Day: 2012-01-10

A solution to the Vikings stadium mess, a side-payment to Zygi Wilf

| David Levinson

MinnPost reports Vikes to Minneapolis: Don’t forget an extra $67 million cost for dome site: “The team estimates it would earn $12.3 million less in revenues per year at the U’s stadium than it would make at the Metrodome, because of space limitations, sponsorships and fan amenities.”

The net present value of $12.3 million, discounted at 3 percent, for 30 years is $248 million. Go here if you want to play with alternative scenarios. (At 0 percent this is only $360.9 million)
This is less than the public infrastructure cost. In other words, just give Zygi $248 million in cash and let the Vikings play at the Bank.
Given the approximately $1 billion in total costs the stadium was estimated to cost, I just saved everyone concerned three-quarters of a billion dollars. I would like just 10 percent for my efforts today.

Understanding the impacts of a combination of service improvement strategies on bus running time and passenger’s perception

| David Levinson

Ahmed El-Geneidy and Ehab Diab @ McGill have a new paper out: Understanding the impacts of a combination of service improvement strategies on bus running time and passenger’s perception 10.1016/j.tra.2011.11.013 in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice :

“This study uses stop-level data collected from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM)’s automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) systems, in Montréal, Canada. The combination of these strategies has lead to a 10.5% decline in running time along the limited stop service compared to the regular service. The regular route running time has increased by 1% on average compared to the initial time period. The study also shows that riders are generally satisfied with the service improvements. They tend to overestimate the savings associated with the implementation of this combination of strategies by 3.5–6.0 min and by 2.5–4.1 min for both the regular route and the limited stop service, respectively. “

Time savings produce a “time illusion” in transit just as in HOT lanes, where travelers over-estimate their time savings from paying the toll and traveling at free-flow speed compared to the parallel untold road. This time illusion is a good thing for service providers, as customers over-credit the benefits they receive. This might, however, imply people overestimate the time loss from a reduction in service. In general, people overestimate their actual travel time (Parthasarathi et al. working paper).

Linklist: January 10, 2012

| David Levinson

Schneier on Security: The TSA Proves its Own Irrelevance: “That’s right; not a single terrorist on the list. Mostly forgetful, and entirely innocent, people. Note that they fail to point out that the firearms and knives would have been just as easily caught by pre-9/11 screening procedures. And that the C4 — their #1 “good catch” — was on the return flight; they missed it the first time. So only 1 for 2 on that one.
“

Building America’s Future Educational Fund: Decision 2012: GOP Candidates on Infrastructure [Ron Paul comes out for abolishing the TSA].

Preston Schiller sends this along from Canadian Civil Engineer: Thinking outside the transportation box (pdf) Goto p. 10

Quantum Levitation via Rafael Pereira @ urbandemographics.blogspot.com