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On Competition and Product Differentiation in Urban Transportation: The San Francisco Bay Area

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  • Philip A. Viton

Abstract

This article considers Cournot-like competition among two public transit oligopolists (a rapid-rail system modeled on the Bay Area's BART, and a parallel bus system) in the presence of a competitively supplied third alternative. The oligopolists compete in both service quality and price, and do so myopically. With demand and cost data from the Bay Area numerically estimated equilibria are obtained and studied. The results indicate that: (1) with fares and product characteristics freely variable, neither mode need operate at a loss; (2) the rapid-rail mode can cover costs from the farebox even if the bus mode offers money-losing service; (3) the equilibria exhibit product differentiation, in sharp contrast to the presently observed situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip A. Viton, 1981. "On Competition and Product Differentiation in Urban Transportation: The San Francisco Bay Area," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 362-379, Autumn.
    • Handle: RePEc:rje:bellje:v:12:y:1981:i:autumn:p:362-379
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    Cited by:

    1. Winston, Clifford & Maheshri, Vikram, 2007. "On the social desirability of urban rail transit systems," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 362-382, September.
    2. Feifei Qin & Xiaoning Zhang & Eoin Plant, 2017. "The welfare effects of nationalization in a mixed duopoly public transport market," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 593-618, July.
    3. Maxim Afanasyev & Haim Mendelson, 2010. "Service Provider Competition: Delay Cost Structure, Segmentation, and Cost Advantage," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 213-235, May.
    4. Beaudoin, Justin & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "The effects of public transit supply on the demand for automobile travel," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 447-467.
    5. Karlaftis, Matthew G., 2003. "Investigating transit production and performance: a programming approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 225-240, March.

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