The Problem with Faster Highways (Downs-Thompson Paradox) | Game Theory Puzzles
15 Sep 2021 Leave a comment
in transport economics, urban economics Tags: game theory, public transport
Public Transportation Ridership: Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back? | @transportblog
19 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, transport economics Tags: public transport
Recent data showing declining transit ridership is only the latest news to cast doubt on expectations of a public transit renaissance.
@NZGreens @TransportBlog cars rule in Auckland! Auckland commuting times by transport mode
21 Aug 2015 1 Comment
in job search and matching, labour economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Auckland, bicycles, commuting times, compensating differentials, expressive voting, green rent seeking, Inner-city Left, New Zealand Greens, public transport, rational irrationality, search and matching, The fatal conceit, The pretense to knowledge
I am not surprised only 7% of Auckland’s take public transport to work considering it takes much longer than any other form of commuting.
The average commute by public transport is 40 minutes as compared to less than 25 in a car. 74% of Aucklanders drive to work and another 9% are a passenger in a car.
No information was available on those who bike to work because only 1% of Aucklanders bike to work. Only 2% of all New Zealanders take a bike to work. The sample size was therefore too small. Yet another reason to ban bikes at night. Few commute on this mode of transport in Auckland.
The near identical commuting distances irrespective of the mode of transport except walking is further evidence that people are quite discerning in balancing commuting times and job selection as per the theory of compensating differentials. Indeed, average commuting times in Auckland are much the same as the average commuting time in America.
The Auckland transport data showing people commute much the same distance by any mode of transport bar walking also validates Anthony Downs’ theory of triple convergence.
Improving the commuting times in one mode of transport will mean people simply take the mode of peak hour transport that is suddenly become less congested while others who were not going to commute at peak times or start commuting at peak times as Anthony Downs explains:
If that expressway’s capacity were doubled overnight, the next day’s traffic would flow rapidly because the same number of drivers would have twice as much road space.
But soon word would spread that this particular highway was no longer congested. Drivers who had once used that road before and after the peak hour to avoid congestion would shift back into the peak period. Other drivers who had been using alternative routes would shift onto this more convenient expressway. Even some commuters who had been using the subway or trains would start driving on this road during peak periods.
Within a short time, this triple convergence onto the expanded road during peak hours would make the road as congested as it was before its expansion.
1,800 mass transit systems in the US — 2% report fare revenues exceeding operating expenses
11 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, transport economics Tags: buses, green rent seeking, public transport, public transport deficits, trains
Of the 1,800+ US mass transit systems ~2% reported that fare revenue exceeded operating costs bit.ly/1EoQyqD http://t.co/Q6t9pB7q8a—
The Hamilton Project (@hamiltonproj) May 14, 2015
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments