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The Paris-Lyon line is the busiest High-Speed Line in Europe and has been open to competition in open access since December 18, 2021. The main objective of the paper is to explore the effects for users with respect to price and frequency compare with the existing literature. The analysis is based on a large database (n = 1243) collected by web scraping from September 2019 to October 2022. The method relies on a descriptive analysis with a similar route without competition (Paris-Bordeaux) in the comparison group. The results highlight an increase of frequency by 15% and a decrease in price by 23%. The prices charged by the newcomer are lower than those of the incumbent (−30% to −50%). The comparison with the control route suggests a positive effect on price that moderates the economic catch-up effect following the COVID-19 pandemic in an inflationary context. More specifically, SNCF appears to take a wait and see attitude to competitive pressure from Trenitalia. It has moderated its prices since the new offer was introduced and has maintained its trains. • Competition have a positive effect on user welfare. • Barriers to competition underscore the importance of public regulation for success. • Incumbent adopts a wait and see attitude in response to competitive pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas face important challenges linked to contradictory trends of concentration, urban sprawl and segregation. More and more people choose to buy a residence in the suburbs taking advantage of the accessibility increase. At the same time, young households choose to rent in central areas. In this paper, distinguishing between renters and owners, we investigate the evolution of the households' location choice determinants over time with a special focus on accessibility to employment. Our case study is the Lyon urban area. We rely on discrete choice models using the disaggregated census data of the location choices of households from 1999, 2008 and 2013 and we calculate elasticities. The results confirm our initial intuition. Owners become less sensitive to accessibility to employment over time whereas it is the opposite for renters. Our results suggest the importance of incorporating these temporal evolutions into models for a better land-use transport integration and policy. • The paper investigates the evolution of the households' location choice determinants. • The trade-off "Accessibility to employment-Housing price" is different depending on the housing tenure status. • Accessibility matters differently: Owners become less sensitive when choosing their location, whereas renters become more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to the implementation of health measures of varying degrees and scales. The lockdowns that took place in 2020, especially, have had a major impact on cities, transforming urban lifestyles, economic activities and mobility. Logistics became a priority activity. Faced with changed levels and types of consumption, freight and logistics operators in cities had to adapt, while logistics real estate developers had to face challenges related to building sites closed and regulatory and licensing processes delayed. Our main research in this paper is to characterize the way the urban freight and logistics system coped with the new situation. We focused on French cities, with Paris and the Paris metropolitan area as the main case. We implemented three surveys during and after the first lockdown in France (March–May 2020), with the views of identifying challenges while characterizing stakeholders' response to the challenges. The three surveys took different and complementary forms, covering various categories of stakeholders: freight carriers (from small to large); third party logistics providers; on-demand delivery platforms; policy-makers; and logistics real-estate developers. We found out that operators adapted quickly and overall successfully, one major difference being between delivery operators and property developers. The first group experienced higher levels of financial and economic challenges; the second group experienced difficult relationships with administrations and regulations, while enjoying a rather high level of activity. The ability of local governments to deal with urban logistics challenges during the lockdowns was diverse and took several unexpected forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores the implementation and decision-making process in TGV projects and how these have changed, especially since the construction of the Mediterranean TGV-line. While paradoxically, this project was probably the most controversial, it is now seen as a huge success for all the actors involved. What kind of lessons can we learn from this experience? How may we evaluate the impact of this project on TGV-line planning? How can we characterize this implementation and decision-making process with regard to sustainable development challenges? The construction of the Mediterranean TGV-line was an opportunity to introduce a number of innovations - more dialogue in the decision-making process, more focus on environmental concerns, new project management and technological processes – and this is why it now appears as a showcase example of integrated sustainable development. This paper examines the different kinds of innovations developed during the TGV-Med project by using concepts from the sociology of innovation to understand how these solutions emerged in a controversial situation. Then we analyze the lessons that emerged from this decision-making process (both immediately and subsequently) and the way in which procedures evolved: creation of new tools and devices (public consultation, project management, etc.). Finally, we focus on the impact of these developments on TGV project governance. In particular, new methods of implementation and financing involved a reconfiguration of the system of actors. So the aim of this paper is to define the impact of this reconfiguration on negotiations between stakeholders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents some of the results of the shortlines research project for Ademe (French agency for the environment) and Predit (French support program for surface transport research). The paper focuses on France, and makes some comparisons with North America and Germany. It is organized in two parts. The first part analyses the notion of “short line” freight railways in the European context. We observe that to date, unlike short lines in North America, which have mostly sought cooperation with major railways, the new rail operators in Europe are competing with the majors. The second part discusses regional policies on rail freight transport. We observe that for some time, local governments in France have been afraid that the on-going reduction of regional rail freight services will increase truck traffic and environmental impacts. Today, however, these governments appear to be more reluctant to promote rail freight activities than they were a few years ago. The current conditions under which local lines operate in Europe and especially in France, including small capacity on the infrastructure and high cost of labor and low productivity, may explain this reluctance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this paper is to present the problems of French public transit, facing a funding crisis. The prominent features of the French transit are presented. First, we describe the complex and opaque bidding process which is for the entire network. Then we evoke a payroll tax especially devoted to the transit and underline the fact that the system is heavily subsidised. As competing for the entire network might find its rationale in the scale and scope economies, we test some very simple models devoted to this issue. We found no evidence of economies of scale for bus networks. This, given the funding crisis of transit authorities, leads us to recommend a gradual reform of French transit competitive tendering process. This reform should lead to a slowdown in the upward trend of transit employee's salaries. Some smaller parts of the networks would be submitted to bidding processes. The contracts might be improved as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate household transport consumption inequalities in France, Denmark and Cyprus, investigate their temporal dynamics, and estimate the redistributive effects of taxes on different commodity categories. Using household-level data from repeated cross-sections of expenditure surveys spanning long periods, the paper applies a decomposition of the Gini index by expenditure component. The results highlight the effect of the social diffusion of the car. The relative contribution of vehicle use items (e.g. fuels, maintenance and repair, parking, and registration) to total expenditure inequality has decreased over time, thus reflecting the increasingly widespread use of cars. Moreover, fuel taxes have become regressive, while the progressive character of taxes on the remaining car use commodities has weakened with time. Taxes on transport goods and services as a whole are progressive. However, this result is principally due to the progressivity of taxes on car purchases, a progressivity stronger by far in Denmark where these taxes are so high that car purchase costs can be afforded only by those with high incomes. These findings underline the necessity of taking into account equity issues when designing policies to attenuate the environmental impact of cars. Increasing car use costs, notably fuel prices, through an increase of uniform taxes would be particularly inequitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The reduction of greenhouse gas emission is now firmly established at the top of the public policy agenda, to the extent that it is increasingly often presented as one of the major constraints which will be placed on activities, particularly in the transport sector. This sector creates large amounts of greenhouse gases and is characterized by the highly decentralized nature of its emissions which are the outcome of the travel decisions taken by billions of individuals. The collective problem is therefore created by a multitude of individual behaviors. If travel choices are constrained in an attempt to solve this collective problem, we need an understanding of the economic bases of individual behaviors. With this in view, this paper begins by presenting the macroscopic impacts of a number of sustainable travel scenarios in France in the year 2050. It then shows the changes in trends which accompany the necessary changes in individual travel behaviors. Some of these changes in trends amount to breaks with the past which will be far from easy to implement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper argues that congestion in public transportation is alike the much more studied road congestion. It sets out to produce, on the case of the Paris subway, a congestion cost curve linking the willingness to pay for non-congested travel to actual congestion levels. Congestion costs appear high. What travelers would be ready to pay to avoid congestion in the Paris subway is on average about three times the amount of their out-of-pocket payments. An 8% increase in densities experienced over the 2002–2007 period implies a welfare loss of at least 75M€/year. Taking into account the subway congestion costs and the resulting externalities modifies significantly the optimal car-subway mix (from 8% to 24% according to a tentative computable model). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the distributional effects of alternative scenarios of urban public transport policies in the Paris Region using disaggregated data from the Global Transport Survey 2001–2002. We study two types of scenarios: fare adjustments, as in previous work, but also speed increase scenarios. We find that reducing public transport fares is progressive. Increasing the speed of public transport is also progressive whatever the mode. The most progressive option is to increase the speed of buses in the suburbs, while targeting the metro or the suburban rail are the least progressive alternatives. More generally, low-income individuals benefit more from fare reductions than from increases in public transport speed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In France, owing to the railway regionalization process, regional “governments” are finding themselves increasingly involved in transport policy-making. Based on a multidisciplinary comparative study conducted in six French regions, this paper aims to analyze the ways in which regional rail policies are constructed by examining, in particular, the way they are generated as a result of interactions between different institutional actors. These interactions are linked to tensions in three main areas: the financing of transport investments, the financing and nature of rail services and regional governance. We examine these tensions by referring to three configurations of actors: the first includes the Regions and the State, the second, the Regions and the rail actors, and the third, the Regions and other local authorities. Finally, we discuss our findings, emphasizing what they teach us about the regionalization process in France. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is a tool used to evaluate the potential socio-economic impact of public investment choices. In many countries, particularly in France, this tool is used to support decision-making related to transportation infrastructure. In the context of difficult budgetary arbitrations, taking the multiple effects of the different choices into account makes choosing among transport infrastructure investments a two-fold problem. On the one hand, public decision-makers have limited resources that they must use in the best way possible. On the other hand, when choosing among alternative investment projects, the decision-makers reveal their priorities (based on the importance they assign to the different projects), and these priorities must be perceived as legitimate. Based on a case study of how French institutions use the CBA method, this paper examines how the use of cost–benefit analysis interacts with the use of public debate and stakeholder participation in France today. This French case illustrates the difficulty of striking the right balance between the expert knowledge produced by CBA methods and the knowledge produced by the participation of various stakeholders in the decision-making process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The French experience in developing policies to reduce car use in metropolitan areas is presented in this paper as an illustration of the lack of recognition of the broader set of criteria on which specific policy frameworks should be judged. One of the major challenges, and often failings of policies focussed on reducing car use, is the lack of a structure that ensures that the downside impacts are not relocated to other parts of a system such that potential gains end up being eroded by the potential losses. We draw on experiences throughout France, as well as case studies in Lyon, to highlight the dark side of French transport policy promoting a switch from car to public transit and non-motorised modes, in terms of financial, equity and environmental outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper seeks to compare and contrast how different European Economic Area member states have adopted and made use of the public service obligation (PSO) mechanism in air transport. Analysis shows that there is considerable variation in the extent and way in which various countries have adopted the PSO mechanism. Some countries, such as France, the Irish Republic and Norway, have made extensive use of PSOs on their domestic scheduled air services networks. This is in contrast to the approach adopted in the United Kingdom, where a number of lifeline air services are vulnerable to potentially adverse airline pricing and output decisions. This suggests that there are major inconsistencies in the approach and commitment to social air services provision across the European Union which may undermine broader policy initiatives designed to enhance mobility and accessibility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]