Policy Improvements of Private Transportation in US and China

This dissertation consists of three chapters that investigate policies aiming for improving private automobile transportation from different angles. The first chapter focuses on the efficiency of marked versus unmarked on-street parking. The study uses computer simulation that assigns queues of randomly generated vehicles to marked and unmarked spaces using a parallel world method, to directly test which method is more efficient and accommodate more cars. The simulation results show that unmarked spacing is more efficient only when the curb is shorter, or not close to any integer times of the optimal length of one marked space, and when drivers are all considerate when choosing the parking location. This simulation study also finds vehicle downsizing only helps the owners of the downsized vehicles themselves, while making it more difficult for all other people to find parking. The second chapter focuses on the engine size tax in China. Using regressions based on data of vehicle trims offered in China from 2004 to 2016, the study shows that the engine size tax drove automakers to downsize engines and cluster sizes around cutoff points related to the taxes. The tax affects fuel efficiency in opposite directions. On one hand, engine size tax encouraged engine downsizing in China and contribute to an improvement in fuel efficiency. On the other hand, using cutoff points to differentiate tax rates also encouraged automakers to use turbocharging technology to increase horsepower, which compromised improvements in fuel consumption. The third chapter focuses on the impacts of fuel price changes on vehicle consumption in US and China. This study conducted a comparative analysis of US and China automobile market using historical vehicle sales data linked with gasoline prices and vehicle attributes including fuel consumption rates. The results reveal a major difference in vehicle purchasing behavior between US and China. US consumers are strongly affected by fuel price and purchase vehicles with better fuel economy when gasoline prices are higher and vice versa, while Chinese consumers do not seem to be affected by gasoline price changes much. This difference implies different policies are needed to reduce fuel consumption in the two countries.