{"title":"Direct and cross cost elasticity estimations for freight transport in Europe using constructed dependent variables","authors":"Bart Jourquin","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101566","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101566","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Elasticities can be used in the context of transport policy decisions to estimate the impact of changes in transport costs, or the impact of new infrastructure on traffic or modal split, for example. Their estimation is often made difficult by the lack of available data, especially when the study area represents a large international territory.</div><div>In this context, a modal choice model with three explanatory variables is presented. In a fairly standard way, transport costs and transit times are used. The originality of the model presented is that it also incorporates two accessibility measures and that the values for the three explanatory variables are computed using origin-destination matrices and digitized networks. Transport costs and transit times are calculated for each origin-destination relationship, type of commodity and transport mode, using a transport network model. The latest also provides the length of each relationship, which is used, along with the annual transported tons, to calculate two accessibility measures.</div><div>The article explains why accessibility finds its place in the utility function used in the modal choice model and shows how it improves the model's performance.</div><div>The model is further used to compute a set of direct and cross freight demand elasticities for road, inland waterways and rail transport with respect to a change in the total cost of transport on the European territory. The computed elasticities are compared with other values identified in the literature. The presented values can be considered as being credible and robust.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101566"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143948700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Walking Women: Exploring gender differences in perceived physical exertion of walking short-distance trips in Malta","authors":"Karyn Scerri, Maria Attard","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101565","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101565","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gendered travel behaviour differences when using active travel modes are a key line of research. This is particularly important in the context of different geographic realities and cities to support policy-relevant research that discourages private motorized vehicle use. There is a need to focus on the urban contexts where there is the opportunity to reduce car use for short, walkable distances. In this study, such mobility behaviour is researched within the context of the car-dependent, Euro-Mediterranean Island of Malta. A web-based survey was distributed in Malta's principal urban area (n = 855) to examine potential gender differences in people's modal choices, their perceived exertion of a short-distance walking trip, and the threshold distance for walking. The findings show an overall significantly higher frequency of car use in comparison to walking, but only slight gender differences. There were no significant gender differences between the perceived exertion scores for walking a short-distance trip and for reported distance thresholds for walking, Respondents were willing to walk an average of 17 min or 1.3 km even if they have a car available for the same trip. The research reveals significant correlations between the walking and car use frequencies, perceived exertion, and distance thresholds of the respondents and these are discussed with policy-relevant suggestions for reducing reliance on motorized vehicle use and encouraging active travel.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101565"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143935949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrés Rodríguez, Maira Delgado-Lindeman, Silvia Sipone, Luigi dell’Olio
{"title":"Gender dynamics in electric bike-sharing: Insights on usage and fare structures","authors":"Andrés Rodríguez, Maira Delgado-Lindeman, Silvia Sipone, Luigi dell’Olio","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101561","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101561","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bike-sharing systems offer an efficient urban mobility solution by reducing traffic congestion, improving health, reducing pollution and promoting intermodality. Designing a pricing strategy for urban electric bicycle rental systems is an important issue to guarantee the desired levels of system adoption. This research explores gender differences in willingness to pay for and use electric bike-sharing services through two case studies, Santander (Spain) and Cartagena (Colombia). The methodology involved creating a survey to collect data on the socioeconomic characteristics of participants, their current patterns of bicycle use, and their future use of the electric bike-sharing system. Additionally, the survey explores preferences for e-bike system prices through a stated preference experiment.</div><div>Various discrete choice models were estimated to evaluate willingness to pay and elasticities based on different pricing scenarios, including per-use tariffs and annual subscriptions. The results provide variations in context and gender in the perceived value and willingness to pay for bike-sharing services. The study of elasticities reveals that users in Santander are more sensitive to changes in subscription costs and pay-per-use fees than users in Cartagena. Also, women are more sensitive to price changes in both contexts, with higher sensitivity in Santander. This research contributes to an understanding of the factors that influence the acceptance and use of e-bike systems, highlighting the influence of gender when designing and assessing the suitability of rental bike systems in different cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101561"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143924159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Understanding the effects of vehicle portfolios on plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs)-adopting households’ vehicle replacement decision: an application of vehicles transaction model","authors":"Jean Y. Ji , David S. Bunch , Alan Jenn","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101559","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101559","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) adoption to date has focused on understanding consumers' vehicle purchase decisions as single vehicle transactions. This research expands on this decision-making process by employing a vehicle transaction model to account for vehicle portfolio preferences at the household level. By leveraging discrete choice modeling techniques, specifically mixed multinomial logistic regression, we evaluate a sample of two-vehicle and PEV-adopting Californian households' vehicle transactions from 2017 to 2020. Our results demonstrate that there are strong complementarities among certain vehicle classes. Namely, PEV-adopting households are more likely to pair a car with a large truck or a SUV than with another car. Fuel type complementarities are also observed as households prefer to own a PEV and an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) rather than a PEV-PEV portfolio. We also investigate households' income elasticity of choice for PEVs by quantifying their income sensitivity to the capital costs and operating costs of their vehicle portfolios. The implications of our work are two-fold: by applying the vehicle transaction model to empirical data, we estimate households’ preference parameters for PEVs attributes and portfolios. These results contribute to the growing literature on the quantitative understanding of vehicle replacement decisions for PEV-adopting households. Our work also has implications for the projection of vehicle fleets, where understanding how households take vehicle portfolio complementarities into account is essential for future projections of vehicle fleets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101559"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143924158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Modeling the brand choice behavior of shared micro-mobility users: A case of electric scooter sharing","authors":"Yu-Shyun Chien , Chung-Cheng Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101556","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101556","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The growing number of shared micro-mobility service providers coexisting in the market has diversified the market composition, leading to challenges in expanding their own-brand market share. Therefore, developing effective strategies for competition and marketing requires a deeper understanding of users' choice behavior among heterogeneous service providers. However, most previous studies often overlook the heterogeneity among service providers, resulting in limitations in precisely explaining users' choice behavior. To address this research gap, a hybrid choice modeling approach is employed to explore the brand choice behavior within the same transport service. The proposed brand choice model integrates various latent variables, such as brand attitude and shared micro-mobility usage characteristics, to capture the key factors influencing users' service provider choices. Using electric scooter sharing (ESS) as a case study, stated preference data were collected to analyze the choice behavior of ESS users. The results show that travel attributes, latent variables, and socioeconomic characteristics have significant direct effects on choice probability, whereas brand attitude has substantial mediation effects, revealing the importance of brand evaluation on users' choice behavior. The managerial insights derived will enhance the competitive and marketing strategies of ESS service providers, while the policy implications will provide direction for government planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101556"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143913249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring bus drivers' intentions to collaborate with level 4 autonomous buses: Integrating the technology acceptance model and assemblage theory","authors":"Jyun-Kai Liang , Yu-Kai Huang , Chung-Cheng Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101555","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101555","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As AI proliferates, human-AI collaboration has become necessary in many domains, not least in public transportation, where highly automated, if not fully driverless buses, require human-AI cooperation. However, existing technology acceptance models lack insight into the unique factors that influence acceptance in collaborative human-AI contexts. This study integrates the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with Assemblage Theory to provide a comprehensive framework that does explicate key mechanisms underlying bus drivers' behavioral intentions toward Level 4 autonomous buses. Drawing upon Assemblage Theory, we conceptualize the driver and the autonomous bus as a human-machine collaborative assemblage. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use from TAM are modeled as antecedents, with compatibility and trust from Assemblage Theory as mediators, predicting attitude and behavioral intention. The theoretical model is examined using structural equation modeling on data collected from 719 bus drivers of four major transit companies in Taipei. Results robustly support all hypotheses, with perceived usefulness exhibiting stronger positive effects on trust and compatibility than perceived ease of use. Trust and compatibility positively influenced attitude, which strongly predicted behavioral intention to cooperate with Level 4 autonomous bus introduction. The empirical findings show TAM is enriched by the integration of Assemblage Theory concepts, extending both theories' ability to facilitate autonomous mobility human-AI collaboration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101555"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143903470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender gap in travel time and trip Purpose: Pre-, during and post Covid19 evidence","authors":"Adeola Oyenubi, Umakrishnan Kollamparambil, Mandisa Ncobo","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101558","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101558","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the gender gap in the travel time pre-, during and post-COVID19 pandemic in Gauteng, South Africa over the period 2015–2023. We use four rounds of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory Quality of Life (GCRO QoL) surveys. Results indicate that while women spend less time travelling compared to men across the study period, the gap has increased since the pandemic. Additionally, other socio-economic and demographic factors such as race, age, household size, dwelling type and car ownership also significantly affected travel times.</div><div>Further, using Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, the study found that household maintenance trips like shopping and chauffeuring contributed positively to the gender travel time gap consistently over the period. The increasing gender gap observed in travel time since COVID19, is explained by fewer women (compared to men) being employed during and since the pandemic, rather than more employed women travelling shorter time or telecommuting compared to employed men. This is expected as more women lost their employment during the pandemic, and men have regained employment more effectively than women during the post-pandemic recovery. The study also found fewer women investing in travel for job search compared to men in the post-pandemic period, further exacerbating the gender gap in travel time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101558"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143901896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Car use, mobility and transport satisfaction of older adults in Czechia: A gender perspective","authors":"Eva Adamovska, Michal Šimeček","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101557","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101557","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The main objective of this article is to enhance understanding of factors that may influence mobility satisfaction and the use of motorised transport modes by older adults in Czechia in the context of gender equity. We used data from a large questionnaire survey that explored the main trends in mobility behaviour, needs and attitudes of the Czech population, focusing on key gender mobility issues. The answers of 2087 respondents aged 65 years and older were analysed by applying regression models. Our findings confirm the gender differences in car use. Older women in Czechia use public transport more and drive cars less than their male counterparts. Also, they are less satisfied with their overall transport options. However, in the subsequent regression analysis, gender didn't significantly affect transport satisfaction. Our research's major factors influencing transport satisfaction were age, physical disability, place of residence, car accessibility, and income. The gender distribution of the last two mentioned variables showed substantial differences with more negative impact on women, which probably resulted in lower transport satisfaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101557"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143902061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Are motorcycle taxis competing with collective public transport? Analyzing the role of boda-bodas in Kampala's urban mobility system","authors":"Simon Saddier","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101562","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101562","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Motorcycle taxis – known as “boda-bodas” in Eastern Africa – play an increasingly important.</div><div>role in the urban mobility systems of African cities. In Kampala, Uganda, this growth is rooted in pervasive congestion and a lack of efficient public transport services. Despite their importance, little is known about the role of boda-bodas and their links to other modes of transport. Existing literature on motorcycle-taxis overwhelmingly relies on self-reported data, which is often inaccurate when it comes to documenting operational characteristics.</div><div>This paper addresses this gap by analyzing close to a million trips taken in Kampala over a period of two weeks in 2020. Using anonymized data provided by the leading e-hailing platform for boda-bodas, it explores the distribution of rides by distance, duration, time of day, and local area. Trip information is combined with transport network and land-use data to perform spatial analyses. We find that boda-boda services are primarily used during the evening peak period, when congestion gives them a competitive advantage over other modes of transport despite their higher cost. The analysis also points to complementarity between boda-bodas and paratransit minibuses providing collective transport services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101562"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Silvia Sipone , Andrés Rodríguez , Maira Delgado-Lindeman , José Luis Moura
{"title":"Sustainable mobility education through escape rooms: A gender perspective","authors":"Silvia Sipone , Andrés Rodríguez , Maira Delgado-Lindeman , José Luis Moura","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101546","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101546","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the gender dimension in sustainable mobility, focusing on how interactive technologies and gamification, particularly Escape Rooms (ER), can promote awareness and behavioural changes. Despite the literature on sustainable mobility and gender, few studies analyse the intersection of these topics with gamification techniques. This research addresses this gap by examining how gender differences and ER modalities (physical and digital) influence learning, motivation, and satisfaction in sustainable mobility education. The study involved 388 students aged 10–13 who participated in a physical or digital ER experience designed to teach sustainable mobility concepts. The methodology included developing ER narratives and challenges and administering pre- and post-activity questionnaires to assess real and perceived learning acquisition, motivation, and satisfaction. Data analysis was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis and variance analysis to evaluate the impact of gender and ER modality. The results indicate no significant gender differences in learning outcomes on sustainable mobility and satisfaction with the ER experience, suggesting that ERs can be equitable educational tools. However, physical ERs showed higher motivation levels among boys than girls, highlighting the need for inclusive design considerations. This research contributes to understanding how gamified educational experiences can be designed, analysing how a balanced incorporation of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational elements could maintain the motivation of all children. These findings support ERs as effective and inclusive tools to raise awareness and encourage fostering sustainable behaviours among young learners. However, some caution should be taken in the design of their elements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101546"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143863440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}