This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to examine the relative technical efficiency of the Washington State Ferry (WSF) routes operating in Puget Sound. This is the largest ferry system in the country. It is publicly operated and does not face direct competition from any other agency, public or private. Therefore whether or not the ferry routes operate efficiently is a natural question. DEA is being used increasingly for measuring technical efficiency in non-profit settings such as health care and education, where prices of inputs and outputs may either be unavailable or artificially set. Because DEA does not require prices to measure efficiency, the technique has an advantage in these arenas. This paper first uses DEA to measure the relative technical efficiency of each WSF route using two different comparison sets. Returns to scale are then evaluated for each route in three successive years (1995-1997). Finally, a Malmquist productivity index is calculated in order to evaluate total factor productivity over the three-year period. For further evaluation this index is then divided into two components: technical change and efficiency change. Overall, the findings show that most of the ferry routes operate in an efficient manner. The results do, however, show routes where there may be room for improvement and they provide a means to pinpointing areas where WSF may want to focus attention when making management decisions. / Graduation date: 2000

This thesis reinvents the current homogenized horizontality along the American highways by inserting a new typology of verticality along the existing horizontal sprawl. The project focuses upon the ever-growing commercialization and urban sprawl along a 181-mile strip of I.H.10, which runs from Jennings, Louisiana to Houston, Texas. In this landscape the sign has become the most dominant feature, while architecture has become simply an empty shell. There is no focal point along the highway today, only the aspiration of the sign to be higher than any inhabitable structure around it. This project proposes the insertion of 6 vertical elements into this horizontal landscape by taking the existing program and signs directly adjacent to the highway and relocating them into specified locations along I.H.10. These new densified nodes will further be defined through differentiated scales of perception through architecture and design.

This thesis expands upon the dialogue between speed and architecture, investigating how architecture reinterprets the linear city, originally defined by the continuous fabric of the freeway and more recently reconfigured by the high speed rail line. Using the linear city as a site of exploration and high speed rail as a ground to test new typologies of architectural insertions at amplified speed, this thesis produces an extended civic space along the proposed high speed rail line connecting Tampa and Orlando. Combining a series of performance and commercial programs, this new typology will make the obscured visual experience along the extended territory of the rail line legible, through a sequencing of specific architectural intersections, exploring how monumental civic space will be made and occupied in the sprawl of the American city.

Distribution, warehousing and logistics facilities located in Canadian municipalities have significant impacts on surrounding land uses and on nearby transportation infrastructure, not to mention the broader socio-economic environment. While there is considerable literature available concerning the location choices of generic industrial firms, explorations of logistics firms’ locations have been less extensive. This is somewhat surprising because of the increasing ‘footlooseness’ of logistics firms and the potential issues surrounding their activity, for example related to the amount of freight traffic that they generate. There is a need for the public sector, including planners and economic developers, to better understand the requirements of the logistics industry in order to accommodate these firms while mitigating potentially adverse impacts to communities. The goal of this thesis is to identify and assess the relative importance of factors that influence the location choices of logistics firms in a municipality, and to identify potential issues of operational conflict between municipalities, their residents, and logistics firms. A web-based survey of logistics professionals has been carried out to help address this goal. Semi-structured interviews were then undertaken with participants who completed the survey and indicated an interest in further participation in the study. Overall, 42 completed survey responses were received, and 10 follow up phone interviews were conducted. The ability to operate 24/7 was reported as one of the most important location factors in addition to land costs, proximity to transportation infrastructure, and access to a skilled workforce. Transportation infrastructures such as rail intermodal facilities and airports are seen as important regional considerations but close proximity is not important on a site specific level. Through interview results participants indicated problems with parking bylaw requirements, and operating restrictions during the nighttime as challenges related to their specific location. Results confirm general understanding of what drives location choice for industrial firms, but the additional necessity for a robust operating environment for logistics firms highlights the need for planners to pay particular attention to the specific requirements of this important economic sector.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983.

This research proposes a methodological framework for the probabilistic evaluation of the financial viability of transportation infrastructure projects procured as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). In doing so a methodological approach is undertaken. First, this research investigates the various risks of PPP projects, in particular the investment risk in terms of both the depth and its corresponding methods of evaluation, yielding a new method for more accurate estimation. Second, it examines the multiple facets of financial viability, stemming from the different meaning that it has for the various project stakeholders, i.e., the public authority, the lenders and the equity investors. From this study a connection between the financial viability and the investment risk is established for the purpose of using the latter for the assessment of the former. Based on this established connection, this research proposes a general methodological framework that can be used for the probabilistic evaluation of the financial viability of other types of revenue-generating transportation infrastructure projects, procured as PPPs. This framework proposes the evaluation of the financial viability through the estimation of the project's investment risk, using available numerical and/or analytical approximation techniques such as the Method of Moments. The general methodological framework is then utilized for the specific case of highway toll-road concession projects, where detailed and specific quantitative models are devised for the determination of the costs and revenues of these projects. Additionally, and by capitalizing on similar models found elsewhere in the literature, this dissertation also proposes a process to increase the accuracy of the Maintenance and Rehabilitation cost estimates, borrowing concepts stemming from reliability and stochastic processes. The findings of this research are expected to help all project stakeholders with their evaluation of whether or not a project under consideration is capable of achieving their respective financial targets. The proposed methodology can be used as a quantitative tool for project evaluation and investment appraisal by all project stakeholders. However, as in any decision support methodology, the purpose of the proposed framework is not to replace decision makers but to help them make better and informed decisions. / text

Vehicle operating costs are an invaluable tool to transportation engineers, who utilize them in applications such as cost-benefit analyses and utilization pricing. Many of the existing models in use, however, are significantly out-of-date with current technology. Research was undertaken in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to develop a new model of the operating costs associated with Texas vehicle fleets. A vehicle operating cost (Vcost) model was produced which estimates variable and fixed costs associated with both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles. The model calculates both aggregate fleet costs and costs for individual representative vehicles. An analysis of Texas Vehicles, Titles, and Registration (VTR) records; Weigh-in-Motion data; vehicle counts; and national car sales data was used to generate the breakdown of the Texas fleet of vehicles and to determine representative vehicles. Operational costs for these vehicles fell into two main categories: fixed costs (depreciation, financing, insurance, and other) and variable costs (fuel and maintenance/repair). Relations were determined for each cost category for each representative vehicle over its entire operational age. In the case of heavy-duty vehicles, much of the operational costs information is proprietary and had to be gathered in survey work conducted with other members of a research team. A computer program was written that incorporates the cost relations for the representative vehicles as well as the Texas fleet characteristics in such a way that the user can examine the costs of both an individual vehicle and the aggregate costs associated with a fleet of vehicles. The user can also input a default fleet composition. The model allows users to alter key parameters (such as fuel price, financing rates, insurance costs, or vehicle fuel economies) for future adaptability to a changing economic and technological landscape. The model was developed in parallel with another researcher working on an advanced fuel consumption model, which would later be integrated into to the Vcost model. / text

The thesis investigates potential methods of linking transportation planning in Texas, principally long range planning, with the environmental clearance process required of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The purpose of the research is to achieve time and monetary savings by streamlining the NEPA process. These savings result principally by reducing duplicative efforts performed during transportation planning and the NEPA process. To achieve this goal, the thesis reviews the effectiveness of practices and efforts done in Texas and around the country designed to encourage planning documentation that supports the NEPA process. The thesis then assesses the challenges involved with implementing these practices in Texas and makes a series of recommendations designed to be implemented by various agencies in Texas that would provide linkages between transportation planning and the NEPA process. / text

A comprehensive approach is conducted to better utilize dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) in transportation planning by investigating its role in: (1) high-order functions, (2) project evaluation, and (3) traffic assignment. A method is proposed to integrate DTA and the four-step planning model such that traffic assignment is conducted at the subnetwork level while the feedback process occurs at the regional level. By allowing interaction between the subnetwork and regional area, the method is shown to be more beneficial than previous integration structures. Additionally, DTA is applied to a case study involving the proposed urban rail system in Austin, TX. The case study showcases the benefits and capabilities of DTA when analyzing traffic impacts caused by transit rail facilities. Multiple equilibria are shown to arise in simulation-based DTA models due to simplified fundamental diagrams. Piecewise linear diagrams are introduced to eliminate unlikely equilibria. Game theory is also applied to DTA; it is shown that an equilibrium solution is guaranteed to exist for general networks in mixed strategies, and unrealistic equilibria are reduced using the trembling hand refinement. / text

In this thesis, an infrastructure informed index is developed for pedestrians and bicyclists to relate the natural and built environment with its impact on perceived travel distance and time. The objective is to develop an easy to use metric for use at all levels, allowing transportation planners to make better informed decisions when planning or redeveloping a city or area. Building off of similar research efforts, attributes are determined and weighted to capture the characteristics of a link, then summed to create the infrastructure informed index for pedestrians and bicyclists, respectively. These indices are then visualized using ArcGIS mapping tools, creating a service area around specific origin or destination points to see the effective area a pedestrian or bicyclist can travel taking into account the effects of the infrastructure along the route. / text