Distance traveled, transit design and optimal pricing

Sergio Jara-Diaz (), Antonio Gschwender, Juan Cristóbal Castro and Matías Lepe

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2024, vol. 179, issue C

Abstract: Should transit prices vary with distance? And if so, how? Two arguments that point in opposing directions have been presented in the literature: long distance users induce larger operators’ costs while short distance users induce larger in-vehicle times. Here we formulate a stylized model of a corridor where these and other elements are taken into account to approach the optimal strategic design (frequency, vehicle size, and route length) and its associated optimal pricing problem considering identical users that travel different distances. A crucial element is the consideration of the crowding caused by passengers entering the system at different points along the corridor, affecting the value of in-vehicle time which increases with the load factor through a crowding factor that, ultimately, is the single element that triggers optimal prices that increase with distance at a decreasing rate.

Keywords: Public transport; Optimal pricing; Distance related fares; Crowding effect; Optimal design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856423003488
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:179:y:2024:i:c:s0965856423003488

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2023.103928

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().