Trading public transport travel demand for electronic coupons through mobile device fare collection

摘要

Mobile technologies are generating new business models for urban transport systems, as isevident from recent startups cropping up from the private sector. Public transport systems canmake more use of mobile technologies than just for measuring system performance, improvingboarding times, or for analyzing travel patterns. Unlike earlier studies on mobility credits, a newtransaction model is proposed for public transport systems where travelers are allowed to prebooktheir fares and trade that demand information to private firms. In this public-privatepartnership model, fare revenue management is outsourced to third party private firms such asbig box retail or large planned events (such as sports stadiums and theme parks), who can issueelectronic coupons to travelers to subsidize their fares. This e-coupon pricing model is analyzedusing marginal cost theory and shown to be quite effective for monopolistic firm participation,particularly for demand responsive transit systems that feature high cost fares, non-commutetravel purposes, and a closed access system with existing pre-booking requirements. However,oligopolistic scenarios analyzed using game theory and network economics suggest that publictransport agencies need to take extreme care in planning and implementing such a policy.Otherwise, they risk pushing an equivalent tax on private firms or disrupting the urban economyand real estate values.