[Séminaire Caen] The Effect of Public Transport Pricing Policy: Experimental Evidence

Abstract:
We investigate the impact of different public transport pricing schemes on daily commuting habits. We build a controlled experiment, where participants make transport mode decisions and are assumed to be affected by psychological inertia and car stickiness. Our findings indicate that players are rational as they reach the Nash predictions of our model, but cognitive biases inherent to commuters are also present. Peak/off-peak and two-part tariffs prove to be more successful in encouraging public transport mode use than transit passes, possibly due to a preference for flexibility and the ability to take past experiences into account (congestion and incident) in future travel choices. Thus, this paper suggests that well-designed pricing strategies are useful tools to promote public transport use and reduce road congestion.
With Philippe Gagnepain (PSE), Sébastien Massoni (BETA), Alexandre Mayol (LEM), Carine Staropoli (LERN)