Álvaro Costa - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Álvaro Costa

In Portugal the existence of a pattern of store location based on the geographical domain of the ... more In Portugal the existence of a pattern of store location based on the geographical domain of the respective branch activity seems to favor the implementation of collaborative systems in goods distribution. The authors aim to investigate if the delivery of goods based on collaboration between receivers (shopkeepers) can be a plausible and more sustainable strategy to improve urban environment. The evaluation of the solution was made through the use of microscopic traffic simulation (AIMSUN). Results showed that collaborative systems can lead to lower impacts on traffic and environment.

Research in Transportation Economics

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

This paper presents a case study from Porto-based public transport operator Sociedade de Transpor... more This paper presents a case study from Porto-based public transport operator Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto (STCP) to closer investigate the relation between managerial decisions and economic indicators in public transport, such as efficiency and effectiveness. By means of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) the company´s performance results between 1946 and 2004 are analyzed. The second part of the analysis serves to explore the managerial history of STCP and to point out main decisions, policies or other decisive factors in the framework of the company's performance. Our approach aims at identifying the magnitude of these decisions within the operational framework and their time-lags. The analysis has shown that certain managerial decisions directly influence the operational activity in the following years and considerably affect the overall performance of the services provided. The decisions are mostly linked to an increase of social benefits and privileges, political and social environment, the implementation of the single agent policy and operational leasing. Another essential conclusion is the identification of a certain time-frame of such influence. Results show the existence of time-lags between decisions and performance, usually representing medium term periods from 2 to 4 years. The results might be translated into policy recommendations, e.g. for setting up the regulatory framework that achieves a systems best performance.

Journal of Air Transport Management, 2008

This paper analyses airlines' efficiency and productivity using two different methodologies: data... more This paper analyses airlines' efficiency and productivity using two different methodologies: data envelopment analysis and total factor productivity, and we additionally investigate which factors account for differences in efficiency. Our main findings show that low cost carriers are in general more efficient than full service carriers, efficiency and the dispersion of both data envelopment analysis and total factor productivity indexes amongst airlines differ according to geographical areas, which may be a result of different legislation and deregulation processes, and so of specific competitive conditions, labour is the only input that definitively influences productivity, and larger airlines are more efficient, suggesting the existence of economies of scale.

This paper describes a workshop that was attended by 25 conference delegates from all over the wo... more This paper describes a workshop that was attended by 25 conference delegates from all over the world. The paper starts with a summary of the issues presented by the speakers at the workshop and is followed by a debate on the main instruments proposed to generate patronage. The discussion on the design and innovation of competitive public transport to foster patronage resulted in research and policy recommendations, as well as suggestions of topics for future Thredbo conferences. Three broad themes are discussed in this paper. These themes are: (1) Topics that require further research, such as the impact of major transportation investments on patronage, focusing on the heterogeneity of patronage rather than averages and marketing issues, that are summarized under research recommendations; (2) Measures that need to be applied more widely, such as improvements to public transport quality, the introduction of toll roads in urban areas, improvements of accountability, integrating public transport with land use, and looking at regulations that are summarized under policy recommendations; and (3) Areas that need more discussion, such as integration, pricing and network design that are summarized under future conference topics.

This paper presents some final results of the economical evaluation of road traffic noise in Port... more This paper presents some final results of the economical evaluation of road traffic noise in Portuguese cities regarding, in particular, the costs and benefits of introducing noise mitigation measures for people living in urban areas. Considering the initial externalities in two municipalities and the mitigation measures introduced were computed the final externalities. The difference between these two situations (before and after mitigation measures) allowed the estimate of the benefits derived from the noise reduction. The comparison between the cost and the benefit of those actions characterized the advantage/disadvantage of the investment. The prospective analysis of noise externalities for Portugal and the referring economical value according to the three estimates of project HEATCO will allow commenting on the sustainability of these excessive noise levels.

Sustainability

Satisfied customers are the main sustainability factor for the viability of any activity, and tou... more Satisfied customers are the main sustainability factor for the viability of any activity, and tourism has increasing relevance to the global economy and the economic development of many regions. In order to create better matches between tourist demands and preferences and the local supply, an understanding of tourists as decision makers is necessary. The aim of this work is to introduce a mathematical model that explains the decision-making process of tourists, other consumers, and tourism business managers. We used a mathematical model, taking into consideration the preferences of individuals and their strengths during the exploration and use of tourism resources. The integration of preferences into an IT tool provided extra support to the decisions of tourists and allowed better choices to be made in the execution of travel plans. In addition, the model can be used by resource managers. Understanding how tourists make decisions in each different situation can improve the allocatio...

Logistics Systems for Sustainable Cities, 2004

The behavior of the key stakeholders in city logistics, as defined in Taniguchi et al. (2001) (eg... more The behavior of the key stakeholders in city logistics, as defined in Taniguchi et al. (2001) (eg shippers, residents, freight carriers and administrators), can be affected by the decisions taken by other stakeholders. The case presented in this paper reports on the results of a bus ...

Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 1997

This paper is concerned with measuring performance of public transport services based on the conc... more This paper is concerned with measuring performance of public transport services based on the concept of productive efficiency. A new nonparametric approach is proposed based on multi-layer perceptron neural networks (MLPs). The advantages and limitations of this ...

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2012

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 1996

The structureeconducttperformance paradigm is applied to organisation change in urban public tran... more The structureeconducttperformance paradigm is applied to organisation change in urban public transport in Western Europe. to show how structural form affects public transport conduct and performance. This paper outlines organisation changes in several Western European metropolitan areas. with reference to four common structural forms. and indicates expected changes in market conduct and performance.

The effective service quality management requires the implementation of policies, which can be tr... more The effective service quality management requires the implementation of policies, which can be translated to concrete and measurable goals. The aim of this paper is to share some thoughts regarding service quality measurement at a transport operator, the STCP Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto, SA (Portugal). In our discussion we call attention to the importance of the choice of the measures, and to the integration of different quality indicators, its continuous assessment, and its comparative analysis with the predefined goals. The STCP case provides ground to discuss some points emphasised by the quality literature by showing the evolution of an implementation process in a real case.

civil.ist.utl.pt

This paper describes the calibration of the mode choice model in the Portuguese National Transpor... more This paper describes the calibration of the mode choice model in the Portuguese National Transport Model (PoNTraM). PoNTraM represents the supply and demand of medium and long distance travel within Portugal. The mode choice model for conventional modes is estimated on a ...

Journal of Air Transport Management, 2013