{"id":1224,"date":"2021-06-29T17:34:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T15:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.systra.com\/australia\/expert_insights\/tarification-3-how-to-manage-peaks-and-falls-in-transport-demand\/"},"modified":"2023-03-28T05:09:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T03:09:13","slug":"tarification-3-how-to-manage-peaks-and-falls-in-transport-demand","status":"publish","type":"expert_insights","link":"https:\/\/www.systra.com\/australia\/expert_insights\/tarification-3-how-to-manage-peaks-and-falls-in-transport-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarification #3: How to manage peaks and falls\u202fin transport demand?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our series of 5 articles on pricing continues with the analysis of Sabina KAUARK, Civil Engineer at SYSTRA Brazil, in collaboration with Joana NICOLINI, Luiza MACIEL and Em\u00edlia GUERRA . This week they analyze how to manage peaks and falls in public transport demand, based on their experience in Latin America.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mobility as a Service, referred to as Maas, cannot be developed without addressing the issue of transport pricing, or mobility in general. This is not a new issue, but it is even more pertinent in the context of the health crisis, with operators hard hit, user behaviour becoming both more demanding and unpredictable, and mobility less routine. So what fare policy should be adopted? How can profitability and efficiency, flexibility and sustainability be reconciled? Can a pricing policy be a lever for managing crowds in transport networks? Can pricing have an impact on urbanisation and the shape of the city?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We asked our experts these questions. From Australia to Brazil, via Asia, the UK and France, our international network of consultants worked together to answer them. For a month, we shed light on the subject, informed by local experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peak\u202fDemand and challenges for service supply\u202f<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Dealing with variations in demand is challenging, especially when we consider that the main purposes of\u202fjourneys\u202fare work and study.\u202fIt is known that\u202fjourneys\u202ftend to be concentrated at peak periods<\/strong>, which are usually in the early morning and late afternoon, varying according to local aspects and the profile of residents.\u202fThe high concentration of demand for transport at peak hours generates congestion and overloads the transport systems and infrastructure.\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, although there is a large portion of passengers that travel during a\u202fspecific\u202fshort range of time, public transport systems should be able to run all day long, providing travel possibilities to all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the key challenge lies in matching the supply of transport to the demand of the system, providing as many\u202fjourneys as needed at different times of the day, but not so many that the system becomes idle and costly, and not so few that passengers must squeeze themselves into a vehicle or wait for many hours for the next vehicle.\u202f<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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How can tariff policy instruments and Transport Demand Management contribute to smoothing peak demand?\u202f\u202f<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In this context,\u202ffare policy instruments can be used to improve the operational, economic-environmental, and social efficiency of public transport services<\/strong>.\u202fPrice discrimination\u202faims to promote migration of part of the peak demand to less demanded times, as well as from individual to collective transport mode.\u202fThis\u202fis driven by the technological evolution of charging systems, such as electronic ticketing, on-demand applications, and other ITS traffic control\u202fsystems.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time-based pricing\u202fis\u202fa kind of price discrimination\u202fbased on demand-price elasticity,\u202fin which the tariff\u202fcan\u202fvary\u202faccording to the\u202fstart\u202fof the\u202fjourneys, reason, income, and age of the user.<\/strong>\u202fUsers with more rigid work schedules are not affected by this measure, unless there are additional strategies such as staggered work hours, flexible work hours, compressed work weeks, or even home office, to be\u202fimplemented\u202fin a coordinated manner with employers.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Price discrimination\u202finstruments\u202flike time-based pricing are related\u202fto\u202fthe\u202fTransport Demand Management (TDM) strategies to influence\u202fbehaviour\u202fchange<\/strong>.\u202fTDM measures\u202fin Latin American Cities were previously\u202fstudied by SYSTRA and published\u202fby\u202fAFD, CAF, and the European Union in a\u202freport entitled\u202fMedidas\u202fde gestion de la\u202fdemanda\u202fde\u202ftransporte\u202fen\u202fciudades\u202fde Am\u00e9rica Latina<\/a>.\u202fAs it is resource intensive to expand public transport capacity to meet increases in travel demand, cities are turning\u202fthese measures to help spread peak hour travel demand and reduce overcrowding [1] .\u202fThis is the case in some South American cities such as Santiago, in Chile, and Fortaleza, in Brazil:\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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