Calculations of the shares of financial resources paid by actual payers for transportation improvements

In this paper we identify and quantitatively describe the actual providers of financial resources, termed "actual payers", for transportation improvements in some advanced countries, using various statistical data. The theoretical framework on which the concept of actual payers is based was presented in our earlier paper (Transport Policy, April 1998). The current study presents the results of calculations performed according to that concept. Because of the complexity and variety of the financial resources drawn on by transportation systems, the means of financial support for transportation have not been made clear when superficial classifications such as "National expenditures", "Local expenditures", "Owners/operators' funds" and "Debt" are used. In the present study, the financial support for transportation is calculated on the basis of what is spent by actual payers, such as users, payers of national taxes and payers of local taxes. This approach allows us to show that the shares of actual payers are quite different in each country. In addition, we indicate the characteristics of the shares of the actual payers in each country by calculating the ratio of the users' burden or the dependence of debt, etc.