Interurban Bus Research Articles

Optimization of Rural Demand-Responsive Transportation through Transfer Point Allocation

Rural mobility has a lack of innovative proposals in contrast with its urban counterpart. This research aims to bring solutions that ease the implementation of reliable and flexible rural transportation. Demand-responsive transportation is chosen to develop a public transportation service providing interurban trips among several rural settlements. Given the characteristics of rural displacement demand, a novel approach is introduced to optimize the service’s economic costs: the dynamic transfer point allocation. The problem is fully formulated and an architecture is introduced describing the workflow of the whole system. Data from an interurban bus transportation service are used to build a case study of a rural area of Valencia, Spain, and develop several examples illustrating the benefits of the proposed approach. The results reveal that the dynamic creation of transfer points can simplify the transportation fleet’s itineraries and boost the amount of served travel requests. Finally, a discussion of the benefits and dangers of flexible features in rural transportation is developed, underscoring the need to achieve a balance between dynamic operation and service quality.

Entry deterrence due to brand proliferation: Empirical evidence from the German interurban bus industry

We empirically study a potential entry deterrence strategy by means of product proliferation (pre-emption) in the German interurban bus industry using route-level data covering about 6,000 routes. In 2016, the largest operator, Flixbus, acquired its major rival, Postbus. We find that Flixbus, on average, provided a lower number of trips per route and day (frequency) and slightly decreased prices after the acquisition. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that Flixbus pursued a strategy of pre-emption prior to the acquisition: Flixbus offered a high number of bus rides to decrease residual demand. After the acquisition, when the threat of entry was eliminated, Flixbus decreased the supply of trips per route and day. We would like to thank two anonymous referees and Frank Verboven for helpful comments and suggestions. We would also like to thank Niklas Dürr, Georg Götz, Justus Haucap, Paul Heidhues, Sven Heim, Michael Hellwig, Henry Thecat, Peter Winker and the participants of the following conferences: EARIE Annual Conference 2018, VfS Annual Conference 2018, MaCCI Annual Conference 2019 and CRESSE Conference 2019 for fruitful discussions on earlier versions of this article.

Моделирование пространственного распределения пассажиропотоков междугородних автобусных маршрутов

This paper is devoted to the quantitative description of the spatial distribution of passenger traffic based on the classical gravity model on the example of interurban bus service between Yekaterinburg and other cities of the Sverdlovsk region. The influence of factors such as population, distance between localities, and ticket price on the volume of passenger traffic was studied. As a result of the correlation and regression analysis, it was found that both the distance between localities and the ticket price can be used as a measure of the remoteness of localities. However, the quality of the resulting regression model does not change. The spatial distribution of interurban bus passenger traffic depends on the measure of distance of localities from each other and the size of their population. Moreover, the size of the population is a much more significant factor than the measure of distance. From a practical point of view, this means that when predicting passenger traffic, demographic factors must first be taken into account.

The liberalization of the long-distance bus transport in Germany: from competitive market to monopoly

The Federal Republic of Germany is one of the last member states of the European Union that have liberalized the market of the longdistance buses (interurban buses). Since 1935 until the end of 2012 the access to the market was strictly regulated. Bus companies were allowed only when the bus transport does not threaten the position of railways, and it was only a supplement. The beginning of 2013 lifted most of the restrictions. It has started a dynamic growth of the market. The long-distance buses have changed significantly the urban transport policy as well as have boosted the intermodal competition in the segment of long-distance transport. In the German cities have appeared significant traffic generators, and space of bus terminals turned to be insufficient. Coaches, despite legal restrictions, have become part of the regional transport systems. The unaccustomed to competition national railway carrier – Deutsche Bahn – was forced to find a new position in the market. The answer was to increase the number of promotional tickets. At the same time at the bus market has begun the processes of concentration. The dominant company acquired more than 90 percent of the market. The rapid development of the long-distance buses caused the questions about the extension of a present of motorways toll for lorries also for buses. From the perspective of six years, the liberalization of the bus market to be considered, however, as having a positive impact on transport policy. Most of the passengers using interurban buses used to use private cars, not the railways, as originally feared.

Factors influencing prices and frequencies in the interurban bus market: Evidence from Europe

We analyze the determinants of prices and frequencies in the interurban bus services (IBS) market. Drawing on data collected from a sample of routes in six large European countries, we find that intramodal competition is based on frequencies while intermodal competition is based on prices. Furthermore, we provide evidence of the regressive nature of the IBS in Europe by showing that routes with low-income endpoints face higher prices. We also find significant price differences between countries, which can be attributed to differences in their respective regulatory systems.

Work Environment, Stress, and Driving Anger: A Structural Equation Model for Predicting Traffic Sanctions of Public Transport Drivers.

Public transport is an effective and sustainable alternative to private vehicle usage, also helping to reduce the environmental impact of driving. However, the work environment of public transport operators is full of adverse conditions, which, together with their high mileage, may increase the occurrence of negative safety outcomes such as traffic accidents, often preceded by risky road behaviors enhanced by stress, anger, and difficult operating conditions. The aims of this study were, first, to determine the association between work-related psychosocial factors and individual characteristics of public transport drivers and the rate of traffic sanctions they are subject to; and second, to assess the mediation of driving anger in this relationship. A sample of professional drivers (57.4% city bus, 17.6% taxi, and 25% inter-urban bus male operators) was used for this cross-sectional study, responding to a five-section survey including demographic data and driving-related factors, psychosocial work factors including job stress, driving stress, risk predisposition, and driving anger. The results of this study showed significant associations between work-related factors: measures of stress and self-reported rates of traffic fines. Second, it was found that driving anger mediates the associations between driving stress, risk predisposition, and traffic sanctions; and partially mediates the association between driving experience, hourly intensity, and job stress. This study supports the idea that traffic penalties reported by public transport rates are preceded by work-related, personality, and other individual factors that, when combined with driving anger, enhance the occurrence of road misbehavior that may affect overall road safety.

Working Conditions, Job Strain, and Traffic Safety among Three Groups of Public Transport Drivers

BackgroundWorking conditions and psychosocial work factors have acquired an important role explaining the well-being and performance of professional drivers, including those working in the field of public transport. This study aimed to examine the association between job strain and the operational performance of public transport drivers and to compare the expositions with psychosocial risk at work of three different types of transport workers: taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers.MethodA sample of 780 professional drivers was drawn from three transport companies in Bogota (Colombia). The participants answered the Job Content Questionnaire and a set of sociodemographic and driving performance questions, including age, professional driving experience, work schedules, and accidents and penalties suffered in the last 2 years.ResultsAnalyses showed significant associations between measures of socio-labor variables and key performance indicators such road traffic accidents and penalties. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis contributed to explain significantly suffered accidents from key variables of the Job Demand-Control model, essentially from job strain. In addition, throughout post-hoc analyses, significant differences were found in terms of perceived social support, job strain, and job insecurity.ConclusionWork stress is an issue that compromises the safety of professional drivers. This research provides evidence supporting a significant effect of job strain on the professional driver's performance. Moreover, the statistically significant differences between taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers in their expositions to work-related stress suggest the need for tailored occupational safety interventions on each occupational group.

Lived experiences of inter-urban commercial bus drivers involved in road traffic crashes in Central Region, Ghana

ABSTRACTInterurban commercial bus drivers are confronted with inherent risk of over speeding, road curvature, road geometry, and weather condition predisposing them to Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs). Lived experiences of inter-urban commercial bus drivers involved in RTCs in Ghana remains relatively underreported. This relates to their experiences and opinions on the causes of RTCs and the post-experiences as survivors. This paper is an exploratory qualitative study involving face-to-face in-depth interviews with 15 interurban commercial bus drivers who survived RTCs and still drive. The sample was a mix of purposive and snowball sampling techniques at the terminals/stations of interurban commercial bus drivers in Cape Coast, the Capital city of Central Region. The analysis revealed environmental factors (such as weather condition, road surface, road curvature) accounted for the RTCs. Survivors received poor pre-hospital trauma care and no welfare package. Measures to RTCs could include road/transport infrastructure improvements and survivors are to be provided with social welfare package.

Determinants of entry in the deregulated German interurban bus industry

Determinants of entry in the deregulated German interurban bus industry

Patterns of Entry and Exit in the Deregulated German Interurban Bus Industry

We study patterns of entry and exit in the German interurban bus industry in the first three years after its deregulation in January 2013. Using a comprehensive data set of all firm and route entries and exits, we find that the industry grew much quicker than originally expected – with particularly a few new entrants being most successful in quickly extending their route networks from regional to national coverage. Although the clear majority of routes is operated on a monopoly basis, competition does play a key role on routes with a sufficiently large base of (potential) customers. From a spatial perspective, three years after deregulation, the entire interurban bus network connects 60 percent of all 644 larger German cities – with the intensity of entry being dependent on the number of inhabitants, average income, the share of under 24 years old and the presence of intermodal competition by intercity railway services.

Urban bus contractual regimes in small- and medium-sized municipalities: Competitive tendering or negotiation?

EU Regulation 1370/2007 promotes competitive tendering as the main mechanism for awarding the provision of urban bus services. However, small concessions can be awarded by means of a negotiated procedure. This paper seeks to evaluate the performance of urban bus operators in small- and medium-sized municipalities according to their prevailing contractual regimes. Three types of procurement procedure are analyzed: competitive tendering, negotiated contracts and contracts negotiated indirectly with the interurban bus provider. A translog stochastic cost frontier is conducted using a panel dataset (312 observations) over a nine-year period from 2007 to 2015 for the municipalities of the Barcelona province. In line with recent empirical evidence, we find no cost differences between the three contractual procedures. However, cost inefficiencies emerge in relation to the size of the municipality: the smaller the municipality, the greater the inefficiencies. As for ownership, there are no performance differences between private and other forms of delivery. Economies of density are no longer apparent at annual provisions above 300,000 vehicle-kilometers or in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Therefore, the non-tendering option, as provided for under European Regulations for small concessions, gives the same results as that found for competitive tendering and indirectly negotiated procedures.

Patterns of entry and exit in the deregulated German interurban bus industry

We study patterns of entry and exit in the German interurban bus industry in the first three years after its deregulation in January 2013. Using a comprehensive data set of all firm and route entries and exits, we find that the industry grew much quicker than originally expected – with particularly a few new entrants being most successful in quickly extending their route networks from regional to national coverage. Although the clear majority of routes is operated on a monopoly basis, competition does play a key role on routes with a sufficiently large base of (potential) customers. From a spatial perspective, three years after deregulation, the entire interurban bus network connects 60 percent of all 644 larger German cities – with the intensity of entry being dependent on the number of inhabitants, average income, the share of under 24 years old and the presence of intermodal competition by intercity railway services.

Investigating the preferences of students towards the creation of a carpooling system serving the academic bodies of Thessaloniki city

Carpooling is regarded as an alternative, affordable, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly mean of transport, which corresponds to the modern socio-economic challenges and the travel behavioural changes. It is providing to the drivers and the passengers the opportunity to travel together using the same vehicle. Since it comprises a promising mobility solution, its promotion to the younger generations that are establishing their travel habits would be more efficient. Thessaloniki is a Greek medium sized city, which hosts many young people coming from areas all over the country to study at academic or technical/professional level. This paper investigates the introduction of a carpooling system serving the interurban trips of the students of Thessaloniki to their nearby home cities and vice versa. At present, the absence of many alternative mobility options, the increased cost of car driving and maintenance and the low level of service provided by the current interurban bus system of Thessaloniki constrain the mobility. Based on the findings derived from the review of University carpooling schemes, an on-line questionnaire was designed and an extensive questionnaire survey was conducted, being addressed to the university students of the city of Thessaloniki (namely, students of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), University of Macedonia and Technical Institution of Thessaloniki) in order to explore their preferences regarding the creation of a carpooling system, being managed by and provided exclusively to the members of the academic community. The analysis of the survey highlighted the positive stance of the respondents. Based on the survey’s findings the carpooling’s business model and the platform’s structure were proposed to serve the students and the academic and administrative staff of the aforementioned Universities.

Deregulation and the determinants of network access: evidence from the German interurban bus industry

ABSTRACTWe investigate the characteristics of cities gaining access to the German interurban bus network in the first two years following the deregulation of the industry in January 2013. Applying both parametric and semi-parametric survival models, we find strong evidence that the probability of a city to be added to a provider’s network increases not only with the mere size of its population but also with further demographic characteristics such as average income or the share of young and old inhabitants. Additionally, while an increasing importance of tourism has a further positive effect, a rising automobile density is imposing a significantly negative impact on the probability of a city to gain access to the network.

Deregulation and the Determinants of Entry: Evidence from the German Interurban Bus Industry

Two years after the deregulation of the German interurban bus industry in January 2013, two new entrants emerged as market leaders: MeinFernbus (MFB) and FlixBus (FB). We use a comprehensive route-level data set to investigate the determinants of route entry for both providers. Applying survival models, we find that both companies show an increased probability to enter populous, centrally located routes with large shares of young inhabitants; however, they both avoid entries into routes including an airport or with low quality rail connection. Furthermore, both market leaders refrain from entering small and medium-sized routes in which another provider is already operating. In large markets, however, they both show an increased entry probability independent of the presence of a competitor.

Deregulation and the Determinants of Network Access: Evidence from the German Interurban Bus Industry

We investigate the characteristics of cities gaining access to the German interurban bus network in the first two years following the deregulation of the industry in January 2013. Applying both parametric and semi-parametric survival models, we find strong evidence that the probability of a city to be added to a provider’s network not only increases with the mere size of its population but also with further demographic characteristics such as average income or the share of young and old inhabitants. Additionally, while an increasing importance of tourism has a further positive effect, a rising automobile density is imposing a significantly negative impact on the probability of a city to gain access to the network.

Competition in the German Interurban Bus Industry: A Snapshot Two Years after Liberalization

We study competition in the German interurban bus industry two years after its liberalization in January 2013. In addition to a brief characterization of the liberalization process and several general market developments, we provide a detailed analysis of selected market characteristics such as concentration and competitive interaction, fares as well as service quality. We use the gained insights to discuss two recent policy issues – industry consolidation and possible abuses of market power by incumbents – and derive several recommendations to secure effective competition in the industry.

Deregulation, Competition, and Consolidation: The Case of the German Interurban Bus Industry

We provide an empirical assessment of the German interurban bus industry two years after its deregulation in January 2013. In addition to a general description of key developments of the industry, we use a unique route-level price data set to study both competitive interaction in general and the potential price effects of a recently announced merger of the two largest players in the market in particular. We find that route-level average prices, inter alia, do not only depend on the number of competitors but especially on the composition of firms operating on a particular route. Although our empirical results suggest short-term price increases on certain route types post-merger, it remains an open question whether the merger should be classified as anticompetitive.

Competition in the German Interurban Bus Industry

We study competition in the German interurban bus industry two years after its liberalization in January 2013. In addition to a brief characterization of the liberalization process and several general market developments, we provide a detailed analysis of selected market characteristics such as concentration and competitive interaction, fares as well as service quality. We use the gained insights to discuss two recent policy issues – industry consolidation and possible abuses of market power by incumbents – and derive several recommendations to secure effective competition in the industry.

O lado sombrio da estrada vitimização, gestão coercitiva e percepção de medo nos roubos a ônibus interurbanos

The paper discusses the issue of victimization and the perception of fear in interurban bus robberies in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Analyzing interviews with bus drivers and passengers as well as news reports, it compares the victimization taking place during bus robberies on the highways themselves and during the robberies affecting buses diverted off their routes. It argues that the use of psychological and physical violence in order to manipulate the perception of fear is influenced by the characteristics of the vehicles, the multiplicity of victims, and the length of time involved in the interaction. In this sense, it relates the variations on the type and level of victimization to the management style used by the muggers, their different roles, and the crews’ and passengers’ reactions in the various phases of the coercive transaction. The paper concludes by arguing that it is urgent for the state to exercise its regulatory authority over such field of criminality and to improve security in transportation through interurban buses.