The economics of crowding in rail transit - HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société
Journal Articles Journal of Urban Economics Year : 2017

The economics of crowding in rail transit

Abstract

We model trip-timing decisions of rail transit users who trade off crowding costs and disutility from traveling early or late. With no fare or a uniform fare, ridership is too concentrated on timely trains. Marginal-cost-pricing calls for time-dependent fares that smooth train loads and generate more revenue than an optimal uniform fare. The welfare gains from time-dependent fares are unlikely to increase as ridership grows. However, imposing time-dependent fares raises the benefits of expanding capacity by either adding trains or increasing train capacity. We illustrate these results by calibrating the model to the Paris RER A transit system.

Dates and versions

halshs-01654975 , version 1 (04-12-2017)

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André de Palma, Robin Lindsey, Guillaume Monchambert. The economics of crowding in rail transit. Journal of Urban Economics, 2017, 101, pp.106 - 122. ⟨10.1016/j.jue.2017.06.003⟩. ⟨halshs-01654975⟩
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