IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v60y2014icp146-159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competition in complementary transport services

Author

Listed:
  • Clark, Derek John
  • Jørgensen, Finn
  • Mathisen, Terje Andreas

Abstract

For passengers to reach the final destination of the trip it is often necessary to make use of the transport services provided by several firms. When these transport services follow in a natural transport chain they are characterized as complementarities and the firms providing the services can, as for substitutes, to some extent influence the demand facing the other firms by their own behaviour. A model is presented in this paper where two firms compete in complementary transport services differentiated by travel distance. Equilibria are derived for collusion and competition in price and quantity, and these are analyzed with respect to the degree of complementarity and distance. The analysis shows that the influence of type of competition on equilibrium price and quantity increases with the complementarity of the products. Moreover, it is discussed how marginal operating costs for the firms, marginal time cost for the passenger and the type of competition influences whether fares will increase with distance and which of the two firms will set the higher price. The commonly accepted ranking for complements that the collusive price is lower than the Bertrand price is not necessarily true. It is demonstrated that the collusive price of the shorter (longer) distance could be set above (lower) that of price competition. It is also addressed how mark-up of price over marginal cost is influenced by changes in own and competitors distance for the different types of competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Clark, Derek John & Jørgensen, Finn & Mathisen, Terje Andreas, 2014. "Competition in complementary transport services," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 146-159.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:60:y:2014:i:c:p:146-159
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2013.12.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261513002233
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.trb.2013.12.004?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. Meunier, David & Quinet, Emile, 2012. "Applications of transport economics and imperfect competition," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 19-29.
    2. Emile Quinet & David Meunier, 2012. "Applications of transport economics and imperfect competition," Post-Print halshs-00754577, HAL.
    3. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    4. De Borger, B. & Dunkerley, F. & Proost, S., 2007. "Strategic investment and pricing decisions in a congested transport corridor," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 294-316, September.
    5. Kraus, Marvin, 1991. "Discomfort externalities and marginal cost transit fares," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 249-259, March.
    6. De Borger, Bruno & Van Dender, Kurt, 2006. "Prices, capacities and service levels in a congestible Bertrand duopoly," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 264-283, September.
    7. Packalen, Mikko, 2010. "Complements and potential competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 244-253, May.
    8. Yang, Hangjun & Zhang, Anming, 2012. "Effects of high-speed rail and air transport competition on prices, profits and welfare," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1322-1333.
    9. Jørgensen, Finn & Pedersen, Hassa & Solvoll, Gisle, 2004. "Ramsey pricing in practice: the case of the Norwegian ferries," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 205-214, July.
    10. Finn Jørgensen & John Preston, 2007. "The Relationship Between Fare and Travel Distance," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 41(3), pages 451-468, September.
    11. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2012. "Transport policy competition between governments: A selective survey of the literature," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 35-48.
    12. Emile Quinet & David Meunier, 2012. "Applications of transport economics and imperfect competition," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00754577, HAL.
    13. Economides, Nicholas & Salop, Steven C, 1992. "Competition and Integration among Complements, and Network Market Structure," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 105-123, March.
    14. Wu, Di & Yin, Yafeng & Yang, Hai, 2011. "The independence of volume-capacity ratio of private toll roads in general networks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 96-101, January.
    15. Clark, Derek J. & Jørgensen, Finn & Mathisen, Terje Andreas, 2011. "Relationships between fares, trip length and market competition," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 611-624, August.
    16. Yulai Wan & Anming Zhang, 2013. "Urban Road Congestion and Seaport Competition," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 47(1), pages 55-70, January.
    17. Nirvikar Singh & Xavier Vives, 1984. "Price and Quantity Competition in a Differentiated Duopoly," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 546-554, Winter.
    18. Emile Quinet & David Meunier, 2012. "Applications of transport economics and imperfect competition," PSE - Labex "OSE-Ouvrir la Science Economique" halshs-00754577, HAL.
    19. Timothy J. Coelli & D.S. Prasada Rao & Christopher J. O’Donnell & George E. Battese, 2005. "An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-25895-9, November.
    20. Socorro, M. Pilar & Viecens, M. Fernanda, 2013. "The effects of airline and high speed train integration," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 160-177.
    21. Li, Zhi-Chun & Lam, William H.K. & Wong, S.C. & Sumalee, A., 2012. "Design of a rail transit line for profit maximization in a linear transportation corridor," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 50-70.
    22. Derek J. Clark & Finn Jørgensen & Pål A. Pedersen, 2009. "Strategic Interactions between Transport Operators with Several Goals," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 43(3), pages 385-403, September.
    23. Hackner, Jonas, 2000. "A Note on Price and Quantity Competition in Differentiated Oligopolies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 233-239, August.
    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. Huang, Naqun & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2023. "To acquire or compete? Government intervention in transportation under different route structures," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    2. Gutiérrez-Hita, Carlos & de la Cruz, Omar & Ramos-Melero, Rodolfo, 2022. "Infrastructure access charges, service differentiation, and strategic competition in the EU railway passenger market," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 87-104.
    3. Liu, Qi & Chow, Joseph Y.J., 2022. "Efficient and stable data-sharing in a public transit oligopoly as a coopetitive game," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 64-87.
    4. van den Berg, Vincent A.C. & Meurs, Henk & Verhoef, Erik T., 2022. "Business models for Mobility as an Service (MaaS)," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 203-229.
    5. Kuang, Zhonghong & Lian, Zeng & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2020. "Serial and parallel duopoly competition in multi-segment transportation routes," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Chen, Hong & Lam, Jasmine Siu Lee & Liu, Nan, 2018. "Strategic investment in enhancing port–hinterland container transportation network resilience: A network game theory approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 83-112.
    7. Wang, Hua & Meng, Qiang & Zhang, Xiaoning, 2014. "Game-theoretical models for competition analysis in a new emerging liner container shipping market," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 201-227.
    8. Vincent A.C. van den Berg & Henk Meurs & Erik T. Verhoef, 2020. "Business models for interoperable mobility services," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-051/VIII, Tinbergen Institute, revised 05 Apr 2021.
    9. McHardy, Jolian & Reynolds, Michael & Trotter, Stephen, 2023. "A consumer surplus, welfare and profit enhancing strategy for improving urban public transport networks," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    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. Clark, Derek J. & Mathisen, Terje Andreas, 2020. "Salience in a simple transport market," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Jiang, Changmin & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Effects of high-speed rail and airline cooperation under hub airport capacity constraint," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 33-49.
    3. Tiziana D'Alfonso & Changmin Jiang & Valentina Bracaglia, 2015. "Air transport and high-speed rail competition: environmental implications and mitigation strategies," DIAG Technical Reports 2015-15, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    4. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Jiang, Changmin & Bracaglia, Valentina, 2016. "Air transport and high-speed rail competition: Environmental implications and mitigation strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 261-276.
    5. Jiang, Changmin & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Wan, Yulai, 2017. "Air-rail cooperation: Partnership level, market structure and welfare implications," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 461-482.
    6. Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming, 2016. "High-speed rail and air transport competition and cooperation: A vertical differentiation approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 456-481.
    7. Wang, Kun & Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Qiong, 2018. "Effects of train speed on airline demand and price: Theory and empirical evidence from a natural experiment," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 99-130.
    8. van den Berg, Vincent A.C., 2013. "Serial private infrastructures," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 186-202.
    9. Clark, Derek J. & Jørgensen, Finn & Mathisen, Terje Andreas, 2011. "Relationships between fares, trip length and market competition," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 611-624, August.
    10. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Graham, Daniel J., 2023. "Subsidised transport services in a fiscal federation: Why local governments may be against decentralised service provision," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    11. Mir Aftab Hussain Talpur & Shabir Hussain Khahro & Tauha Hussain Ali & Hassam Bin Waseem & Madzlan Napiah, 2023. "Computing travel impendences using trip generation regression model: a phenomenon of travel decision-making process of rural households," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 5973-5996, July.
    12. Álvarez-SanJaime, Óscar & Cantos-Sanchez, Pedro & Moner-Colonques, Rafael & Sempere-Monerris, Jose J., 2016. "Rail access charges and internal competition in high speed trains," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 184-195.
    13. Batabyal, Amitrajeet A. & Beladi, Hamid, 2015. "Optimal transport provision to a tourist destination: A contract theory perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 180-184.
    14. de Rus, Ginés & Socorro, M. Pilar, 2014. "Access pricing, infrastructure investment and intermodal competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 374-387.
    15. Jørgensen, Finn & Santos, Georgina, 2014. "Charges on transport – To what extent are they passed on to users?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 183-195.
    16. Balliauw, Matteo & Kort, Peter M. & Zhang, Anming, 2019. "Capacity investment decisions of two competing ports under uncertainty: A strategic real options approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 249-264.
    17. Bracaglia, Valentina & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Nastasi, Alberto & Sheng, Dian & Wan, Yulai & Zhang, Anming, 2020. "High-speed rail networks, capacity investments and social welfare," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 308-323.
    18. Wang, Chunan & Wang, Xiaoyu, 2019. "Airport congestion delays and airline networks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 328-349.
    19. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Jiang, Changmin & Bracaglia, Valentina, 2015. "Would competition between air transport and high-speed rail benefit environment and social welfare?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 118-137.
    20. Avenali, Alessandro & Bracaglia, Valentina & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2018. "Strategic formation and welfare effects of airline-high speed rail agreements," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PA), pages 393-411.

    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:transb:v:60:y:2014:i:c:p:146-159. 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/548/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.