EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY ISSUES IN SPECIAL FEES FOR FINANCING TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Theoretically, charges for building and operating facilities and services should be efficient (proportional to one's use of or benefit derived from the service) and equitable (proportional to one's ability to pay). A number of "innovative" financing techniques have been used recently, whereby the private sector (developers, property owners, businesses, and users) pays entirely or partially for the cost of building and operating transportation facilities or services. These techniques are particularly popular when the impact from the land use developments on the transportation system is such that substantial improvements are warranted in order to avoid serious congestion problems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate special fee assessments (a popular sub-set of "innovative" financing techniques) used for financing highway and mass transportation in order to determine their efficiency and equity implications. The need for such an investigation arises from the fact that everyone residing or doing business in a particular area does not benefit equally from a given transportation system, and neither is everyone able to contribute equally toward that system's building and operation. This paper presents some of the most commonly used special fee assessment techniques and suggests fee structures that are "optimal" on the basis of the benefits that contributors derive from the given transportation system, as well as their ability to pay for it.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09658564
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Headington Hill Hall
  Oxford OX30BW,    
• Authors:
  • Bladikas, A K
  • Pignataro, L J
• Publication Date: 1990-7

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 283-292
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
  • Volume: 24A
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0965-8564
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Assessments; Benefits; Developers; Districts and authorities; Economic efficiency; Equity; Financing; Impact fees; Infrastructure; Private enterprise; Special user groups; User charges
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency; Special assessments
• Old TRIS Terms: Developer agreements
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Highways; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00497130
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Special Issue
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Sep 30 1990 12:00AM