Impact of High-Speed Rail on Social Equity—Insights from a Stated Preference Survey in Vietnam

This study investigated the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on social equity, utilizing information from a stated preference survey conducted in Vietnam. Social equity was examined across the population of four cities representing the northern, central, and southern areas of Vietnam. In general, the high price of HSR is one of the barriers to using HSR over inter-city buses and conventional trains. Low-income groups (less than VND 6 million per month) have 4.894 and 4.725 times the likelihoods, compared to higher income groups, of retaining the use of an inter-city bus or conventional train, respectively, after introducing HSR. Our findings reveal the fact that social inequity may occur, with the low-income group being especially vulnerable, due to the existence of HSR in the future. Furthermore, our results indicate that the interest of people towards inter-city buses and conventional trains varied among the four cities before and after the presence of HSR. More specifically, low-income groups in Vinh and Nha Trang were observed to have a higher feeling of staying away from HSR, as they prefer to use inter-city buses. The findings of this study suggest that planners and policymakers need to consider various components of HSR ticket planning, in order to achieve sustainable evolution of the passenger rail system.

Analisis Penerimaan Pengguna Kereta Api terhadap Penerapan Protokol Covid-19

Pandemi COVID–19 menyebabkan perlunya penerapan protokol kesehatan pada pengoperasian kereta api. Protokol kesehatan tersebut berbasis pada minimalisasi kondisi 3C (Closed Space, Crowded Place, Closed Contact Setting). Penerapan protokol kesehatan dalam operasional KA memerlukan penerimaan pengguna agar dapat berjalan secara efisien. Untuk mengetahui kemauan pengguna kereta api terhadap penerapan protokol kesehatan, dilakukan survei online dengan metode stated preference. Parameter yang diuji meliputi tarif, kelengkapan dokumen kesehatan, protokol di stasiun, protokol di kereta, serta protokol pribadi. Hasil analisis memperlihatkan tingginya penerimaan penumpang terhadap penerapan protokol Covid pada perkeretaapian, yang diperlihatkan dengan kemauan menggunakan kereta yang lebih tinggi pada penerapan protokol kesehatan secara ketat dibandingkan penerapan secara longgar. Kondisi ini terjadi pada kereta api antar kota maupun kereta Jabodetabek. Kata kunci: pandemi, covid 19, stated preference, persepsi, kereta api

Quantifying Benefit-Risk Preferences for Heart Failure Devices: A Stated-Preference Study

Background: Regulatory and clinical decisions involving health technologies require judgements about relative importance of their expected benefits and risks. We sought to quantify heart-failure patients’ acceptance of therapeutic risks in exchange for improved effectiveness with implantable devices. Methods: Individuals with heart failure recruited from a national web panel or academic medical center completed a web-based discrete-choice experiment survey in which they were randomized to one of 40 blocks of 8 experimentally controlled choice questions comprised of 2 device scenarios and a no-device scenario. Device scenarios offered an additional year of physical functioning equivalent to New York Heart Association class III or a year with improved (ie, class II) symptoms, or both, with 30-day mortality risks ranging from 0% to 15%, in-hospital complication risks ranging from 0% to 40%, and a remote adjustment device feature. Logit-based regression models fit participants’ choices as a function of health outcomes, risks and remote adjustment. Results: Latent-class analysis of 613 participants (mean age, 65; 49% female) revealed that two-thirds were best represented by a pro-device, more risk-tolerant class, accepting up to 9% (95% CI, 7%–11%) absolute risk of device-associated mortality for a one-year gain in improved functioning (New York Heart Association class II). Approximately 20% were best represented by a less risk-tolerant class, accepting a maximum device-associated mortality risk of 3% (95% CI, 1%–4%) for the same benefit. The remaining class had strong antidevice preferences, thus maximum-acceptable risk was not calculated. Conclusions: Quantitative evidence on benefit-risk tradeoffs for implantable heart-failure device profiles may facilitate incorporating patients’ views during product development, regulatory decision-making, and clinical practice.

Using stated preference methods to inform public health decision making

Croatia has recognised the importance of prevention programmes in the field of public health, although their effectiveness is not satisfactory due to the low population response, which has a negative impact on the rationalisation of public spending. One of the possible solutions is to consider the stated preferences of the target population. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the use of stated preference methods in improving public health prevention programmes. For the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was designed using three different methods - Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE), Contingent Rating method (CR) and Best-Worst Scaling method (BWS). This study shows that the attributes of the Croatian cervical cancer screening programme are significantly associated with the respondents' utility level, which in turn is related to women's response. Since BWS, DCE, and CR measure the same construct - utility - we can say that convergent validity partially confirms the external validity of the methods. The author concludes that it is necessary to implement market principles, i.e. the demand-side analysis using stated preference methods, in the planning, implementation and re-evaluation of public health programmes.

Estimation of Travel Demand for Bangkok–Chiang Mai Hyperloop Using Traveler Surveys

Hyperloop, projected as fast and efficient, and envisaged as the future of high-speed transportation, does not have much published information about its demand estimation. This paper aims to estimate the willingness of air and car passengers to shift to hyperloop. A nested logit model was used to analyze stated preference data gathered from the air and car travelers along the Bangkok–Chiang Mai sector in Thailand. The variables contributing the most to the modal shift towards hyperloop are total travel cost, total travel time, monthly income, gender, education level, bearer of trip expenses, and number of trips in the last 6 months and duration of stay at the destination. The highest value of elasticity for hyperloop is obtained for the total travel cost followed by total travel time and monthly income. It is concluded that hyperloop will be the predominant mode of transportation between the Bangkok–Chiang Mai sectors with a modal share of almost 50% by the year 2025. Survey results also revealed that the preferences of the passengers in order of priorities for long distance travel are comfort, low travel cost, less travel time, safety, high frequency of travel mode and low CO2 emission. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an insight on factors that may contribute towards a possible shift in mode from car and air to hyperloop. The study will be beneficial to policy makers in developing a strategy for a more efficient mass transportation system using new and emerging technologies.

A Review of Methodological Approaches and Modeling Techniques in Service Quality Evaluation of Surface Transportation during the Last Decade

During the duration of the last decade, a growing interest has been noticed among transport practitioners and researchers to better understand the concept of service quality in the field of surface transportation and identify important service quality (SQ) attributes of different transportation services since these results have implications for transport managers. Due to advancements in computer technology and the availability of software packages, researchers are better able to extract meaningful results from passengers’ opinions collected through stated preference surveys and communicate their findings to transport managers looking to ameliorate SQ to boost ridership on a limited budget. Since the concept of SQ is itself complex owing to the nature of the service itself compared to a tangible product and characteristics of SQ attribute, different advanced modelling techniques based on multivariate analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence paradigms have become popular tools among researchers. This paper aims to summarize the trends of the SQ research in the field of surface transportation during the last decade with a focus on the methodological approaches and modelling techniques and delineate future directions for research in this field.

Videos Improve Attention and Cheap Talk in Online Surveys

Cheap Talk (CT) is a mainstay technique among stated preference practitioners to reduce Hypothetical Bias (HB). The usefulness of CT may be questionable in online surveys due to the limited control researchers have on participant engagement. In the context of an online choice experiment on hotels, we compare a control group of respondents who receives a CT script as a traditional passage of text versus a group who must answer an attention-check question to verify their comprehension of the script as well as another group who receives the CT script as a video and then answer the attention-check question. We find that compared to the control group, simply offering the attention-check question reduced willingness to pay (WTP), and those who answer the attention-check question correctly behaved differently to those who did not. Overall, video CT script is shown to improve attention and be more effective in reducing potential HB than a text-based script.

Activity and Time Value of Public Passenger Transportation Users During the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 (Bus of Batik Solo Trans Corridor 4 in Surakarta)

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 has a significant impact on all countries' social and economic conditions, including Indonesia. It is fitting that social and economic changes also affect the transportation sector. The value of economic benefits in one public facility operation also depreciated due to the economic recession. One of the variables that can be reviewed is the time value of public passenger transportation users (AUP) to measure how much depreciation has occurred. This study specifically for travel is learning, using the bus mode Batik Solo Trans (BST) Corridor 4. Development of scenarios for questionnaires with stated preference methods, using the choice mode between motorbikes and AUP as an option, and the mode utility is approached with the equation multiple linear regression. The results of the analysis show that the time value of the user in the fleet is IDR 274.67 / hour for a distance of 8.35 km and the Time Value for a distance of 13.0 km = IDR 240.82 / hour with a Value of Activity (VoA) which is close to zero because the activity in the fleet has no financial value. This time value is considerably smaller than the AUP time value with the same intention of trip, studying, which was analyzed in 2015, which was IDR 4,708 / hour.