Abstract

Road transport is one of the most important contributing sectors of Europe’s total emissions. The target of European Union (EU) road transport policy is to promote a more efficient and environmentally friendly mobility. In order to achieve its strategic goals, several measures were introduced to encourage implementation of more environmentally friendly technical engine standards. National car fleet composition can have significant impacts on emissions and energy consumption. This study aims to provide a comparative analysis of the contribution of road fleet composition in emissions and show the evolution of emissions costs on national economies for four European countries. Annual emissions of each country were estimated using official data and emission costs for various pollutants were calculated based on most updated values of damage costs. Results show a significant technological change in vehicles’ engines can contribute to reduce the environmental impacts of transport.

Abstract

High-Speed Rail (HSR) is a transport mode that operates significantly faster than traditional services, using integrated and specialized rolling stock, and often dedicated tracks. These rapid transit services have profoundly impacted mobility habits on medium-long range journeys, and have also brought about social, economic, and environmental changes in the geographical areas involved. HSR has become a successful “brand”, including not only faster trains, but also a number of other on-board services that increase rail attractiveness (e.g. restaurants, wi-fi connection, free newspapers, cinema, business areas and relaxation lounges). Starting from these considerations, in this research we investigated the conjecture according to which a traveler, in choosing an HSR service to reach a destination (against a traditional rail service, or other competing transport modes), is not only influenced by its original peculiarity as a “faster train” service, but also takes into account the presence of all the “hedonic” characteristics of the service. That said, the literature in transportation modeling has yet to analyze the impact of hedonic quality on travelers’ behavior by quantifying whether and to what extent it increases their propensity to use HSR services. Aim of this research was twofold: i) to quantify, for the first time in the literature, the hedonic value of an HSR service related to a domestic tourist trip, as compared to more conventional levels of service and attractiveness attributes; ii) investigate the domestic tourist attractiveness of the main Italian cities, evaluating which attributes influence the perception of a city as a domestic tourist destination. The application case study consists in the supply of current rail services (HSR vs. traditional) between the 11 main Italian cities in terms of tourist destination. On the basis of an RP&SP survey, carried out among university students at national scale, a binomial logit model was specified with serial correlation in residuals, estimating whether or not the cities in the panel were perceived as possible destinations for a domestic tourist trips made by train. The estimation results show that city-specific attractiveness attributes (entertainment and restaurant rate; number of sites of interests; crime rate), and level of services variables (e.g. travel time and cost; HSR brand ) significantly influence the perception of a city as a possible destination for a domestic tourist trip by train. Furthermore, the average monetary value for the “pure preference” for the HSR brand (faster trains, high frequency, and on-board services) is about 22 Euros/trip, while the hedonic value relative only to on-board services is about 12 Euros/trip , underlining that the “faster train” is only one of the perceived attributes of HSR services. Overall, the willingness to pay for an HSR ticket is up to 40% greater than that for a traditional one. Furthermore, tourists are willing to spend 2.2 h more travelling on an HSR train to reach their destinations. The estimation results show that there is also a “distance traveled effect”; the pure preference for HSR services increases in value from 9 Euros/trip to 13 Euros/trip (+44%) for distances traveled greater than 400 km. If confirmed, these results allow the conclusion to be drawn that the “catchment area” of cities on HSR networks is larger than that served by traditional rail.

Abstract

Infrastructures, through externalities, modify the territorial status quo: by creating advantages and disadvantages, they lead to inequalities and territorial cohesion problems, calling for a setup of territorial equalization mechanisms. In this paper, the estimation of the costs and benefits generated from the building of the new Cispadana regional motorway (Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy) is described. The study focuses on the price variations of the industrial buildings property values in the real estate market after the new motorway will be built, aiming at developing a forecasting method, which could be repeatable and applicable to other kinds of externalities. Thanks to the hedonic pricing method, which is recurring in transport literature, using a multiple linear regression model based on ordinary least squares method (OLS), the contribution of the accessibility on the industrial buildings' pricing has been isolated; it was then possible to forecast the rise in the industrial buildings prices that will be due to the accessibility variation produced by the new infrastructure. The purpose of such a procedure is the setup of equalization mechanisms, which can re-balance the territorial effects though he so-called “land value capture” tools. Thanks to a relatively quick phase of development and implementation, the  described application could be used as a tool for the ex-ante evaluation of different infrastructure projects and as an ex-post analysis tool for the monitoring of an existing infrastructure. Finally, thanks to the chance to understand the contribution of each territorial feature to the final price of the good, this application could be very useful in participatory planning processes because it could provide a common knowledge base which could be used to support the public administration’s capability of negotiation with the private partner, both in the  participatory planning processes and in the public-private partnership procedures.