Willingness to accept longer commutes for better salaries: understanding the differences within and between couples

This paper reports on an analysis aiming to understand differences across individual people in their willingness to accept increased commuting time in return for higher salary, using Hierarchical Bayes (HB) analysis of a dataset collected in Sweden. In addition to differences across key socio-demographic groups, we also study the differences between valuations obtained in choices where respondents are faced only with their own commute journeys and those where they make decisions jointly for themselves and their partner. The analysis has revealed a very rich set of findings. We observe major differences between men and women in their preferences. We also note how these preferences change when respondents are faced with choices that affect both themselves and their partner. Finally, there are major differences between respondents’ own preferences and those assigned to them by their partner in the joint choices. An extensive regression analysis has highlighted a diverse set of drivers for these differences, be they socio-demographics, attitudes, or current commute circumstances. The sheer richness of our results is a reflection of the benefits of a HB approach in the present context

On the stability of preferences and attitudes: a hybrid model of air travel preferences at two different points in time

Many methods have been developed to give transport policy makers better insight into why different choices are made. One such methodology that has been receiving increasing attention is the hybrid choice model, which seeks to allow for a better understanding of the relationship between choices and attitudes or character traits latent to the respondent. Recently there has been debate as to the appropriateness of using such models to conclude that a change in a given attitude will bring a change in choice given the focus on cross-sectional data. To address this, we propose a framework to examine the stability of choices and attitudes over time. Making use of a repeated stated preference experiment conducted at two points in time on an identical set of respondents we find that, in the context of air security procedures, preferences and latent attitudes are relatively stable over time despite the two different and extreme shocks at the times the survey was conducted. While this is comforting to transport policy makers in some respects, these results lead one to ask that if choices and preferences do not change in extreme situations how changeable are they truly in the context of a nudge agenda by many governments? Additionally, we find some evidence that for the most part while latent attitudes are invariant, the role they play in choices differs over waves suggesting potential cognitive dissonance

Are there news gaps in rural/regional Australia? Researching media plurality beyond Finkelstein

Rural/regional news is emerging as a vital area of media policy and research throughout the world as industry bodies, governments and academics grapple with debates concerning the future of news in a complex digital world. However, there has been little examination of media plurality at the rural/regional level, or research into the sustainability of the sector in Australia. Such concerns go to questions of what roles industry and government might play in ensuring its future. The Finkelstein report in 2012 noted that many rural/regional newspapers in Australia had limited resources and consequently low capacity for in-depth coverage of local issues. In the meantime, the funding model of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (which services rural/regional areas as part of its charter) has come under intense scrutiny by the federal Liberal-National Party coalition government. Signs from abroad – especially from the United Kingdom – are troubling. Several independent inquiries have called for policy initiatives to address what British scholars describe as the growing “democratic deficit” created by the closure of hundreds of local UK newspapers since 2004. This paper canvasses current and emerging media policy settings in the UK, the United States and Australia before posing some broader questions on the future of rural/regional news in Australia

Proposed Greenway of Hatfield, Massachusetts - LA497C - Senior Studio

This is one of five reports submitted for the LA497C Spring 2011 Senior Studio project. This proposed greenway plan will be assessing the features of Hatfield such as, History, natural features, and open space within the town. After a thorough assessment of the towns features the report will cover the extensive proposed greenway plan, focusing mostly on the town center of Hatfield. The town center is the hub of the town where the major community buildings are such as the elementary and high schools, town hall, the town library, and most of the public recreation fields. Once the overall greenway plan has been analyzed, the report will cover more in depth specific areas of focus that are important when creating connections through the town center in the proposed greenway plan. These focus areas are, The Mill River Park, Education connection, and renovations to the Smith Academy Town Park. Each area of focus provides the residents and visitors to the town of Hatfield the benefit of safe recreation as well as an opportunity to learn about the history, wildlife, and natural features of Hatfield

USACE Portland District Spillway Gate Rehabilitation Program

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Portland District has 90 spillway radial Tainter gates. There are 42 gates at the 11 Willamette Valley Basin projects, 5 gates at the two Rogue Basin projects and 43 gates at the two Columbia River projects. Since 2001 there have been various studies, inspections and incidents that have prompted the Portland District to become concerned about the structural integrity and mechanical and electrical reliability of these gates. In 2008, load induced buckling was observed on three of the four Tainter gate end frames at Foster Dam which led to emergency repairs. Additional observations of buckled Tainter gate strut arms at Dexter Dam in December 2009 required repairs and created urgency with respect to documenting the risk to the downstream population at all District projects. These events led to a comprehensive assessment of the Tainter gates in the Willamette Valley and Rogue Basin projects which was implemented in 2010. The comprehensive assessment included a gates specific potential failure modes analysis (PFMA), structural, mechanical and electrical assessments, identification of interim risk reduction measures (IRRMs), and analysis of impacts of the interim risk reduction measures. As part of this assessment, the District developed a tool for prioritizing projects for gate repair based on the results of the assessment. Since identifying the issues with Tainter gates, Portland District has implemented IRRMs, taken a systems-based approach to repairs, and implemented a capitalization program to improve gate reliability. Repairs are complete or underway at 36 of the 42 Tainter gates in the Willamette Valley, a study is underway to address reliability of regulating outlets, and future studies are planned for Columbia River spillway gates. Keywords: Spillway, Gates, Risk, Rehabilitation, Tainter, Radial

Contrasts between utility maximisation and regret minimisation in the presence of opt out alternatives

An increasing number of studies of choice behaviour are looking at Random Regret Minimisation (RRM) as an alternative to the well established Random Utility Maximisation (RUM) framework. Empirical evidence tends to show small differences in performance between the two approaches, with the implied preference between the models being dataset specific. In the present paper, we discuss how in the context of choice tasks involving an opt out alternative, the differences are potentially more clear cut. Specifically, we hypothesise that when opt out alternatives are framed as a rejection of all the available alternatives, this is likely to have a detrimental impact on the performance of RRM, while the performance of RUM suffers more than RRM when the opt out is framed as a respondent being indifferent between the alternatives on offer. We provide empirical support for these hypotheses through two case studies, using the two different types of opt out alternatives. Our findings suggest that analysts need to carefully evaluate their choice of model structure in the presence of opt out alternatives, while any a priori preference for a given model structure should be taken into account in survey framing

Route Choice Behaviour: Stated Choices and Simulated Experiences

Surveys with stated choice experiments (SCE) are widely used to examine route choice behaviour in hypothetical choice contexts and to derive values of time and reliability for transport project appraisal purposes. In contrast to revealed choices, stated choices do not let participants experience (the consequences of) any attribute, which is one of the reasons why the external validity of SCE outcomes is often questioned. In this paper, we investigate the impact of simulated experiences on behaviour in a route choice context. We recruited 74 people who completed both a typical SCE and an incentive compatible driving simulator experiment (DSE), where the latter required respondents to experience the travel time of their chosen route and actually pay any toll costs associated with the choice of a tolled road. The choices are analysed via a heteroscedastic latent class model. Compared to the SCE, in the DSE, participants selected the tolled road less often, suggesting that having to pay actual money changes stated preferences. Furthermore, we found large variations in sensitivity to toll cost across participants. On the other hand, we found only minor differences in preferences towards travel time and travel time unreliability between SCE and DSE