IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/retrec/v69y2018icp453-459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cost effect of reorganising – A study of special transport services

Author

Listed:
  • Hansson, Lisa
  • Holmgren, Johan

Abstract

It is a policy objective in Sweden that all citizens should have access to the transport system. The public sector is required to provide special transport services (STS) for those who are unable to use regular public transport or private car. Between 1999 and 2014, the yearly cost per STS trip increased by 66%. This is problematic, considering the fact that the population is growing older and an increased demand for STS may be expected in the future. It is therefore important to understand the cost structure of STS operations. Although STS has been organised in various ways in Sweden, the trend is to transfer responsibility from the municipal level to the regional level. This paper examines the cost structure of STS in Sweden to determine whether the transfer of responsibility has had an impact on costs. It is concluded that transferring the procurement of STS from the local to the regional level decreases marginal cost but increases fixed cost, thus lowering costs for municipalities with high levels of production and increasing costs for municipalities with low production levels. Transferring the administration of STS permits is found to have the opposite effect: it lowers fixed costs but increases marginal costs.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:453-459
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2018.04.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885917302275
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.retrec.2018.04.008?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. van den Berg, Pauline & Arentze, Theo & Timmermans, Harry, 2011. "Estimating social travel demand of senior citizens in the Netherlands," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 323-331.
    2. 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.
    3. Marsden, Greg & Reardon, Louise, 2017. "Questions of governance: Rethinking the study of transportation policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 238-251.
    4. Wretstrand, Anders & Svensson, Helena & Fristedt, Sofi & Falkmer, Torbjörn, 2009. "Older people and local public transit: Mobility effects of accessibility improvements in Sweden," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 2(2), pages 49-65.
    5. Halvorsen, Robert & Palmquist, Raymond, 1980. "The Interpretation of Dummy Variables in Semilogarithmic Equations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 474-475, June.
    6. Metz, D. H., 2000. "Mobility of older people and their quality of life," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 149-152, April.
    7. Vigren, Andreas, 2016. "Cost efficiency in Swedish public transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 123-132.
    8. Hansson, Lisa, 2013. "Hybrid steering cultures in the governance of public transport: A successful way to meet demands?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 175-184.
    9. Alsnih, Rahaf & Hensher, David A., 2003. "The mobility and accessibility expectations of seniors in an aging population," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 903-916, December.
    10. Jens Blom‐Hansen & Kurt Houlberg & Søren Serritzlew, 2014. "Size, Democracy, and the Economic Costs of Running the Political System," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(4), pages 790-803, October.
    11. Holmgren, Johan, 2014. "A strategy for increased public transport usage – The effects of implementing a welfare maximizing policy," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 221-226.
    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. Maria Kett & Ellie Cole & Jeff Turner, 2020. "Disability, Mobility and Transport in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Thematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.

    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. Ranković Plazinić, Biljana & Jović, Jadranka, 2018. "Mobility and transport potential of elderly in differently accessible rural areas," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 169-180.
    2. Solvoll, Gisle & Hanssen, Thor-Erik Sandberg, 2017. "User satisfaction with specialised transport for disabled in Norway," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-7.
    3. Carlo Luiu & Miles Tight & Michael Burrow, 2018. "Factors Preventing the Use of Alternative Transport Modes to the Car in Later Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Yang, Yongjiang & Sasaki, Kuniaki & Cheng, Long & Tao, Sui, 2022. "Does the built environment matter for active travel among older adults: Insights from Chiba City, Japan," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Biranchi Adhikari & Ajay Kumar Behera & Rabindra Narayan Mahapatra & Harish Chandra Das, 2022. "Retracted: An empirical model for Indian senior citizens in traffic management," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 35-56, March.
    6. Wong, R.C.P. & Szeto, W.Y. & Yang, Linchuan & Li, Y.C. & Wong, S.C., 2018. "Public transport policy measures for improving elderly mobility," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 73-79.
    7. Hirschhorn, Fabio & Paulsson, Alexander & Sørensen, Claus H. & Veeneman, Wijnand, 2019. "Public transport regimes and mobility as a service: Governance approaches in Amsterdam, Birmingham, and Helsinki," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 178-191.
    8. Olawole, Moses Olaniran & Aloba, Oluwole, 2014. "Mobility characteristics of the elderly and their associated level of satisfaction with transport services in Osogbo, Southwestern Nigeria," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 105-116.
    9. Rosenkvist, Jenny & Risser, Ralf & Iwarsson, Susanne & Wendel, Kerstin & Ståhl, Agneta, 2009. "The Challenge of Using Public Transport: Descriptions by People with Cognitive Functional Limitations," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 2(1), pages 65-80.
    10. Su, Fengming & Schmöcker, Jan-Dirk & Bell, Michael G.H., 2009. "Mode Choice of Older People Before and After Shopping: A Study with London Data," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 2(1), pages 29-46.
    11. Martens, Karel, 2018. "Ageing, impairments and travel: Priority setting for an inclusive transport system," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 122-130.
    12. Claudia Burlando & Enrico Ivaldi & Andrea Ciacci, 2021. "Seniors’ Mobility and Perceptions in Different Urban Neighbourhoods: A Non-Aggregative Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-23, June.
    13. Yang, Dujuan & Timmermans, Harry & Grigolon, Anna, 2013. "Exploring heterogeneity in travel time expenditure of aging populations in the Netherlands: results of a CHAID analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 170-179.
    14. Pettersson, Pierre & Schmöcker, Jan-Dirk, 2010. "Active ageing in developing countries? – trip generation and tour complexity of older people in Metro Manila," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 613-623.
    15. Zhao, Pengjun, 2014. "Private motorised urban mobility in China’s large cities: the social causes of change and an agenda for future research," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 53-63.
    16. Shao, Fengjing & Sui, Yi & Yu, Xiang & Sun, Rencheng, 2019. "Spatio-temporal travel patterns of elderly people – A comparative study based on buses usage in Qingdao, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 178-190.
    17. Ahmad, Zaheer & Batool, Zahara & Starkey, Paul, 2019. "Understanding mobility characteristics and needs of older persons in urban Pakistan with respect to use of public transport and self-driving," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 181-190.
    18. Lars Böcker & Patrick Amen & Marco Helbich, 2017. "Elderly travel frequencies and transport mode choices in Greater Rotterdam, the Netherlands," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 831-852, July.
    19. Liu, Shasha & Yamamoto, Toshiyuki & Yao, Enjian & Nakamura, Toshiyuki, 2021. "Examining public transport usage by older adults with smart card data: A longitudinal study in Japan," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    20. Khandker M. Nurul Habib & Vivian Hui, 2017. "An activity-based approach of investigating travel behaviour of older people," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 555-573, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Special transport service; Public transport; Cost function; Reform; Organisation; Local government; Cost; Sweden;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • R5 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:retrec:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:453-459. 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/620614/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.