26 research outputs found
Encouraging the commercial sector to help employees to change their travel behaviour
Encouraging the commercial sector to help employees to change their travel behaviou
Unfare solutions : taxing vices to solve the transport crisis
A key element in all national and local transport policies addressing
environmental goals is the development of attractive and popular public transport
systems as an alternative to car travel. This often requires major investment, at a
time when already stretched traditional public spending levels are also needed to
fund improvements to other sectors, and when electorates are reacting against
paying higher taxes.
One approach has been for Governments to cut costs through privatisation,
and/or efficiency savings, and this path has become increasingly trodden on over
recent years. Less common are examples of local transport authorities raising
money specifically to pay for improvements to public transport through
dedicated local charges and/or taxes. As well as raising money for public
transport development, such new sources of financing can themselves be urban
transport tools (e.g. road tolls and parking charges). The issue of new sources of
finance for public transport investment and operations is one that exists whatever
form of ownership or regulation model is adopted, and the links between these
financing mechanisms and transport policy are increasingly important.
The use of such instruments has moved up the transport policy agenda in
recent years, but actual experience appears limited. The paper reports the results
of a CEC study [1], to which the authors contributed, that identified numerous
cases of local earmarked finance from across the world that have been used to
fund public transport services. These range from fairly prosaic measures such as
taxing property, to taxing oft-frowned upon activities (which may even be
labelled vices) such as drinking, gambling, smoking, driving, flying, and
shopping. A common framework was also developed to allow policy makers to
evaluate each case’s appropriateness for their own needs
Paratransit: the need for a regulatory revolution in the light of institutional inertia
© 2016 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Purpose - This chapter adopts a transport systems approach to explore why the adoption of paratransit modes is low and sporadic. Regulatory and institutional barriers are identified as a major reason for this. The chapter then reviews key trends and issues relating to the uptake of, and barriers to, paratransit modes. Based on this analysis a new regulatory structure is proposed. Design/methodology/approach - Case studies and research/practice literature. Findings - Following an exploration of the nature of paratransit system design and traditional definitions of ‘paratransit’, it is concluded that institutional barriers are critical. However, current societal trends and service developments, and in particular initiatives from the technology service industry, are developing significant new paratransit models. The chapter concludes with a proposed redefinition of paratransit to facilitate a regulatory change to help overcome its institutional challenges. Research limitations/implications - A paratransit transformation of public transport services would produce travel behaviours different from models and perspectives built around corridor/timetabled public transport services. Practical implications - Technology firm invaders (e.g. Uber) are viewed as disrupters from normal transport planning to be controlled or excluded. However they may be the key to a transport system transformation. Social implications - Existing public transport modes are ill-suited to modern patterns of travel demand. A system involving paratransit could produce enhanced social mobility and system-level improvements in CO2 emissions. Originality/value - This chapter identifies the key issues raised by the emergence of new paratransit modes and the new actors involved. A new regulatory structure is proposed which reflects this understanding
Marketing and the British bus industry
The development of public transport services is a key element of all local sustainable transport
strategies. Achieving modal switch from car users requires marketing systems be changed to identify
and target suitable non-users of public transport, rather than just enlarging custom by existing users.
However, in the public transport field, marketing is still essentially designed to only address the
existing customer base. This is particularly acute among bus operators, who rarely even market
effectively to their existing customer base, and have a poor image among car users.
This paper draws on the practical experience of some of the relatively few local bus operators and
local authorities who have identified and won new markets, including modal shift from car. It looks at
the sort of services they have developed, the marketing strategies adopted, and at how the stakeholders
worked together. In addition, it provides hard evidence as to the benefits of marketing bus services
properly, suggesting that patronage gains of around 5-7% should be possible, even without major
investment or legislative change.
In conclusion, seven key features of good practice are identified that need to be part of developing bus
services to serve sustainable transport policies. These are CUSTOMISATION, CO-OPERATION,
CLEAR VISION, CLARITY (TO THE USER), CORE MARKET, CULTURE, and CONTINUITY
Using strategic niche management to evaluate and implement urban transport policy instruments
Strategic Niche Management (SNM) is rooted in organisational innovation
diffusion theory and provides a structure to evaluate and manage the introduction
of new transport technologies. In brief, SNM involves:
• Formation of a ‘technological niche’.
• Identification and introduction of appropriate protection measures that
support the new technology.
• Analysing the technological regime of the ‘experiment’ (demonstration
project). -Promotion and examination (by actors/partners) of 'second order'
learning processes within the protected experimental space.
• Management of experiment to encourage innovation diffusion.
An existing transport case study is presented to demonstrate how Strategic
Niche Management could be used in the development of new and innovative
transport technologies. These were conducted as part of a research project for the
CEC DG XII Strategic Niche Management as a Tool for Transition to a
Sustainable Transport System.
This paper briefly introduces Strategic Niche Management and focuses on
the new research by Petros Ieromonachou that is seeking to use SNM to evaluate
and manage radical local transport policy package measures. The possibility of
producing an implementation guidance tool based on this concept is discussed
Fuel taxes and beyond : UK transport and climate change
The starting point for this report is climate change, and strategies to tackle it. Transport is one of
the fastest growing sources of emissions – especially carbon dioxide (CO2) – contributing to
climate change. Scientific advice, notably from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC, Houghton et al, 1990) and, more recently, from the Royal Commission on
Environmental Pollution (RCEP 2000), is that, to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of carbon
dioxide, emissions need to be cut to 40 per cent of their 1990 level by 2050. This report assumes
that the transport sector will need to contribute a proportionate cut, and explains how this might
best be done. Its focus is surface transport, since the issues and implications of aviation
emissions are very different and will need to be addressed through different policy levers
Improving bus service provision : a review of current UK planning
The development of bus services is a key element
of local sustainable transport strategies. But in
many areas of Britain, bus use continues to
decline as car use inexorably rises. Those involved
in planning and operating bus services thus face a
challenge which so far, with a very few exceptions,
they have shied away from accepting. So why is
this the case, and what can be done to stimulate
a renaissance in the bus sector?
The purpose of this paper is to review the factors
that affect bus use, and at how a geodemographic
analysis tool may be used to
incorporate these. It also looks at how
commercial and social bus services are currently
planned and marketed and identifies the
inadequacies of these methods. The paper
concludes that with the number of skilled bus
planners in decline, it is time for the industry to
develop more ‘scientific’ methods of planning
bus routes and services.
The results presented are taken from the first
stage of an EPSRC Future of Integrated Transport
feasibility study, which aimed to develop a geodemographic
analysis-based tool for those
involved in planning and operating public
transport to help overcome some of the transport
problems faced by people living in rural areas
Demand responsive transport : a review of schemes in England and Wales
Local Authority administered Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes are
increasingly prevalent in England and Wales, partly as a result of the growth in the
availability of Government funding. However insufficient research has been
undertaken into the nature of these schemes and their performance making it difficult
to predict their future role. In this respect, a survey was undertaken in order to collect
data on the background, operation and performance of DRT schemes in England and
Wales. It found that DRT schemes are often designed in an attempt to tackle social
problems caused by poor accessibility, and that they took time to become established,
to achieve their objectives and to reach an acceptable performance in terms of subsidy
level. The paper concludes that Local Authority led DRT schemes have a role to play
but that lessons learnt from schemes currently in operation must be heeded by those
contemplating new scheme development
Economic instruments and traffic restraint
Tax and Transport Policy:
In recent years there have been increasingly strong linkages between national fiscal systems and
environmental/transport objectives. Within the European Union, European Commission (EC) policy
has been outlined in documents such as ‘Towards Fair and Efficient Pricing’ (1), and ‘Fair Payment
for Infrastructure Use’ (2). In summary these well-researched documents advocate that transport
infrastructure charges should normally reflect the marginal social costs at the point of use. These
marginal social costs should include not only marginal wear and tear costs on infrastructure, but also
‘external’ costs imposed on society, the environment and the wider economy through accidents,
pollution, emission of climate change gases, congestion etc.. While regulatory and physical design
mechanisms are also recognised as having an important role to play, it is tax and charging instruments
that the European Commission and national states see as being most effective at encouraging efficient
and sustainable transport systems in the longer term.
In practice, moving towards such a strategic policy aim has proved problematic. In the first place,
transport taxation is an increasingly political sensitive subject, as the autumn 2000 ‘fuel price’ protests
in several European countries showed. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that marginal changes in the
fiscal framework would provide sufficient encouragement to make a real difference in consumer
behaviour. It requires a major restructuring to address the issue of environmental performance. This
chapter therefore explores the potential to move towards more radical actions in a way that might
succeed in overcoming the shortcomings experienced by more short term strategies.
Structure of the Chapter:
This chapter first considers the purposes of taxation and the implications of this for the use of fiscal
policies in the new transport agenda of managing transport demand. It then considers the fiscal
policies that can be used to influence consumer behaviour in acquiring and using different forms of
transport, before going on to explain how these policies have – or have not – been used in the recent
past in the UK.
The chapter then argues that the use of fiscal policies has been quite limited, particularly in comparison
to other countries. It therefore advocates and examines the implications of the adoption of a wider
range of fiscal policies, as part of a wider package of economic instruments and regulations to achieve
transport demand management in an effective manner that also recognises the political sensitivities
involved
Using geo-demographic analysis to calculate patronage figures for rural buses. Final report
This paper reports on the results of an EPSRC Future of
Integrated Transport feasibility study – Using geodemographic
analysis to calculate patronage figures for
rural buses (FITBUS). The project aimed to develop a geodemographic
analysis -based tool for those involved in
planning and operating public transport, and then test the
feasibility of using the technique to determine the levels of
bus patronage and thus economic viability of new and
altered bus routes