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The purpose of this paper is to present a punctuality improvement method system and to show how it was developed for application in the railway industry.

The method is based on principles from quality management theory and developed through four cases: delayed departures from a freight‐terminal; delays caused by wheel damages at freight‐train cars; delays at a single track railway line; and delays created at a railway junction.

The result is a method called PIMS: Punctuality Improvement Method System. PIMS does especially focus on the coupling of results from quantitative analyses with experience‐based knowledge. It also focuses on the interaction between the improvement project and the base organizations.

The research and development work was performed by researchers from academia in cooperation with practitioners from the railway industry.

Punctuality is claimed to be one of the most important quality factors in railway operations and improvement of punctuality is therefore an objective in most railway companies. Punctuality depends on how all actors involved in railway operations perform, and cooperation and communication within and between railway organizations is therefore essential to achieve improvements.

In Norway, there was a lack of an established method describing how to organize and accomplish punctuality improvement work. Thus, the authors initiated a project to develop a coherent method to solve identified punctuality challenges. Through the cases, the method has proven its capability to generate feasible improvement measures and measurable punctuality improvements have been achieved.

Recent studies concerning future air transport systems propose an operational model based on contract‐based air transportation system concepts, which impose 4D (spatial and time) constraints, called target windows (TWs), at different parts of the flight plan that an aircraft has to respect. The paper's aim is to find the set of all possible approaches for controlling punctuality at destination without violating the constraints imposed by a given sequence of TWs.

By quantifying such factors as distance between neighbouring TWs, size and temporal location of TWs, as well as the duration for which each TW should be valid, the authors arrived at a methodology for calculating a feasible sequence of TWs specific and appropriate to each flight scenario. Using these they sought control interface designs that would provide better arrival times at flight path reference points while minimizing potential conflicts.

A “pinch‐and‐pull” interface capable of implementing a real‐time, arrival‐time delay‐minimization process, which aims to achieve punctuality at destination by dynamically imposing appropriate modifications on aircraft flight velocities as dictated by TW definitions, was created.

With novel improvements to current methods for controlling aircraft punctuality at destination as proposed in this paper, great strides in flight path manoeuvrability may result, provided the pace of data management and display can parallel such developments.

The unorthodox approach to optimizing punctuality involves novel development of TWs, so as to transitively reduce uncertainty throughout the 4D trajectory defining the journey, rather than just at terminals. As a means of dramatically enhancing information display, a highly efficient pinch‐and‐pull interface for visualising these TWs was also developed.

This commentary focuses on the measurement of temporal dimensions at different levels of analysis. In particular, it examines the measures that are available for various levels of analysis for four temporal dimensions: polychronicity, speed, punctuality, and temporal depth. The discussion is meant to spur additional research using reliable and valid temporal measures at multiple levels of analysis.

Presents results of a nine‐year research and development project. At the beginning a scheduling simulation software was built and assessed in real contexts. Then it has grown into a technology for shop‐floor planning and control in the jobbing industry, developing now into a philosophy for strategic jobbing production management, named here as “Total punctuality approach”. Based on this approach, a conceptual model was developed to orientate control system design in the jobbing industry. The model was conceived on a manufacturing strategy base being clearly driven by punctuality which was identified as being the main order winning criteria in such markets, when quality and price issues have already been resolved. Flexibility, speed and costs were addressed as well according to their relative importance to competitiveness. Concepts extracted from the various technologies available are mixed up forming a special blend with regard to the total punctuality goal. Almost all aspects of the model were implemented in a software that has been successfully used in small Brazilian jobbing firms. Using the software, it is possible to assess a large range of shop‐floor management practices in terms of their contribution to the competitiveness of the company.

The ten‐item Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV), a psychometric measure of polychronicity (the extent to which people in a culture prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks or events simultaneously and believe their preference is the best way to do things), was developed using data from 11 samples (N = 2,190) collected from bank employees, undergraduate students, hospital personnel, dentists and their staffs, and state agency managers. Principal components, alpha, correlation, and confirmatory factor analyses supported the IPV in its internal consistency, test‐retest reliability, content adequacy, construct validity (both discriminant and convergent), and nomological validity.

As part of the developing attention being paid to time in organization science, this chapter discusses two temporal dimensions – polychronicity and speed – and develops propositions relating these two temporal dimensions to other organization science variables. The propositions are specified according to levels of analysis, at least three of which are considered in propositions presented for each dimension. Two other temporal dimensions – punctuality and temporal depth – are also described, albeit not as extensively as polychronicity and speed. A fifth temporal phenomenon, entrainment, provides insights into organizational processes as well as the four temporal dimensions. The chapter concludes by outlining some reasons for caution for both theory and practice.

This study examined the factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase for each class of airline service, and integrate the constructs of service quality, satisfaction and willingness-to-repurchase which were rooted on Engel-Kollat-Blackwell (EKB) model. The study focuses on the domestic and international arrival of passengers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja. Information was gathered from domestic and foreign passengers who had post-purchase experience and had used the airline's services more than once. The survey data were obtained concurrently from arrival passengers at two major international airports using an electronic questionnaire through random and purposive sampling techniques. The data was analysed using the ordinal logit model and structural equation model. From the 606 respondents, 524 responses were received but 489 responses were valid for data analysis and reporting and were obtained mostly from economy and business class passengers. The study found that the quality of seat pitch, allowance of 30 kg luggage permission, availability of online check-in 24 hours before the departing flight, quality of space for legroom between seats, and the quality of seats that can be converted into a fully flatbed are the major service factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase economy and business class tickets. Also, it was found that passengers' willingness to repurchase is influenced majorly by service quality, but not necessarily influenced by satisfaction. These results reflect the passengers' consciousness of COVID-19 because the study was conducted during the heat of COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations were suggested for airline management based on each class.

Purpose – This study aims to analyze and assess the relation of freight transportation for regional development in the north zone of Aceh. The impact of freight transportation to accelerate the delivery of goods as observed through several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems on regional planning supporting has been focus of this study.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The freight transportation in north zone of Aceh, covering Lhokseumawe, Aceh Utara, Bireuen, BenerMeriah and Aceh Tengah regencies will be examined. In several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems the freight transportation will be surveyed for the analysis. The factors which contribute in the development of the area through freight transportation are the economic growth, human resources improvement, management of land use and environmental harmonization. This regional development approach aims to determine a connection between the two variables.

Findings – The results of the study show that variables of freight transportation in several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems have a significant impact on regional development. It is indicated by the value of 0.214 in the regression weight result.

Research Limitations/Implications – This research has implications on the relation of freight transportation with regard to several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems on the regional development based on the aspect of economic growth, human resources improvement, management of land use and environmental harmonization.

Practical Implications – The result of this study will be an important input to the Aceh government, county and city governments in the north zone in Aceh to encourage the establishment of a road network to accelerate freight transportation in that region for the development of new economic zones.

Originality/Value – This study suggests that freight transportation has the strongest links to significantly influence the activities of regional development, so it can be recommended for the Aceh government, county and city governments in the north zone of Aceh to orient road network policy towards the development of the new economic area and support the implementation of the special economic zones of Arun, Lhokseumawe.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a dynamic control method to improve bus schedule adherence under connected bus system.

The authors developed a dynamic programming model that optimally schedules the bus operating speed at road sections and multiple signal timing plans at intersections to improve bus schedule adherence. First, the bus route was partitioned into three types of sections: stop, road and intersection. Then, transit agencies can control buses in real time based on all collected information; i.e. control bus operating speed on road sections and adjust the signal timing plans through signal controllers to improve the schedule adherence in connected bus environment. Finally, bus punctuality at the downstream stop and the saturation degree deviations of intersections were selected as the evaluation criteria in optimizing signal control plans and bus speeds jointly.

An illustrative case study by using a bus rapid transit line in Jinan city was performed to verify the proposed model. It revealed that based on the proposed strategy, the objective value could be reduced by 73.7%, which indicated that the punctuality was highly improved but not to incur excessive congestion for other vehicular traffic.

In this paper, the authors applied speed guidance and the adjustment of the signal control plans for multiple cycles in advance to improve the scheduled stability; furthermore, the proposed control strategy can reduce the effect on private traffics to the utmost extend.