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Putting our money to good use: Can we attract more passengers without increasing subsidies?

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  • Holmgren, Johan

Abstract

This paper evaluates the policy of Swedish public transport authorities, determining whether the number of trips on local public transport could have been increased without increasing subsidies. Based on annual data from Swedish counties, the evaluation found that between 1986 and 2001 public transport fares exceeded the passenger-maximising fare most of the time in all but two counties, the average deviation being 1-215%. Evaluating the alternative, passenger-maximising policy, including both fare and service changes for 2001, demonstrated that demand for local public transport in Swedish counties could have been increased by 0-178% without increasing subsidies. Aggregated, this represents a 2.3% increase in the number of trips on local public transport in Sweden.

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  • Holmgren, Johan, 2010. "Putting our money to good use: Can we attract more passengers without increasing subsidies?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 256-260.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:29:y:2010:i:1:p:256-260
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joyce M. Dargay & Mark Hanly, 2002. "The Demand for Local Bus Services in England," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 36(1), pages 73-91, January.
    2. Hensher, David A., 2008. "Assessing systematic sources of variation in public transport elasticities: Some comparative warnings," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 1031-1042, August.
    3. Holmgren, Johan, 2007. "Meta-analysis of public transport demand," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 1021-1035, December.
    4. Holmgren, Johan & Jansson, Jan Owen & Ljungberg, Anders, 2008. "Public transport in towns - Inevitably on the decline?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 65-74, January.
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    2. Cinzia Daraio & Marco Diana & Flavia Di Costa & Claudio Leporelli & Giorgio Matteucci & Alberto Nastasi, 2014. "Efficiency and effectiveness in the urban public transport sector: a critical review with directions for future research," DIAG Technical Reports 2014-14, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    3. Hansson, Lisa & Holmgren, Johan, 2018. "Cost effect of reorganising – A study of special transport services," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 453-459.
    4. Holmgren, Johan, 2020. "The effect of public transport quality on car ownership – A source of wider benefits?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

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