Gap Analysis - MMD#371
Good day my good friend.
Vehicles are not just a means of transport, but can also be used as a weapon. Sadly, this week, such violence came to the streets of Nottingham in the early hours. The horror that such acts inflict is unimaginable, and all of my thoughts go to the families of the victims and to those living with the effects of this tragedy. Time to tackle road traffic violence properly, isn’t it?
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Filling the gap
In many parts of the world there are notable data gaps. And loads of great work goes in to filling these data gaps that is often not noticed by the wider world. This article concerning household travel data in the cities of Nairobi and Kisumu in Kenya is one such example. I like this one so much I am just going to paste the abstract.
The proportion of individuals reporting no trips was far higher in Kisumu (47% vs 5%). For participants with trips, the mean number [lower - upper quartiles] of daily trips was similar (Kisumu (2.2 versus 2.4 trips), but total daily travel durations were lower in Kisumu (65 ersus 116 minutes). Walking was the most common trip mode in both cities (61% in Kisumu and 42% in Nairobi), followed by motorcycles (17%), matatus (minibuses) (11%), and cars (5%) in Kisumu; and matatus (28%), cars (12%) and buses (12%) in Nairobi. In both cities, females were less likely to make trips, and when they did, they travelled for shorter durations; people living in households with higher incomes were more likely to travel and did so for longer durations. Gender, income, occupation, and household vehicle ownership were associated differently with trip making, use of transport modes and daily travel times in cities. These findings illustrate marked differences in reported travel behaviour characteristics and correlates within the same country, indicating setting-dependent influences on travel behaviour.
Collaboration and Competition in Public Transport
The Research in Transport Economics Journal recently published two open-access articles covering two sides of the same coin. Is collaboration or competition preferable in public transport? The case of collaboration is made in Sweden, though the point on whether it raises ridership comes down as a firm ‘maybe.’ Very simply, in the contracts studied, there was constant control transfer, so its hard to tell, though ridership overall did increase.
Meanwhile, this paper on competition in the UK (where else?) details some of the recent changes in public transport in the UK. And again, on the matter of whether competition works the answer is a distinct ‘meh.’ Both rail and buses are undergoing such upheaval that its hard to tell at the moment. So does competition work? On this, maybe. Does collaboration work? On this, maybe.
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
Does Directed Innovation Mitigate Climate Damage? Evidence from U.S. Agriculture (Quarterly Journal of Economics)
Minimum Wage and Individual Worker Productivity: Evidence from a Large US Retailer (Journal of Political Economy)
The Bizarre Reality of Getting Online in North Korea (Wired)
The effects of cash transfers on adult and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries (Nature)
Uber toots its eco horn and gears up for big sustainability drive (TechCrunch)
Something interesting
Honestly? My hat goes off to the Ukrainian Railways. What they are doing is nothing short of amazing.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Do…nothing. Honestly. Take some time for yourself. Go out for a walk and get away from things. Just some time for you. You deserve it.