Unit 2.

Transportation Systems and

Networks
Transportation Systems are composed of a complex set of r/n
ships b/n the nodes, networks and demand.

Nodes?
Networks?
Demand?
 2.1 Transportation and Commercial
Geography
 Commercial geography:-is a branch of economic geography
that attempts to investigate the spatial characteristics of trade
in terms of their cause, nature, origin and destination.
 The analysis ranges from a simple transaction (where
individuals purchasing a product at a store) to the complex
transactions (that maintained b/n a multinational corporation
and its suppliers).
 Trade- is the exchange of goods and services at different
geographic scale
 Trade, in terms of its origins and destinations, has a spatial
logic. It reflects the economic, social and industrial structure of
the concerned market over space.
 Necessitate understanding of commercial Geography
Two Necessary Conditions for Trade:
I. Availability- There must be Commodities.
Surplus must exist at one location and demand at another
location for these commodities
II. Transferability- Transferability of goods without obstruction
and restriction
Impediments of Transferability
• Policy/Regulation- Tariffs, custom inspections, quotas
• Geographical barriers – distance, accessibility
• Transportation barriers- allowing commodities to be
moved from their origin to destination etc.
 Once these conditions are met, trade is possible
 Transport Costs
 The choice of mode to route people and freight within
origins and destinations depends on a number of factors
such as:
• the nature of the goods,
• the available infrastructures/ availability of the mode in
question
• origins and destinations, and their respective distance
 All these jointly, define transportation costs.
 Moreover, which mode chooses to travel will depends on
the speed, comfort, security & cost.
 Transport costs are a monetary measure of what the transport
provider must pay to produce transportation services.
 This can be given as:
• Fixed (Infrastructure) cost- refers to amount charged to
maintain the route way on which vehicles run & storage
facilities at terminals.
• Variable (operating) costs refers to the cost of actually
operating vehicles on freight and passengers.
 It includes carrying services and the expenses of fuel and
crew’s wages.
 Transport Rates are defined as the price of transportation
services paid by their users.
 Paid by a passenger or for a unit of freight b/n origin and
destination.
Conditions Affecting Transport Costs and Rates
I. Geography:-Its main impact related to distance and
accessibility (direct or indirect access).
Distance (friction of distance) is the most basic condition
affecting transport costs.
The friction of distance can be expressed in terms of
length, time, economic costs or the amount of energy used.
The more the friction of distance, the higher the cost.
Landlocked countries tend to have higher transport costs,
often twice as much, as they do not have direct access to
maritime transportation.
II. Type of product:-The nature of products:
Products require packaging, special handling, bulky or
perishable
E.g. Coal is easier to transport than fruits or fresh flowers as it
requires rudimentary storage facilities and can be transshipped
using rudimentary equipment.
III. Economies of scale: - related to quantity of commodities.
 It is the cost reduction achieved through size increases
 The larger the quantities transported, the lower the unit cost.
 Bulk commodities such as energy (coal, oil), minerals and
grains are highly suitable to obtain lower unit transport costs
if they are transported in large quantities.
 Simple example, the more passengers share the same taxi (up
to maximum size), the less the individual share will be.
IV. Energy:-Transport activities are large consumers of energy,
especially oil.
 Fluctuations in energy prices Vary Transport rate
V. Infrastructures:-The efficiency and capacity of transport
modes and terminals has a direct impact on transport costs.
 Poor infrastructures imply higher transport costs, delays &
negative economic consequences.
 More developed transport systems tend to have lower
transport costs since they are more reliable and can handle
more movements.
VI. Mode:-Different modes are characterized by different
transport rates, since each has its own capacity limitations
and operational conditions.
E.g. When two or more modes are directly competing for the
same market, results in lower transport rates.
VII. Trade Imbalances:- Imbalances b/n imports and exports have
impacts on transport costs.
 If a trade balance is negative (more imports than exports), transport
costs for imports tend to be higher than for exports.

VIII. Competition:- is concerned with the complex competitive

environment in which transportation takes place.
 Transport services taking place over highly competitive segments
(monopoly) tend to be of lower rate than on segments with limited
competition.
 Types of Transport Costs and Rates
There are various types of transport costs that have to be
considered.
I. Freight on board (FOB):- This is a transport rate where the
price of a good is the combination of the factory costs and the
shipping costs from the factory to the consumer.
In the case of FOB, the consumer pays for the freight transport
costs.
 Consequently, the price of a commodity will vary according to
transportation costs and distance.
II. Costs-Insurance-Freight (CIF):- It is a transport rate that
considers the price of the good is a function of insurance costs
and transport costs. Which implies a uniform delivered price
for all customers everywhere, with no spatially variable shipping
price.
III. Terminal costs:-Costs that are related to the loading,
transshipment and unloading.
 In general, two major terminal costs can be considered; loading
and unloading at the origin and destination.

IV. Linehaul costs:- Costs that are a function of freight weight

and distance over which a unit of freight or passenger is
carried.
 They also include labor and fuel, and exclude transshipment
costs.
 2.2. The Geography of Transportation
Networks
 The term network refers to the framework of routes within a
system.
 A route is a single link b/n two nodes.
 Routes can refer to tangible routes (such as roads and rails)
or less tangible routes (such as air and sea corridors)
 The edges in a network system are an abstraction of routes
(roads, rail links, and maritime routes)
 The nodes are an abstraction of terminals (ports, rail yards).
 Specific modes can further be classified in terms of types of
road (highway, road, street, etc.).
 Networks and Space
 There are two types of spaces on which transport networks are
evolving are found.
 Each of these spaces represents a specific mode’s territorial
occupation:
1. Clearly defined and delimited. In this case the space occupied
by the transport network is strictly reserved for its usage and
ownership can also be clearly established.
• Major examples include road, canal and railway networks.
2. Vaguely defined and delimited. The space of these networks is
not the object of any particular ownership, only rights of
way.
• These include air and maritime transportation networks.
 2.3. Transport Supply and Demand
 There are different means of transportation; indeed all share
common goals/ there is common goal for each available
transport modes.
i.e. Fulfilling a transport Demand and supporting mobility(Supply).
 Transport infrastructure & movement are interdependent,
i.e. Without movements, infrastructures would be useless
and without infrastructures movements could not occur, or
would not occur in a cost efficient manner.
 The interdependency b/n Transport Infrastructure and
Movement can be considered according to two concepts:
Transport Supply and Demand.
Transport Supply:- refers to the capacity of transportation
infrastructures and modes over a geographically defined transport
system in a given period of time.
Supply is expressed in terms of infrastructures’ capacity,
services’ frequency and networks.
The number of passengers, volume (for liquids or containerized
traffic), or mass (for freight) that can be transported per unit of time
and space is commonly used to quantify transport supply.
It combines modal supply- the capacity of a mode to support
traffic, and intermodal supply- the capacity to transship traffic
from one mode to the other.
Transport demand: - refers to transport needs.

 Similar to transport supply, it is expressed in terms of number

of people, volume, or tons per unit of time and space.

Transport demand increases for two reasons:

 Growth of population, production, consumption, standard of

living and Income Increasing demand of passengers and

freight

 Growth in average distance over which passengers or freight is

being carried
 2.4.Graph Theory: Definitions, Properties,
Measures and Indices
Definition and Properties
 A graph is a symbolic representation of a network and its
connectivity.
 It is an abstraction of the reality, so it can be simplified as a set
of linked nodes.
 Graph theory is a branch of mathematics concerned about how
networks can be encoded and their properties measured
Elements of Graph Theory
 The following elements are fundamental to understand graph
theory:
 Graph:-A graph G is a set of vertex or nodes (v) connected by
edges or links (e).
Thus G = (v, e).
• Vertex (Node): A node (v) is a terminal point or an intersection
point of a graph.
It is the abstraction of a location such as a city, an administrative
division, a road intersection or a transport terminal (stations,
terminuses, harbors and airports).
• Edge (Link): An edge (e) is a link b/n two nodes.
It is an abstraction of a transport infrastructure supporting
movements b/n nodes.
It has a direction that is commonly represented as an arrow.
When an arrow is not used, it is assumed the link is bi-directional.
E.g. The graph on Figure below has the following definition:
G = (v, e); v = (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5);
e = (1, 2), (1, 3), (2, 5), (2, 4), (4, 3), (4, 5).

2
1

4
3
I. Measures and Indices
a. Measures
 Several measures and indices can be used to analyze the network
efficiency.
 They are mainly useful for:
 Expressing the r/n ship b/n values and the network
structures they represent.
 Comparing different transportation networks at a
specific point in time.
 Comparing the evolution of a transport network at
different points in time. Depending on the number of nodes and
edges, 3: Diameter, number of Cycle and Order/degree of node
Some Basic measures used to define the structural attributes of a
graph:
I. Number of cycles (u):-The number of independent cycles in a
graph.
This number (u) is estimated as: u = e – v + 1.
For trees and simple networks u = 0 since they have no cycles.
The more complex a network is, the higher the value of u, so
it can be used as an indicator for the level of dev’t of a transport
system.
II. Order (degree) of a Node (o):- refers to the number of its
attached links.
The higher its value, the more a node is as many links converge
to it.
Hub nodes have a high order.
b) Indexes
 Indexes are more complex methods to represent the structural
properties of a graph since they involve the comparison of a
measure over another.
I. Detour Index (Di):-It is also known as Network sinuosity
and is a measure of the efficiency of a transport network in
terms of how well it overcomes distance or the friction of
distance.
 The closer the Di gets to 1, the more the network is spatially
efficient.
 However, Networks having a detour index of 1 are rare.
Di therefore, measures the ratio of straight line distance( flight
distance) to real/actual distance (transport distance)
Di= DD × 100 Where; DI = Detour Index;

TD DD = Strait distance b/n two nodes

TD = Transport distance (Real distance)

 For example, the straight distance (DD) b/n two nodes may be
40 km but the transport distance (TD; real distance) is 50 km.
Then Di = 40 / 50 × 100 = 0.8 or 80%.
 The complexity of the topography is often a good indicator of
the level of detour.
Table: The Network Sinuosity for Ethiopia providing data for
computing Road sinuosity
Node Distance AA AD DB AM AW FC
Observed -- 99 130 125 225 112
AA St. line -- 80 110 100 150 80
Detour Index -- 0.80 0.84 ------ ------ ------
Observed 99 -- 229 224 126 221
AD St. line 80 -- 130 160 110 150
Detour Index ------ -- ------ ------ ------ ------
Observed 130 229 -- 255 355 242
DB St. line 110 130 -- 200 100 90
Detour Index 118 ------ -- ------ ------- ------
Observed 125 224 255 -- 350 239
AM St. line 100 160 200 -- 250 120
Detour Index ------ ----- ------ -- ------ ------
Observed 225 126 355 350 -- 337
AW St. line 150 110 100 250 -- 180
Detour Index ----- ------ ------ ------ -- -----
Observed 112 211 242 237 337 --
FC St. line 80 150 90 120 180 --
Detour Index ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- --
II. Network Density:- Measures the territorial
occupation of a transport network in terms of km of
links (L) per square kilometers of surface (S). It is
given as follows:
The higher it is, the more a network is developed.

Where ND = Network Density;

L = Links of network in Kilometers;
S = Area in Sq. km in which the network falls
III. Beta Index
 It measures the level of connectivity in a graph
and is expressed by the r/n ship b/n the numbers
of links(e) over the number of nodes(v).
 Trees and simple networks have β value < 1.
 A connected network with one cycle has a β=1.
 More complex networks have a high β value >1
• Therefore, the greater the value of β, the greater the
connectivity of the network;
• As the transport networks develop and become more
efficient, the value of the β should rise.
Beta Index (β) is given by the formula:

β=e/v

Where β = beta index;

e = edges;
v = vertices (nodes);
The four graphs below are of growing connectivity. Calculate
their Beta index.

A B e v Beta
A 2 3 0.67
B 3 4 0.75
C 4 4 1.0
D 5 4 1.25
C D

Graphs A and B are not fully connected and their beta

value should <1
Graph C is connected and has a beta value of 1.
Graph D is even more connected with a beta value of
1.25.
IV. Alpha Index
 It refers to a measure of connectivity which
evaluates the number of actual circuits or cycles
given by µ = (e-v +1) in a graph in comparison
with possible maximum number of cycles in a
given network (2v – 5).
µ Where µ = e – v + 1
α = 2v-5 e = edges
v = vertices (node)

 The higher the alpha index, the more a network is

connected
 values of alpha index ranges from 0 (no circuit)
to 1 (a completely interconnected network).
 Trees and simple networks will have a value of 0.
 It is very rare that a network will have an alpha
value of 1, b/c this would implies very serious
redundancies.
 E.g. calculate Alpha index graphs below

A B

Alpha index (α) = e-v +1 / 2v −5

(e- v)+1 2v −5 Alpha
C
D

Graph A has no cycles; graph D has the maximum

possible number of cycles forAa 0graph. 3 0.0
B 1 3 0.33
V. Gamma Index (γ )
 In network analysis, it is a measure of connectivity that
considers the r/n ship b/n the number of
observed links and the number of possible
links.
 It is the ratio of the number of edges in a network to the
maximum number of possible links in the network.
The model to calculate gamma index is
e
γ =
3 (v– 2)

e max may computed using the model 3(v-2).

Where: e = actual edges/links,
v= number of vertices

.
 The value of gamma is b/n 0 and 1 where a value of 1
indicates a completely connected network.
 That is the index of 1 shows the maximum number of
connections with direct links between all the nodes.
 The index of 0 implies there are no connections between
nodes.
 Gamma is an efficient value to measure the progression of a
network in time.
Calculate Gamma and Alpha Indices of network connectivity

1990 1995 2000 2004

e µ × 100
Year e v γ = 3(v – 2)
α = 2v-5
Decimal % Decimal %

1990 4 5 0.44 44.00 0.00 0.00

1995 6 5 0.67 67.00 0.40 40.00
2000 7 5 0.78 78.00 0.60 60.00