Passenger Transport Sector Research Articles

Can telework help us to tip into low-carbon passenger transportation?

The pressure to mitigate climate change and to inhibit irreversible changes on the Earth’s system is large. In particular, the passenger transportation sector has to undergo a radical change to drastically reduce emissions. This study analyzes telework as an enabling condition to move passenger transportation onto a low-carbon trajectory. We used a mixed-methods approach with a qualitative expert focus group (n = 8) as a preparatory step and a consecutive national online survey focusing on the Austrian working population (n = 688), and linked our empirical results with findings from the international literature in a causal loop diagram. Our results show that the willingness to conduct telework and the level of acceptance for several incentives that support low-carbon mobility is high (personal agency). However, to translate this personal willingness into actual emission reductions, attractive framework conditions (societal agency) must be created. Therefore, telework should not be seen as an isolated area for action, as it most effectively unfolds its potential as an enabling condition when incorporated into a policy package with incentives for low-carbon mobility.

Global carbon transition in the passenger transportation sector over 2000–2021

The high-emitting and hard-to-abate passenger transport sector plays a crucial role in global deep decarbonization. To lead an equitable and rapid transition in the passenger transportation, this work is the first to develop a bottom-up modeling framework integrated with the latest decomposing structural decomposition methodology to assess and compare historical emission patterns and decarbonization efforts of 28 countries over the past two decades. Results indicate: (1) Carbon emissions from the global passenger transport sector increased between 2000 and 2021, peaking in 2019, with GDP per capita and population size being key drivers of rising carbon emissions across countries. (2) The decarbonization efforts of the global passenger transport sector varied by traffic mode. The largest contributors were passenger buses [−0.46 megatons of carbon dioxide per year (Mt CO2/yr)], followed by trains (−0.4 Mt CO2/yr), and airplanes (−0.28 Mt CO2/yr), while passenger cars (1.04 Mt CO2/yr) hindered the decarbonization process. (3) Although the global passenger transport sector has cumulatively decarbonized 3005.9 Mt CO2 and achieved a decarbonization rate of 5.1 %, regional performance varied significantly, exhibiting uneven and inadequate progress. Overall, the study provides an effective data-driven assessment framework for reviewing and comparing global and national passenger transport decarbonization performance, which will facilitate the planning of decarbonization pathways by global emitters and the early achievement of zero-carbon transport.

The impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on financial performance of airlines’ in terms of expenses and profitability: Turkish Airlines and Pegasus

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on social, political, and economic facets, precipitating substantial shifts in societal structures and economic frameworks. The pandemic has also taken a toll on the airline passenger transportation sector. During the pandemic, airline travel underwent regulation, with reduced seat capacities and a transition from wide to narrow-body aircraft. Throughout this period, airline revenues experienced a decline while expenses escalated, causing a significant imbalance between income and expenses. This imbalance led to losses in operating activities for airlines. This study investigated the impact of the pandemic on airlines’ expenses. Data were collected from the 2019-2022 financial statements of Turkish Airlines (THY) and Pegasus (PGSUS), which are traded on Borsa Istanbul. The study focused on revenues, costs of sales, gross profit, general administrative expenses, marketing costs, operating profits/losses, financing costs, profits/losses before tax from continuing operations, and net period profits/losses for the financial year. Trend, vertical, and ratio analyses were performed to evaluate the findings. The results showed that the expenses of and Pegasus increased drastically during the pandemic. Their revenues started to rise in 2021 and increased drastically in 2022. While they suffered losses due to high expenses during the pandemic, they showed a better profitability performance in 2022 than before the pandemic.

Questioning the Proportionality of the ViDA Rules on the Platform Economy: Are We Veering off Course?

In this article the authors critically analyse the ViDA proposal’s implications for platform sellers in the passenger transport and short-term accommodation sectors. The proposed rules for platforms aim to create a level playing field by addressing VAT inequality and ambiguity surrounding taxation rules for these sectors. However, the authors argue that the proposed deemed supplier regime goes further than necessary in achieving its intended purposes. The authors propose further discussions and refinements to ensure that the new rules are proportionate and simultaneously promote a harmonized VAT system across the European Union.

Shared pooled mobility essential complement to decarbonize China’s transport sector until 2060

Greenhouse gas emission reduction in the passenger transport sector is a main challenge for China’s climate mitigation agenda. Electrification and shared mobility provide encouraging options for carbon emissions reduction in road transport. Based on an integrated scenario-based assessment framework, a provincial-level projection is made for vehicle growth and CO2 emissions in China under shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). This work illustrates how passenger car electrification and sharing contribute to China’s “30·60” climate goals (peaking of CO2 emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060). The results demonstrate that China is en route to achieving the goal of a 2030 carbon peak (1.0Gt CO2) under current conditions, and could reach peak emissions around 2026 with optimistic growth in EVs and shared mobility. Compared with no policy action, the single EV policy (shifting from ICEVs to EVs) can reduce 71% of emissions by 2060, thus narrowing but not closing the mitigation gap to carbon neutrality in passenger cars (302 Mt CO2). Shared mobility can provide further emission reduction support, reducing emissions by 83% in 2060. Comprehensive climate actions (including electrification, sharing mobility to reduce car use, and improving vehicle efficiency and fuel carbon intensity) are needed to achieve deep decarbonization to net-zero by 2060 in the passenger transport sector.

Including SDGs in low-carbon transport scenarios: A case of Udaipur

<p>Transportation is fundamental to shaping urban form and quality of life. The transport sector contributes to a quarter of global GHG emissions. It is integral to countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to mitigate global warming or control warming beyond 2 ℃ or 1.5 ℃ above the pre-industrial level. Climate change mitigation in the transport sector demands a tailored approach for cities of the global south—recently urbanizing with increased dependence on motorization—incorporating social aspects of sustainability. The study examines the delivery of climate change mitigation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Udaipur’s passenger transport sector through six SDGs. Over and above the business-as-usual scenario, the two scenarios presented are the technology scenario, which recalibrates Udaipur’s available low-carbon mobility plan, and the SDG scenario, which addresses social transformations by applying assumptions derived from the primary survey in the city. The socially sensitive SDG scenario prioritizes the mobility demands of those with low or no mobility. It also enhances mobility by retaining the share of non-motorized transport (NMT), intermediate public transport (IPT), and public transport (PT) and regulating excessive use of private motorized vehicles. However, the SDG scenario causes a 26% increase in the vehicle kilometer traveled (VKT), a 24% increase in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, and a 29% decrease in other GHG emissions over the Technology Scenario.</p>

Evaluation of a carbon tax in Costa Rica linking a demand system focused on energy goods and an input-output model

This study evaluates the impact of a carbon tax on CO2 emissions in Costa Rica. For the above, a demand system is estimated using data from a household expenditure survey, which allows for obtaining the elasticities of demand for various groups of goods focused on energy. Then, the environmental extension of the Leontief price model is implemented to determine the change in prices caused by different carbon tax rates (25, 50, 75, and 100 USD/ton CO2). Subsequently, both models are linked to obtain the variations in production and sectoral emissions. In addition, a Monte Carlo simulation is carried out since the estimated price elasticities have a standard deviation associated with them. The results suggest that carbon taxes mainly affect transportation, while the rest of the sectors have slight impacts in all simulated scenarios. For example, the drop in total CO2 emissions is explained between 89.6% and 91.3% by the decrease in emissions in the passenger transport and other transport sectors with a 95% confidence interval. The previous is explained by the composition of Costa Rica's energy matrix, which has a very high share of renewable energies. Finally, some climate policy options are suggested to contribute to this country's carbon neutrality.

Comparative Study of Transaction Costs between Us and Brazilian Airlines

This article deals with the transaction costs in the passenger and cargo air transport sector for United States and Brazilian airlines. After discussing transaction costs and their importance, a comparative study is conducted on their relevance for companies in these two countries. The study concludes that transaction costs for Brazilian airlines are proportionally about five times higher than those for US airlines. Finally, simulations are performed for the economic operating results of airlines from both countries if their transaction costs were zero.

КОМПЛЕКСНА ОЦІНКА ЯКОСТІ НАДАНИХ ПОСЛУГ ПАСАЖИРАМ ЗАЛІЗНИЧНОГО ТРАНСПОРТУ, ЯК СТРАТЕГІЧНИЙ ІНСТРУМЕНТ ДЛЯ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО УСПІХУ ЗАЛІЗНИЧНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The article addresses the important issue of assessing service quality in the railway passenger transport sector. The author of the article tackles this problem by developing and proposing a modified methodology for evaluating the quality of passenger transport services by rail. The main goal of the research was to determine an integrated indicator of service quality using an economic-mathematical model. The article provides a detailed description of the essence and peculiarities of the developed methodology, highlighting key aspects of assessing the quality of railway passenger transport services. Special attention is paid to the analysis and determination of the advantages of the proposed approach compared to existing methodologies, particularly in the selection of indicators for assessing the quality of railway passenger transport services. The features of service quality assessment at three key stages: before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip, are discussed, taking into account the specifics of railway transport. The obtained results allow determining an integrated indicator reflecting the overall level of passenger service at all stages. The elucidation of the peculiarities of the proposed methodology and its effectiveness in the context of railway transport allows the author to draw reasoned conclusions about the level of passenger service and identify directions for further research in this area. The developed methodology opens up new opportunities for collecting and analyzing data on the quality of passenger service in railway transport, contributing to further optimization and improvement of passenger transportation by «Ukrzaliznytsia».

ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION OF APPLICATIONS BY AIRLINES TO PROTECT CONSUMERS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PERIOD

Airline companies have developed specific measures and practices to maintain their commercial activities and protect consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, while some airlines take hygiene measures such as disinfection of airplanes and luggage, others have introduced certain time flexibility on their tickets so that passengers do not lose their flight rights. On the other hand, they informed the passengers through their web pages and had some practices to maintain social distancing and reduce the crowd. In this study, the official websites of the member airlines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) were examined, the practices carried out by the companies to protect consumers from disease and to minimize or compensate for their loss of rights were determined, and these practices were systematically grouped based on the similarities in their purposes. Also, regional differences between airlines’ practices were examined based on the regional classification of IATA. Although the studies in the literature deal with these practices one by one, this study brought them together and classified them systematically for the first time. Thus, in the event of a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases or another similar pandemic, it has become possible to find applications that can be made in the airline passenger transportation sector in a single study to reduce transmission, protect consumers, and compensate for the loss of rights. Continuing flexible ticketing and self-service technology applications during the pandemic will also benefit consumers after the pandemic, and airline companies that continue these applications will make a difference between them and their competitors. Hygiene measures and practices taken during the pandemic are also necessary. While preventing the spread of infectious diseases such as colds provides confidence to its passengers.

Quantifying the impact of travel time duration and valuation on modal shift in Swiss passenger transportation

Decarbonizing the passenger transportation sector is critical for climate change mitigation. Existing studies on net-zero scenarios using Energy System Optimization Models (ESOM) often overlook non-monetary aspects of consumers' mobility choices but primarily focus on cost aspects. This study incorporates consumers' travel time duration and valuation, and an endogenous modal shift option into the Swiss TIMES Energy system Model (STEM). STEM is applied in a multi-objective optimization framework to quantify the impacts of faster Public Transport (PT) and slower car speeds on modal shifts in the transport sector's transformation. Similarly, we assess scenarios where consumers weigh travel time less, reflecting improved travel productivity. The results show that speed variations on medium- and long-distance trips, which can be interpreted as policies for highway speed limits and more efficient PT, can induce modal shifts towards 5–10% higher PT demand. Its implied secondary effects across the energy system include a reduced need for electrification of heavy-duty trucks by 11% and a decrease in hydrogen demand in road transportation by 34% by 2050. If travelers weigh costs over travel time, PT becomes less competitive against cars. Thus, electric vehicles (EVs) need to play a more dominant role in decarbonization, with a demand increase of 13% in 2040 (+9.2 billion passenger kilometer (bpkm)) and 6% in 2050 (+5.0 bpkm), along with the need for additional 45,000 public chargers of 22 kW size. Policy implications include the emphasis on improved PT speeds, speed limits on highways, needs to achieve more widespread EV adoption, and the need for balancing travelers' decision factors when aiming for reduced transport CO2 emissions.

Social responsibility as a source of satisfaction for worker-members in a social economy transport company

This research paper examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and worker-member satisfaction in social economy enterprises. Focusing on an intercity passenger transport company in Spain, the study examines the impact of CSR practices on worker-member satisfaction. The actions of the company were analyzed, and information was collected from 252 worker-members through a questionnaire on the aspects that make up CSR according to the European Commission. The research introduces a novel perspective by bridging the fields of CSR, social economy enterprises, and the intercity passenger transport sector, which have received limited attention together. The findings reveal a significant positive influence of CSR on worker-member satisfaction, highlighting the value of responsible business practices in enhancing employee satisfaction. This study contributes valuable insights to the literature on CSR and its impact on worker-member satisfaction and provides practical implications for social economy enterprises seeking to promote sustainable development through worker-members engagement. The contribution of this work is the method used itself, which allows the company to identify areas for improvement and make decisions when developing its CSR strategy.

External control of the functioning of passenger carriers in the smart city

Introduction. The successful functioning of a smart city in terms of organizing efficient transportation flows requires external and independent monitoring in the field of passenger transportation. External monitoring complements the internal control of passenger carriers’ activities in providing efficient passenger transport services in the smart city. Various stakeholders, such as regulatory institutions, municipal authorities, business partners, and the public, are interested in the external control of transportation enterprises, which defines the relevance of the research and allows for the formulation of its purpose.The purpose of the article is to justify the importance of digitization and optimization of external control in correlation with internal control procedures regarding the monitoring of passenger carriers’ operations in a smart city.Results. The study elucidates the correlation between internal and external control, both of which share common control objects, such as the transportation schedule, personnel policies, service quality, revenues and expenses, and public disclosure. These factors also determine the interaction formats of various controllers. A list of data requiring public disclosure by passenger carriers for external control has been identified, including information related to: transportation vehicles (adherence to the transportation schedule for passenger carriers), employees (provision of personnel policies and social protection for employees by transportation companies), transportation costs (public control over pricing in the passenger transportation sector), carrier revenues (accurate calculation of company revenues and accrued taxes), and social commitments (compliance with fair competition practices and fulfilling social obligations taken on by the carriers).The rationale for conducting a rating of passenger carriers using a balanced evaluation system is substantiated. This system involves the calculation of various indicators such as punctuality, personnel policies, fair competition practices, social commitments, financial security, passenger feedback, pricing, profitability, convenience, and transparency, taking into account their respective weights in the overall rating assessment. For top-performing transportation companies identified through the rating, a premium reward system is proposed, while for those with lower ratings, external controllers will initiate inspections and hold them accountable for any identified violations. The implementation of these proposed measures ensures public transparency, accountability, and efficiency in providing socially significant passenger transportation services in the smart city through the interaction of internal and external control mechanisms.Prospects. The use of modern information and communication technologies for enhancing accounting and control requires exploring the prospects of digitizing internal control in conjunction with external monitoring of passenger carriers’ operations.

Shared mobility and lifestyles as mechanisms to reduce environmental impacts from passenger transportation

Despite the deployment of low- or zero-emission technologies, achieving emissions reductions in the passenger transportation sector remains challenging. Demand-side mechanisms can be instrumental in reducing environmental impacts of transportation and reconfiguring transportation systems in a way that shifts users away from private car ownership. In this article we look at the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States to quantify the environmental benefits from such shifts in passenger transportation, considering socio-technological drivers of transportation including well-being, digitalization, shared mobility, and electrification. We establish pathways for each of these countries considering their context. We frame these pathways using the avoid-shift-improve framework which shapes the scenarios that we quantify in our analysis. We use a travel demand model as an input to calculate carbon, energy, and air pollution footprints. We quantify direct emissions considering the characteristics of the private fleet and indirect using multiregional input-output analysis. The results show that target thresholds can be reached under the proposed supply and demand initiatives. For the United States, these actions are more dramatic than for the Netherlands and Sweden due to that country’s stronger car dependence. A deep social transformation is needed to make these scenarios possible and enable a shift towards public, active and shared transportation in urban areas.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of near-surface ozone concentration and potential source areas in northern China during 2015-2020.

Near-surface ozone (O3) pollution has become one of the main factors hampering urban air quality in northern China. However, on a spatiotemporal scale, dynamic transport paths and potential source areas of O3 in northern China are ambiguous. In addition, we suspect that the contribution of transportation activities to urban O3 concentrations developed in northern China may be underestimated. In this study, the HYSPLIT, PSCF, CWT and GTWR model were used to study the transmission paths, potential source areas and driving factors of urban O3 concentration on a spatiotemporal scale. The average annual concentration of surface O3 (the 90th percentile of MDA8) was 172 ± 29μg/m3 in northern China from 2015 to 2020. In terms of inter-annual variation, the urban O3 concentration increased from 2015 to 2018, and decreased after 2018. On the spatial scale, the areas with high O3 concentration were mainly clustered in industrial cities (Tangshan, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Handan). During the study period, the area with high O3 concentration in northern China shifted from northwest to southeast. From 2015 to 2020, the influence of long-distance air mass trajectories from Xinjiang and Siberi on airflow transport in Beijing city dominates (78.60%) The average percentage of short-distance transport trajectories from Shandong Peninsula region is about 21.40%. The core potential source areas of O3 pollution shifted from northwest to southeast, but the contribution to O3 pollution in Beijing gradually weakened during the same period. Temperature and relative humidity were the main meteorological driving factors affecting O3 concentration in the study area, while population density, the proportion of secondary industry in GDP, industrial smoke (dust) emissions, and passenger traffic were the main non-meteorological factors. During the period study, the influence of industrial and traffic emissions had a more significant impact on O3 concentration in northern China, which will require that more attention be paid to emission mitigation in the regional industrial and passenger transportation sector, as well as the joint prevention and control of O3 pollution in northern China in the future.

Increasing the Quality and Efficiency of the Transportation Process in Railway Passenger Transport in the Case of Another Pandemic Period

Abstract During the individual waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, several areas have been significantly changed in our society. Especially during its first wave in the spring of 2020, lockdowns began to be introduced practically overnight and several strict anti-pandemic measures were adopted in most countries of the world, which changed the lives of all residents. The mentioned changes also significantly affected the public passenger transport sector and the transport process. Many times, they were implemented into practice immediately without conceptual systematic preparation. This contribution is focused on a progressive proposal of measures to improve the quality and efficiency of the transport process in railway passenger transport in the next potential period of the pandemic. In the process of providing a passenger with a travel document during the pandemic, new technical and technological elements are implemented in railway stations and trains to reduce the risk of virus transmission in order to protect the health of the passenger and the carrier’s employees. By introducing more modern passenger equipment systems in railway passenger transport in the form of automation and digitization of processes, it is possible to streamline and improve the quality of the transport process.

Decarbonization of passenger transport in Reykjavík, Iceland – A stakeholder analysis

The climate change mitigation potential of cities is high, and transportation plays a key role in achieving effective climate change mitigation. Mitigation strategies require stakeholder engagement to be effective. This case study sets out to explore the opinions of those who influence or are influenced by transportation in the Reykjavík Capital Region of Iceland, through focus groups, to identify how stakeholders believe the passenger transport sector should be decarbonized. Stakeholders’ views and opinions were collected through four focus group meetings facilitated by the research team. The themes that arose from the conversations between stakeholders were; Raised awareness, Holistic view, Multimodal approach, and Energy transition in transport. Their opinions were then positioned against two climate action plans, on a municipal and governmental level, to identify commonalities and differences. The two most underrepresented themes were Raised awareness and Holistic view, which indicates the need for strengthening the issues raised in these themes in the action plans.

Regulating Platforms in the Passenger Transport Sector in Portugal and Spain: Different Strategies, Different Coalitions

Regulating Platforms in the Passenger Transport Sector in Portugal and Spain: Different Strategies, Different Coalitions

Passenger transport decarbonization in emerging economies: policy lessons from modelling long-term deep decarbonization pathways

ABSTRACT Reaching the goal of the Paris Agreement will not be possible without a deep decarbonization of the passenger transport sector. In emerging economies experiencing rapid economic growth and social transformations, and large-scale development of urban areas and associated infrastructure, opportunities and challenges exist when considering a broader set of mitigation options. In this paper, we apply the Deep Decarbonization Pathways (DDP) approach to develop and report scenarios on the passenger transport sector in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and South Africa. This approach supports an increase in the sectoral ambition of covering all drivers of change in transport mobility and facilitating collective comparison and policy discussions on the barriers and enablers of transitions. The scenario analysis illustrates that all four countries can achieve reductions in emissions per passenger kilometres of 59% and up to 92% by 2050 while meeting growing mobility needs. Lastly, the analysis identifies short-term policy needed to address barriers and promote enablers. Key policy insights The scenarios produced in this paper provide targets and guidance, up to 2050, on required ambition in this sector over coming decades. While current national policies are often limited to introducing low-carbon vehicles and fuels, these pathways suggest the important role of a wide spectrum of mitigation options, including systemic measures related to demand-side options. These scenarios suggest that targeted land-use, social, and urban policies could reduce distances between activities, the costs of mobility and time, thereby improving quality of life and supporting the shift to non-motorized and public transport. They highlight a lack of policies to improve the quality of public transport in terms of time and comfort, not only in terms of cost, to avoid a car dependency model with its externalities. Long-term pathways can help support the development of policy-relevant dialogues about barriers and enablers for the transition, thereby supporting the reinforcement of short-term actions and goals.

Electrification transition and carbon emission reduction of urban passenger transportation systems—A case study of Shenzhen, China

Urban passenger transportation sector is one of the major contributors to carbon emissions due to motorization and urbanization. Electrification transition is crucial to achieving carbon mitigation. This study proposed a double substitution of vehicles and travel modes, analyzed the electrification transition mechanism, and aimed to establish a model using the system dynamics method to simulate travel mode, electrification transition process, and emission reduction effect of urban passenger transportation system in Shenzhen in different scenarios. Results indicated: (1) Electrification transition involves four phases, and there is a delay in travel modes substitution compared with vehicles substitution; (2) Electrification in Shenzhen generates a diversified travel mode dominated by public transport, whose share rate exceeds 70% in 2035; (3) Carbon emissions trends in different scenarios present inverted “V” shape, while emission levels are significantly different, ranging from 10.32Mt to 6.41Mt in 2035; (4) Integrated approach is superior to only a travel mode shift or clean vehicle strategy, decreasing total CO2 emissions from 7.8Mt in 2014 to 6.41Mt in 2035 and unit passenger emissions from 1.65 kg in 2010 to 0.49 kg in 2035. This study provides a good reference for achieving low-carbon urban passenger transportation during urbanization and the worldwide electrification transition of transportation systems.