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This paper reviews existing literature to identify issues, challenges, and best practices associated with shared-use freight and passenger rail corridors. Specifically, this paper will compare and contrast shared-corridor practices from an institutional perspective in the United States and the European Union. These two regions were chosen because of their shared social, political, technological, and economic ties, their historical mixes of private and state railroad operations, and because of the significant contemporary differences in the role of rail in these two regions. That mix of similarities and differences clarifies important commonalities specific to freight and passenger railroads that may be applicable in other times and places. Best practices include planning for: capital investment, long-term time horizons, measurable incremental improvements, regional multi-modality, and mutual benefits between freight and passenger operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of bicycling volumes is essential for the strategic implementation of infrastructure and related transport elements and policies. Link-level volume estimation models (models that estimate volumes on individual street segments) allow for understanding variation in bicycling volumes across an entire network at higher spatial resolution than area-level models. Such models assist transport planners to efficiently monitor network usage, to identify opportunities to enhance safety and to evaluate the impact of policy and infrastructure interventions. However, given the sparsity and scarcity of bicycling data as compared to its motorised counterparts, link-level bicycling volume estimation literature is relatively limited. This paper conducts a scoping review of link-level bicycling volume estimation methods by implementing systematic search strategies across relevant databases, thereby identifying appropriate studies for the review. The review resulted in some interesting findings. Among all the methods implemented, direct demand modelling was the predominant one. Not a single study implemented multiple modelling approaches in the same study area, thereby not allowing for comparison of these approaches. Most studies were conducted in the United States. It was also observed that there exists a lot of heterogeneity in the reporting of basic study characteristics and validation results, sometimes to the extent of not reporting these at all. The study presents the different types of data used in modelling (count, travel survey, GPS data) along with an array of popular explanatory variables that can inform future studies about data collection and variable selection for modelling. The study discusses the strengths and limitations of different methods and finally presents recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities worldwide are implementing modern transit systems to improve mobility in the increasingly congested metropolitan areas. Despite much research on the effects of such systems, a comparison of effects across transit modes and countries has not been studied comprehensively. This paper fills this gap in the literature by reviewing and comparing the effects obtained by 86 transit systems around the world, including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT), metro and heavy rail transit systems. The analysis is twofold by analysing (i) the direct operational effects related to travel time, ridership and modal shifts, and (ii) the indirect strategic effects in terms of effects on property values and urban development. The review confirms the existing literature suggesting that BRT can attract many passengers if travel time reductions are significantly high. This leads to attractive areas surrounding the transit line with increasing property values. Such effects are traditionally associated with attractive rail-based public transport systems. However, a statistical comparison of 41 systems did not show significant deviations between effects on property values resulting from BRT, LRT and metro systems, respectively. Hence, this paper indicates that large strategic effects can be obtained by implementing BRT systems at a much lower cost. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A robust body of research in transportation has brought to light valuable findings and supported the development of important tools. However, crucial questions of "undone" science remain – topics and methods that current research practices could partially overlook. This review essay argues that transportation research could benefit from more critical reflection on researchers' positionalities, the field's emphasis on some methods and topics rather than others, and the role of funding. The article first considers the questions of funding influence and researcher positionality in the broader social sciences literature and then the implications of funding and positionality in transportation research. In the United States, transportation funding generally emphasises engineering fields and applied solutions; historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups are a small share of researchers. Because of disciplinary traditions, funding, positionality, and other factors, transportation research paradigms may give relatively less attention to social issues, qualitative data, and local knowledge, while emphasising quantitative data, modelling, physical factors, and infrastructure building. The purpose of this paper is to start a dialogue, using the social science literatures, information about the transportation field, and examples of the importance of social and qualitative methods. Collective dialogue about researchers' positionalities and demographics, different types of knowledge, and the field could uncover important areas and approaches for transportation research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several states and transit agencies have recently introduced zero-emission buses (ZEBs) to their fleets, including battery electric buses, fuel cell battery electric buses, and fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric buses in an effort to mitigate transportation-related impacts on air quality. The objective of this paper was to summarise information and insights from ZEB implementations across the United States (U.S.) to advance the state of practice and facilitate transit agencies' transition to ZEBs. Information was obtained through a critical review of relevant literature from peer-reviewed journals and agency reports released by transit agencies and other relevant stakeholders, an online survey of several transit agencies that implemented or are planning to implement ZEBs, and interviews with transit agency representatives and other relevant stakeholders. This review focuses on ZEB in-service performance, cost, fuelling, and implementation strategies. In addition, challenges and lessons learned as reported by U.S. transit agencies are described. A comparison among the three technologies and conventional fuel buses (i.e. diesel and compressed natural gas) suggests that ZEBs outperform conventional buses in terms of fuel efficiency, but their procurement cost is higher. Battery electric buses present the highest fuel efficiency and lowest procurement, operation, and maintenance costs, and have been chosen by most transit agencies followed by fuel cell battery electric buses. While fuel cell hybrid plug-in buses have been implemented by several agencies over the past ten years, they have not gained popularity due to increased purchase and maintenance costs. Important factors for agencies to consider when implementing any of these ZEB technologies include: (1) fleet size: starting with a small fleet and gradually expanding; (2) technology type: understanding the technology and properly choosing the one that matches the needs and limitations of a service area (e.g. available space, existing schedule) as well as available resources and agency goals; (3) staff training: proper training for a suitable amount of time of drivers and maintenance personnel; and (4) stakeholder collaboration: having an effective level of collaboration, cooperation, and support between stakeholders. Overall, ZEBs are a viable and promising approach for reducing emissions from transit fleets. This review can assist in transit agencies' transition to ZEB fleets by providing useful information and insights to ensure optimal technology choice and efficient implementations. It can also provide insights on ZEB implementation issues that warrant further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvements in geographical information systems, the wider availability of high-resolution digital data and more sophisticated econometric techniques have all contributed to increasing academic interest and activity in long-term impacts of transport infrastructure networks (TINs) on land use (LU). This paper provides a systematic review of recent empirical evidence from the USA, Europe and East Asia, classified regarding the type of transport infrastructure (road or rail), LU indicator (land cover, population or employment density, development type) and outcome (significance, relationship’s direction) as well as influential exogenous factors. Proximity to the rail network is generally associated with population growth (particularly soon after the development of railway infrastructure), conversion to residential uses and the development of higher residential densities. Meanwhile, proximity to the road network is frequently associated with increases in employment densities as well as the conversion of land to a variety of urban uses including commercial and industrial development. Compared with road infrastructure, the impact of rail infrastructure is often less significant for land cover or population and employment density change. The extent of TINs’ impact on LU over time can be explained by the saturation in TIN-related accessibility and LU development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Active transportation modes are increasingly being acknowledged for their individual and societal benefits. As a result, funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in the United States has increased substantially in recent years. However, pedestrian and bicycle equity impacts often go overlooked, which has resulted in an inequitable distribution of active transportation costs and benefits. The paper contributes to this small but growing field by developing an enhanced understanding of active transportation equity, identifying limitations in research and in practice, and providing a set of recommendations for planners and researchers. These recommendations include considering other transportation-disadvantaged groups beyond low-income and minority populations in equity analysis, adopting new performance measures, increasing inter-agency coordination, the need for stronger guidance from the federal government, and more representation from transportation-disadvantaged groups in the public participation and decision-making process. If the costs and benefits of active transportation are to be fairly shared among all users, equity will need to be meaningfully addressed in the planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper first provides a brief review of trends in public transport demand from 1980 to 2010 in 16 countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. The focus, however, is on a detailed analysis of public transport demand in Germany and the USA, using uniquely comparable national travel surveys from 2001/2002 and 2008/2009 for both countries. Public transport has been far more successful in Germany than in the USA, with much greater growth in overall passenger volumes and trips per capita. Even controlling for differences between the countries in demographics, socio-economics, and land use, logistic regressions show that Germans are five times as likely as Americans to use public transport. Moreover, public transport in Germany attracts a much broader cross-section of society and for a greater diversity of trip purposes. The success of German public transport is due to a coordinated package of mutually supportive policies that include the following: (1) more and better service, (2) attractive fares and convenient ticketing, (3) full multimodal and regional integration, (4) high taxes and restrictions on car use, and (5) land-use policies that promote compact, mixed-use developments. It is the integrated package of complementary policies that explains why public transport in Germany can compete so well with the private car, even among affluent households. Conversely, it is the lack of complementary policies that explains the continuing struggle of public transport in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991, a significant number of state highway agencies have started to develop and implement statewide travel demand models to meet policy and legislative development needs. Currently, however, a lack of up-to-date multimodal and inter-regional passenger travel data hampers analysts’ ability to conduct quantitative assessments of long-distance travel infrastructure investment needs, at both the national and statewide levels. Despite these data limitations, but also largely shaped by them, long-distance travel modelling has become an increasingly popular topic in recent years. This paper reviews several methodologies for multimodal inter-regional travel demand estimation, drawing examples from both state-specific modelling within the USA and from fully national models being developed and applied in other parts of the world, notably in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Empirical studies that include travel-related attitudes to identify the role of residential self-selection in the relationship between the built environment and travel behaviour display a wide variety in the type of attitudes that they include, the relationships between the variables that they analyse and the ways they measure attitude. This paper discusses what theories on attitudes and behaviour can contribute to examining the role of self-selection and reviews those studies on residential self-selection and travel behaviour that explicitly include attitudes. Although several studies state that residential self-selection is accounted for by the inclusion of attitudes, the complexity of the inclusion and the measurement of attitudes often leads to an underestimation of the role of residential self-selection. Because of their relevance to the reliability of results, the options for measuring travel-related attitudes are also discussed. When attitudes are included in questionnaires, it is essential to consider reliability, efficiency, response and the number of variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have found that suburban residents drive more and walk less than residents in traditional neighbourhoods. What is less well understood is the extent to which the observed patterns of travel behaviour can be attributed to the residential built environment (BE) itself, as opposed to attitude-induced residential self-selection. To date, most studies addressing this self-selection issue fall into nine methodological categories: direct questioning, statistical control, instrumental variables, sample selection, propensity score, joint discrete choice models, structural equations models, mutually dependent discrete choice models and longitudinal designs. This paper reviews 38 empirical studies using these approaches. Virtually all of the studies reviewed found a statistically significant influence of the BE remaining after self-selection was accounted for. However, the practical importance of that influence was seldom assessed. Although time and resource limitations are recognized, we recommend usage of longitudinal structural equations modelling with control groups, a design which is strong with respect to all causality requisites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent concessions in France and in the USA have resulted in a dramatic difference in the valuation placed on the toll roads; the price paid by the investors in France was 12 times current cash flow whereas investors paid 60 times current cash flow for US toll roads. In this paper, we explore two questions: what accounts for the difference in these multiples? and what are the implications with respect to the public interest? Our analysis illustrates how structural and procedural decisions made by the public owner affect the concession price. Further, the terms of the concession have direct consequences that are enjoyed or borne by the various stakeholders of the toll road. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the literature on the evacuation demand problem, with an emphasis on the impact of various modelling approaches on network-wide evacuation performance measures. First, a number of important factors that affect evacuee behaviour are summarized. Evacuation software packages and tools are also investigated in terms of the demand generation model they use. The most widely used models are then selected for performing sensitivity analysis. Next, a cell-transmission-based system optimal dynamic traffic assignment (SO-DTA) model is employed to assess the effects of the demand model choice on the clearance time and average travel time. It is concluded that evacuation demand models should be selected with care, and policy makers should make sure the selected demand curve can replicate real-life conditions with relatively high fidelity for the study region to be able to develop reliable and realistic evacuation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite considerable examination of the impact of telecommunications on travel, little empirical evidence sheds light on the impact of e‐shopping on travel—a recent and increasingly popular form of telecommunications. This paper analyses determinants of online buying and their relationship with in‐store shopping, using empirical data obtained from Minneapolis, USA, and Utrecht, the Netherlands. Based on chi‐square tests and logistic and ordinary least‐squares regressions, the results indicate that online buying is affected by sociodemographics and spatial characteristics of people, their Internet experience, and their attitudes towards in‐store shopping. US respondents who prefer to see products in person are less likely to buy online. Dutch respondents are more likely to buy online as travel times to shops are shorter. At first sight, this counterintuitive result might be related to an urban, innovative lifestyle that supports e‐shopping. A more detailed analysis of Dutch online buyers reveals that they make more shopping trips than non‐online buyers and have a shorter shopping duration. The results indicate that the relationship between online buying and in‐store shopping is not one of substitution but of complementarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the post-September 11, 2001, rhetoric has focussed on the idea that the terrorist attacks in the USA catapulted the world airline industry into a financial crisis. But are the current problems in the world airline industry so readily attributable to the events of September 11? Was the shock to the industry sufficient to create the current situation, or are airlines around the world attempting to justify bailouts in order to cover a more systemic industry crisis? The purpose of this paper is to offer an independent financial assessment of the impact of September 11 on the viability of world airlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines recent work on the effect of motor vehicle speed limits on highway speeds and highway safety. The review is empirical and concentrates on identifying the quantitative effects that changes in regulatory speed limit policies on interstate and non-interstate roads have on the distribution of speeds and traffic safety. Among the findings, small speed limit changes on non-limited-access roads will have little effect on speed distribution and highway safety unless complemented with speed-reducing actions. Also, the 10 mph increase in rural interstate speed limits increased nationwide mean speed and speed variance by < 4 and 1 mph respectively. Further, notwithstanding higher rural interstate speed limits leading to speed adaptation on non-affected roads, the evidence is consistent with a zero system-wide effect. Implications for further research relate to the importance of controlling for confounding factors, aggregation, the use of alternative methodologies, and the importance of enforcement in affecting speed distributions and highway safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tool for measuring the “completeness” of a complete street has applications in developing policy, prioritising areas for infrastructure investment for a network, and solving the right-of-way allocation problem for individual streets. A literature review was conducted on the state-of-art in the assessment complete street designs. Complete streets assessment requires a context-sensitive approach, thus context-sensitive standards of “completeness” must first be established by combining a street classification system with sets of priorities and target performance levels for the different types of streets. Performance standards should address a street’s fulfilment of the movement, environmental, and place functions, and be flexible enough to account for the many ways that these functions of a street can be fulfilled. Most frameworks reviewed are unsuitable for evaluating complete streets because, with few exceptions, they guide street design by specifying the design elements for inclusion on the street. Secondly, the performance of a street can be assessed according to transportation, environmental, and place criteria, and compared to the target performance levels specified by the street’s classification. As there are many different impacts to consider on a street, additional work is required to define the priorities and performance objectives for different types of streets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An editorial is presented about transportation system in the U.S., citing the rapid transit lines to the suburbs, controversies in allowing cars in the Central Park and provision of space for bicyclists on bridges. It cites that the same problems on general issues are experienced from 1899 to 1999. The article also cites that the government is not making substantial progress towards resolving the issues.

US airports negotiate legally binding contracts with airlines and finance large investment projects with revenue bonds. Applying insights from transaction cost economics, we argue that the observed variation in contractual and financing arrangements at US airports corresponds to the parties' needs for safeguarding and coordination. The case evidence presented reveals that public owners set the framework for private investments and contracting. We suggest that airline contracts and capital market control result in comparative efficient investments and act as a check on the cost inefficiency typically linked to public ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on David Metz's study entitled "The Myth of Traveling" in the U.S. It is stated that Metz points out that average per person travel time is relatively constant and that there are many flaws in using travel time valuation as a means of assessing the benefits of infrastructure and capacity improvements. It highlights the implications for assessment and for policy. The issues related to the environmental and safety implications of capacity enhancements is discussed.

Urban transit systems are faced with declining ridership and increasing deficits in recent years. Improving the productivity of transit systems in such unfavourable operating conditions is unquestionable. The sources of productivity change in bus transit systems in the USA between 1985 and 1997 are investigated by using the non-parametric Malmquist total factor productivity index. Technical change and efficiency change improved transit productivity. In addition, government subsidy has negative and statistically significant correlations with the efficiency of transit systems, and positive and significant relationships with technical change. No statistically significant correlation was found between subsidies and the Malmquist total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zoning for parking is reviewed as a historical process of public policy development. Zoning for parking was relatively rare among US cities before the Second World War. By 1969, however, virtually all US cities with populations exceeding 25 000 zoned for parking as their primary method of dealing with land-use problems associated with rising automobile ownership rates. A brief history of zoning for parking reveals that despite its continuing popularity, it has almost always been a controversial topic. A review of major studies reveals important aspects of zoning for parking as it has changed over time. Zoning for parking began as an occasional or piecemeal approach to resolving specific problems associated with growing automobile storage requirements. It gradually became the preferred method to ensure adequate parking space in an automobile-oriented society. It was first employed to address the unusually high parking requirements of more affluent neighbourhoods in higher density areas, but gradually grew to encompass most land uses in most urban areas of any size or location. Zoning for parking originally was a supply-side strategy, but has since become more demand oriented in its approach. Parking experts originally promoted a diversity of parking standards based primarily on those observed in planning practice. Today they generally advocate more specific parking standards based on broader national experience. Zoning for parking nonetheless appears to be a more flexible strategy today than it was 50 years ago. Parking standards, whether observed in planning practice or recommended by national authorities, have increased much less rapidly than automobile ownership rates over the last 50 years. This may help to explain why a policy so frequently decried as inefficient, ineffective and inequitable has nonetheless managed to survive even in a more socially and environmentally aware world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New transit capital expenditures are typically evaluated in isolation from the transit/transport systems to which they belong. Problems with reporting performance elements such as ridership and costs are discussed. A focus on evaluating the total transport systems impact of new transit project implementation is called for. On this basis, new US rail transit systems have generally performed poorly. Total transit ridership has generally shown only minimal improvements and, at times, has declined. Financial performance has been disappointing in most cases, particularly when understood in the context of the additional system costs imposed through the reconfiguration of bus networks to serve the new rail systems. Low-cost approaches to improving basic transit services can often be more effective than either rail or bus capital-based projects. An obsession with technology leads to the wrong questions being asked. We should instead start inquiry with the study of needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues on the study conducted by David Metz entitled "Myth of Travel Time Saving" in the U.S. It is argued that the study draws the wrong conclusion, thus asserts that people make travel choices based on notion of the generalized cost of travel and constancy of travel time budgets needs to be treated with caution. The real issues for transport lies on how to generate sensible packages of multi-modal options for assessment including pricing and funding options.