Travel time saving has been thought of as the major benefit of transport investment in cost-benefit analysis in many developing cities. However, it has been criticized that transport project evaluation based on travel time savings can lead to inequitable results. In particular, a positive association between individual capability and travel time expenditure indicates that travel time savings might be beneficial mainly for those who are more capable. In this study, we empirically examine the association between individual capability and travel time expenditure in 17 developing cities by using person-trip survey data collected by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). We explore the mechanism how the capability affects travel time expenditure with a particular focus on mediation and moderation effects of residential location choice on travel time. Mediation and moderation effects are modeled by using the person-trip survey data collected in Hanoi (Vietnam) in 2004. The results indicate that residential location choice influences the association between individual capability and travel time expenditure significantly.

Transportation researchers and planners have been attempting to use the smartphone-based travel survey for accurate data collection. Increasing the number of survey participants is important to obtain valid and effective results. Special attention is necessary for both the number of consenting participants and the number of respondents who sent data and remained until the survey completion. This study aims to investigate the data sending rate and survey completion rate of smartphone-based travel surveys. We conducted a smartphone-based travel survey in 2015 and two surveys in 2017, in Afghanistan cities. We improved the recruitment method in 2017; incentive provision, female survey conductors to recruit females, and assistance to use the application. It was found that these improvements significantly increased the data sending rate, but the effects on the survey completion rate were limited. Long-term smartphone owners and employed respondents were also found to stay longer in the survey.

This paper introduces a methodology to carry out a performance assessment of public bus service operators. This study uses data from twenty-nine Public Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) in India that offer inter-city bus transit services in various regions. Performance rating and internal benchmarking of these public bus operators are carried out to highlight the prevailing inefficiencies in the current systems. An optimization-based indexing method, Data Envelopment Analysis, is used for quantifying the RTCs’ performance attributes, and the RTCs are then ranked based on these indices. Finally, the associations in these RTCs’ performance ranks across seven attributes are studied using Spearman’s rank correlation. The findings of this research provide the RTCs an opportunity to understand their performance levels and inefficiencies, thereby facilitate the formulation and implementation of appropriate policy.

Value capture (VC) could be a useful tool to address the huge demand for public transport infrastructure funding in China. This research identifies the opportunities and challenges faced by VC implementation in China and explains how local governments and local transit agencies dealt with the regulatory barriers. The findings of this research offer insights including: (1) macro environment, regulatory framework, and supportive policy environment provide opportunities to adopt VC projects, while the risk of acquiring land vale cannot be isolated from the global political and economic situations; (2) the regulatory challenges of land transactions and lack of property tax system restrict the application of VC; (3) evidence from the case study of Shenzhen demonstrates that local government may creatively deal with the regulatory challenges to do VC and benefit local community; and (4) institutional capacity is vital to implement VC. The analysis of Shenzhen experience can provide a reference for other Chinese cities to implement VC.

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are considered as effective tools for transferring risks and responsibilities to the private sector for infrastructure creation, particularly in road transport sector. The uncertainty in demand forecasts makes choice of PPP model susceptible to errors, resulting in non-performing projects and demands for renegotiations. Multiple non-performing projects have resulted in falling competitiveness in Indian Highway sector and government absorbing most risks to attract investors. This article explores the feasibility of offering Flexible Term Concessions (FTC) as a real option over two ongoing Built Operate Transfer (BOT) highway projects in India. The forecast made from actual data using Geometric Brownian Motion and the risk neutral valuation through spreadsheet analysis indicated positive values and risk reduction with the flexibility. Subsequent interviews with key stakeholders in the sector presented some of the barriers to implement flexibilities in Indian PPPs.

The speed humps can reduce vehicle speed at hump location effectively. However, practitioners require to understand comprehensively the speed reduction mechanism of a single hump in case of a long road section. Therefore, the present study is designed to investigate the external geometric and non-geometric factors, associated with speed reduction in the upstream of humps. A total of 500-speed data were collected from 7 different residential streets in Japan. Using multiple linear regression analysis, various road geometric features were found as significant predictors for speed reduction i.e., street marking, road width, two-way traffic, presence of the sidewalk, etc. A non-geometric factor named “street with many pedestrians” also found significant. The findings of this study can help practitioners to find out the optimum placement of a single hump along the road section. Furthermore, the speed at the upstream of hump can also be predicted before installation, by using the developed models.

This study evaluates the impact of the business interactive accessibility (BIA) by high-speed railway (HSR) of Japan. The BIA by HSR is a potential interaction for business purposes by HSR, based on the accessibility. Socio-economic conditions affect the BIA, but they have been only considered partially in the accessibility of previous studies. This study develops new variables, Densely-Buoyant District (DBD) at the micro-level and Densely-Buoyant Prefecture (DBP) at the macro-level. The indices denote the BIA considering socio-economic conditions: firms, workers, business scale, and distance between firms within a region. To examine the impact of DBP by HSR, we utilize the production function including DBP, prefecture-fixed effects, and time-fixed effects. The result suggests that DBP enhanced by HSR increases productivity. DBP of the secondary industry and tertiary industry enhances productivity, but not the primary industry. Therefore, the BIA by HSR in the secondary and tertiary industries contributes to regional growth.

Understanding the determinants of commute car choice decision is a potential way to design consistent, proactive policies to discourage car dependency. This study attempts to develop a travel mode choice model for home-to-work commuters in Metro Manila, by taking account of a comprehensive set of determinants, i.e., socioeconomic characteristics, travel behavior, and built environment characteristics. The study used the primary dataset of 3,877 observations gathered in 2017. The developed model was then applied to simulate a percentage share of car choice in response to variation of some variables of interest based on the “what-if” concept. The percentage share of car choice would have been 10.49% less than the current level had the road public transport line density of all the residential areas been maximized up to 154.22 km/km² and had a walk distance from home to the shortest railway station for all the residential areas been no longer than 800 m.