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In freight distribution services a required quality level may have a relevant effect on transportation costs. For this reason an evaluation tool is useful to compare different service settings and support the decision, on the base of quantitative indicators. This paper proposes a method for cost evaluation in this context and presents an application to a case study concerning a freight distribution service, which operates on a wide road network having a city centre, a peripheral urban area and a peri-urban rural zone. A simulation method is proposed to obtain real-life scenarios in order to test the method and its indicators. The performance of each indicator has been evaluated in an experimental context to produce realistic test cases, using a trip planning tool and a demand generator. First, the behaviour of the indicators is analysed with regard to the time windows width planned for the service. Then, their ability in estimating the total transportation cost to satisfy all the requests, under different time period profiles, is shown. The results confirm the ability of the set of indicators to predict with a good approximation the transportation costs and therefore to be used in supporting the service quality planning decisions., European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, Vol 12 No 3 (2012)

BACKGROUND PAPERS FOR THE METROPOLITAN STUDY: 3 -- The project "Nested Dynamics of Metropolitan Processes and Policies" was initiated by the Regional and urban Development Group at IIASA in 1983 and work on this collaborative study started the same year. This Series of contributions represents "entry tickets" to the Project, i.e., initial statements by authors from individual metropolitan regions that are participating in the Project's network. The aim of these papers is threefold. First, to provide some background information describing the processes of change within four principal subsystems: population, housing, economy, and transportation. Second, to identify major trends and crucial policy issues which are to constitute a focus for the subsequent analytical and modeling work. Third, to facilitate comparative studies of development paths among these regions and the dynamic interdependencies between the above subsystems. The background information contained in this paper pertains to the Turin metropolitan region.

This paper describes a dynamic model for an urban system.