Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
214
result(s) for
"Automobile travel Asia."
Sort by:
The Kombi Trail
Cambridge, 1961. A group of students set off on the trip of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of the Cold War they travel through the Soviet Union to the Middle East, South Asia and on to Africa. Their mode of transport? The iconic VW Kombi. This book tells the story of that trip, not just the people they met and the places they saw, but the many experiences - sometimes nerve-wracking, sometimes bizarre - that they encountered along the way. It provides a fascinating insight into a world on the brink of change - seen through the eyes of nine young men fresh from university. The two VW Kombis doggedly traversed treacherous mountain passes, near-impossible roads, jungle tracks and river crossings on their journey through Anatolia, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. This book is an affectionate and highly entertaining re-creation of the relationship between the nine young travellers and their companions, the two VW Kombis which functioned as transport, shelter, canteen and home. It is also a tribute to the determined and rugged determination of the VW Kombi whose descendants still tackle the highways and the more daunting roads of the world.
eBook
Better Lucky Than Rich? Welfare Analysis of Automobile Licence Allocations in Beijing and Shanghai
Economists often favour market-based mechanisms over non-market based mechanisms to allocate scarce public resources on grounds of economic efficiency and revenue generation. When the usage of the resources in question generates type-dependent negative externalities, the welfare comparison can become ambiguous. Both types of allocation mechanisms are being implemented in China’s major cities to distribute limited vehicle licences as a measure to combat worsening traffic congestion and air pollution. While Beijing employs non-transferable lotteries, Shanghai uses an auction system. This article empiricallye quantifies the welfare consequences of the two mechanisms by taking into account both allocation efficiency and automobile externalities post-allocation. Our analysis shows that different allocation mechanisms lead to dramatic differences in social welfare. Although Beijing’s lottery system has a large advantage in reducing automobile externalities over auction, the advantage is offset by the significant allocative cost from misallocation. The lottery system in Beijing resulted in a social welfare loss of 30 billionYuan (nearly $5 billion) in 2012 alone. A uniform-price auction would have generated nearly 20 billion Yuan to Beijing municipal government, more than covering all its subsidies to the local public transit system.
Journal Article
Applying the theory of reasoned action to understanding consumers’ intention to adopt hybrid electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia
To satisfy the global energy demand while accommodating the rapidly increasing consumption rate in its domestic market, Saudi Arabia must develop and implement fuel efficiency programs in many sectors. In the transportation sector, which is a major contributor to fuel consumption and emissions, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) could provide a viable solution, but they are not yet available in the Saudi market. Applying the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and an online questionnaire instrument (N = 847), this paper aims to identify the factors that could drive Saudi citizens’ intention to adopt such technology. We find that the TRA is appropriate to describe intention to adopt HEVs in the Saudi context, and that both subjective norms and attitudes are significant in explaining Saudi consumers’ intention, with subjective norms having three times as strong an effect as attitudes. The findings should be useful to relevant Saudi government officials as they develop and implement transportation-related initiatives and policies, as well as to global auto manufacturers and dealers seeking to tap into Saudi Arabia’s prospective HEV market.
Journal Article
The effects of trait anxiety and the big five personality traits on self-driving car acceptance
Self-driving cars are expected to be integrated into the traffic system in the near future. It is crucial to understand how the public accepts self-driving cars and how adoption rates are influenced. The main purpose of this study was to investigate how trait anxiety and the Big Five personality traits affect acceptance and to provide a personality profile of early adopters of self-driving cars. A total of 527 drivers participated in the research, completing Chinese versions of the Self-driving Car Acceptance Scale, the Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Big Five Inventory and some demographic questions. The results showed that trait anxiety had a positive effect on perceived automation reliability. Openness and extraversion had positive effects on self-driving car acceptance, while neuroticism had a negative effect. People with high agreeableness had a more positive perspective on the benefits of self-driving cars, but they were also more worried about ease of use and automation reliability. These results help to provide a personality profile of early adopters of self-driving cars. People with certain personality traits are more likely to be starting points for the diffusion of self-driving cars.
Journal Article
Influence of Urban Form on Travel Behaviour in Four Neighbourhoods of Shanghai
Since the 1980s, much of the new urban development in China has departed significantly from the traditional pedestrian and bicycle-oriented urban form. This study examines the effects of the urban spatial transformation on travel, based on a travel survey of 1709 individuals from four selected neighbourhoods of Shanghai. Although pedestrian/cyclist-friendly urban form may not avert the general trend of motorisation growth induced by rising income, it does help to slow down the pace of growth and reduces the need for high levels of motor vehicle ownership. In the pedestrian/cyclist-friendly neighbourhoods, residents travel shorter distances than in other neighbourhoods even though the same modes of travel are used. Pedestrian/cyclist-friendly urban form makes the non-motorised modes feasible options, which is essential to limit automobile dependence. These findings suggest that land use planning and urban design can effectively influence people's mobility demand and travel behaviour towards achieving ' green transport' in urban China.
Journal Article
Travel Time and Distance in International Perspective
While Western countries are trying to reduce car dependency on the back of low carbon objectives, the ownership and use of private cars in urban China is increasing dramatically. In this paper, light is shed on both developments through a comparative study of the travel behaviour in two regions with a very different built environment: Nanjing, China, and the Randstad in the Netherlands. Controlled for car ownership, daily travel time and distance are analysed in both regions. The results indicate that, in the case of Nanjing, the suggestion is that the configurations of current land use which support walking and cycling should be preserved as much as possible and that, in the meanwhile, investments should be made in fast public transport to facilitate economic developments. As regards the Randstad, it would seem wise to promote the use of walking and cycling by continuing to encourage compact land use patterns in combination with relatively fast public transport developments.
Journal Article
Identifying factors influencing the slow market diffusion of electric vehicles in Korea
Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered as a driving force behind the automotive industry’s transformation based on eco-friendliness and high energy efficiency. Unlike expectations, the diffusion of EVs is proceeding at a slow pace in Korea. This study therefore aims to identify the factors influencing the slow market diffusion of EVs from a socio-technical perspective, by comparing the perceptions of the experts and the individuals. We constructed 15 factors in the five dimensions including costs, automobile characteristics, charging conditions, policy instruments, and perceptions for the analytic hierarchy process analysis. Surveys were performed with 58 EV experts and 87 individuals with driver’s licenses in Korea. The results identified and prioritized charging concerns as the highest barrier in both groups, and burden of costs as another critical barrier in the individual group. All factors in charging concerns, burden of initial costs, insufficient performance, and insufficient financial incentives were identified as major influential factors in both groups. While, lack of non-financial supports (for experts), and burden of battery costs and lack of social empathy (for individuals) were ranked as other upper factors. Statistical analysis of the analysis of variance results revealed that the burden of costs was more of a hurdle to the individuals than to the experts. These results suggest implications for policy-making and practice in promoting a widespread EV market.
Journal Article
Exploring impacts of on-demand ridesplitting on mobility via real-world ridesourcing data and questionnaires
On-demand ridesplitting is a form of ridesourcing where riders with similar origins and destinations are matched to the same driver and vehicle in real time, and the ride and costs are split among users. With the convenience of all kinds of ridesourcing services, the number of ridesplitting passengers increases, which may have a great impact on the urban mobility. In this paper, we analyze ridesplitting behavior and its impact on multimodal mobility, e.g., vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) and transportation modal shift, using real-world ridesourcing data extracted from an on-demand ride service platform in Hangzhou, China, and questionnaires filled by on-demand ridesplitting passengers. With the consideration of the VKT shifted from non-passenger/private vehicles, this paper uses the saved VKT of two ridesplitting types, e.g., DiDi Hitch and DiDi Express ridesplitting, to quantify the ridesplitting impact. For the whole ridesourcing ecosystem, ridesplitting is estimated to decrease 58,124 VKT per day in Hangzhou, of which Hitch and Express ridesplitting contribute 2175 km and 55,949 km per day, respectively. The saved VKT of Hitch is much smaller than Express ridesplitting for the following two reasons: (1) Hitch orders are fewer than Express ridesplitting; (2) more than half of the Hitch passengers shift modes from bus/metro transit or other non-passenger/private cars. This paper shines some lights on understanding the emerging on-demand ridesplitting behavior and quantifying its impact on multimodal urban mobility.
Journal Article