Restructuring Public Transit Systems: Evidence on Cost Properties and Optimal Network Configuration from Medium and Large-Sized Companies

This paper analyses the cost structure of a sample of Italian local public transport (LPT) companies operating in medium and large urban centres. The main focus is to identify the proper network configuration for the LPT service, by verifying the presence and the extent of scale and density economies. Technological characteristics of public transit systems are analysed by estimating both variable and total cost function models and including firm-specific fixed effects. The evidence is robust across the different specifications that have been tested and shows the presence of short-run and long-run economies of scale, as well as of economies of network density. This suggests that, from a technological point of view, a proper LPT network design should at least include a large urban centre, while a regulatory policy aimed at fragmenting the served area in various sub-networks would imply an efficiency loss