Financing Transit Usage with Podcars in 59 Swedish Cities

The main question that will be addressed and answered by this paper is how a doubled transit ridership by podcars could be financed? This paper summarizes a Swedish research project financed by the Swedish Institute for Transport and Communications Analysis (SIKA). It deals with several analytical comparisons between bus, LRT and podcars, based on a city data base with 59 Swedish cities, and four more in-depth case studies, the cities of Kiruna, Södertälje, Linköping and the Commercial Area of Kungens Kurva in Stockholm and Huddinge cities. The comparisons comprise the following aspects: 1. Generalized travel times for the bus and the podcar modes for 59 cities 2. Market shares and total transit ridership with bus and podcars for 59 cities 3. Financial costs (investment, operational & maintenance costs) and ticket revenues with bus and podcars for 59 cities 4. Various financial solutions will be discussed. Calculations for the case study cities for podcars will be presented with the (Public Private Partnership) solution. The analyses show that it would be possible to double the transit ridership in cities with bus or LRT traffic when shifting to podcars. The cost per trip is showed to be lower by podcar than with LRT and — in some cases — than with bus.