Recognising that road safety is a development priority in South Africa, this research project aims to compare the efficacy of the Social Marketing development communication approach with that of the education approach favoured by the National Department of Transport in road safety development interventions. The research is also driven by the identified need to explore the role of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in development. To this end, road safety "action kits" were developed using Social Marketing principles and incorporating the use of interactive technology. Educational kits using information supplied by the National Department of Transport were also developed. The efficacy of the two interventions was compared by comparing the results of a road safety inventory across three groups of participants. These participants were learner drivers from Pietermaritzburg aged < 25 years and with access to the required technology. The first experimental group (N=36) received the action kits, the second experimental group (N=42) received the developed educational intervention and a third control group (N=40) received no intervention. The Social Marketing group was found to score higher than the education group across all items in the inventory (educational, attitudinal and behavioural). The research concludes that the Social Marketing approach needs to be considered as an alternative to the current approach in road safety communication interventions. It also provides the basis for further exploration of the uses of ICTs in development interventions. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

Introduction: During the past decade, companies have examined their core business, and anything that was not related to this, or did not add value to their product, was outsourced. One of the functions which fell into this category was the distribution operation, or more commonly known as transportation (in and out bound). In many instances, the distribution function was given up for tender, and specialised transport businesses, called third party logistic providers, whose core business was transport, were given the opportunity of taking over the distribution function. Some progressive companies went a little beyond the traditional approach and created opportunities for their own employees to be involved in the newly created, outsourced distribution network. This was largely an empowerment opportunity, with the aim of creating SME’s (Small-Medium-Enterprises), and providing people from a previously disadvantaged background (black people and other ethnic minorities) the opportunity to go into a business enterprise for themselves. The latter, although, politically the correct thing to do, simultaneously created opportunities and problems. Many of the companies that empowered their own employees, through Owner-Driver schemes, used the driving competency levels as the main criteria for the transition process. The other required skills were often overlooked or ignored. This empowerment process was driven to promote “Black Economic Empowerment”, an important national imperative. Although this process was an honorable gesture on the part of many companies, the process often took place without much foresight The viability and long-term continuity of the business were not taken into account. It is the researchers personal view, based on interviews with O-D’s and companies operating O-D schemes that the O-D’s which were empowered to operate their own business ventures, had limited or insufficient business skills and the very businesses that were given to them to improve their lifestyle were at risk of becoming unviable enterprises. This is clearly evident in some of the schemes being operated by companies such as Autonet and South African Breweries (hereinafter referred to as SAB). Other Eastern Cape companies that operate Owner-Driver schemes include Italtile, Shatterprufe and Ready Mix Materials (hereinafter referred to as RMM), and according to Management consultants spoken to, have obtained mixed levels of success with their schemes. The above schemes were confirmed with the various companies mentioned.

In this thesis we study the problem of road taxation. This problem consists in finding the toll on the roads belonging to the government or a private company in order to maximize the revenue. An optimal taxation policy consists in determining level of tolls low enough to favor the use of toll arcs, and high enough to get important revenues. Since there are twolevels of decision, the problem is formulated as a bilevel bilinear program. / Doctorat en sciences, Orientation recherche opérationnelle / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Transport undoubtedly occupies a most important place in the economic and commercial life of all countries. In this respect South Africa is no exception, and very briefly, the principal economic functions of transport are enumerated below. 1. Transport establishes communication between consumers and the producers of goods or services. 2. Transport facilitates the movement of persons between the place where they live and the place where they work - usually this is a daily procedure, but in South Africa it also entails the movement of large numbers of Natives from the Native Reserves to work for some months at a time either in the gold mines or in the several urban areas of the Union. 3. Transport makes geographical specialization possible, for agricultural or mineral resources will only be exploited, or specialized industries established, in a particular area, if the commodities produced can be transported to other parts of a country, or the world; and other capital and consumer goods brought to the producers living in the area of specialized production. 4. Transport faciitates industrial production because, of raw materials which come from many sources. Furthermore, transport enables the finished products of industry to be distributed to the markets in which they are sold. In all these cases, the efficiency of transport has to be measured not only in terms of its cost, but also in terms of its efficiency, which includes, inter alia, the time taken, the frequency of services, the safety of goods and passengers while in transit and the provision of various special services, such as the provision by railway undertakings of private siding facilities. This thesis will be divided into five parts, the first dealing with the technical and commercial development of the Buffalo Harbour. It has been decided to deal with the Harbour first because, not only has it been the focal point of the transport system of the Border Region since the latter part of the nineteenth century, but it has dominated the economic and commercial development of East London, as well as that of the Border Region as a whole. The second part deals with the evolution of the railway system from the 166 mile long East London and Queenstown Railway, to the present 1,110 miles of the Cape Eastern System. This historical chapter is followed by an analysis of the traffic of the Cape Eastern System. Part Three deals with the theory, practice, and economic consequences, of railway rating policy. Part Four is a detailed analysis of the goods traffic forwarded from, and received at East London in the period from 1st April, 1953 to 31st March, 1956. Part Five deals with roads and road transport. Finally, certain conclusions are offered, based on the significant points revealed by the investigation on which this thesis is based. In this thesis the theory of transport will not be dealt with in detail for it is essentially a factual account of the development of the transport system of the Border Region and an analysis of the present situation. It has unfortunately not been possible to make in this thesis a study of railway finance or railway economics with regard to the Cape Eastern System, for the data upon which to base such an investigation are not available for the Cape Eastern System in isolation. No attempt will be made to assess either the technical or the operating efficiency of the railway system for not only would this require more data than are available, but also a technical knowledge not possessed by the writer.

No description available.

This dissertation contains three essays examining the transportation sector in the United States using methods from empirical industrial organization. Chapter 1 investigates the entry and characteristics of public direct current fast charging (DCFC) stations for the fueling of electric vehicles (EVs). The entry model endogenizes the quality of DCFC sites by having participating charging networks take into account market characteristics, competition effects, and the policy environment when making entry and quality investment decisions. The entry model is augmented with data on station utilization that is constructed from web-scraped records of station availability collected over 10-minute intervals throughout the year 2023. In examining the policy environment, Chapter 1 focuses on the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit program in California, a program that provides tradable credits to DCFC charging stations, with credit allocations increasing, but marginally diminishing, in nameplate power ratings. I simulate counterfactual entry under various expenditure equivalent alternative subsidy schemes. I find that an alternative credit schedule proportional to nameplate power results in a simulated 5.0 percent increase in output from high-power sites, but the resultant aggregate output is left largely unchanged given the offsetting effect of having fewer low-power DCFC sites enter. Chapter 1 also examines the trade-offs between lump-sum and per-unit subsidies, finding that per-unit subsidies result in higher per-site utilization but lower site entry. A hybrid design combining lump-sum and per-unit subsidies is proposed as a viable alternative. Chapter 2 examines the response of EV drivers to time-of-use (TOU) pricing at public DCFC stations. In particular, demand is compared between two networks offering public charging services of comparable of comparable quality that differ, however, in their pricing strategies. Namely, one firm offers pricing that does not vary by the time of day, while the other offers TOU pricing that exhibits on-peak increases and off-peak discounts. Using a Poisson arrival model, I estimate the price elasticity of demand to be approximately unit elastic around 4pm, the time-of-day at which pricing shifts from off-peak to on-peak pricing for one of the two focal firms. In contrast to residential electricity users who encounter TOU pricing, EV drivers are found to be more price-sensitive, in part reflecting drivers' outside option of charging at home at lower tariffs. Chapter 3 evaluates how demand for passenger air travel evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Air travelers can be characterized by differing willingness to pay for the same ticket. While domestic air fare and passenger counts collapsed with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic to the United States in March 2020, I find that the resulting composition of air travelers post-pandemic was more price-inelastic, relative to pre-pandemic levels. Results are obtained using a discrete choice model that incorporates unobservable product characteristics and two latent passenger types.

From Preface: In 1966, the Karroo Development Association approached Rhodes University to undertake a socio-economic survey of their region. This survey was to form the basis for development planning in view of the expected benefit to the region of the Orange River Project. Similar requests were also received from the Midlands Planning Association and the South Eastern Areas Development Association. When Rhodes University consulted the Department of Planning, which strongly supported the principle of a regional survey, it was decided that, although Port Elizabeth and its hinterland comprised a logical economic unit, the area should be sub-divided. The University of Port Elizabeth was entrusted with the responsibility for an analysis of the metropolitan area, while the Institute of Social and Economic Research of Rhodes University was commissioned to undertake a socio-economic survey of the inland areas. This thesis on the transport infrastructure of the Cape Midlands and Karroo Regions represents one aspect of the survey.

MURP / Department of Urban and Regional Planning / This study focuses on the evaluation of intelligent transport systems making use of the BRT-Rea-vaya in Johannesburg as a case study. This study was motivated by the observation that few studies have been conducted in the study area that tackle explicitly intelligent transport systems evaluation. Intelligent transport systems can assist in improving private and public transportation systems and operations performance. In the public sector where various modes of transport such as the taxi, metro bus, metro rail, Gautrain and the BRT Rea-vaya operates, intelligent transport systems present opportunities for improving Level of Service (LOS) delivery. In Johannesburg, the BRT Rea vaya system was adopted by the Johannesburg metropolitan municipality to provide a safe, reliable, efficient and accessible public transport system. The BRT Rea vaya system is aimed at providing a better public transport, operating systems and service. For the BRT Rea vaya systems to achieve its primary goals and objectives, an intelligent transport system was incorporated to better manage the BRT Rea-vaya systems operations and activities. The study disclosed the status quo, opinions and attitudes of commuters regarding their experiences with the BRT Rea vaya public transport systems in Johannesburg. Furthermore, the study investigated whether the original objectives and aims of intelligent transport system in the BRT Rea-vaya have been meet. A central theme of the investigation is seeking to understand constraints and opportunities regarding BRT Rea-vaya intelligent transport systems‘ operations and activities in Johannesburg. The use of primary and secondary data such as questionnaires, key informant interviews, observation, journals and previous researches related to intelligent transport systems were used to acquire an in-depth understanding of the operational management of BRT Rea-vaya intelligent transport system. Collected data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) with the aid of Microsoft Excel making use of descriptive statistics, regression analysis, cross tabulation and chi-square test. This was presented using tables, graphs, maps etc. Qualitative data was analyzed making use of a thematic approach. The study resonates in the need for rapid public transport systems to provide lessons for improving and adopting intelligent transport systems. As an end product, the research provided a framework of analysis on how to integrate intelligent transport systems in the context of Bus rapid transit systems.

The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the brokered transport costs of road and rail transport for the independent timber growers of NCT Forestry Co-operative Limited in Kwa-Zulu-Natal. Reliability, flexibility, visibility, rates and total transport time were evaluated for each mode of transport. The impact of the carbon emissions was also considered and the option of performance based standard vehicles investigated. During the period 2000 to 2003, rail was the dominant mode of transport. However from 2004 onwards, due to the diminishing service levels and the high tariff structures of rail transport, road became the preferred mode of transport. The results of the survey conducted for the purposes of this study showed that although road transport outperformed rail transport, rail transport scored significantly higher than road transport as a cost-effective mode of transportation. Rail transport was shown to be a far less carbon intensive mode of transport than road transport, while there were substantial cost savings and benefits from performance based standard vehicles. / Transport Economics, Logistics and Tourism / M. Com. (Logistics)