I’ve asked before: can we fund public transit without Tickets, Tariffs, or Taxes? The obvious follow up question is: how can we reduce the cost for public transit?
The challenge for many of the old subway systems is that the technology has changed, and they are left with an infrastructure that must be maintained. For example:
- Boston, London and Toronto (to name a few) used to use coal engines. This meant that the tracks could not be enclosed in glass because the space was needed for ventilation.
- Without enclosed tracks, you can’t automate the trains with robotics for safety reasons
- The ventilation system is based on the movement of the cars. Enclose the tracks and each subway stop needs to be redesigned and equipped with new HVAC systems. Very Pricey.
Unfortunately, public transit is typically built after the need is causing pain. Municipalities start with buses until they get overloaded, then they move to trolly cars, and then finally to rapid transit.
But if you were to build a new rapid transit or public transit system in a budding city, how would you build it? Here are my suggestions:
- Developers should band together and build corridors through new developments. In the short term it could be used for public parks. When the city grows, it can be resold to the city – at a premium – to make easy access to the suburbs.
- Focus on skytrains instead of underground subways. This makes it more subject to the elements, but substantially decreases in the implementation cost
- Use smaller cars of various sizes (2 person, 4, and 6 person) that are queued at each station and can be introduced into the transit system on-demand. This requires robotics and queue planning (so that empty cars are available at source stations at all times). The result is higher variable cost, and lower fixed cost.
Any other suggestions?
colin Muses costs, idea, new, public transit, skytrain
Is there another way to pay for public transit? Could we even make it free?
There are three ways that most municipalities pay for public transit:
- Tickets – where each rider pays per trip
- Tariffs – where the people who don’t use public transit pay a fee (see London, UK)
- Taxes – where everyone pays a portion whether you use the system or not
Unfortunately, public transit has a very inflexible cost structure:
- huge setup cost (sometimes >$20 million per km)
- large fixed cost – the buses and subways run on a schedule, regardless of ridership
- very low variable cost – a very small incremental cost for fuel per rider
This means that whether people use the system or not, the municipality has to pay the bills -including labour, fuel, and maintenance. Therefore, the public transit system needs to be efficient and valuable to attract the maximum number of riders.
This leads me to wonder:Â Are there other ways to pay for public transit other than Tickets, Tariffs and Taxes?
For example. While people pay for tickets to go to the movies, the revenue hardly flows to the movie theater – it goes straight to the producers. Instead movie theaters make their money on the value-ad, on the popcorn and soda sales.
Further, could you give away public transit for free and make money via another revenue stream? (Much like advertising to Google’s free search).
These are just questions for now with no real answers. Some possible answers could include:
- targeted or focused advertising (such as forcing people to watch tv commercials)
- up-selling for cellphone or wifi coverage during the trip
- selling comfort or convenience on longer trips (such as padded chairs, etc)
- integrated restaurant ordering systems so your table is ready for you when you get to the restaurant or your pizza is waiting at your door by the time you get home
This is just the tip of the iceburg. What other ways can public transit be funded – without asking riders to pay more for each trip?
colin Muses free, Ideas, public transit, revenue, value-add