Vedi:
Oliver Lah, Cities as engines for mobility transitions : co-benefits and coalitions as enablers for a low-carbon transport sector. Doctoral Thesis, Technische Universität Berlin, 2019, 186 p. [formato PDF, 6,1 MB]. "The transformation of cities towards sustainable and inclusive development is a key objective of the New Urban Agenda (United Nations 2017). Transport infrastructure is a critical factor in shaping cities, determining the energy intensity of mobility and providing access to essential social and economic opportunities. The sector also plays an important role in global climate change mitigation strategies, as it currently accounts for about 23% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC 2014). There is substantial potential to improve urban access, air quality, safety and the quality of life in cities along with reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions if an integrated policy approach is applied that combines all intervention areas for transport policy and involves all levels of government. A package that achieves low-carbon transport and fosters sustainable developed includes avoided journeys through compact urban design and shifts to more efficient modes of transport, uptake of improved vehicle and engine performance technologies, low-carbon fuels, investments in related infrastructure, and changes in the built environment. From a governance perspective, all relevant political institutions at the local and national level need to be involved in the coalition building along with key societal actors, such as unions, industry and civil society organisations. Bringing the policy objectives of these actors together with an integrated policy package is a vital step towards a low-carbon, sustainable mobility system. Policy design and governance are critically interlinked as the ability of institutions to find a political consensus and to maintain policy stability heavily influences the success of measures to shape the transformation pathway towards sustainable mobility. This thesis aims to analyse these linkages and highlight the role of different policy and governance approaches. This analysis builds on transport and urban development research, but takes a transdisciplinary research perspective, building on the Multi-Level-Perspective on sustainability transitions (Geels 2002) and aims to highlight the potential for a consensus oriented policy approach (Lijphard 1999) that builds on co-benefits among key policy objectives and coalitions among key political actors, which leads to the main question for this thesis and the focus areas for the analysis."
Michiko Namazu, The evolution of carsharing : heterogeneity in adoption and impacts. Ph.D. Thesis, Resource Management and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, March 2017, 153 p. [formato PDF, 3,1 MB]. The focus of this thesis lies on understanding how heterogeneity in carsharing (CS) and members at different stages of its adoption in society shape its impacts on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and car ownership. Past studies have two shortcomings: they do not acknowledge the bias that could arise due to the keen interest of early adopters, and they did not tease out the role of service type in observing outcomes of interest. The serial studies in this thesis found the potential of CS to reduce GHGs and vehicle dependency. However, this does not mean that CS promises to always provide these benefits to everyone. The positive effects found among early adopters do not guarantee that the same effects would be realized among coming adopters especially because early adopters of CS are atypical of the general public in many individual and household characteristics. This is the one of the two primary findings from this thesis: the dynamics of CS service diffusion. As the adoption stage matures, the usage and roles of CS would be changing hence the effects. The second primary finding is the importance of heterogeneity between CS services. Two distinct CS services were found to have different impacts in vehicle ownership change, suggesting that the heterogeneities among CS services affect how the services are utilized; hence what kind of effects the CS services bring to society. Policy makers often generalize various CS services as CS; however, the heterogeneities will need a more careful attention and specifically tailored policies in order to ensure CS impacts continue to align with sound urban transport policy. These dynamic changes will affect how CS services should be maintained. Managing shared properties has been a challenging issue, and this may become even more difficult with more diverse users and CS service models. Active knowledge sharing and collaborations among stakeholders (policy makers, CS providers, and scholars) may be a kay factor to bring further benefits to all. As CS carries the word of "sharing", if these stakeholders could build a better collaborative "sharing" environment, a large part of the potential of CS may be feasible.
Xiao Lin, Future perspective of electric bicycles in sustainable mobility in China. Ph.D. Thesis, Logistics and Operations Management Section of Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, July 2016, 359 p. [formato PDF, 10,9 MB]. The thesis seeks to analyse the electric bicycle (e-bike) transition phenomenon in China by applying the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) Transition Theory and Multi-scalar Perspective MLP. The research is performed with abductive case studies drawn from mixed methods. Firstly, we synthesised secondary data to investigate the e-bike transition at the national level (China) and the city level ("mini" case studies of Beijing and Fuzhou) to explore the research questions of 1) Can socio-technical transition occur without deliberate policy support (RQ1)? 2) How can we explain the rapid emergence and enduring popularity of e-bikes in China (RQ2)? Then we performed exploratory research in Cardiff, UK and Nanjing, China using semi-structured interviews. The interview results are used to help design survey questionnaire in Nanjing case study. It is the key research step and addresses the following research questions: 1) How are e-bikes embedded in the current transport regime (RQ3)? 2) How much longer can e-bikes continue to be embedded in the transport regime (RQ4)? 3) What are the mechanisms underlying the rapid emergence of e-bikes (RQ5)? To analyse the data collected from the survey, Generalised Linear Models and Binomial Generalised Linear Models are adopted to investigate current mode choice behaviour and predict future choice. In the theoretical aspect, the thesis applied the Multi-scalar Perspective MLP, filling the gap that traditional MLP does not take into account geographical, socio-political heterogeneity. In addition, we paid attention to the individual role in travel mode behaviour. From a practical perspective, the thesis uses substantial empirical data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the e-bike transition. We invited various groups in the survey, including e-bike users, bicycle users, car drivers, pedestrians and traffic police. The thesis explores a wide range of influencing factors, such as user anxiety, feelings related to e-bike adoption, e-bike user charging behaviour, other travel mode users and traffic police attitude towards e-bike development which have not been studied in previous e-bike literatures. The main findings are: 1) The fast emergence of e-bikes in China is spontaneous, without direct policy support from governments; 2) E-bike transition in China begins with transformation pathway (P1), followed by de-alignment and re-alignment pathway (P2); 3) E-bike users in China are mainly young career-aged commuters and have a much higher education level than average, which are different from other countries; 4) E-bikes are well embedded in the current transport regime and they are adopted widely in many aspects of people's daily lives, including commuting, going shopping, and collecting children; 5) The underlying reasons for the selection of e-bikes are they provide affordable personal mobility due to the advantages of effort saving, flexible trip times, time saving in traffic jams, and high accessibility, whereas environmental and health factors are negligible; 6) E-bikes are possibly an intermediate mode on Nanjing's motorisation pathway.
Philippe Lebeau, Towards the electrification of city logistics?. Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Business Economics / Doctor in Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Economics, Social and Political Sciences, 21 March 2016, 193 p. [formato PDF, 4,2 MB]. "City logistics is facing an important challenge. It is one of the most polluting segments of the transport sector but policy makers want it to become one of the cleanest in the future. The European Commission, for example, has set the goal of reaching CO 2 free city logistics by 2030. Battery electric vehicles represent in that context a potential solution. They can indeed reduce CO 2 emissions, especially if electricity is generated from renewables. Moreover, they can improve air quality and reduce noise generated by traffic in cities. However their adoption by freight transport operators remains limited despite the recent development of electric vans and trucks on the market. The objective of this thesis is therefore to investigate the feasibility of introducing battery electric vehicles in city logistics. The PhD is structured around three main research questions that address (1) the potential adoption of battery electric vehicles in city logistics, (2) the strategies to reduce or solve their economic and operational constraints and (3) the stakeholders' support regarding a shift from conventional to battery electric vehicles. By tackling these three aspects, the thesis demon- strates that an electrification of city logistics is possible. The different stakeholders of city lo- gistics are indeed found to support that transition. But the adoption of battery electric vehicles remains limited because of their economic and operational constraints. The thesis identifies therefore the different conditions where battery electric vehicles can become profitable for freight transport operators. It recommends also a range of policies that can further stimulate the adoption of battery electric vehicles."
Weifeng Li, Planning for land-use and transportation alternatives : towards household activity-based urban modeling for sustainable futures. Ph.D. Thesis in Urban and Regional Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, February 2015, 158 p. [formato PDF, 14,1 MB]. "Recent research has begun generating a much richer, activity-based behavioral framework to replace the conventional aggregate, four-step approaches. However, to date, the framework remains to be completed, at least enough to provide a robust behavioral foundation that incorporates household long-term behaviors with routine travel and activity patterns. The objective of this research is to explore aspects of activity-based urban modeling that could assist in understanding changing land use and transportation interactions as information technologies enable more complex measurement and modeling, and alter the economics of urban transportation by improving last-mile logistics and facilitating car sharing. The research focuses on specific issues and strategies for developing household, quasi-activity-based, urban modeling prototypes that could simulate the impacts of transport innovations in metropolitan areas. In our implementation and development of the Lisbon model, we started with case 0 first - the four-step travel demand model without considering any land use change. Then given the considerations of data and modeling purpose, what began as a standard version of the UrbanSim model linked to the four-step travel demand model (in Case 1) has evolved into a modified version of the UrbanSim connected to a uniquely formulated tour-based travel model (in Case 2) that not only adjusted the model specification for certain components, but also changed some of the assumptions about household behavior and heterogeneity. The modified UrbanSim model suggests some improvement over the standard version, in differentiating the accessibility for different types of households. However, it is still far from the considerations of household interactions that many planners consider important in the household long-term choices. One key objective of the research is to improve the ability of the models to simulate the impacts of transportation innovations on household-level activity patterns and residential location choice in metro Lisbon. Since transportation innovations and economic restructuring can trigger substantial changes in place/space/household interactions, household-level adjustments can involve changes in car ownership, trip chaining, repackaging of household trips and the like. Therefore, I propose an accessibility indicator that addresses these considerations when evaluating the attractiveness of destinations and modes. The indicators are measured at the household level and facilitate micro-simulation of residential location choice while accounting for household-specific trip chaining, scheduling, and mode choice options. This household quasi-activity- based urban modeling framework (Case 3), represents a progression of behavioral models that capture observably significant behavioral differences in Lisbon. In the simulation experiments, the quasi-household-activity-based urban modeling framework (Case 3) is applied only for two-worker households for which sufficient activity data are available in Lisbon. The quantitative results from simulating the urban development impacts of the proposed policy changes in the Lisbon Metropolitan in next 25 years under Case 0, Case 1, Case 2 and Case 3 demonstrate the progression of experiments with alternative strategies for incorporating key activity-based elements into LUTE models. The main contributions of the dissertation include the development and implementation of quasi-activity-based modeling framework and specific techniques to assess the impacts of transportation innovations and energy and environmental constraints on urban development patterns. This represents an alternative approach to the traditional land use and transportation interaction research and overcomes some major obstacles to model household activity and mobility. It also has significant applications for transportation and urban planning in the information and communication technology (ICT) age. The dissertation demonstrates the use of emerging information technologies, modern federated database management and distributed modeling techniques to facilitate the 'what if' analyses of changing land use and transportation circumstances, induced by the new ICTs in metropolitan areas."
William S. Sierzchula, Development and Early Adoption of Electric Vehicles: Understanding the tempest. Ph.D. Thesis, Delft University of Technology, 19 January 2015, 180 p. [formato PDF, 1,16 MB]. "Electric vehicles are one innovation that could help reduce CO2 emissions from the transportation sector and mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. However, substantial roadblocks to their adoption exist including high purchase cost, lack of charging infrastructure, and long charging time. This thesis explores factors from consumers, government policy and the auto industry which influence electric vehicle development and early adoption. It identifies that although the automotive industry has pursued a strategy of exploring EV opportunities, firms have generally stayed connected to their relative experience bases and business models. This reflects a gradual and measured approach to EV development instead of a more aggressive attitude that would be favoured by startup firms which only produce electric automobiles. Based on the above findings the primary conclusion of this thesis is that a transition to EVs will be slow if it happens at all."
Johannes Hofer, Sustainability Assessment of Passenger Vehicles: Analysis of Past Trends and Future Impacts of Electric Powertrains. Dissertation submitted to ETH-Zürich for the degree of Doctor of Sciences, 2014, 222 p. [formato PDF, 8,38 MB]. "Since 1950 the world's passenger car fleet has grown by about 5 % per year, reaching approximately 870 million vehicles in 2011 and consuming more than 20 million barrels of crude oil per day. Rising transportation demand and dependence on petroleum as its primary energy source will continue to be a major cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) and pollutant emissions leading to global warming, and damages to human health and the ecosystem. In addition, oil's security of supply and price stability are uncertain. For these reasons, several advanced vehicle and fuel technologies are currently being developed with the aim of reducing the environmental impacts of road transport and its dependence on fossil oil. However, these technologies enter the market incrementally and must meet performance, utility, and cost requirements to be accepted by consumers. In Switzerland more than two third of personal mobility is based on gasoline and diesel passenger cars, which contribute a rising share to total Swiss CO2 emissions. A decomposition analysis has been developed and applied to separate the contributions of changes in new vehicle efficiency, mass, and fuel technology to specific CO2 emissions from Swiss new vehicles. The analysis showed that in the past, powertrain efficiency improvements have to a large extent been offset by the increased mass and performance of new vehicles. In the period from 2000 to 2012, potential reductions at constant fleet mass would have been ca. 9 % higher than the actual CO2 emission reduction. The method was furthermore applied to study emissions scenarios showing the conditions under which the regulatory targets for 2015 and beyond can be met. In this thesis an integrated framework to quantitatively assess technical, economic, and environmental criteria of a wide range of conventional and electric powertrains has been developed. Scenarios from today to 2050 are investigated, and various primary energy sources and vehicle configurations are taken into account. The novel analytic modeling methodology developed allows very short calculation time, making it useful for interactive analysis, scenario modeling and fleet simulations; as well as offering new opportunities for sensitivity analysis and optimization. The models developed in this thesis can help to create a fundamental understanding of the complex interactions between different powertrain technologies, vehicle configuration parameters, future developments, and the corresponding impacts on cost and environmental indicators. In order to make the results of this thesis accessible to a broader public, several tools for interactive life cycle assessment, scenario analysis, and multi-criteria decision analysis have been developed and implemented online. Life cycle assessment results show that the environmental impacts of electric vehicles are very dependent on their primary source of energy. If electricity and hydrogen for vehicle propulsion are produced from non-fossil primary energy, life cycle GHG emissions and the related impacts on human and ecosystemhealth, aswell as fossil fuel depletion can be greatly reduced. In general, the costs and environmental impacts fromthe vehicle production phase are higher for electric than conventional vehicle technologies. In particular metal use increases in electric vehicles and the further development should aim at reducing metal resource depletion and improving recycling efficiency. Multi-criteria analysis indicates that there is no single technology which performs best in terms of all relevant criteria at the same time, but that different technologies have tradeoffs relative to each other and can provide advantages depending on the specific usage patterns, e.g. electric relative to conventional vehicles in urban driving conditions, or fuel cell relative to battery electric vehicles in terms range and fueling time. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles appear to be a robust technology considering a broad set of technical, environmental, and economic criteria. A model of the Swiss passenger vehicle fleet has been developed to analyze the implications of various future scenarios of electric vehicle sales, primary energy sources, and overall vehicle use patterns on vehicle stock, energy use, and GHG emissions until 2050. The results show that major drivetrain changes are not yet ready for large scale adoption, and will take a long time to penetrate the fleet against the current dominance of gasoline and diesel powertrains. On a longterm perspective (beyond 2030), electric vehicles offer the potential for large reductions of fleet fuel use and GHG emissions, if electricity and hydrogen are produced from non-fossil primary sources."
Ryan Katz-Rosene, Turbotrain, Zerotrain, Ecotrain: The Ecological Political Economies of High-Speed Rail in Canada. Doctoral Thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 2014, 366 p. [formato PDF, 5,75 MB]. "Since the late 1980s Canadian proponents of high-speed rail (HSR) have increasingly appealed to the technology's sustainability potential to sell the idea to decision-makers. This thesis employs an ecological political economy (EPE) approach to examine this phenomenon. It considers when, how, and why high-speed rail became an ‘ecological fix’ – a neoliberal tactic, employed by states and capitalists in search of profit, wherein innovations are proposed as a means of externalizing and internalizing socio-environmental conditions. It demonstrates how this development in Canada’s HSR story was shaped by the underlying transformation of ‘neoliberalization’, a process which in Canada was largely uneven, often contradictory, and featured various national idiosyncrasies. Three distinct ecological political economic narratives for HSR development are identified – ‘Turbotrain’, ‘Zerotrain’ and ‘Ecotrain’ – and these narratives are shown to have competed with one another for legitimacy since the 1960s, during periods of HSR ‘emergence’, ‘impasse’ and ‘unanswered resurgence’. It is argued that HSR became an ecological fix after proponents repeatedly failed to convince decision-makers to invest in the transport infrastructure, a phenomenon that was backgrounded by ‘roll-out’ forms of neoliberalism and the attendant popularization of eco-modernist beliefs. However, considering Canada’s two proposed HSR projects (in the Quebec City-Windsor and Calgary-Edmonton corridors) from an EPE perspective raises doubts about some of the grand claims and motivations underlying this ecological fix, and identifies a number of unintended impacts which could result from the introduction of HSR as a new mode within Canada’s busiest transport corridors."
Maria Salonen, Analysing spatial accessibility patterns with travel time and distance measures: novel approaches for rural and urban contexts. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland, November 7th, 2014, 58 p. [formato PDF, 11,3 MB]. "Accessibility plays a key role in shaping the patterns of human activity on all spatial scales. Accessibility questions are particularly topical now that cities around the word strive for more sustainable urban mobility and information on human influence on natural systems is needed in order to better understand processes of global environmental change. Following these lines of development, supporting different spatial planning processes with quantitative accessibility information has become increasingly important, and different accessibility analysis methods are actively being developed for this purpose. Furthermore, availability of new types of data and increasing computational power enable novel approaches and a level of detail in analysis that were unfeasible in the past. This thesis addresses accessibility questions through five case studies in two different contexts. Two case studies take place in the rural Peruvian Amazonia (Loreto region) where the extensive river network forms the backbone of regional transportation and people s daily mobility. The other three case studies are conducted in the capital region in Finland (Greater Helsinki), and the focus of these studies is on urban environments. The contribution of my work is both methodological and contextual; I aim at finding novel data sources for spatial accessibility analyses and further developing methods for quantifying accessibility as distances and travel times. On the other hand, I aim at (visually) describing and understanding the spatial patterns of accessibility in my study areas and at analysing and discussing the implications of accessibility for the spatial organisation of land-use and people s daily mobility. My results show that realistic accessibility analyses require a consideration of different travel modes and regionally specific transport network properties. In fluvial transport networks, travel time analysis is particularly sensitive to river channel types, direction of movement and seasonality. In urban settings the door-to-door approach for multimodal travel time calculations gives more realistic results than in-vehicle travel time only, and it also makes the different travel modes mutually comparable. The value of the more advanced quantification methods becomes particularly visible when the results obtained from the accessibility calculations are further applied in new analyses. The use of simple Euclidean distances may, however, be justified in situations where appropriate data for more advanced analysis is lacking, but knowing the limitations and simplifying assumptions of these measures is important when applying them. The key contextual findings of this thesis are based on quantitative descriptions and visualisations of the spatial patterns of accessibility in the case study areas. Quantitative data on accessibility also serve as an input for analyses of human livelihoods (such as modelling of potential production zones for different agricultural produce in Loreto) and land-use pressure (such as Amazonian deforestation modelling). My results furthermore show how accessibility to services and other daily activities is an important factor influencing urban residents travel behaviour and its environmental sustainability in Greater Helsinki. Finally, this thesis provides examples of how different types of data sources and their innovative combinations can be used in accessibility analyses. In the case studies I utilize and thus also introduce freely available computational tools for detailed multimodal travel time analysis."
Patrizia Nobbe, The Politics of Transportation Megaprojects. PhD Dissertation, Graduate Faculty in Political Science, The City University of New York, 2014, 273 p. [formato PDF, 5,41 MB]. "Large infrastructure investment decisions, especially for mega-projects defined as costing more than one billion U.S. dollars, are largely based on complex, unclear and non-transparent decision criteria. The project's specific context and a variety of actors and interests add to the complexity of the decision processes. All projects deviate, to a certain degree from a "rational" decision-making process, are politically motivated and subject to multiple interests. Cost-benefit analyses are conducted for about half of the projects. In this work I hypothesize that the politics of project decision-making is comparable across countries, relative to their nature, form of involvement and impact on decision-making. This dissertation develops a theoretical framework to assess the politics of transportation megaprojects internationally, and then tests it by integrating quantitative and qualitative research methods. I apply the framework to a comparative database composed of transportation megaprojects worldwide as well as to two US based case studies. Using this framework the research yields the following main findings: 1. Any infrastructure investment project is a product of its time. 2. Transportation investment decisions most frequently are about funding. 3. The dwindling role of national governments across the globe in favor of local decision-making shifts project and funding decisions to the local level. 4. Creating broad pro-project coalitions is crucial. Each transportation megaproject is composed of different sets of support and opposition groups. Agency fragmentation and privatization trends further contribute to more complicated decision and funding schemes. 5. National governments disproportionately fund projects that have cost overruns and long implementation times. 6. The nature of transportation agencies matters. Depending on the type (line agencies, special purpose agencies, or single purpose agencies) transportation agencies either contain the inbuilt conflicts of their creators, or they already embody consent for a project. This yields strong impacts on project decision and implementation processes. On the other hand, transportation agencies may act as a potential shield from politics, with the ability to hold and maintain items on a long-term agenda. 7. Generally, national level and grant-funded projects face weaker opposition. Further, opposition and cost overrun are associated."
Paul Schepers, A safer road environment for cyclists. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, 6 december 2013. (SWOV-Dissertatiereeks). PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology, 2013, 205 p. [formato PDF, 4,83 MB]. "This thesis is focused on the question how the road environment (road design and network characteristics) affects road safety for cyclists through effects on risk and exposure to risk. This question is relevant because government agencies in many countries aim to improve road infrastructure safety for cyclists to decrease the substantial health burden due to cyclist injuries. This concerns both collisions with motor vehicles which regularly result in fatal injuries as well as single-bicycle crashes (falls or obstacle collisions) in which many cyclists incur serious injuries. The research questions formulated in this thesis address three main topics. The first subject is about how the road environment affects travel behaviour and exposure. The second is about its effect on crash risk (injury risk is only marginally addressed). The third topic is the relationship between exposure and risk, because both may affect one another."
Matthew W. Heins, The Shipping Container and the Globalization of American Infrastructure. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Architecture) in the University of Michigan, 2013, 318 p. [formato PDF, 7,59 MB]. "Over the past few decades the transportation infrastructure of the United States has been globalized by the shipping container, an object that carries vast amounts of global commerce. Best known for traveling over the ocean, the container’s ability to move in trucking and railroad infrastructures is equally crucial. As its intermodal capability allows for easy transfer between transport modes without its contents being loaded and unloaded, a container is able to follow a global trajectory through the use of multiple infrastructures. Consequently the domestic American transportation system has been integrated into the worldwide network of containerized freight movement. The American trucking and railroad systems have moved containers since the 1920s, and larger modern containers since the 1950s. Paralleling the dramatic rise in global trade, in recent decades the container has been widely carried by these two domestic infrastructures, and has also traveled on inland waterways sporadically. Trucking and railroads have been altered in many ways by containerization, both in terms of the necessary equipment and the routes of movement. Furthermore, the container’s proliferation in the U.S. transportation network has necessitated the development of intermodal terminals, large facilities at key junctions of road and rail where containers are transferred from one transport mode to another. Yet the U.S. national infrastructure has kept many of its longstanding characteristics, for the container does not replace or transform it but rather depends upon it. The container’s impact is substantial and results in some important changes, as American transportation systems must accommodate its physical qualities and other characteristics, but the fundamental nature of domestic infrastructure generally remains in place. In this regard containerization is typical of many processes of globalization, in that change is largely carried out within and through existing frameworks of the nation-state. The way the container impacts American transportation, therefore, is deeply affected by the historical, geographic, social and political realities of the nation and its infrastructure. Globalization is not a top-down transformation in which the worldwide scale inexorably dominates national, regional and local contexts, but rather is a nuanced and contingent process."
Kim, Junghwa, Strategies for Increasing the Acceptability of Sustainable Transport Policies. Dissertation, Kyoto University, 25 Nov 2013, 190 p. [formato PDF, 3,45 MB]. "A number of sustainable transport policies, such as road pricing, have not been implemented due to a lack of public acceptability. The aim of this thesis is therefore to suggest strategies to improve the effectiveness of such policies. Four empirical studies are conducted for this in which the role of government trust, personality traits and education is explored on road pricing as well as environmental taxation. Moreover, the effects of these factors have been compared among samples from Japan, the US and the UK. Environmental taxation is studied because it is considered as an extension of fuel taxes and may thus be viewed as transport pricing. Related to this taxation, environmental concern is suggested as additional psychological determinant to influence public acceptability. The results demonstrate that some personality traits such as arrogance and agreeableness are correlated with acceptability. Based on this, some marketing strategies are suggested for the successful implementation of transport policies, which can be applied without distinction of culture. For long term plans for sustainable policy it is further suggested that the effects of university environmental education on acceptability should be taken more serious."
Michael Hynes, Mobility Matters: Technology, Telework, and the (Un)sustainable Consumption of Distance. Ph.D. Thesis submitted to the School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland, Galway, October 2013, 259 p. [formato PDF, 2,47 MB]. "Anthropogenic climate change and its environmental and social consequences are of increasing concern worldwide. Approaches that advocate a 'greening' of current economic and social systems through technological innovation and development tend to dominate policy responses, particularly in resource-intensive sectors such as transport. Technology is perceived in (over)optimistic terms, with limited evidence of challenges to contemporary growth-centric models of development, production, and consumption that cause climate change, a position that can be labelled as a shallow Ecological Modernisation (EM) approach. Work takes up a considerable portion of people's lives whilst travelling to and from work has become a key feature of everyday mobility in many developed and developing countries. A significant contributor to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, transport in its current form is deemed to be unsustainable. In a European context, telework - an arrangement that enables employees work from home - has been suggested as a virtual mobility option with the potential to reduce the 'consumption of distance' associated with regular commuting. Given its emphasis on the application of technology to solve environmental problems, the uncritical promotion of telework constitutes a prime example of shallow EM thinking. Despite the prominence of EM rhetoric in climate policy and practice, theoretically informed empirical explorations of its implementation and impacts remain incomplete. Drawing on a multi-method investigation of telework in the Republic of Ireland, this research finds current policy thinking and practice amongst decision-makers to be largely reflective of neo-liberal environmentalism, contributing little to curbing the consumerist impulses of contemporary economic models and lifestyles. The environmental benefits of telework are also questioned, as is the rationale for existing teleworking schemes. This research further asserts that actual and potential environmental gains can conflict with potentially negative implications for fairness, equity and well-being, with teleworkers shouldering a substantial social burden arising from technology-aided changes in work practices."
Tironi Martin, La ville comme expérimentation : le cas du Vélib' à Paris. Thèse pour obtenir le grade de docteur délivré par l’École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, Spécialité "Socio-économie de l'innovation", École doctorale n° 396: Économie, Organisations, Société, Doctorat ParisTech, 25 septembre 2013, 467 p. [formato PDF, 5,52 MB]. "Cette thèse examine le processus de déploiement du service Vélib', l'infrastructure de vélos publics de Paris. En se penchant sur les multiples épreuves, pratiques et enquêtes qui rendent possibles le maintien et la permanence de l'infrastructure, elle développe l'argument selon lequel Paris, la première capitale dotée d'une technologie de vélos publics de grande ampleur, est devenu un terrain d'exploration où sont testés des savoirs et instruments relatifs à l'écologie urbaine, les utilisateurs et la mobilité. Il est montré que le devenir expérimental du service n'a jamais constitué une politique explicite, mais qu'il est le résultat de manières concrètes de concevoir et d'affronter les problèmes qui sont apparus. Plutôt que de partir d'une définition préexistante et parfaitement délimitée de ce qu'est l'objet Vélib', cette thèse analyse le dispositif à partir des opérations hétérogènes d'entretien qu'il nécessite, en montrant que chacun de ces arrangements fait agir le service différemment. Cette démarche, qui consiste à étudier le programme de vélos en libre-service en actes, tel qu'il se fabrique dans le travail ordinaire de tous les jours, contribue à ouvrir la voie à un nouveau registre des études sur la mobilité, et à élargir les questions sur les agences, les agencements et les activités qui configurent et fabriquent les infrastructures urbaines. This doctoral dissertation examines the implementation process of the Parisian public bicycle infrastructure, Vélib'. By focusing on the numerous obstacles, practices and inquiries which allowed the infrastructure to be continued, it argues that Paris, as the first capital boasting a large-scale public bicycling scheme, became a real-life field for experimenting knowledge and tools regarding urban ecology, users and mobility. It demonstrates that the experimental development of the service was never an explicit policy, but rather the outcome of the concrete manners of dealing with and solving the problems that arose. Instead of using a preexisting and clear-cut definition of the Vélib' object, this dissertation analyzes the scheme through the different maintenance operations it requires, by showing how each of these interventions makes a difference in the way the service operates. This approach, which involves studying the public bicycling scheme in action, as it is shaped by its daily operations, lays the groundwork for a new angle of mobility studies and for a broader framing of the issue of agency, as well as the agencements and activities which configure and produce urban infrastructure."
Till Koglin, Vélomobility – A critical analysis of planning and space. Doctoral Dissertation, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Technology and Society, Lund University, Sweden, 20th of September 2013, 244 p. [formato PDF, 5,10 MB]. "The purpose of this doctoral study is to bring a spatial dimension into the research on urban mobilities and connect the spatial dimension to the marginalisation of cyclists in urban space. This is been done by exploring the role of urban bicycling and transport planning. The theoretical frame of space, mobilities and power is used for analysing that role through case studies in two Scandinavian cities, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Urban bicycling is a good example of showing the relation between space and mobilities, since cyclists often suffer from marginalised space in cities around the world. The philosophical foundation of the thesis is in critical realism and critical theory. For background data, observations and document studies have been conducted in Stockholm and Copenhagen. The main data collection for this thesis was done both qualitatively, in the form of interviews with planners and politicians, and quantitatively, in the form of survey studies among the citizens of Copenhagen and Stockholm. The data is analysed with the help of the theoretical framework that builds on mobility studies, spatial theory by Lefebvre, and Harvey and power theories deriving mainly from Lukes’ three dimensions of power. The materialisation of power relations is analysed with the example of modern planning in Sweden and Denmark. Overall this thesis manages to show how cycling as a mode of transport is marginalised in urban space, and that urban space wars between cyclists and car drivers and among cyclists are fought in Copenhagen as well as in Stockholm. The conclusion is that different factors, such as the economic situations in Denmark and Sweden, have affected urban and transport planning and thus have created two very different transport systems, where cycling plays a large role (Copenhagen) and a smaller role (Stockholm). Nevertheless, this thesis shows that even in cities that are very good for cycling, like Copenhagen, the motorised modes of transport create many problems and are still dominating urban space."
David Rojas Rueda, Transportation, Air Pollution And Physical ActivitieS ; an integrated health risk assessment programme of climate change and urban policies (TAPAS). Tesi Doctoral UPF, Departament de Ciencies Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, 24-05-2013, 178 p. [formato PDF, 5,91 MB]. "Introduction: Interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change can involve co-benefits of health, with special active transportation policies (including walking, cycling and travelling by public transport) having the potential to provide both co-benefits to environmental and public health. Methods: A health impact assessment approach has been performed using a quantitative model for estimating the health impacts of different active transportation policies in urban areas. Result: We have quantified the impacts of two risk factors, air pollution and traffic accidents, as well as the protective effect of physical activity. In total, the benefits of physical activity exceed the risks associated with active transport policies. Conclusions: Active transportation policies can produce substantial benefits for public health, which are mainly associated with increased levels of physical activity."
Marta Olabarria Sáenz de Viguera, Walking for transportation. Estudio de los factores individuales y contextuales que influyen en el caminar como medio de transporte y de sus implicaciones en salud. Tesi Doctoral UPF, Departament de Ciencies Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, 08-05-2013, 160 p. [formato PDF, 3,95 MB]. "Walking for transportation is a moderate, routinely and daily integrated physical activity that could became a tool to decrease the current sedentarism of the population. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the potential in health of walking for transportation as a source of physical activity, and to study the individual and contextual factors that influence on the decision of walking for transport. Three studies were carried out. The first used the Barcelona Health Survey (ESB2011) to study the relationship between daily mobility and overweight or obesity; the second used the Cataluña Mobility Survey (EMQ2006) to estimate the economical benefits derived from the substitution of short duration motorized trips by walking. The third study, using again the Cataluña Mobility Survey (EMQ2006), looked at the influence of environmental factors on walking behavior. This thesis consists of three scientific papers included in the main section, and another original paper, included in the annex section, which analyzes the specific relationship between gender and mobility. The studies included in this thesis suggest that concrete behavioral changes on mobility in inactive populations could lead to several health benefits, and could also derive on economical benefits. In addition, population groups and environmental factors susceptible to intervention have been identified."
Syed Fatimah Binti Kamal Batcha, Understanding the Governance of Reforms to Urban Transport in Developing Cities. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Leeds, Institute for Transport Studies, May 2013, 332 p. [formato PDF, 2,98 MB]. "Numerous international development agencies and researchers advocate the use of dedicated transport authorities in urban areas as a means for strengthening the institutional frameworks needed to improve transport services in cities. While such bodies are widespread in developed countries, little is known about the benefits and drawbacks of their use in developing Asian cities. The very different institutional contexts into which such management would be integrated raise some interesting questions as to how effective such models could be in these cities. This thesis examines two transport authorities that have been created to improve the coordination of urban transport in the Asian region – the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) in Malaysia, and the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) in Bangalore, India. The aim is to explore the motivations underpinning the reforms and the creation of these two bodies, as well as to understand how the reforms have subsequently unfolded in terms of their implementation, these agencies’ abilities to implement their plans, the outcomes they have achieved and the problems they experience. This research utilises a qualitative approach to undertake a cross-national case study through semi-structured interviews of stakeholders in the urban transport sector, including civil servants, politicians, private sector workers and academics. The data from these interviews was augmented by assessment of written materials. The findings show how the creation and empowerment of SPAD and the BMLTA have been influenced by contextual factors and constraints that arose during their implementation. These findings also provide insights into factors that determine the performance of these authorities. The creation of SPAD and BMLTA which aimed to change the way urban transport was governed in their contexts, has only provided a partial degree of success. The reforms have been successful in Malaysia to a certain extent as it has a clear operational mandate. By contrast, in Bangalore, the reforms have achieved only weak coordination. The reforms were dominated by the existing institutional landscape and power struggles. With strong political leadership, some aspects of this can be overcome, but not to the extent that these bodies have control over the range of policy tools needed to deliver a truly integrated transport strategies."
Eva Valeri, Air and rail transport in the Rome-Milan corridor: competition policy implications based on a discrete choice analysis. Doctoral Thesis, Dottorato di ricerca in scienze integrate della sostenibilità territoriale, Università degli studi di Trieste, a.a. 2011/2012, 222 p. [formato PDF, 6,63 MB]. "In recent years in Europe the liberalization and privatization processes of the most important transport companies have introduced strong competition elements in traditionally characterized sectors by monopolistic structures and by a strong presence of public ownership. At the same time, a considerable increase of the Antitrust Authorities’ efforts were carried out in order to encourage an effective liberalization of the transport markets. The European Commission has always paid a lot of attention to the Ro-Mi corridor in several commissioned studies. However, these studied are not updated or based on qualitative analysis or do not clearly show the methodology used. The Ro-Mi corridor connects the two most populated and multi-airport cities with especially business passengers. Moreover, the Italian Antitrust Authority has also paid particular attention to this corridor. In fact, recently, an important assessment on the transport substitutability for the Ro-Mi corridor has been formulated, not recognizing the substitutability between air and HSR transport in the Rome-Milan corridor. The Ro-Mi case study is particularly interesting not only for the features of these two cities but also for the recent dynamics observed in both passenger transport markets (e.g. Alitalia-AirOne merger, market entry of Ryanair, market entry of a private HSR operator -NTV-, market entry of Easyjet etc.). The main purpose of this research is to develop choice models to test the travel preferences and competition in the Ro-Mi corridor and simulate operators’ reactions to different and potential policy changes. List of the main research questions: 1) Which attributes are important for the Ro-Mi passengers’ mode choice?; 2) Which are the value of time measures for different types of passengers?; 3) Which are the own and cross-point elasticities of mode choice probabilities?; 4) Which are the market shares in the Ro-Mi corridor? Which are the Ro-Mi passengers’ reactions to hypothetical policy changes?; 5) It is possible to create a Decision Support System to evaluate policy changes?; and, 6) Is there substitutability between Ro-Mi transport operators?".
Chantal C. Cantarelli, Cost Overruns in Large-Scale Transport Infrastructure Projects. A theoretical and empirical exploration for the Netherlands and worldwide. PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology, 28 November 2011, 198 p. [formato PDF, 2,98 MB]. "In the Netherlands, the costs of railroad infrastructure construction work out 11 per cent higher than forecast; the percentage for roads is 19 and 22 for bridges and tunnels. While this puts the Netherlands in a favourable light compared to other countries, the actual cost overruns are probably far higher, believes Chantal Cantarelli, who obtained her doctorate on this subject from TU Delft on Monday, 28 November. International research into cost overruns among 258 large-scale transport infrastructure projects has shown that roads generally turn out to be 20 per cent more expensive, bridges and tunnels 34 per cent and railroads 45 per cent. ‘But what about the Netherlands?’, TU Delft PhD student Chantal Cantarelli asked herself. From her study of the situation in the Netherlands, it appeared that the costs were higher than predicted in more than half the projects involving roads, bridges, tunnels and railroads. Cost overruns occur less frequently than abroad and they are also smaller in extent. Railroads usually turn out 11 per cent more expensive, roads 19 per cent and bridges and tunnels 22 per cent. Worldwide, however, the cost overruns involved in constructing railroads are higher than in the case of roads. Another notable fact is that the greatest cost increases take place in the phase prior to construction and not during construction itself. However, it would be a mistake to conclude that cost overruns aren't that much of a problem in the Netherlands, warns Cantarelli. Overruns are, she points out, often based on a comparison between the costs upon final delivery and the costs estimated at the time the formal decision was taken. But politicians have often made an informal decision at a much earlier stage. This phenomenon is known as lock-in. The estimates at the time of the unofficial decision are often much lower. Cantarelli examined this effect in relation to two Dutch projects, the Betuweroute (a 160 km long double-track railway from the port of Rotterdam to the German border) and the HSL-Zuid (a 125 km long high speed rail line between the Netherlands and the Belgian border). It transpired that politicians had in fact committed themselves to the project four years prior to the moment the formal decision was taken. If one calculates the cost overruns on the basis of the underestimated costs at the time of the informal decision, the costs for the Betuweroute and HSL-Zuid work out as three to four times higher. Cost overruns are therefore presumably far higher than is actually known. According to Cantarelli, it is a matter for concern that cost estimates have not improved in the last twenty years. As estimation methods have certainly improved, there have to be other reasons for systematic overruns. Cantarelli concludes that to improve cost forecasts, another cost methodology should be applied in addition. The method Reference Class Forecasting is particularly suitable for this purpose. On the basis of this methodology, estimates are calculated by comparing the actual costs and cost overruns of similar realised projects. This helps to avoid overly optimistic estimates. But strategic behaviour on the part of parties, in the form of deliberately estimating lower costs, may also play a role. The rules of play should change in order to make it harder for interested parties to exhibit such behaviour. In this regard, it is also important that responsibility for future cost overruns should be borne by those drawing up the estimates."
Eleonora Morganti, Urban food planning, city logistics and sustainability: the role of the wholesale produce market. The cases of Parma and Bologna food hubs. Doctoral Thesis, Dottorato di ricerca in Cooperazione internazionale e politiche per lo sviluppo sostenibile, 23 Ciclo, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 22 luglio 2011, 106 p. [formato PDF, 3,28 MB]. "At global level, the population is increasingly concentrating in the cities. In Europe, around 75% of the population lives in urban areas and, according to the European Environmental Agency (2010), urban population is foreseen to increase up to 80 % by 2020. At the same time, the quality of life in the cities is declining and urban pollution keeps increasing in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, waste, noise, and lack of greenery. Many of European cities struggle to cope with social, economic and environmental problems resulting from pressures such as overcrowding or decline, social inequity, health problems related to food security and pollution. Nowadays local authorities try to solve these problems related to the environmental sustainability through various urban logistics measures, which directly and indirectly affect the urban food supply system, thus an integrated approach including freight transport and food provisioning policies issues is needed. This research centres on the urban food transport system and its impact on the city environmental sustainability. The main question that drives the research analysis is "How the urban food distribution system affects the ecological sustainability in modern cities?" The research analyses the city logistics project for food transport implemented in Parma, Italy, by the wholesale produce market. The case study investigates the renewed role of the wholesale market in the urban food supply chain as commercial and logistic operator, referring to the concept of food hub. Then, a preliminary analysis on the urban food transport for the city of Bologna is presented. The research aims at suggesting a methodological framework to estimate the urban food demand, the urban food supply and to assess the urban food transport performance, in order to identify external costs indicators that help policymakers in evaluating the environmental sustainability of different logistics measures."
Dawn Louise Robins, Evaluating the long term impacts of transport policy: the case of passenger rail privatisation in Great Britain. Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southampton, May 2011, 247 p. [formato PDF, 4,23 MB]. "Britain’s national rail system was ‘privatised’ as a result of the 1993 Railways Act, with most of the organisational and ownership changes implemented by 1997. This thesis examines the long term impacts of the privatisation initiative on the passenger rail service. A key issue when examining long term changes is that of the counterfactual – what would have happened if the changes had not occurred? A simple econometric model of the demand for passenger rail services was developed and used in conjunction with extrapolative methods for key variables such as fares, train kms and GDP to determine demand-side counterfactuals. Extrapolative methods were also used to determine counterfactual infrastructure and train operation costs. Although since privatisation rail demand has grown strongly, the analysis indicates that transitional disruptions suppressed demand by around 4% over a prolonged period (1994/95 to 2005/6), whilst the Hatfield accident reduced demand by about 5%, albeit over a short period (2000/1 to 2005/6). A welfare analysis indicates that although consumers gained as a result of privatisation, for most years this has been offset by increases in costs. An exception is provided by the two years immediately before the Hatfield accident. Overall the loss in welfare since the reforms were introduced far exceeds the net receipts from the sale of rail businesses. It is found that although the reforms have had advantages in terms of lower fares and better service levels than otherwise would have been the case, this has been offset by adverse transitional effects and high costs, which in turn may be linked with higher transaction costs."
Florian Vanco, Formes urbaines et durabilité du système de transports. Une approche par les coûts de la mobilité urbaine des ménages sur l’agglomération lyonnaise. (Urban forms and sustainability of transport system. An application to household urban mobility costs within Lyon city). Thèse de doctorat en Sciences Economiques, Université Lumière Lyon 2, 14/4/2011, 395 p. [formato PDF, 4,35 MB] "L'objectif de cette thèse est de faire ressortir et d'analyser les facteurs liés à l'organisation spatiale de la population et des activités susceptibles de produire une mobilité plus durable. Sur la base du constat que le système de transports n'est pas durable, nous effectuons une approche par les coûts de la mobilité à partir de trois indicateurs représentatifs de la durabilité de la mobilité des ménages : les coûts annuels de la mobilité urbaine des ménages, le taux d'effort annuel consacré par les ménages pour leurs dépenses de transports et leurs émissions annuelles de CO2. Le lien entre forme urbaine et mobilité n'est pas simple. Il s'agit d'un lien de réciprocité complexe à définir. Les travaux montrent que trois dimensions de l'environnement local jouent au final sur la mobilité des ménages : la densité, la diversité et l'accessibilité. La démarche consiste à confronter les facteurs supposés explicatifs des indicateurs de durabilité de la mobilité des ménages et de déterminer quelle est la part expliquée par la forme urbaine. Sur le périmètre élargi de l'enquête ménages de Lyon (2006), notre approche par les coûts de la mobilité des ménages permet une approche des inégalités sur le plan financier. Par ailleurs, une simulation sur l'évolution des prix du carburant montre que les classes moyennes seront de plus en plus concernées par l'augmentation continue des prix du pétrole à l'avenir. Afin de déterminer la part des coûts de la mobilité expliquée par la forme urbaine, nous bâtissons des modèles explicatifs au niveau du ménage en y intégrant des variables de forme urbaine et des variables socio-économiques du ménage. L'analyse met aussi en évidence l'influence des pôles secondaires sur la vulnérabilité des ménages et les coûts de la mobilité. Les modèles par type de ménages montrent enfin que les effets de la forme urbaine sont différenciés suivant les types de ménage. Il est également intéressant de mesurer les économies générées par des changements marginaux de forme urbaine. Nous bâtissons pour cela des modèles économétriques à un niveau plus agrégé permettant le calcul de coefficients d'élasticité. En outre nous pouvons estimer en termes économiques les gains espérés suite à des changements de forme urbaine." "The aim of this thesis is to highlight and analyze the factors related to the spatial organization of the population and the economic activities which may produce a more sustainable mobility. By considering that the transport system is not sustainable, we measure mobility costs thanks to three indicators which represent the sustainability of household mobility: the annual costs of household urban mobility, the annual effort rate devoted by households to their transportation expenditures and the annual CO2 emissions. The link between urban form and mobility is not straightforward. Actually, it is a complex reciprocal link to be defined. The literature shows that three dimensions of local environment finally influence household mobility: density, diversity and accessibility. The method consists on confronting the factors alleged to explain the indicators of the sustainability of household mobility and on determining which part is explained by urban form. On the enlarged perimeter of the household travel survey of Lyon (2006), our approach based on household mobility costs enables, moreover, an approach to financial inequalities and introducing the notion of household vulnerability facing their transportation costs. In order to determine the share of mobility costs explained by urban form, we build some explanatory models, at the household level, by integrating urban form and socio-economic household variables. Especially the analysis focuses on the influence of secondary urban poles on the household vulnerability and mobility costs. Some explanatory models by household types show also that the effects of urban form are differentiated according to household categories. It is also interesting to measure the savings generated by marginal changes of urban form. To do that, we build some econometric models in a more aggregated level which allows computing elasticity coefficients. Thus, we can estimate, in economic terms, the expected savings that are triggered by urban form changes."
Jeong-hwa An, Le choix d'un système de transport durable: analyse comparative des systèmes de transport guidé de surface. Thèse de doctorat de l'Université Paris-Est, École doctorale VTT, 11 avril 2011, 364 p. [formato PDF, 6,53 MB] "Le choix d'un système de transport guidé de surface exploité en site propre (TCSP) est un travail complexe et difficile. Les différents systèmes peuvent sembler offrir des services équivalents pour les utilisateurs tandis que manquent souvent les informations nécessaires pour mieux distinguer les différences entre tel ou tel système. L'objectif de cette recherche vise, au-delà d'une présentation des différents systèmes guidés de surface qui structurent les réseaux de transport public en France, à procéder à une analyse comparative afin de mieux guider les choix des collectivités territoriales, dans le contexte des efforts qu'elles conduisent pour promouvoir des transports urbains répondant aux enjeux du développement durable. Les avantages et points faibles de chaque système est analysé et présenté de manière désagrégé. De manière complémentaire, est proposée et discutée une méthode multicritère ELECTRE III permettant d'agréger les résultats obtenus et de proposer le (ou les) système(s) le(s) mieux adapté(s) à différents contextes d'exploitation. Le résultat principal met en évidence le fait que le tramway moderne sur fer occupe une place privilégiée dans la majorité des scenarii. Cependant, le CIVIS, le Translohr, TVR et même le trolleybus ont leur place selon le contexte d'exploitation, dès lors en particulier que sont pris en compte les coûts d'infrastructure et d'exploitation associés. Les résultats de cette recherche nous encouragent en outre à recommander, chaque fois qu'il y a un projet de système de transport de surface, de passer en revue la gamme des systèmes et d'effectuer l'analyse comparative avec les différentes contraintes du lieu et du moment, en y intégrant une vision de moyen et long terme et les effets prévisibles sur l'aménagement urbain."
Hulda Winnes, Air Pollution from Ships. Emission Measurements and Impact Assessments, Doctoral thesis, Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, 2010, 92 p. [formato PDF, 686 kB]. "Environmental impact and air pollution from ships have received increasing attention the last decades. Due to combustion characteristics of typical marine engines and a wide spread use of unrefined fuel, the global fleet emits significant amounts of SO2, NOX and particles to air. Impact assessments and information on emitted amounts are important inputs to decision-making in regulation development and also for ship designers who aim at environmentally improved designs. In order to assess the impacts caused by ship emissions to air, information on ships’ activities in an area or the corresponding fuel use is essential. In combination with an emission factor that state the mass of an emitted pollutant related to either the work produced by ship engines or the mass of combusted fuel, the total emitted mass of a pollutant is established. Ship engines are diverse and the emission factors are insufficiently quantified for certain operational modes and specific pollutants which makes assessments difficult. Measurements on-board ships were thus conducted in order to determine emission characteristics during manoeuvring periods and for engines operating on fuels of different qualities. The measurement studies comprised three engines and focussed on emissions of particles and NOX. Elevated levels of numbers of small particles (0.30-0.40µm) were observed during manoeuvring periods and from combustion of marine distillate oils. Sizes <0.30µm were not covered by the study. The size distribution of particles is potentially important in impact assessments since there are indications that fine and ultrafine particles are associated with higher health risks than coarse particles. The particle mass was reduced by half from a shift from a heavy fuel oil with 1.6% sulphur content to a marine gasoil with 0.03% sulphur. The results from the impact assessments point in favour of the abatement technologies selective catalytic reduction (SCR), shore side electricity (SSE) connection and the use of fuel with low sulphur content in a local and regional cost benefit perspective. The SSE seemed beneficial also from a shipowner perspective. SCR was also analysed in a life cycle perspective and it was concluded there were overall benefits from its use for all impact categories except global warming."
Nam Seok Kim, Intermodal Freight Transport on the Right Track? Environmental and economic performances and their trade-off. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, 2 december 2010. PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology, 2010, 208 p. [formato PDF, 3,77 MB]. (TRAIL Thesis Series nr. T2010/11, The Netherlands TRAIL Research School). "This dissertation aims to evaluate environmental and economic performances of an intermodal freight transport system and to estimate the trade-off between CO2 emissions, wich is epresented as an indicator of environmental performance, and freight costs, which ndicate the economic performance of the intermodal freight system. The truck-only system is always regarded as the counterpart of the intermodal freight system in this dissertation. To examine the environmental performance of the intermodal freight system, CO2 emissions generated from all the processes in the intermodal chain, such as pre- and post-haulage, long distance haulage, and transshipment, are estimated considering different sources that generate electricity and transmission loss of electricity (Chapters 3 and 4). To examine the economic performance of the system, two approaches are considered: (1) finding the intermodal breakeven distance for which the intermodal system is more competitive than the truck-only system (Chapter 5); (2) examining the economies of scale in the intermodal network and finding the route/system choice that minimizes the total freight transportation costs (Chapter 6). Finally, this dissertation attempts to find the trade-off between CO2 emissions (representing the environmental performance) and freight transportation cost (representing the economic performance) (Chapter 7)."
An Karis, Simulation and optimisation of intermodal barge transport networks, Doctoral thesis, Transportation Research Institute, Universiteit Hasselt, 2010, 245 p. [formato PDF, 1,35 MB].
Saskia van der Loo, Transport Infrastructure: Pricing and Investment Issues, Doctoral thesis, Faculteit Economie en Bedrijfswetenschappen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2010, 144 p. [formato PDF, 5,20 MB]. "In this paper we have analyzed alternative pricing and tolling scenarios for the case where the foreseen Oosterweeljunction is build and is not build. We start with a reference scenario where the existing capacity is not efficiently used because one tunnel (LFK) is tolled and the other (KEN) is not. The tolling scenarios that manage to improve the use of the existing tunnel capacities perform best in overall welfare terms. A simple scenario that abolishes the tolls on the use of the LFK can generate an important welfare gain of more than 600 discounted million euro. More complex scenarios can do better and there also exist scenarios that increase welfare and increase overall toll revenues. The scenarios with Oosterweelbridge generate in general a negative welfare outcome. The only scenario that generates a small welfare increase is a scenario that contains relatively low tolls on all the three tunnels. The main reason why the Oosterweelbridge perfoms not well in welfare terms is that by using better the existing capacity, one avoids important investment costs. Whenever, as is the case with most investment projects, the investment cost turns out to be larger than foreseen, our conclusion is re-inforced. The transport project analysed in the paper is not a stand alone case: large transport investments that, from an economic view point, do not make sense are common. In a recent study of 22 large European transport projects (the TEN-projects) it turned out that for more than half of the projects, the costs exceeded by far the benefits (Proost et. al. (2010)). Among them are the Brenner tunnel connecting Austria to Italy, the Messina bridge in Italy and the Betuwelijn in the Netherlands. In most cases the existing capacity (existing railways, canals, competing tunnels, efficient ferry services,. . . ) was sufficient but overlooked. It is clear that the choice of the projects were not a result of careful analyses but rather the result of regional lobbying. In cases where politicians can achieve large investments in their region with federal tax money a double check of the costs and benefits related to the projects as performed in this paper for the OWV can be very useful."
Steve Melia, Potential for Carfree Development in the UK, PhD Thesis, Faculty of Environment and Technology, the University of the West of England, Bristol, December 2009, 282 p. [formato Word, 11,2 MB]. "Rising car ownership and use has been associated with: pollution, resource depletion, waste of land, social exclusion and health problems. Carfree development is a relatively recent response to these problems in urban areas. There are several examples in continental Europe, but examples in the UK have been few and small in scale. This study aims to explore the feasibility of carfree development in the UK, focussing on the following research questions: 1. What types of existing developments can be defined as 'carfree'? 2. Amongst which groups (if any) is potential demand for housing in carfree developments likely to be found? 3. What are the distinguishing characteristics of these groups? 4. What circumstances would promote or discourage potential demand? The first question was addressed through a review of the literature and five study visits to European carfree developments. Three types of carfree development were identified and three defining characteristics: traffic-free environments, design for non-car travel and limited separated parking. To address the remaining questions, from the literature, two target groups were hypothesised to be most likely to move to a carfree development: Carfree Choosers, who live without a car by choice, and Carfree Possibles, car owners willing to give up car ownership under certain circumstances. This hypothesis was tested through: an online survey of members of environmental and cycling organisations, a random postal survey in Camden, London, and a household survey of Poole Quarter, a 'low car' development in Dorset. A subsample of 35 respondents were interviewed by telephone later. The questionnaire analysis broadly supported the hypothesis for both target groups. The interviews cast doubt on some of the declarations of the Carfree Possibles but supported those of the Carfree Choosers who were judged most likely to provide the early adopters of carfree housing. The Carfree Choosers were the 'most urban' group in locations, behaviour and preferences. The findings confirm that potential demand exists for carfree developments, mainly concentrated in the inner areas of larger cities, where the most suitable sites can also be found. The thesis concludes with recommendations for Government policy to encourage carfree developments."
Rob Konings, Intermodal Barge Transport: Network Design, Nodes and Competitiveness, PhD Thesis, Technische Universiteit Delft, (TRAIL Thesis Series nr. T2009/11), November 2009, 236 p. [formato PDF, 6,49 MB]. "This thesis addresses the more prominent role that inland waterway transport could play in accommodating surface transport."
Olaf Erik Jonkeren, Adaptation to Climate Change in Inland Waterway Transport. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor an de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 29 oktober 2009. PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Oktober 2009, 164 p. [formato PDF, 2,20 MB]. "Knowledge about the implications of climate change on the economy is highly important for national and international governments as these implications may be far reaching. One of the economic sectors that is thought to be sensitive to climate circumstances is the transport sector and the inland waterway transport sector in particular. It is likely that climate change will affect the navigability of the inland wate rways. For North West Europe, it is expected that in winter the occurrence of high water levels will be more frequent, while in summer an increase in the number of days with low water levels is probable. This dissertation focuses on the effect of low water levels on inland waterway transport prices and how the inland waterway transport market adapts to low water levels. We find that transport prices rise substantially in periods with low water levels, leading to welfare losses. We also find that the extent to which the transport price rises is sensitive to imbalances in trade flows. Transport flows in North West Europe seem to adapt to the increase in inland waterway transport prices due to low water levels: a small part of the inland waterway cargo is shifted to competing transport modes, road and rail. We do not find that the inland ships’ navigation speed reacts to higher transport prices."
Virginie Chiron-Augereau, Du transport de marchandises en ville à la logistique urbaine, quels rôles pour un opérateur de transports publics urbains ? L'exemple de la RATP. Thèse doctorale soutenue au Laboratoire Ville Mobilité Transport. Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, 15 septembre 2009, 452 p. [formato PDF, 9,96 MB]. "En conclusion, cette recherche a tout d'abord permis de déterminer quels sont les rôles des OTPU en matière de transport de marchandises en ville et de logistique urbaine. Le premier rôle tient à leur position d'acteurs urbains, c'est à ce titre qu'ils participent aux instances de concertation sur les déplacements urbains ou qu'ils jouent un rôle d'expert en aménagement. Le second rôle est lié à celui d'exploitant, l'opérateur est impliqué dans la distribution urbaine quand celle-ci est en contact direct avec ses réseaux. Enfin, l’OTPU est dans certains cas lui-même prestataire de transport de marchandises. De plus, nous avons pu conclure que dans le cas où les OTPU souhaiteraient s'engager plus avant sur ces questions, cela ne se fera pas dans un objectif de se substituer aux acteurs traditionnels mais de proposer des services complémentaires. Quant à la RATP, son implication semble limitée par son statut et par ses difficultés à assurer la continuité de certains de ses positionnements stratégiques."
Lisa Sutto, Le rôle de l'expertise économique dans l'élaboration des politiques alpines de transport et du projet Lyon-Turin: vers l'émergence d'un espace alpin?. Thèse en cotutelle pour l'obtention d'un Doctorat de Sciences Économiques et de Gestion Mention Économie des Transports et d'un Dottorato in Pianificazione Urbanistica, Territoriale e Ambientale, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Politecnico di Milano, 4 février 2009, 492 p. [formato PDF, 4,66 MB]. "Le contexte du transport de marchandises en transit à travers les Alpes est d'abord marqué par plusieurs décennies de croissance importante des flux. Cette croissance est cependant inégale dans le temps et selon les passages considérés. Un second élément de contexte tient à la fragilité particulière des territoires alpins vis-à-vis des impacts de la circulation : plus qu'ailleurs, on y constate une montée des préoccupations environnementales. Cette thèse vise à comprendre l'élaboration des politiques publiques de transport concernant le trafic transalpin. Elle s'attache d'abord à évaluer la mesure dans laquelle ce processus d'élaboration participe de l'émergence d'un espace géopolitique alpin. Elle cherche ensuite à préciser le rôle des outils technico-économique au sein de ce processus. La question sera abordée à deux échelles différentes, à travers deux études de cas : - une histoire de l'évolution des objectifs assignés au projet Lyon-Turin depuis sa naissance ; - une analyse des dispositifs de la concertation autour des questions de transport menée à l'échelle de l'arc alpin dans son ensemble. Un premier résultat apparait sous la forme d'une « alpinisation » progressive de la question du transit alpin. Elle se traduit en premier lieu par une représentation de l'arc alpin comme un système de passages interconnectés et, en second lieu, par la mise en place de structures de concertation rassemblant les acteurs concernés à l'échelle du massif. Un second ensemble de résultats montre d'abord comment les outils technico-économiques utilisés et leurs usages sont complètement insérés dans ce processus d' « alpinisation ». Il fait apparaitre ensuite le glissement d'un usage déterministe de ces outils, où les résultats ont davantage vocation à justifier des décisions antérieures à un usage procédural, où les outils sont utilisés de façon de plus en plus partagée par les différents acteurs, pour simuler les différentes options politiques et participer à l'élaboration de mesures précises."
Nadine Roth, Wirkungen des Mobility Pricing, Dissertation, Fachbereich Bauingenieurwesen und Geodäsie der Technischen Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Verkehr , 2009, 385 p. [formato PDF, 5,08 MB]. "Mobility Pricing umfasst die Gesamtheit aller Instrumente, durch die der Nutzer für seine mögliche oder realisierte räumliche Mobilität im Personen- und Güterverkehr zahlen muss. Neben zahlreichen bekannten Instrumenten des Mobility Pricing (z. B. Tarife im Öffentlichen Personennahverkehr (ÖPNV) oder Parkgebühren) lassen sich immer öfter neue Ansätze der Bepreisung von Mobilität finden. City-Maut-Systeme, wie in London oder Stockholm eingeführt, oder Konzepte zur flächendeckenden Mauterhebung, wie z. B. in den Niederlanden geplant, finden international große Aufmerksamkeit und stoßen nun auch in Deutschland eine intensivere Diskussion von Chancen und Risiken dieser Instrumente an. Zur Unterstützung dieser Auseinandersetzung mit teilweise neuen Themenfeldern untersucht diese Forschungsarbeit, basierend auf Literaturrecherchen und der Betrachtung aktueller Anwendungsfälle von Bepreisung im Bereich der Mobilität, die Wirkungen und Anforderungen verschiedener Instrumente des Mobility Pricing. Die dieser Arbeit zugrundeliegenden Forschungsprojekte wurden von der ivm GmbH (Integriertes Verkehrs- und Mobiliätsmanagement Region Frankfurt RheinMain) sowie dem Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung gefördert. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert und definiert die Ziele des Mobility Pricing. Diese liegen bei einer Einführung oder Anpassung von Instrumenten des Mobility Pricing im Wesentlichen in den Bereichen Verkehrsmanagement und Finanzierung. Die Frage der Akzeptanz spielt dabei in beiden Bereichen eine Rolle. Unabhängig davon, mit welcher Intention ein Instrument eingeführt wird, wirkt es letztlich aber immer in beiden Bereichen. Die strategischen Ziele des Verkehrsmanagements liegen in der Befriedigung der Mobilitätsbedürfnisse, der Erhöhung der Verkehrssicherheit, der Verbesserung der Wirtschaftlichkeit sowie in der Schonung natürlicher Ressourcen und der Reduzierung der Umweltbelastung. Aus operativer Sicht lässt sich der Zielbereich Verkehrsmanagement in Verkehrsvermeidung, Verkehrsverlagerung (zeitlich, räumlich, modal) und Verkehrslenkung (Routenwahl, Produktwahl) gliedern. Der vorliegende Bericht konzentriert sich auf die Bereiche Verkehrsmanagement und Akzeptanz. Der Bereich Finanzierung steht ungeachtet seiner unbestritten hohen Bedeutung nicht im Zentrum der folgenden Betrachtungen. In dieser Arbeit wird erstmals eine umfassende Kategorisierung der Instrumente des Mobility Pricing vorgenommen. Dass es trotz geläufiger gleicher Bezeichnung doch wesentliche Unterschiede zwischen den angewandten Instrumenten geben kann, zeigt sich am Begriff „City-Maut“. Dieses Instrument führte z. B. die Stadt London im Jahr 2003 unter der Bezeichnung „Congestion Charge“ ein, und die Stadt Stockholm führte 2005/2006 hierzu einen Versuch „Trängelskatt“ für einen begrenzten Zeitraum durch. Seit 1. August 2007 ist die City-Maut in Stockholm permanent eingerichtet. Die Systeme in London und Stockholm haben jedoch unterschiedliche Merkmalsausprägungen und folglich unterschiedliche Wirkungen. Dies erfordert eine detaillierte Differenzierung der Instrumente, die anhand von vier Fragestellungen möglich ist: Warum wird bepreist? Was wird bepreist? Wie wird bepreist? Womit wird bepreist? Die dadurch definierten Merkmale und ihre möglichen Ausprägungen sind in der Langfassung dieser Arbeit (Bild 4, S. 19) dargestellt. Der Hauptteil der Arbeit befasst sich mit der grundlegenden Analyse von Wirkungen und Anforderungen des Mobility Pricing. Die unterschiedlichen Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten von Instrumenten des Mobility Pricing, aktuelle Fallbeispiele (z. B. Congestion Charge London, Lkw-Maut Deutschland, ÖV-Tarife) sowie Studien wurden anhand einer Literaturrecherche näher betrachtet. Zusätzlich wurden Auswertungen zum Mobilitätsbudget durchgeführt. Bei der Analyse sind direkte (modale) Wirkungen, intermodale Wirkungen und finanzierungsabhängige Wirkungen der Instrumente zu beachten, die kurz- bzw. langfristig auftreten können. Die Analyse von Wirkungen und Anforderungen erfolgte anhand der sechs aus den Zielen abgeleiteten Untersuchungsbereiche Verkehrsgeschehen, Wirtschaft, Umwelt, Akzeptanz, Finanzen und Systemgestaltung. Im Entscheidungs- und Bewertungsprozess ist es wichtig, diese Wirkungsbereiche integriert zu betrachten. Es bestehen häufig Wechselbeziehungen zwischen den einzelnen Bereichen. Für eine systematische Herangehensweise sind die Ausführungen dennoch nach den einzelnen Untersuchungsbereichen gegliedert. Dies unterstützt auch mögliche Gewichtungen bestimmter Gebiete."
Ole Hertel, Integrated Monitoring and Assessment of Air Pollution, Doctor's dissertation 2009. National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2009, 80 p. [formato PDF, 4,73 MB].
Athanasopoulos Konstantinos, Towards a method to engage citizens in sustainable urban mobility planning, PhD Thesis, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, 2009, 444 p. [formato PDF, 9,25 MB]. "The purpose of this PhD thesis is to investigate a method that would achieve the meaningful participation of citizens in sustainable urban mobility planning." (Thesis in Greek, English Summary).
Chi-Lok Yuen, Essays on air transport and public policy. PhD Thesis, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver. December 2008, 226 p. [formato PDF, 8,11 MB]. "The rapid growth in air travel demand in the last few decades has led to two major public policy issues in the aviation industry. First, it has placed enormous pressure on the existing airport infrastructure. As a result, airlines, passengers and shippers are suffering from serious congestion delays at the facilities, implying a significant economic loss to the society. Second, given the increasing air travel demand, aviation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - a major contributor to man-made climate change - are growing at a rapid pace. Different public policies are proposed by policy makers and scholars in a number of different disciplines for the two issues. This thesis aims to investigate and evaluate some of the policies from different perspectives. To deal with the airport congestion problem, the congestion pricing is considered to be one of the most feasible and simplest solutions, and economists also argue that it would be welfare-improving. However, the congestion pricing has not really been implemented at airports in practice. Chapter 2 considers the case of variable passenger time costs in the airport congestion pricing analysis, and examines its welfare-redistributive issues. This may help us to explain the unpopularity of the congestion pricing in practice. The Chapter also explores a case where the self-internalization - an important hypothesis suggested in the literature - may be incomplete. Chapter 3 investigates the effects of congestion pricing at a gateway on its hinterland's road tolls, road congestion and social welfare. The problem will become more practically relevant, as it is expected that gateway congestion pricing will be getting more popular in the near future. Another possible solution to deal with the problem of capacity shortage at airports would be to utilize the existing facilities more efficiently. Chapter 4 measures the airport efficiency in China, and empirically investigates the factors, including competition and policy changes, affecting it. Chapter 5 considers another major public policy issue in the aviation industry - GHG emissions. The Chapter provides an analytical framework for examining the issue, and investigates the effects of unilateral GHG control measures on airline competition, market output, consumer benefits and world emissions."
Yin-Yen Tseng, Valuation of Travel Time Reliability in Passenger Transport. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor an de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 24 november 2008. PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, November 2008, 206 p. [formato PDF, 2,40 MB].
Sonja Forward, Driving Violations. Investigating Forms of Irrational Rationality. (Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Social Sciences ; 44). PhD Thesis, Uppsala University, Uppsala, November 2008, 80 p. [formato PDF, 1,21 MB]. "Several aspects contribute to road crashes and one important part is the ‘human factor’. This information is interesting but insufficient unless we also try to understand what is meant by the term. Three different features have been defined: errors, lapses and violations and the latter, which is a deliberate act, has been found to be the main contributor to road crashes. The crucial issue is therefore to understand what motivates drivers to commit an act, which puts both themselves and others at risk. The aim of this thesis is to explore the motives behind this behaviour through the use of an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Four different studies were carried out: The first study is qualitative, investigating the intention to violate. The second one assesses speeding in an urban area and dangerous overtaking. In addition to variables within the model, descriptive norms and past behaviour are included. The third study explores what particular beliefs are responsible for the behaviour. The fourth study uses the TPB to predict intention to speed on a rural road and assesses some underlying factors, such as ambivalence and gender. The results of the thesis show that the theory explains 33 to 53% of the variance in intention to violate and that descriptive norm and past behaviour significantly increase the explained variance. Descriptive norm is also related to risk and past behaviour is not only related to intention but also to the variables within the model. The results show that drivers’ beliefs can distinguish between intenders and non-intenders. With regard to attitudes the general conclusion is that the main difference lay in the effect of positive outcomes. Although in a more ‘risky’ situation the behaviour is more controlled by a denial of negative consequences. Finally, the results indicates that in the context of driving violations an expressed low level of control over the behaviour could be interpreted as a form of denial of responsibility rather than an inability to control their own actions. Implications of the current findings for the development of intervention programmes are discussed."
Hans Arnold Nijland, Theory and Practice of the Assessment and Valuation of Noise from Roads and Railroads in Europe. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, 23 september 2008. PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology, September 2008, 112 p. [formato PDF, 1,22 MB]. (TRAIL Thesis Series nr. T2008/10, The Netherlands TRAIL Research School). "This thesis took the policy-analysis framework of Marchau and Walker (2005) as a starting point for assessment and valuation of road and railroad noise impacts and its consequences for noise policy. Four research questions were answered. To what extent can international data on noise, often produced by using different national calculation methods, be compared? And what will it mean for (inter)national noise policy? The literature review shows first that noise calculations in different countries may differ up to 15 dB(A), depending on the situation. This is due to (i) different national calculation methods, (ii) different implementation of those methods in software packages and (iii) different interpretations of the acoustical situation by the experts.. Secondly, the review showed that different noise indices are in use in the different Member States, usually for no other than historical reasons. Many of the differences are essentially cosmetic, but some are potentially significant in complex situations. The harmonisation of noise indices as initiated by the European Commission is another necessary step in being able to compare noise exposure in different European countries. Thirdly, even if noise calculation methods and noise indices are eventually harmonised throughout Europe, noise standards remain a matter of subsidiarity. All of this makes it hard to assess to what extent citizens in different European Member States are protected against noise. What is the price of noise in various European countries? Are differences in price (partly) due to artefacts, like differences in the noise impacts considered or the monetisation methods used? Is there a gap between the theoretical valuation approaches and the practical application of those approaches? This study shows firstly that guidelines for monetisation of traffic noise exist predominantly in the central and north-western part of Europe. Monetisation of road traffic noise is more common than monetisation of railroad noise. Secondly, the study shows that not all noise effects are dealt with. Thirdly, prices differ. The different prices being attached to noise in various countries are mainly due to different unit values applied to the same impacts. Fourthly, the experience in the Netherlands shows that in spite of there being guidelines on monetisation, noise is often not monetised at all. So the application of these guidelines to noise falls short. There is a gap between theory and practice, at least in the Netherlands. When applying monetising methods, what are the costs and benefits of (possible) noise abatement measures in the Netherlands? What does the ex ante evaluation show to Dutch policy and what are methodological weaknesses? A cost-benefit analysis of a number of (possible) noise abatement measures in the Netherlands has been carried out. These measure were all so-called source measures for road and railroad traffic (silent tyres, pavements, trains and railroad tracks). Benefits are calculated according to consumer's preferences for dwellings, and values applied were derived from two different methodologies (hedonic pricing and contingent valuation). Costs were estimated between 1.4 and 2.0 billion euros (Net present value 2002) and benefits at between 4.4 and 11.6 billion euros, depending on methods and assumptions chosen. Costs are therefore clearly surpassed by benefits. Yet, further research on the most effective mix of measures is recommended, as some hot spots remain, even after implementation of the source measures."
Jan Anne Annema, The Practice of Forward-looking Transport Policy Assessment Studies. PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology, September 2008, 114 p. [formato PDF, 500 kB]. (TRAIL Thesis Series nr. T2008/9, The Netherlands TRAIL Research School). "Political choices New railways? Extra roads? Pricing policies to reduce environmental harmful transport emissions? Politicians face tough choices. What are the costs of these proposals? Will the plan result in the expected impacts? What are the risks of a plan? Who wins, who loses? This thesis is about the practice of helping public decision-making by answering these kinds of questions. Four cases of policy-related ex ante evaluations are evaluated. Ex ante evaluation refers to forward-looking assessment of the likely future effects of new policies of proposals. The assessment methodologies used in these four cases are not unique, and are not invented or improved in this thesis. Scientific literature pays relatively much attention to transport policy impact modelling and methodologies for valuing policy impacts. Examples of these valuation methodologies are cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis and combinations of those two. Less is written about the practice of ex ante transport evaluation. This aim of this thesis is to fill this scientific gap by describing and analysing the practice of policy-related ex ante evaluation in transport, based on experiences of the author. The thesis attempts to answer the following questions: What are the strengths of the evaluation methods used? Have they resulted in a better understanding of the consequences of a choice? What are the weak or debatable points? Considering the weak points and bearing in mind the need for speed and pragmatism in practice, what improvements could be proposed? Evaluation of public investment plans The first case is a pragmatic method for evaluating public investments plans. Using this method, very different kinds of investment plans were evaluated for economic, social and ecological impacts. The research institutes involved were asked to develop a general appraisal method, on the basis of which they would rank the investment proposals. All the plans were labeled as either a 'solid plan', a 'possibly solid but upgradeable plan requiring improvements' or a 'weak plan'. Each individual investment plan was assessed according to the following criteria: a) legitimacy of the investment, b) benefit(s), c) cost-effectiveness, d) uncertainties and risks, e) alternatives. Transport CO2 emission reduction The second case is an assessment of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission effects of policy options in 2010 compared to business- as-usual. Other criteria assessed in the method were costs, cost-effectiveness, potential public and political support, potential side-effects. In the thesis the application of the method is described around the year 1999, when the method was used to evaluate whether transport policy options would contribute in meeting the Dutch socalled 'Kyoto target'. Policy options analysed included: fees and rebates in the purchase tax for new cars, speed measures and fiscal measures to decrease car use in commuting. Cost-benefit analysis of transport infrastructure The third case reviews the use of standardized cost-benefit analysis (CBA) since 2000 for 13 new large transport infrastructure projects in the Netherlands. New rail and port infrastructure formed the focus of Dutch policy in infrastructural planning in the 2000-2004 period. Election manifestos The fourth case is a method for calculating the environmental impacts of transport policy proposals on election manifestos. The method consists of making vague policy proposals concrete and, consequently, assessing the CO2 and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission effects of these policy proposals in 2010 compared to business-as-usual. The method was used in 1994, 1998 and 2002; in 2006 a more qualitative analysis took place. The transport policy proposals in the election manifestos were aimed particularly at increased or decreased road investments, public transport and new transport pricing policies. Strengths Strong in three of the four cases is the attempt to being fairly complete in the assessment criteria. An additional strength is that though results may be rough, they seem robust. However, there are some important exceptions, as will be explained. The conclusion on completeness does not relate to the case of ‘estimating the environmental impacts of Dutch election manifestos’. In this case the economic and environment assessments of election manifestos are published separately, which makes it difficult for the voter to see the ‘complete’ picture, i.e. the possible trade-offs of political proposals between the economy and the environment. Robustness means here that the consequences of a policy option assessed do not put the decision-maker on the wrong track. The results of the four impact analyses studied are uncertain, but the direction (increase or decrease) of the estimated impact and the size (small, medium, or large) estimated are concluded to be robust. Two exceptions are identified. In the case 'CO2 emission reduction transport' the cost and cost-effectiveness estimates of the CO2 options cannot be denoted as being robust, due to methodological problems and vagueness. And it is concluded that seven CBAs in the case 'CBA transport infrastructure' have weaknesses with respect to methods and assumptions. Weaknesses It is concluded that transparency and poor methodological choices are major weak points in the ex ante evaluation methods examined. The poor transparency of most CBAs is a critical cause for concern. Interviewed users of CBAs found the systematic research into costs and benefits of projects to be an improvement with respect to the ‘old’ Dutch appraisal practice, but most people interviewed attacked the lack of transparency in most CBA reports, calling them ‘black boxes’. The poor definition of costs and cost-effectiveness is a major worry in the Kyoto-related transport policies case. After much discussion between the different researchers, it was decided to limit costs to ‘out-of-pocket’ money. This is a very limited approach since it has resulted in incomplete cost estimations. Seven of the thirteen CBAs evaluated have weaknesses with respect to methods and assumptions. The following methodological weaknesses have been identified in these seven CBAs: the non-uniform and sometimes incorrect treatment of uncertainty and long-term risks related to transport infrastructure, the weak inclusion of some of the ecological effects and distributional impacts of infrastructure projects, and finally, the treatment of the wider, indirect or strategic economic effects of infrastructure. Transparency and uncertainty The four cases in this thesis show the importance of being clear about choices, assumptions and uncertainties. Without clarity, ex ante evaluations will become unused ‘black boxes’, or they may lead to wrong policy decisions. The cases show a different approach of dealing with future uncertainty. The Dutch government has stated the importance of testing policies and investment plans in different possible futures. Testing evaluates the future robustness of the impacts of a plan, giving policy-makers insight into the uncertainty related to ex ante estimates, instead of giving a false feeling of certainty as may have happened in two of the four cases, in which only one future was used. Methods All cases show the possibility of improving ex ante impact assessments of individual transport policy instruments or packages of these instruments. And of course it is useful for improving transport modelling, obtaining more empirical information on price and travel time elasticities, and gaining greater insight into behavioural responses due to specific transport policy proposals. However, these improvements are not the essence of this thesis. The four cases analysed show that these impact assessments are often sufficient for giving robust policy insights. Uncertainty in the final impact assessment of a policy option is caused more by the inherent uncertainty of the future (see above), or by incorrect or unclear application of 'state-of-the-art' methods, as in the transport infrastructure CBAs case and the transport CO2 policy case. Relative position This does not mean that no improvements at all are foreseeable. The cases analysed point in two main directions: first, to the improvement of methods for estimating costs and cost effectiveness of transport CO2 policies, especially the inclusion of intangibles; and second, to improvements of valuation methods for non-priced impacts of transport plans. In both cases the collective action problems might be addressed that could draw privately-expressed willingness-to-pay numbers into doubt. Current willingness-to-pay numbers for keeping a big, impressive car or for ‘saving’ the environment do not take account of the possibility that people especially want to maintain their relative status. It seems important to test whether people would in fact be willing to spend more for smaller cars, or for environmental amenities, if the result would be a significant decrease in absolute income but no change in relative income."
Saúl Antonio Obregón Biosca, Impactos sociales y económicos de las infraestructuras de transporte viario: estudio comparativo de dos ejes, el “Eix Transversal de Catalunya” y la carretera MEX120 en México. Tesis doctoral. Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña. Barcelona, abril de 2008, 597 p. [formato PDF, 12,4 MB]. "The roads are considered a key factor on the economic and social development in the territory of any country. On one hand, the transport network is the biggest decision in the territorial order, because the effect of the roads from the regional planning standpoint determines the growing trends promoting the demographic and economic development. On the other hand, the transport system generates benefits on the efficiency, transfer and activity re-localization effects; therefore, the roads induce changes in the population distribution and support directly the productive activities. In this sense, the improvement of the accessibility affects the development of the productive sectors and consequently the employment. In overall, the roads allow a positive economic future for the affected region. This doctoral research analyzes and compares the induced effects by the roads in the social and economic transformation in two territorial areas with some similarities, but with evident social differences. In order to do that we chose two roads in different countries observing and comparing the impact produced under diverse socioeconomic variables. The two cases that we are going to analyze are the Eix Transversal of Catalonia (located in Spain) and, the road MEX120 (located in the United Mexican States). Particularly, a study of both roads is done at municipal political-territorial level, analyzing the evolution of various socioeconomic parameters (based on the classic methodology of impact studies) on their situation “ex-ante” and “ex-post” in both infrastructures (during and after of the construction works). The structuring effects and the development induced by both roads present a positive influence despite of the few years in operation; thus, we present a series of immediate impacts, which result to be quite similar in both approaches, and the main difference lies on the level of economic development in both territories. One of the biggest concerns of the transport investors has been to ensure that there exist clear benefits from the social point of view. Therefore, this doctoral thesis intends to help politicians and technical experts determining the most convenient project and / or the one politically more profitable (in terms of socioeconomic benefits). Then, the result of this research can be a tool in the taking of decisions at the stage of planning, offering a outlook of a series of socioeconomic impacts that might be cause by a road. In summary, the result of this proposal can contribute beneficially in the planning of roads".
Benedikt Peter, Railway Reform in Germany: Restructuring, Service Contracts, and Infrastructure Charges. Doctoral Thesis 2008, Fakultät VII – Wirtschaft und Management, Technische Universität Berlin, 2008. 236 p. [formato PDF, 800 kB].
Anders Folkesson, Towards sustainable urban transportation. Test, demonstration and development of fuel cell and hybrid-electric buses. Doctoral Thesis 2008, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008. 88 p. [formato PDF, 826 kB]. "This thesis presents the results from three projects involving different concept buses, all with different powertrains. The first two projects included technical evaluations, including tests, of two different fuel cell buses. The third project focussed on development of a series hybrid-bus with internal combustion engine intended for production around 2010. The research on the fuel cell buses included evaluations of the energy efficiency improvement potential using energy mapping and vehicle simulations. Attitudes to hydrogen fuel cell buses among passengers, bus drivers and bus operators were investigated. Safety aspects of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel were analysed and the use of hydrogen compared to electrical energy storage were also investigated."
Hans Quak, Sustainability of Urban Freight Transport. Retail Distribution and Local Regulations in Cities. (ERIM Ph.D. Series Research in Management 124). PhD Thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2008. 262 p. [formato PDF, 3,86 MB]
Ragnhild Davidse, Assisting the older driver: intersection design and in-car devices to improve the safety of the older driver. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Gedrags-en Maatschappijwetenschappen aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 13 december 2007. SWOV, Leidschendam, 2007, 261 p. [formato PDF, 4,16 MB] "This doctoral thesis is concerned with the possibilities offered by road design and driver assistance systems to improve older adults' safe and independent mobility by compensating for their age-related functional limitations. The main research questions of this thesis relate to a general description of the current and future safety of older drivers, the characteristics of older drivers that may influence their safety, the most important needs for support that result from these characteristics, and assistive devices that may provide the desired support."
William Roy, Réglementation, gouvernance et performance des services publics de transport collectif urbain. Thèse pour le doctorat en Sciences Economiques, Université Lumière Lyon 2, novembre 2007, 400 p. [formato PDF, 3,72 MB]
Kerstin Burckhart, Análisis comparativo y evaluación cuantitativa de la intermodalidad del tren de alta velocidad. Una perspectiva europea de la interconexión e integración en estaciones ferroviarias de ciudades intermedias. Tesis doctoral. Universitat de Lleida, Departament de Geografia i Sociologia. 2007, 335 p. [formato PDF, 12,7 MB]. "The strong increase in mobility has posed a challenge, as it does not only have an influence on the performance of the transport system, but also on the economic competitiveness and in the quality of life. Both the necessity of protecting the environment and an uncertain future of the energy resources call for a sustainable mobility. Private car, a synonym of freedom for many people in the 60’s and 70’s, is no longer perceived in the same way. New views spread out, based on an efficient use of each transport mode in order to diminish the problems of road congestion and air quality. In the same direction, highspeed train (HST) is an important part of the transport system, and can contribute to the creation of attractive transport chains, providing it is adequately connected with the local and the regional networks. The growing high-speed network in Europe and especially in Spain indicates a consolidation of the HST services, which are characterized by both high speed and high quality. While some countries are favoring speed, others are focusing on the improvement of the interconnection of the different transport networks to offer an attractive travel. The interconnection of the HST with the rest of the transport system has to be one of the main preoccupations of those cities with a HST stop. The HST needs to be complementary with the other transport modes, thus creating a network with ramifications that may help to diminish the “tunnel effect” created by the HST given its limited number of stops. As at the beginning of this PhD still very few HST stations existed in Spain, the present investigation was extended to intermodal situations in five European countries. The objective of the thesis is therefore centered on the study of intermodality at the French, Spanish, German, Swedish and Swiss HST stations. Intermodality parameters of the five countries are compared on a national and local level through two case studies per country. In order to characterize intermodality access demand in Aix-en-Provence TGV, Valence TGV, Ciudad Real, Lleida-Pirineus, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Mannheim Hbf, Lund, Västerås, Bern and Lausanne is investigated, and the role of the supply of the intermodal connection and the mobility patterns are analyzed in those ten cities, and within their national contexts. The empirical basis of the study is based on data collected on field trips and users polls in a north-south European high-speed corridor. Also, data were extracted from documentation obtained from interviews to local experts in the cities and countries analyzed. Cartography of the five countries is also used as a tool, while time estimates and fieldwork at the ten HST stations help to assess the quality of the intermodal connections. For the full analysis of the concept behind the term intermodality, the introduction of the HST in the preexisting rail system is analyzed. Also, a in-depth analysis is carried out on intermodality by studying the access demand to the station. The analysis of the services supplied is based on the fieldwork and in bibliography. From here, a new European-scale overview on the existing forms of intermodality is deduced, including the role of information in the stations, and the importance of tariff and timetable integration. The use of an evaluative methodology offers a comparison of the different situations in all the ten case studies. This allows comparing transport terminals of different modes and different countries. Given the complexity of intermodality, a qualitative evaluation through an intermodal benchmarking and a quantitative approach through an entropy method have been developed. Both depict the imbalances in intermodality across Europe. A cross-analysis has been used to link different intermodal issues. What is sought is to answer the following questions: Is it the supply of local access to the HST complementary to the national intermodal supply? Does it respond to the travelers’ mobility patterns? ¿Does the intermodal supply respond to the demand? In brief: Is the transport mode with the greatest connection quality in the station the more used mode?(or at least, Does it has the potentially of been used?). The results may help to draw conclusions on some of the likely incoherencies to arise in initiatives to create an efficient intermodality. Also, it may shed some light on the potential for improvement into the interconnection of the HST with other modes in terms of anticipation from the network and services planning perspective, as well as from the point of view of the local agents needs."
Jolieke Mesken, Determinants and consequences of drivers' emotions. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Gedrags-en Maatschappijwetenschappen aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 30 november 2006. SWOV, Leidschendam, 2006, 170 p. [formato PDF, 5,67 MB] "Emotions are relevant for driving behaviour, because driving is a complex and risky task, and the state of the driver is crucial for the safe performance of this task. Systematic research on the process of emotion elicitation and the consequences of emotions for driving related performance and road safety is, however, scarce. This thesis aims to clarify the role of emotions in traffic. Two questions are central: which are the aspects in the interaction between person and task environment that elicit emotion, and which are the consequences of emotions for driving related performance and road safety."
Petra Daschütz, Flächenbedarf, Freizeitmobilität und Aktionsraum von Kindern und Jugendlichen in der Stadt. Dissertation / Doctoral Thesis, Fakultät für Bauingenieurwesen, Technische Universität Wien, Juni 2006. 312 p. [formato PDF, 4,32 MB]. "The aim of the work is to observe the impacts of structural-spatial conditions on the behaviour of children and adolescents by means of comparing a large urban park and an inner-city quarter, and to quantify how much space or autonomous mobility, respectively, is necessary to satisfy needs of children in the city, such as those for motion, social contacts, acceptance and autonomy. The survey areas Donaupark and Karmeliterviertel in Vienna were chosen to carry out hidden unobtrusive observations and face-to-face interviews on site."
Yvonne Margaretha Bontekoning, Hub exchange operations in intermodal hub-and-spoke networks. Comparison of the performances of four types of rail-rail exchange facilities. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, 6 februari 2006. (TRAIL Thesis Series nr. T2006/1). 285 p. [formato PDF, 2,82 MB] "The implementation of hub-and-spoke networks in intermodal transport is suggested as one of the potential solutions for helping to increase the intermodal market share. Traditionally, trains are shunted at hubs; this is a time-consuming process. Since the early 1990s a new type of intermodal terminal, specifically designed for fast tran-shipment at nodes in hub-and-spoke networks, has been introduced in Europe. These hub terminals could replace this time-consuming shunting. Studies on the new hub terminals suggest that they may perform more efficiently than shunting yards. However, a systematic comparison to reveal the operational and costs differences be-tween shunting and these new hub-terminals for a broad range of situations still lacks. The main objective of the study was to develop a model to identify favourable opera-tional conditions for new hub terminals to be implemented and to quantify their op-erational performances in relation to alternative hub exchange facilities. Simulation models were developed to study rail-rail exchange operations at new hub-terminals, hump and flat shuntings yard and road-rail terminals."
Xinyu Cao, The Causal Relationship between the Built Environment and Personal Travel Choice: Evidence from Northern California . PhD Thesis, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, 2006, 201 p. [formato PDF, 1,03 MB]. "Specifically, we investigated the influence of the built environment on various measurements of personal travel choices including uses of different modes (driving, transit, walking, and biking), trip frequencies for different purposes (overall travel, nonwork travel, shopping travel, and strolling), auto ownership, and vehicle type choice. The results showed that residential preferences and travel attitudes have pervasive influences on all measurements of travel choices. The results also provide some encouragement that land-use policies designed to put residents closer to destinations and provide them with alternative transportation options will actually lead to less driving and more walking."
Ryan James Orr, Unforeseen conditions and costs on global projects: learning to cope with unfamiliar institutions, embeddedness and emergent uncertainty. PhD Thesis, Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, September 2005, xiv, 205 p. [formato PDF, 1,22 MB]
Jaume Feliu Torrent, Les grans infrastructures de transport i el desenvolupament local de la ciutat mitjana. El Tren d'Alta Velocitat a las ciutats de Lleida, Avinyó i Novara. PhD Thesis, Universitat de Girona, Doctorat de Medi Ambient, gener de 2005, 155 p. [6 files formato PDF, 7,96 MB]. "The central goal of this thesis is to study the processes that allow to achieve a long-term local development of medium-sized towns from the implantation of a great infrastructure like High Speed Train (HST). Is started from the hypothesis that the urban local development from the HST depends on objective factors and on subjective factors (of subjects), some factors that take a particular form in the development of medium-sized towns. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part and a second applied part. Several authors have concluded that the traditional relationship between transport infrastructures and territory departs of some deterministic paradigms, such a cause-effect relation. For this motive, they have criticized the studies of socioeconomic effects of transport infrastructures, as well as the concept of “effect”. These criticisms are made as well to the relation between HST and medium-sized towns. Many authors conclude that economic development is not an automatic fact and that consequences of HST can not be predicted in half and long term. Local development from the HST, then, would be related to three main elements. First, we need to understand that city and territory are complex phenomenons and, for this, it is necessary to approach them from the theory of complex systems. Second, the great infrastructure has to become an endogenous resource (interconnection with the local network of actors and territorialisation in the milieu of the city) to contribute to development. Third, dynamics of governance between actors is fundamental. It can be divided into internal management of local network (local project) and multilevel management of administrations. With regard to theoretical referents, a methodology is constructed to estimate the degree of local development that has entailed HST in three medium-sized towns of European Mediterranean arch, Lleida, Avingnon and Novara, placed respectively in Spain, France and Italy. The methodology proposes the study of technical aspects of the city like those of transport (Territorial position of the city in HST system, Characteristics of HST station), urban planning (Municipal urban planning model, Urban planning model at scale of station) and economy (Different economic projects of the city related to HST). It also proposes the study of external organizational aspects (Supra-local agents and their projects, Degree of conflictivity and cooperation between local and supra-local agents) and internal (Capacity of creation of a local project from HST, Agents that participate in local project and their dynamics, Territorial area of projects). Finally it is made an evaluation of process and results on local development. As a conclusion it is demonstrated that process of local development from great transport infrastructures depends, basically, on the capacity of governance. It depends, on one side, on the capacity of local agents to elaborate a development project and to lead some strategies and, on the other side, on the capacity of territorial agents (state, region, local) to create alliances and cooperation to planning the transport infrastructure. Finally, some recommendations are presented to the cities that want to plan the arrival of the HST and want to produce development with characteristics of efficiency, sustainability, productivity and equity."
Pedro Salvador Martínez, Caracterización de la contaminación atmosférica producida por partículas en suspensión en Madrid. Tesis doctoral. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Madrid, 2004, 319 p. [formato PDF, 16,9 MB]. "En este trabajo se presenta una evaluación de los niveles de concentración de partículas en madrid para distintos rangos de tamaño. Se incluyen las fracciones pm10 y pm2.5 para las cuales se han establecido recientemente valores límite de concentración en la unión europea, en la directiva 1999/30/ce, debido a su relación con efectos perniciosos para la salud humana. Se han determinado y analizado las variaciones estacionales de concentración de partículas en los distintos entornos de la región y se han caracterizado las situaciones episódicas típicas en las que se han registrado altos niveles de concentración, atendiendo a la naturaleza de las fuentes y a los aspectos meteorológicos relacionados. El desarrollo de una fase experimental exhaustiva llevada a cabo en entornos representativos urbanos y suburbanos de madrid con múltiples equipos de medida, ha permitido obtener una importante base de datos de concentración de partículas y de sus componentes químicos. A partir de ella se han podido determinar los componentes químicos más abundantes en las fracciones pm10 y pm2.5 de partículas, estudiar la formación de compuestos inorgánicos secundarios y realizar estudios de identificación y contribución de fuentes, aplicando análisis factorial y de regresión multilineal, atendiendo específicamente a los aportes de partículas procedentes de fuentes remotas, como pueden ser las regiones desérticas del norte de áfrica con el cálculo de funciones de probabilidad condicional."
Gilles Debizet,
Déplacements urbains de personnes : de la planification des transports à la gestion durable de la mobilité. Mutations
d'une expertise. Thèse de doctorat en geographie, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne Paris I, 2004, 426 p. [formato PDF, 26,5 MB]
Andreas Seiler,
The toll of the automobile: Wildlife and roads in Sweden.
Doctoral thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala 2003, 48 p. [formato PDF, 851 kB].
(Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae ; Silvestria 295)
"Animal-vehicle collisions are a common phenomenon worldwide, causing injury
or death to millions of animals and hundreds of human passengers each year.
Collision numbers can be significant to species conservation, wildlife management, traffic safety, as well as from an economic and political point of
view, and should thus be evaluated from these different perspectives. In this thesis, I assess, evaluate, analyse and predict animal-vehicle collisions with respect to
their extent, their effect on populations, and their broad and fine scale distribution.
A questionnaire with Swedish drivers indicated that nationwide road traffic in 1992 may caused an annual loss in harvest of common game species of 7% to 97%
and of 1% to 12% of estimated populations. Road mortality did not appear as an existential threat to most species, although in badgers (Meles meles), traffic
probably is the largest single cause of death. A slow population growth rate coupled with a high proportion of adult badger road-kills is responsible for their
sensitivity to road mortality. Provided that road mortality is additive, we predicted that losses due to nationwide traffic might already exceed birth rates and limit
badger population growth. In roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and moose (Alces alces), road mortality is of minor importance to the population. Broad-scale trends
and patterns in collision numbers correlate with harvest and traffic volumes, thus
providing a simple means to monitor the toll of road traffic. To predict local collision risks with these species, information on animal abundance and landscape
composition, on road traffic parameters, and on the spatial coincidence of roads and landscape elements is needed. However, vehicle speed appeared as one of the
most important factors determining collision risks with moose, underlining the influence of human factors on collision risks. Successful counteraction therefore
requires an interdisciplinary approach that addresses both the animal and the driver in their shared environment."
Andreas Hainsch,
Ursachenanalyse der PM10-Immission in urbanen Gebieten am Beispiel der Stadt Berlin.
Dissertation, Fakultät III - Prozesswissenschaften, Technische Universität Berlin,
2003. 172 p. [formato PDF, 5,68 MB].
"Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es zunächst, die Berliner PM10-Immissionssituation hinsichtlich
der neuen gesetzlichen Anforderungen zu beurteilen, um daraus etwaigen politischen
Handlungsbedarf abzuleiten. Ferner bestand eine wesentliche Aufgabe dieser Arbeit darin,
lokale, regionale und überregionale Quellen (Quellgebiete) zu identifizieren und deren
Immissionsbeiträge zu quantifizieren, um hierdurch mögliche Ansätze für PM10-Minderungsstrategien aufzuzeigen."
Christine Grosse, Verkehrsabhaengige Betriebsfuehrung
bei Stadtschnellbahnen (Traffic dependent management of rapid transit systems), Dissertation, Technical University
of Berlin, 2003, 155 p. [formato PDF, 1,69 MB]
Christoph Mehne,
Entwicklungszusammenarbeit für eine angepasste Verkehrsentwicklung in Ostafrika. Leitbilder, Handlungsbedarf, Szenarios
unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von nicht-motorisiertem und öffentlichem Verkehr.
Dissertation, Fachbereich VI (Geographie/Geowissenschaften) der Universität Trier, Juni 2002, 349 p. [formato PDF, 4,49 MB]
"In Ostafrika sind der Fußgängerverkehr sowie der öffentliche Verkehr die mit Abstand wichtigsten
Fortbewegungsarten. Dies gilt sowohl für städtische als auch für ländliche Gebiete! Nicht umsonst
heißt es "Afrika geht zu Fuß"! Tatsache ist aber, dass die Probleme der Fußgänger in der Planung zur
Zeit absolut nicht ausreichend berücksichtigt werden. Ein sicherer und gut funktionierender
Fußgängerverkehr setzt ein sicheres Wegenetz voraus, welches in Ostafrika aber nur selten gegeben
ist. Die Politiker richten ihre zentrale Aufmerksamkeit aber hauptsächlich auf den motorisierten
Individualverkehr und missachten somit die Bedürfnisse der Mehrheit der Bevölkerung. Diese
Disparität kann im Zuge einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung reduziert werden. Der übrige nichtmotorisierte
sowie der öffentliche Verkehr müssen ebenfalls stärker gefördert werden, da der
motorisierte Individualverkehr in Ostafrika auf lange Zeit der breiten Bevölkerungsschicht
vorenthalten bleiben wird. Ob allerdings die Massenmotorisierung ein sinnvolles Ziel ist, bleibt
fraglich. Westliche Wohlstandsmodelle dürfen im großen und ganzen nicht als Verkehrsvorbild
dienen. Doch wer soll es den Entscheidungsträgern in Ostafrika verübeln, wenn sie es doch tun?
Der größte Handlungsbedarf besteht im Sektor des öffentlichen Verkehrs. Er muss viel stärker
gefördert werden, da das Angebot im Vergleich zur Nachfrage viel zu gering ist. Eine
Restrukturierung und Effizienzsteigerung ist unverzichtbar für eine nachfragegerechte
Verkehrsentwicklung. Die Förderung des öffentlichen Verkehrs setzt voraus, dass ein breites und
differenziertes Flächensystem entwickelt wird. Die Fehler der Industrieländer, den ÖPNV zu einem
Rumpf- oder Korridorsystem zurück zu entwickeln, dürfen nicht wiederholt werden.
Die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit ist aufgerufen, Projekte in den Bereichen des öffentlichen sowie
des nicht-motorisierten Verkehrs gezielt zu fördern. Nur so kann eine Transportplanung erfolgen, die
ökologisch nachhaltig, sozial gerecht, ökonomisch effizient, politisch regulierend und
investitionsfördernd ist.
Entwicklungsländer, insbesondere Ostafrika, stehen nicht unmittelbar vor einer
Massenmotorisierung. Durch gezielte entwicklungspolitisch motivierte Maßnahmen könnte eine
gewisse Trendwende erreicht werden. Die Chancen für ein Umdenken in Form angepasster
Verkehrspolitik sind gegeben. Wenn Industrieländer mit gutem Beispiel vorangehen, werden sich die
Entwicklungsländer diesem Trend nicht verschließen können."
Eloir de Oliveira Faria,
Bases para um programa de educação para o trânsito a partir do estudo de percepção de crianças e adolescentes. PhD Thesis, Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro, Majo 2002, 543 p. [formato PDF, 5,08 MB]
William Ross, Personal
Mobility or Community Accessibility: a Planning Choice with Social, Economic
and Environmental Consequences PhD
Thesis, Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch
University, Perth, 1999, IX, 321 p. [13 files, formato
PDF, totale 4,9 MB]
Gaelle Deletraz,
Géographie des risques environnementaux liés aux transports routiers en montagne. Incidences des emissions
d'oxydes d'azote en vallées d'Aspe et de Biriatou (Pyrénées).
Thèse de doctorat, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, 2002 [formato PDF, 9,7 MB] (tesi di dottorato sull’inquinamento atmosferico
provocato dal trasporto stradale nelle aree di montagna: due casi nei Pirenei)
Eric Cordina,
Aviation and the Environment.
A study on ways to limit the environmental harm caused by engine emissions and an
assessment of future environmentally friendly aircraft technologies.
Thesis submitted as part of the requirements for the award of Masters in Air Transport Management from London
City University, July 2002. 77 p. [formato PDF, 375 kB]
Hendrik A.C. Runhaar,
Freight transport: at any price? Effects of transport costs on
book and newspaper supply chains in the Netherlands. PhD Thesis, Technische Universiteit Delft, 2002.
xiv, 282 p. [formato PDF, 1,58 MB]
Johan Woxenius,
Development of Small-Scale Intermodal Freight Transportation in a Systems Context. Doctoral thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
submitted to the School of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, 1998, 253 p. [formato PDF, 2,21 MB]
"An intermodal freight transportation system is characterised by the subsequent use of different
transportation modes for moving goods stowed into unit loads from the consignor to
the consignee. Typically, it involves a wide variety of activities, actors and resources,
which implies a certain degree of technological as well as organisational complexity. Other
distinctive features are dependency on surrounding systems and a general lack of formal
systems management as well as of objectives shared among all actors.
This dissertation focuses the need for a renewal of the European intermodal transportation
system that has not yet been able to fulfil the high expectations from society. Most of the
commercial problems are directly or indirectly related to the complexity of the system and
the scale in which the services are produced in. The solution foreseen and advocated in this
dissertation is to divide the operations between the layers direct shuttle trains, corridor
trains and locally adapted small-scale network modules, of which the latter layer is especially
treated. Special attention is paid to the issue of connecting the layers as well as the different network modules.
An outspoken systems approach is applied and a framework model is chiselled out from
theories on general systems, transportation systems as well as on intermodal transportation
systems. The object of study is successively narrowed, focusing technical matters and
small-scale operations on lower system levels.
The complexity and lack of systems management implies that implementing new technical
resources involves distinctive barriers that are described and classified. Approaches for reducing
the effects of barriers include to conform to standards, to create closed systems and
to implement new resources gradually.
Another issue addressed is the suitability of transshipment technologies for different network
operation principles and national preconditions. Small-scale transshipment technologies
– all of which are described in a detached appendix – are evaluated against an outlined
list of requirements. The argumentation is finally applied to the intermodal freight system
that received the highest score in the evaluation – Swedish State Railways’ Light-combi project."
Bauer David,
Opportunities and barriers of ride-sharing in work commuting - a case study in Sweden.
Master Thesis in Sustainable Development, Department of Earth Scinces, Uppsala University, 2017, 61 p. [formato PDF, 2,2 MB].
"The world faces human-made hazardous weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and wildfires in dimensions which have never been seen before. A crucial contributor to this
negative trendis the constantly growing transportation sector. In addition, most urban regions suffer from trafficcongestions which lead among others to local emissions, the loss of time
and noise pollution. One promising approach to reduce the amount of transport related emissions is ride-sharing. This paperfocuses on the possibilities and barriers of ride-sharing for the
daily commute to and from work. To gain reliably results, a real-life test trial was implemented at a Swedish corporation. The gatheredquantitative and qualitative datasets were analysed with
the framework of Social Practice Theory, whichsplits up the practice into its three elements of materials, meanings and competences and thereby develops revealing insights. The reason for
the low participation rate during the test trial can be tracedback to the potential loss of flexibility. Despite a high environmental awareness and a deep trust relationto colleagues, the
potential loss of flexibility was for most participants the crucial factor to not start ridesharing. Even though individuals' opinions were very positive towards the idea of ride-sharing,
the participation rate during the real-life study shows that the perception of ride-sharing highly derivates from the action."
Adam Ekström, Robert Regula,
Identifying barriers in a technological shift: The introduction of battery-electric buses in Swedish public transport.
Master of Science Thesis, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2016, 78 p. [formato PDF, 2,5 MB].
"Concern regarding sustainability and climate change is increasing, which is forcing countries world-wide
to take action. The Swedish government has set a goal of fossil-free traffic until 2030. Battery Electric
Buses (BEB) might be one of the solutions needed in order to reach this goal. However, currently its
prevalence is at an early stage.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how the technological transition towards BEBs in Sweden
affects the public transport operators (PTOs). Moreover, to investigate how a third party service provider
of Fleet Management System (FMS) services can support the PTOs in this transition.
The research has been carried out in co-operation with a PTO and a FMS service provider. The
research contributes to their current understanding of how they will be affected by the emerging tech-
nological transition. This thesis also contributes with new empirical data of the technological transition
towards electric vehicles within public bus transport, seen as a Large Technical System. Conceptually it
contributes, by exploring how external companies can support the technological transition towards BEBs,
with the application of Technological Transitions theory and the Multi Layer Perspective framework.
The methodology used is a case study of the technological transition towards BEBs in Sweden. Data
was collected through twelve semi-structured interviews with researchers, PTOs, public transport au-
thorities (PTA), a BEB manufacturer and a FMS-service company. Parallel to this a questionnaire was
distributed to the twenty largest PTOs in Sweden. Moreover data was collected from company visits,
pilot-project results and internal documentation.
Our findings show that there are thirteen perceived barriers present among the PTOs, in the process of
BEB adoption. Six of these barriers relate to component aspects of BEBs, and seven relate to managerial
aspects. Perceived barriers linked to component aspects of BEBs are; Variation in solutions and lack
of technical standards, the Charging infrastructure, Shorter range or decreased load capacity, Unknown
functionality in cold climate, Reliability and Durability. Perceived barriers linked to managerial aspects
of BEBs are; Lack of knowledge and experience, Behavioral change, Economy, Maintenance, Ownership
of infrastructure and buses, Business models and Varying requirements from PTAs.
The barriers FMS-service providers can address are primarily, due to the technological nature of the
services, present at niche level. PTOs together with FMS-service providers are encouraged to together
strive towards gaining deeper knowledge about the new emerging technologies. Through this, PTOs could
be enabled to overcome the aforementioned barriers.
Three reverse salients were also identified, linked to the aforementioned barriers. If the reverse salients
are assessed, BEB acceptance among PTOs could be increased. The three identified reverse salients are;
the battery technology, the charging infrastructure and the contracts/ownership.
The co-operation with the commissioning PTO and FMS-service provider has led to valuable access to
Swedish public transport actors, and has aided in a deeper understanding of the phenomena. Although,
this co-operation might have exposed us to a risk of being influenced."
Christian Gudbrandsen Sivertsen, Jonas Lunden,
Mobility 2.0: Sustainable Business Models for the Automotive Industry : Identifying sustainable sale-of-service mobility business models, utilizing alternative powertrains and
autonomous technology. Master's thesis in Business Administration, University of Agder, 2016, 117 p. [formato PDF, 4,4 MB].
"The aim of this study is to identify and develop sustainable mobility business models (BMs) for the automotive industry. This is a response to an analysis of the opportunities and
limitations of new technology and carsharing BMs occurring alongside emerging industry challenges. The traditional automotive industry BM has remained, thereabouts, unchanged for more than
a century. Exploration in this paper determinesAth to enable future sustainability, industry changes must occur. The current traditional BM is struggling with changing market
characteristics and appears inadequate to adopt new environmental technologies (e.g. electric vehicle, autonomous and hydrogen powered cars). The utilization of a literature analysis
approach enables the execution of a highly up-to-date and comprehensive investigation. Literature is used to help identify current industry challenges and present emerging technologies
that new BMs need to successfully resolve and utilize respectively. This thesis paper further presents and explores the essential BM theories used in analysis and BM generation. Moreover,
there is focus on solving the unsustainability of car ownership, such as by equipping a sale-of-service approach used by carsharing services in order to develop sustainable mobility BMs. The
main focus of this thesis is the analysis of opportunities and limitations that identify features necessary for sustainable mobility BMs. The main findings are two different mobility
BMs, which we argue are adequate in concern to the adoption of new technologies and are advantageous in relation to the industry challenges. This thesis presents an autonomous BM that
is applicable for urban, densely populated areas, and operates like today's free-floating carsharing services. The second sustainable BM found in this study utilized the sale-of-service
characteristics of carsharing, operating in a similar fashion as regular ownership. The analysis is thereby used to develop one BM for autonomous, urban carsharing and one BM for a
sustainable ownership-substitute. Both models adopt electric or hydrogen fuel-cell power train technology and utilize the industry challenges as opportunities for growth."
Live Hagtvedt,
Uber: a case study of the effects of legalizing ridesharing platforms.
Master's Thesis, School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, 2016, 93 p. [formato PDF, 2,2 MB].
"This thesis investigates the ridesharing platform Uber, and the consequences following potential legalization of Uber in the Norwegian market. Through existing research and a
quantitative survey on consumer preferences, I seek to find whether adjustments of existing laws and regulations in the transport sector can contribute to desired innovative introductions
in the taxi market and increase societal welfare in Norway. Generally, sharing economy firms are described as platforms facilitating and coordinating transactions between individuals. These
developments have become possible through technological change and innovation, in particular on the way information is spread and processed. In turn, this has opened and will continue to
expand the scope for supplying new services. However, many of these services, including Uber, face challenges when encountering national legislation. The expansion of ridesharing services
has caused debates on the appropriateness of the current structure of the Norwegian taxi industry, and whether legislative changes are in order. The framework of this study consists of an
in-depth study of Uber, a quantitative survey and a theoretical evaluation of the existing market and relevant regulations. This study concludes that Uber's entry brings welfare benefits to
consumers, through lower prices and increased consumer surplus. In addition to generating incentives for the regular taxi industry to improve, the characteristics of Uber's business model
have shown increased efficiency, quality and safety in the taxi industry. Moreover, benefits are expected to reach beyond the taxi market. Based on the conclusion, the thesis suggests a
modification of existing regulations, abolishing the current means tested supply and regulations on price."
Sofie Erlandsson, Olivia Hägglöf,
Electric Bicycles in Bike-Share Systems. An Investigation of the Potential for Electric Bicycles in Gothenburg's Bike-Share System Styr & Ställ.
Master's Thesis in the Master's Programme Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 2016, 107 p. [formato PDF, 3,7 MB].
"Gothenburg is growing geographically as well as population-wise and experiences a densification. Solutions for sustainable transportation are needed, and a way to promote
this is by having a bike-share system (BSS). Today Gothenburg has a BSS with conventional bicycles, Styr & Ställ, located in the city centre. Due to the growing city
the system might need to develop and expand. This thesis investigates the potential of e-bikes in Styr & Ställ and the possibilities to expand the system due to e-bikes. This
both include an extensive literature review on BSS, interviews and case studies with European cities with electric BSS, and analysis of where to develop the system
geographically.
It is found that there are some topographic limitations in the current system in Gothenburg, which can be approached by e-bikes. It is also possible to go further with
an e-bike and therefore include more areas in the system. With e-bikes more and other groups of users can be reached, for instance older people, physically limited people, or
people in context that do not want to arrive sweaty.
Analyses were done in order to find suitable areas for an expanded BSS. The expansion areas that were found for the system are mainly the sub-districts Majorna, Masthugget,
Frölunda Torg, Krokslätt, Lunden Olskroken, Gamlestaden, Lindholmen and Rambergsstaden. This is an overall radial expansion except from a corridor towards
Frölunda Torg and Gamlestaden. Furthermore, stations based on destinations of interests such as public transport nodes, parks, squares, universities, and working places
were suggested and located.
The conclusion is that there is a potential for electric bicycles in Styr & Ställ and that the system should be combined with both conventional and electric bicycles, in order
to approach a broader user group. The system is also recommended to expand to the areas mentioned above. People that already use the BSS will be able to continue to use
it in the same way, and people that prefer an e-bike in order to cycle, will them too have a socially, economic, and environmentally sustainable transport alternative that also
improves the public health."
Eefje Smetsers,
Automated vehicles: Navigating towards a smarter future in a network of expectations. A case study on automated vehicles in the Netherlands.
Master Thesis, Sustainable Business and Innovation master program, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, July 8, 2016, 69 p. [formato PDF, 1,2 MB].
"The automated vehicle has increasingly gained traction in academia, business, and government as a technological innovation that promises significant
impacts on sustainable mobility, including safety improvements, congestion reduction, environmental efficiency, and various other social domains. These
optimistic understandings of technology as an enabler of greener, safer and more efficient transportation tend to dominate present-day debates on
automated vehicles. Understanding the interplay between different actors' expectations helps the government and businesses in prioritizing future
technological developments and effective policy and decision making. For this purpose, this research draws on recent literature in sociotechnical
system transitions and social expectations dynamics, and addresses the question: How do expectations shape innovation processes in the automated
vehicle industry, and which implications can be derived for government and business? An explorative and qualitative research was performed in which
expectations held by different actors involved in vehicle automation were collected and analyzed. Thereafter, these expectations were used as input to
construct different socio-technical scenarios. This resulted in three scenarios for future innovation processes differentiating in expectations about
changes in niches, regimes, and the landscape. In two scenarios automated vehicles have the potential to overthrow the existing regime when environmental
pressure from the landscape causes business or government to invest in automated vehicles. In one scenario, the actual benefits of automated vehicles
remain unclear, preventing a socio-technical transition towards fully automated vehicles. Depending on the preferred outcome regarding the realization of
collective and individual interests, government and businesses may influence the direction of the innovation process with respect to vehicle automation.
The government can adopt the roles of actively coordinating the innovation process, leaving the innovation process to the market while ensuring basic
mobility needs, or convincing and stimulating business and users to invest in vehicle automation. In addition, businesses can adapt the roles of
responding to governmental demands, optimizing individual business models, or creating competition in a cooperative society. To conclude, there is an
interaction between these different roles for government and businesses. Actor groups can try to form coalitions to create uniformity in expectations.
As such, the proposed scenarios and roles can be used as a tool for a better identification of potential cooperative strategies between businesses
and government. Furthermore, they can structure future debates about social and political priorities with respect to innovation processes involved with
vehicle automation."
Peter Hogeveen,
Electricity Supply and Demand Control in a Car as Power Plant Neighborhood: A Agent Based Model.
Master Thesis: Engineering and Policy Analysis, Delft University of Technology, June 3, 2016, 154 p. [formato PDF, 4,5 MB].
"Car as Power Plant (CaPP) neighborhoods are an innovative approach to achieve sustainable, self-sufficient local energy systems. A key component of
CaPP systems is a fleet of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which provides mobility but also operates as decentralized power plants. The CaPP approach
still requires proof of concept, this is partly due to the present-day low market penetration of FCEVs. This thesis aimed to contribute to that proof of
concept by quantifying the influences of electricity supply and demand control on the electricity balance of a CaPP neighborhood. To that end, an agent-based
model of the socio-technical system of a 200 household CaPP neighborhood is developed. The model is used for an elaborate exploration of the performance of a
CaPP neighborhood with respect to its electricity balance. A variety of Dutch scenarios, with diverse degrees of social cohesion, number of FCEVs, seasons
and control structure settings, is assessed."
Jan Lodewijk Blomme,
A city-level analysis of B2C carsharing in Europe. Master's Thesis, Master's program: Innovation Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences,
University of Utrecht, May 13, 2016, 87 p. [formato PDF, 1,3 MB].
"Business to consumer (B2C) carsharing is a phenomenon that started in Europe in the 1940s but has ained in popularity quickly since the 1990s.
This development is a welcome addition to the means that can be supported by local governments in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and curb
congestion in cities. Cities have however experienced differences in the extent to which carsharing has been adopted in their area. This research uncovers
several important city features that explain this differential adoption of carsharing in a city. This study uses the multi-level perspective (MLP) to
distinguish between the contemporary car regime and the carsharing niche. Several indicators are identified that theoretically would weaken the regime
and/or strengthen the niche in a city. These indicators are therefore expected to have a noticeable effect on the amount of shared B2C vehicles in cities,
as the local car regime would be weaker. The research develops a unique database by collecting the amount of shared B2C cars online through carsharing
operator (CSO) websites. Independent variables are in turn collected through various sources both on- and offline, including national statistics databases
and Eurostat. Results are initially analyzed through bivariate correlations. Subsequently, a binary logistic regression and a negative binomial regression
analysis are employed to determine the most important explanatory variables for the success of B2C carsharing. The research shows that B2C carsharing
success can be reasonably explained through the country in which the city is situated, the city size in terms of its population, the level of car ownership,
the education level of the city's inhabitants, the city's modal split, the extent to which the city's population is engaged with sustainability, the
competition between B2C CSOs, and to some extent the presence of students and attempts to provide explanations for the significance of these variables.
This research is intended to be an exploratory study on the characteristics of cities where B2C carsharing is successful. Several suggestions for further
research that can add to the insights gained here are adding other variables, more data points (countries or smaller cities), and more detailed data."
Dennis F. van der Linden,
Explaining the differential growth of peer-to-peer car-sharing in European cities. Master's Thesis, Faculty of Geosciences,
University of Utrecht, May 13, 2016, 62 p. [formato PDF, 1,7 MB].
"While car-sharing has proven quite successful in some cities, in other cities the phenomenon of car-sharing is less developed. This study aims
to explain these spatial differences in the growth of peer-to-peer (P2P) car-sharing in cities. Firstly, this study shows the current state of P2P car-sharing
in cities within the countries United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Belgium. P2P car-sharing shows to be more successful in France and
The Netherlands, and less successful in Germany and the United Kingdom when compared to Belgium. Secondly, from a Multi-level perspective (MLP), niche and
regime factors were operationalized which can differ on the city level to explain the spatial differences in niche developments and regime interactions.
A quantitative research method was applied, using a negative binomial regression model, to test the influence of these city level variables on the number
of shared cars. Cities where the regime of personal car ownership and use is less established, indicated by a larger share of trips taken by public
transport and a historic city center less suitable for car use shows to lead to more shared P2P cars. User innovativeness, indicated by younger
age (24-35yrs) and a higher level of education showed to be beneficial for the growth of the niche of P2P car-sharing. A higher percentage of
one-person households also leads to more shared P2P cars. Also the presence of a lot of platform actors within a city showed to be associated with a
high number of shared P2P cars. This study also showed that population density did not significantly influences the number of shared cars, indicating
that P2P car-sharing might be a more feasible alternative to "traditional" Business-to-consumer car-sharing in less densely populated places. Also, this
study showed that protected niche markets. Indicated by a university city or international city are less important to P2P car-sharing, indicating that
the supply of P2P cars is less demand driven. It is suggested that the supply of P2P car-sharing is more focused around a personal decision to share
a car on a P2P platform. Further research could identify the reasoning behind this personal decision."
Matthew Emeterio,
Quantitative effects of carsharing services on collisions in New York City.
A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Public Policy in Public Policy, April 5, 2016, 33 p. [formato PDF, 762 kB].
"Using regression analysis on publicly available datasets, this research examines the effects of car-sharing services on collisions in three
locations in New York City: the Financial District, Brooklyn, and JFK Airport, while controlling for weather effects and different types of cab services
that operate in New York City. Prior studies have focused on the Central Business District, the core of central to lower Manhattan, which has a markedly
different profile in terms of collisions and usage rates. In addition to finding both positive and negative statistically significant outcomes in different
areas, this research further identifies a number of key areas for data to be collected or made available from both private and public stakeholders for
future study in the field."
Fleur Gijsen,
Added value of different approaches of real options in transportation infrastructure projects decision-making.
Case studies on 'widening of the A27' and 'the replacement of the Kaagbrug A44'. Master's Thesis Project in System Engineering, Policy Analysis & Management,
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, 10.3.2016, 152 p. [formato PDF, 3,2 MB]. Commissioned by Stratelligence BV.
"The importance of including flexibility into transportation infrastructure projects decision-making is widely recognised. Real-option analysis (ROA)
is a technique for valuing flexibility to adapt to an uncertain future which can be included in the traditional Cost-Benefit Analysis. However, current
practice of real options in transportation infrastructure decision-making is limited and therefore this research aims to investigate to what extent ROA can
be a valuable addition. Based on the application of the Simplified Decision Tree Method and Binomial Option Pricing Method in two different case studies and
on interviews conducted, it can be said that ROA is valuable as it can enrich the decision-making information for certain Dutch transportation infrastructure
projects. Essentially, ROA leads to optimal decision-making, additional strategic insights and it supports adaptive decision-making. However, there are
also practical limitations for the application of ROA in organizations such as the current standardized decision-making process, the additional time and
effort and complexity of the application. Therefore, a trade-off between the added value and the additional effort has to be made. Further research into
the methods and the effects of assumptions, applications on different types of infrastructure projects and dealing with projects influenced by many
uncertainties is recommended."
Samuel J. Levy,
Capacity challenges on the California high-speed rail shared corridors : how local decisions gave statewide impacts.
Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Transportation at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2015, 162 p. [formato PDF, 3,26 MB].
"In 2012, as a cost-control measure and in response to local opposition in the San Francisco Bay Area, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) adopted a "blended system" at the north and south bookends of the planned first phase of its high-speed rail line. In this blended operation, the high-speed rail line will share track and other infrastructure with commuter rail, intercity rail, and freight on the 50- mile Peninsula Corridor in Northern California and on 50 miles of right-of-way between Burbank, Los Angeles, and Anaheim in Southern California. This thesis provides a critical review of the blended system and discusses the level of cooperation and coordination necessary between host railroads and the high-speed rail tenant operator. In Northern California, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board's Caltrain commuter rail service between San Francisco and San Jose is experiencing record levels of ridership. This thesis explores the impact of both the electrification of the line and its extension into San Francisco's central business district on future ridership demand. With the California High-Speed Rail Authority competing spatially and temporally with Caltrain for access to high-revenue and high-cost infrastructure, we review different strategies for coordination and integration between the two agencies. In Southern California, the final form of the blended system is more nebulous than its northern counterpart. For the first few years of high-speed rail service, the Metrolink service operated by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority is expected to complement the high-speed rail system. However, since Metrolink operates on congested rail infrastructure, some of it owned by capacity-conscious freight railroads, there will exist the challenge of providing quality service and transfer opportunities for time-sensitive high-speed rail customers. The change to a blended system was a dramatic change of direction for the CHSRA; as a result, a new paradigm is needed for implementation of
the system over the next 15 years. This thesis reviews the upcoming local design choices to be made on the local rail corridors and evaluates them from the perspective of the future statewide rail network. We find that the decisions made on the local blended corridor level will affect both the financial viability of the overall project and the quality of service experienced by customers across the entire California rail system."
Brand Nico Koster,
How Transit Agencies Handle Bicycles. An analysis of nine North American transit agencies.
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Planning, University of Washington, 2015, 98 p. [formato PDF, 1,29 MB].
"A key weakness with public transportation is the lack of accessibility to transit stops. Bicycles can increase user accessibility to transit stops and reduce door-to-door travel times. The goal of this thesis is to better understand how transit agencies currently integrate their transit service with bicycles. While there is a great deal of literature available on this topic, much of it is outdated and may be out of touch with current trends in bicycle and transit integration. With the recent increase in both bicycle and transit ridership, it is likely that many agencies have begun to alter their approach to bicycle and transit integration to accommodate for this rise. This thesis set out to produce a comprehensive analysis and concise report on how transit agencies currently handle bicycles. To do this, I conducted a survey to gather detailed information on bicycle programs, investments, planning, policies, procedures, funding sources, operations, infrastructure, marketing, and accessibility features from multiple transit agencies. I used two different methods when selecting transit agencies to take part in this study. One approach identified transit agencies that practice advanced bicycle and transit integration strategies through a literature review. The other identified transit agencies located in cities with high bicycle ridership and transit use. Thirteen agencies were selected and nine of those agreed to complete the survey I created. I analyzed the survey responses and compared them to better understand the current methods and tools used by transit agencies to integrate bicycles and transit. I found that most agencies did not express interest in improving bicycle-on-transit facilities. Instead, most surveyed transit agencies had bicycle-planning documents that focused on the conception and implementation of improved bicycle access and secure bicycle parking."
Artur Matasyan,
Technical analysis and market study of electric bicycles.
Master Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, July 2015, 84 p. [formato PDF, 3,10 MB].
"This thesis project was done in collaboration with a Prismattery LLC, which is based in Tallinn, Estonia and is interested in entering the market of electric bicycles. For that reason in this report a detailed study concerning the market of electrical bicycles, its current situation and trends were performed and a promising target market was indicated. The market study showed that although in different countries the specifications and preferred types of electric bicycles may vary, in general the popularity of this type of transportation rises over the world. Furthermore, as nowadays bicycle sharing systems are very common in many cities, the working principles of these systems and companies who produce them were also investigated within the scope of the project. Subsequently, based on the information examined an electric bicycle sharing systems were detected to be the best market choice for the company to aim, and therefore further work in the technical and environmental analysis was done taking into consideration the requirement of the selected market. Moreover, although compared to regular bicycle sharing systems electric ones require higher capital investment, the cost of operation can be lower due to the savings on the redistribution of bicycles. It is explained by the fact that users of electric bicycles can go uphill without much physical effort and as a result the natural distribution of electric bicycles in stations can be more equal than it is for regular bicycle sharing systems. Therefore, both investment and operation costs were compared for regular and electric bicycle sharing system for 10 years of exploitation and results proved the cost competitiveness of the electric bicycle sharing system. Different technological solutions concerning the components of electric bicycles were studied in the report in order to understand their working principle, functionality, advantages and disadvantages, etc. Thus, the choice of these components was done in a way to suit the needs of electric bicycles
which will operate in a sharing system. In addition an electric circuit which is necessary for the power supply at the bicycle docking station was designed and an automatic charging solution was suggested to charge the battery of the bicycle through special contacts connected to the locking system. Finally, in the environmental analysis it was estimated the possible reduction of greenhouse gases and air pollutants in case of using an electric bicycle sharing system as an option for urban transportation for short distances. It was calculated that this types of systems in a large scale of operation can have some input in reducing these emissions, and hence improving the health of the local population as well as the global climatic conditions."
Zois Theodorou,
Urban Transport and Social Action. The Movimiento Furiosos Ciclistas and the right to the city.
Master Thesis, Latin American Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, July 2015, 65 p. [formato PDF, 1,88 MB].
"As in many large cities, rapid urbanisation in Santiago (Chile) has been accompanied by problems of urban sprawl, inequality, and issues with transportation. Since the late nineties social an increasing amount of social movements have emerged that advocate the bicycle as a healthier, more efficient, and non-polluting transport alternative for that city. This thesis investigates the first of these new social movements, the Movimiento Furiosos Ciclistas (MFC), using the concept of the right to the city, introduced by the French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre, and which has undergone a revival over the last decade as a critical approach to the effects of urbanisation under neoliberalism on societies and their cities. The applicability of Lefebvre’s right to the city as a citizen’s demand for inclusion to their city and a greater control over its space is tested on the MFC in Santiago in the period spanning its emergence in 1994 up to the present year of 2015.The study analyses, firstly, the history, actions, and the organisation of the Movimiento Furiosos Ciclistas as a response to problems of Santiago’s urbanisation; secondly, the movement’s success in making such a demand and the obstacles that hinder; and finally, it tests the right to the city’s unifying potential in analyzing the relationship of the MFC to similar New Social Movements."
Sarah Cipkar,
Moving towards equity? Citizen participation in public transit planning in the Detroit metropolitan region.
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through the Department of Political Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, July 2015, 173 p. [formato PDF, 831 kB].
"This research explores citizen participation in the Detroit metropolitan region in formal governmental institutions in the public transportation sector. Its purpose is to understand whether citizens feel empowered to be active, effective, and robust stakeholders within the public transit policy process. By surveying members of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and observing various CAC and Regional Transit Authority (RTA) public meetings, this study determines the level and perceived effectiveness of participation by CAC members in transit decision-making to be moderate, yet restrained by the institutional structure. The wider implications on creating an equitable transit system are discussed. I conclude that with limited influence and the lack of obvious representation of marginalized groups, it is difficult to determine whether the CAC’s involvement will lead to the creation of an equitable transit system to benefit Detroit’s transit dependent populations."
Luca Nitschke,
Public bike sharing in Munich. A critical view on bike sharing and redistribution of urban space.
Master Thesis, Erasmus Mundus Master Program, Joint European Master in Environmental Studies – Cities and Sustainability, Aalborg Universitet, June 2015, 62 p. [formato PDF, 1,05 MB].
"Urban sustainable mobility is a main issue within contemporary cities. Within the emerging technologies of collaborative mobility, bike sharing schemes (BSS) are a rapidly growing transportation infrastructure implemented in cities world-wide. However, the scientific research on BSS remains a patchwork of mostly technical and quantitative studies. Qualitative and critical research on the motives and the implementation process of bike sharing schemes is vastly underrepresented, whereas this study is looking at this missing part of the literature on bike sharing schemes.
This study investigates the motives of politicians, the city administration and other stakeholders to implement a bike sharing scheme owned by the public transport provider in the German city of Munich. Five main motive complexes were identified: 1) bike sharing schemes as public transport, 2) city image and marketing, 3) market research on inter- and multimodal mobility, 4) other benefits and 5) environmental and health benefits. These motives were discussed in regard to the synergies of public transport and BSS and the development of fourth generation BSS. In an additional analytical step a critical theoretical framework on bike sharing schemes was developed, drawing from insights of critical urban theory, urban political ecology and the framework of splintering urbanism. This was used for a critical discussion of bike sharing schemes as a conflict on the redistribution of urban space towards less impacting modes of transport and their nature as a (premium) mobility service."
James Hannig,
Perceptions of Bike Sharing in Underserved Communities Within Milwaukee and the Twin Cities.
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, May 2015, 104 p. [formato PDF, 1,08 MB].
"Despite becoming increasingly more popular in cities across North America, many bikeshare systems have received criticism for not reaching minority and low-income populations. Several bikeshare operators have implemented measures to reach these populations including removing financial barriers, placing stations in underserved neighborhoods, and partnering with various community organizations. However, until recently, few have explored how people in these underserved areas perceive bike sharing.
Feedback was solicited from key community partners in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota to better understand how bike sharing is perceived in underserved communities and to determine whether other models could better address the transportation needs of these communities. A total of 26 interviews were conducted with community partner organizations including social service providers, housing authorities, bicycle advocates, transit advocates, institutions of higher education, and other nonprofit organizations.
The study indicated that there is still a great deal of research needed to understand how underserved communities truly perceive bike sharing—or even biking for that matter. However, relationships play a key role in building trust and empowering communities to participate in activities such as biking and bike sharing.
Other entry points to biking and bike sharing such as long-term bicycle loans and biking as recreation (e.g., initial station installations in parks) may be more effective in making the bike more acceptable to community members who wish to realize its benefits. In the long-term, investing in these types of programs may prove more effective in building a bikeshare customer base in underserved communities.
Finally, efforts to provide equitable access to bike sharing need to include targeted activities for women, families, and groups. Evidence suggests that women and families are particularly disenfranchised and excluded from biking and bike sharing opportunities. By making intentional accommodations to include women and families, bicycle advocates and bikeshare operators may realize increased participation from all members of the community.
As a more substantial library around the topic of bike and bikeshare equity emerges, advocates, planners, and bikeshare operators need to ensure that equitable practices are being explored and implemented to the greatest extent possible—particularly in the way underserved communities’ needs are met through inclusion and engagement."
Robert Lang,
Towards sustainable transport. A comparison of demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish and international car sharing users.
Master's Thesis in International Business, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, 17.03.2015, 103 p. [formato PDF, 5,07 MB].
"Strong evidence suggests that the climate is changing and that these changes are largely caused by human activities. A consensus exists among researchers that human activity is causing global warming and that actions to mitigate global warming need to be taken swiftly. The transportation sector, which relies heavily on fossil fuel burning and primarily oil, is one of the big contributors to air pollution problems at local, regional and global levels. It is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions and is estimated to be responsible for nearly a quarter of global energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions.
Car sharing is a mobility solution encouraging its users to decrease private car usage in favour of communal transit and environmental goals. The idea of car sharing originates from the aspiration
to decrease personal car ownership and to reduce vehicle distance travelled. This thesis seeks to complement the understanding of Finnish car sharing users and their usage through better categorization. Through better categorization and segmentation of Finnish car sharing users the thesis seeks to provide information for improved marketing insight. Research is done on the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing users and they are compared with international findings about the characteristics of International car sharing users. The main research problem is Are Finnish car sharing users similar to international ones?
A theoretical research framework on the determinants of individual car sharing usage is built based on international research about demographic and behaviouristic characteristics. After this a quantitative survey is performed to the customers of a Finnish car sharing organization. The data analysed in the thesis consist out of 532 answers received from the car sharing organizations customers. The data is analysed with descriptive and other exploratory methods, which create an understanding of Finnish car sharing users. At the end of the analysis the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing users are compared with international ones.
The research findings of the thesis indicate that the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing usage largely follow those of their international counterparts. Thanks to the thesis results the car sharing organization is able to better target their customers through improved marketing insight."
Eslie-Fleur Vrolijk,
Ecosystem-based port design. An approach for sustainable port development.
Master's Thesis, Delft University of Technology, January 2015, 153 p. [formato PDF, 12,3 MB].
"The world population is growing. Together with the population, the need for resources is growing, as is the need for the transportation of these resources. A significant part is carried out through marine transport, directly relating to the increasing need for port development. All over the world, a shift increasingly occurs towards applying sustainable measures. The combination of these events, results in the context of this research: Sustainable port development.
This research entails the search for an implementation strategy for sustainable port development: An 'ecosystem-based port design approach' is devised. This approach is applied working top-down, with a division on three levels; system, construction and material level. The focus of this research is set on the implementation of sustainability in the design-phase of a port development, targeting sustainable measures at the system level.
The ecosystem-based design approach (EBDA) is based on existing philosophies (e.g. Building with Nature) and adopts theories from a PIANC-report on Sustainable Ports [Vellinga et al., 2014]. Ecosystem services are used for the evaluation of the approach. The approach consists of five steps: (1) Understanding the system, (2) Designing alternatives, (3) Modelling alternatives, (4) Evaluating alternatives and (5) Final design.
In order to develop and test the approach, a case study is executed. The port development project at Tema, Ghana is selected as most suitable to serve as a test case for the application of the approach. Steps one through five are applied to the case and this thesis shows the difficulties, challenges, strengths and opportunities that are encountered along the way. For the case study, potential measures are developed during a brainstorm session. Five measures are investigated by means of analytical studies and a hydrodynamic model (Delft3D). The focus is set on one measure: the beneficial re-use of dredged material from the port basin and approach channel. Using the dredged material, a nourishment is redesigned to maximise its lifetime and to minimise the sediment transport rates. The sediment transport rates are predicted using Delft3D and by inter-comparing the ecosystem-based nourishment design to the design as proposed by Boskalis, a revision is proposed. The reclaimed area is enlarged and the lifetime doubled.
The final design for Tema consists of a revision of the nourishment, includes possibilities for lagoon development, contains open possibilities for the development of a so-called 'plastic trap' and proposes to use the Building with Nature seabed landscaping technique in the offshore dredging activities. The measure that entailed preventive dredging of a scour hole is dropped, as model results show small sediment transport rates over the breakwater into the port area. The potential gain consequently diminished and the measure is excluded from the final design.
In the evaluation, the ecosystem-based design is compared to the traditional design that is used as the starting-point for the approach. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges are compared in a so-called SWOC-analysis, wherein the ecosystem services are used as indicators (economy, ecology, society). For this case study, the ecosystem-based design shows improvement on all aspects of the ecosystem. The application of the EBDA at Tema, Ghana results in a more sustainable port. The process of applying the EBDA is also evaluated and lessons learned are derived. Finally, the approach itself is evaluated.
Concluding this research, the ecosystem-based design approach is considered to be an effective approach to reach a more sustainable design in the initial phase of port development. For future applications, great potential is expected in the development of sustainable ports. Further development of the EBDA can be achieved by structurally applying the approach to different phases of port development, in different areas over the world, for varying functionality of ports and for different users. By comparing differences and similarities, a generally applicable approach can be developed. Eventually, a practical framework can be constructed, containing sustainable measures that are applicable to specific port development projects."
Prashanth Sekhar, Zhiyu Tang,
Redefinition of transport sharing system for a sustainable future. Challenge Lab 2014: Sustainable Mobility and Transport.
Master of Science Thesis in the Master Degree Programme, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 2014, 141 p. [formato PDF, 4,14 MB].
"The thesis work is divided to two phases. Phase I focus on Challenge Lab process based on the methodology of backcasting, from an outside in and an inside out approach. The
outside in approach is related to knowledge input while the inside out approach is to research oneself. Challenge Lab students use design thinking to combine the learning of
both approaches for the purpose to decide the project topic in Phase II.
In the project, a new business model is created to transit the current transport system in Gothenburg and lead to a sustainable future. The main composition of the project are:
A system consists of a virtual mapping platform and GPS smart lock. The platform gets the signal of the locks and record the moving patterns. An APP is connected to
the platform to show real-time vehicle location;
Co-shared transport (e.g. bike sharing and car sharing) provides private vehicles to the sharing market;
Urban goods are delivered on people¡¦s commute way with the support of smart boxes.
The project proposes a new way to integrate the existing transport capacity for both personal transport and freight transport in the urban area and a new way to think business
model with regard with sustainability."
Sonja Heikkilä,
Mobility as a Service – A Proposal for Action for the Public Administration, Case Helsinki.
Master Thesis of Science in Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aalto University, 28.04.2014, 94 p. [formato PDF, 2,06 MB].
"The passenger transport sector is being affected by several major trends. These trends alter the requirements of the transport system, thus creating a challenge to the city development. However, it seems that the current organization of the public transport service provision in Helsinki fails to sufficiently respond to the challenge. Simultaneously, the objective of the national transport policy is to increase the share of sustainable travel modes. In addition to the altering requirements, modern technology, such as means of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), provide a spectrum of possibilities in the field. The deployment of ITS could contribute to more efficient utilization of resources, including infrastructure and fleet, improved fluidity of traffic due to real time information, and attractive provision of mobility services.
Having said this, it appears that the passenger transport sector in Helsinki needs to be transformed. In order to discover a possible form and course for the transformation, the Helsinki City Planning Department has procured this study. This study discovers a way to reorganize the passenger transport sector so that it would promote the concept of “Mobility as a Service” (MaaS), that is, convenient provision of a versatility of attractive mobility services. This study provides a suggestion of a transformed mobility sector. Furthermore, it provides a scheduled proposal for action for executing the transformation.
The study examined former transformations in four industries: telecommunications, energy, airline, and railroad industries. The author aimed to identify the most significant factors that contributed to the success of the transformations. These numerous factors were then formed into proposals for action and crystallized into seven most considerable ones. The seven proposed actions were then appointed to a time scale from 2015 to 2025, thus creating a road map for the transformation of the passenger transport sector in Helsinki. The results show that all stakeholders should cooperate in the transformation, and legislation as well as regulation should be revised. In addition, purchase and subsidization procedures, as well as mobility service provision should be reorganized, and transformed operations established. Additionally, pilots should be conducted from the beginning to gain practical experience."
Jean Beetham,
Re-Cycling the Streets: Exploring the Allocation of Public Space for Transport.
Master Thesis, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, January 2014, 156 p. [formato PDF, 3,07 MB].
"This study explored the extent to which road space reallocation from on-street parking to an arterial cycle way may be warranted between Wellington city’s southern suburbs and city centre. Latent demand and preferences for transport cycling were assessed using an intentional behaviour change model, and a study of the economic contribution of the on-street parking on Tory Street to adjacent businesses was undertaken. This study identified a significant latent demand for transport cycling in Wellington. Transport cycling is suppressed primarily because of a perceived lack of safety. Road safety improvements were identified as the key change required to encourage the uptake of transport cycling. In particular, people in Wellington desire a continuous and connected network of separated and dedicated cycle ways. Potential cyclists indicated that they would be likely to cycle for transport more often if a cycle path connecting Wellington’s southern suburbs and city centre was constructed. Contrary to what might be expected, it appears that the majority of people would support the removal of some on-street parking to provide for this cycle way. Additionally, this study found that the contribution of those who use on-street parking to adjacent retail vitality on Tory Street is minor, compared to the contribution of those who do not require parking and those who use off-street parking. This research concludes that, considering Wellington’s context and policy, the reallocation of road space from on-street parking to an arterial cycle way between Wellington’s southern suburbs and city centre may well be warranted."
James Bryant Jr.,
Finding the optimal locations for bike sharing stations: a case study within the city of Richmond, Virginia.
Master Thesis in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences, George Mason University, Spring Semester 2013, 87 p. [formato PDF, 8,39 MB].
"Facility location problems constitute an area of study that has been extensively researched due to the opportunities presented for small businesses and corporations to increase their efficiency and profitability. Numerous models have been developed in an attempt to find solutions to such problems; two of these include the set-covering problem (SCP) and the maximal covering location problem (MCLP). Applications of these two covering models have been used to find optimal locations for public and private facilities such as fire stations, police stations and retail stores. This study applies the SCP and MCLP to find good locations for bike sharing stations in the City of Richmond. Multiple iterations of the SCP and MCLP for Bike Stations models are performed for each of the individual “bike demand” criteria, along with additional iterations using various combinations of service distances and station numbers. Each of these iterations provide varying results of demand covered; station recommendations are made using a combined analysis, and suggestions for model improvements and future applications are discussed."
Martin Forsberg,
To Handle Space. A qualitative study of traffic planner´s experiences of planning for pedestrians and cyclists in a complex urban setting.
Master Thesis in Built Environment, Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University, Spring Semester 2013, 36 p. [formato PDF, 835 kB].
"This thesis investigates five traffic planner´s experiences of planning for pedestrians and cyclists in complex urban settings. Three themes, or relations are investigated: priority or hierarchy; separation or conglomeration; and top-down design or bottom-desires. The research was conducted through qualitative interviews to get hold of traffic planner´s experiences and understandings of how to understand space. Firstly, the results show that the traffic planner´s experience that the car still is the norm in the traffic system, but that re-prioritization of space to make pedestrians and cyclists the norm is getting more widely accepted. Secondly, there is a spread understanding that separation of uses and functions are to prefer before creation of shared spaces. Shared spaces are seen to neglect accessibility and separated spaces with overlapping functions are seen to clarify uses. Thirdly, it is meant that it needs to be a mutual relationship between top-down design and bottom-up desires to create space that meet different needs; a purely top-down approach will miss preferable uses of an existing place, and a purely bottom-up approach is understood as a possible hindrance to get things done."
Dzmitry Bazhko,
Could bicycle sharing systems be a tourist attraction? Case study of Lugano.
Master dissertation, Master in International Tourism, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Communication, University of Lugano, July 2013, 65 p. [formato PDF, 1,75 MB].
"There is no clear evidence if there is an impact of BSSs on the number of tourists coming to the cities which have them (Schuetze, 2012). There are no academic publications on the role of bicycle sharing for urban tourism. That is why the current research work is an attempt to fill the gap between tourism studies and transportation studies. This paper will identify the role that casual subscriptions play overall in Velopass total operations. That is why the main research question is: “Could bicycle sharing systems be a tourist attraction?” or is it only targeted for residents of Lugano? The research paper looks closely at the motivation tourists have to use a Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS).
In order to answer the proposed research question, the following objectives have been set: investigate the tourist demand for current BSS in Lugano; outline the visibility of Velopass among the visitors of Lugano; define the motivations for Velopass users to use a bicycle sharing system; reveal new strategies to improve Velopass usage for tourists.
Reaching these objectives will provide an understanding of the reasons that make Velopass attractive/not attractive for tourists. For this study research, it is assumed that day subscriptions of Velopass are associated with tourism activities. Though short-term subscriptions could also be the
users who want test the system without a long term commitment, which might require an annual subscription (Bonnette Consulting, 2010).
Surveys and interviews were used as main methodological tools in order to answer the proposed research question. The interview portion is linked to the operational aspects of Velopass, explaining how the system is organized in general. Two questionnaires were developed to collect responses from tourists and Velopass users. The information from both the interviews and surveys will provide ideas on how to improve the current public BSS in Lugano. Thus the paper could be used as a recommendation for Velopass improvement. This research paper will contribute to the existing literature on BSSs. It also will provide a background for future investigation in the field of slow travel, combining public transportation and tourism."
Peter B.A. Sanders,
Traffic and Livability in Hanoi, Vietnam: exploring the impact of traffic volume on livability of residents in Hanoi.
Master Thesis, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Civil Engineering and Management, University of Twente,
April 2013, 87 p. [formato PDF, 4,33 MB].
"Urban transport is one of the most daunting problems faced by South East Asian cities. Research from the resident perspective in the developed world reveals that urban transport can severely affect livability of residents. However, such empirical evidence has yet to be obtained in South East Asia. This Master thesis evaluates livability of residents along streets with different traffic volumes in Hanoi, a rapidly growing metropolis characterised by high levels of personal motorized traffic in Vietnam. Two high volume traffic streets and two low volume traffic streets are studied. The study results show that – as expected – low traffic volume streets were rated more livable than high traffic streets. The study is able to quantify that residents on both low traffic volume streets experience less traffic hazard and stress, including noise and air pollution, than neighbouring high traffic streets. Though, interestingly, the level of social interaction and feeling of privacy and home territory were fairly high at all four low and high traffic streets.
The methodologies used for this explorative study were revisiting the famous 1969 ‘’Livable Streets’’ project by Donald Appleyard and Mark Lintell. Like the original study, it compared responses of residents on streets with high and low traffic volumes and measured the effects on social interaction, stress, traffic hazard, and privacy and home territory. Appleyard found all four indicators to correlate inversely with traffic volume in San Francisco. However, the new study shows for social interaction and a feeling of privacy and home territory contradictory trends. This is most likely a consequence of contextual differences between Hanoi and San Francisco, such as average length of residence and level of individualism. Responses were nevertheless muted for a number of probable reasons, including residential self-selection, socio-demographic differences and physical differences other than traffic volume between the streets."
A. Mannaerts,
Policy analysis for the Dutch rail sector using System Dynamics.
Master Thesis, Faculty of Technology, Policy Analysis and Management, Delft University of Technology,
January 21th, 2013, 107 p. [formato PDF, 4,62 MB].
"The Netherlands has one of the heaviest utilized railway networks in the EU, a lot of train movements take place on a relatively small network. There is a criss-cross of traffic between and inside agglomerations. To complicate matters more, both local and intercity trains operate on the same network. The coming decade a further growth of traffic is expected, and the rail infrastructure manager of the Netherlands, has set itself the goal to increase the capacity of the network with 50% in 2020. With only limited financial resources and an already complex network the goal is to achieve this increase in capacity by more efficient planning and scheduling of railway traffic. However measures to increase capacity through heavier utilization of the network can harm the robustness of the network.
The goal of this research was to explore the possibilities of System Dynamics to better understand the complexity of the Dutch railway system, and the effects of policies on it. This understanding will have to used and communicated in a complex multi-actor setting. Only a limited amount of studies into the dynamic effects of the railway system have been performed in the previous decades. Therefor an SD simulation study was undertaken to experience first-hand the pros and cons of using SD for policy analysis in the rail sector. This was done by modelling the relation between traveller choice of transport modes and the effect this has on the operations on the network. The SD approach to this problem facilitated a structured approach to system analysis, identification of the feedback structure of the modelled system, evaluation of uncertainty and identification of directions for further policy analysis.
A conceptual model was developed that incorporated concepts that relates the quality of the train service to the trade-off made between car and train by travellers. This results in part of the demand for mobility to be satisfied by train travel. This demand would then lead to actual operations on the railways, which would in turn affect the quality of the rail service. The conceptual model was analysed for the existence of feedback loops. The main conclusion that could be drawn from this causal analysis is that an increase of capacity through a higher frequency of train services will lead to a decrease of travel time and uncertainty about arrival, but will also complicate operations leading to an increase of delays.
Then the conceptual model was implemented to allow for quantitative simulation. Sensitivity analysis was performed to identify possible high leverage policy options and uncertainties in model outcome. It also allowed for a structured comparison of the model outcomes. The main conclusions of the simulation study were that: the quality of a car trip is an important aspect in determining the usage of the train services. Improvements to the road system can therefore be a threat to the performance of the rail system; In the commute reliability of arrival times is the factor that has the most effect on the modal choice. More than the price and time value of a train trip; A further increase of capacity of the rail services through frequency will lead to higher average delays, but improve the reliability of arrival; Finally a major uncertainty in the simulation model was found to be the trade-off function used to weight quality aspects of trips.
Because of the separation of operations, management and oversight in the Dutch railway system, decision making will require the cooperation of stakeholders. The policy analysis and decision making process become even more complex when taking the institutional arrangements into account. None of the stakeholders is able to impose their own will upon the others. Any collective decision will therefore be the result of a process of consultation and negotiation. In this environment the authority of a policy analysis is very important. To achieve this by improving the value and validity of the policy analysis, possibilities for improvements to the model, research of knowledge gaps and involvement of policy actors were discussed.
Finally based on the results of the modelling process and further improvements to the model and modelling process recommendations were given on how System Dynamics could effectively be used to support policy analysis in the rail sector. The three main recommendations of this research are: (1) to use System Dynamics as
a problem structuring tool within an organisation to generate insight into complex contested problems and identify knowledge gaps; (2) to use qualitative and quantitative modelling in a participatory modelling process with stakeholders in the system to generate a shared vision on the system and problems; and (3) develop and adapt System Dynamics models that provide insight into the complex feedback and interactions in the system, into games that are suitable to spread knowledge about this feedback and importance of it for decision making."
Travis Daniel Owens,
Estimating Rail Cost for Multimodal Corridor Planning.
Master of Science in Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, December 2012, 87 p. [formato PDF, 1,21 MB].
"This study evaluates specific variables that influence rail freight operating costs for line haul movements. This paper gives planners a mechanistic method to determine rail costs on a single corridor while analyzing the effects of different variables on the overall operating costs. Planners evaluating the benefits of rail operations face two problems; what is the route alignment and what rail costs are derived for this alignment? This paper also reports on a promising method to measure track alignment—specifically grades – which obviates the need to work with railroad companies to determine track alignments for preliminary multimodal analysis. Complete rail freight transportation assessment can be determined from the proposed two methods, allowing more accurate planning to be done in the area of freight movement."
Ruurd van der Meer
Marine air: shipping emissions in ports and their impact on local air quality. A case study on the ports of Delfzijl and Eemshaven.
Master Thesis of the Master Energy and Environmental Sciences at the University of Groningen,
October 2012, 73 p. [formato PDF, 3,88 MB].
"Shipping is a significant air pollution source in ports and coastal areas. This study aims to quantify ship NOX, SO2, and PM emissions and their contribution to local atmospheric air pollution in the ports of Groningen Seaports. This study is performed to evaluate the relevance of shipping as an air polluter, and whether shore power is an effective emission reduction measure. The annual emissions and resulting concentrations and deposition in port areas are calculated in five distinctive scenarios:
1.Baseline: visiting intensity of various types of ships in base year 2010. 2.Shore power: supply of shore power to tankers and bulk carriers in both ports.
3.Energy port: extra visits of large vessels in Eemshaven port. 4.Offshore port: 50% extra emissions by offshore vessels in Eemshaven port.
5.Chemical port: extra chemical-based ship visits in Delfzijl. Emissions are calculated by the EMS methodology for calculating ship emissions in the Netherlands. Concentrations and depositions are calculated by the OPS atmospheric transport model.
Emission reduction by shore power at the actual visiting intensity is most effective for tankers in Delfzijl. The increase of ship visits in Eemshaven port energy and offshore port scenarios results in significantly higher emissions. In the Delfzijl chemical port scenario emissions are increasing too. However, the Eemshaven port energy and offshore scenario are both highly probable to take place. Combining these scenarios more than doubles the emissions relative to the base scenario. A hypothetical supply of the vessels in these scenarios with shore power will reduce most extra emissions. Especially in Eemshaven port, the emission reduction potential by shore power is substantial.
NOX and SO2 concentrations and depositions are calculated in an area of 5 km x 5 km. The trend in the calculated NOX and SO2 concentrations and depositions in the scenarios is similar to the trend in the emissions. Significant dispersion of the substances is limited to the areas adjacent to the emission sources. In all scenarios concentrations originating from shipping in the ports contribute significantly to the background concentration in the port areas. The calculated values do not exceed NOX or SO2 concentration limits for the protection of nature and human health."
Reko Möttönen,
Relative Energy Consumption of Transport Modes.
Master Thesis of Science in Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aalto University, 15.08.2012, 98 p. [formato PDF, 2,82 MB].
"When comparing the energy efficiency of transport modes the different spatial contexts and the resulting trip characteristics must be taken into account in order to bring about realistic and fair results. The objective of this master thesis is to find out the actual number of consumed energy and generated emissions per passenger on an annual basis using realistic load factors and mode choice scenarios in these different contexts.
The results show that especially with modern private vehicles the energy efficiency and fuel consumption for autos is competitive with buses in rural areas where buses carry far less people on board than in urban environment. If, however, the private vehicle driving distances increase radically due to shifting to the more fuel efficient vehicles, the advantages of the reduction of emissions and fuel consumption on a per vehicle basis will be offset quickly.
Furthermore, criticism of people as environmentally irresponsible citizens simply because they drive their automobile or other private vehicle is unwarranted. In rural areas, the bus exists not because it is better environmentally but because it fulfills a social need for mobility for those without autos. People who never drive in their home city may actually have the largest carbon footprint of anyone in their neighborhood if they do a large amount of long distance travel. The findings from this study argue for a more holistic and realistic approach to evaluating energy efficiency of particular lifestyles and for designing policy responses."
Aaron Lewis & Mark Simmons,
P2P Carsharing Service Design: Informing User Experience Development.
Thesis submitted for completion of Master in Sustainable Product-Service System Innovation,
School of Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden, June 2012, 124 p. [formato PDF, 5,13 MB].
"This thesis investigates the P2P carsharing user experience. The intention of this investigation is to increase the adoption and uptake of P2P carsharing
in existing and future markets because of its benefits to the environment, the local economy and its accruement of social capital. We see P2P carsharing
as a key means to creating a sustainable urban transportation solution. We started by doing a web review of P2P carsharing followed by a systematic
analysis in which we categorized each platforms’ key attributes. With this information we created two infographics. The first displays existent
platforms and their different attributes. The second illustrates the customer journey. We then conducted a survey between April 6 and May 14, 2012,
receiving 206 responses from borrowers, owners and people who have not yet used the service. Although the survey was open to anyone, users in the
US, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden were targeted. The survey provides demographic information about P2P carsharing users who were found
to be young, highly educated, well-off working professionals. Their transportation habits and needs, especially as relating to P2P carsharing were
also found. After collating this information we partitioned respondents into: Owners, Borrowers, Prospective Owners, Prospective Borrowers, and then
orthogonally into US Users and European Users. We then created user profiles and a mix of short and longer-term multi-stakeholder design challenges
for stakeholders; whose work, building off of ours, will we hope, foster innovations that make P2P carsharing a ubiquitous mobility solution."
Kwan, Cho-yam, Joe,
To investigate slow mode transport for urban tourism in Hong Kong.
Thesis submitted for the Degree of Master of Science in Urban Planning, The University of Hong Kong, 2012, 137 p. [formato PDF, 8,57 MB].
"In the context of global competition, Hong Kong has positioned her social and urban
infrastructure to foster the advanced service sector activities of urban tourism. The success
of the urban area as a place making for tourism is the embedding of sustainable and
innovative principles in the planning process and the implementation of the stakeholders and
travelers aspirations. A holistic and adaptive public transport planning and alternative
transport modes are one of the key issue that contribute to the success of urban tourism development now and the future.
For the advancement of travel information technology and infrastructure of urban tourism,
it enables more individual travelers rather than conventional group-tour visit to Hong Kong.
Those individual travelers are mostly in the form of slow travel where one visits to
destinations more slowly overland, stay longer and travel less with the importance of travel
experience to a destination engagement with slow modes of transport. This morphology
from mass and efficient tourism to newer form of individual and experienced tourism takes
forward the notion of queries and justifications of conventional fast and efficient transport
planning and modal choice could provide tourist a real understanding of localities of urban culture and detail settings.
This dissertation aiming to examine the concept and theory of slow travel in associate
with slow mode of transportation application and the potential planning recommendation for
urban tourism in Hong Kong. The objective of this research is to see how slow travel
theories that had been popularized in overseas countries could be applied in Hong Kong with
the support of public transport service and planning enhancement. In this research, the
interdisciplinary research to examine of the problem is form a multi-disciplinary approach
while the solution and recommendation is form a management perspective – transport and urban planning."
Jakob Leitner,
Luftschadstoffemissionen aus dem Verkehrssektor. Emissionsreduktionspotenzial durch verkehrslenkende Maßnahmen im Hinblick auf die Kyotovereinbarungen Österreichs am Beispiel der Stadt Salzburg.
Diplomarbeit, Technische Universität Wien,
März 2010, 135 p. [formato PDF, 23 MB].
"The aim of this master thesis is to estimate the effects of traffic policies on green house gas emissions from the transport sector of the city of Salzburg. Therefor the transport system of the city is modelled by using an integrated land use and transport model (MARS), which allows to calculate the green house gas emissions for the underlying base year (2001).
Different scenarios in which certain measures directly adressed to the different modes of transport are included, will be simulated over a period of 30 years.
The measures are based on the actual concept of spatial development (REK) of the city of Salzburg, a policy renewed in 2008. Future emission levels for each scenario can be calculated via model simulation to evaluate if the environmental targets of emission reduction can be achieved. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusion that it is in highest priority necessary to apply restrictive measures concerning motorised individual traffic, if significant changes in the modal share and resulting emission reductions should be reached. However, the ambitious target of the city of Salzburg will not be achieveable in the transport sector. Even if all simulated measures are taken, the emission level at the end of the simulation will just reach a level comparable with the middle of the 1990s."
Olga Chkanikova,
The application of social marketing in promoting sustainable transportation.
Master of Science degree, The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, June 2009, 92 p. [formato PDF, 892 kB].
"The traditional approach of dealing with transportation issues appears to be insufficient in bringing about sustainable urban traffic, as it does not take into account complex psychological processes assisting people in making their travel choices. New approaches are required to raise the effectiveness of transportation policies, by facilitating higher levels of public acceptance and engagement in promoted activities.The current thesis aims to assist policy-makers and program-designers in making transportation systems more sustainable by employing a social marketing approach. It provides an in-depth understanding of what social marketing is, demonstrates its advantages over the traditional transportation planning process, and explores its successful application in Lund and Malmo, located in the south of Sweden – two of the leading European cities in sustainable transportation systems."
Hassane Ahdich,
La fragmentation des flux de transport de marchandises, quelles évolutions?.
Master Développement Territorial spécialité Transports, Logistique, Territoires et Environnement.
Université de Cergy Pontoise et INRETS, 2009, 107 p. [formato PDF, 1,55 MB].
Fanny Domenach,
Cohérence urbanisme – transports : vers de nouvelles pratiques qui refondent les relations entre acteurs du territoire. Le cas de la démarche urbanisme et transports de l'agglomération Grenobloise.
Mémoire de Master 2 Pro, Université Lumière Lyon 2, École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE), Année 2008-2009, 99 p. [formato PDF, 3,68 MB].
"L'usage dominant de la voiture particulière résultant de formes urbaines discontinues et éparpillées représente un véritable obstacle au développement d'agglomération aux pratiques plus durable. Dans ce contexte l'enjeu pour les acteurs publics consiste à atteindre des objectifs de report modal important en faveur des transports collectifs. Pour y parvenir il s'agit de faire évoluer les pratiques de gestion territoriale vers davantage de cohérence entre aménagement urbain et gestion de la mobilité. Partant de ces constats le Syndicat Mixte des Transports en Commun de l'agglomération Grenobloise a créé un dispositif innovant pour rendre opérationnel le lien urbanisme – transports : « le contrat d'axe ». Elaboré dans un esprit de concertation et de co-construction permanente entre les partenaires, il permet de ne plus déterminer l'offre de transports a posteriori des choix d'urbanisation mais en prenant en compte des interactions permanentes entre organisation urbaine et politique de déplacement. Ce dispositif doit permettre d'enclencher une dynamique vertueuse dans un contexte financier contraint où les collectivités agissent sur l'urbanisme afin d'apporter une certaine efficacité économique au projet. Partant de cette expérience, les réflexions développées dans ce mémoire visent à essayer de comprendre comment un projet de transport peu devenir le support du développement d'un territoire."
Eva Schelin,
Road user charging for heavy goods vehicles. Implementation aspects.
Linköping Studies in Science and Technology, Licentiate Thesis No. 1377, Linköpings Universitet,
Department of Science and Technology, Norrköping, 2008, 103 p. [formato PDF, 421 kB].
"This licentiate thesis aims at analysing and identifying the most important factors and areas to
focus on for reaching a successful implementation of a system for charging heavy goods
vehicles based on distance and marginal cost. These are:
- Public acceptance and use of opportunities and public opinion;
- The political process and most important decision points;
- The legal framework before and during introduction as well as for operation of a system;
- The institutional framework;
- Responsibility assignment;
- System procurement and implementation, including procurement strategy, technology choices, testing and demonstration and interoperability.
Another important contribution is the implementation process model for an introduction of a
distance based system for heavy goods vehicles in a country. The model comprises of the
most important aspects to consider which has been made through the study and analysis of
both implemented and cancelled systems as well as planned introductions, where the Swedish
work in this direction has formed the major part of the analysis. The implementation process
model with its main actors, decision points and information flow between actor groups are
cornerstones of the model, which can serve as a tool for future implementers to follow."
Mustafa Tasaltin,
Economic and Environmental Supply of Hydrogen Fuels in Comparison with Conventional Fuels.
(ECTL Working Paper 40).
Master of Science, Hamburg University of Technology, 15 March 2008, 116 p. [formato PDF, 2,50 MB].
"In the last few years a series of demonstration projects have taken place that have
demonstrated the potential of a transport energy system based on hydrogen. These have
seen the development and demonstration of different hydrogen infrastructures, buses and
cars powered by hydrogen fuel cell and internal combustion engines. Today, there are about
100 Fuel Cell (FC) and internal combustion engines (ICE) cars, a few FC delivery vans in
operation around the world. Most of the buses are in regular public transport and airport
trolley service. Target of these projects was to implement a demonstration of state-of-the-art
hydrogen technology by running part of the transport system with hydrogen fuels. This is
because, it is assumed that hydrogen fuel offers large potential benefits in terms of reduced
emission of pollutants, greenhouse gases and diversified primary energy supply.
However, current supply of hydrogen is either not economical or not environmental. Some
production methods of hydrogen damage the environment three times more than combusting
diesel fuels in conventional vehicles. Besides this, production cost of one kilogram H2 is three
to four times more than one kilogram diesel fuel.
Objective of this thesis is to develop hydrogen supply chain concepts that will obviate the
problems and is competitive with the existing conventional fuels both from economic and
environmental perspectives. Therefore, hydrogen supply chain is reviewed in detail (Well-to-
Wheel) by breaking it down into subsections like production, logistics and utilization in
transport. After the analysis, new concepts are developed and benchmarked with the
conventional fuels via decision model.
At the end, it was clear that the hydrogen production pathways through reformer or
electrolyzes do either cost more than conventional fuels or cause higher emission during the
whole supply chain. Therefore, for the initiation phase, it was suggested to capture hydrogen
that is released as byproduct from the chlor alkali process with low cost and install the
fuelling station close to the plants to save transportation cost. Besides this, utilization of the
existing hydrogen pipeline should also be considered for future extension. Region North
Rhine Westphalia in Germany with 30% of the chlor alkali industry and installed hydrogen
pipeline fits to this description and has an economically competitive pricing structure with a
high environmental benefit. Therefore, attention should be given in regions with these
characteristics for the initiation of hydrogen powered transportation sector."
Caroline Mattsson,
Sustainable urban mobility plans: a comparison of the implementation in Spain and Sweden.
Master's Degree in Traffic and Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Luleå, 2006, 80 p. [formato PDF, 899 kB].
"The European Union Commission is preparing to put forward a proposal for every city or municipality in the Union larger than 100.000 inhabitants to prepare and implement a sustainable urban transport plan, also called a mobility plan, in order to improve the traffic situation in the cities. A sustainable mobility plan is an integrated plan considering all modes of transport planned towards a sustainable urban development. The measures implemented are a mixture of physical changes and information with the aim to reach a better traffic environment with reduced traffic volumes and emissions, increased accessibility and safety: and an increased quality of life for all citizens. The physical changes can be compared to traditional traffic planning while the information part goes under the name Mobility Management and includes among other things change of travel habits. In some European countries implementation of transport plans have already been done. This is the case in the United Kingdom where Local Transport Plans, LTP are done for all regions: France which has their Urban Mobility Master Plans, PDU, Holland and Italy. In Spain there is no tradition of creating integrated mobility plans though at present they are developing a guide for cities larger than 100.000 inhabitants according to the EU proposal. Sweden is known as a precursor country of how to reach a sustainable environment but in this case there is no all embracing plan for transports. Some cities have started working with mobility management lately.A comparative study has been done between Spain and Sweden considering their present traffic situation and what would be necessary to change to reach demands of reduced emissions and increased accessibility. The thesis ends with a discussion of whether it would be possible to implement a common sustainable urban mobility plan in all European countries and if it would have any exit."
Peter Toomey,
Bringing home the apples: examining the impacts, causes, and potential policy solutions to long-distance agricultural transport.
Teksam/International Master of Science, Roskilde University, 19 November 2004, 99 p. [formato PDF, 3,05 MB].
"This thesis addresses the issue of food miles from a policy perspective,
investigating the potential for agricultural policy to play a remedial role. To do so, it
takes a case study approach, focusing first on the U.S. Apple Industry to discern the
nature of food miles - including their existence, detrimental impacts, and causes. Then,
after developing an understanding for the nature of food miles, the thesis focuses on how
U.S. agricultural policy can be altered to reduce food miles. This is done by examining
existing U.S. agricultural policies, particularly those relating to the environment.
In concluding, this thesis makes recommendations for changing U.S. agricultural
policy to address the issue of food miles. The recommendations are guided by the
'incremental model' of policymaking and are derived from existing policies. While they
are not radical suggestions they represent a practical way that policy can begin to
recognize and address the issue of food miles."
Marc Deuber,
Road Pricing Parameter. Paradigmenwechsel von einer distanzabhängigen Gebühr hin zu einer zeitdauerbezogenen Gebühr
(cambio di paradigma da una tassa basata sulla distanza a una basata sul tempo).
Master-Arbeit, Universität St. Gallen, 30 Mai 2007, 93 p. [formato PDF, 1,54 MB].
Tristan Denéchaud,
Le tram-train en France. Transport d'avenir ou expérience limitée?.
IEP de Strasbourg, Université Robert Schuman, (Mémoire de) Master 2 Administrations locales et régionales en Europe,
Juin 2006, 66 p. [formato DOC, 550 KB].
Reinhard Haller,
Beschäftigungseffekte von Verkehrsinfrastruktur-Investitionen.
Diplomarbeit / Master’s Thesis, Technische Universität Wien,
Jänner 2005, 153 p. [formato PDF, 832 kB].
Bjorn Gunnarson, Andreas Lofgren,
Light Rail – experiences from Germany, France and Switzerland.
Master’s Thesis, Lulea University of Technology,
January 2001, 104 p. [formato PDF, 4,00 MB].
Tamim Raad,
The car in Canada: a study of factors influencing automobile dependence in Canada's seven largest cities, 1961-1991.
Master of Arts, The University of British Columbia, School of Community and Regional Planning,
October 1998, 267 p. [formato PDF, 22,4 MB].
"Automobile dependence is defined as a series of convergent land use and transportation conditions in a city that leave people with few non-car options for urban travel. This dependence is compromising the environmental, social and economic health of cities in Canada. Furthermore, it appears as though automobile dependence is increasing in Canada, as are its attendant impacts. A fuller understanding of the primary relationships affecting this trend is needed if its impacts are to be adequately mitigated. However, there is little quantitative knowledge of the relative importance of factors contributing to automobile dependence in Canadian cities. A review of the literature identifies a multitude of mutually reinforcing factors that contribute to the creation of automobile dependent cities. The factors are both cause and effect and exhibit 'feedback,' which results in a cycle of intensification of the original condition. While there are many feedback relationships that contribute to automobile dependence, some may be stronger than others. Mitigating the many adverse impacts of automobile dependence requires reducing the need for both automobile ownership and automobile use by reversing these feedback relationships. This thesis identifies the relative importance of factors influencing automobile dependence in Canada's major cities through a comparative analysis of transportation, land use and population and employment distribution trends and patterns. This involves the collection and analysis of an extensive set of data from Canada's seven largest cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa-Hull and Montreal). To provide context and supplementary information, selected data from thirty-four additional global cities are also used. A correlation analysis of the data collected identifies the strength of correlation between factors involved in automobile dependence feedback. The data reveal commonalities between cities: those cities with higher urban densities, higher transit service provision and lower automobile infrastructure provision exhibit lower levels of car ownership and use as well as higher levels of transit use. These cities also have better utilized transit systems, have higher walking and cycling mode shares and consume less fuel. The quantitative findings are used in tandem with the qualitative findings of the literature review to identify and rank eight possible points for policy intervention in changing auto dependence feedback. Of the factors examined, metropolitan and outer area density, transit supply and CBD parking supply appear to exert the strongest relative influence on auto dependence. These are followed in importance by inner area density and car ownership, which are followed by road supply and non-motorized transport share. While the auto dependence factors ranked require further study, clarification and confirmation, they provide a preliminary basis for directing policy analysis. A policy evaluation framework is developed that enables policies prescribed in each intervention area to be assessed against a series of travel, environmental, social and economic impact criteria as well as their implementation potential. This framework can be used by policymakers to identify high leverage policies for reducing auto dependence."
TESI DI LAUREA (SPECIALISTICA, MAGISTRALE) / BACHELOR
Zhu Anna,
Chinese dock-less bike-sharing model: The market situation and underlying implications.
Bachelor Thesis / Laurea magistrale, Master's Degree programme in Languages, Economics and Institutions of Asia and North Africa, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Academic Year 2017/2018,
194 p. [formato PDF, 3,7 MB].
"The sharing economy is a recent phenomenon which profoundly transformed the way of doing business nowadays. Its development has been possible due to the technological innovation and the
broad use of the Internet, which has become an integral part of people's daily life. Bicycles have been every days' mean of transportation since a long time ago. In 1965, for the first time, the
combination of the concept of sharing and the bicycles had created the "bike-sharing": bikes which can be borrowed by everyone who can leave them for the next users. Europe has been the founder
of the bike-sharing, but this research focuses on the Chinese dock-less bike-sharing start-ups, which originated within China and started to take a growing position in the sharing economy market
since late 2015. In particular, it will explain these start-ups business models, who are the leading players in the new bike-sharing market and how is the situation in China and worldwide.
Further considerations are about the positive and negative consequences and implications for the cities, the economy and the society. The research is based on the analysis of the development of
bike-sharing start-ups, mainly relying on Chinese and international news available on the Internet since the object of the investigation is a very recent phenomenon which is still evolving. The
findings suggest that dock-less bike-sharing business has been overgrowing both in China and abroad, but due to the fierce competition, it has still not reached a sustainable model. Notwithstanding,
the bike-sharing start-ups are still growing in number, with many new establishing, and in size, with the growth of the major ones, such as ofo and Mobike. The reason for going further in investing
in a non-profitable business seems to be related to some Chinese specific characteristics, such as the centralized decision-making power of the central government, the current boom in
sharing economy's industries and the advocacy for the development of the social credit system, smart-cities and smart-transportation through the use of big data."
Tournaki, Eleni M.,
The Carbon Footprint of Rail Intermodal Freight Transport: Case Study on the Athens-Thessaloniki line.
Diploma Thesis. School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, May 2014, 213 p. [formato PDF, 7,35 MB]. In Greek Language.
"The main goal of this thesis is to develop a methodology for calculating the carbon footprint of rail intermodal freight transport. The developed methodological approach allows the calculation of the total number of locomotives required, as well as the energy consumption and pollutants emitted by train for different types of loading units and wagons and for different rail track technical characteristics. Moreover, it takes into account the restrictions imposed by the wagons’ loading, which prevent them from operating at full capacity. The case study on the Athens -Thessaloniki line showed that, according to current data (gradient profile of track, rolling stock, Greek energy mix), the intermodal transport of heavy containers, with a total payload of more than 300t, emits less pollutants compared to the equivalent pure road transport. On the contrary, the exclusive transport of light containers, as well as the transport of a typical mix of light, medium and heavy containers emit more pollutants than the equivalent pure road transport. Based on the performed computations, it was concluded that the optimal choice of rolling stock can reduce pollutants by up to 21%. Furthermore, the presence of steep gradients on the rail line strongly impacts the amount of generated pollutants, while fluctuations of the train velocity also impact the emitted pollutants by a percentage of ±5%."
Ryan Cantalupo, Ian Crowe, Sonja Kent,
Free Wheels: An Assessment of Bicycle Theft in Denmark. Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Science.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, May 3, 2013, 100 p. [formato PDF, 2,61 MB].
"This project, sponsored by the Danish Cyclist Federation, describes the current state of bicycle theft in Copenhagen with the ultimate goal of recommending the best solutions to help reduce the problem. From our research it was concluded that the cycling infrastructure is insufficient to successfully support a technological solution and the general attitude towards the individual's ability to prevent bike theft needs to be improved. In addition to fully documenting our results in this report, our research has led to the development and proposal of a cohesive social awareness campaign on bicycle theft."
Aurora Mondello,
Progetto cicloturistico per la pedemontana Gemona-Sacile,
Tesi di Laurea, a.a. 2011-2012, Università Cà Foscari, Venezia, Facoltà di Ingegneria Edile-Architettura,
Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Sviluppo interculturale dei sistemi turistici, 2013, 85 p. [formato PDF, 2,92 MB]
"Numerosi sono i campi di applicazione in cui il fenomeno turistico si manifesta, ma ciò a cui questo studio è rivolto è la connessione che il turismo riesce ad instaurare con il territorio, promuovendo la sviluppo delle risorse locali nel rispetto di concetti come sostenibilità e pianificazione. Nello specifico quello che questa trattazione vuole considerare è la realizzazione di un percorso cicloturistico per la linea ferroviaria, momentaneamente interrotta, Gemona - Sacile. I vantaggi che il territorio potrebbe avere in termini di richiamo turistico sarebbero notevoli, anche se la valutazione del progetto è ancora in fase di attuazione da parte della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, dal momento che la linea serve tuttora un bacino d'utenza relativamente ampio. Si vorrà comunque dimostrare come il fenomeno del cicloturismo possa inserirsi in una prospettiva di sostenibilità e valorizzazione del territorio locale."
Gregor Trunk,
Gesamtwirtschaftlicher Vergleich von Pkw- und Radverkehr. Ein Beitrag zur Nachhaltigkeitsdiskussion
(Overall Economical Effects of Car and Bicycle Traffic - An Input to the Debate about Sustainability). (Diplomarbeit Nr. 3/2010).
Diplomarbeit für das Fachgebiet Verkehrswesen, Institut für Verkehrswesen, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien,
2011, 77 p. [formato PDF, 778 kB].
"The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the overall economical effects (costs/benefits) of two means of transport – bicycle and car. To do this, several indicators of the three dimensions of sustainability are analysed: health benefit, costs for operation, travel time, infrastructure, noise, accidents, air pollution and CO2 (for global warming potential).
To be able to compare the different indicators involved, the effects of both means of transport are put into a framework using €-cent as the unit of indicators per cycled or driven kilometre.
Observing the aggregated indicators, the external benefit per cycled kilometre is 81,47 ct/km and the overall costs per cycled kilometre are 1,55 ct/km. Concerning the car, external costs per driven kilometre of 4,35 ct/km are generated and overall costs per driven kilometre are 98,38 ct/km.
In a next step, these indicators are applied and calculated on traffic scenarios in Vienna, taking into account the number of car trips which actually could be substituted by bicycle. Based on the actual modal split of Vienna (4 % of all trips by bicycle, 25 % by car drivers), two scenarios are calculated. Starting from status quo, the external benefit of the bicycle outbalances external costs of the car by 35 mio. €/year. Regarding scenario 1 (6 % bicycle, 23 % car drivers), an additional benefit of 111 mio. €/year can be achieved compared to the status quo. Scenario 2 (7 % bicycle, 22 % car drivers) shows an additional benefit of 167 mio. €/year compared to the status quo."
Filippo Stucchi,
Governo del territorio e mobilità sostenibile: la greenway del Naviglio Martesana,
[tesi di laurea specialistica, a.a. 2009-2010], Politecnico di Milano, Facoltà di Ingegneria Edile-Architettura,
Corso di laurea specialistica in Ingegneria Edile, 2010, 155 p. [formato PDF, 3,23 MB]
Andrea Bonfiglioli,
Prospettive di sviluppo del trasporto ferroviario delle merci in Emilia-Romagna,
[tesi di laurea specialistica, a.a. 2008-2009], Università di Bologna, Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Corso di laurea in Ingegneria Civile, marzo 2010, 249 p. [formato PDF, 6,64 MB]
Mateja Pirc,
Umirjanje prometa v alpskih dolinah s poudarkom na predlogu novega prometnega režima v dolini Vrata,
[diplomsko delo], Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska Fakulteta, Oddelek za Geografijo. Ljubljana, 2007, 98 p. [formato PDF, 1,28 MB]
Cecilia Alzetta,
La valle si fa autostrada. Il collegamento A27-A23 tra il Cadore e la Carnia,
[tesi di laurea, a.a. 2007-2008], Università di Padova, Facoltà di Lettere,
Corso di Laurea in Progettazione e gestione del turismo culturale. 108 p. [2
files formato PDF, zipped 16 MB]
"Scopo di questo studio è quello di evidenziare l’unicità dal punto di vista
ambientale e turistico di alcuni nostri territori, nello specifico il Cadore e la Carnia,
interessati dal passaggio di una futura grande opera autostradale: il collegamento
tra A27 e A23. In questo lavoro si parte dalla definizione di ambiente della
Costituzione italiana e, passando attraverso le norme paesaggistiche interne ed
internazionali, si cerca di sottolineare l’importanza delle risorse naturali per le
comunità locali e per la domanda turistica. Nel terzo capitolo verrà affrontato il
caso autostradale in questione ponendo l’accento sui diversi tracciati dello studio di
fattibilità e loro ipotesi in relazione alla normativa v.i.a. e alle legge forestali e di
difesa del suolo. Dal punto di vista turistico verranno analizzate le caratteristiche ricettive di
ciascuna zona e le rispettive offerte legate alle bellezze paesaggistiche,
all’economia e all’artigianato locale. Il Cadore e la Carnia, infatti, si propongono
come terre incontaminate in perfetta antitesi con il progetto autostradale rivolto ad
un turismo di massa e non di qualità che vede, invece, nell’ambiente una grande
risorsa, anche economica. Infine il quarto capitolo tenterà di tracciare alcune
considerazioni finali circa lo sviluppo di alternative rispetto alla proposta del
collegamento, ponendo in luce la necessità di un trasporto merci e passeggeri su
rotaia, come già in uso in Svizzera (tanto da diventare un’attrattiva turistica) e
come in costruzione nella galleria del S. Gottardo."
Jürg Suter,
Inwertsetzung einer internationalen Bahnlinie durch die zentralen Pyrenäen.
(Valorisation d'une ligne ferroviaire internationale traversant les Pyrénées centrales /
Valoración de una línea de ferrocarril internacional por el Pirineo central).
Bedürfnis- und Umsetzungsstudie für den Personen- und Güterverkehr auf der Linie Zaragoza - Canfranc - Pau,
Diplomarbeit der Philosophisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Bern, 2007,
140 p. + allegati [files formato PDF + 1 video; 12 files riservati da richiedere all'autore].
(il sito col testo della tesi e gli allegati è in tre lingue: originale in tedesco, traduzioni in francese e spagnolo).
Daniela Basile,
La ferrovia e la città di Pontedera. L'inquinamento acustico ambientale e le misure di
mitigazione relativamente alla zona a est del fiume Era,
[tesi di laurea, a.a. 2006-2007], Università di Pisa, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Corso di Laurea in
Ingegneria Civile, 213 p. [5 files formato PDF; 7 files riservati su richiesta dell'autore]
Alessia Schiavon,
Vienna: un modello di mobilità sostenibile,
[prova finale, laurea triennale, a.a. 2004-2005], Università di Trieste,
Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per interpreti e traduttori, 74 p. [formato PDF, 1,56 MB]
"Dopo una panoramica iniziale sui problemi ambientali recentemente riscontrati nella città, in gran parte a causa di traffico difficilmente contenibile, sono riportati e tradotti i capitoli della strategia di sviluppo sostenibile dell’Austria riguardo alla mobilità e al settore dei trasporti; segue una breve analisi linguistica dei testi originali, una presentazione dell’attuale sistema nella capitale e un accenno ai provvedimenti che verranno intrapresi nell’ottica di un continuo miglioramento."
Sylke Streich,
Seevetal Radverkehrskonzept. (ECTL Working Paper 29).
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, European Centre for Transportation and Logistics, 2004, 125 p. [formato PDF, 6,36 MB].
Diplomarbeit im Fach Stadtplanung, Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, 2. September 2004.
Fabio Lamanna,
Sviluppo di un programma d'esercizio quale sintesi d'innovazione tecnologica e nuove competenze gestionali: la ferrovia Merano-Malles Venosta (BZ),
[tesi di laurea, a.a. 2003-2003], Università di Trieste, Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Corso di Laurea in Ingegneria Civile. 192 p. [formato PDF, 13,3 MB].
Oretta Giunti,
Comunicazione e innovazione: analisi e ricerca per una
strategia di comunicazione pubblica della nuova tranvia di Firenze,
[tesi di laurea, a.a. 2001-2002], Università di Siena, Facoltà di Lettere e
Filosofia, Corso di Laurea in Scienze della Comunicazione. 120 p. [9
files formato Word, zipped 4,21 MB]
Alberto Collidà,
La bicicletta è un mezzo di trasporto urbano. Analisi generale e particolare
all'area torinese,
[tesi di laurea, a.a. 1996-1997], Politecnico di Torino, Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Corso di Laurea in Ingegneria civile, sezione trasporti. [versione in html]
Marko Horvat,
Problemi pri prevozu potnikov in tovora preko Alp
(problemi del trasporto di persone e merci attraverso le Alpi), [tesi di
laurea], Maribor, September 2005, Ekonomsko-poslovna fakulteta, Univerza v
Mariboru, 57 p. [formato PDF, 1,02 MB]. La tesi affronta anche il problema dei
costi esterni del trasporto e la relativa tariffazione.
Janja Novak,
Vključevanje holdinga Slovenske železnice v evropske
prometne tokove (l’inserimento della holding delle Ferrovie
slovene nei flussi di traffico europei), [tesi di laurea], Maribor, Avgust
2004, Ekonomsko-poslovna fakulteta, Univerza v Mariboru, 90 p. [formato PDF,
740 kB].
Albina Novak,
Analiza blagovnih tokov na Slovenskih železnicah
(analisi dei flussi di merci delle Ferrovie slovene) [tesi di laurea], Maribor,
April 2004, Ekonomsko-poslovna fakulteta, Univerza v Mariboru, 79 p. [formato
PDF, 814 kB].
Amira Rotić,
Analiza prevoznih storitev v železniškem potniškem prometu
(analisi delle prestazioni nel trasporto ferroviario di persone) [tesi di laurea], Hrastnik, Oktober 2005, Ekonomsko-poslovna fakulteta, Univerza v Mariboru, 47 p. [formato PDF, 409 kB].
Sonia Sakelšek,
Reorganizacija Slovenskih železnic
(la riorganizzazione delle ferrovie slovene) [tesi di laurea], Maribor, 2004,
Ekonomsko-poslovna fakulteta, Univerza v Mariboru, 60 p. [formato PDF, 1,01 MB].
Karl Krähmer,
Studio per un progetto integrato sul territorio della ferrovia CuneoVentimiglia/Nizza,
tesi di laurea triennale, a.a. 2013-2014, Politecnico di Torino, Corso di Laurea in Pianificazione Territoriale, Urbanistica e Paesaggistico-Ambientale, 18.12.2014, 84 p. [formato PDF, 33,4 MB].
"Questa tesi ha lo scopo di definire delle linee guida per un progetto territoriale integrato che metta in valore la ferrovia CuneoNizza/Ventimiglia ed evidenzi quindi le potenzialità di sviluppo che essa presenta per il suo territorio".
TESINE DI DIPLOMA (ISTITUTI TECNICI)
Giulia Chiani,
Ferien ohne Auto - Massnahmen zur Verkehrsberuhigung in touristischen Berggebieten.
Pilotdestinationen Agerital-Sattel, Braunwald, Lenk, Scuol Engadin.
Schriftliche Arbeit zur Erlangung des Diploms der
Schweizerischen Tourismusfachschule Sierre VS, 2009, 88 p. [formato PDF, 2,67 MB].
"Indem die Menschen reisen, werden sie automatisch mobil und es entsteht zusatzlicher Verkehr. Es
handelt sich dabei um Flug-, Eisenbahn-und Strassenverkehr aber auch um Fussganger und Radfahrer.
Gemass Bundesamt fur Statistik ist es jedoch der Personenwagenverkehr, der mehr als die Halfte
aller verkehrsbedingten CO2-Emissionen der Schweiz verursacht. Die Aspekte der Freizeitgestaltung
und die Bedurfnisse des Tourismus, beide eng miteinander verbunden, sind dabei entscheidend.
Die Zunahme des Verkehrsaufkommens hat zur Folge, dass der Strassenlarm und die CO2-Emissionen
in unerwunschtem Masse ansteigen. Besonders in den touristischen Berggebieten wird dies immer
mehr zum Problem, denn die grosse Mehrheit der Urlauber reist mit dem Auto an. In Bergregionen
der ganzen Welt werden deshalb okologische Massnahmen ergriffen und nachhaltige Losungen gesucht,
um die Verkehrsberuhigung zu fordern.
"Ferien ohne Auto" ist ein nationales Projekt, das im Bereich der Verkehrsberuhigung tatig ist und die
Mobilitat in touristischen Bergdestinationen attraktiver, kundenorientierter und nachhaltiger gestalten
will. Fur die vier Pilotdestinationen Agerital]Sattel (SZ), Braunwald (GL), Lenk (BE) und Scuol Engadin
(GR) werden durch eine intensive Zusammenarbeit der Tourismusvereine, der Projektleiter und
den Tragern Losungen im Bereich der Mobilitat erarbeitet. Um das Ziel zu erreichen, dass moglichst
wenige Gaste mit dem Auto anreisen, muss die Mobilitatskette einer Destination reibungslos funktionieren
und auf den Kunden abgestimmt sein. Nicht nur die An- und Abreise sondern auch die
Aktivitaten und Ausfluge in und um den Ort herum und der Gepacktransport mussen stimmen. Denn
Gaste, die mit dem Auto anreisen, bevorzugen auch lokal das Auto als Transportmittel.
Es bestehen bereits sehr viele innovative Berggemeinden und regions] oder nationsuberschreitende
Organisationen, die grosse Fortschritte in der Verkehrsberuhigung gemacht haben. Beispielhafte
Projekte und gute Ideen konnen den Pilotdestinationen von "Ferien ohne Auto" fur die Losung von
Mobilitatsproblemen und die Gestaltung eines kundenorientierteren Angebots Anregungen geben."
Univ. di Maribor (Slovenia), Facoltà di Economia Aziendale :