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Evaluating Alternative Policy Responses to Franchise Failure: Evidence from the Passenger Rail Sector in Britain

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  • Andrew S. J. Smith
  • Phil Wheat

Abstract

One potential problem with franchising (competitive tendering) is how to deal with situations where the franchisee is unwilling to continue operating the franchise within the contract period. This paper studies the effects of the franchising authority's response to franchise failure in passenger rail in Britain, which saw the affected operators placed onto management or short-term renegotiated contracts for an extended period. We find that operators on management contracts saw a sharp deterioration in efficiency. Further, the contract inefficiency persisted, though was eliminated by competitive refranchising. In contrast, costs for renegotiated franchises were no higher (statistically) than industry best practice. © 2012 LSE and the University of Bath

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew S. J. Smith & Phil Wheat, 2012. "Evaluating Alternative Policy Responses to Franchise Failure: Evidence from the Passenger Rail Sector in Britain," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 46(1), pages 25-49, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpe:jtecpo:v:46:y:2012:i:1:p:25-49
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    Cited by:

    1. Smith, Andrew S.J. & Ojeda Cabral, Manuel, 2022. "Is higher quality always costly? Marginal costs of quality: Theory and application to railway punctuality," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 258-273.
    2. Wheat, Phill & Smith, Andrew, 2012. "Is the choice of (t−T) in Battese and Coelli (1992) type stochastic frontier models innocuous? Observations and generalisations," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 291-294.
    3. Christian Desmaris & Guillaume Monchambert, 2021. "Regional Passenger Rail Efficiency: Measurement and Explanation in the case of France," Working Papers halshs-03118747, HAL.
    4. Cherbonnier Frédéric & Ivaldi Marc & Muller-Vibes Catherine & Van Der Straeten Karine, 2017. "Competition For Versus In the Market of Long-Distance Passenger Rail Services," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 203-238, June.
    5. Florent Laroche & Ayana Lamatkhanova, 2020. "Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe," Working Papers halshs-02930864, HAL.
    6. Phill Wheat & William Greene & Andrew Smith, 2014. "Understanding prediction intervals for firm specific inefficiency scores from parametric stochastic frontier models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 55-65, August.
    7. Juan Montero & Matthias Finger & Teodora Serafimova, 2022. "Progressive tendering of regional railway services," RSCAS Working Papers 2022/61, European University Institute.
    8. Florent Laroche & Ayana Lamatkhanova, 2022. "Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe," Post-Print halshs-02930864, HAL.
    9. Odolinski, Kristofer & Smith, Andrew S.J., 2014. "Assessing the Cost Impact of Competitive Tendering in Rail Infrastructure Maintenance Services: Evidence from the Swedish Reforms (1999 to 2011)," Working papers in Transport Economics 2014:17, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI), revised 22 May 2015.
    10. Phill Wheat & Alexander D. Stead & Yue Huang & Andrew Smith, 2019. "Lowering Transport Costs and Prices by Competition: Regulatory and Institutional Reforms in Low Income Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-19, October.
    11. Christian Desmaris & Guillaume Monchambert, 2021. "Regional Passenger Rail Efficiency: Measurement and Explanation in the case of France," Post-Print halshs-03118747, HAL.

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