[sustran] Re: (fwd) [UTSG] transport strategy transfer

[Walter Hook]

central european cities like Krakow and Budapest have modernized their
transit fleets somewhat.  The national government is now picking up the cost
of pensioners and school students and the disabled.  The price of the
monthly or yearly pass is going up roughly at the inflation rate, the price
of individual ticket purchases is going up above the inflation rate, and
there has been an almost draconian crack down on fare evasion which was like
20% on some systems.   While cracking down on fare evasion is a pain for
foreigners, it is a reasonable source of generating revenues.  The systems
are still not at full cost recovery of operating expenses but cost recovery
rates are up to the 50% range (it depends if you include depreciation of the
rolling stock). I understand in most of the CIS the cost recovery figures
are still down in the 20% range but maybe this has recently changed.
Slobodan Mitric, formerly with the World bank, used to have a lot of info on
this but i've lost touch with him of late.

walter


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jonathan E. D. Richmond" <richmond at alum.mit.edu>
To: "Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport"
<sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 2:16 PM
Subject: [sustran] Re: (fwd) [UTSG] transport strategy transfer


>
> Sure, I'd be happy to be involved with this! --Jonathan
>
> On Wed, 28 Apr 2004, Brendan Finn wrote:
>
> > Jonathon,
> >
> > I'd be interested to do a bit of information exchange on this one. I'm
> > currently doing some work with the UPT sector in Russia and later this
year
> > in Kazakstan. While people in cities such as St. Petersburg generally
have
> > affordability, there are many Russian cities where things are extremely
> > tight. Premium services have a market everywhere, but as we move down
the
> > food chain we start to hit the financial impossibility of the
> > 'socially-affordable fare' in many places. The burden has to be carried
> > somewhere - by the taxpayer, the operator, or by the user. In Russia, it
has
> > often been the public-sector operator who gets badly squeezed.
> >
> > Maybe a few people who are interested in this topic could take it
off-line
> > and exchange ideas. Your research might act as a useful focal point
where a
> > number of people working in the domain could document case studies and
> > comparable data ?
> >
> > With best wishes,
> >
> >
> > Brendan Finn.
> > _______________________________________________________________________
> > Contact details are : e-mail : etts at indigo.ie   tel : +353.87.2530286
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jonathan E. D. Richmond" <richmond at alum.mit.edu>
> > To: "Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport"
> > <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
> > Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 7:49 AM
> > Subject: [sustran] Re: (fwd) [UTSG] transport strategy transfer
> >
> >
> > > On Sat, 24 Apr 2004, Brendan Finn wrote:
> > >
> > > > Jonathon,
> > > >
> > > > Taking Bangkok as an example, is there any practical way to provide
bus
> > > > services on a commercial basis at fares affordable to the poor with
> > anything
> > > > other than low-quality, low-cost buses ?
> > >
> > > I do not know yet. I expect this to be a subject of my research this
> > > summer. One of my students is also going to be working on issues of
> > > transit industry cost structures, so I hope to have some data later in
the
> > > year, although -- given the difficulties of pinning down anything of a
> > > facual nature in this environment -- I cannot say that I will have
> > > anything worthy of forming firm conclusions.
> > >
> > >
> > >  If there is, I'd like to hear it,
> > > > since it seems to be an intractable puzzle in many countries.
> > > >
> > > > My experience in the CIS is that you can cover direct operating
costs of
> > old
> > > > vehicles at low fares. To move to a new vehicle - however basic -
> > requires a
> > > > premium fare compared to the "social" fare. In part this reflects
the
> > high
> > > > cost of capital, linked to low security of tenure on the route, and
> > hence
> > > > higher interest both to reflect the risk and the lack of financial
> > weight of
> > > > the borrower. In greater part, though, is the relative cost of hard
> > assets
> > > > compared to the fares income. In Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,
I
> > have
> > > > seen no shortage of takers for the premium fare services, which
offer a
> > much
> > > > higher quality of service in the eyes of the users - a seat, speed,
> > > > cleanliness, and much less unwanted proximity (especially for
women). Of
> > > > course, this leaves the social travel and the poorest with the
low-cost
> > > > services, leading them inexorably down the sinkhole.
> > >
> > > Exactly: and in Bangkok I think you will find that this group accounts
for
> > > a very large share of the population and -- particularly -- of the
> > > transit-using population.
> > >
> >
> >
>
> -----
>
> Jonathan E. D. Richmond                               02 524-5510 (office)
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>