PROGRAM FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH ON URBAN TRANSPORT

The basic philosophy of the research program on urban transport, started at the Swedish National Institute for Road and Traffic Research, is presented. A scheme of analysis is outlined by which an inventory is made of urban transport problems, in particular, need of economic research. The analysis focuses on three different for transport services: the market for public transport services, the market for parking space, and the market for road space for motor traffic. Problems exist to the extent that the marginal conditions for optimisation in these markets are unfulfilled. The discussion of these markets calls attention to a number of indications that large discrepancies exist between the optimum and the present situation in each of the three markets. Projects in progress and planned projects are presented under the program subtitles of (1) optimal price and production policy for urban public transport companies, (2) towards economic efficiency in markets for parking space, and (3) social costs of urban traffic and the choice of means of traffic regulation. (TRRL)