An Alternative to Monopolistic Public Transport
by Sandy Ikeda
Wed, 30 Jul 2008 at 1:06 AM
After the MTA's breathtaking proposal last week for not one but two more subway-bus-and-toll fare increases — which would make that three increases in about as many years (read about it here) — it may be time to re-visit the whole issue of municipal (read monopolistic) provision of public transport.
In particular, an important 1997 paper by Daniel B. Klein, Adrian T. Moore, and Binyam Reja examines the viability of low-cost private buses and "jitneys," small vehicles that follow more-or-less fixed routes but have a flexible schedule, to solve congestion and transport problems in major cities as an alternative to high-cost, tax-subsidized rail transport (such as the MTA).
However, jitneys could inefficiently usurp scheduled (private) bus service, so the authors focus on the important issue of "curb rights." This is complicated when sidewalks and other pick-up and drop-off areas are government owned, because enforceable and tradeable property rights, which in private markets would price and allocate these rights, don't exist. From there they derive an interesting theory of scheduled bus services and what they term the "cultivation of congregations" that private providers would have an incentive to invest in. They also offer a concise history of jitney service around the world, and in particular their rise and fall in New York City.
Their conclusion:
Where allowed to operate, private buses and jitneys have demonstrated that the public need not rely on the government to provide transportation services. Assigning rights to use street curbs would give private entrepreneurs even greater ability to give passengers high-quality service. ***
On the different but related issue of what they're calling "bus rapid transit" service in Chicago, see Patrick McIlheran's editorial. (I recall the Harvard urban economist Ed Glaeser summarizing his public transport recommendation to New York officials as "buses good, trains bad.")
Culture of Congestion Homepage
|
Print
Send
RSS
