SWEDISH LOCAL AND REGIONAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN 10-20 YEARS: ECONOMIC PREREQUISITES AND FINANCING METHODS

The financial support, which local and regional public transport in Sweden receives from tax revenue, has risen from one fifth to one half of costs over the decade 1970-1980. The poor financial state of public transport is the result of the transport objectives set by government, unfavourable trends in demand and operating cost increases. This report considers four methods of improving the financial standing of public transport companies: employer contributions, a car traffic tax, land site charges and peak-load pricing. The qualitative impact of each of these methods was assessed for the municipal districts of Kalmar and Joenkoeping and for the County of Stockholm. The report finds that there is a clear case for bringing fare levels more into line with costs, although a differentiated fare policy will not eliminate deficits. With regard to employers' contributions, the elimination of deficits would require a levy of 0.4% to 0.5% on payroll costs. A car traffic tax would require an additional sek 0.5 per litre of petrol and would increase the market share of public transport in urban areas. Site charges would amount to between 1 and 1.5% of taxable land value, and would reduce land values by 10%. The report favours employer contributions as they have a clear link with work journeys, which are the reason for the uneven utilisation of transport capacity and are a major contributor to public transport deficits.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportforskningsberedningen

  Wennerbergsgatan 10
  Stockholm,   Sweden 
• Authors:
  • Bruzelius, Nils
  • JOHANSSON, B
  • Stroemquist, U
• Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 34 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Economic factors; Economics; Employers; Evaluation and assessment; Fares; Federal government; Financing; Forecasting; Local government agencies; Methodology; Operating costs; Peak periods; Policy; Pricing; Public transit; Revenues; Road pricing; Subsidies; Taxation; Taxes; Transportation; Urban areas; Vehicle capacity; Work trips
• Geographic Terms: Sweden
• ITRD Terms: 1251: Capacity (veh); 224: Cost; 263: Economics of transport; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 244: Financing; 132: Forecast; 183: Government (national); 192: Local authority; 9102: Method; 612: Peak hour; 173: Policy; 744: Public transport; 240: Road pricing; 8109: Sweden; 241: Tariff; 268: Tax; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Policy; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00455422
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
• Report/Paper Numbers: TFB Stencil 3
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1986 12:00AM