Browsing by Author "Gillen, David"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The Full Cost of Air Travel
    (Transportation Research Board, 1999) Gillen, David; Levinson, David M
    In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the cost structure of the provision of air transportation and specify and estimate our own cost functions. We develop a full cost model which identifies the key cost components and then we measure those costs component by component: user costs, carrier costs, infrastructure costs, time and congestion costs, noise costs, accident costs, and pollution costs. Applying the models to data for domestic air travel in the California Corridor, the total long run average cost is estimated to be $0.13 per passenger kilometer traveled. The single largest cost category is owning and operating a plane. In general, because of large fixed cost components, the average cost of infrastructure exceeds the marginal cost.
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    The Full Cost of Intercity Highway Transportation
    (Pergamon, 1998) Levinson, David M; Gillen, David
    In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the cost structure of the provision of intercity highway transportation and specify and estimate our own cost functions . We develop a full cost model which identifies the key cost components and then estimate costs component by component: user costs, infrastructure costs, time and congestion costs, noise costs, accident costs, and pollution costs. The total long run average cost is $0.34 per vehicle kilometer traveled. The single largest cost category is freeflow travel time. While the marginal cost of infrastructure is higher than its average cost, indicating that new construction is increasingly expensive, the marginal cost of driving (user fixed and variable costs) is less than the average cost, indicating that by increasing travel the user can spread his fixed cost of a vehicle over more trips without penalty.
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    Inter-technology Effects in Intelligent Transportation Systems.
    (Transportation Research Board, 2002) Levinson, David M; Kanchi, Seshasai; Gillen, David
    This project examines the expected benefits of varying combinations of ITS applications: Freeway Service Patrol, Changeable Message Signs, and Ramp Metering. The research analyzes the simulated results of a stylized network in a microscopic traffic simulator. The traffic network includes parallel roadways, ramp meters and changeable message signs. We have tested these technologies in various combinations. We measure effectiveness as consumers' surplus and define a measure of inter-technology economies. In brief, it is found that additional technologies are sub-additive, and more benefits come from each technology in isolation than when it is bundled with other technologies.
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    Machine for Access
    (Elsevier, 2005) Levinson, David M; Krizek, Kevin; Gillen, David
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    The social costs of intercity transportation: a review and comparison of air and highway
    (Taylor & Francis, Ltd, 1998) Levinson, David M; Gillen, David; Kanafani, Adib
    This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the literature on the measures of social costs, providing an indication of the state of engineering and economic literature. We operationalize the new thinking about which externalities seem appropriate to consider in an analysis of the transportation system. We construct measures of each externality: noise, air pollution, accidents, and congestion for the highway and air transportation modes, where possible as a function of the amount of output or use, rather than as simple unit costs. We find that noise is the dominant cost of air travel, followed by congestion, air pollution and accidents. For highway travel, accidents are the most significant cost, followed by congestion, noise, and air pollution. The social costs of highway travel are about 15 percent of the full cost of a highway trip, while the smaller social costs of air travel are only 5 percent of the full cost of an air trip. A highway trip generates four to five times as much externality as an air trip.