SCALE ECONOMIES IN RAIL TRANSIT SYSTEMS
The research uses Federal Transit Administration Section 15 data to investigate the operating costs of 13 heavy-rail and 13 light-rail urban mass transit systems for the period 1985-91. A Cobb-Douglas technology is used to investigate various types of economies of scale. Principal findings are: (1) Adding additional passengers to an existing network and schedule of services involves zero marginal cost for heavy-rail systems, and small additional costs for light-rail systems. (2) There are large economies of density. Adding additional trains, and passengers, to an existing network leads to a less than proportionate increase in costs. (3) There are increasing economies of network size for light rail, but diseconomies of network size for heavy rail. An expanded route network results in mild increases in unit costs for the large heavy-rail systems. The smaller light-rail systems display reduced unit costs with an expanded network. The research suggests that the minimum efficient scale for rail operation is approximately 25 route miles.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Presented at the 9th Metropolitan Conference on Public Transportation Research, Chicago, June 17, 1994.
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Corporate Authors:
Northwestern University, Evanston
Department of Economics, 2003 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL United States 60208Great Lakes Center for Truck and Transit Research
201 UMTRI Building, 2901 Baxter Road
Ann Arbor, MI United States 48109-2150 -
Authors:
- Savage, I
- Publication Date: 1994-6
Language
- English
Media Info
- Features: References; Tables;
- Pagination: 21 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Economies of scale; Light rail transit; Operating costs; Rapid transit
- Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Transit Administration
- Old TRIS Terms: Fta section 15 data
- Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Public Transportation;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00668936
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: GLCTTR 66/94-01
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Nov 8 1994 12:00AM