In the Netherlands, many (mainly larger) train stations suffer from capacity shortages for bicycle parking as the result of a large increase in the use of the bicycle as a feeder mode. Sharing of parked bicycles with arriving train passengers who are in need of a bicycle for some time would decrease the number of parked bicycles and reduce the capacity shortage. The paper explores to which extent sharing of these bicycles relieves the capacity problem by investigating the maximum potential for reducing the peak of parked bicycles. This is the potential of the case when all considered participants (bicycle owners and those who are in need for a bicycle) are willing to share. The analyses are based on data of the Dutch National Travel Survey. The main result is that the potential is likely to be modest. The estimated maximum is for the large stations between 13% and 50%, the actual potential is likely to be significantly lower. The large range for the maximum can partly be explained by the uncertainty about the number of arriving train passengers that might shift to the bicycle for the last mile if sharing increases bicycle availability. A second result is that sharing can have a significant effect on the distribution of parked bicycles over the day. The current peak halfway the day can turn into a dip between two peaks in the traditional morning and evening peak hours.@en

Long-distance travelling accounts for a significant and increasing part of the mileage of person travel and the respective environmental impacts (Van Goeverden et al, 2016). Energy consumption and emissions connected with long-distance travelling might be substantially reduced through use of evacuated tubes of low air resistance, such as the recently proposed Hyperloop transport system (HL). This paper explores the extent to which a fully developed HL network system in Europe could reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions of long-distance passenger transport.@en

Travel speed is an intrinsic feature of transport, and enlarging the speed is considered as beneficial. The benefit of a speed increase is generally assessed as the value of the saved travel time. However, this approach conflicts with the observation that time spent on travelling is rather constant and might not be affected by speed changes. The paper aims to define the benefits of a speed increase and addresses two research questions. First, how will a speed increase in person transport work out, which factors are affected? Second, is the value of time a good proxy for the value of speed? Based on studies on time spending and research on the association between speed and land use, we argue that human wealth could be the main affected factor by speed changes, rather than time or access. Then the value of time is not a good proxy for the value of speed: the benefits of a wealth increase are negatively correlated with prosperity following the law of diminishing marginal utility, while the calculated benefits of saved travel time prove to be positively correlated. The inadequacy of the value of time is explained by some shortcomings with respect to the willingness to pay that is generally used for assessing the value of time: people do not predict correctly the personal benefits that will be gained from a decision, and they neglect the social impacts.@en

This paper deals with an analysis of performances of the HL (Hyperloop) transport system considered as an advanced transport alternative to the existing APT (Air Passenger Transport) and HSR (High Speed Rail) systems. The considered performances are operational, financial, social and environmental. The operational performance include capacity and quality of service provided to the system’s users-passengers with attributes such as door-to-door travel time consisting of the access and egress time, schedule delay, in-vehicle time, and interchange time. The economic performances embrace the costs and revenues of operating the system. The costs include that for infrastructure, vehicles, traffic management facilities and equipment, and employees. The revenues embrace earnings from pricing users/passengers. The environmental performances include energy consumption and related emissions of GHGs (Green House Gases), and land use. The social performances are considered to be noise and safety. The analytical models of indicators of these performances are developed and applied to the scenario of operating the HL system on the short- to medium-haul travel distances/routes. These are then compared to the corresponding performances of the HSR and APT. This comparison has shown that the HL system may possess some advantages but also disadvantages regarding particular performances.@en

Travel speed is an intrinsic feature of transport, and enlarging the speed is considered as beneficial. The benefit of a speed increase is generally assessed as the value of the saved travel time. However, this approach conflicts with the observation that time spent on travelling is rather constant and might not be affected by speed changes. The paper aims to define the benefits of a speed increase and addresses two research questions. First, how will a speed increase in person transport work out, which factors are affected? Second, is the value of time a good proxy for the value of speed? Based on studies on time spending (among others) we argue that human wealth is the main affected factor by speed changes, rather than time or access. Then the value of time is not a good proxy for the value of speed, because the benefits of a wealth increase are negatively correlated with prosperity while the calculated benefits of saved travel time prove to be positively correlated.@en

Long-distance person transport contributes significantly to the GHG-emissions of all person transport. The EU aims for reducing the emissions by inducing a significant modal shift to the train, raising its market share to at least 50% on medium distances in 2050. This implies that the current share has to be multiplied by four. The paper examines the impact of significant modal shifts on the GHG emissions of long-distance transport by Europeans. The impact is estimated for three scenarios, a) no modal shift (trend), b) doubling train use, and c) larger shifts that give the targeted 50% market share. The basic assumption is that the probability of a modal shift to the train is higher when the appropriateness of the train compared to the currently used mode is better. Therefore, different modal shifts are assumed for different segments of the long-distance travel market, indicating different standards of the train mode compared to the best performing alternative. In the segment where the train currently is inferior, no shift is assumed. The main result is that the potential for reducing emissions in long-distance travelling is limited. It is unlikely that reductions larger than 20% can be achieved. The main reason is that the segment where the train is inferior includes the majority of the mileage and emissions of long-distance travel. Moreover, it is the fastest growing segment. If a reference is made to only the segments where the train is competitive, the possible reductions are significantly larger.@en

Introduction: Hyperloop (HL) is presented as an efficient alternative of HSR (High Speed Rail) and APT (Air Passenger Transport) systems for long-distance passenger transport. This paper explores the performances of HL and compares these performances to HSR and APT. Methods: The following performances of the HL system are analytically modeled and compared to HSR and APT: (i) operational performance; (ii) financial performance; (iii) social/environmental performance. Results: The main operational result is that the capacity of HL is low which implies a low utilization of the infrastructure. Because the infrastructure costs dominate the total costs, the costs per passenger km are high compared to those for HSR and APT. The HL performs very well regarding the social/environmental aspects because of low energy use, no GHG emissions and hardly any noise. The safety performance needs further consideration. Conclusions: The HL system is promising for relieving the environmental pressure of long-distance travelling, but has disadvantages regarding the operational and financial performances.@en

A majority of the trips are made by just one transport mode that is mostly the car, walking, or –in some countries– the bicycle. For a small proportion of the trips, generally a few percent, two or more modes are used. The latter include particularly trips where a collective mode (e.g. bus, train, airplane) is the main mode and the trip distance is rather long. In travel segments with high shares of collective public transport and rather long trip distances, the proportion of multimodal trips can exceed 50%. Knowledge on volume and characteristics of multimodal trips is important, among others, for policymakers that aim at promoting public transport, for those who have to plan and design facilities at train stations and other nodes where people make interchanges, and for those who want to simulate multimodal travelling in transport models. Information on the use of transport modes, including multimodal use, is generally asked for in the national and regional travel surveys. Because of the relative complexity of multimodal trips, reporting on such trips is more troublesome and may be less accurate than reporting on unimodal trips. As a consequence, multimodal trips demand for more effort to achieve accurate information. Consecutively, the quality of the registration of multimodal trips may depend relatively strong on the set-up of the survey. The paper explores the impact of travel survey design on the quality of the registration of multimodal trips using survey data from the Netherlands. This country has a long tradition in surveying mobility behaviour; since the start in 1978 every year a large survey has been conducted. In the long period after 1978, the survey design has a few times been strongly adapted. The adaptations caused several trend breaks in registered travel behaviour, including huge changes in the performance of multimodal travelling. The paper analyses the relation between the survey design and the quality of the description of multimodal trips and gives some recommendations about how an accurate registration of multimodal trips can be achieved. It also shows which aspects of multimodality are rather robust with respect to survey design changes, and which aspects are highly volatile. The most prominent example of the latter is the registration of interchanges between vehicles of the same mode (e.g. the train); an accurate registration of such interchanges makes high demands on the set-up of the survey.@en

Long-distance travel contributes significantly to climate change. One of the mitigation options is a shift to more sustainable modes. An efficient policy on modal choice demands knowledge on which market segments are promising for a mode. The paper describes a method for breaking down the travel market into segments that are homogeneous with respect to the appropriateness of a mode for the travellers; the method is applied to all typical long-distance modes. The appropriateness of a mode depends on the demanded standards and the extent the standards of a mode meets the demand. A number of variables that define the appropriateness are identified, and by crossing the most important variables a large number of small, elementary market segments are defined. These are building stones for the mode-specific larger segments with a certain standard of a mode. Based on the explanatory power of a variable for modal choice and the standard of a mode for journeys in the variable category, a standard score of each mode is calculated for each elementary segment. Segments where the score of a mode compared to the score of the best performing alternative is similar (that is: within defined limits) are clustered into one of five segments with a certain standard of the mode. Some results: the proportion of long-distance journeys where a mode has at least a comparable standard is 79% for the car, 60% for the train, and 30% for the airplane. Expressed in mileage, the proportions are 40%, 33%, and 75% respectively.@en

In the context of mitigating climate change, a shift from air to rail is proposed for short-haul journeys. The impact of this policy on the GHG emissions of aviation is small and will be even marginal if only journeys < 500 km are involved. These journeys account for 2.2% of the mileage of air travel, and the impact on emissions will be even smaller than this figure, mainly because not all air travellers (likely) will shift, and part of the emission reduction will be undone by increasing emissions of rail transport. When the upper limit of involved distances increases, the impact increases significantly as well; but even at a limit of 1200 km, which is about the upper limit of the market range of the train, the impact will likely be smaller than the opposite impact of the annual growth of air travel. Policy intentions seem to be prompted by just to do something that doesn’t hurt people so much rather than by a systematic analysis of possible measures and their effectiveness.@en

In the sixties of the last century, Dutch public transport run into deficits that grew fast in the next two decades. At first, the government fully covered the deficits by subsidies. The current policy is to reduce the subsidies. Reducing subsidies may have substantial consequences for the public transport system. The research question is, what are the consequences of full suspension of the subsidies for public transport operation. For that, first, the financial performance of current public transport is investigated. Second, measures to improve the financial performance are analysed. Third, the effects of suspension of the subsidies are estimated by means of scenario analysis. Two scenarios are developed that differ with respect to the assumed strategy of the public transport operators in eliminating the deficits. In the first scenario the prime strategy is to make public transport more attractive in order to increase demand and revenues. In the second scenario the operators close down the most uneconomic parts of the public transport system in order to decrease costs. The scenarios are stepwise developed until a situation is created without operating losses. The analysis demonstrates that deficits are largest in urban and regional transport systems and that these will be affected mostly by subsidy suspension. The level of service will decline and the fares will increase substantially. The long distance services may be rather unaffected, depending on the strategy of the operators.@en

De internationale ontsluiting van de regio Eindhoven per openbaar vervoer is van een erbarmelijke kwaliteit. De studie brengt de lage kwaliteit in beeld, doet voorstellen voor verbeteringen en evalueert een aantal verbeteringsvarianten op vervoervraag, kosten en opbrengsten. Daarbij wordt een beperking gemaakt tot vervoerrelaties over de wat langere afstanden.@en

De internationale ontsluiting van de regio Eindhoven per openbaar vervoer is van een erbarmelijke kwaliteit. De studie brengt de lage kwaliteit in beeld, doet voorstellen voor verbeteringen en evalueert een aantal verbeteringsvarianten op vervoervraag, kosten en opbrengsten. Daarbij wordt een beperking gemaakt tot vervoerrelaties over de wat langere afstanden.@en

It is generally recognised that long distance travelling accounts for a significant part of the mileage of person travel. However, estimates have been hardly made. The paper estimates volume and GHG emissions of long-distance travel by Western Europeans. The analysis is predominantly based on data of the DATELINE project, the only EU-wide survey on long-distance travelling, conducted in 2001 and 2002. Some studies demonstrate that DATELINE suffers from serious underreporting of journeys. We analysed the causes for underreporting and developed expansion factors that correct for that. These gave the opportunity to estimate long-distance travel volumes and related GHG emissions in 2001/2002. Next an update to 2013 is made using statistics on the development of tourist travel and patronage of long-distance modes. Defining long distance ≥100. km crow-fly, the estimates per capita in the Western European countries in 2013 are 7.5 journeys (defined as round-trips), 8600. km, and 1300. kg greenhouse gasses. The estimated total GHG emissions of long-distance travelling is 520 megaton. In the Netherlands and Flanders, countries where data on short-distance travelling were available, long-distance travelling accounts for 45% of the mileage and nearly 50% of the GHG emissions of all person transport. Long-distance travelling is growing and is expected to continue to grow, particularly by air. The GHG emissions are expected to grow as well, though to a smaller extent. Because short-distance travelling is stagnating, the shares of long distance travelling in both mileage and GHG emissions are likely to increase.@en

It is generally recognised that long distance travelling accounts for a significant part of the mileage of person travel. However, estimates have been hardly made. The paper estimates volume and GHG emissions of long-distance travel by Western Europeans. The analysis is predominantly based on data of the DATELINE project, the only EU-wide survey on long-distance travelling, conducted in 2001 and 2002. Some studies demonstrate that DATELINE suffers from serious underreporting of journeys. We analysed the causes for underreporting and developed expansion factors that correct for that. These gave the opportunity to estimate long-distance travel volumes and related GHG emissions in 2001/2002. Next an update to 2013 is made using statistics on the development of tourist travel and patronage of long-distance modes. Defining long distance ≥100. km crow-fly, the estimates per capita in the Western European countries in 2013 are 7.5 journeys (defined as round-trips), 8600. km, and 1300. kg greenhouse gasses. The estimated total GHG emissions of long-distance travelling is 520 megaton. In the Netherlands and Flanders, countries where data on short-distance travelling were available, long-distance travelling accounts for 45% of the mileage and nearly 50% of the GHG emissions of all person transport. Long-distance travelling is growing and is expected to continue to grow, particularly by air. The GHG emissions are expected to grow as well, though to a smaller extent. Because short-distance travelling is stagnating, the shares of long distance travelling in both mileage and GHG emissions are likely to increase.@en

It is generally recognised that long distance travelling accounts for a significant part of the mileage of person travel. However, estimates have been hardly made. The paper estimates volume and GHG emissions of long-distance travel by Western Europeans. The analysis is predominantly based on data of the DATELINE project, the only EU-wide survey on long-distance travelling, conducted in 2001 and 2002. Some studies demonstrate that DATELINE suffers from serious underreporting of journeys. We analysed the causes for underreporting and developed expansion factors that correct for that. These gave the opportunity to estimate long-distance travel volumes and related GHG emissions in 2001/2002. Next an update to 2013 is made using statistics on the development of tourist travel and patronage of long-distance modes. Defining long distance ≥100. km crow-fly, the estimates per capita in the Western European countries in 2013 are 7.5 journeys (defined as round-trips), 8600. km, and 1300. kg greenhouse gasses. The estimated total GHG emissions of long-distance travelling is 520 megaton. In the Netherlands and Flanders, countries where data on short-distance travelling were available, long-distance travelling accounts for 45% of the mileage and nearly 50% of the GHG emissions of all person transport. Long-distance travelling is growing and is expected to continue to grow, particularly by air. The GHG emissions are expected to grow as well, though to a smaller extent. Because short-distance travelling is stagnating, the shares of long distance travelling in both mileage and GHG emissions are likely to increase.@en

Railway closures in Western Europe, ongoing since the twenties, have affected international links more than national networks. The Dutch domestic railway network has shrunk by 20 % since 1930, while the number of international links to Germany and Belgium decreased by 67 % and 75 %, respectively. Today, the Dutch domestic network density is more than triple the density of the international network. One may hypothesize that international railway tracks have, because of their much lower density, primarily a linking function between the domestic networks of the different countries. Many of their passengers may be transferring to and from the domestic networks on which they travel many kilometres. Therefore, the marginal revenue per traveller may be high at international links. A low travel demand, one of the main motives for track closures, should therefore be a relatively weak motive for closing international tracks. The hypothesis is verified by a study on two international railway links with a low travel demand between the Netherlands and Germany. The average distance of train passengers was 6 and 11 times the length of the international tracks. Closure of the tracks, with bus replacement service, is estimated to reduce total passenger kilometres by 55%: 3 and 6 times the passenger kilometres on the tracks itself. Conclusions from this are: Firstly, careful assessment is warranted with closing international railway links; they may be more profitable than they seem at first sight. Secondly, it is preferable to operate international connections by a company that also operates one of the connecting networks.@en

Automatische Voertuiggeleiding in het Collectieve Openbaar Vervoer is een manier om op kosten, vooral op personeelskosten, te besparen. Er is intussen een groot aanbod aan nieuwe automatische vervoersystemen maar er wordt te weinig aandacht geschonken aan de mogelijkheden bij de bestaande systemen. In deze studie is op basis van technische kenmerken een klasseindeling van openbaar vervoersystemen gemaakt en daarnaast de mogelijkheden voor de automatisering van processen vóór, ná en tijdens de dienstuitvoering, en ter controle en bijsturing daarvan. De combinaties van deze systemen met de relevante processen worden AVG-pakketten genoemd. Van deze pakketten is nagegaan welke effecten zij hebben op eisen gesteld door reizigers, exploitanten, overheid en omgeving. Vervolgens is op basis van praktische overwegingen een keuze gemaakt om te bepalen welke van deze pakketten uit technisch oogpunt kansrijk geacht mogen worden. Vooral de automatische stadsbus op een vrije baan en een automatische sneltram op een vrije baan zijn kansrijke AVG-pakketten. De koppeling van deze pakketten aan de vraag naar vervoer rond de studie af. Een onderzoek van een voorbeeldsituatie is nodig om het verkeersvolume preciezer te schatten alsmede de technische en economische haalbaarheid. De ontwikkeling van een geschikte obstakeldetectie voor automatische voertuigen op een vrije baan is hierbij een eerste noodzakelijke stap.@en

Vorig jaar verdween de laatste nachttrein (in de zin van overnachtingstrein) uit Nederland. Het verdwijnen hiervan is een soort sluitstuk van een lange periode van afkalving van het aanbod van nacht- en andere langeafstandstreinen in West-Europa. Vertrokken 50 jaar geleden dagelijks nog 11 reguliere nachttreinen in Nederland, 30 jaar later was dat gereduceerd tot 4 en vandaag is dan de laatste verdwenen. Met het opheffen van nachttreinen trekken de spoorwegmaatschappijen zich verder terug van de langeafstandsmarkt. De nachttrein is het treintype dat op reistijd het meest concurrerend is met het vliegtuig voor afstanden boven de 600 km dankzij een zeer efficiënt tijdgebruik (slapend reizen). Vanuit duurzaamheidsperspectief is de opheffing ongewenst; het vliegtuig, waar een groot deel van de nachttreinreizigers op zal overstappen, stoot aanzienlijk meer broeikasgassen uit dan de nachttrein. De vrije val waarin de nachttreinen terecht zijn gekomen heeft te maken met factoren aan de vraag- en de aanbodzijde. De vraag is flink gedaald als gevolg van de toegenomen concurrentie van het vliegtuig en, in mindere mate, de hogesnelheids-dagtrein en de bus. De verhoogde concurrentie van de bus is het gevolg van de liberalisering van de busmarkt in een aantal landen. Aan de aanbodkant is de scheiding tussen infrastructuur en vervoerdiensten een belangrijke ontwikkeling. Treinexploitanten zijn nu genoopt vergoedingen te betalen voor infrastructuurgebruik; bovendien lijken bij de toewijzing van treinpaden de incidentele langeafstandstreindiensten een lage prioriteit te krijgen. De veranderingen ten nadele van de nachttrein zijn vandaag overwegend uitgekristalliseerd en een substantiële verdere verslechtering van de positie van de nachttrein valt niet te verwachten. Er zijn weer tekenen van groei en er zijn plannen voor uitbreiding van de nachttreindiensten door met name de Oostenrijkse spoorwegen. En mochten overheden besluiten een gelijk speelveld te creëren in de langeafstandsvervoermarkt, dan krijgt de nachttrein een extra steun in de rug; momenteel worden vliegtuigdiensten belastingtechnisch bevoordeeld boven treindiensten. Als er bij de spoorwegen en andere actoren (spooraanbieders en overheden) een wil is om levensvatbare nachttreindiensten aan te blijven bieden zal het huidige rudiment van het nachttreinnet grosso modo gehandhaafd kunnen worden en zal de nachttrein mogelijk iets van de verloren markt gaan terugwinnen. En misschien komt hij dan weer terug in Nederland. @en