PRINCIPLES OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION PRICING

Abstract

SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES THAT UNDERLY THE PRICING OF URBAN PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION SERVICES ARE DISCUSSED. THIS IS DONE PRIMARILY IN THE CONTEXT OF PRIVATE AUTOMOBILE TRANSPORTATION, ALTHOUGH MANY OF THESE PRINCIPLES RELATE AS WELL TO THE PROBLEMS OF MASS TRANSIT. ABSTRACTS ARE DRAWN FROM ALL THOSE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS, WHICH ARE ADMITTEDLY BOTH IMPORTANT AND INTRACTABLE, THAT ARISE WHEN ONE ATTEMPTS TO IMPLEMENT ANY GENERAL SET OF GUIDELINES GOVERNING THE APPROPRIATE PRICING OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, ESPECIALLY THE DIFFICULTIES OF MEASURING THE APPROPRIATE MAGNITUDES FOR TOLLS AND ROADWAY EXPENDITURES AS WELL AS THE DIFFICULTIES OF COLLECTING TOLLS THAT SHOULD IN PRINCIPLE VARY WITH TIME OF DAY AND THE PARTICULAR POINT OF TRAVEL. THE SUBJECT IS THUS RESTRICTED TO A PURE THEORY OF TRANSPORTATION PRICING. THE CURRENT ANALYSIS INVOKES WHAT WOULD ORDINARILY BE CALLED MODELS OF TRANSPORTATION PRICE SITUATIONS, A MODEL BEING A HIGHLY SIMPLIFIED REPRESENTATION OF THE REALITY WITH WHICH ONE WANTS TO DEAL.

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