenger trip, and vehicle revenue miles per employee hours) and effectiveness (cost per unlinked passenger trip, unlinked passenger trips per vehicle revenue mile, and unlinked passenger trips per vehicle revenue hour). We focus on agency attributes, service characteristics, and operations and management plus capital spending. The research indicates that agencies could consider outsourcing services that are necessary but might otherwise be a drain on agency resources. Agencies should balance the efficiencies of higher speed bus service with more effective service. Planners, engineers, and stakeholders working with transit agencies need to be cautious about which outcomes to focus on if costs are to decrease, while efficiency and effectiveness of bus services are to increase. Specifically, outsourcing has differing impacts based on agency size. Our work underscores the importance of operations and management spending, coupled with strategic capital expenditure. |
| Date: | 2023–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ub5zp&r=tre |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus |
| Abstract: | Workers generally commute on a daily basis, so we model commuting as a repeated game. The folk theorem implies that for sufficiently large discount factors, the repeated commuting game has as a Nash equilibrium any feasible strategy that is uniformly better than the minimax strategy payoff for a commuter in the one shot game, repeated over the infinite horizon. This includes the efficient equilibria. An example where the efficient payoffs strictly dominate the one shot Nash equilibrium payoffs is provided. Our conclusions pose a challenge to congestion pricing in that equilibrium selection could be at least as effective in improving welfare. We examine evidence from St. Louis to determine what equilibrium strategies are actually played in the repeated commuting game. |
| Keywords: | Repeated game; Nash equilibrium; Commuting; Folk theorem |
| JEL: | R41 |
| Date: | 2023–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:119020&r=tre |
| By: | Cincotta, Costanza (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics); Thomassen, Øyvind (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We use product-level data from 2000 to 2021 to evaluate Norway’s incentives for consumers to choose electric vehicles. These include taxes on fossil fuels, EV exemption from car purchase taxes, and other incentives, like discounts on road tolls. We find that undoing the incentive with the largest effect, the EV exemption from purchase taxes, would reduce the EV market share to 25 percent from the 66 percent observed in 2021, increase CO2 emissions of new cars sold by 170 percent, reduce their total weight by 22 percent, and reduce the number of new cars sold by 10 percent. |
| Keywords: | Environmental taxes; automobiles |
| JEL: | H23 L62 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2023_019&r=tre |
| By: | Melvyn Li; Kaili Wang; Yicong Liu; Khandker Nurul Habib |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces an innovative travel survey methodology that utilizes Google Location History (GLH) data to generate travel diaries for transportation demand analysis. By leveraging the accuracy and omnipresence among smartphone users of GLH, the proposed methodology avoids the need for proprietary GPS tracking applications to collect smartphone-based GPS data. This research enhanced an existing travel survey designer, Travel Activity Internet Survey Interface (TRAISI), to make it capable of deriving travel diaries from the respondents' GLH. The feasibility of this data collection approach is showcased through the Google Timeline Travel Survey (GTTS) conducted in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. The resultant dataset from the GTTS is demographically representative and offers detailed and accurate travel behavioural insights. |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2311.10210&r=tre |
| By: | César Ducruet; Hidekazu Itoh; Bárbara Polo Martin; Mame Astou Séné; Mariantonia Lo Prete; Ling Sun; Hidekazu Itoh; Yoann Pigné |
| Abstract: | Despite the skyrocketing growth of environmental studies in recent decades about ports and shipping, the local health impacts of ports remain largely under-researched. This article wishes to tackle this lacuna by statistically analyzing data on global shipping flows across nearly 5, 000 ports in 35 OECD countries between 2001 and 2018. The different traffic types, from containers to bulks and passengers, are analyzed jointly with data on natural conditions, air pollution, socio-economic features, and public health. Main results show that port regions pollute more than non-port regions on average, while health impacts vary according to the size and specialization of port regions. Three types of port regions are clearly differentiated, of which industrial, intermediate, and metropolitan port regions. |
| Keywords: | health; maritime transport; air pollution; port region; vessel movements |
| JEL: | I15 Q53 Q56 R11 R40 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2023-32&r=tre |
| By: | Andrés Ramasco (University of Notre Dame) |
| Abstract: | Curtailing alcohol-related traffic fatalities is especially important for policymakers. I study whether there is an effect on Health Outcomes related to traffic accidents caused by Zero-Tolerance Laws and the mechanism driving these effects. Using Fatalities and Injuries counts at the county level. I exploit time and geographic variation in adopting the laws in a Difference-in-Differences framework. I find no sizeable reductions in various health outcomes, including traffic fatalities. I also test for heterogeneity across age groups, finding no significant differences. I propose and evaluate the persistence of drinking behavior and alcohol-related Hospitalizations as mechanisms explaining the null effects, finding no significant changes in several measures of alcohol consumption |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:289&r=tre |
| By: | Jan Bruha; Hana Bruhova Foltynova |
| Abstract: | The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent introduction of anti-pandemic measures led to a substantial drop in mobility, including travelling to work and shopping, and an increase in virtual activities, mainly working from home and online shopping. The question addressed in this paper is whether this change is permanent and, if so, to what extent. We use panel data collected in five waves from the Czech adult urban population during and shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic. The data document a substantial switch to online activities during the pandemic. This switch seems to be semi-permanent, i.e., expected to last even after the lifting of the anti-pandemic measures. The main determinants of working from home are job type, industry and education. The main determinants of online shopping are age and education. We conclude that the pandemic and the related measures accelerated the diffusion of online activities among the Czech population, mainly among younger and more educated individuals. |
| Keywords: | Coronavirus pandemic, online shopping, travel behavior, working from home |
| JEL: | O33 Q54 R41 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2023/9&r=tre |
| By: | Leonardo Portes Merlini; Andre Luis Squarize Chagas |
| Abstract: | From the mid-1990s, the federal and state governments began to grant a portion of road infrastructure to the private administration through public-private partnerships under the Rehabilitate-Operate-Transfer model. This economic activity constitutes a taxable event for the collection of the Tax on Services of Any Nature (ISSQN), a tax subject to municipal and Federal District jurisdictions. The municipalities adjacent to the extension of the highway in their territories now have an additional source of income. This work sought to analyze the impacts that this specific collection generates on municipal finances, investigating possible strategic relationships between municipalities and their neighbors. Twenty-nine parametric models were estimated in the functional form of Spatial Durbin, 17 relating to Expenditures and 12 to Public Revenues, using the fiscal data available at Finbra. The results indicate that neighboring municipalities change their expenditures mainly with Education and Culture and Transport. They also modify the composition of their revenues, exempting other ISSQN taxpayers. |
| Keywords: | Road concessions; Spatial econometrics; Public finance; Strategic interactions |
| JEL: | C21 C23 H70 H71 H72 H75 R1 R42 |
| Date: | 2023–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2023wpecon14&r=tre |
| By: | Jason Dunn; Fernando Leibovici |
| Abstract: | Is the recent rise in international shipping costs due to higher demand for goods during COVID-19, or are other disruptions also at play? |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; shipping costs |
| Date: | 2022–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00001:94059&r=tre |
| By: | Arnaud Mertens; Philippe Van Kerm |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of commuting time on absenteeism using a natural experiment. This relationship is notoriously difficult to assess without exogenous shocks to commuting and with the survey data typically exploited. The study uses detailed administrative data for Luxembourg to measure the impact on work absences of a temporary shock to commuting time caused by large-scale roadworks at the border between Belgium and Luxembourg. The roadworks affected the commuting time of cross-border workers from Belgium, leaving cross-border commuters from France as a natural control group in a difference-in-difference setup. The findings reveal a positive -- but quantitatively relatively small -- effect of commuting time on absenteeism, driven mainly by increased absences due to reported illness or family reasons. Male workers appear to respond more than female workers to the shock in commuting time. |
| Keywords: | Absenteeism; Health; Commuting; Cross-border workers; Luxembourg |
| JEL: | J62 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2023-08&r=tre |