Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2006

Subject Area

Modes of Transport - Light rail, Modes of Transport - Train, Modes of Transport - Tram, Public transport - Patronage, Transport services - Metlink

Abstract

There is widespread concern about the increasing price of petrol and how it is affecting the economy. Much media interest has focused on how increasing fuel prices have acted to increase public transport demand although these reports are not based on any robust analysis. This paper undertakes the statistical analysis of the relationship between recent fuel price changes and increases in public transport demand through analysis of data from the public transport system. It starts with a review of impacts through a review of international studies and a compilation of measures of cross elasticity of demand i.e. the demand for public transport as affected by the price of fuel for auto travel. Section 3 describes the context of the study, the public transport system and market in Melbourne, Australia. Section 4 describes the methodology for the analysis of the Melbourne data and Section 5 describes the main findings of this analysis. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and some suggestions for further research.