US Trucking Research Articles

Returns to scale and market concentration among the largest survivors of deregulation in the US trucking industry

Application of the survivor technique to the 100 largest less-than-truckload carriers of general commodity freight in the US interstate trucking industry produces estimates of the ranges of increasing, constant, and decreasing returns to scale. From 1981 to 1993, the first thirteen years of deregulation, nearly one-quarter of total group ton-miles hauled is found to have moved into the more efficient size range of constant returns to scale. A gain in long-run technical efficiency is thereby attributed to the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Moreover, the survivorship data allow estimates of intragroup market concentration for each of the same thirteen post-deregulation years. Concentration purely within this group appears to have remained fairly moderate and stable since 1981, an unsurprising finding given the modest minimum efficient size estimated at about 2 million ton-miles hauled annually. The moderate and stable concentration among the 100 largest is not necessarily incompatible with other research which finds growing overall industry concentration since MCA80. It does, however, imply a lack of market dominance and latent oligopoly.

Sleep and Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Commercial Long-Haul Truck Drivers

We have performed a study assessing the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in a large US trucking company using a validated portable monitor (MESAM-4) and a validated symptom questionnaire. Three hundred eighty-eight drivers with a mean age of 36 years filled out the questionnaire. One hundred fifty-nine drivers with a mean age of 35 years spent the night at the terminal hub where they underwent monitoring for identification of sleep-disordered breathing. The drivers also had blood pressure recorded while awake, seated, and after 15 min of quiet rest. Seventy-eight percent of the drivers had an oxygen desaturation index (ODI) > or = 5 per hour of sleep; 10% had an ODI > or = 30 per hour of sleep. There was a significant difference in the body mass index (BMI) between drivers with ODI < 5 and drivers with ODI > or = 5 (25.7 +/- 6.0 kg/m2 in drivers with ODI < 5 vs 29.0 +/- 6.3 kg/m2 in drivers with ODI > or = 5, p < 0.001). Sixteen percent of all drivers tested were hypertensive. Twelve percent were unaware of their hypertension. Hypertensive drivers were significantly more overweight (p < 0.0001), slept more restlessly (p < 0.04), took more naps (p < 0.03), and woke up more frequently during the night (p < 0.005). About 20% of drivers presented symptoms indicating very regular sleep disturbances. Drivers who had been with the company for more than 1 year were more likely to present daytime fatigue, daytime tiredness, unrestorative sleep, hypertension, and higher BMI. Long-haul truck drivers have very irregular sleep/wake schedules and a high prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing. Chronic sleep/wake disruption and partial, prolonged sleep deprivation may worsen sleep-disordered breathing. This combination of problems may impact significantly on the daytime alertness of truckers.

Issues in Heavy Vehicles

The heavy vehicle industry includes medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and buses. Vehicle size, driver location relative to the road, and duration of time in the vehicle distinguish heavy vehicles from the passenger car and light truck industry. During the past decade, the industry has been changing. Technological advances, as well as political, economic, and cultural forces, have combined to create a new environment. The driver has become more important in this new environment. A driver shortage and safety issues have heightened the interest in human factors and ergonomics in the heavy vehicle industry. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight some of the current human factors research in the field of heavy vehicles. While there are many possible topics to discuss, the first two papers will address vehicle design issues and the second two papers will address operational issues. Ms. Kinghorn will discuss a technique to estimate the current population of US Truck Drivers. She proposes that some of the shortcomings of the available data, such as changes in the population over the last decade and dimensions for which no data are available, can be overcome by estimating the current truck driver population from data on the general population. Mr. Reynolds will discuss the discrepancies observed between a design eyellipse location and actual driver eye locations in a small exploratory study. He will describe the primary contributor to the discrepancy, the H-point, and suggest several other potential contributors. Ms. Feyer will discuss a study on the effects of operational practices on driver fatigue. She will compare and contrast the operational practices of various segments of the long distance passenger and freight hauling industries. Her results indicate that different strategies must be applied to the passenger and freight industries to combat fatigue, even though the causes of fatigue are the same. Ms. Freund is from the US Federal Highway Administration's Office of Motor Carriers. She will discuss their plans for research concerning truck and bus driver operational regulation. Specific areas that are of interest include proficiency testing, fitness for duty, and substance abuse. She will elaborate on the program, addressing driver fatigue and loss of alertness.

Transport deregulation: an international movement

Notes on the Contributors - Regulatory Reform K.Button - PART 1: AREA STUDIES - Devolution of Transport Policy in Europe H.van Gent & P.Nijkamp - Deregulation of Transport in Australia G.Docwra - Transport Regulation in Switzerland R.Maggi - PART 2: MODAL STUDIES - Liberalization of Railroad Policy in North America C.Grimm & G.Rogers - European Aviation: The Growing Pains of a Slowly Liberalizing Market K.Button & D.Swann - Deregulation and Competition in the Bus Industry: The Cases of Australia, the USA and the UK J.Dodgson - US and Canadian Trucking Policy G.Chow - Movement Towards the Privatization of British Rail P.Truelove - More Private Sector Provision of Roads in Europe? D.Pitfield & K.Button - Index

The Age of regulatory reform

Part 1 National studies: US regulatory policy, James W.McKie reforming direct regulation in Canada, William T.Stanbury regulatory reform in the UK, Michael Fleming and Kenneth Button deregulation - the Australian experience, David Starkie the context and content of regulatory change in Japan, John Haley. Part 2 Industrial case studies: US domestic aviation, Steven A.Morrison regulatory changes in international air transport, Rigas Doganis the changing structure of regulation in the British financial system, David T.Llewellyn international financial regulation - the separation issue, Richard Dale deregulation and the US truck industry, Michael W.Pustay regulatory reform of the US and UK inter-city bus industries, Wayne K.Talley US and UK energy policy, Thomas Weyman-Jones the North American telecommunications industry - from monopoly to competition, Hudson N.Janisch regulatory reform - the way forward, Kenneth Button and Dennis Swann.

Fuel consumption for road transport in the USA - a comment

A recent article in this journal econometrically estimated the relationship between US car and truck fuel economy and the price of fuel, without considering the effect of legally mandated fuel economy standards for new vehicles. There is considerable evidence that the standards have played an important role in recent fuel economy improvements. An alternative approach to estimating the fuel price responsiveness of new vehicle fuel economy based on vehicle sales data and capital operating cost trade-off analysis of fuel efficient vehicle design and technology suggests short-and long-run elasticities in the vicinity of 0.25 and 0.5, respectively.

Toward a More General Theory of Regulation

Toward a More General Theory of Regulation

The Economies of Scale

THE theory of the economies of scale is the theory of the relationship between the scale of use of a properly chosen combination of all productive services and the rate of output of the enterprise. In its broadest formulation this theory is a crucial element of the economic theory of social organization, for it underlies every question of market organization and the role (and locus) of governmental control over economic life. Let one ask himself how an economy would be organized if every economic activity were prohibitively inefficient upon alternately a small scale and a large scale, and the answer will convince him that here lies a basic element of the theory of economic organization. The theory has limped along for a century, collecting large pieces of good reasoning and small chunks of empirical evidence but never achieving scientific prosperity. A large cause of its poverty is that the central concept of the theory-the firm of optimum size-has eluded confident measurement. We have been dangerously close to denying Lincoln, for all economists have been ignorant of the optimum size of firm in almost every industry all of the time, and this ignorance has been an insurmountable barrier between us and the understanding of the forces which govern optimum size. It is almost as if one were trying to measure the nutritive values of goods without knowing whether the consumers who ate them continued to live.

Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory

A modification of economic analysis to incorporate incomplete information and uncertain foresight as axioms is suggested here. This approach dispenses with “profit maximization”; and it does not rely on the predictable, individual behavior that is usually assumed, as a first approximation, in standard textbook treatments. Despite these changes, the analytical concepts usually associated with such behavior are retained because they are not dependent upon such motivation or foresight. The suggested approach embodies the principles of biological evolution and natural selection by interpreting the economic system as an adoptive mechanism which chooses among exploratory actions generated by the adaptive pursuit of “success” or “profit.” The resulting analysis is applicable to actions usually regarded as aberrations from standard economic behavior as well as to behavior covered by the customary analysis. This wider applicability and the removal of the unrealistic postulates of accurate anticipations and fixed states of knowledge have provided motivation for the study.