Las plataformas logísticas de distribución urbana de mercancías: un elemento de desarrollo y regulación del transporte de mercancías en las ciudades

Postprint (published version

Descripción funcional de la distribución urbana de mercancías

Es habitual referirse al sistema de transporte con el símil del aparato circulatorio de la sociedad. Siguiendo este símil, la Distribución Urbana de Mercancías (DUM) es un motor de la economía local. Si la DUM no goza de agilidad existe el peligro de que languidezca la competitividad y relevancia de la ciudad.Postprint (published version

On-street illegal parking costs in urban areas

Private transport represents more than a third of all the journeys carried out in large cities urban areas. The high amount of traffic in metropolitan zones implies the appearance of congestion that is one of the most important complications transport engineers must fight against. Bottle necks are one of the most common reasons of congestion effect and on-street illegal parking (double parked or driving lane parked) implies the creation of a (or successive) bottle neck. This paper is focused on to evaluate the costs that appear when on-street illegal parking is detected. To achieve the paper’s goal, first of all, the different costs of the journey have been defined and formulated; next, the effect of illegal parking has been considered and the cost related to that has been formulated for each of the different types of cost. In order to use the formulation obtained two real scenarios have been evaluated, Barcelona and New York City. The results obtained in real scenarios have demonstrated that the economic cost due to car parking indiscipline to the whole city is significant; also it is worth to remark that unit cost (cost provoked for a single vehicle) differs depending on the location of the violation and the affected vehicle.Postprint (published version

FERRMED global study: FERRMED great axis rail freight network and its area of influence: Scandinavia - Rhein - Rhone - Western Mediterranean: feasibility, conclusions and recommendations

Postprint (published version

On-street illegal parking costs in urban areas

Private transport represents more than a third of all the journeys carried out in large cities urban areas. The high amount of traffic in metropolitan zones implies the appearance of congestion that is one of the most important complications transport engineers must fight against. Bottle necks are one of the most common reasons of congestion effect and on-street illegal parking (double parked or driving lane parked) implies the creation of a (or successive) bottle neck. This paper is focused on to evaluate the costs that appear when on-street illegal parking is detected. To achieve the paper’s goal, first of all, the different costs of the journey have been defined and formulated; next, the effect of illegal parking has been considered and the cost related to that has been formulated for each of the different types of cost. In order to use the formulation obtained two real scenarios have been evaluated. The results obtained in real scenarios have demonstrated that the economic cost due to car parking indiscipline to the whole city is significant; also it is worth to remark that unit cost (cost provoked for a single vehicle) differs depending on the location of the violation and the affected vehicle. On-street illegal parking cost is significantly outstanding. According to data, on street illegal parking reduction has to be one basic pillar of mobility policies. This reduction would allow a higher road capacity and, consequently, greater traffic fluidity.Postprint (published version

Medida de la congestión del tráfico en ciudades

La congestión del tráfico en entornos urbanos y metropolitanos perturba la eficiencia de la logística de la ciudad contemplada como “fábrica de movilidad”, afectando a todos los colectivos sociales de forma directa e indirecta, empeorando la calidad de vida y penalizando las actividades comerciales y el acceso y entrega de productos en “la última milla”. Esta investigación define indicadores objetivos simples y sus homólogos subjetivos (a partir de la percepción de los usuarios) de forma genérica, lo que permite comparar distintos escenarios temporales y territoriales, y extender el análisis a distintas ciudades. Los indicadores definidos incorporan la distribución espacial de la congestión (para una franja horaria definida) y la distribución temporal a lo largo del día (para una zona concreta) dentro de un indicador global de congestión

Methodological analysis about the potential avoidability of motor vehicles colliding against pedestrians in urban areas

The main motivation of the authors of this article is to establish a rigorous definition of the potential capacity that a motor vehicle driver has to avoid a collision against a pedestrian. Henceforth we will call this capacity avoidability. To calculate the avoidability, it is necessary to analyze time, distance and itinerary, initial position of the pedestrian when exposed to the risk, initial speed; theoretical maximum speed developed by the vehicle and road limit speed; the driver’s reaction time and the influence of the environment; and the interrelation of the initial positions of vehicle and pedestrian with respect to the transversal axis of the road. The definition, categorized by variables, of a driver’s ability to avoid run over a pedestrian in an urban area has an evident usefulness: it allows knowing the influence of the initial speed of a vehicle as an isolated variable and the importance of the road limit speed in the ability to prevent an accident.Postprint (published version

An approximation to technical efficiency in Spanish toll roads through a DEA approach

This research has an academic approach to know the relative efficiency of toll roads managed by the Administración General del Estado through a DEA approach. The global technical efficiency, local pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were estimated. Thus, the possible reasons why there is inefficiency and as reverse it. The great majority of toll roads are not fully effective according to the DEA approach, showing a greater global efficiency, with an increase in their return to scale, with the possibility of improvements in their efficiency levels.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Desired roads, designed roads: land art and its correlation with architectural and civil engineering works

La irrupción del land art (e incluso del minimal art) en la década de 1960 provoca un cambio disruptivo en el mundo del arte, conjugando la noción de entorno paisajístico, a través de intervenciones efímeras en espacios naturales, que implican en su totalidad al espectador, de modo que experimente y se apropie de la obra de arte mediante la acción. Así, la obra resultante se desprende del proceso y de las relaciones que se generan con el sujeto que la experimenta (algo por otra parte muy común en las obras lineales). De esta manera, la obra artística necesita y se nutre tanto de la acción del artista como de la participación del espectador en un entorno natural, para convertirse mediante el proceso en obra viva, en obra habitada, que finalmente establece esas conexiones viscerales y emocionales con los lugares que ocupamos. Así, el paisaje se entiende como lugar que configura el entorno de una obra de arte, y es el propio paisaje el que acaba integrando la obra artística. Algunas experiencias del land art, tienen su correlación conceptual e incluso formal con los proyectos de ingeniería civil y arquitectura. La expresión de muchas obras lineales como la carretera de acceso desde la sierra de Tramuntana a Sa Calobra o incluso el puente peatonal sobre la Ribeira da Carpinteira y su apreciación artística, aparecen al mirar y al apreciar el paisaje en su totalidad, teniendo en cuenta la morfología del terreno, sus características geológicas, geotécnicas y conjugando todo ello con aspectos proyectuales de tráfico, velocidad, pendiente, etc., sabiendo que el encaje o la intersección entre el paisaje, terreno y la obra lineal que el ingeniero y el arquitecto proyectan, produce una obra distinta a la carretera en sí misma, un “camino”, definido como concepto próximo a la reflexión introspectiva de la obra del land art.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Night deliveries and carrier-led consolidation strategies to improve urban goods distribution

Night distribution and consolidation strategies have been proposed in many cities to increase the efficiency of the urban goods distribution system and to reduce the external effects that it causes in terms of emissions. However, the deployment of these initiatives presents a new reallocation of costs and incomes among collaborative stakeholders that take part in. In this paper, an analytical model to estimate the new economic effects caused by these strategies on the involved agents is presented, based on continuous approximations. This model allows decision makers to estimate the transportation cost and emissions savings that will be obtained by each strategy as well as the range of retailer demand in which these strategies are not economically feasible. The results show that night distribution generally outperforms the carrier cost reduction and emissions savings, especially when large vehicles are used in night periods.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version