The economics of seat provision in public transport

Authors

Daniel Hörcher
Daniel J. Graham
Richard J. Anderson

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2018

Subject Area

mode - subway/metro, operations - capacity, operations - crowding, technology - passenger information, infrastructure - vehicle, ridership - demand

Keywords

Public transport, Seat provision, Crowding, Capacity optimisation, Externality pricing

Abstract

Seated and standing travelling imply significantly different experience for public transport users. This paper investigates with analytical modelling and numerical simulations how the optimal seat supply depends on demand and supply characteristics. The paper explores the implications of seat provision on the marginal cost of travelling as well. In crowded conditions, we distinguish two types of external costs: crowding density and seat occupancyexternalities. We derive, using a realistic smart card dataset, the externality pattern of a metro line, and identify the distorting role of the occupancy externality that makes the welfare maximising fare disproportionate to the density of crowding.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part E Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13665545

Recommended Citation

Hörcher, D., Graham, D.J. & Anderson, R.J. (2018). The economics of seat provision in public transport. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 109, pp. 277-292.