00369120

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...s/trr/1982/857/857-011.pdf

http://scholar.google.com...rson&publication_year=1982

Transit fares that are the same for all trips made regardless of trip length have decreased in favor recently. New preference is being given to distance-based fares, which offer potential to financially pressed transit operators for increasing revenues without increasing all riders' fare payment. One argument that has been advanced favoring distance-based fares is that flat fares are not equitable. Since low-income riders generally make shorter trips than do high-income riders, high-income riders receive more benefit for the same fare payment. This generalization is based on the presumption that all transit trips are radial to and from the central area and that low-income riders live within or close to the central area, whereas high-income riders live in suburban areas. This presumption is based on a concept of urban development patterns and transit service distribution that may or may not be true in all urban areas. An analysis of trip-length patterns for low-and high-income minority and nonminority riders in Atlanta, Georgia, shows that there is no significant variation in trip-length distribution by race and income class, except that high-income minority riders generally make shorter trips than do both groups of low-income riders as well as the high-income nonminority riders. The generalization that low-income and nonminority riders make shorter trips than high-income nonminority riders is shown to be not valid in this one case and therefore may not be used as a general basis for supporting distance-based fare systems. Distance-based fare systems may be desirable in many instances but must be justified on individual merits and not a general rule.

Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Transit Service Characteristics. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

01411659

pp 60-63

1982

Transportation Research Record

61st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board

0309033608

Digital/other

Figures (1) ; Tables (4)

Distance based fares; Fares; Low income groups; Minorities; Suburbs; Trip length; Upper income groups

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority

Atlanta (Georgia)

Atlanta (Georgia)

Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I71: Traffic Theory

TRIS, TRB

Jan 31 1983 12:00AM

• ATLANTA TRANSIT PRICING STUDY: MODERATING IMPACT OF FARE INCREASES ON POOR
• DESIGN OF BUS TRANSIT MONITORING PROGRAMS
• ECONOMICS OF TRANSIT FARE PREPAYMENT: PASSES
• EVALUATION OF EMPLOYER-BASED TRANSIT PASS PROGRAMS. (ABRIDGMENT)
• GRAPHICAL PERSON-MACHINE INTERACTIVE APPROACH FOR BUS SCHEDULING. (ABRIDGMENT)
• OPERATIONAL AND REVENUE IMPLICATIONS OF IMPLEMENTING EMPLOYER-BASED TRANSIT PASS PROGRAM
• PERFORMANCE-BASED FUNDING-ALLOCATION GUIDELINES FOR TRANSIT OPERATORS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY
• POTENTIAL ROLE OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN TRANSIT MANAGEMENT
• PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN THE 1980'S: RESPONDING TO PRESSURES OF FISCAL AUSTERITY
• SOCIOECONOMIC AND TRAVEL-BEHAVIOR CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSIT PASS USERS
• TRANSIT PERFORMANCE IN NEW YORK STATE
• TRI-MET'S SELF-SERVICE FARE COLLECTION PROGRAM