Increasing public transportation subsidies have created fiscal pressures for governments. To ease this financial pressure, Chinese government strongly encourages private capital investment in public transportation. However, previous private capital investments in public transportation operations have largely failed, mainly due to low ticket fares that cannot support sustainable operations. To address this issue, several previous research projects have developed methods to facilitate private capital investment. The majority of the research focuses on qualitative analysis and value for money analysis. Our research proposed a new method of private capital investment in public transportation operations based on the concept of “passenger value.” The feasibility of the proposed method of private investment was analyzed quantitatively by constructing a bilevel programming model. The model was verified based on a sample analysis of Jinan city traffic. Results showed that effective private capital investment increases the total societal benefit from the public transportation system and additionally that the investment method considering “passenger value” is superior to the traditional one. A quantitative tool was provided by the model to evaluate private capital investment effects, design investment policies, and develop further research.

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Abstract:Releaving traffic congestion by developing public transport as an alternative mode of travel is a common practice all over the world. However, the increasing public transport subsidies have created a financial burden for governments. Encouragingly, private capital supplies an opportunity for public transport in sustainable finance. Previous research mainly focuses on qualitative analysis and money-for-value (MFV) analysis. In this paper, a new investment model is proposed based on the concept 'passenger value', and a bi-level programming model (BLPM) is constructed as a quantitative analysis tool. The upper target of BLPM is the total surplus (including the value of time (VOT) of passengers) of the public transport system and the upper constraint is the ticket price. The lower target of BLPM is passenger's surplus, the lower constraints are service capability and the lowest return rate of the private sector. The public transport of Jinan City, China is taken as a case to quantify the impacts of private capital investment in public transport. Results show that the proposed investment model considering passenger value is superior to the traditional one, and effective private capital investment could increase the total societal benefit of the transportation system. The proposed investment strategy satisfies economic viability and is a financially sustainability strategy. Additionally, travelers should be encouraged to use public transport through improving the service quality and passenger returns. Only in this way can the success rate of the private sector investment in public transport be improved efficiently.

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Abstract:Introducing private capital into the public transport system for its sustainable development has been increasing around the world. However, previous research ignores emissions and energy consumption impacts, which are important for private capital investment policy-making. To address this problem, the system dynamic (SD) approach was used to quantitatively analyze the cumulative effects of different private capital investment models in public transport from the environmental perspective. The SD model validity was verified in the case study of Jinan public traffic. Simulation results show that the fuel consumption and emission reductions are obvious when the private capital considering passenger value invests in public transport compared with the no private capital investment and traditional investment models. There are obvious cumulative reductions for fuel consumption, CO 2 , CO, SO 2 , and PM10 emissions for 100 months compared with no private capital investment. This research verifies the superiority of the passenger value investment model in public transport from the environmental point of view, and supplies a theoretical tool for administrators to evaluate the private capital investment effects systematically.