POLICY APPRAISAL AND DECISION MAKING FOR BUS OPERATIONS - THE BUSMODEL APPROACH

In most countries bus operations are subsidised to some extent by central or local government and subsidies can be as high as 80% of operating costs for some cities. However, alternative policies for bus operations are not usually appraised in a manner directly consistent or comparable with the appraisal methods commonly used in other transport sectors. Bus fares and service levels are not generally determined after benefit appraisal of possible alternatives. Therefore there are no summary indicators of value for money available for subsidies to hold bus fares down or maintain services. Busmodel is intended to remedy this situation. It is a general demand and cost model for a publicly owned bus undertaking. The objective of bus policy is taken to be that of maximising the (weighted) sum of passengers' benefits (their consumer surplus), benefits to the general public (financial profit from the bus undertaking) and other benefits (to bus employees, other road users, etc). The major difficulty is the quantification of user benefits. Busmodel estimates the consumer surplus of passengers directly from a description of the disaggregated structure of demand. Demand can be disaggregated by origin-destination pair, time of day/week and person type or by service or service group. Data inputs to the model include base data information on fares, services and passengers together with estimates of fare and service elasticities, future inflation and trends. The effects of varying fares and services on patronage and passengers' benefits can be estimated. Together with a parallel, simpler model of costs, forecasts for, and cost: benefit appraisals of, alternative fare and service policies are derived. Busmodel is run on a cheap microcomputer. For the covering abstract of the seminar see TRIS 453884.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/086050140X
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Microcomputer Applications in Developing Countries. Proceedings of Seminar F held at the 12th PTRC Summer Annual Meeting.
• Corporate Authors:

  PTRC Education and Research Services Limited

  110 Strand
  London WC2,   England 
• Authors:
  • BUCHANAN, M
• Conference:
  • Planning & Transport Res & Comp, Sum Ann Mtg, Proc
• Publication Date: 1984

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 47-55
• Serial:
  • Volume: P249

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Benefit cost analysis; Bus transportation; Buses; Conferences; Costs; Demand; Digital computers; Evaluation and assessment; Level of service; Mathematical models; Microcomputers; Operating costs; Policy; Public transit; Subsidies; Tariffs; Vehicle occupants
• Uncontrolled Terms: Micro; Use
• ITRD Terms: 8525: Conference; 224: Cost; 226: Cost benefit analysis; 285: Demand (econ); 8673: Digital computer; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 653: Level of service; 6473: Mathematical model; 9045: Micro; 173: Policy; 744: Public transport; 241: Tariff; 9084: Use; 1715: Vehicle occupant
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Motor Carriers; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00453890
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 086050-140-X
• Report/Paper Numbers: MONOGRAPH
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1986 12:00AM