This summer, UTRC is hosing Martin Konning, a Ph.D. fellow, affiliated with IFFSTAR (French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks - University of Paris-East). IFFSTAR is one of the team members of the Metrofreight team along with USC, CCNY and KOTI. He is here, in part, to participate in the Volvo Center of Excellence (CoE) educational exchange requirements and to work with Alison Conway on her VREF urban freight-related research. Martin completed his doctorate in Economics in 2011 from Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne University. His work mainly focused on transportation congestion in the Central Paris area: measurements and pricing schemes of congestion costs on the Paris Ring Road, valuation of crowding costs in Paris subways with the use of the contingent valuation technique, impacts of congestion costs and benefits within the socioeconomic assessment a new streetcar line in Paris. Since late 2012, Martin is a full-time researcher at the French Institute of Sciences and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR) where he works with the SPLOTT-team, specialized on urban freight. He also teaches Transportation Economics for Master degree. His recent works concern the hedonic valuation of road freight characteristics, the wider economic impacts of logistics platforms or of high-speed trains in France, as well as the use of bikes for freight purposes in the Paris area.

Martin ‘s visit at CCNY-UTRC during the summer 2014 period is related to the latter topic. With the help of Alison Conway, he is willing to quantify the external savings (reduced pollutants’ emissions in particular) induced by the increased use of bikes to move goods in Paris. Authors adopt a broad definition of goods’ movement since they consider both the activities of freight professionals (courier or delivery services) and the mobility of individual passengers for shopping purposes. To do so, they rely on two data sources: a regional household mobility survey and an ad-hoc numeric survey held this summer on freight professionals. After discussing the recent transport policies implemented in the Paris area, especially those aimed at accommodating the use of bikes, they will estimate the evolution, over 2001-2014, of the kilometers travelled by bikes to move goods and the corresponding tonnage. Using emissions’ parameters, they will then be able to estimate the environmental gains associated with such a change.

This research will be submitted for presentation during the 2015 TRB Annual Meeting and for publication in TRR.”