Passenger Market Research Articles

How can customer focus be strengthened in competitive tendering?

Award procedures, contract designs and the scope of contracts vary widely in public transport (PT). Notwithstanding obvious improvements of the technical quality, many authorities are not fully satisfied with the outcome of their tendered contracts. Dissatisfaction with patronage development and with the customer focus is widespread. Many contracts are not seen as sufficiently effective in creating a growing PT market share. Enhancing the focus on passenger needs seems essential.There is no evidence that specific contract types or specific financial incentives can guarantee success in the passenger market. However, although tendered contracts obviously provide strong incentives to reduce costs, they seem to be weak in motivating the operator to care for passengers and create opportunities for expanding the market share of PT.The paper examines the reasons for these weaknesses, drawing on professional experiences gained in a 15-years period. In particular, it analyses the functioning of the interaction between the authority and the operator and the role of individuals in contract regimes.The paper develops conclusions for the next generation of contracts and suggestions for further research. The conclusions envisage the development of contractual relationships which strengthen the motivation to care for customers.

Liberalization of the Interurban Coach Market in Germany: Do Attitudes and Perceptions Drive the Choice between Rail and Coach?

In January 2013 the interurban passenger transport market in Germany was liberalized and several coach carriers emerged offering an alternative to the Deutsche Bahn, a state owned rail monopoly. The coach carriers have attempted to position themselves not just through lower prices but also through product differentiation, for example marketing their services as the most ecological way to travel. Hence, it is important to consider attitudes and perceptions when analyzing this market. One year after liberalization we conducted a stated-choice experiment among students and employees at the Technical University of Berlin, where participants had to choose between different interurban public transport alternatives (regional and intercity trains or interurban coaches). Additionally, the experiment gathered perception and attitudinal indicators used to construct latent variables. Our results show that attitudes and perceptions indeed affect the way individuals choose between different transport modes and, therefore, they must be taken into account when analyzing the interurban passenger market in Germany.

Research on the Dominate Transport Distance of High-Speed Railway

High-speed railway is recognized as a fast, safe, comfortable, low-power, and large volumes of new transportation mode. This paper proposes a dominate transport distance model with the consideration of origin-destination distance, travelling purpose, income, time value and transport preference. A numerical experiment indicates that km is the most attractive distance for the high-speed railway. In km, the air plane occupies most passenger market. The high-speed railway has no advantage when the distance is longer than 1600 km.

The System Evaluation of Passenger Station Travelers Satisfaction

With economic development, abundant modes of transport, the quality of people's in demand for travel gradually increases ,and therefore optimizing and improving passenger station service system seems imperative. In order to improve the quality of passenger service, we shall establish a scientific and reasonable evaluation system, through the terminal passenger satisfaction evaluation to determine whether passenger service to make visitors satisfied and propose specific measures to improve service quality for lower service satisfaction. In this paper, Hohhot, as an example, we conducted evaluation studies for passenger station service, and put forward the corresponding improvement suggestions to improve passenger satisfaction, but also proved the feasibility and practicability of the model established in terms of passenger station’s travelers satisfaction evaluation. The study not only can improve the competitiveness of transport companies but also conducive to the future development of the passenger market.

An analysis of the competition that impinges on the Milan–Rome intercity passenger transport link

This paper presents a simulation based on the discrete choice model, and a limited set of data to analyse the passenger market on the Milan–Rome intercity transport link. Considered in the analysis are market shares of both incumbents and new entrants, as well as consumer surplus and environmental costs. The link, which is the second largest intra-European connection, has been characterized by a low degree of competition in both rail and air transport services. The entry of new rail and air operators in 2012, however, will likely reshape market characteristics. The current paper argues the following: (i) most of the benefit in consumer surplus will stem from the introduction of competition in high speed rail; (ii) increased connections will result in increased environmental costs, which will partially offset the larger consumer surplus; and (iii) a reduction in the difference between airline and rail companies involving the costs of infrastructure access and security could lead to more fair forms of competition between airline and rail companies, but it generates a worst environment state.

Cargo Airships: International Competition

The advance of transportation technology depends on science and economics. During the 1930s, airships and airplanes competed head-to-head for the Atlantic passenger market. When World War 2 broke out, everything changed. Over the next five years, the combined combatants built over half of a million military airplanes. By the end of the war, four-engine, high-altitude bombers and jet engines were developed. Further investment in airplane technology was stimulated by the Cold War. All this public investment was adapted to civilian passenger jet airplanes. By 1980, dedicated jet airplanes were in use as cargo carriers. Despite the growth of the cargojet market over the past three decades, rising fuel costs and environmental concerns are changing the economics of airships and airplanes again. Investment in large cargo airships is returning. Much of the technology developed for fixed-wing aircraft can be applied to cargo airships. New materials, better engines, control systems and engineering eliminate the need for large ground crews and improve airship reliability and safety. However, two fundamental design issues have yet to be resolved: structural integrity and buoyancy control. A worldwide competition is underway on three continents to develop the dominant design for a cargo airship. This paper examines the alternative design approaches and presents the status of the international competition.

The Qantas/Emirates Merger Decision: How the Competition Commission of Singapore Used the NEB Exclusion to Regulate the Air Passenger Market

The Qantas/Emirates Merger Decision: How the Competition Commission of Singapore Used the NEB Exclusion to Regulate the Air Passenger Market

Research on Hainan East Ring Railway Passenger Market Segmentation Based on Customer Loyalty

This document describes the relationship between customer loyalty through the establishment of quantitative structure model, and uses the method of cluster analysis to classify the Hainan east ring railway market, finally puts forward the related strategies.

Potential Impacts on Accessibility and Consumer Surplus of Improvements of the European Railway System

It is widely accepted that “transport infrastructure endowment influences competiveness of a Region; the provision of investment in transport infrastructure entails positive effects on productivity and growth, even if on the other side, heavy infrastructures (as railway lines) could affect negatively on the environment” (5th Cohesion Report, 2010). This article aims to explore the potential impact of improvements of the passenger rail network in order to evaluate how these could potentially increase accessibility and consumer surplus in EU regions; it summarizes the results of the model simulations carried out with a combination of the TRANSTOOLS rail network and the assignment module of Traffic Analyst.Three different scenarios have been tested by changing speeds on the whole network. The post-processing analysis has been carried out with utilities developed in Matlab, while the results for each zone (at NUTS3 level) have also been reported in easy-to-read ArcGIS maps. The outcomes provide insight into how the demand for passenger rail transport would react and where the highest benefits and costs, in terms of accessibility and consumer surplus gains, can be expected. This information, in turn, can be useful for the prioritization of investment needs and the identification of parts of the rail passenger market where new demand may be generated.

The Determinants of Domestic Air Passenger Demand in the Republic of South Africa

Analysing air passenger market is an integral part of air transport industry and form part of corporate planning process. This paper seeks to assess the determinants of domestic air passenger demand in the Republic of South Africa. The methodology used involved collection of data for passenger movements in South Africa for the period 1971 – 2012 to determine the pattern of air travels. Data on macro and micro-economic variables considered to affect demand for air passenger travel were also collected. Multiple regression method was then used to develop models of demand in respect of air passenger movement. An attempt was made to develop models for domestic air passenger travel demand in the country with different combinations of explanatory variables utilising a stepwise regression technique. The model, which has the total consumption, population size, airfares and oil prices as the explanatory variables, is the most appropriate model to represent the demand for domestic air passenger travel in South Africa. The rest of the models discussed suffer from multicollinearity. The model selected may be used to identify and measure the relations between domestic air passenger demand and the economic and demographic factors in South Africa. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n13p389

A two‐stage hub location method for air transportation in Brazil

AbstractDuring the past decade, the Brazilian air passenger market has been growing at impressive rates suggesting the need for rationalization and the consistent use of the hub‐and‐spoke configuration. This research considers 135 airports, mostly extremely small, and the aim is to identify regional hubs that would accumulate traffic and feed a predefined restricted number of major hubs. The proposed approach is divided into two phases: the first phase considers all 135 existing commercial airports and using the p‐median problem identifies p airports that would play the role of regional hubs, and the second phase considers a problem with these p airports and solves the q‐hub location problem. Both phases are sequentially solved by the software AIMMS 3.9. The research has broad implications consistent with the publicized efforts to improve management practices, support a larger number of commercial airports, and face the expected peak demand in the upcoming international events. Given the growth in the air passenger market in Brazil, both phases may be seen as two independent objectives.

The Application Research Based on the Idea of Revenue Management in the Market of High-Speed Railway

Due to the fierce competition in the passenger market and the problem of low transportation capacity and seating rate in off-season, it is necessary for the railway station to carry out market-oriented revenue management and reasonable application of dynamic price control method, especially for the high-speed railway targeted at the high price and high quality of service. Combined with the practical operation situation of high-speed railway, the paper mainly puts forward the dichotomy method and implement step of dynamic price control and selling strategies with a limitation, considering the share of train all operation costs including the acquisition of train, aiming at providing certain suggestions for the operation management in high-speed railway.

Transborder demand leakage and the US–Canadian air passenger market

The US–Canadian air traffic market is one of the largest international markets in the world – estimated at 23million passengers in 2008. The market is currently regulated by an “Open Skies” agreement, which eliminated all restrictions on the frequency of flights, the aircraft flown, and the fares charged on transborder routes. Although there is evidence that consumers have benefited from the Open Skies agreement, there is also evidence that many passengers have chosen to avoid transborder services, and instead fly from airports in US border cities and cross the border by surface transportation. This paper uses a passenger demand model to determine the scope of this “leakage” from transborder routes. In addition, transborder airfares are compared to US domestic airfares to determine whether transborder fares are “excessive”, a potential cause of the leakage. Results show a substantial amount of leakage estimated at over 4.7million passengers for 2008. Furthermore, after controlling for the impact of route-specific variables, such as market concentration, average fares are 28.2% higher in the transborder market. Finally, policy implications and the future of the transborder air passenger market are discussed.

The Choice between Train and Bus in Durres-Tirana Axis

The Tirana-Durres axis, due to democratic development of the last two decades, represents the richest markets in the Albania’s transportation industry. Internal migrations from rural areas and demographic developments during that period have made this part of the nation’s home of approximately half of country's population. The commercial and residential buildings are extended along the entire distance between Tirana and Durres, the two largest cities of the country, which actually belong to a unified urban centre. However, despite the construction of a highway just a decade ago and the restructuring of some auxiliary roads, the congestion, the flow of passengers and merchandise, and pollution in this axis has become a great concern. Parallel to the highway runs the railway line, which serves passangers moving between Tirana and Durres. For several reasons, ranging from type of trains to investments, the rail system is neglected. Passenger market share of this axis covered by the railway represents only 0.02% of the total demand. In our opinion the solution is correlated to the integrated transport system and one of its goals is dropping the number of vehicles on the roads at the expense of public transportation. Nevertheless, such an aim requires selecting the type of transport with greatest potential. Therefore, a cost-benefit analysis with a wide spectrum of socioeconomic elements is needed. We believe that this scrutiny, which in this paper is treated in the form of a comparison between the rail system and buses, is the proper way to evaluate motor vehicle and a train transport passenger service on Durres-Tirana axis and to choose the best one. In our model we want to stresses the importance of introducing in the Durres-Tirana railway axis new equipment such as diesel multiple units (DMU). These devises serve simultaneously as a locomotive and as a railroad car. Many European countries use DMU in short lines. In such a conception, DMU service extension can serve in Durres-Tirana transport perspective and later on in a gradual expansion in other segments of the Albanian Railway Network. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n4p143

위그선의 연안여객운송시장 도입을 위한 정책 연구

The purpose of this study is to review and suggest coastal shipping policies for introduction of WIG craft into domenstic passenger shipping market. Two Korean companies are leading in the development of WIG craft as an innovative sea transportation vehicle, and it is awaiting for commercialization. WIG craft is expected to be commercialized from coastal passenger market and we used AHP method to investigate the major factors and its` priority for smooth market entry. The results shows that priorities are on the WIG craft legislation, dock installation and operation, port state control, and pilot hiring and training, craft maintenance, and ship`s certification in order.

Intermodal competition in the London–Paris passenger market: High-Speed Rail and air transport

This paper studies inter- and intramodal competition in the London–Paris passenger market during the period 2003–2009. We identify the degree to and conditions under which High-Speed Rail is a viable substitute for airline travel. Using pooled cross-sectional data we estimate multinomial and mixed logit models to examine actual travel behaviour. Our model allows us to analyse the reaction of passenger behaviour on the withdrawal of aviation alternatives and the completion of the High-Speed Rail link between the two cities in November 2007. The results show that travel time and frequency are the main determinants of travel behaviour. The valuation of total travel times changes over the years following the opening of the High-Speed Rail link. Furthermore, we show that the direct elasticity of market share with respect to frequency for a number of aviation alternatives is above 1, indicating that these alternatives are not able to maximise profits. These alternatives subsequently left the market in our sample period. For the remaining aviation alternatives, except for easyJet, we find elasticities of market share with respect to frequency close to 1. Therefore, we conjecture that competition in this market will decline in the long run.

Estimating the market power of airports in their catchment areas – a Europe-wide approach

It is often argued that market regulation should only be applied to airports with significant degrees of market power, to avoid regulatory costs to exceed respective benefits. However, the measurement of airport market power is not a trivial issue, not least given the wide range of different market segments airports operate in. The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology for the assessment of airport market power which can be applied to the European airports.First, we provide an overview of existing methodologies applied in empirical studies that try to assess the degrees of airport market power. It is found that, while the literature provides some very detailed assessments for specific airports, no comparative studies for a wider range of European airports, based on uniform and transparent criteria, has so far been undertaken. Therefore we develop a transparent modelling approach for the estimation of airport market power in the local passenger market segment, which requires detailed regional GDP data on NUTS 3 level, airport-region distances and flight supply on the airport level, as reported by the Official Airline Guide (OAG), as main input data. We show and discuss the results for the 50 largest European airports.

Market concentration in coastal shipping and limitations to island's accessibility

Since 2001 institutional reforms have occurred in Greek coastal shipping, including attempts to open the market via the implementation of the EU regulation. Yet, islands are confronted with accessibility problems that undermine their equal sharing of economic development and social cohesion. This calls for a revision of the existing transport policies so as to take into consideration the particular characteristics of these regions and the structural difficulties that mark the accessibility from/to the islands. The objective of the paper is to test two research hypotheses. First, whether coastal market is getting more concentrated, during the post-liberalization era. Second, whether islands’ accessibility is reduced mainly due to high levels of coastal companies concentration and the absence of any monitoring process. The research concentrates on the accessibility of islanders in relation to the ferry market concentration, using it as a proxy of market power. The findings indicate high levels of market concentration and a seasonality pattern in the supply side, in turn correlated with fluctuations of the demand in the passenger market. The paper exposes the presence of structural market failures such as accessibility limitations. It concludes with key policy recommendations, suggesting a permanent monitoring mechanism for the coastal market.

English

  The intercity passenger market has been expanding rapidly. Nowadays, it is easily observed that many people stand on the bus stations in order to get their desired bus, but sometimes it takes too much time for them to, due to many remarkable reasons. In this research, a new intelligent model for multi ID buses movement monitoring and station reporting system based on GPS and succession of RF Transceivers is presented. With this trend, wireless sensor networks for position tracking of a particular vehicle have been considered new parts for the proposed intelligent transportation systems deployed into buses station networks in order to enhance further the monitoring plan. In addition to some fundamental functions such as real-time monitoring, some featured functions are tightly combined to make the system compatible with the daily operations of any public transport scheme. The proposed method will surely improve the linear transmission to the bus stations which led people to take decision either to wait for the bus or not.   Key words: Global positioning system (GPS), buses monitoring system, Xstreme transceiver, embedded system design.

Establishment and application of fuzzy decision rules: an empirical case of the air passenger market in Taiwan

This paper develops a framework for creating fuzzy decision rules by socio-economic variables, transactional record variables and customer benefit variables. Fuzzy decision rules may be applied on marketing systems of businesses. This research uses fuzzy k-means algorithm and C4.5 decision tree algorithm to generate fuzzy decision rules. The framework is applied on the air passenger market of Taiwan for an empirical case study. Results of this research found two non-fuzzy (crisp) decision rules and two fuzzy decision rules, which can be applied on the customer relationship management systems of airlines. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.