Lecture 4 Transport Network and Flows

Mobility, Space and Place Transport is the vector by which movement and mobility is facilitated. It represents the means by which people are shuttled from place to place, but more importantly it allows for some places to become accessible and connected across networks. Accessibility is the most critical aspect of understanding transport networks in the context of the layering tourist flows (e.g. multiple modes, multiple destinations, multiple routes).

Mobility, Space and Place (Continued 1) Aside from a few exceptions, there is usually more than one mode and route serving a particular destination, and most destinations are connected to large networks of modal and multi-modal transport services. As a result, understanding how accessible a destination is from the perspective of potential transport options is critical for destination planning and management.

Fig 3.1. Classification of Networks

Mobility, Space and Place (Continued 2) As time—space compression or time—space convergence, represents a manifestation of globalization. At the beginning of 21st century, increasing numbers of people have the ability to 1) travel further; 2) travel faster, given technological advances; and 3) experience and, most importantly, conceptualize more spaces and places. In short, mobility and the linking of places or nodes and spaces depends on the provision of transport.

Transport Availability is essential for understanding mobility for five reasons: 1.Transport acts as vector 2.Spatial scales for transport is wide 3.Range of transport modes available that facilitate mobility, must be made with respect to personal time-budgets.(amount of time a person is willing to or must allocate to certain activities) 4.Mobility is largely dependent on existing transport & related infrastructure. 5.Understanding mobility, structures of time- space & discretionary activities will help to choose where to go.

There are several reasons for examining connectivity and accessibility in relation to transport and tourism: 1. for the purpose of establishing role of government in public access to transport (including those modes of transport used by tourists). 2. assessing the priorities of private firms wishing to establish or expand current transport operations across a network. 3. for use by other industries involved (to varying degrees) in the provision of tourism services in order to plan future expansion and/or diversification efforts.

Spatial analysis exercises in which connectivity and accessibility are measured can achieve several outcomes: 1. The ability to examine how well does a particular mode or type of transport service a particular region? 2. The ability to compare, between two places or nodes, the relative strength of a particular mode of transport to another mode of transport (i.e. the degree of connectivity or accessibility of air versus rail). 3. The evolution of transport networks over time can be measured. The power of spatial assessments can even be used in making business decisions.

PUBLIC SERVICE CONSIDERATIONS: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT Yet governments are often also tasked with ensuring that transport networks are adequate in order to service tourists, both domestic and international. For example, most tourism destinations have multiple networks associated with them, largely because more than one mode of transport can be used for access. If a particular mode of transport is not adequately increasing the degree of connectivity between nodes, a government may wish to focus on supporting alternative means of transport through direct policies or subsidies.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: THE VIEW FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR From a private-firm perspective, potential destinations or nodes can be examined and assessed as to whether the existing population base is enough to justify new service development given the additional costs needed in developing an expanded network (not to mention subsequent marketing costs). Analyzing location is important as it allows for consideration of potential costs and risks for competitiveness.

Examining accessibility and connectivity in these situations could help to address several questions: 1. Which routes would a private transport firm ideally select (i.e. what is the existing demand for services across a wide geographic area, such that specific profitable places can be identified)? 2. Given demand considerations, what are the key criteria involved in deciding whether to provide transport service to these places (i.e. cost of service, potential competition, future demand shifts would all enter into the equation)? 3. With respect to potential competition, private firms offering services across a network may also utilize connectivity and accessibility information to determine barriers to entry.

MODELLING ACCESSIBLITY AND DEMAND GRAVITY MODELS: Gravity models are commonly used in measuring the extent of spatial interaction, it incorporates two key elements that support demand: population and distance. A gravity model is used to capture two characteristics: 1) scale impacts: for example, cities with larger populations tend to generate and attract more activities than cities with small populations. 2) distance impacts: for example, the farther places, people, or activities are apart, the less they interact.

GRAVITY MODELS: (Continued 1) The model ‘implies that the amount of interaction between any two places will be directly relative to the products of their populations and inversely relative to some power of the distance between them’. As tourism occurs between origin and (often multiple) destinations, the relationship in terms of distance between these points out to be of concern, especially if the model is suggesting the distance plays a critical role in determining the power of a destination (or destinations) to attract people from an origin rests with distance.

(A) Size and distance relationships

(B) predicted movement flows (c) using gravity model

Last figure outlines an evolutionary model using size and distance relationship and the potential flows of movement between four hypothetical urban areas using a gravity model function (with the thicker lines denoting larger flows and, thus, the strength of the relationship between two vertices). In this example: Travel between A and C is essential not only because of the relative sizes of their populations (which suggests that the greater the population, the higher the incidence for travel) but also because the distance between them is advantageous and supportive of substantial interactions. This explains the relatively smaller amount of interaction afforded between City A and City B.

Gravity model application with length of time dependency

Gravity model application with length of time dependency (Continued 1)

Text book Duval D. (2007). Tourism and Transport: Modes, Networks and Flows. Multilingual Matters & Channel View Publications. (Chapter 3)