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Miles to go: European and American transportation policies
72
Bibliographic
Chapter 5 continues with spatiallydistributedqueues and the wide range of applications: server-to-customer systems, facility location, the hypercube queueing model and its use in police-beat design, ambulance responsearea design, and others. This model has had world-wide use, with one of the authors (Larson) being the originator of this area. Chapter six is the longest and provides an introduction to network models and their diverse set of urban applications-street cleaning, dial-a-ride, vehicle routing, facility location. Here, probability concepts take a back seat, except for a short section on probabilisticnetworks. This chapter would make a nice supplement to the standard deterministic OR course. The final theorylapplication chapter (seven) is a short one (50 pages). It introduces simulation concepts and urban service applications.This chapter is not as strong as the others; the
section
authors probably included it for completeness. Its urban problem descriptions would be useful in a regular simulation course. The last chapter on implementationis an unusual one: unusual in that it is included in an OR text where it has been de rigueur for texts to ignore or shortchange the implementationproblem, and unusual in that it is based on the hands-on-experiencesof the authors. This chapter can and should be a part of all OR courses. In sum, the authors have produced an excellent text. Its main contribution is its putting probabilisticmodelingon a solid applications base. In addition, the chapters on networks, simulation and implementation, even though they may not seem to fit the main probabilistictheme of the text, are excellent additionsto OR and transportation science.
Milesto Go: Europeanand AmericanTransportationPolicies,James A. Dunn, Jr., MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1981, pp. 202, $19.95. Reviewed by K. H. Schaeffer, 3 Acacia St., Cambridge,MA 02138,U.S.A. According to the author “transportation in the United United States focuses on the fact that in Great Britain States is becoming a public problem in a way that it gasoline taxes (user changes) were not earmarked and never was before. In the past public policy in trans- thus that the United Kingdom had relatively less interportation amounted to little more than encouraging the city highwaybuildingthan the United States where these greatest possible growth of all modes.. . (But) the taxes are earmarked. The last section deals with the present national anxiety over energy and environment automobile, its safety, pollution problems and energy has brought to the fore issues concerning the planning, usage. Here the American policy of regulating the incoordination an utilization of transportation systems in dustry is contrasted to the European policies of regulatwhich questions of general principles and public interest ing citizen behavior. are clearer and more intense than ever bofore.” In the concluding chapter, Dunn suggests that in the The question of general principle which Dunn chases future the European policy solutions of balanced and to discuss and illuminate is the public choice between integrated transportation may be a more satisfactory resauthority and planning on one hand and markets and ponse than the traditional paradigm of transportation as exchange on the other. To meet this stated objective an economic good and virtually as an end in itself. Dunn Dunn has fashioned his book out of a set of contrasting makes the suggestion not because the Europeans are case studies. These studies illustrate how the two “anti- wiser and smarter than the Americans, but because he thetical types of paradigmsof public choice” have been believes that the conditions in the United States are de-facto operating for different transportation modes in changing and coming to resemble the European condiverse Western European countries and in the United ditions. States. I find Dunn’sconclusionsfar more convincingthan his Dunn contrasts France’s slow path towards national- arguments. It makes eminent sense that transportation ization of railroads through technocratic planning inter- should be treated as a service and be coordinated and spersed with market operations to the United states’ firm integrated, rather than regarded as an end in itself, belief in private ownership and public regulation where transportation mode by transportation mode. However, increasingly the capital is raised through public guaran- to treat transportation policy as a choice between martees and funds. For mass transportation, the contrast is kets and exchange on one hand and authoritarian plandrawn between West Germany’s early public concern ning on the other, appears to me to omit a fundamental with coordinated urban transportation and the early pub- aspect of transportation, and one which Dunn never lic ownership of most systems and the United States’ discusses. much later public concern for mass transportation and Why does the invisiblehand of the market work so well then only after public transit had severely declined under for soap, furniture, ball point pens and duplicating the onslaught of the automobile (“Did it fall or was it machines, but runs into trouble when it comes to transpushed” is one of Dunn’s subheadings).The contrast portation? Could it possibly be that our definitionof the between the highway policies of Great Britain and the market as an exchange between riders (fares) and sup-
Bibliographic section
pliers is too limited a concept? Might Adam Smith have been right when he wrote over 200 years ago in his section “On the Rent of Land”: “Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage,put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of a// improvements. They encourage the cultivation of the remote, which must always be the most extensive circle of the country. They are advantageous to the town, by breaking down the monopoly of the country in its neighbourhood. They are advantageous even to that part of the country. Though they introduce some rival commodities into the old market, they open many new markets to its produce.
If one adopts Adam Smith’s point of view that improvements are needed to diminishthe expense of carriage, then a major public role in transportation is to
73
facilitate the efficient transfer of equitable payments from the locational beneficiaries to the transportation suppliers. In such a framework public policy and choice questions are analyzed in terms of the efficiency and equitability of the transfer which they imply. A framework like this, that recognizes that transportation is not just another commodity,appears to be more suited to the public policy issues Dunn raises, then Dunn’s own models. His models (or paradigms)make central what is the critical difference between goods production in mar.ket and planned economies, but which is at best a peripheral aspect in the transportation policies of the developed nations of the West. This criticism should in no way detract from the fact that Dunn has fashioned a well researched, well organized and well written book, that deals in an informative manner with a rarely discussedsubject matter: comparative research on national transportation policies.
BRIEF NOTICES U&an Transport Planning, John Black, Croom Helm WilliamAlonso writes in one of the chapters, “Whatever Ltd., 2-10 St. John’sRoad, London SWll, England,1981, happens, the population (and other) factors ensures that pp. 248, $12.95. things cannot stay the same.. .and we must act intetligently and with foresight about these changes.” Ira This book is designed to be a suitable introductory Lowry, Dale Keyes, Gregory Ingram and John Kain are textbook on transport planning methods for students of among the other writers expressing their concerns for civil engineering,town planningand urban geography. It urban form and the transport system that provides its is also for others concerned with the impact of transport connections. on society or on the environment. It is divided into theory and practice. Part One explains the applicationof systems modellingin transport analysis and forecasting which forms the theory of urban transport planning.Part Two is a descriptive presentation of urban transport planningpractice. By treating the urban area as a system, and recognizing the fundamental interactions between Remaking Cities, Alison Ravetz, Croom Helm, 2-10 St. land use, traffic and transport, the study suggestsways to John’s Road, London SWll, England, 1980, pp. 375, forecast the future demand for travel, to estimate trans- $14.95. port requirements and to formulate and evaluate alternative plans. This book has two main propositions: that the way the urban environment in Britain in the period 1945-75was remade was the product of deeply held social attitudes towards the environment;and that these involved serious contradictions that now urgently prompt a fundamental change of approach. It examines the ideas or deliberate The Prospective City: Economic, Population, Energy, and policy and design by which cities were developed, the Environmental Developments,Arthur P. Solomon (Edi- technology by which they were made and the influence tor), MIT Press, 28 Carleton Street, Cambridge, MA of cities as mechanismsfor the control of some people by 02142,U.S.A., 1980,pp. 491, $9.95. other groups. It looks critically at the style and achievements of the last generation of urban planning This book is a collection of papers concerned with the and developmentand proffers criteria by which this style impact on all aspects of American life the changes in may be appraised. The possibility of laying aside one population, employment, lifestyles, economics, energy style and substituting another that may be more apavailability and environmental attitudes will make, in propriate to present needs and desires is suggested. It particular those changes in store for cities and suburbs. argues that only a radical change of style will enable The articles in this volume try to anticipate the major Britainto escape the contradictionsin this postwar urban changes, explore their meaning and interpret their con- replanning and achieve a better urban environment. It sequences. Intended for students of urban studies, this will be of interest to those concerned with the built text has important lessons for transport planners. As environment in which they live. TRlAl Vol. 16. No. I-F
Bibliographic
Chapter 5 continues with spatiallydistributedqueues and the wide range of applications: server-to-customer systems, facility location, the hypercube queueing model and its use in police-beat design, ambulance responsearea design, and others. This model has had world-wide use, with one of the authors (Larson) being the originator of this area. Chapter six is the longest and provides an introduction to network models and their diverse set of urban applications-street cleaning, dial-a-ride, vehicle routing, facility location. Here, probability concepts take a back seat, except for a short section on probabilisticnetworks. This chapter would make a nice supplement to the standard deterministic OR course. The final theorylapplication chapter (seven) is a short one (50 pages). It introduces simulation concepts and urban service applications.This chapter is not as strong as the others; the
section
authors probably included it for completeness. Its urban problem descriptions would be useful in a regular simulation course. The last chapter on implementationis an unusual one: unusual in that it is included in an OR text where it has been de rigueur for texts to ignore or shortchange the implementationproblem, and unusual in that it is based on the hands-on-experiencesof the authors. This chapter can and should be a part of all OR courses. In sum, the authors have produced an excellent text. Its main contribution is its putting probabilisticmodelingon a solid applications base. In addition, the chapters on networks, simulation and implementation, even though they may not seem to fit the main probabilistictheme of the text, are excellent additionsto OR and transportation science.
Milesto Go: Europeanand AmericanTransportationPolicies,James A. Dunn, Jr., MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1981, pp. 202, $19.95. Reviewed by K. H. Schaeffer, 3 Acacia St., Cambridge,MA 02138,U.S.A. According to the author “transportation in the United United States focuses on the fact that in Great Britain States is becoming a public problem in a way that it gasoline taxes (user changes) were not earmarked and never was before. In the past public policy in trans- thus that the United Kingdom had relatively less interportation amounted to little more than encouraging the city highwaybuildingthan the United States where these greatest possible growth of all modes.. . (But) the taxes are earmarked. The last section deals with the present national anxiety over energy and environment automobile, its safety, pollution problems and energy has brought to the fore issues concerning the planning, usage. Here the American policy of regulating the incoordination an utilization of transportation systems in dustry is contrasted to the European policies of regulatwhich questions of general principles and public interest ing citizen behavior. are clearer and more intense than ever bofore.” In the concluding chapter, Dunn suggests that in the The question of general principle which Dunn chases future the European policy solutions of balanced and to discuss and illuminate is the public choice between integrated transportation may be a more satisfactory resauthority and planning on one hand and markets and ponse than the traditional paradigm of transportation as exchange on the other. To meet this stated objective an economic good and virtually as an end in itself. Dunn Dunn has fashioned his book out of a set of contrasting makes the suggestion not because the Europeans are case studies. These studies illustrate how the two “anti- wiser and smarter than the Americans, but because he thetical types of paradigmsof public choice” have been believes that the conditions in the United States are de-facto operating for different transportation modes in changing and coming to resemble the European condiverse Western European countries and in the United ditions. States. I find Dunn’sconclusionsfar more convincingthan his Dunn contrasts France’s slow path towards national- arguments. It makes eminent sense that transportation ization of railroads through technocratic planning inter- should be treated as a service and be coordinated and spersed with market operations to the United states’ firm integrated, rather than regarded as an end in itself, belief in private ownership and public regulation where transportation mode by transportation mode. However, increasingly the capital is raised through public guaran- to treat transportation policy as a choice between martees and funds. For mass transportation, the contrast is kets and exchange on one hand and authoritarian plandrawn between West Germany’s early public concern ning on the other, appears to me to omit a fundamental with coordinated urban transportation and the early pub- aspect of transportation, and one which Dunn never lic ownership of most systems and the United States’ discusses. much later public concern for mass transportation and Why does the invisiblehand of the market work so well then only after public transit had severely declined under for soap, furniture, ball point pens and duplicating the onslaught of the automobile (“Did it fall or was it machines, but runs into trouble when it comes to transpushed” is one of Dunn’s subheadings).The contrast portation? Could it possibly be that our definitionof the between the highway policies of Great Britain and the market as an exchange between riders (fares) and sup-
Bibliographic section
pliers is too limited a concept? Might Adam Smith have been right when he wrote over 200 years ago in his section “On the Rent of Land”: “Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage,put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of a// improvements. They encourage the cultivation of the remote, which must always be the most extensive circle of the country. They are advantageous to the town, by breaking down the monopoly of the country in its neighbourhood. They are advantageous even to that part of the country. Though they introduce some rival commodities into the old market, they open many new markets to its produce.
If one adopts Adam Smith’s point of view that improvements are needed to diminishthe expense of carriage, then a major public role in transportation is to
73
facilitate the efficient transfer of equitable payments from the locational beneficiaries to the transportation suppliers. In such a framework public policy and choice questions are analyzed in terms of the efficiency and equitability of the transfer which they imply. A framework like this, that recognizes that transportation is not just another commodity,appears to be more suited to the public policy issues Dunn raises, then Dunn’s own models. His models (or paradigms)make central what is the critical difference between goods production in mar.ket and planned economies, but which is at best a peripheral aspect in the transportation policies of the developed nations of the West. This criticism should in no way detract from the fact that Dunn has fashioned a well researched, well organized and well written book, that deals in an informative manner with a rarely discussedsubject matter: comparative research on national transportation policies.
BRIEF NOTICES U&an Transport Planning, John Black, Croom Helm WilliamAlonso writes in one of the chapters, “Whatever Ltd., 2-10 St. John’sRoad, London SWll, England,1981, happens, the population (and other) factors ensures that pp. 248, $12.95. things cannot stay the same.. .and we must act intetligently and with foresight about these changes.” Ira This book is designed to be a suitable introductory Lowry, Dale Keyes, Gregory Ingram and John Kain are textbook on transport planning methods for students of among the other writers expressing their concerns for civil engineering,town planningand urban geography. It urban form and the transport system that provides its is also for others concerned with the impact of transport connections. on society or on the environment. It is divided into theory and practice. Part One explains the applicationof systems modellingin transport analysis and forecasting which forms the theory of urban transport planning.Part Two is a descriptive presentation of urban transport planningpractice. By treating the urban area as a system, and recognizing the fundamental interactions between Remaking Cities, Alison Ravetz, Croom Helm, 2-10 St. land use, traffic and transport, the study suggestsways to John’s Road, London SWll, England, 1980, pp. 375, forecast the future demand for travel, to estimate trans- $14.95. port requirements and to formulate and evaluate alternative plans. This book has two main propositions: that the way the urban environment in Britain in the period 1945-75was remade was the product of deeply held social attitudes towards the environment;and that these involved serious contradictions that now urgently prompt a fundamental change of approach. It examines the ideas or deliberate The Prospective City: Economic, Population, Energy, and policy and design by which cities were developed, the Environmental Developments,Arthur P. Solomon (Edi- technology by which they were made and the influence tor), MIT Press, 28 Carleton Street, Cambridge, MA of cities as mechanismsfor the control of some people by 02142,U.S.A., 1980,pp. 491, $9.95. other groups. It looks critically at the style and achievements of the last generation of urban planning This book is a collection of papers concerned with the and developmentand proffers criteria by which this style impact on all aspects of American life the changes in may be appraised. The possibility of laying aside one population, employment, lifestyles, economics, energy style and substituting another that may be more apavailability and environmental attitudes will make, in propriate to present needs and desires is suggested. It particular those changes in store for cities and suburbs. argues that only a radical change of style will enable The articles in this volume try to anticipate the major Britainto escape the contradictionsin this postwar urban changes, explore their meaning and interpret their con- replanning and achieve a better urban environment. It sequences. Intended for students of urban studies, this will be of interest to those concerned with the built text has important lessons for transport planners. As environment in which they live. TRlAl Vol. 16. No. I-F