Anna Matas (p), Josep-Lluis Raymond , Adriana Ruiz

In 2000, a zonal fare system was introduced in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona with the objective of promoting public transport use. The introduction of this system significantly decreased average revenue per passenger, which in turn translated into an increase in operating deficit. Due to its tight budget constraints, the metropolitan authority is considering different alternatives to reduce deficit. This paper simulates the consequences of changing the fare system on labour mobility and its distributional effects.

The data comes from the Daily Mobility Survey carried out in 2006. The survey provides information at individual level on the number of trips and its attributes, as well as socioeconomic variables. The paper focuses on commuting trips. Public and private transport travel time matrices are computed using a geographical information system model. The definition of the origin and the destination of each trip at census track level makes it possible to approximate travel times in a very precise way. For public transport, we distinguish between access, waiting and in-vehicle time. The final sample is composed of 9704 observations.

In order to analyse the effects of the fare system on mobility, we estimate a probit model explaining the probability of selecting public transport as a function of price and travel costs, age, gender and household income. We address potential endogeneity problems by including a set of observed attitudinal variables regarding public transport. All the explanatory variables are statistically significant and the magnitude and sign of the coefficients are in line with their expected values. Regarding fare elasticity, the results show that its magnitude increases with the fare paid.

The estimation of the probit model allows us to simulate a set of policies regarding the fare structure. Among others, we simulate the substitution of a zonal system with a distance-based fare system, the suppression of free transfer between transport modes and the extension of the zonal system beyond its current geographical limits.

Preliminary results show that integrated fares have a positive effect on labour mobility as the system mostly benefits those individuals with lower income level and, thus, are more dependent on public transport.

Additionally, we compute some inequality indexes. The results point out that although fare integration has a progressive effect, its magnitude is very low. It is interesting to note that the sign of the distributional effect depends on residential location, and in some cases it can be regressive.

Patricia C. Melo (p), Pedro Goulart , Nuno Sobreira

Austerity policies following the recent international crisis of 2007-2008 led to a significant decrease in subsidized activities by the State across European countries, and this was particularly severe in Portugal. After more than two decades of investment in public transport, Portugal was one of the countries in the front line of budget restrictions, with a financial adjustment program starting in 2011. Faced with the need to reduce its public deficit, government’s policies in the transport sector aimed primarily at the financial sustainability of the highly-indebted public transport operators. This meant a reduction in the investment in fleet renewal and maintenance of old structures and fleet, as well as cuts in subsidies to operating costs of the public transport operators.
The austerity policies implemented in the transport sector in Lisbon’s metropolitan region between 2011 and 2014 resulted in a sharp decline of public transport passenger numbers (e.g. -15% for 2011-2012 and -12% for 2012-2013). The substantial decline in public transport demand raises important challenges for the region, particularly its ability to achieve a more environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive mobility.
In this study, we estimate travel demand regression models for Lisbon’s metro system with the aim of measuring the impact of austerity measures on passenger demand during the period between 2001 and 2014. We use data since the opening of the metro system in 1960 until 2017 to explore empirically through the estimation of regression models the degree to which the strong decline in metro passenger demand can be attributed to the economic crisis and the austerity measures imposed by the government, particularly, the rise of metro fares and the reduction in service levels.
Disentangling the effects of the economic crisis from those of the austerity measures affecting public transport providers is challenging; however, the timing of some of the measures adopted by the metro operator allows exploring these issues with some detail. Indeed, the models suggest that the combination of a strong increase in public transport prices with a substantial reduction in service levels appears to be a key factor explaining the decrease in passengers. In addition, the results also suggest that the recent boom in tourism experienced by Lisbon has helped compensate the fall in demand due to the economic crisis and austerity measures. The paper ends by considering some key implications for policymaking.

Alena Myshko (p)

This paper presents an investigation in a relation between local higher education institutions (HEIs) and regional airports in a region, and how universities could benefit from regional airports’ development. Moreover, it focuses on how this relation, in turn, can influence mobilities and spatial capital of (university) students. To add, it is an attempt to include in the theoretical domain of airport studies a category of passengers/ consumers, who are out of its focus in the recent research - students, who have specific practices, preferences and interests in travelling. University students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, are understood as a social group with high mobility: they travel to places of former residency, also for education and research purposes as well as for tourism. At the same time, this social group is one of the main consumers of city’s services and spaces, also transformers and gentrifiers of its space, especially in the university towns (Chatterton, 2010). Thus, not only ‘access to urban resources’ but also accessibility, mobility and possibilities to develop spatial capital constitute the right to the city, including rights of those students’ who are currently residing in the city region. Thus, if ‘the right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city’ (Harvey, 2008), then by changing the relation between local universities and regional airport, students’ mobilities and spatial capital is being transformed. Spatial dimension depends on transport provision, its connectivity and accessibility to turn it into a spatial form of social capital (e.g., Levy, 1994).
To investigate a role of relation between HEIs and regional airports in students’ mobilities and spatial capital, the strategy of mixed methods research is applied. The central method of investigation is expert interview (with representatives of airports, universities, city councils, and regional third parties). Also, the design includes the analysis of secondary data (reports, databases, etc.), collection of questionnaires (from university students) and observation. Thus, this design combines both qualitative and quantitative data to create a complex approach to the subject. Moreover, the design allows adapting the research according to new data and information collected and accessed, especially in cases it differs from the original assumptions. The research is based on the case of the North East of England to analyze the topic within a context of local and regional development of one region in the UK.

Takaaki Okuda (p)

In this study, we proposed a monopolistic competition model considering the heterogeneity of tourists. Normally, in monopolistic competition models, the consumption behavior is described assuming representative individuals. However, in the case of tourist consumption, various tourists chose various destinations. So, in this research, we assumed the destination choice considering the heterogeneity of tourists and derived a macro tourist consumption model. As a result, it is consistent with a tourism consumption model assuming a by-level CES utility function. In normal monopolistic competition models the multiplier of the number of firms is 1, in the model considering heterogeneity, the multiplier of the number of firms is (1 - σL) / (1 - σ). We also proposed a method to estimate parameters of this model and actually estimated parameters using statistical data of 47 prefectures in Japan. In addition, we conducted an impact analysis of the high-speed maglev line in Japan, using this model. As a result of the analysis, it is cleared that tourism consumption in Tokyo prefecture will increase widely in western Japan, and tourism consumption in Osaka prefecture will increase in the Tokyo Metropolitan region due to the high-speed maglev line. It was also shown that tourism industry will increase along the high-speed maglev line due to the change of tourism consumption, and that tourism industry will increase in western Japan, where the transport network is connected with the high-speed maglev line.