IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v179y2024ics0965856423003488.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distance traveled, transit design and optimal pricing

Author

Listed:
  • Jara-Díaz, Sergio
  • Gschwender, Antonio
  • Castro, Juan Cristóbal
  • Lepe, Matías

Abstract

Should transit prices vary with distance? And if so, how? Two arguments that point in opposing directions have been presented in the literature: long distance users induce larger operators’ costs while short distance users induce larger in-vehicle times. Here we formulate a stylized model of a corridor where these and other elements are taken into account to approach the optimal strategic design (frequency, vehicle size, and route length) and its associated optimal pricing problem considering identical users that travel different distances. A crucial element is the consideration of the crowding caused by passengers entering the system at different points along the corridor, affecting the value of in-vehicle time which increases with the load factor through a crowding factor that, ultimately, is the single element that triggers optimal prices that increase with distance at a decreasing rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Gschwender, Antonio & Castro, Juan Cristóbal & Lepe, Matías, 2024. "Distance traveled, transit design and optimal pricing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:179:y:2024:i:c:s0965856423003488
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2023.103928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856423003488
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2023.103928?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    2. Sergio Jara-Díaz & Alejandro Tirachini, 2013. "Urban Bus Transport: Open All Doors for Boarding," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 47(1), pages 91-106, January.
    3. Kraus, Marvin, 1991. "Discomfort externalities and marginal cost transit fares," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 249-259, March.
    4. Batarce, Marco & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Ortúzar, Juan de Dios, 2016. "Valuing crowding in public transport: Implications for cost-benefit analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 358-378.
    5. Tian, Qiong & Huang, Hai-Jun & Yang, Hai, 2007. "Equilibrium properties of the morning peak-period commuting in a many-to-one mass transit system," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 616-631, July.
    6. Sergio Jara-Díaz & Antonio Gschwender, 2003. "Towards a general microeconomic model for the operation of public transport," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 453-469, July.
    7. Sergio Jara-Díaz & Antonio Gschwender, 2009. "The effect of financial constraints on the optimal design of public transport services," Transportation, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 65-75, January.
    8. Feifei Qin, 2014. "Investigating the In-Vehicle Crowding Cost Functions for Public Transit Modes," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2014, pages 1-13, February.
    9. Huang, Di & Liu, Zhiyuan & Liu, Pan & Chen, Jun, 2016. "Optimal transit fare and service frequency of a nonlinear origin-destination based fare structure," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-19.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fielbaum, Andres, 2024. "On the relationship between free public transport, stop spacing, and optimal frequencies," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hörcher, Daniel & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2021. "A review of public transport economics," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    2. Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Fielbaum, Andrés & Gschwender, Antonio, 2020. "Strategies for transit fleet design considering peak and off-peak periods using the single-line model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-18.
    3. Fielbaum, Andrés & Tirachini, Alejandro & Alonso-Mora, Javier, 2023. "Economies and diseconomies of scale in on-demand ridepooling systems," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    4. Ihab Kaddoura & Benjamin Kickhöfer & Andreas Neumann & Alejandro Tirachini, 2015. "Agent-based optimisation of public transport supply and pricing: impacts of activity scheduling decisions and simulation randomness," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(6), pages 1039-1061, November.
    5. Zhang, Junlin & Yang, Hai & Lindsey, Robin & Li, Xinwei, 2020. "Modeling and managing congested transit service with heterogeneous users under monopoly," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 249-266.
    6. Guo, Qianwen & Sun, Yanshuo & Schonfeld, Paul & Li, Zhongfei, 2021. "Time-dependent transit fare optimization with elastic and spatially distributed demand," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 353-378.
    7. Coulombel, Nicolas & Monchambert, Guillaume, 2023. "Diseconomies of scale and subsidies in urban public transportation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    8. Fielbaum, Andres, 2024. "On the relationship between free public transport, stop spacing, and optimal frequencies," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    9. Fielbaum, Andrés & Jara-Diaz, Sergio & Gschwender, Antonio, 2021. "Lines spacing and scale economies in the strategic design of transit systems in a parametric city," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Lehe, Lewis J. & Pandey, Ayush, 2024. "A bathtub model of transit congestion," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    11. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Seifu, Woubit & Graham, Daniel J., 2020. "Public transport provision under agglomeration economies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Börjesson, Maria & Fung, Chau Man & Proost, Stef & Yan, Zifei, 2018. "Do buses hinder cyclists or is it the other way around? Optimal bus fares, bus stops and cycling tolls," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 326-346.
    13. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2015. "The political economy of public transport pricing and supply decisions," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 95-109.
    14. Sun, Yanshuo & Guo, Qianwen & Schonfeld, Paul & Li, Zhongfei, 2016. "Implications of the cost of public funds in public transit subsidization and regulation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 236-250.
    15. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Graham, Daniel J., 2023. "Subsidised transport services in a fiscal federation: Why local governments may be against decentralised service provision," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    16. Basso, Leonardo J. & Jara-Díaz, Sergio R., 2012. "Integrating congestion pricing, transit subsidies and mode choice," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 890-900.
    17. de Palma, André & Kilani, Moez & Proost, Stef, 2015. "Discomfort in mass transit and its implication for scheduling and pricing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-18.
    18. Hörcher, Daniel & Graham, Daniel J., 2018. "Demand imbalances and multi-period public transport supply," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 106-126.
    19. Hörcher, Daniel & Graham, Daniel J. & Anderson, Richard J., 2018. "The economics of seat provision in public transport," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 277-292.
    20. Haywood, Luke & Koning, Martin, 2015. "The distribution of crowding costs in public transport: New evidence from Paris," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 182-201.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:179:y:2024:i:c:s0965856423003488. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.