In Greater Manchester's deregulated bus system the private bus companies set the routes, frequencies, timetables, fares and quality standards for services.
Under a franchised system the mayor can decide the routes, frequencies, timetables, fares and quality standards for bus services in the city-region.
These "open-skies" agreements allow any American airline and any European country's designated flag-carrier to fly freely across the Atlantic, with no government interference on routes, frequencies or fares.
However, many studies on HSR have also highlighted the importance of providing services (timetables, frequencies, and fares).
A social welfare maximization model that simultaneously determines the optimal cordon toll location, toll level, bus service frequency and fare on each radial major road is then proposed.
We show that (i) an off-board fare payment system is the most cost effective in the majority of circumstances; (ii) bus congestion results in decreased frequency while fare and bus capacity increase, and (iii) the optimal running speed grows with the logarithm of demand.
A number of sources of systematic variation are identified which have a statistically significant impact on BRT patronage in terms of daily passenger numbers such as fare, frequency, connectivity, pre-board fare collection, and location of with-flow bus lanes and doorways of a bus.
Optimisation variables are bus fare, congestion toll, bus frequency, bus size, fare collection system, bus boarding policy and the number of seats inside buses.
The windfall profits that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will enjoy from higher landing fees can be invested in rail systems to achieve the long-awaited one-seat ride from Manhattan to Kennedy International Airport, where far more runway capacity is available, and to increase frequency and cut fares on Amtrak's new high-speed Boston-Washington express.
This network is currently characterised by sparse demand, with long sector distances, low frequencies and high fares.
