Preliminary evaluation for road network improvement alternatives in less developed countries.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil Engineering.Includes bibliographical references.M.S

Aspects of multi-national transportation investment planning

Thesis (Civ.E)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1981MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING.Bibliography: leaves 126-129.by Dimitrios Andreou Tsamboulas.Civ.

Development Strategies for Intermodal Transport in Europe

This book explores the great challenge of increasing the scope of intermodal freight transport. In view of the current dominant role of road transport and the increasing difficulties in coping with a growing number of vehicles in an efficient and sustainable way, intermodal freight transport could be considered a viable alternative. However, the book makes recognition of the fact that there is still a need to improve the performance of the intermodal transport system

Parking fare thresholds: a policy tool

The paper estimates drivers' behaviour for changing an already chosen parking location and the thresholds of current parking fare increases that would make them shift to another mode from the currently used private car. The models are calibrated with data from the Central Business Area of Athens employing revealed and stated preference methods. They can be employed to estimate the impacts of a specific transport policy related to parking fares, and as such they are useful policy tools providing the means to estimate changes in car usage and parking locations utilisation.

A tool for prioritizing multinational transport infrastructure investments

Globalization and the opening of countries' borders, renders transport infrastructure projects more multinational than country specific. Hence, the need arises for a framework tool to prioritize transport infrastructure investments located in more than one country that will form a coherent multinational transport network. This paper presents such a tool, comprising of the procedure for prioritisation, as well as the necessary ex-ante evaluation framework. It is developed in order to be used at a strategic level by the policy makers and to cope with the limited availability and quality of data in the countries concerned. The tool's structure involves four components, constituting the procedural phases (identification, data collection, evaluation and prioritization), ensuring at the first procedural phase the inclusion of all projects, as these are proposed by the countries. The evaluation component of the tool is based on the well-known multi-criteria approach MAUT (Multi Attribute Utility Theory), that employs sufficient but limited criteria reflecting the the transport policy priorities of the countries concerned as well as the available financial resources. In addition, criteria related to financial and economic viability of the projects and their international dimensions are included. The tool has been applied to prioritize transport projects in a multinational transport network, comprising of 21 countries, which are members of the Trans European Motorway and Railway networks (TEM, TER) in Europe with satisfactory results.

Appraisal of investments in European nodal centres for goods – freight villages: A comparative analysis

The paper presents and analyses appraisal methods used for the assessment of potential investments in Nodal Centers for Goods (also called Freight Villages), which constitute an essential element of the Trans-European Network for Intermodal Transport. A methodological procedure is applied to identify the underlying factors that influence the choice of an appraisal method, without assessing or comparing the appraisal methods themselves. Following this procedure, issues addressed by the methods are grouped into three broad dimensions and with the use of non-parametric statistical tests, existing relationships are identified between nodal centres' characteristics, the appraisal methods, as well as the actors involved in the decision process. On applying the above procedure to European Nodal Centres for goods, it is found that the choice of appraisal method and the decision criteria for the investment are linked primarily to the nodal centre's size, catchment area, and the support or absence of political approval for the investment. The results of the analysis can be particularly useful at the policy making level, serving as non-formal "qualitative guidelines" to identify the appraisal method to be applied, as well as the options and impacts to be considered. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999appraisal, freight terminals, freight villages, intermodal transport, investments, nodal centres,

Passengers\u27 willingness to pay for airport ground access time savings

There are cases when passengers are willing to pay a premium to reduce the travel time, in particular when the trip has to be made. This paper aims to provide insight into factors that determine passengers\u27 willingness to pay to reduce travel time for their ground access to an airport. A methodology is developed that comprises two steps: the identification of the passengers with zero willingness to pay and from the rest the estimation of the additional price they are willing to pay to reduce their travel time. For the first step a Probit model was formulated and for the second a linear regression model. To this purpose, data has been collected employing stated preference from passengers at the Athens International Airport. It has been found that a high percentage of passengers have zero willingness to pay, and of the remaining ones those using public transport have a significant willingness to pay to reduce access travel time. The methodology and the models are structured in such a way that their transferability to any airport environment is possible, thus providing a useful tool for decisions relating to airport ground access measures

Allocating Revenues to Public Transit Operators Under an Integrated Fare System

A methodology is proposed and a model is developed to address the issue of revenue allocation that arises in most urban public transport systems that implement an integrated fare system and where the transport services are provided by multiple operators. The methodology and models are practical and easy to implement and at the same time scientifically sound, using data collected on a regular basis. The objective for the methodology is to maximize the provided service while introducing incentives to the operators to increase their service quality. The allocation is based on short-term marginal cost. The methodology comprises four components: selection of appropriate performance measures, development of marginal cost factors, data collection and processing, and revenue allocation by using the output of the previous components. The methodology is described in a top-down approach and can be used for the allocation of revenues in a wide range of integrated public transit systems. An application is presented demonstrating the applicability of the methodology and models

Freight village evaluation under uncertainty with public and private financing

The paper presents a method and models for assessing the financial viability of a new Freight village financed by private and public investments. The financial evaluation model constitutes an integrated part of a wider planning methodology, with four distinct phases, namely (a) site selection and traffic forecasts, (b) definition of services offered and corresponding dimensions, (c) estimation of investment and operation costs and (d) evaluation of investments. The paper presents the overall methodology, and presents analytically the evaluation method with the corresponding model. The model is developed specifically for the financial evaluation of investments for a Freight village incorporating uncertainty considerations in the values of the variables considered. The financial evaluation method identifies the various transport and other variables, which determine the cash flow of inputs (revenues) and outputs (investments, expenses) related to the construction and operation of a Freight village. Furthermore, the model produces financing scenarios, based on combinations of public and private funds as well as bank loans. In addition using Monte Carlo simulation the expected values of some key variables (investment costs, forecasted volumes and revenues) are estimated. Finally using linear programming an optimization related to the amount of private funds invested for a specific Freight village can be determined related to a mix of public and private funds (under certain constraints). An application of developed methodology and models is done for the case of a Freight village in Northern Greece, demonstrating its potential to application for similar cases.