Local Public Transport Service and Equity: an Analysis at Regional Basis

The paper analyses the issue of vertical equity relative to Local Public Transportation service with particular attention to resources and/or sacrifices allocation among different users groups. The evaluation of vertical equity can be inferred comparing indicators of need and accessibility computed on a regional basis. The empirical analysis uses principal components technique. There emerges a scenario of regional differences of equity characterized by the Centre and North-Eastern and Western areas that are recording the best results along with some of the small regions like Basilicata and Molise; on the contrary, South and some large regions such as Lombardy and Lazio show unsatisfactory results. In particular as regards the South of Italy, it is important to emphasize here that there is need for a change of direction, in terms of service awarding procedures, governance, narrowing of infrastructure gap. We must however keep in mind that results depend crucially on the availability of statistical information and on the territorial disaggregation. Different information and territorial dimension can help to render the method here used a valuable decision making support system of information.