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Can increases in public transport supply be justified by concern for low-income individuals?

Author

Listed:
  • Asplund, Disa

    (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))

  • Pyddoke, Roger

    (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impacts of different social welfare weights on fares and frequencies, optimized to maximize welfare for bus services in the small Swedish city of Uppsala, handling both congestion in streets and crowding in public transport. It represents choice between three modes; public transport, car and a combination of walking and cycling, two periods; peak and off-peak, two zones and three origin-destination combinations. Six scenarios are evaluated; the base year (2014), a welfare optimal combination without distributional concerns and welfare optimal policies for four different sets of welfare weights with various degrees of progressivity. The main results are that, compared to the welfare optimal scenario without distributional weights, increasing the welfare weights of the low-income group increases frequencies and reduces fares successively. Comparing the simulation results to the fares and frequencies in Uppsala in 2014, optimal frequencies with even the most far reaching distributional objectives are lower.

Suggested Citation

  • Asplund, Disa & Pyddoke, Roger, 2018. "Can increases in public transport supply be justified by concern for low-income individuals?," Working papers in Transport Economics 2018:7, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI), revised 30 Mar 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2018_007
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income distribution; Distributional weights; Optimization; Public transport; Welfare; Fares; Frequencies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

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