Introduction to Transportation Systems

Journal of Business Logistics, 2003 by Spychalski, John C

Introduction to Transportation Systems Joseph Sussman Artech House, Norwood, MA, 2000. $89.00 ISBN 1-58053-141-5 470 xxix pages

Joseph Sussman composed this book on the basis of transcripts of his lectures for the onesemester introductory course in MIT's graduate transportation program. His stated basic objective for the book "is to create a framework for understanding transportation systems at a basic level, so that students, faculty members, and practitioners can go forward to design the transportation systems and programs of the future, based on strong fundamentals and a good understanding of how the contemporary system works and the issues surrounding it" (p. 443). The book pursues this objective within a span of thirty chapters, grouped into three parts.

Part I, titled "Context, Concepts, and Characterization," first introduces social, political, economic, and environmental implications of transportation. It then sets the stage for development of a systems perspective of transportation by encouraging readers to think about transportation within the context of its three basic dimensions: technology, systems, and institutions.

Chapters 2 through 5 in Part I address internal (technological and managerial) and external (institutional) components of transportation systems, customer and level-of-service requirements and conditions, and fundamental attributes of transportation networks. Chapters 6 through 9 depict supply and demand characteristics and their impacts on the behavior of transportation networks. From these characteristics and impacts, Sussman draws out a total of thirty key points or guideposts relating to the economic operation, managerial, and societal dimensions of transportation. Viewed at face, many of the key points might appear as facile truisms to some seasoned (or jaded) transport professionals. However, this reviewer deems them to be sagacious maxims of timeless relevance for anyone engaged in the study and practice of transport. Prime examples include the following:

* "The cost of providing a specific service, the price charged for that service, and the level-ofservice provided may not be consistent."

* "The computation of cost for providing specific services is complex and often ambiguous."

* "Cost/level of service trade-offs are a fundamental tension for the transportation provider and for the transportation customer, as well as between them."

The remaining two chapters in Part I present frameworks, which Sussman defines as qualitative organizing principles for analyzing transport systems, and concepts for building quantitative models of transportation systems. Techniques, benefits, and limitations of modeling receive attention in the form of a summary overview.

Part II, titled "Freight Transportation," opens with a chapter on level-of-service variables in freight transportation, and their linkages with performance requirements of shippers' logistics systems. The next six chapters focus on U.S. rail freight transport, beginning with an overview of technological, economic, and institutional characteristics. Following that, chapter-length coverage is given to railroad freight service operations; terminals (yards) and their linkages with network performance; freight car costs and level-of-service alternatives; and exposition of a model for simulating interactions between locomotive power, freight car fleet size, and service levels. The final rail freightfocused chapter touches on a pot pourri of topics, including service quality measurement, freight car ownership and utilization-related issues, mergers, and types of service. Of the remaining chapters in Part II, one covers trucking and the other addresses ocean shipping, intermodalism and international freight flows, and closes with a summary of key factors and conditions in freight transport.

Part III, titled "Traveler Transportation," begins with an introductory chapter on passenger transport concepts, travel demand determinants and conditions, and linkages between land use patterns and passenger transport. This is followed by chapters on commuting; traveler level-of-service measures and issues; intelligent transportation systems (ITS); urban transportation network planning; traffic signals and other road traffic control mechanisms; deterministic queuing; and urban public transportation. Chapters on intercity air and rail passenger transport close out Part III. Sussman has succeeded admirably in achieving his basic objective for the book: presentation of a comprehensive, clearly specified, and universally applicable (i.e., to all modes) systems perspective of transportation. The framework embodied in this perspective constitutes a powerful tool for understanding, analyzing, planning, and managing networks in all modes of transport. As such, it represents the dominant strength of the book.

Overall, the text of the book is clear and highly readable. However, unevenness in structure and style of composition at various junctures betrays the book's origin as transcripts of lectures. Additional editing is recommended for a revised edition.