[sustran] Re: Zonal fares on buses

[Paula Negron Poblete]

Alan, I think one of the best examples of zonal gfares in developing
countries exists in Brazil, in Sao Paulo and curitiba. The information
about Sao Paulo can be found at their web site: www.sptrans.com.br
Consider that mostly of the information is in portugeese. Concerning the
case of Curitiba, maybe ypu can find some information at this web site:
http://www.ecoplan.org/mobility/index.htm

Hope the information is useful.

-- 
Paula Negron
Faculté de l'Aménagement
Univeristé de Montréal
negronpp at magellan.umontreal.ca

Alan P Howes a écrit :
> 
> I'm looking for help.
> 
> Like in many other countries in the world, Saudi Arabia's urban buses
> operate on a flat fare. It's 2 Saudi Riyals - that's about US$ 0.55.
> That's good for a trip of up to 30 km. on some routes - perhaps more.
> (We operate local service in nine cities and towns).
> 
> (And our typical customer may earn around SR 500 per month - which
> makes our fares expensive.)
> 
> In Riyadh and Jeddah, we suffer heavy competition from "Coasters" -
> fixed-route (but otherwise fairly anarchic) minibuses charging the
> same fare as we do.
> 
> Flat fare schemes are no good for maximising passengers at any given
> level of subsidy. They are too high for short-distance passengers, and
> lower than necessary for long-distance passengers.
> 
> So I want to go Zonal - probably simply cutting fares to SR 1.00 on
> sections of routes competed by Coasters. But our operating guys say
> "Oh, our passengers and drivers will never understand that". OK, they
> may have a point. Neither group are particularly well educated (most
> of them, both groups, are non-Saudi, typically South Asian or
> Philippino). But no-one expects taxis to charge a flat fare.
> 
> So what I want to hear of is experience elsewhere in less-developed
> countries (which in many ways, we still are). Particularly if a
> flat-fare system has been converted to Zonal.
> 
> Shukran Jazeelan
> --
> GIVE ON-LINE FOR MOZAMBIQUE - http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/f_africa.htm
> 
> Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations)
> Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
> alanhowes at usaksa.com
> PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE