Regional Public Transport Research Articles

Evaluating a Mobility Service Application for Business Travel: Lessons Learnt from a Demonstration Project

Business travel contributes to significant greenhouse gas emissions, and there is a need for measures that reduce the demand for trips made with energy-intensive means of transport. In this study, a mobility service application (MSA) introduced in 13 Swedish organisations was tested and evaluated to facilitate booking and handling of business trips, in particular public transport. A before and after study consisting of surveys and interviews with employees at the organisations were conducted. The results show that the MSA was mostly used for regional and local public transport trips, and the users stated that the MSA made it easier to travel by public transport, although this particular result should be seen as tentative due to the small sample size. Three factors that influence the success of a new MSA as a means to increase sustainable business trips were identified: management control and proactiveness; perceived improvement of intervention; functions and technical sufficiency. The results also highlight the need to establish organisational conditions that facilitate sustainable business travel, such as coherent travel policy, accessibility to sustainable modes of transport, and a culture that encourages environmentally friendly behaviour. The study suggests improvements that can be made to similar interventions and strategies that can be introduced to promote sustainable business travel.

Building and Publishing Fundamental Transit Data for Regional Public Transportation Provided by Municipalities

Public transportation is becoming increasingly important in regions where the residential population is decreasing. In Japan, many regional transportation systems are experiencing financial challenges. It is difficult for fixed-route transportation systems to operate at a surplus when serving only local resident users. We consider one of the problems of these regional public transport systems to be the lack of information on the Internet about regional public transportation routes. For people who are unfamiliar with the region, such as inbound tourists, there is no easy way to conduct a route search. In this paper, we describe our efforts to build a fundamental database of the regional public transportation provided by municipalities and to publish this data for those conducting route searches on the Internet. Specifically, we converted fundamental data regarding regional public transportation to the feed of the General Transit Feed Specification-Japan (GTFS-JP), which is based on the Google GTFS, as formulated by the Ministry of Land in Japan. Then we encouraged municipalities to publish these transit data to enable route searches on Google Maps and other domestic-content providers.

Impact of indirect user participation on public transport financing

The regional public transport performs with around 11 billion passengers a part of approx-imately 16.3 % of all passenger transports in Germany. It is financed from tariff revenues (user financing) and, for the most part, through public subsidies. The costs for the regional public transport are only covered by 50 % by direct users. Further 50 % are covered by public funds. The demographic development in Germany and with it declining passenger numbers, legal changes at European and national level as well as the over-indebtedness of public authorities result in a significant change of the framework conditions for the regional public transport. The aim of the paper was to draw up reform proposals for public transport in Germany so that it could continue to meet the four main objectives set. The results of those proposals for reform are transferred to a defined project area enabling to measure specifically the monetary impact. By forecasting the results of the project across the country, we want to verify whether the four main public transport objectives can be achieved using possible additional financial instruments involving indirect users, even under changing conditions, provided the proposed reforms are applied.

Smart mobility and public transport: Opportunities and challenges in rural and urban areas

Abstract Demographic changes in peripheral areas are pressuring the regional public transport systems to adopt innovative strategies. The employment of internet of things (IoT) technologies has proven to be a valid response to mobility challenges in rural areas, and has brought up the concept of “smart land”. Framed within the context of the Interreg Central Europe project RUMOBIL, this study tries to shed light on how the deployment of smart mobility solutions within the rural context compare to that within the urban context. Following a literature review, we compared the ease of implementation of different IoT solutions on the urban and the rural contexts, for planners, travellers, and operators, and the relative complexity of common smart mobility issues. In addition, we identified three major challenges for both rural and urban mobility, namely the need for standardized metrics for optimal routes' detection and a dynamic definition of optimal route, as well as the simplification of investments' planning and programming. Both smart cities and smart land can benefit from smart mobility solutions, even if in most cases, each of the two contexts can gain more advantages than the other from the same solution. Even considering the different levels of population scattering, technological infrastructures, social maturity, and economic opportunities, both rural and urban areas offer comparable advantages. For the future of transport, it is up to all policy levels to consider the challenges deriving from expected trends and leverage the untapped potential of IoT technologies to satisfy future travellers’ needs and ensure sustainability.

Standard costs of regional public rail passenger transport: evidence from Italy

ABSTRACTThe paper estimates the standard cost in Italian regional public rail passenger transport services (LPTR), depending on service characteristics. The results highlight the crucial role of: number of seats per ride, commercial speed, service size and length of rail tracks. The model also shows the positive link between investment in rolling stock and the unit cost of the service. Finally, based on the empirical evidence, we propose regulatory adjustments to accomplish policy targets regarding the fair allocation of public LPTR funds to Regions and Local Authorities and a more efficient use of (scarce) local and national public resources.

Preferences in regional public transport: a literature review

The purpose of this article is to analyse quality attributes of regional public transport and their influence on modal choice, demand, and customer satisfaction through a literature review. The review is based on a working definition of regional public transport with boundaries toward local as well as interregional public transport: Regional public transport (i) targets passengers travelling between separate urban areas or to rural areas and (ii) a majority of the trips are made on a regular basis. Our results suggest that preferences of regional travellers mainly conform to the preferences of local travellers, but some important differences have been revealed. Most notably, on-board comfort is a higher priority for regional travellers and is increasingly important with longer travel times. Network coverage and coordination are also more prominent features of regional public transport, presumably due to the more dispersed nature of regional public transport networks. These differences, and the fact that the prerequisites for regional public transport are in general substantially different compared to local and interregional public transport, support continued use of this categorisation in public transport research. We also conclude that there is a requirement for more knowledge about the specifics of regional public transport, as public transport research, thus far, has been largely focused on local travel. Research areas of particular interest are on-board comfort, operational aspects, travel time improvements, how the environmental impact of public transport services affects modal choice, and the influence of trip length on passenger preferences.

Appraisal of a regional public transport project: A document and interview analysis on a light rail case in Sweden

Appraisal of a regional public transport project : A document and interview analysis on a light rail case in Sweden

Maintenance of Regional Public Transport Service and Health of Elderly Population.

Maintenance of Regional Public Transport Service and Health of Elderly Population.

Networked authority and regionalised governance: Public transport, a hierarchy of documents and the anti-hierarchy of authorship

This paper is concerned with the authority of written documents and how these artefacts work as governance devices. Networked authority is introduced as a concept to elucidate how documents accumulate formal power in a collaborative process, where several formally independent but informally interdependent organisations together point out the direction of regional public transport planning in the form of one strategic document. Drawing upon recent research on bureaucracy, authority and documents, the paper empirically explores these connections in the context of public transport in Stockholm, Sweden. Based on this case study, authority was found to be accomplished as the written document reproduced an existing hierarchy of documents, through an anti-hierarchical process where the newly formed Regional Public Transport Authority involved several formally independent but informally interdependent organisations, and by lacking a sole author. These three features are crucial for understanding how a collaborative process erodes individuality and personal responsibility, while producing anonymous, networked authority. These results are discussed in relationship to Foucault’s notion of authorship, the author-function, which is derived from legal–institutional networks, much like networked authority. Understanding how networked authority is accomplished through a hierarchy of documents and an anti-hierarchy of authorship contributes with new knowledge on documents and how these work as governance devices in regional governance.

Multi-output bus travel time prediction with convolutional LSTM neural network

Accurate and reliable travel time predictions in public transport networks are essential for delivering an attractive service that is able to compete with other modes of transport in urban areas. The traditional application of this information, where arrival and departure predictions are displayed on digital boards, is highly visible in the city landscape of most modern metropolises. More recently, the same information has become critical as input for smart-phone trip planners in order to alert passengers about unreachable connections, alternative route choices and prolonged travel times. More sophisticated Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) include the predictions of connection assurance, i.e. an expert system that will decide to hold services to enable passenger exchange, in case one of the services is delayed up to a certain level. In order to operate such systems, and to ensure the confidence of passengers in the systems, the information provided must be accurate and reliable. Traditional methods have trouble with this as congestion, and thus travel time variability, increases in cities, consequently making travel time predictions in urban areas a non-trivial task. This paper presents a system for bus travel time prediction that leverages the non-static spatio-temporal correlations present in urban bus networks, allowing the discovery of complex patterns not captured by traditional methods. The underlying model is a multi-output, multi-time-step, deep neural network that uses a combination of convolutional and long short-term memory (LSTM) layers.The method is empirically evaluated and compared to other popular approaches for link travel time prediction and currently available services, including the currently deployed model at Movia, the regional public transport authority in Greater Copenhagen. We find that the proposed model significantly outperforms all the other methods we compare with, and is able to detect small irregular peaks in bus travel times very quickly.

Analysis of railway connections and public transport on selected Szczecin routes

The purpose of the conducted research was to assess railway connections and public transport in the context of the choice of means of transport. The research consisted in examining the actual travel time of regional passenger trains and public transport vehicles and determining the number of passengers in public transport vehicles under conditions of actual operation. The conducted research may be one of the factors confirming the possibility of using the existing infrastructure and the railway connection network in Szczecin.

Studies on Securing Mobility Considering Supply Bottlenecks of Regional Public Transport in the Evacuation Ordered Areas of the Nuclear Accident

Studies on Securing Mobility Considering Supply Bottlenecks of Regional Public Transport in the Evacuation Ordered Areas of the Nuclear Accident

The application of just distribution theories to financing integrated systems of regional and urban public transport

The application of just distribution theories to financing integrated systems of regional and urban public transport

Public Transit Policy Evolution and Organizational Management of Paris

This paper takes Paris as an example analyzing the main driving factors of the formation and development of public transport policies in Paris and French island sector, such as population, economy, history and city characteristics. Then the paper expounds and analyzes the internal relations and implementation experience among policy evolvement, planning, operation management of Paris public transportation. On the basis of above research, this paper discusses the influence on transport organization and management institution in three aspects: three-level intergovernmental system competition, public transportation capital source and regional public transport management. This paper aims to provide theoretical and practical support for planning, development, organization, management and policy making of public transportation in China.

Collaboration in public transport planning – Why, how and what?

This paper is about collaboration in public transport governance. Drawing upon the emerging literature that views collaboration through the lens of networks, we explore why and how regional public transport authorities collaborate with both municipalities and public transport operators in the planning of public transport. We also explore the advantages and disadvantages of such collaborations. Based on interviews with civil servants (government officers) in the Swedish metropolitan regions of Stockholm, Västra Götaland and Scania, we conclude that collaboration is, firstly, a way for the regional public transport authorities (RPTA) to engage with the local municipalities and develop joint agreements on public transport priorities. It is also a way to build a common identity with the public transport operators, who operate services under tendered contracts. Secondly, we find that collaboration takes place during official meetings, as well as in informal conversations and face-to-face dialogues. Thirdly, the potential advantages and disadvantages of collaboration hinge on the ability of coordinating actors to put in place processes where the feasibility of plans can be established, and where a sense of common identity can be constructed.

Modelling the Dynamic Impacts of High Speed Rail Operation on Regional Public Transport—From the Perspective of Energy Economy

While the introduction of a high speed rail (HSR) provides passengers with another more environmentally friendly, convenient, and time-saving transport option, it also disrupts the existing passenger transport market. This study adopts time series analysis to model the dynamic competition in a regional passenger transport market when an HSR is introduced. The analyses include examining the long-run equilibrium and causal relationships, and the short-run causality and dynamic relationships between transport modes. In addition, based on the model we conduct impulse response tests and variance decomposition tests to further interpret the interactions between two transport modes. An empirical study is carried out, and the findings indicate that the HSR has a negative impact on conventional rail and air transport in the long-run. In the short-run dynamics, the air passenger transport volume could be regarded as a good predictor of HSR passenger volume. In turn, the HSR passenger volume could be used to predict conventional rail transport volume. The operations of HSR and conventional rail are complementary in the short term. From the short-run market viewpoint, the HSR and conventional rail meet different kinds of passenger demand. Therefore, a previous increased passenger volume for the HSR implies an overall increasing demand for regional transport. Consequently, the past increased HSR passenger volume could be used to predict the growth of conventional rail transport. Through the impulse response test, we can further track the responses of the three transport modes to the shocks from themselves and each other.

Public–private innovation: barriers in the case of mobility as a service in West Sweden

ABSTRACTDeparting from open innovation (OI), this case study explores the development of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in West Sweden. An analysis of 19 interviews reveals how representatives from involved actors perceive internal and external barriers as hampering the regional public transport authority’s attempts to collaborate with private actors, and that the perception of barriers is incongruent across public and private actors. Transferability to other cases of public–private OI is discussed, and implications for public actors are proposed. The paper expands the knowledge of preconditions for MaaS’ development and of the unique conditions for OI in public–private settings.

The relationship between formal and informal institutions for governance of public transport

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between the formal (governance established in law) and informal institutions (governance not established in law) that underpin the planning, operation and improvement of local and regional public transport, by using case studies of four countries: Britain (more specifically England, outside London); the Netherlands; Germany; and Sweden. The paper uses a framework drawn from the literature on institutional change to analyse the interplay between the formal governance structures and the other actors and organisations that have an influence on public transport, the formal and informal relationships between them, and how informal institutions emerge to increase the effectiveness with which public transport is delivered.By selecting countries with some similarities in institutional structure, it is possible to explore how relationships can differ even within a relatively similar overall framework for public transport. Drawing on qualitative research with actors in the different countries, the research explores how informal institutions help actors negotiate the constraints of formal, statutory institutions. Findings reveal that informal institutions smooth the critical interfaces where formal institutions were producing sub-optimal public transport, thus providing evidence that the two modes of governance are, in fact, highly complementary.

The travel demand impacts of fare-free regional public transport in Germany

The travel demand impacts of fare-free regional public transport in Germany

Coopetition between commercial and subsidized railway services – The case of the greater Stockholm region

An important ingredient of the Swedish railway system is the increased involvement of public actors in the provision of local and regional railway services. The local and regional railway services show the strongest growth of all market segments in the Swedish passenger railway market. The strong growth is due both to changes in travel patterns and improved subsidized railway services. One important factor in the success of the regional public transport authorities’ (PTA) railway services is the redefinition of the scope of these railway services by interconnecting regional railway networks into bigger entities.In 2017, nearly all local and regional railway services in Sweden's most populated region, Mälardalen, became part of a network of railway services subsidized by the PTAs in the greater region. We analyse the cooperative and competitive interactions between the stakeholders in the greater region using the key concepts in the theory of hybrid organizations. We find that despite moving towards a unified public transport market covering many counties the hybrid organizations use different governance structures and have different principles for sharing value creation. The closer cooperation paradoxically enhances competition in the regional railway market, both between subsidized travel cards and between subsidized and commercial railway services.