Transit Fare Arbitrage: Case Study of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System

摘要

Transit fare arbitrage is the scenario when two or more commuters agree toswap tickets during travel in such a way that total cost is lower thanotherwise. Such arbitrage allows pricing inefficiencies to be explored andexploited, leading to improved pricing models. In this paper we discuss thebasics of fare arbitrage through an intuitive pricing framework involvingpopulation density. We then analyze the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit(BART) system to understand underlying inefficiencies. We also provide sourcecode and comprehensive list of pairs of trips with significant arbitrage gainat github.com/asifhaque/transit-arbitrage. Finally, we point towards a uniformpayment interface for different kinds of transit systems.