An econometric cost model for local public bus transport: evidence from Italy

Journal title ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE
Author/s Alessandro Avenali, Andrea Boitani, Giuseppe Catalano, Tiziana D'Alfonso, Giorgio Matteucci
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/4
Language Italian Pages 33 P. 181-213 File size 143 KB
DOI 10.3280/POLI2014-004009
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

We estimate the standard costs in the Italian local bus transport system by means of a top down approach. Commercial speed results the most important cost driver, while economies of scale are low and only present in the case of small transport operators. Medium sized and large operators exhibit diseconomies of scale. We find a positive correlation between investments in bus fleet and service cost. The model aims at introducing policy criteria for the allocation of public funds earmarked to the local public transit sector among Italian regions.

Keywords: Standard cost, local public transport, fiscal federalism, cost proxy models

Jel codes: H50, L50, L92, R48

  1. ANAV. 2010. Modello per la determinazione dei costi standard dei servizi di trasporto pubblico locale su gomma, mimeo.
  2. ASSTRA. 2010. Un modello di calcolo del costo standard per il trasporto pubblico locale e regionale, mimeo.
  3. ASSTRA. 2013. Un modello di calcolo del costo standard per il trasporto pubblico locale e regionale, mimeo.
  4. Avenali A., Catalano G., D’Alfonso T., Matteucci G. 2013. La determinazione del costo standard nei servizi di trasporto pubblico locale su autobus: aspetti metodologici e prime esperienze applicative, mimeo. Bain & Company. 2014. L’efficienza nel trasporto pubblico locale in Italia. Costi standard, competizione e dimensioni ottimali: quali relazioni?, mimeo.
  5. Bhattacharyya A., Kumbhakar S.C., Bhattacharyya A. 1995. Ownership structure and cost efficiency: a study of publicly owned passenger-bus transportation companies in India. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 6 (1): 47-61, DOI: 10.1007/BF01073494
  6. Berechman J. 1987. Cost structure and production technology in transit: an application to Israeli bus transit sector. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 17 (4): 519-534, doi10.1016/0166-0462(87)90014-7.
  7. Berechman J., Giuliano G. 1985. Economies of scale in bus transit: a review and concepts and evidence. Transportation, 12 (4): 313-332, DOI: 10.1007/BF00165470
  8. Boitani A., Cambini C. 2004. Le gare per i servizi di trasporto locale in Europa e in Italia: molto rumore per nulla?. Economia e Politica Industriale, 122: 65-99. Boitani A., Cambini C. 2006. To bid or not to bid, this is the question: the Italian experience in competitive tendering for local bus services. European Transport, 12
  9. (33): 41-53.
  10. Boitani A., Nicolini M., Scarpa C. 2013. Do competition and ownership matter? Evidence from local public transport in Europe. Applied Economics, 45 (11): 1419-1434, DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.617702
  11. Cambini C., Piacenza M., Vannoni D. 2007. Restructuring public transit systems: evidence on cost properties from medium and large-sized companies. Review of Industrial Organization, 31 (3): 183-203, DOI: 10.1007/s11151-007-9153-9
  12. Commissario straordinario per la revisione della spesa. 2014. Programma di razionalizzazione delle partecipate locali, mimeo.
  13. Damodaran A. 2012. Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken.
  14. De Borger B., Kerstens K. 2000. The performance of bus transit operators, in Hensher D.A., Button K.J. (eds.) Handbook of Transport Modelling. Pergamon: Amsterdam-New York.
  15. De Rus G., Nombela G. 1997. Privatisation of urban bus services in Spain. Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 31 (1): 115-129.
  16. Filippini M., Prioni P. 1994. Is scale and cost inefficiency in the Swiss bus industry a regulatory problem? Evidence from a frontier cost approach. Journal of the Economics of Business, 1 (2): 219-231, DOI: 10.1080/758516796
  17. Fraquelli G., Piacenza M., Abrate G. 2001. Il trasporto pubblico locale in Italia: variabili esplicative dei divari di costo tra le imprese. Economia e Politica Industriale, 111: 51-82.
  18. Fraquelli G., Piacenza M., Abrate G. 2004. Regulating public transit networks: how do urban-intercity diversification and speed-up measures affect firms’ cost performance?. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 2 (75), 193-225.
  19. Gagnepain P. 1998. Structures productives de l’industrie du transport urbain et effets des schemas reglementaires. Economie et Prevision, 135 (4): 95-107.
  20. Gathon H.J. 1989. Indicators of partial productivity and technical efficiency in the European urban transit sector. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 60 (1): 43-59, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8292.1989.tb02008.x
  21. Jha R., Singh S.K. 2001. Small is efficient: a frontier approach to cost inefficiencies in Indian state road transport undertakings. International Journal of Transport Economics, 28 (1): 95-114, DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.228829
  22. Karlaftis M., McCarthy P. 1999. The effect of privatization on public transit costs. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 16 (1): 27-43, DOI: 10.1023/A:1008179629733
  23. Levaggi R. 1994. Parametric and non-parametric approach to efficiency: the case of urban transport in Italy. Studi Economici, 53 (49): 67-88.
  24. Margari B.B., Erbetta F., Petraglia C., Piacenza M. 2007. Regulatory and environmental effects on public transit efficiency: a mixed DEA-SFA approach. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 32 (2): 131-151, DOI: 10.1007/s11149-007-9025-0
  25. Matas A., Raymond J.L. 1998. Technical characteristics and efficiency of urban bus companies: the case of Spain. Transportation, 25: 243-263, DOI: 10.1023/A:1005078830008.MillerD.R.1970.Differencesamongcities,differencesamongfirms,andcostsofurbanbustransport.JournalofIndustrialEconomics,19(1):22-32
  26. Nolan J.F. 1996. Determinants of productivity efficiency in urban transit. Logistics and Transportation Review, 32 (3): 319-342.
  27. Petretto A., Viviani A. 1984. An econometric model for cross-section analysis of the production of urban transports service. Economic Notes, 13: 35-65.
  28. Piacenza M. 2006. Regulatory contracts and cost efficiency: stochastic frontier evidence from the Italian local public transport. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 3 (25): 257-227, DOI: 10.1007/s11123-006-7643-7
  29. Shleifer A. 1985. A theory of yardstick competition. The RAND Journal of Economics, 16 (3): 319-327.
  30. SOSE. 2013a. La determinazione dei fabbisogni standard per i comuni, mimeo.
  31. SOSE. 2013b. La determinazione dei fabbisogni standard per le province, mimeo.
  32. Viton P. 1981. A translog cost function for urban bus transport. Journal of Industrial Economics, 29 (3): 287-304.
  33. Viton P. 1992. Consolidations of scale and scope in urban transit. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 22 (1): 25-49, DOI: 10.1016/0166-0462(92)90024-U
  34. Williams M. 1979. Firm size and operating cost in urban bus transportation. Journal of Industrial Economics, 28 (2): 209-218.
  35. Windle R.J. 1988. Transit policy and the cost structure of urban bus transportation, in Dogson J.S., Topham N. (eds.) Bus Deregulation and Privatization. Gower Pub Co: Averbury-Aldershot.
  36. Wunsch P. 1996. Cost and productivity of major urban transit systems in Europe: an exploratory analysis. Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 30 (2): 171-186.

  • Assessing standard costs in local public bus transport: A hybrid cost model Alessandro Avenali, Andrea Boitani, Giuseppe Catalano, Tiziana D’Alfonso, Giorgio Matteucci, in Transport Policy /2018 pp.48
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.03.011
  • Cost models for local road transit Umberto Petruccelli, Salvatore Carleo, in Public Transport /2017 pp.527
    DOI: 10.1007/s12469-017-0162-2
  • The allocation of national public resources in the Italian local public bus transport sector Alessandro Avenali, Giuseppe Catalano, Tiziana D'Alfonso, Giorgio Matteucci, in Research in Transportation Economics 100822/2020 pp.100822
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2020.100822
  • Assessing standard costs in local public bus transport: Evidence from Italy Alessandro Avenali, Andrea Boitani, Giuseppe Catalano, Tiziana D’Alfonso, Giorgio Matteucci, in Transport Policy /2016 pp.164
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.06.007
  • Un modello per la determinazione del costo standard nei servizi di trasporto pubblico locale su autobus in Italia° Alessandro Avenali, Andrea Boitani, Giuseppe Catalano, Tiziana D'Alfonso, Giorgio Matteucci, in ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE 4/2014 pp.181
    DOI: 10.3280/POLI2014-004009
  • Standard costs of regional public rail passenger transport: evidence from Italy Alessandro Avenali, Andrea Boitani, Giuseppe Catalano, Giorgio Matteucci, Andrea Monticini, in Applied Economics /2020 pp.1704
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2019.1677852
  • Rail versus bus local public transport services: A social cost comparison methodology Alessandro Avenali, Giuseppe Catalano, Martina Gregori, Giorgio Matteucci, in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 100200/2020 pp.100200
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2020.100200
  • Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2021 G. Acampa, M. Grasso, C. M. Parisi, D. Ticali, A. Severino, pp.354 (ISBN:978-3-030-86978-6)

Alessandro Avenali, Andrea Boitani, Giuseppe Catalano, Tiziana D'Alfonso, Giorgio Matteucci, Un modello per la determinazione del costo standard nei servizi di trasporto pubblico locale su autobus in Italia° in "ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE " 4/2014, pp 181-213, DOI: 10.3280/POLI2014-004009