Does Government Structure Matter? A Comparative Analysis of Urban Bus Transit Efficiency

As public transit becomes more and more important to our economy, it is imperative that we understand which governing system achieves optimal efficiency. Following up on the work of Perry and Babitsky (1986), the authors quantitatively test whether certain forms of public governance are more efficient administrators of bus service. The authors utilize 2004 data from the National Transit Association database and control for federal funding, whether services are contracted out, region, population density, whether the system has a fixed guideway, the presence of local dedicated funding, and the ratio of local to federal funding. The authors find that special-purpose governments are more likely than general-purpose governments (cities and counties) to operate more efficiently. The authors also discovered that governments that contract out for some or all of their bus services are also more likely to be efficient than those public agencies that directly operate all of their services.

• Record URL:
  • http://doi.org/10.5038/2375-0901.11.1.4
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/30755822
• Authors:
  • Leland, Suzanne
  • Smirnova, Olga
• Publication Date: 2008

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 63-83
• Serial:
  • Journal of Public Transportation
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: University of South Florida, Tampa
  • ISSN: 1077-291X
  • EISSN: 2375-0901
  • Serial URL: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jpt/
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Administration; Bus transit; Contracting; Financing; Governments; Local government; Population density; Regions; Urban transit
• Uncontrolled Terms: Comparative analysis; Efficiency; Fixed guideways
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01099813
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 22 2008 7:41AM