Efficient pricing and supply of public transport

Important results from the project

The project has developed and applied a model for welfare economic optimization of prices and supply for parking and public transport in cities, to adapt these to variations in demand in time and space. The project has deepened the analysis of the occupancy of the buses, of different price systems for public transport, as well as of how parking fees affect the demand for car journeys with destinations within different parts of Uppsala.

Expected long term effects

The sensitivity analyzes indicate robust results. Optimal parking fees and congestion taxes shift demand towards public transport, walking and cycling. An analysis of the price sensitivity of different social groups with available data did not yield any useful results. Increased weights for low-income earners mean lower optimal rates for them but only a moderate increase in supply. The study of new ticket and payment systems shows that these are to a small extent planned to give a better socio-economic result results.

Approach and implementation

The project has been carried out in seven stages: sensitivity analysis of welfare-optimal prices and bus supply in Uppsala, analysis of occupancy variations, collection of parking fees and occupancy, analysis of price sensitivity of social groups, optimization of car control means (parking fees and congestion taxes), effects on optimal public transport supply of increasing distributional weights as well as analyzes of new ticket and payment systems.