Modelling Quality Bus Partnerships

Quality Bus Partnerships (QBPs) have been defined as "an agreement (either formal or informal) between one or more local authorities and one or more bus operators for measures to be taken up by more than one party to enhance bus services in a defined area". They arise from the fact that, as a result of deregulation in 1986, no single organization has control over all of the factors that govern the quality of supply of bus services in Britain, outside London. Partnerships between the relevant agents are therefore seen as a way to overcome this problem. Typically, QBPs involve the local authority providing traffic-management schemes that assist bus services, whilst the bus operator offers better quality in various dimensions. By definition, the introduction of a QBP will improve the quality of bus services provided. Other things equal, this is likely to increase the demand and revenue of operators participating in the scheme. Couple this with a change in costs associated with investing in quality and operator profitability will change. If profits are increased, a QBP may stimulate entry into the market in a deregulated environment, but if costs of participation are large and "free riding" is difficult, then firms may leave the QBP area and trade elsewhere. Given the potentially large number of impacts arising from the implementation of a QBP, This paper developed a computer-based simulation model to help evaluate alternative scenarios, and t is the purpose of this paper to describe the development of this model. In Section 2, the paper presents the background to modelling QBPs and provides a checklist of features that are essential, and those that are desirable, in a model of this kind. In Section 3, the findings of a review of public transport competition models are presented. This review is largely limited to experience of modelling competition in public transport in the UK. Drawing on past experience of work undertaken in this area and taking into consideration the practicalities of the task in hand, the overall model structure is set out in Section 4. A more detailed consideration of aspects of the model follows. In Section 5, the possible competitive dynamics that might occur are outlined and in Sections 6, the data inputs are reviewed. In Section 7, the application of the model to a "real life" case study is outlined and the conclusions are presented in Section 8.