Widar von Arx

Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts | HSLU · Department of Public Management and Economics

Despite great differentials between urban, peri-urban and rural experiences, little research on demand responsive transport (DRT) has been conducted in peri-urban settings. This paper explores the influence of peri-urban area (PUA) conditions on the design and the operation of DRT and the resulting demand patterns and modal shifts. It uses a combin...

From a short-term (e.g. daily) perspective, visitor numbers to an outdoor recreation destination are strongly influenced by good or bad weather conditions. However, to date, a large body of literature has focused on tourists’ responses to climate change or weather conditions over a longer temporal scale, such as a year. Using data for Mount Rigi, a...

In this paper, we assess the demand effects of lower public transport fares in Geneva, an urban area in Switzerland. Considering a unique sample based on transport companies' annual reports, we find that, when reducing the costs of annual season tickets, day tickets and short-distance tickets (by up to 29%, 6% and 20%, respectively), demand increas...

Using advanced technologies, ridesharing has transformed transportation in many cities. The effective integration of ridesharing into public transport systems can provide an opportunity for public transport authorities to solve the common problem of rural transport, namely poor accessibility due to the dispersal of the population. However, literatu...

This study aims to explore how customer segments are characterised by leisure and mobility orientations. By means of a survey, Swiss rail customers’ socioeconomic and trip profiles as well as attitudes towards taking the rail in their leisure time were collected. Respondents were free to take part in the survey by telephone or online, resulting in...

This study examines the effects of on-demand mobility services on sustainability in terms of emissions and traffic volume. According to our simulations, implementing on-demand mobility services is recommendable only as a supplement to public transport in both urban and rural regions since there are positive effects in terms of CO2 emissions. Howeve...

In recent years, coworking spaces have not only rapidly increased in cosmopolitan cities, they have been also emerged in rural areas. At the same time, the research interest in coworking spaces privileges cities and urban centres. That means existing research leaves the phenomenon coworking spaces in rural areas largely unexplored. Moreover, in the...

Ohnmacht, Timo; Vu, Thao Thi & von Arx, Widar (2020). Job Mobility Biographies in Coworking Spaces: A Theoretical Contribution to New Social and Spatial Restructurings. In Joachim Scheiner; Henrike Rau (Hrsg.), Mobility over the life course (S. 100-116). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. LINK

This article focuses on the economic potential and the consequences on the regulatory context of Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAV) used in a regional public transportation system. Based on an experimental case study two on-demand scenarios were developed for the Swiss rural area of the Töss Valley. Scenario 1 replaces the current public transportati...

In recent years, coworking spaces have not only rapidly increased in cosmopolitan cities, they have been also emerged in rural areas. At the same time, the research interest in coworking spaces privileges cities and urban centres. That means existing research leaves the phenomenon coworking spaces in rural areas largely unexplored. Moreover, in the...

Pre-set options, referred to as default options, have been found to influence consumer choices in various settings. In this paper, we investigate the effect of default options on the chosen categories of board and lodging in travel packages. The results of two field experiments indicate that guests traveling as couples are more likely to book a sup...

Despite a growing body of research on the interface and relationship between transport and tourism, this research area remains undeveloped. Using Switzerland as a case study, the present study aims to investigate the level of integration between public transport and tourism companies, the enablers of their long-term cooperative relationship and out...

Der Beitrag fokussiert auf die Herausforderungen, mit denen sich die Führung von Spitalorganisationen konfrontiert sieht. Aus dem breiten Aufgabenspektrum der Spitalführung wählen wir die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Einflussnahme auf Wandelvorhaben in medizinischen Kernprozessen, um die unterschiedlichen Erwartungen und Logiken der beiden Profess...

Over the past twenty years, the European Union has been undertaking important rail reforms to boost the growth of rail traffic. Yet this is often presented in the literature as if the outcome of these reforms is rather modest. Drawing on a case study of Switzerland, this paper aims to look more closely at this discourse by examining the ways in which...

In recent years, concerns over effective consumer representation of public transport users have increased considerably, as public transport has undergone substantial regulatory reforms. The ultimate goal of deregulation is to protect and benefit the public at large. Hence, this paper explores how this goal is being pursued by examining the roles of...

This article addresses transaction costs of different governance forms in regional public rail transport by comparing Germany's competitive contract awarding model with Switzerland's direct contract awarding model. We propose a concept of transaction costs with four dimensions, namely the awarding procedure, the institutional framework, provision o...

Background. Interconnections of settlement, transportation, and society are extremely varied, complex, and context-specific. The Simulation Game HUMAN SETTLEMENT AND TRANSPORT (HST) aims to assist in the training and continuing education of transportation students and professionals with the transportation modeling software VISUM. Aim. The key resea...

This article presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the recursive relationship between leadership practices and contexts to help explain the dynamics of change in a Swiss healthcare organization. Central to the paper’s argument is the assumption that leadership is not only a contextually influenced, but also a context-producing practice....

Der Artikel beschäftigt sich mit genuinen Herausforderungen von Management als einer Gestaltungsfunktion zur Stabilisierung und optimierenden Weiterentwicklung einer produktiven arbeitsteiligen Zusammenarbeit und Führung. Wir definieren den Begriff des integrierenden Managements und nennen die wesentlichen Aufgaben in Organisationen. Wir weisen fer...

Steigende Kosten setzen Krankenhäuser unter grossen Reformdruck. Die Behandlung und Betreuung von Patienten ist jedoch nur begrenzt rationalisierbar. Eine Effizienzsteigerung sollte deshalb primär an der gewachsenen Form des alltäglichen Organisierens und Führens ansetzen. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert fünf konkrete, zentrale Führungsherausforderungen,...

Der Beitrag diskutiert neuartige Herausforderungen, die sich für Spitäler als Folge des wandelnden externen Kontextes ergeben. Der Beitrag diskutiert fünf zentrale Führungsherausforderungen, die nach einer systematischen Weiterentwicklung der gewohnheitsmässigen Praktiken des Organisierens und Führens verlangen.

Investigation into the practices involved when conducting a strategic change project in a Swiss University hospital. Exploration of the interrelated network of practices to stabilize daily organizing within a complex organization

Taking a discursive perspective on organizational change processes, we present and discuss a longitudinal case study on the introduction of Fast Track Surgery (FTS), a surgical change project within a Swiss acute hospital. Regarding the hospital as a professional organization organizing in multiple discourses, the change initiative faced distinct c...

Exploring the interrelated practices that lead to the failure of a strategic change initiative in a large university hospital in Switzerland.