The analysis of the funding of urban public transport in France shows, since many years, an increase of the contribution of local authorities, despite the development of the supply to catch more patronage. This paper first analyses the reasons of such an increase, taking into account investment and operation. The lack of control on production conditions combined with a non ambitious fare policy, due to the Transport Tax revenue, is the main source of the increase of public money. Projections for 2015 highlight the risk of a financial crisis in a context of scarcity. Scenarios designing alternative policies show the importance of the efforts to be done to improve the situation. Structural changes will be needed, as the search for new resources could not be pertinent without an action to reducing costs. The last part of the paper focuses on how improving the PT networks performance, taking into account the different public ‘missions’ and the beneficiaries in order to design a more sustainable funding system.
This paper examines the potential for the development of electric two-wheelers in Shanghai from the standpoint of sustainable urban development. In the situation where the traditional modes of walking and cycling are very rapidly being replaced by personal motorized vehicles, electric two-wheelers could constitute a more environmentally friendly alternative. Our examination of the technical features of various two-wheelers and their possibilities in terms of average trip speed and range, as well as the profile of their users, shows that electric two-wheelers are suitable for most of the population’s daily trips. A comparative review based on five criteria -cost, mean speed, road safety, energy and environmental impact- highlights the comprehensive superiority of electric two-wheeled vehicles, justifying a policy to promote this mode. Urgent measures are required to reverse the radical change in modal split that has occurred in the last decade, but it seems necessary beforehand to modify the regulations in order to take account of the specific features of the mode, both to take advantage of technical breakthroughs and to limit the associated accident rate. Some recommendations in this regard are made at the end of the article.
To analyse the developments in the modal distribution of traffic over the last fifteen years it is necessary to first identify and weight the various parame¬ters that explain these changes (potential transportable freight, modification of freight structures by product, modal competitiveness). Our methodology is based on this premise. Modal developments are the consequence of the differentials in modal competitiveness and changes in production systems with their attendant logistics problems. Road transport seems to provide the best response to the need for a competitive edge while rail transport is the most fragile of systems, both from a structural perspective and because of the industry‘s specific history. However, river and canal barge transport, although still limited, have been adapting to the market since the beginning of this century.
The deregulation of rail freight has been considered, for long time, as a factor of safety reduction. This article aims to show that, for the moment, one cannot consider that deregulation of rail freight has a significant negative impact on safety in France. Following KJELLÉN (2000), we looked if it's possible to know the periodicity of extreme accidents in this sector.
The efficiency of freight transport is measured as more and more in the respect for the commitments concluded with the customer in terms of "quality". This quality of service we can express it as the respect for the agreed, between the carrier and the shipper, of arrival time of the goods instead of the destination. The objective of this research is to develop indicators that characterize the reliability of travel times, quantified from the available data and develop a methodology to assess the gains from investments in infrastructures and equipments, or management strategies working to improve the reliability of rail transport. The first section of this paper aims to analyze the literature, data collection, definition of concepts and performance analysis of existing rail system. The second section formulates a model of time cost that takes into account the time variability of shipping and the safety margin (that can add the carrier or the shipper to the average time of transport to face the possible chances). The last section determines the optimal theoretical safety margin that minimizes the cost of time and evaluates the impact on the economic calculation of transport projects when taking into account the variability of travel time.
There is a vast literature on transport corridors. Regretfully, this literature has not been the object of a synthesis allowing an assessment of corridor as a product of successive evolutions in the field of transport and communi¬cations. Our objective consists in clarifying the evolution of knowledge applied to transport corridors. First, we examine the concept of corridor, its components and organisational conditions. We then analyse the evolution of the concept of corridors within the broader context of public policies and governance. A comparative study of corridor policies in Europe and North America illustrates different political discourses. Our study demonstrates that the issues of intermodality, sustainable development and governance will contribute to shape transport corridors.