Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1977. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 300-308).

M.Com. (Transport Economics) / The movement of Black workers from the rural to metropolitan areas has increased in intensity in the past and a similar situation is expected to take place in the near future. Due to work opportunities, these Blacks are establishing themselves to an increasing degree in the Black townships which are situated on the borders of white residential - and industrial areas. This causes an ever increasing demand for public transport especially during peak hours ...

The importance of consumer preference in transportation as a key to the forecasting of modal choice has received a growing recognition in the last ten years among transportation researchers in North America. Numerous studies of consumer attitudes toward transportation systems have been conducted in order to disclose the motivation underlying transportation consumer behavior. In Hong Kong the situation is different. In the last decade, several city-wide transportation studies have been conducted, with detailed description of aggregate travel characteristics such as trip purpose, income, and origin-destination. Yet, relatively little is known about consumer values relevant to transportation mode selection decisions. There is a scarcity of information concerning the factors that affect consumer behavior in transport, and the relative importance of these factors. The need for research designed to find information which will help fill this void of information is substantial. The objective of this thesis is to analyze, by means of an interview survey, the travelling behavior of the Tunnel-Bus passengers, and thereby to establish the relative importance of the different factors which lead to their mode selection decision. Two pieces of analysis have been undertaken. First, an analysis of the personal, socio-economic and trip characteristics of the passengers is performed. Secondly, an analysis of the passengers' mode-choice decision is made. The passengers' mode-choice decision is related to their personal, socio-economic and trip characteristics. In the light of the findings of these two steps, an appraisal of the predictions of patronage made by the government before the Tunnel Bus was introduced is undertaken. It is found that convenience and time-saving are the most important determinants that cause the passengers to use the Tunnel Bus. People are generally willing to pay more for a better, faster, more convenient transport mode for their cross-harbor journeys. Their grounds for choice of mode, however, vary with different groups of personal, socio-economic and trip characteristics such as, personal income, sex, trip purpose, frequency of use and previous transport mode. The implications of the findings are that more refined estimates of both time and convenience are needed in the transportation analysis in Hong Kong, and that modal split models should be made sensitive to mode convenience, users' age and work characteristics as well as time and cost. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / abstract / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

published_or_final_version / Geography and Geology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

This dissertation contends that the decision of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission to introduce a grid of frequent, all-day bus service on arterial roads in newly built, low-density suburban neighbourhoods is responsible for Toronto’s unique ability to attract suburbanites to transit. Toronto’s approach is in stark contrast with the that followed in most North American urban regions, where auto-oriented suburban built form is considered to make transit unviable, and therefore transit service outside the urban core is typically very limited. The Ontario government’s establishment of metropolitan government in the Toronto region in 1953, at a time when transit remained a popular mode of transportation, encouraged and empowered suburban politicians to pressure the TTC to expand service to their constituencies. In response, the TTC developed a plan for suburban bus service that succeeded, in terms of ridership and financial performance, far beyond its expectations. This success, in turn, encouraged further service improvements and government support for transit, producing a virtuous spiral of service increases, ridership gains, and government funding increases, which stood in sharp contrast with the vicious spiral of ridership declines, service cuts, and fare hikes that plagued transit systems in most North American cities. This dissertation is the product of archival research in Canada and the United States, as well as a series of interviews with policymakers, planners, and activists who were engaged during the period. The Toronto model offers valuable lessons for transportation planning across North America. It demonstrates that it is possible to achieve high transit mode share, even in areas that are not designed as explicitly transit-oriented communities. This means that it is possible to shift trips away from the automobile without needing to entirely rebuild the suburban neighbourhoods where most North Americans reside, an unachievable goal on the timeline required to avert catastrophic climate change. It also demonstrates that the benefits of large capital investments in rapid transit and rail projects will only be maximized when paired with operating funding to ensure that the new infrastructure is embedded in a broader network of frequent local transit service.

Overwhelming evidence throughout the literature has shown that bus overhead and maintenance (O&M) costs increase as buses age. This has implications toward a fleet manager's decision of when one should buy, use, or sell buses to minimize total fleet costs. Unfortunately, there are uncertain market conditions associated with bus fleets that cloud the manager's ability to make appropriate decisions. Using integer programming (IP), O&M trends and changing market conditions are integrated into a model to better analyze bus fleets. Due to recent budget constraints of transit agencies, needs for a bus fleet replacement model have arisen. King County in Washington State has supplied cost aggregated data of their New Flyer (NF) and NF hybrid buses. These data have been analyzed to create statistical relationships based on rising O&M costs per mile with age, which are then integrated with the IP model to determine the impact of changing diesel prices, potential carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions costs, uncertain maintenance costs, and bus purchase cost subsidies. The goal is to aid fleet managers to determine the costs of early or delayed suboptimal bus replacement timing and the impacts of market variability on fleet costs and optimal replacement timing. The optimal replacement age for NF and NF hybrid buses based on King County data and current fuel prices of $3.99/gal are 16.7 and 18.3 years, respectively. It has been consistently observed that greater expense is incurred when buses are replaced earlier rather than later from optimal. To minimize total CO2 emissions (including operation and construction emissions), buses should be replaced slightly before the optimal replacement time without considering CO2 emissions. High diesel prices and CO2 emissions had little or no effect, on when buses should be replaced. However, higher maintenance costs reduced the optimal replacement time by almost two years. Although NF hybrid buses have been found to have no economic advantage over conventional buses, this finding may be a consequence of the different costs associated to the different routes operated by hybrid and conventional buses. Due to the lack of detailed King County's route level historical data, a study of the economic competitiveness of NF hybrids against conventional buses is outside the scope of this thesis. If buses are used less with age, the optimal replacement age is reduced. The optimal replacement age also dropped significantly when the Federal Transit Agency's procurement assistance is applied into the model. The procurement assistance can be up to 80% of the capital costs and can be considered a purchase subsidy from the transit agency viewpoint. If purchase subsidies decrease bus purchase prices by 1%, the optimal replacement age drops approximately 1.5%. When the bus purchase price is reduced by 80%, the optimal bus replacement age is less than 12 years, the FTA's minimum replacement age.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (M.Tech.: Marketing)-Dept. of Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2008. xiii, 135 leaves. / South Africa will host the Soccer World Cup in 2010. About 2.7 million local spectators and 400,000 visitors need to be transferred to and from the 10 host cities in 43 days. This is a huge challenge to the intercity bus transport industry, because the current transport system may not meet the demand for one of the world’s largest sporting event. The purpose of this study is to identify the current barriers to good service quality in the intercity bus transport industry. It focuses on the measurement of service quality and communication. In this research, the literature survey defined the service quality “gap” in this industry, identified the role of effective communication in the service delivery system, measured the variables affecting current service delivery using the SERVQUAL instrument, and prioritized the importance of the factors influencing service delivery in this industry. A questionnaire with 25 questions was designed to collect data. This study used convenience sampling to select 400 passengers as a sample, viz. 348 South Africans and 52 foreigners at the Durban bus station, since Durban is one of the ten host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The data was analysed using SPSS. The results of this research pointed to the importance of external communication in the industry. Specific recommendations are made to improve the productivity, reduce vacancy rate and maximize the benefits to this industry in 2010 and beyond.