REDISTRIBUTIVE EFFECTS OF PUBLIC TRANSIT: FRAMEWORK AND CASE STUDY

Study of the redistributive effects of public policy, i.e., who pays and who benefits, is often lacking in economic analysis. This paper stresses the importance of including a redistributive focus and presents a procedure for analyzing redistributive effects in public transit. The main redistributive effect studied is due to varying profitabilities of transit lines. Ceteris paribus, the users of profitable lines subsidize the users of unprofitable lines. To measure this effect requires that the costs and revenues of the transit system be allocated to the individual lines. The means of accomplishing this allocation are considered. The results can then be correlated with socioeconomic data of the users of each line. Along with this, variables that seem important in explaining the variance in line profitability can be tested. This framework is applied in a case study of the Chicago transity system. /Author/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/589/589-001.pdf
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=REDISTRIBUTIVE+EFFECTS+OF+PUBLIC+TRANSIT%3a+FRAMEWORK+AND+CASE+STUDY&author=S.+Rock&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Taxation, Finance, and Pricing. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Rock, Steven M
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-7
• Monograph Title: Urban transportation finance
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 589
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Economic analysis; Profits; Public policy; Public transit; Revenues; Urban transportation; User benefits; User charges
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Finance; Highways; Policy; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00142349
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309025559
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 30 1981 12:00AM