Effects of Business Age and Size on Freight Demand: Decomposition Analysis of Indian Establishments

Freight studies have traditionally used business size measures such as employment and gross floor area as predictors of freight generation, giving very limited attention to the effects of an establishment’s age on freight demand. This study uses establishment-based freight survey data collected in seven cities of Kerala, India, to analyze the impacts of the age of an establishment on its freight demand. This is achieved by grouping the establishments into pre-specified classes with relatively homogeneous freight demand pattern. This classification is based on a data-driven a posteriori segmentation of industrial classes. These groups are further divided into sub-groups based on founding year of an establishment. As the business age increases, establishments grow in business size indicators and hence the changes in productivity can be either because of age or because of size or both. It is very important to separate the effects of these two indicators. The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method is used in this study to disentangle the effects of size and age on freight production and freight trip production. Age is found to be a fundamental driver of freight demand in younger establishments while the explanatory power of business size variables in explaining freight demand diminishes with age. The study findings illustrate the potential omitted variable bias that can occur when freight demand is estimated using business size indicators, without controlling for the business age differences.

Using Retailing-Based Gravity Accessibility for Urban Retailing Planning Diagnosis in Terms of Goods Movements

This chapter proposes an exploratory gravity accessibility analysis applied to urban goods transport in Lyon, France to support public decision choices in terms of retailing land use. The proposed indicator is shopping-trip oriented but with a viewpoint of urban goods transport: it considers freight generation (i.e., commodity quantities) at destination and travel issues between household locations and retailing areas for shopping purposes. First, an overview of accessibility used in both urban personal and goods mobility is made, and the proposed analysis motivated. Second, the main methodological elements are presented, focusing on the modelling issues mobilized for indicator construction. Third, the analysis is applied to the current situation for the urban area of Lyon. Results are presented and discussed. Finally, recommendations to public authorities for land-use and mobility (both for people and goods) policy assessment are proposed.

Potential of Implementing Urban Freight Strategies in the Accommodation and Food Services Sector

This paper studies freight demand patterns of establishments in the accommodation and food services sector, and the potential of implementing urban freight strategies in this sector to improve local and city traffic conditions. This research uses data from the City of Stockholm and assesses the potential implementation of two strategies (i.e., consolidation and off-peak hour deliveries) proposed in The Stockholm Freight Plan to foster safe, clean, and efficient freight deliveries. The results show that accommodation establishments have different freight generation patterns and opinions about the strategies proposed than other food services establishments. The results also show that the strategies proposed have good acceptance among 20% of the receivers surveyed, which would facilitate the implementation of the strategies and lead to significant benefits both at the local and city levels.

The Influence of Freight Generation Production Characteristics of the Internal – Regional Zone Commodities on Sustainable Freight Transportation Highway Network System

The increasing of commodity freights production in the internal – regional zone is a national development strategy to create interzone consolidation to accelerate the productivity of an internal – regional zone staple commodity. Sustainable freight transportation development requires a strategic direction based on the commodity freights production dominant characteristics in an internal-regional zone. This research has been done to estimate the distribution model and route assignment model of staple alternative commodity. Estimated generation production of commodity freights movement in production zones is influenced by zone demographic variables, infrastructure, and means of transportation. Gravity method is used to estimate the distribution model and route assignment model by calibrating it with Newton-Raphson method. The application and development of the gravity method in the modelling analysis will determine the estimation effect of sustainable freights transportation needed. The computational simulation result is an approach of mathematical model illustration for complex and systematic estimation. Therefore, the modelling results can provide the direction of sustainable highway construction on the highway network system, will determine the effectiveness and efficiency of traffic movement, and distribute the movement