Route choice effects of changes from a zonal to a distance-based fare structure in a regional public transport network

Abstract

By using a hypothetical transport network that reflects common origin and destination relations in a regional transport network, we illustrate the effects of changing fares from a zonal to a distance-based structure. We take the zonal fare as a base case and model the effect of different fare/km, including non-additive fares, where the marginal price per km is decreasing with a typical regional network. We restrict our analysis to a fixed total demand and consider the effects of fares on route choice including station access choice and walking to nearby destinations. The results indicate some general trends that can be expected, such as the fare range in order to achieve similar fare revenue incomes. At this fare parity point the total travel time tends to be reduced in the distance-based case but the flows become less dispersed. Furthermore, in case of a non-additive distance-based fare, we show that total utility could be improved at the fare parity point compared to additive fares.