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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Theresa Daniel (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Department of Economics); Maximilian Maurice Gail (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Department of Economics); Phil-Adrian Klotz (Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of Germany’s nationwide 9-Euro-Ticket, a temporary almost fare-free transport ticket, on highway passenger traffic. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find a significant reduction of approximately 4.5%, primarily driven by decreased weekend traffic. Event study results also indicate considerable heterogeneity across time, federal states, and road types. A similar but more persistent effect is observed for the Deutschlandticket, the permanent successor to the 9-Euro-Ticket. However, our findings suggest that neither ticket has resulted in a lasting shift from private cars to public transport, especially among commuters. Hence, the overall efficiency of this measure remains uncertain, particularly in view of the high direct costs and the necessary investments required to improve Germany’s rail infrastructure in the near future. |
| Keywords: | Modal Shift, 9-Euro-Ticket, Deutschlandticket, Difference-in-Differences |
| JEL: | R48 R41 L91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:202507 |
| By: | Alice Ciccone; Cloé Garnache; Gøril Louise Andreassen |
| Abstract: | We conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of time- and location-specific, distance-based road pricing on travel behavior and driving externalities. Using financial incentives and a smartphone app that automatically tracks participants' travel behavior across different modes, we find that road pricing reduces driving externalities by 5.3%, implying a price elasticity of -0.07 to -0.15 for the external costs of driving. Our findings suggest that drivers of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are much less responsive to road pricing than drivers of non-BEVs. Furthermore, we find that providing information on the expected benefits of road pricing enhances public support for such policies, whereas experience with road pricing has little impact. |
| Keywords: | road pricing, public support, electric vehicles, driving externalities, field experiment, information provision. |
| JEL: | H23 R41 D83 C93 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11867 |
| By: | Cheng, Ruoran |
| Abstract: | The Great Divergence has arguably been one of the most important debates in the field of economic history over the past two decades. This article contributes to this ongoing discussion from a novel perspective, specifically focusing on transportation conditions. Utilizing travel route books published since 16th century China, I reconstructed the national trade transport network of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th to 19th centuries) and estimated transport costs and speeds in the Yangtze region during the late 17th and 18th centuries. These estimates were then compared with those of England for the same period. The findings reveal that, in the late 17th century, transport costs and speeds in the Yangtze region of China were comparable to those in England. However, a divergence emerged after 1700. This timing of divergence in transportation between the Yangtze region and England supports the strand of literature proposing that The Great Divergence began around 1700. |
| JEL: | N75 N73 O18 R41 |
| Date: | 2024–10–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125855 |
| By: | Lohawala, Nafisa (Resources for the Future); Arshad Rahman, Mohammad |
| Abstract: | The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is considered critical to achieving climate goals, yet it hinges on consumer interest. This study explores how public intent to purchase EVs relates to four unexamined factors (exposure to EV information, perceptions of EVs’ environmental benefits, views on government climate policy, and confidence in future EV infrastructure) while controlling for prior EV ownership, political affiliation, and demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, and geographic location). We use data from three nationally representative opinion polls by the Pew Research Center 2021 2023 and Bayesian techniques to estimate the ordinal probit and ordinal quantile models. Results from ordinal probit show that respondents who are well informed about EVs, perceive them as environmentally beneficial, or are confident in development of charging stations are more likely to express strong purchase interest, with covariate effects (CEs)−a metric rarely reported in EV research−of 10.2, 15.5, and 19.1 percentage points, respectively. In contrast, those skeptical of government climate initiatives are more likely to express no interest, by more than 10 percentage points. Prior EV ownership exhibits the highest CE (19.0–23.1 percentage points), and the impact of most demographic variables is consistent with the literature. The ordinal quantile models demonstrate significant variation in CEs across the distribution of purchase intent, offering insights beyond the ordinal probit model. We are the first to use quantile modeling to reveal how CEs differ significantly throughout the spectrum of purchase intent.Keywords: Decarbonization, electric vehicle, ordinal probit, Pew Research, quantile regression, technology adoption. |
| Date: | 2025–05–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-25-16 |
| By: | César Ducruet; Barbara Polo Martin |
| Abstract: | Based on untapped data on vessel movements and urban population, this paper investigates the changing relationship between ports and cities since the late 19th century. We refer to a number of models in maritime geography and history that converge about port-city spatial and functional disconnection. The principal results show that the average distance between ports and cities doubled over the period, from 4.9 km in 1880 to 10.1 km in 2020. While the correlation between vessel traffic and city size grew since 1880, it declined rapidly from 0.66 in 1946 to 0.33 in 2020. In turn, vessel traffic became more and more correlated with the size of city-regions, of which port and non-port. Such trends are differentiated across regions of the world, due to historical legacies and specific patterns of port hinterlands. |
| Keywords: | globalization; hinterlands; port city; maritime transport; regionalization |
| JEL: | R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2025-25 |
| By: | Fitch-Polse, Dillon T.; Mohiuddin, Hossain; Willett, Dan; Nelson, Trisalyn; Favetti, Matthew; Watkins, Kari |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of active transportation projects in increasing active transportation in California. It also serves to validate the current methods of the California Active Transportation Benefit-Cost Tool. Using count and infrastructure data from the cities of Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, California, with updated models from the California Active Transportation Benefit-Cost Tool, the authors estimated project level changes in active transportation using two methods. The first method uses a direct demand modeled before and after bicycling and pedestrian volumes. The second method is an expected increase in bicycling and pedestrian volumes based on the project parameters and their effect sizes from the academic literature. Results show that, in general, both estimates are closely aligned. However, the results also indicate that for some projects, particularly those projects with greater change in walking and bicycling, the California Active Transportation Benefit-Cost Tool can diverge from the before-after estimate substantially at the project-level. Several suggestions for future research and improvements to the tool are made. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Active transportation, infrastructure evaluation, direct demand models, before and after, benefit-cost tool |
| Date: | 2025–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt6md6b2z4 |
| By: | Garrett, Adair; Amekudzi-Kennedy, Adjo |
| Abstract: | Resilience for rail systems may be defined by the set of system capabilities that enable the continued or improved functionality of rail systems exposed to multiple types of hazards, including extreme weather events. Assessing the resilience of rail systems and making appropriate investments may reduce the impacts of threats to system users and infrastructure. However, no studies found by the authors to date have proposed a comprehensive set of metrics that address all the commonly cited resilience capabilities: robustness, flexibility, preparedness, survivability, recoverability, adaptive capacity, and transformative capacity. Based on a review of studies across freight, intercity passenger, and urban transit rail systems, metrics for resilience are identified, categorized, and analyzed along the disruption and recoverytimeline (from before disruption occurrence to long after system recovery). The intent of reviewing such a diverse set of rail system studies is to find appropriate metrics across different agencies, types of systems, and levels of maturity of the agencies’ resilience-building practices. Building upon the review of rail resilience assessment metrics, this first thrust of this research proposes a rail-specific set of metrics to quantify resilience capabilities along the disruption and recovery timeline. These metrics can highlight what interventions can enhance each resilience capability for improved disruption response. The second thrust of this research applies the multi-capability resilience assessment approach to MARTA. Additionally, although resilience and sustainability assessments may provide advantageous information to decision makers in the rail industry, there is no formalized framework for integrating such assessments in rail practices in the US. The third thrust of this research presents a framework to integrate resilience and sustainability into rail planning and resource allocation decision making. This element supports investments in rail to prepare for extreme events, protect the natural environment, enhance economic competitiveness, and improve quality of life. The study could be useful for agencies looking to assess the sustainability or quantify the resilience of a rail network. More broadly, this study may be of interest to transportation practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders looking to better characterize transportation resilience by considering physical and organizational capabilities. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Rail, Resilience, Metrics, Performance Monitoring |
| Date: | 2025–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt64n2f5zd |
| By: | Hoai Thu Tu Thi (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Gustave Eiffel); Philippe Poinsot (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Gustave Eiffel, EUP - École d'urbanisme de Paris - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12, Université Gustave Eiffel) |
| Abstract: | While the development of urban public transport (UPT) is considered a priority to promote the ecological transition, the Covid-19 health crisis has affected its operation. It results from constraints on supply, made necessary by travel restrictions and limitations on economic activity during periods of confinement. Existing literature has focused mainly on the use of different modes of transport, changes in mobility practices and the way governments managed the crisis. This article focuses instead on the effects of covid-19 on the supply and financing of UPT, and analyses whether this crisis has given rise to new dynamics in the mobility organising authorities (AOMs). Using data from 95 AOMs (i.e. 35% of all AOMs in 2019) and a survey of some 39 AOMs (14%), three main results are established. First, there is a big fall in fare revenue, whatever the category of AOM in France. However, due to the small proportion of UPT funding paid for by users, this decline is easily offset by a variation in the mobility tax (versement mobilité), government subsidies and an increase in the contribution from local authorities. Second, the AOMs seem confident about the funding for prospects, through an expected increase in UPT patronage and a stability, or even an expected dynamic, in the mobility tax in the future. As a result, the health crisis does not seem to have encouraged the AOMs to find new resources to finance the development of their UPT services in the medium-to-long term. Third, and finally, the health crisis has contributed to shift travel policy priorities in the AOMs, in particular when it comes to investment strategies, by raising the importance of developing the use of bicycles. |
| Abstract: | Alors que le développement des transports collectifs urbains (TCU) est considéré comme une priorité pour favoriser la transition écologique, la crise sanitaire de la Covid-19 a affecté leur fonctionnement par des contraintes en matière d'adaptation de l'offre, rendues nécessaires du fait des restrictions de déplacements et des limitations de l'activité économique pendant les périodes de confinement. La littérature existante s'est principalement focalisée sur la fréquentation des différents modes de transports, l'évolution des pratiques de mobilité et la manière dont les gouvernements ont géré cette crise. Cet article s'intéresse plutôt aux effets de la Covid-19 sur l'offre et le financement des TCU et analyse si cette crise a été à l'origine de nouvelles dynamiques d'investissement et une redéfinition des priorités dans les Autorités Organisatrices de la Mobilité (AOM). En mobilisant les données de 95 AOM (35% des AOM en 2019) et d'une enquête auprès de 39 AOM (14%), trois principaux résultats ont été établis. Le premier est la forte diminution des recettes tarifaires, quelles que soient les catégories d'AOM en France. Toutefois, compte tenu de la contribution limitée des usagers au financement des TCU, celles-ci ont pu être facilement compensées par une augmentation du versement mobilité, des aides de l'Etat ou encore par une contribution des collectivités territoriales. Le deuxième résultat est qu'en dépit de la baisse des recettes tarifaires les AOM demeurent assez confiantes dans leur capacité à financer le développement des TCU dans le futur , via notamment une hausse attendue de la fréquentation et une stabilité, voire une dynamique attendue du VM dans le futur. En conséquence, la crise sanitaire ne semble pas avoir incité les AOM à chercher de nouvelles ressources pour le financement du développement de l'offre de TCU à moyen-long terme. Enfin, le troisième résultat est que la crise sanitaire semble avoir incité les AOM à revoir leurs priorités en termes d'investissement, notamment sur le développement de l'usage du vélo. |
| Keywords: | funding, urban public transport, health crisis, ecological transition, financement, transports collectifs urbains, crise sanitaire, transition écologique |
| Date: | 2025–04–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04521269 |