Travel behaviour research aims to inform and provide evidence for sound transport policy. Excess travel, where individuals demonstrate excessive use of for example time or distance, challenges assumptions underpinning fundamental beliefs of travel behaviour research where travel should be minimised in order to get to the destination. This thesis explores the phenomenon of excess travel and the characteristics of people exhibiting excess travel within a commuting context, using Tyne and Wear as a case study. Building on existing definitions of excess commuting, which include time and distance, this study gradually adds additional parameters of cost, effort, and many other parameters (e.g. value of time, weights for walking and waiting) in the generalised cost formula, and the final sample is analysed to identify similarities and differences between excess commuters (EC) and not excess commuters (NEC). The methodology uses a GIS technique for sampling and a questionnaire approach for data collection. The final sample includes origin-based (home) commuters who completed a questionnaire delivered to their home addresses, and destination-based (work) commuters who completed an online version of the same questionnaire. Analytical methods are used to identify EC and NEC based on self-reported (‘pure’) values of the four key parameters of time, cost, distance and effort while commuting and using a generalised cost approach. For the parameters of time and cost as well as for the generalised cost results seven saving options are considered, where 5% savings is the lowest option and 50% or more savings is the highest option. An analysis of various attributes and their differences in medians together with a series of socio-economic characteristics are used to distinguish between EC and NEC within the four groups in total (time, cost, effort, generalised cost). The results show that within the collected sample EC make up between 32% (in the cost group) and 78% (in the effort group) of the total sample (depending on the parameter/group considered), and that there are some statistically significant differences at the 95% level between EC and NEC within the groups. The fact that the number of EC varies between the groups is to be expected, as the literature review suggested that taking different parameters into account produces different results. Generally, EC seem to behave in a similar manner to the rest of the sample, in terms of most of the factors tested, when making choices about commuting, but for example 41% of the respondents ii drive to work and within this driving group there are more EC than NEC (for example 44% of EC versus 37% of NEC within the time group or 52% of EC versus 36% of NEC within the cost group). More importantly, the median values for the four key parameters of travel to work (actual commute time, ideal one-way commute time, commute cost, commute distance) are higher in majority of the cases for EC than for NEC within the four groups. Attitudes and preferences also play a role, demonstrating that the most frequent trip purpose, the commute, can provide some benefit to travellers. The results also show that in terms of the activities such as listening to music/radio, reading book/newspapers, exercising or concentrating on the road a majority of statistically significant differences between EC and NEC occur within the cost and the effort groups only. The demand for more direct routes and cheaper fares on public transport is emphasised by the majority of the sample. The respondents tend to be well informed about their travel to work alternative transport modes and different transport planning tools available, and the Internet stands out as a primary source of information employed by majority of both EC and NEC. In exploring the characteristics of EC and NEC in more depth, recommendations are identified for public transport providers to improve their services and encourage more commuters to transfer travel time into activity time.

This thesis investigates the laws on shareholders' rights and remedies in Malaysia from a comparative perspective. Law is given a broad meaning which gives this research a multidisciplinary character. British colonial business interests resulted in the transplantation of Malaysia's corporate and other commercial laws; this transplantation process continues in the post-colonial period due to the desire to conform to internationally recognised norms and standards and the lack of local innovation. The interaction of the transplanted laws with institutions and other elements in the local setting creates gaps between the law-in-the-books and law-in-action. In particular, the transplanted governance regime which focuses on the director-shareholder agency problem is inappropriate for an environment where controlling shareholders created the largest agency problems. Malaysians are also reluctant to seek redress through the official legal system (again a product of transplantation) for cultural, historical, political and economic factors. The poor quality of the legal institutions, access to court issues, poor public governance and the abdication of the judiciary of its' duties to protect individual rights vis-a.-vis the state further compromised the value of the law-in-the-books. These are compounded by the uncritical and often inappropriate reliance to case laws of other Commonwealth countries, and the general apathy of the judiciary to the rights of shareholders. In conclusion, it is argued that the law-in-the-books may appear to provide adequate protection to shareholders; however the value of the law must be examined in a larger perspective. The administration and implementation of the law as well as a healthy respect for the rule of law is as important as the substantive law itself.

The widespread ownership of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices and available access to power on trains has increased the potential of using travel time productively and thus, it is believed to influence the perceived travel time. In the 1980’s train travellers on commuter trains were found to perceive travel time 8% higher than the actual travel time (Wilson, 1983), however, by 2007, travel time was considered to pass more quickly (Lyons et al., 2007). The perception of travel time was believed to influence a passenger’s attitude and behaviour, which in turn leads to a change in the value of time. Therefore, the aims of this research, firstly are to investigate how technology influences the perception of journey time and secondly to explore further the relationship between the perception and the value of travel time. In this way, whether or not technology influences the value of time will be established - an understanding of which potentially can influence decision-making regarding investment, operation and other policy interventions. The data for this research was collected by interviewing passengers on-board of trains during their journey between Newcastle and London. The questions examined what passengers did and whether the use of ICT and entertainment media (represented by electronic devices) during their journey influenced their perception of travel time depending on the demographics of the different groups of passengers. Discrete choice analysis was conducted to model the trade-off between travel time and cost, and to estimate the value of time (VOT) of the travellers. Based on the activity during the trip (electronic based (EB), non-electronic based (NEB), or personal engagement (PE)) it was found that those who engaged in the electronic based (EB) activities tend to perceive travel time as 10% higher than it actually is. The perceived travel time of the EB was the highest among the traveller groups. It was argued that rather than considering travel time as lost time, those engaged in the EB activities and who use travel time productively, assess the elapsed travel time based on what they have achieved or produced during their journey. The perceived travel time was high when the productivity was high. However, the study also found that the reliability of train services was the most important factor for travellers in choosing a train, and therefore, EB passengers did not accept any delay or increment of travel time and cost, even though they had the opportunity to use travel time more productively. Furthermore, the study found that those who engaged in EB activities have the highest VOT compared with other groups of travellers. However, some inconsistencies in the results emerged from the two-step cluster analysis, which revealed four passenger groups. The perception and VOT were shown to be driven by age, gender and the purpose of the trip. It was mainly students and elderly people clusters who perceived travel time as being equal to the actual time and who had the lowest VOT. It was mainly the females on business group emerged as having the lowest perception of time and second highest VOT, whilst the mainly males cluster had the highest VOT and the second highest perception. The contribution of this study to knowledge has been to create statistically sound evidence of how the use of travel time influences perception based on face-to-face interviews whilst travelling. As far as the author aware, this methodological approach in this study has not been applied in previous research. The findings of this research have challenged the previous hypothesis that the use of technology decreases the perceived travel time and in turn leads to reduction in the VOT.

No description available.

The UK Government is committed to reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Reducing emissions from motorised transport and changing travel behaviour of people wishing to travel are two possible means of achieving this. To support schemes designed to change behaviour the UK Government provided a five year funding stream to local authorities in England (excluding London) called the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). The LSTF funding creates an opportunity for people to change the way they travel, through the provision of new infrastructure and training. This research is designed to understand how the transport system influences creates this opportunity. This thesis investigates an alternative approach to the existing dominant behaviour change paradigm of behavioural economic theory, favoured by the UK Government. The research examines using the potential benefits of applying the sociological method of Social Practice Theory (SPT). SPT is different to psychology-based approaches as it considers the ‘practice’ that is being undertaken, rather than focusing on the individual undertaking the action. The research explores Shove et al.’s (2012) 3-Elements model, an accessible representation of the complexities of SPT, to demonstrate whether the materials, meanings and competences that make up a social practice are reflected in the design of the sustainable transport bids for LSTF funding and, if not, how the bids could be improved by incorporating the SPT perspective. The research applies SPT in two ways. Firstly, an analysis was undertaken of LSTF bid documents to understand what elements of the practice(s) of travelling the proposed schemes were trying to alter. Secondly, it examines the practices of transport planning itself (in the context of the LSTF). Through the development of the research it became evident that the 3-Elements model would not provide a sufficient explanation of the practices of transport planning. A new conceptual model was therefore created incorporating Fine and Leopold’s (1993, 2002) Systems of Provision (SOP) model to identify the structures, processes, agents and relationships that exist within the Transport Planning SOP (TPSOP) that influence how practices are performed and how this ultimately influences the practices of travelling. The research has been developed from a critical realist perspective and constructs a narrative to explain what the 3-Elements and TPSOP conceptual models tell us about the transport planning sector and the practices of travel. As such does not seek an absolute truth as to the influences on the practices of travelling. The research uses a mixed methods approach to gathering data. This includes content analysis of all 145 LSTF bid submissions, a survey of the bid managers and semi-structured interviews with 23 transport professionals from across the TPSOP. The analysis of the results from the data collection found that the meanings within transport planning of what is defined as a sustainable transport initiative come from national government and this meaning has a direct influence on the types of schemes that were bid for by Local Authorities (LAs). The findings also identified that the national government exerted its power through the provision of funding to LAs who met their vision of what is defined as a sustainable transport scheme. Using the TPSOP conceptual model it was possible to demonstrate the importance of funding as a process, used to exert power. The research found that although the national government was able to exert this power through the delivery of sustainable transport initiatives, the use of funding only created the opportunity for change to occur, rather than creating change. The thesis provides a contribution to knowledge by exploring the applicability of the 3-Elements model to understanding the practices of transport planning and how they ultimately influence how travelling is performed. For example if funding is provided for the construction new carriageways to enable people to drive private motor vehicles, then this is how the practices of travelling are likely to be performed. The 3-Elements model is therefore a more useful tool for use in the design stage of transport initiatives to ensure the meanings that the initiative will create are better understood and mitigated at an earlier stage of the process. The research also demonstrated that the TPSOP model provided a means of describing the underlying mechanisms that exist within the complexes of practices, as defined by Shove et al. (2012). This is because the TPSOP model is able to highlight power relations and the processes used to control the system when attempting to create change. In addition to these conclusions the research identified changes required within the TPSOP to improve the performance of sustainable transport initiatives. These include changing the type of funding supplied to LAs to deliver sustainable transport initiatives to include more consistent funding for revenue based schemes to provide marketing, training programmes and the subsidising of key public transport services. Alterations are also required to the evaluation process for transport schemes to place a far greater emphasis on social, environmental and health impacts of transport.

No description available.

This thesis argues that while simplifications are a necessary part of the modelling process, there is a lack of empirical research to identify which types of variability should be included in our models, and how they should be represented. This research aims to develop methodologies to undertake empirical analyses of variability on the road network, focusing specifically on traveller behaviour. This is particularly timely given the emergence of rich new data sources. Firstly, a method is proposed for examining predictable differences in daily link flow profiles by considering both magnitude and timing. Unlike previous methods, this approach can test for statistically significant differences whilst also comparing the shapes of the profiles, by applying Functional Linear Models to transportation data for the first time. Secondly, a flexible, data-driven method is proposed for classifying road users based on their trip frequency and spatial and temporal intrapersonal variability. Previous research has proposed methodologies for identifying public transport user classes based on repeated trip behaviour, but equivalent methods for data from the road network did not exist. As there was not an established data source to use, this research examines the feasibility of using Bluetooth data. Spatial variability is examined using Sequence Alignment which has not previously been applied to Bluetooth data from road networks, nor for spatial intrapersonal variability. The time of day variability analysis adapts a technique from smart card research so that all observations are classified into travel patterns and, therefore, systematic and random variability can be measured. These network- and traveller-focused analyses are then brought together using a framework which uses them concurrently and interactively to gain additional insights into traveller behaviour. For each of the methods proposed, an application to at least one year of real world data is presented.

This ethically approved, novel study emphasizes an important aspect of Information and communication flow (ICF) that underpins the transport systems’ activities under disasters (e.g. search, rescue, relief operations and emergency related travel activities). Multi perspectives of ICF, based on numerous ICT and ITS technologies, are investigated in detail by employing various analysis techniques and methods. Two scenarios were developed for three case studies from developed and developing countries (one in UK and two in Pakistan). The effectiveness and choice making process regarding use of ITS technologies by the transport-disaster managers (scenario1) and people affected (scenario 2) were investigated for three phases (pre, during, post) of two different disasters (floods and earthquakes). Participants for both scenarios were recruited and data collected and analysed using different data collection and analysis methods. The study contributes a new data collection and analysis technique named as the Q-Likert methodology, which was developed and used to identify those factors (relating to ITS deployment plans, policies, ICF within and among other authorities and availability of resources, expertise and liberty to practice) that limit the scope of ITS technologies during disasters. An evaluation of the effectiveness of each ITS technology under both scenarios and for three phases of disasters is reported. A range of variables (e.g. personal characteristics of people, prevailing situations and facilities) and their influence on the use of ITS technologies was tested. Many aspects relating to transport-disaster affected communities are revealed. The results are fused and validated through data fusion technique to get maximum information regarding the multidimensional issues of transport-disasters ICF. Based on the evidence found, an integrated framework is proposed covering ITS technologies, transport and disasters systems. The framework focuses on the provision of an un-interrupted ICF along with cooperation, coordination and exchange of information and resources between all stakeholders.

The field of choice modelling is evolving rapidly, with ever more complex representations of heterogeneity and a growing interest in discrete-continuous models instead of just discrete choice. Rapid developments are also taking place in terms of new data sources, with a growing revival of revealed preference data instead of stated preference, notably in terms of ubiquitous data and longitudinal surveys. Against this backdrop of developments in choice modelling, there is also a growing recognition of the role of the social environment on behaviour, through the effect of close and far social network members, with social interactions increasingly relying on digital communication. This thesis makes contributions in all of these areas, and differently from previous research, which has often focussed on just one, attempts to jointly explore multiple dimensions. Relying exclusively on revealed preference data, the work provides important insights into how social networks evolve over time, how people within a network interact with each other, and how there are links between a person's social network and his/her activity scheduling. The empirical results provide valuable insights for researchers not just in transport, but also in other fields. The behaviour modelled in this thesis is complex, with heterogeneity in different dimensions, in terms of preferences as well as behavioural processes, at the person level as well as at the individual choice level. At the same time, many of the choices are not mutually exclusive and have a continuous dimension too. The work makes a number of modelling advances, in terms of facilitating the recovery of heterogeneity and in putting forward solutions that allow for a computationally tractable representation of correlation and complementarity in discrete continuous choice, both in estimation and forecasting. Ever more complex representations of behaviour rely on rich data. This thesis highlights the benefits of detailed real world datasets in this context, and provides important insights into the limitations of existing data sources. The thesis closes by introducing a rich unified data collection that can be used for choice modelling applications in different fields.

Reliability is an important aspect of any transportation system, and there has been a substantial amount of research to bring it to the point where it can be accurately incorporated into established forecasting and appraisal frameworks. At the same time, emerging data sources, such as public transport smartcards, provide opportunities to understand more about the reliability of a particular transport system. This thesis conducts research on reliability using smartcard data. In the first instance the thesis provides a critique of the Mean-Variance framework for the treatment of transport reliability and finds room for adaptation. The thesis also provides a review of empirical research that estimates Mean-Variance variables and parameters, and finds evidence of methodological issues. In response to these issues, the thesis utilises smartcard data to investigate Mean-Variance in three ways. The key element is the development of an alternative method of estimating a value of reliability, treating smartcard data as a Revealed Preference data source and combining it with established discrete choice methods. The second element uses the smartcard data to identify the factors affecting reliability levels through estimation of a linear regression model. The third strand of investigation employs the data to understand more about possible alternative measures of reliability and compares the underlying utility function of Mean-Variance with a second reliability framework. The thesis therefore demonstrates that the application of public transport smartcard data has the potential to yield insights in the field of transport reliability. In particular, it establishes how this data source might be used to estimate the value of reliability. With development, it may have the potential to forecast future reliability levels. Application of the data also supports the status quo of utilising the standard deviation as an indicator of reliability.