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Bottleneck Congestion and Modal Split Revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Romeo Danielis

    (Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Statistiche, Universita' degli Studi di Trieste, Italy)

  • Edoardo Marcucci

    (Istituto di Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Urbino, Italy)

Abstract

The paper examines the efficiency of alternative road pricing schemes when an alternative railroad service is available. The paper uses a model, developed by Tabuchi (1993), in which road transport presents a bottleneck congestion technology while railroad transport shows economies of scale with respect to the number of train users. The competition between the two modes is assumed to be on cost basis only. It is found that if the railroad fare is set equal to the average cost, the relative efficiency of the regimes depends on parameters' values. The numerical simulation shows that the fine toll regime is generally to be preferred to the alternative regimes but when the fixed railroad cost is large enough so that the inefficient exploitation of the scale economies is less than compensated by the toll revenue.

Suggested Citation

  • Romeo Danielis & Edoardo Marcucci, 1999. "Bottleneck Congestion and Modal Split Revisited," Working Papers 1999.5, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:1999.5
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    6. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1990. "Economics of a bottleneck," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 111-130, January.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Road transport; Public transport; Congestion; Congestion pricing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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