Strategic policy instruments in managing freight transport demand

The economic crises highlighted the importance of rethinking the operation of the transport sector. Companies, research institutes, governments and the society are all interested in smart solutions to reduce internal and external cost effects of road haulage via increasing efficiency and widening the utilization rate of available capacities along with the mitigation of social side effects of road transport, especially with managing transport demand. The overall regulatory framework set by the European common transport policy and national transport policies shall create suitable incentive frames to reach these general aims. Both administrative and financial policy instruments are available for such actions, but their impacts are different. This article discusses the conditions of utilization and the expected effects of the applicable instruments

Implementing ETC system on the Hungarian motorway network

Question of transport infrastructure charges - among others- covers calculation and allocation of infrastructure costsreferring different users. Cost allocation forms the basis of settingthe user charges. The reason for the existence of applyingmileage-proportional pricing system is generally accepted, asthe European regulations also discuss this topic seriously. Thismileage-proportional pricing system demands an appropriatetoll collecting system, which meets the requirements of arrangedprinciples. Among these, the most important principlesare equity, effectiveness and efficiency. Electronic Toll Collecting(ETC) systems are an appropriate solution to solvingcharging problems in various ways according to the differentkind of systems. In Hungary the current motorway charging systemis not an adequate solution for success of these principlesin the long-term. A new, mileage-proportional pricing system isbeing initiated. This study presents the plans of HungarianETC system for motorway network, focusing on introductoryissues. Among several preparatory steps, examining acceptabilitybarriers of ETC system for the stakeholders of transport isneeded. Their problem perception is to satisfy their- often contrary-demands in equal, fair and effective ways. The policy implementationprocess also plays an important role to generatesufficient conditions to implement this solution. This contributionis to discuss these objectives in applying the ETC system inan acceptable way

Investigation of route choice behaviour in passenger transport

The continually increasing population, the rising economic activity and the permanent race for the rise of economic prosperity, led us to the increase of motorisation. Transportation sector has an important role, because it is not only using the lacking fossil energy sources and polluting the environment, but because of our social and economic structure it is the sector that can hardly change because of the big social resistance. One of the substantial preconditions for the change into an environmental friendly, sustainable system is correct data provision to the regulator (quality and quantity as well). One way for reduction of transport related environmental pollution is to give right price signal to the users with internalisation of transport related external costs. In our article we tried to examine the route choice behaviour in Hungary focusing on toll roads. Our aim in this paper is to analyze the correlation of control possibilities of such econometric phenomena with mathematic tools

POLITICAL ACCEPTABILITY OF PRIVATELY FINANCED MOTORWAYS IN HUNGARY

Based on a few research analyses, M1/M15 concession motorway project has been analysed, which was the first tolled and shared financed project in the CEE region with more or less success. The objectives of this analysis were to find answers to institutional questions about how to involve private capital into road infrastructure development in politically acceptable way, using a psycho-economic model. This paper starts with introduction and overview of the Hungarian concession motorway project´s history. After the short description of the applied model, key actors are identified and described, as the politicians/regulators, transport providers and their interest groups, the public with interest groups and the media. This is followed by findings of in-depth analysis of the motivations and decisions, to be able to set up the stakeholders´ characteristics and a way of decisions. This systematic description and the positive analysis of the different key actors lead to explanations of the situation and the causalities in occurrence of the Hungarian concession motorway project. The analysis criteria are problem perception, goals, information provision, effectiveness, equity/fairness issues, social environment, implementation process and finally the political and institutional setting. The conclusion attempts to give lessons to be learned, answers to institutional and regulatory questions and policy recommendations for decision-makers

Mintázatképződés, önszerveződés csapadékrendszerekben és a mintázatok tervezése és vezérlése mikro- és nanoskálán = Pattern formation and self-organization in precipitation systems, design and control of patterns in the micro and nanoscales

A projektben a csapadékmintázatok képződését vizsgáltuk. Mintázatképződés változatos térbeli skálán mehet végbe és a mintázatképződés dinamikájának megértésre nagyon fontos, mert ezekkel az ismeretekkel különleges és különféle tulajdonságú anyagot lehet tervezni az anyagtudományokban. Több technikát fejlesztettünk ki a csapadékmintázatok tervezésére és vezérlésére reakció-diffúzió rendszerekben. A kifejlesztett módszerek a következők: (i) a mintázat vezérlése előre programozott elektromos árammal; (ii) a mintázat kontrollja oldhatósági szorzat változtatásával; (iii) a mintázat kontrollja a gél struktúrájának változtatásával; (iv) a mintázat kontrollja mozgó kémiai frontban; a mintázatok vezérlése pH mező segítségével. Ezenfelül, egy új párhuzamosítási platformot fejlesztettünk ki videokártyák használatával CUDA környezetben. Ez az új technika hasznos lehet számos tudományos probléma numerikus megoldásának gyorsításában. | During this project important aspects of the pattern formation in precipitation systems were investigated. Spontaneous pattern formation can be observed at all length scales and much effort has been devoted to gaining insight into the dynamics of theses processes because of design of special materials. We proposed and developed several techniques to control precipitation patterns in reaction-diffusion systems. The developed methods are following: (i) pattern control using predesigned electric currents; (ii) pattern control varying the precipitation threshold (solubility product); (iii) pattern control varying the gel structure; (iv) pattern control in a moving reaction front; (v) pattern control by pH field. Moreover, a new parallel computational framework has also been developed using video card with CUDA for simulation reaction-diffusion processes. This new approach can be useful to accelerate numerical simulations of the scientific problems

A Spatial Economic Study of Rail Freight in the European Economic Area

The present study explores whether the European Union’s transport policy measures of the last decade have fulfilled the expectations, i.e. whether there has been a positive change in the field of rail freight transport in the region. Data on the volumes of freight transport in the recent period have been analysed with freight transport intensity as an indicator. The values have been then translated into a spatial econometric model, looking for spatiality in the European Economic Region, including countries such as Norway, Switzerland or even Russia, extending the scope of the study to 37 countries. It has been proven that there is a spatial correlation between rail freight transport performance and GDP in Europe, which has a positive effect on countries with high GDP and a negative effect on low GDP countries in terms of performance. There is a particularly high intensity of rail freight in the Baltic region, as well as in Ukraine and Russia. Furthermore, it can be stated that rail freight has not undergone any significant changes in the last 10 years