Title: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RAILWAY PASSENGER DEMAND. IN: RAILWAYS
Abstract: This paper develops a methodology for establishing the impact of some economic factors on the demand for inter-city rail travel in Great Britain, and to use time series data and econometric tools to assess the relative importance of these economic factors. Data on four-week ticket sales from British Rail over the period 1973 to 1984 is used, covering 20 London-based routes. The estimated fares elasticities indicate that, in the short term, there is potential for improving revenue by increasing real prices, but that policy is likely to prove unsuccessful in the long-term as consumers vary their requirements in response to the new price level. Although the estimated long-term average elasticities with respect to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are around 1.5, the actual long-term growth in GDP was too small to have any great impact on passenger rail trips. Changes in the level of competition and improvements in service quality were two significant factors on rail passenger demand. Overall, the results from these twenty flows received a high degree of consistency and precision despite limitations inherent in the data.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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