Urban Transportation Economics

TRB Special Report 181: Urban Transportation Economics synthesizes theory and practice to produce a practical working program for planning, implementing and administering programs at the local, state, and federal levels.

An attempt has been made to examine long-term forces in the urban transportation market that generate chronic transit deficits and to evaluate alternative courses of action to improve economic efficiency and financial viability at the local level. The study focuses on the financial difficulties that contribute to the deterioration of services, the causes of deficits, alternative programs to assist cities to reduce their dependence on federal financial assistance, the development of a framework to assist different levels of government to evaluate urban transportation costs versus revenues, and the summarizing of the state of the art in this area.

The proceedings are presented of five 2-to 3-day workshops. The workshop on urban transportation pricing considered several aspects of various alternatives. The workshop on economic regulation of urban public transportation considered how current regulations may be amended to facilitate more efficient workable public transportation. The workshop on labor relations issues was designed to identify problems and alternatives to current labor practices, explore increased labor involvement, as well as other aspects of labor relations. The workshop on measuring the effectiveness of transit marketing considered how public transportation may be managed, planned, and operated to provide the desired service and be financially healthy. The workshop on government responsibilities for financing efficient transportation examined the means available to local government to bring about the changes recommended in earlier workshops.