The Redistributive Impact of Transit Services Financing

摘要

The financial problems of mass transit have become increasingly severe in recent years. Operating costs have increased far faster than farebox revenues. This has led transit systems to place increasing reliance on subsidies. A number of important considerations surface in this regard. These include appropriateness of subsidies, fairness of allocating subsidies among different modes or geographic areas, legal restrictions, political constraints, etc. Notably absent from most discussions of transit finance is the issue of how different income groups would be affected by a transit system change (operational, investment or financial). The focus of this research is to identify relevant socioeconomic profiles of who pays and who benefits. Since these groups will usually differ, there may result a redistribution of income from those who pay to those who benefit. Knowledge of redistributive impacts is important for public policy analysis.