Prices and Price Elasticities in the Transport Sector

No statistical records are kept in Austria of typical prices for transport services such as they are formed in the short term due to supply-demand relationships. Long-term price developments, on the other hand, can be identified from average yields per unit of output. Innovations in transport technology, logistics and transhipment as well as improvements in the infrastructure produce substantial productivity gains in the transport sector. In the highly competitive road transport segment they made for nominal price reductions which forced the railway to respond in its goods transport rates. Deregulation in air transport cut down on monopoly rents, strengthened efforts to generate productivity gains more quickly and made freight and passenger transport by air cheaper. It was only the toll introduced to high-priority roads and an increase in petrol prices, combined with soaring demand, in 2005-2007 that caused road haulage prices to go up slightly. Air transport rates also shot up, driven by higher fuel prices. Rates for public passenger land transport, on the other hand, determined chiefly by transport policy considerations, failed to respond in any significant manner to cost increases in motorised individual transport.