Search results for "Transportation"

What distance do university students walk and bike daily to class in Spain

2016

Abstract Introduction Physical activity levels are low in the general population and these levels decrease from childhood to adolescence, as well as from adolescence to adulthood. Active commuting (AC) is an opportunity to increase the physical activity levels. The distance between home and destinations is a main correlate of AC; however, the distance that university students walk or cycle to university is unknown. Methods Participants self-reported their modes and time of commuting to and from university in a questionnaire, and the main mode of commuting was identified. Moreover, they reported their home address, and the Spanish version of Mapquest software was used to measure street-netwo…

Regulation and efficiency: the case of European railways

2001

Abstract During the long period of regulation of the railway system in Europe (1950s–1990s) the companies notably improved their levels of productivity. However, parallel to this, the state of their financial accounts also significantly worsened. In order to explain this fact we have estimated both cost and revenue frontier functions, calculating the losses associated with both cost and revenue inefficiencies as well as inefficiencies on the cost side. The results obtained show the existence of significant potential losses of revenue, which can be explained above all by the strong policy of regulation and intervention reigning in this period. A better commercial policy and a supply adapted …

Price dispersion, competition, and the role of online travel agents: Evidence from business routes in the Italian airline market

2014

Abstract In this article, using data from the Italian airline market, we study the role of online travel agents (OTAs) in driving price dispersion as compared to the effect of airlines’ websites. Specifically, we investigate how distinctive factors between OTAs and airlines’ direct channels influence price dispersion. We find that after controlling for OTAs’ features related to airline competition, price dispersion should be lower in the OTA channel relative to airlines’ direct channels. On the other hand, we also find that OTAs’ features related to the presence of airline competition play in favor of higher price dispersion in such indirect channel.

A model of internal and external competition in a High Speed Rail line

2015

This paper is a contribution to evaluate structural and behavioral changes in railway passenger markets. The novel elements of our analysis are the following: (i) the consideration of inter-modal and intra-modal competition, (ii) the presence of public and private operators, and (iii) endogenous service frequency. After calibrating the model using actual data from two Spanish High Speed Rail lines, simulation exercises allow us to conclude the following. Privatization, whether entry occurs or not, would prompt an increase in prices and a reduction in the number of train services, eventually leading to welfare decreases, as compared with a regime where the incumbent rail operator remained pu…

The importance of the inland leg of containerised maritime shipments: An analysis of modal choice determinants in Spain

2011

Abstract While most of the studies that address competition between road and rail transport focus on national or international non-maritime shipments, there is practically no empirical evidence on the modal choice determinants of the inland leg of maritime shipments. This paper intends to fill that gap by estimating a modal choice model between road and rail transport on the inland leg of Spanish containerised maritime freight shipments, using a mixed logit model and stated preference techniques. The results obtained confirm the vital role that frequency plays in the relative competitiveness of rail transport and also provide subjective values of transport attributes that are deemed essenti…

A general equilibrium analysis of climate change impacts on tourism

2006

This paper studies the economic implications of climate-change-induced variations in tourism demand, using a world CGE model. The model is first re-calibrated at some future years, obtaining hypothetical benchmark equilibria, which are subsequently perturbed by shocks, simulating the effects of climate change. We portray the impact of climate change on tourism by means of two sets of shocks, occurring simultaneously. The first set of shocks translate predicted variations in tourist flows into changes of consumption preferences for domestically produced goods. The second set reallocate income across world regions, simulating the effect of higher or lower tourists' expenditure. Our analysis h…

Recent advances on security and privacy in intelligent transportation systems (ITSs)

2019

On coincidence of feedback and global Stackelberg equilibria in a class of differential games

2021

This paper shows for a class of differential games that the global Stackelberg equilibrium (GSE) coincides with the feedback Stackelberg equilibrium (FSE), although the GSE assumes that the leader/regulator an- nounces at the initial time the regulatory instrument rule she will follow for the rest of the game, while in the FSE, the regulator at any time chooses the optimal level of the regulatory instrument rate. This coincidence is based on the fact that the FSE is calculated using dynamic programming what implies that although the regulator chooses the regulatory instrument rate level that maximizes social welfare, the first-order condition for the maximization of the right-hand side of t…

Constructive Optimization of Vulcanization Installations in Order to Improve the Performance of Conveyor Belts

2019

Conveyor belts of special importance must have superior mechanical characteristics. The joining by vulcanization of the conveyor belts allows to obtain superior performances, but it has been found that at the vulcanizing joint of the conveyor belts, there is a &ldquo

A Novel Priority-Based Ambulance-to-Traffic Light Communication for Delay Reduction in Emergency Rescue Operations

2019

Rescue operations are very critical and sensitive. Only one-second delay could make a serious difference between life and death. Therefore, the delay in rescue operations must be reduced as much as possible. The siren signal can be used to warn other vehicles nearby the ambulance. However, it has no impact on the traffic lights, which is normally a main cause of delay in rescue operations. For this reason, many ambulances get stuck and experience long delay at the intersections, which should not happen by any means. To enhance the rescue operations, this paper proposes a novel Priority-based Ambulance-to-Traffic Light Communication (PATCom). PATCom allows information exchanging between traf…