Better transport policies emerge from looking at all actors
Transport network analyses often neglect taking into consideration the role of large actors – e.g. private infrastructure or service operators, insurance companies, and vehicle manufacturers – who are all very active in transport markets and have a substantial impact on the outcomes. This leads to serious errors in developing and managing ideal networks, compounded by biased policy evaluations and recommendations. The EU-funded OPTION (Optimizing Policies for Transport: accounting for Industrial Organisation in Network markets) project sought to overcome this challenge through new approaches that incorporate the behaviour of large actors for better transport modelling. It strove to articulate models that outline the effect of these actors’ behaviour on achieving network equilibrium and designing better transport policies to enhance network operation. Considering a number of markets such as insurance companies, traffic safety, automated and electric vehicles, taxis, aviation, private roads and public transport, the project team sought to achieve a more comprehensive evaluation of transport policies. It noted that understanding the various actors’ impact on the equilibrium of these markets is crucial to mapping the future of the transport sector. Indeed, ignoring the behaviour of larger actors could reduce the welfare of society and compromise smooth operation of the sector. To properly assess the impact of the actors in question, the team pointed out to the need for integrating different considerations related to these actors. These considerations include number and size of actors, reach across the network, public or private nature, complementarity and overlapping of services among actors, consumer interaction among consumers of different actors, and substitutability among actors’ services. Lastly, the project also worked on modelling congestion, looking at static modelling versus dynamic modelling in congestion technology, which has a significant effect on strategic interaction of actors and on policymaking. With respect to dynamic modelling, the team found that scheduling decision-making has important implications for valuing time and schedule delays, helping to develop and evaluate optimal policies for better transport networks. There is no doubt that a closer look at the large actors and network markets in the sector will help improve the transport sector in the long term.
Keywords
Transport networks, network equilibrium, transport policies, modelling transport, modelling congestion
