Comparison of urban public transport systems in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: Factors underpinning efficiency

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Authors

FITZOVÁ Hana MATULOVÁ Markéta

Year of publication 2020
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Research in Transportation Economics
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Economics and Administration

Citation
Web http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2020.100824
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2020.100824
Keywords Bootstrap; Czech Republic; DEA; Efficiency; SFA; Slovakia; Tobit regression; Urban public transport
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Description Increasing traffic congestion and growing interest in environmental issues make public transport the preferred mode in cities. National and local authorities should set operating conditions that enable efficient use of public financial resources. This paper aims at identifying conditions important for efficient urban public transport. We compared urban public transport systems in two countries with similar starting situations due to their unified transport policy until 1993. First, we conducted a two-stage efficiency analysis based on separate calculations of production frontiers using data envelopment analysis and subsequent tobit regression to identify the impact of contextual variables. For more robust results, we also used stochastic frontier analysis and a bias-corrected bootstrap method to calculate efficiency and its factors in a single step. Higher fares, subsidies, and network density tended towards lower efficiency. In contrast, higher average investment, the existence of a tram system, and the proportion of drivers within total employment increased efficiency. We expected a positive impact from existing integration systems but did not find a significant impact on efficiency. The results are quite robust for all methods applied. Non-parametric tests further revealed that the countries differed in all characteristics except for network density and the proportion of subsidies within costs.
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