Abstract The paper studies a general bidirectional public transport line along which demand varies by line section. The length of line sections also varies, and therefore their contribution to aggregate (line-level) user and operational costs might be different, even if demand levels were uniform. The paper proposes the Gini index as a measure of demand imbalances in public transport. We run a series of numerical simulations with randomised demand patterns, and derive the socially optimal fare, frequency and vehicle size variables in each case. We show that the Gini coefficient is a surprisingly good predictor of all three attributes of optimal supply. These results remain robust with inelastic as well as elastic demand, at various levels of aggregate demand intensity. In addition, we find that lines facing severe demand imbalances generate higher operational cost and require more public subsidies under socially optimal supply, controlling for the scale of operations. The results shed light on the bias introduced by the assumption of homogeneous demand in several existing public transport models.


    Access

    Access via TIB


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    The Gini index of demand imbalances in public transport


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2020




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    BKL:    74.75$jVerkehrsplanung$jVerkehrspolitik / 55.80$jVerkehrswesen$jTransportwesen: Allgemeines / 55.80 Verkehrswesen, Transportwesen: Allgemeines / 74.75 Verkehrsplanung, Verkehrspolitik



    Travel demand - the influence on commuter distances of labour supply/demand imbalances

    Williams, I. / Association for European Transport | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2005


    Multiagent Reinforcement Learning Methods for Resolving Demand - Capacity Imbalances

    Kravaris, Theocharis / Spatharis, Christos / Blekas, Konstantions et al. | IEEE | 2018


    Macroeconomic imbalances: France

    Europäische Kommission, Generaldirektion Wirtschaft und Finanzen | TIBKAT | 2015

    Free access

    Assessing Equity of Regular Public Transit Fare Policy Based on Gini Coefficient

    Cheng, Shaowu / Gao, Qian / Zhang, Yaping | ASCE | 2015


    Macroeconomic imbalances: Finland

    Europäische Kommission, Generaldirektion Wirtschaft und Finanzen | TIBKAT | 2015

    Free access