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- Contents
- Message from the General Editor
- Impact of Information Technology
- Stop-Controlled Intersections
- Probabilistic Linkage Approach
- Estimating Elasticities for Multi-Modal Public Transport Demand
- Redesigning the Commercial Organization of CSX
- Econometric Analysis of Ocean Freight Rates
- Whistle-Blowing Bans
- Safety and Operational Evaluation of Truck Lane Restriction
- U.S. Large Truck Accidents
- Airlines Entry and Exit
- The Balance Between Private and For-Hire
- Truckload and Less-Than-Truckload Motor Carriers
- Methods for Transportation Data Analysis
- The Automobile
Message from the General Editor
This is the second issue of the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum (JTRF) by our new publisher, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota. This issue of the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum contains the usual wide variety of transport topics that distinguishes JTRF from other transportation journals. Topical areas include:
- Motor carrier productivity
- Trends in for-hire and private motor carrier service
- Trends in TL and LTL motor carrier service
- Large truck safety
- Motor carrier data
- Older drivers, stop sign size, and urban traffic safety
- Price elasticity of urban public transport modes
- Railroad management analysis
- Whistle bans and rail-highway crossing safety
- Ocean freight rates for grain shipments
- Impacts of airline entry and exit from airports
B. Starr McMullen in "The Impact of Information Technology on Motor Carrier Productivity," examines the relationship between motor carrier productivity, marketing strategy, and use of information technology for a sample of U.S. general freight commodity carriers. The author found that use of EDI has a positive and significant impact on economic efficiency, and firms whose marketing strategy is providing service at the "lowest freight rate" have greater technical efficiency. McMullen also found that economic efficiency is significantly greater for unionized firms.
In "Effects of Driver Age and Dimensions of the Stop Sign on Braking Distance Performance at Stop-Controlled Intersections," Sunanda Dissanayake investigated the effects of driver age and stop sign size on braking distance (distance from stop sign at which brakes are applied) performance, paying particular attention to older drivers. Dissanayake found that older drivers had significantly longer braking distances for the largest size of stop sign. The study also discovered that braking distances among driver groups were significantly different for the larger stop sign but not for the smallest. The author recommended the replacement of smaller stop signs with larger ones in nonresidential areas with a high older driver population.
Jung-Taek Lee and Piyushimita Thakuriah in "Probabilistic Linkage Approach to Commercial Motor Vehicle and Carrier Datasets," develop a probabilistic linkage method to link databases in the Commercial Motor Vehicle and Carrier sector as a potential solution to data quality problems. An application of the method was conducted by linking two commercial motor vehicle inspection files. Using the method they found 6,228 correct identifications of true matched record pairs out of 6,335 actual true matches (more than 99%) between the two files.
In "Estimating Elasticities for Multi-Modal Public Transport Demand: A Time Series Approach," Konstantina Gkritza, Ioannis Golias, and Matthew Karlaftis develop seemingly unrelated regression models for the demand for public transport in Athens, Greece. They found that urban public transport demand in Athens is inelastic with respect to fares and highly inelastic with respect to automobile fuel cost. The authors also discovered that the three different public transit modes in Athens have significantly different fare elasticities.
Larry Shughart and Lex Donaldson in "Redesigning the Commercial Organization of CSX: An Organizational Portfolio Analysis," discuss CSX organization before and after 2001 and describe the analytic techniques that were used to support the change. The authors use organizational portfolio analysis to measure the interconnections among external markets and the performance fluctuations of each line of business. They also examine the internal interconnections among the lines of business to identify areas of autonomy and synergy between them.
In "An Econometric Analysis of Ocean Freight Rates for Grain Shipments from the U.S. to Major Importing Countries," Joon J. Park and Won W. Koo use a cross sectional econometric model to evaluate the structural changes and price differentials in ocean freight rates for grain shipments from U.S. ports to various importing countries. They found that cost factors play a significant role in the determination of ocean freight rates, and that rates vary by season and commodity. The authors also discovered that ocean freight rate structures changed during the 1987-1998 period.
In "Effects of Whistle-Blowing Bans on Accidents at Gated Rail-Highway Crossings: The Northeastern Illinois Experience," Paul Metaxatos, P.S. Sriraj, Siim Sööt, and Joseph DiJohn examine the effect of whistle-blowing bans on accidents at gated rail-highway crossings in the Chicago metropolitan region. Their analysis found that it is misleading to unconditionally associate whistle bans with higher accident incidence and collision frequencies of rail-highway crossings, while ignoring factors or combinations of factors that are likely more relevant to the operational characteristics of the crossings.
Renatus Mussa in "Safety and Operational Evaluation of Truck Lane Restriction," examined the operational and safety impacts of the 24-hour restriction of trucks from using the median (far left) lane of the six-lane Interstate 75 corridor in North Florida. His simulation analysis found that opening all lanes to trucks was likely to increase the number of crashes in the corridor. He also found that trucks were able to use the middle lane to pass with reasonable delay during the truck peak hour period.
In "The Increasing Fatality Burden of Other Vehicle Occupants in U.S. Large Truck Accidents," Andrew Welki and Thomas Zlatoper examine the issue of large truck safety by conducting an analysis of U.S. fatalities resulting from large truck crashes in the 1975-1999 time frame. The dependent variable of the analysis is the ratio of auto and light truck occupant fatalities to truck occupant fatalities. They find that the ratio of car size to truck size and the proportion of young drivers have a significant, negative relationship to the dependent variable, while the ratio of non-truck vehicle miles to truck vehicle miles has a significant, positive relationship.
This issue of JTRF contains three Industry Issue papers, which are descriptive studies focused on a particular mode.
Tom Berry, Dipasis Bhadra, Jennifer Gentry, and Gregory Nelson examine the economic process whereby a dominant carrier retreats from markets as new entrants exploit opportunities left behind. The authors in "Airlines Entry and Exit and the Impact on Air Traffic Management: An Analytical Framework for Zero-Sum and Positive-Sum Outcomes," develop an analytical framework that attempts to explain the behavior of low cost carriers when they enter new markets. The impact of these changes on the air traffic management system is also examined.
In "The Balance Between Private and For-Hire Carriage and Trends in the Use of Large Trucks," Stephen Burks, Kristen Monaco, and Josephine Myers-Kuykindall analyze trends in the number and utilization of heavy freight vehicles during the 1977-1997 period. They found that during this era, total heavy truck annual miles grew at a higher rate than the growth rate of the number of heavy freight vehicles. This was due to a large increase in the annual miles per truck. They also discovered a sharp increase in the specialization of for-hire carriage in long-haul operations, and an increased relative dominance of private carriage in local operations.
The same authors examine trends in specialization and vehicle use in the TL and LTL segments of the for-hire trucking industry in "Trends in the Use of Large Trucks by TL and LTL Motor Carriers in the 1990s." They found that in 1997 TL firms had almost three times as many large trucks as LTL firms, and operated more than three times the total annual miles. This was due to TL firms operating their trucks more intensely (i.e., greater annual miles per truck). Both types of operations shifted vehicles away from local and towards long-haul service in the 1990s.
Michael W. Babcock
General Editor, JTRF
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