FREIGHT FLOWS AND SPATIAL ASPECTS OF THE BRITISH ECONOMY

THIS BOOK REPORTS EXPERIMENTS IN THE MODELLING OF FREIGHT FLOWS IN GREAT BRITAIN, ON THE BASIS OF 78 ORIGIN-DESTINATION ZONES COVERING THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH WHETHER GRAVITY MODEL OR LINEAR PROGRAMMING APPROACHES PROVIDE THE MOST APPROPRIATE WAY OF DESCRIBING THE EXISTING SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF FREIGHT VOLUMES AND HENCE OF PREDICTING FUTURE FLOWS, GIVEN POSSIBLE ALLOCATIONS OF POPULATION. THE AUTHORS CONCLUDE THAT LINEAR PROGRAMMING APPEARS TO BE THE MOST USEFUL WAY TO APPROACH FREIGHT MODELLING ON THIS SCALE. THE MODEL OUTPUTS ALLOW THE PROBLEM OF REGIONAL COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE IN TERMS OF THE VOLUME OF TRANSPORT INPUTS TO BE INVESTIGATED. RESULTS SUGGEST THAT, ALTHOUGH THERE IS SOME ASSOCIATION WITH AN ACCESSIBILITY OF REGIONS, IT IS NOT TRUE THAT THE PERIPHERAL AREAS ARE AT A SERIOUS DISADVANTAGE, AND THE MOVEMENT COSTS ARE A SURPRISINGLY LOW PROPORTION OF TOTAL TRANSPORT COSTS-THUS FURTHER REDUCING THE EFFECTS OF LOCATION. THE STUDY CONCLUDES WITH A REVIEW OF THE LINES ALONG WHICH FUTURE WORK MIGHT PROCEED. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Cambridge Geographical Studies /UK

  ,    
• Authors:
  • CHISHOLM, M
  • O'Sullivan, P
• Publication Date: 1973

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 141 p.
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: 4

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Economics; Freight transportation; Gravity models; Linear programming; Location; Mathematical models; Origin and destination; Traffic distribution; Traffic flow; Traffic forecasting; Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Models
• Subject Areas: Economics; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00202478
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Textbook
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 16 1974 12:00AM