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Economic growth has continually remained an objective of every nation, particularly for lesser-developed countries such as the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). According to an UNCTAD (2014) report on “Small island developing States: Challenges in transport and trade logistics,” one way of attaining economic growth is by focusing attention on tackling the challenges faced by transport and trade logistics (UNCTAD, 2014). Given the unique characteristics of SIDS nations, notably high import content, insularity, geographic remoteness and small economies, populations and areas, all of these factors emphasize the importance of having “well-functioning, reliable, sustainable and resilient transportation systems, in particularly the maritime sector for SIDS development and international trade survival” (UNCTAD, 2014). Such policies would be consistent with what is generally referred to as ‘supply led' economic development, where improvements in transport related infrastructure result in economic growth (Cowie, 2010). Such an approach assumes there is a latent demand for a country/region's produce, but this is being prevented from being exploited, because of inefficiencies in, or a lack of adequate port infrastructures and human resources. These challenges constitute a key policy concern for the sustainable development of SIDS' ports and become not only a port concern but a national concern, as directing adequate funding to improving port efficiency, has become a top priority (UNCTAD 2014). For instance, according to the United Nations (UN), “benchmarks need to be established to monitor and improve port performance ... ”(UNCTAD, 2014), while SIDS such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) aim to improve their maritime sector, claims that “...enhancing the maritime sector has the potential to fuel CARICOMs trade, increase port productivity and generate significant cost savings...” (CARICOM, 2013). This research aims to measure, analyse and compare port efficiency and productivity over a ten-year period (2001-2011), on 69 seaports, using non- parametric DEA based tests. The primary focus is on the Caribbean SIDS (referred as the Caribbean for abbreviation purposes), benchmarked against top ports. This is investigated from the realm of how port policy and development strategies have affected efficiency and productivity over time. This research attempts to present greater insight into SIDS ports, with reference mainly to the Caribbean, whilst the approach can become a springboard, implemented on other port types and regions of the world. Additionally, its practical contribution may become a better guide for international (UNCTAD), regional (CARICOM) and country level decision makers. Evolutionary technical efficiency and productivity for the Caribbean's Small Island Developing States (SIDS) ports, during the period 2001-2011 are evaluated. Moreover, the region's port development initiatives are assessed over the same period. Top ports received an average efficiency of 72%, outperforming the overall 66% average for Caribbean ports as was expected. Interestingly enough, efficiencies for top ports decreased on average by 0.5% per annum over the decade, whilst increases of up to 0.7% were found for Caribbean ports. Moreover, the region's productivity grew by 3.2%, compared to their larger top counterparts, of up to 2% per annum. This research concludes that trade volumes play an integral part in affecting efficiency and productivity. Additionally, given port development initiatives, the Caribbean's progresses in efficiency/productivity has been mainly the effects of scale and technical progress respectively. Since these ports are usually smaller scale and yield lesser throughput (compared to their larger counterparts), when they begin to grow, the focus is on enlarging their production scales, however, this is at the expense of adjusting internal practises. Compared to TOP ports, increases in productivity is solely the consequence of technical progress. Since these are usually larger scale ports and so likely yield more throughput, will likely be operating at the size of decreasing returns to scale. This suggests, that they are not properly focusing on internal practices and sizing their production scales to accommodate the rise in technical progress. The research findings can potentially influence decisions made by local and regional authorities in the Caribbean, when it comes to port development initiatives, as it provides an overview of efficiency/productivity, but more so that which impedes these progresses.

The current debate on transport policy in the UK is focused on the need for a sustainable transport system. Buses play a vital role in achieving this, as they are the most frequently used and most accessible mode of public transport. However, the literature shows that the delivery of sustainable transport policies is not producing the desired outcomes (Hull, 2009) and the application of such policies in real situations remains inconsistent. This is evident across the UK where there has been a decrease in bus patronage and bus mileage. To address this gap, the aim of this research is to identify why bus policies are not imple-mented successfully at a local level and to provide recommendations for implementation and decision making that will aid policy makers, local authority staff, regional transport partnerships, bus operating companies and other practitioners working within the field of transport. A mixed methodology was chosen for this research and is divided into three key stages to address the research problem. The first methodology included an online ques-tionnaire and 143 questionnaires were sent to all public transport officers in Great Britain. 80 surveys were returned giving a response rate of 56%. The second methodology in-cluded telephone interviews conducted with 10 of those public transport officers who responded to the questionnaire in order to elicit a deeper understanding of the results, which could not be achieved from the questionnaire results alone. Finally, the third meth-odology included four case studies on specific bus schemes within Great Britain. These case studies were the Quality Contract Scheme in Tyne and Wear, Fastlink Scheme in Glasgow, Bus Priority Scheme in Solihull and Smart Ticketing Scheme in Dundee. While the questionnaires and telephone interviews provide an overview of bus policy imple-mentation across Great Britain, the multiple case studies were required to investigate the topic in depth, thus identifying the greatest barriers to bus policy implementation. Analysis of the three sets of data is based on the application of a new decision support frame-work developed in this research. The findings in this thesis reveal that local authorities in Great Britain are under-performing in the implementation of bus policy due to the barriers they face. The greatest barriers to implementation include the lack of a policy document; the characteristics of the organisation; availability of resources; intra-organisation support and communication; economic, social and political environments; and opposition, conflict, and ambiguities. Overall, this research has identified several concerns with bus policy implementation. The most obvious concern is the unclear link between policy objectives and measures and the setting and monitoring of performance targets. Meanwhile, the deregulation of the bus sector in the UK means that, in some cases, a lack of control over the implementation of certain measures places limits on policy implementation and results in the frequent im-plementation of policy measures that are achievable rather than those that are necessary to the achievement of policy objectives. The findings from this research also help policy-makers and transport planners to predict what makes implementation successful and to address problems and issues through improved policies and regulations, as well as to an-ticipate and plan for likely barriers. Moreover, addressing these barriers can help tackle the decline in bus mileage and bus usage across Great Britain.

Parking plays an important role in mobility, access and the economic development of cities; at the same time, it is a profitable business for both the private and public sectors. The city centre car parking market is a sector of the economy that has increased in importance as the market for cars has grown. Cars have become a fundamental element of journey mobility and, in consequence, parking has as well. The car-parking sector has always been of great importance in terms of urban mobility, since it is a fundamental element in achieving a high level of accessibility in the city centres. In fact, many businesses and municipalities see an adequate supply of parking, especially for visitors, as crucial for their competitive growth. Yet, at the same time parking is, and will remain for most cities, the most powerful means of traffic restraint available. The economics of car parking is also important because it is, both for public and private organizations, a key source of revenue. Despite the importance of the sector, knowledge of the car parking market has been until very recently, sparse and limited. This thesis is focused on the car parking operator?s point of view, analysing and appraising this industry and the actors involved. The related literature investigates the car parking sector analysing the variables that influence its behaviour. The literature review also appraises whether and how far car parking operators are considered as key transport actors by local and national authorities, comparing Italy and the UK. The information collected is used to structure an econometric model, using the variables chosen as important and simulating the strategic behaviour of the car parking operator in a city centre context. The research also deepens the analysis of the car parking sector with a survey of car parking operators and policies in some Italian and UK cities. In this way the research achieves its aims to contribute to filling the knowledge gap on the city centre car parking market, both theoretically and empirically. Theoretically because the literature on car parking is very recent and little investigated; empirically, because research in this field is also sparse.