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Public transport: Its planning, management, and operation
Book Reviews tions that could be included,
is such duplication either necessary or helpful to the researcher/student? It may have been just coincidental, or perhaps indicative of a general lack of accuracy in the book, but this reviewer’s name was not listed as a coauthor of an article cited. The Institute of Transportation Engineers’ monthly publication is incorrectly called Transportation Engineering, rather than ITE Journal. The Journal of Transportation Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers was omitted from the list of periodicals. Perhaps a more serious flaw is the omission of many excellent textbooks in this field. A novice reading the book, (and who else would use it?) would benefit from knowing about the many excellent texts on the subject of urban transport and planning by authors such as Morlok, Manheim, Vuchic, Gray, Garber, Hutchison, Ashford and Oglesby, to name but a few. To summarize, this bibliography will prove of little value to the serious researcher or student. It contains a limited menu of references, its summaries are uninformative, and the book is not error free. Perhaps the elimination of annotations, and the inclusion of additional references with a section on textbooks, would increase its usefulness as a reference work. LESTER A. HOEL Department of Civil Engineering University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22901, UXA.
BRIEFNOTES
Public Transport: Its Planning, Management, and Operation. 2nd ed. Peter White. (The Built Environment Series). Century Hutchinson Ltd., 6265 Chandos Place, London WC2N 4NW, England, 1986. 222 pp. + vi. ISBN 0-09-167461-l. (Distribut-
319
ed by Stanley Thornes Ltd., Old Station Drive, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Glouster GL53 ODN, England). Finding current information on transit modes was difficult before publication of the second edition of Peter White’s book. He has successfully organized a vast amount of factual information in a lucid manner. The book will be helpful to students and useful as a reference book for professionals. The second edition is a complete change from the first (1976). Although the chapter titles are similar, the text has been rewritten to reflect changing technology and organizational structure. It remains the definitive textbook on public transportation with chapters on technology, network planning, and pricing, as well as separate chapters on each mode. British examples are featured. This will be a limitation for some, but the types of technology and the ways in which public transportation is used to improve mobility in different environments can be readily interpreted. Concluding chapters on policy provide a fascinating review of recent changes in the United Kingdom. White is critical of policy makers who assume that market processes will coordinate public transit. He suggests that the failure of private enterprise to capture a significant portion of the intercity commuter market to London is, in large part, due to the absence of terminals. Regulatory reform has been more beneficial than privatization. The majority of commuter coaches running to London are operated by publicly-owned companies who behave commercially on pricing and service. Policy makers and their advisors from other countries should read these concluding chapters before advocating privatization. GORDONJ. FIELDING School of Social Sciences University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92717, CI.S.A.
is such duplication either necessary or helpful to the researcher/student? It may have been just coincidental, or perhaps indicative of a general lack of accuracy in the book, but this reviewer’s name was not listed as a coauthor of an article cited. The Institute of Transportation Engineers’ monthly publication is incorrectly called Transportation Engineering, rather than ITE Journal. The Journal of Transportation Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers was omitted from the list of periodicals. Perhaps a more serious flaw is the omission of many excellent textbooks in this field. A novice reading the book, (and who else would use it?) would benefit from knowing about the many excellent texts on the subject of urban transport and planning by authors such as Morlok, Manheim, Vuchic, Gray, Garber, Hutchison, Ashford and Oglesby, to name but a few. To summarize, this bibliography will prove of little value to the serious researcher or student. It contains a limited menu of references, its summaries are uninformative, and the book is not error free. Perhaps the elimination of annotations, and the inclusion of additional references with a section on textbooks, would increase its usefulness as a reference work. LESTER A. HOEL Department of Civil Engineering University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22901, UXA.
BRIEFNOTES
Public Transport: Its Planning, Management, and Operation. 2nd ed. Peter White. (The Built Environment Series). Century Hutchinson Ltd., 6265 Chandos Place, London WC2N 4NW, England, 1986. 222 pp. + vi. ISBN 0-09-167461-l. (Distribut-
319
ed by Stanley Thornes Ltd., Old Station Drive, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Glouster GL53 ODN, England). Finding current information on transit modes was difficult before publication of the second edition of Peter White’s book. He has successfully organized a vast amount of factual information in a lucid manner. The book will be helpful to students and useful as a reference book for professionals. The second edition is a complete change from the first (1976). Although the chapter titles are similar, the text has been rewritten to reflect changing technology and organizational structure. It remains the definitive textbook on public transportation with chapters on technology, network planning, and pricing, as well as separate chapters on each mode. British examples are featured. This will be a limitation for some, but the types of technology and the ways in which public transportation is used to improve mobility in different environments can be readily interpreted. Concluding chapters on policy provide a fascinating review of recent changes in the United Kingdom. White is critical of policy makers who assume that market processes will coordinate public transit. He suggests that the failure of private enterprise to capture a significant portion of the intercity commuter market to London is, in large part, due to the absence of terminals. Regulatory reform has been more beneficial than privatization. The majority of commuter coaches running to London are operated by publicly-owned companies who behave commercially on pricing and service. Policy makers and their advisors from other countries should read these concluding chapters before advocating privatization. GORDONJ. FIELDING School of Social Sciences University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92717, CI.S.A.