Development of tender prices for local public transport bus services
Analysis of tender prices and influencing factors based on data provided by the major German public transport agencies RMV, MVV and HVV
published in: Internationales Verkehrswesen 9/2008
Since 1996, the German public transport associations (“Verkehrsverbünde”) RMV, MVV and HVV have been tendering bus routes. The study shows that the price level has been stable for the last ten years and the degree of competition has been high. The price dispersion tends to decline with an increasing scope of services of the route bundles. Starting from a lot size of one million vehicle-kilometre, prices range between 1,59 Euro and 1,85 Euro. In accordance to secure the level of franchise payments from a PTA’s point of view, it is recommended to keep down market entry barriers and to design the terms of tender calculable to prevent misallocations for the participating companies.
Link to the journal "Internationales Verkehrswesen"