ALLOCATING SUBSIDIES TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT: SOME THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Economic developments, particularly in recent years, have led to a revived interest in the efficacy of government expenditures. One area of government interest where discussions are particularly lively is public transport. Public transport is a service to the public of a country or region which seldom seems able to pay its own costs. Politicians argue that the purpose of public transport is not to make money but to contribute with improved accessibility to the social well-being of society. The concept of social well-being has two unpleasant features, namely, that it is complex and that it is vague. They are probably to blame for the fact that discussions of social well-being are either so general that no meaningful conclusion can be drawn from them or that they do not go beyond giving highly specific, often almost trivial examples of (the lack of) social well-being, leaving entirely open the question how such examples fit in a general concept of social well-being. After the introduction to the problem a general model for public transport will be presented in which both the level of service and the fare are introduced as instruments to increase the contribution of public transport to social well-being. It will be shown that, although in principle the marginal benefit-cost approach has to be considered as the best approach to problems of public transport, financial constraints could become so severe that a monopolistic approach is used instead. After this theoretical part of the paper it is shown how the model could be estimated and prepared for use in a system of optimum allocation of funds for public transport. (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/7802200
• Corporate Authors:

  Taylor & Francis

  4 Park Square, Milton Park
  Abingdon,   United Kingdom  OX14 4RN
• Authors:
  • Klassen, L H
  • VOGELAAR, H
  • Wagenaar, S
• Publication Date: 1984-1-3

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 43-72
• Serial:
  • Transport Reviews
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISSN: 0144-1647
  • EISSN: 1464-5327
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ttrv20

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Cost allocation; Economic factors; Economics; Financing; Level of service; Mathematical models; Needs assessment; Optimization; Planning; Public transit; Social factors; Socioeconomic factors; Sociology; Subsidies; Tariffs; Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Optimum
• Old TRIS Terms: Allocations
• ITRD Terms: 263: Economics of transport; 244: Financing; 653: Level of service; 6473: Mathematical model; 143: Planning; 744: Public transport; 2253: Sociology; 241: Tariff
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Planning and Forecasting; Society; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00386154
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 28 1984 12:00AM