In December 1986, the Australian Transport Advisory Council (ATAC) sought the assistance of the Bureau of Transport Economics in undertaking a review of transport research in Australia. The aims of the resulting study carried out by the Bureau were to identify the nature and extent of current Australian transport research, to assess priority areas for future research and to address coordination issues pertinent to delivery of an effective research effort. Following consideration at the December 1987 meeting of ATAC the results of the review are to be used as a basis for discussion at a seminar on transport research to be convened early in 1988.

• A Review of Transport Research in Australia
  
  ip_025.pdf
  (7.78 MB)

Efficient road pricing is required both to generate funds which may be used for roadworks and to ration the use of what is an expensive asset. The important elements of road pricing theory are outlined and these indicate that both the structure and level of charge are important in rationalising road use and optimising the role of road transport in our modern economy.

• Review of Road Cost Recovery
  
  op_090.pdf
  (14.21 MB)

During the last decade, the major railway systems around the world have undergone a fundamental reappraisal of their place in the economy in general, and their transport purpose, in particular. This Paper examines the railway systems of eight countries, including Australia, to see how they responded to a changing competitive environment, focusing on institutional and organisational restructuring that had taken place to revitalise them and to improve their performance.

• A Comparison of Overseas Railway Systems: Their Policy Trends and Performance
  
  ip_030.pdf
  (4.13 MB)

This report presents an assessment of the financial, economic, social and environmental benefits and costs of the closure or continued operation of each of the Australian National Railway Commission's passenger services.

• An Economic and Social Assessment of Australian National's Passenger Services
  
  report_067.pdf
  (3.16 MB)

This Report has two main goals. The first is to present the theoretical aspects of productivity measurement and its interpretation with particular emphasis on its role as a performance measure. The second is to provide, within the context of performance appraisal, an empirical analysis of productivity growth in the Australian National Railways Commission over the period 1979–80 to 1987–88.

• An Analysis of Total Factor Productivity with an Application to Australian National
  
  report_068.pdf
  (3.36 MB)

This study provides financial and social cost-benefit analyses of options for the Australian National railways operation in Tasmania (Tasrail).

• The Future of the Tasmanian Railway System: A Cost–Benefit Assessment of Options
  
  report_069.pdf
  (9.17 MB)

This report assesses the social impacts of a range of scenarios developed for non-urban rail by the Railway Industry Council to set out reform options for railway systems in Australia. Use is made of Australian Bureau of Statistics census data for 1981 and 1986, data from railway systems in Australia and results from a survey of redundant and redeployed railway workers.

• The Social Impacts of Rail Systems Rationalisation
  
  report_072.pdf
  (3.97 MB)

This Report discusses the objectives of the Australian national highway system, presents statistical information and describes the application of the life cycle costing technique to the pavement evaluation.

• The Cost of Maintaining the Australian National Highway System
  
  report_077.pdf
  (2.56 MB)

This report is the fifth of a series of publications monitoring the progress of aviation reforms which the Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics produced from 1989. Earlier reports concentrated on domestic airline deregulation, but clearly the distinction between domestic and international has now blurred.

• The Progress of Aviation Reform
  
  report_081.pdf
  (17.57 MB)

While a great deal has been written on the theory and application of optimal road price and investment policy, relatively little attention has been given to the subject of roads policy in practice. This monograph's main concern is the latter line of inquiry, focusing attention on the complex of political, legal, economic and institutional factors which have shaped Commonwealth and State government roads policy in Australia since the 1920s through to the 1980s.

• Roads Policy and Australian Federalism
  
  op_106.pdf
  (13.89 MB)