Research focus for CTS
December 2010
The purpose of CTS
The raison d’être of CTS is to connect the individually strong research units in CTS closer to each
other, and to establish closer connections between researchers and practitioners. The creation of
CTS has rapidly created such connections, and we expect these to grow even stronger in the future.
These connections are intended to be more than just “dissemination”: we believe that the CTS
collaborations between practitioners, researchers and consultants from various backgrounds and
environments is the most efficient method to communicate results out of academia and generate
new, fruitful research questions into academia.
Specifically, CTS exists to achieve four things:




Create an excellent and internationally recognised research environment. Through the existence
of CTS, a larger critical mass of researchers is obtained. This facilitates access to larger research
networks, cross-fertilisation between research disciplines and enhances access to research for
researchers outside traditional academia. Establishing closer connections between researchers
and practitioners is important also for excellence in research – this is not only a check that
research is relevant, but it is an important mechanism to discover new fruitful research
questions.
Establish a meeting place for researchers and practitioners. By arranging seminars and
conferences, cooperation in projects and pursuing an active dialogue, CTS is a major Swedish
node for establishing links between practitioners seeking research results, and a way to
communicate new questions into academic research.
Increase the quality of decision support. CTS research is meant to be put into practical use in
Swedish transport policy formulation. This is done in several ways, for example through research
projects, advice in applied policy issues, engagements in governmental commissions,
collaboration with public authorities and decision-makers, and independent research-based
viewpoints. Moreover, some of CTS core areas are the development of methodology for
transport modeling, transport appraisal and policy generation – methodology subsequently used
to formulate or evaluate suggested policy measures. The existence of CTS ensures that policy
questions can be put into a wider context, that more complex issues can be handled, that
practioners get access to a “single point of contact”, and that research results can be put into use
faster.
Raise the long term competence level in the transport sector. CTS strives to raise the overall
competence level in several ways: through various dissemination activities and collaborations,
professional education, examination of PhD-students, and participation in education. CTS is
important for education not least through the access to a larger pool of teachers and through the
closer connections with practice.
Activities at CTS should be brilliant, relevant and visible. Brilliant means research of world-class
quality, publishable in prestigious journals, representing important contributions of lasting value. To
achieve this, it is important both to build on current strengths and to generate new, fertile research
questions. A fruitful way to generate new research questions is to collaborate with practitioners; this
has proven to stimulate the generation of new questions, and is an antidote to “ivory tower
research”. It also keeps research relevant – the second keyword. “Relevant” is a memento to keep
asking what the underlying “question” is – why a research project is undertaken. Finally, research
needs to be visible – it needs to be conveyed to the research community through publications and
conferences and to the practitioner community by seminars, reports, collaborations and lectures.
The purpose of CTS is to create an integrated research environment, which extends beyond the
formal CTS projects, also connecting other transport research at VTI-TEK, KTH-TLA and KTH-ToL.
CTS research areas
CTS’ activities can be grouped into partially overlapping research areas:
Research areas
Transport modeling
Transport economics
Transport policy
Transport analysis & Travel behaviour
Sub-areas
Travel demand modeling
Freight modeling
Traffic assignment, simulation and route choice
Vehicle choice modeling
Effect modeling (travel time variability, traffic
safety, emissions etc.)
Valuation of time, noise, emissions etc.
SP studies and methodology
Appraisal methodology
Estimation of marginal costs and external effects
Interactions between the transport system and
the economy (labour markets, housing
markets, productivity, economic growth)
Procurement and contracts
Transport pricing (Congestion pricing, transit
pricing, infrastructure pricing)
Regulations in the transport sector
Transport planning and organization
Climate policy measures
Travel behaviour
Traffic analysis
Traffic psychology
Attitude studies
Transport modeling
CTS research in transport modelling include topics such as mesoscopic traffic simulation and route
choice modelling, travel demand modeling (where activity-based modeling should become more
important) and freight modeling (especially incorporating logistics). Handling sparse relations in
transport models is an important sub-topic, together with the possibility to integrate traffic and
travel data from various sources. More attention should be given to modeling “slow modes” (walking
and cycling). Models should also take a more international perspective. Modeling vehicle choice and
car ownership should continue to grow in importance. Forecasting effects of policy measures and
investments on travel time variability for passenger and freight traffic (road, transit and longdistance rail) is a new field that should be explored further. Finally, we will consider taking up the
issue of modeling air passenger transport.
One of the purposes of CTS is to bring together model users, model developers and researchers at
the forefront of methodological development. In the future, we intend to take on an even larger
responsibility for being the “national point of contact” for transport model development, for the
benefit of both research and application.
Transport economics
A particular strength of CTS is valuation of non-market goods, such as the value of travel time, noise,
emissions, traffic safety and travel time variability. This area should be strengthened further, building
on CTS’ excellence in discrete choice econometrics, stated preference methodology and transport
economic theory. A related topic is stated preference methodology, such as design of stated choice
experiments. Questions such as hypothetical bias and decision processing naturally arise in this
context, and they are also connected to transport demand modelling.
Research in appraisal methodology include various methodological questions, such as constructing
stylised “model timetables” for appraisal of rail investments, and analysing network vulnerability and
travel time variability in road and rail networks. Cost-benefit analysis will continue to be a
cornerstone for appraisal, although there are several complementary methods for appraisal. A
related area is methodology for analysing costs and benefits for different socioeconomic groups and
geographic regions. A particular issue that should be studied is appraisal methodology for subsidized
traffic in sparsely populated areas.
Historically, appraisal methodology has been mostly geared towards analysing proposed
investments. As questions such as congestion and environmental impacts are getting more attention,
more and more of transport policy issues will deal with policy measures and regulations. Appraisal of
such measures requires methodological development – both in terms of impact modelling, valuation
and general appraisal methodology.
Just as with transport modeling, CTS is already the foremost research environment in Sweden for
transport appraisal methodology, in particular valuation of transport-related non-market goods and
cost-benefit analysis. We intend to take on an even larger responsibility for being the “national point
of contact” for transport appraisal methodology.
There are several mutual interactions between the transport system and the economy. The
transport system has potentially an impact on location and land use, employment, wage rates,
productivity and economic growth. One important aspect is the effects of subsidized interregional
public transit operations. CTS should intensify its research regarding these interactions. Not least, the
relationship between conventional transport cost-benefit analyses and the results of regional
economical modelling should be explored.
Procurement and contract design has several transport sector applications, such as tendering of
public transport and procurement of maintenance and construction. Based on a large database
currently under construction, questions such as the price impact of the number of bidders or
alternative payment formats can be analysed. Another application is insurance contracting from a
social perspective, including impact on traffic behaviour.
Assessments of the commercial viability of public transport are increasingly important as
deregulation increases, since it affects which traffic should be subsidized and in what ways. This is of
interest in sparsely populated areas as well as in urban areas.
Transport policy
Transport pricing is a central research topic for CTS. CTS research relating to road pricing covers
multiple issues: urban road pricing as well as kilometre charges on heavy-goods vehicles; charges for
financial reasons as well as congestion pricing; acceptability and political issues as well as modelling
effects of road pricing. There is also a relation to the procurement/contract focus area through our
research regarding tendering and industrial organisation in the toll operator market. The
extraordinary research opportunity the Stockholm charging system provides, and the extremely large
international interest, makes congestion pricing a natural focus for CTS research. The topic ties into
many other related topics, such as traffic theory, appraisal, travel demand modelling, acceptability,
transport planning and political economy. We anticipate that the main future research topics will be
transferability of experiences and results, acceptability and its prerequisites, design and modelling of
congestion charging systems, and the institutional and political context. Further, we expect CTS to
continue developing its role as expert advisors to both national and international policy-makers.
Analyses of transit pricing and infrastructure pricing (such as rail and port charges) are areas that
could be further developed than currently, building on CTS researchers’ work on railway marginal
costs and pricing. An increasing effort should be put on studying the effects of pricing and other
policy measures for maritime transports and on the implications on the balance between modes.
Transport policy setting takes place in a social context. Transport planning and organization are
research topics that should keep growing in importance. These include questions such as the use of
decision support in decision-making, analysis of stakeholders’ incentives and actions, analysis of
various transport-related markets, and efficient organisation of the planning and decision processes.
Several of these questions can be said to belong to the field of political economy, other to the field of
industrial organization
Climate policy measures is a wider subject than just transport policy – but since the transport sector
stands for a large and growing share of carbon emissions, this will continue to be an important topic
in CTS research. Research questions include e.g. formulation of stable international agreement to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, optimal environmental control when abatement
costs are uncertain or valuation of carbon dioxide in transport CBAs.
Transport analysis & Travel behaviour
Analysis and description of transport data, travel behaviour, attitudes and preferences are the
foundation of subsequent analyses, modeling and policy suggestions. This area includes very diverse
methods and topics, ranging from attitude studies and survey methodology to traffic data analysis
and traffic psychology.
A rapidly growing research area is real-time traffic information and traffic analysis. This includes
collecting and analyzing traffic data from a multitude of sources – traffic measurements, travel time
measurements, GPS sensors in taxis etc. This should receive increasing emphasis, and in particular,
the link to transport modeling should be strengthened.
Travel behaviour and attitude/preference studies are currently minor research areas at CTS, but are
important in several respects, since they often form the basis for subsequent policy analyses and
transport model development. These areas should also continue to be explored in their own right.