Cohesion Policy of the European Union and Parameterization of the Level of Development and Hysteresis of Regions

The European Union connects the level of development of regions and the intensity of economic funds distribution with Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At the same time it is recognized that the GDP cannot constitute an indicator of mapping out policy in all sectors. In the present paper, an indicator of hysteresis of regions is developed (Regions Hysteresis Index, RHI) based on the fact that it is proposed for the distribution of economic funds of National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) in the Greek regions in order to decrease harmoniously their hysteresis. Alternative solutions of distribution of economic funds are evaluated, as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Indicator of Human Development Index (HDI), the Composite Index of Prosperity and Development (CIPD) and the Vulnerability Index (VI). As the environment constitutes a pillar of Sustainable Development, the paper also presents a Regional Index of Environmental Deficiency (RIED) which can be used to determine the needs of regions in funds. The RIED methodology is considered to offer an efficient tool for rational decisions that will tend to balance the environmental inequalities among regions. Keywords: European Union, regional development, sustainable development, hysteresis, inequalities, indicators of prosperity and development, environmental deficienc

Economic Crisis and its Impact on Sustainable Urban Transport

The paper examines the impact of the Greek economic crisis (2009-2018) and the resulted personal income reduction on the change of commuters' travel behavior. The analysis is based on an extensive questionnaire survey, which took place in six Greek cities representing 49.5% of the total urban population of the country. The questionnaire survey was conducted during the year 2017 on a random sample of 2,218 individuals through personal interviews. The aim of the questionnaire survey was to draw useful and practical solutions which would reveal the actual effect of the economic crisis on commuters' travel behavior and their decision to change transport mode for utilitarian or recreational trips, by comparing the years 2008, the year before the beginning of the economic crisis, and the year 2017 when the Greek crisis reached its end. It can be conducted that the personal income reduction has a side effect on the use of private vehicles in favor of the use of public transport and of walking; thus, the crisis has a positive impact on sustainable mobility by changing the way commuters travel in urban areas and favoring more friendly transport modes from both economic and environmental point of view. The results of this survey can be a useful tool for city planners to encourage sustainable transportation so as to increase the quality of life in cities and decrease transport infrastructure investments, energy consumption and environmental degradation. Keywords: Economic Crisis, Personal Income, Commuters Behavior, Transportation, Sustainability JEL Classifications: G01, O18, R41, R42 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.886

Real-time Intraday Traffic Volume Forecasting – A Hybrid Application Using Singular Spectrum Analysis and Artificial Neural Networks

The present paper provides a comparative evaluation of hybrid Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) against conventional ANN, applied on real time intraday traffic volume forecasting. The main research objective was to assess the applicability and functionality of intraday traffic volume forecasting, based on toll station measurements. The proposed methodology was implemented and evaluated upon a custom developed forecasting software toolbox, based on the software Mathworks MatLab, by using real data from Iasmos-Greece toll station. Experimental results demonstrated a superior ex post forecasting accuracy of the proposed hybrid forecasting methodology against conventional ANN, when compared to performance of usual statistical criteria (Mean Absolute Error, Mean Squared Error, Root Mean Squared Error, Coefficient of Determination R2, Theil's inequality coefficient). The obtained results revealed that the hybrid model could advance forecasting accuracy of a conventional ANN model in intraday traffic volume forecasting, while embedding hybrid forecasting algorithm in an Intelligent Transport System could provide an advanced decision support module for transportation system maintenance, operation and management

Exploring the Factors Influencing Parental Choices on School Trips

Within the last decades, the examination and definition of factors affecting the mode choice decision on school trips has gained much of attention, as the completion of such trips represent a vast percentage of total travel demand. Key players of the decision process are students' parents, deciding how their children will complete everyday trips from their residence to the school unit and vice versa. The current study examines the factors affecting parents' travel mode choice for school trips of both primary and high school students in Thessaloniki city, Greece. Data collected is based on a questionnaire survey in which, 512 parents participated, stating their perception regarding the use of several transport modes for school trips and the motives behind specific adopted travel behavioural aspects. Three main topics are examined and analysed related to the parents' attitudes and their travel habits in the choice of motorized and non-motorized transport modes, the parents' perception regarding the built environment safety, and the parents' perception regarding specific parameters which appear to motivate them in the mode choice decision process. For the research analysis, a number of statistical methods and techniques are deployed, starting with descriptive statistical and Pearson's correlation analysis and proceeding with the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results verify initial thoughts for critical factors which appear to affect parents' choices regarding their children’s school trips while they also gives an initial picture of parents' experiences regarding the school travel mode choice, in an urban environment of a typical Greek city

Exploring the Effects of University Campus Decentralization to Students’ Mode Choice

Mobility patterns and travel behavior aspects of students traveling to universities, are gaining attention, as the completion of such every day trips are rather complicated. University students form a social group, essentially autonomous in terms of mode choice decision making. Understanding the mode choice decision process, may reveal the most appropriate interventions for achieving sustainable transport goals. The current study aims to examine various aspects of university students’ travel bahaviour such as travel distance, travel time, comfort and safety in the city of Xanthi, Greece. Moving a step forward, the paper provides a better understanding of students’ travel patterns in two different environments due to the University relocation from an urban environment to a more isolated one. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey is conducted where students describe their travel habits before and after the relocation. In addition, students are given a choice set comprised of eight different factors hypothesized to internalize the effect of the relocation on mode choice for the trips to and from the University and they are asked to prioritize them ranking them from the most significant one to the least important. For the analysis two Multinomial Logit models are developed. The results verify initial considerations; distance and time are the most important factors for both cases while the use of public transport instead of walking increases the importance of economy and safety

Environmental Effects and Externalities from the Transport Sector and Sustainable Transportation Planning – A Review

A literature review of the environmental effects and externalities of the transport sector and the concerns in sustainable transport planning is presented in this paper. The relation between air pollution and transport, considering that transport is an important air pollution emitter, is initially analyzed. The causal relationship between per capita GDP and individual consumption for transport, annual growth of global GDP and CO2 emissions and changes in CO2 emissions from fuel combustion by the various transport modes is then explained. Furthermore, energy consumption of transport modes for the EU countries is illustrated, as well as the relation between traffic flow and noise emissions and the implications of transport infrastructure to the landscape and environmental aesthetics. The increase in passenger mobility has caused traffic congestion, constituting an effect which is also quantified. Furthermore, the impact of accidents in terms of injuries, impairments and fatalities is a global social and public health issue. Moreover, the transport policies and the impact on economic and urban development, health, environmental protection and energy, focusing also on possible conflicts and convergence between safety and environmental policies are discussed. Finally, transport sector externalities, quantification in monetary units and possible effects of eventual internalization of these external costs are presented. Keywords: Environmental effects; Externalities; Internalization; Sustainable; Transportation planning JEL Classifications: H23; O44; Q53; R4

Coupling and Decoupling Relationships between Energy Consumption and Air Pollution from the Transport Sector and the Economic Activity

In the present paper an analysis of whether and under which conditions coupling or decoupling exists between growth rates (as reflecting in GDP rates) of the economy and energy consumption and air pollution from the transport sector. An extensive time period from 1995 to 2012 is surveyed and divided into two periods, from 1995 to 2008 (growth period) and from 2008 to 2012 (recession period). The analysis is conducted for the 28 European Union countries and illustrates, for most of these countries, a coupling phenomenon for the growth period and a decoupling phenomenon for the recession period. This finding may be essential for the further institutional steps to be undertaken, in view of the reduction of CO2 and of energy conservation. Keywords: Coupling; Decoupling; Transportation; Environment; Sustainability JEL Classifications: H23; O44; R4; Q53

Application of Fuzzy Sets for the Improvement of Routing Optimization Heuristic Algorithms

The determination of the optimal circular path has become widely known for its difficulty in producing a solution and for the numerous applications in the scope of organization and management of passenger and freight transport. It is a mathematical combinatorial optimization problem for which several deterministic and heuristic models have been developed in recent years, applicable to route organization issues, passenger and freight transport, storage and distribution of goods, waste collection, supply and control of terminals, as well as human resource management. Scope of the present paper is the development, with the use of fuzzy sets, of a practical, comprehensible and speedy heuristic algorithm for the improvement of the ability of the classical deterministic algorithms to identify optimum, symmetrical or non-symmetrical, circular route. The proposed fuzzy heuristic algorithm is compared to the corresponding deterministic ones, with regard to the deviation of the proposed solution from the best known solution and the complexity of the calculations needed to obtain this solution. It is shown that the use of fuzzy sets reduced up to 35% the deviation of the solution identified by the classical deterministic algorithms from the best known solution