Public Transport Subsidies and Affordability in Mumbai, India

Cropper, Maureen ; Bhattacharya, Soma

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCIDENTS;    ACCOUNTING;    AIR;    ARTERIAL ROADS;    AVERAGE SPEED;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4395
RP-ID  :  WPS4395

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper describes the role of publictransport and the nature and incidence of transportsubsidies in Mumbai, India.Mumbai has an extensive railand bus network, and public transport is used for over 75percent of all motorized trips in Greater Mumbai.Both railand bus fares in Mumbai are subsidized:BEST, whichoperates public buses in Mumbai, is also an electricutility, and subsidizes bus fares from electricity revenues.We analyze the incidence of these subsidies, and theireffect on mode choice, using data from a survey ofhouseholds in Greater Mumbai.In Mumbai, as in many cities,the middle class is more likely to use public transport fortravel than the poor.The poor, however, also use publictransit, and their expenditure on public transitconstitutes, on average, a larger share of their income thanit does for the middle class.It is, therefore, the casethat the poor benefit from transit subsidies in Mumbai, aswell as the middle and upper-middle classes; however, thepoorest 27 percent of the population receives only 19percent of bus subsidies and 15.5 percent of rail subsidies.Indeed, 26 percent of the lowest income households surveyeddo not use rail, while 10 percent do not use bus, implyingthat they receive no transit subsidies. Expenditure ontransport accounts for 16 percent of income in the lowestincome category (<5000 Rs./month), with 10 percent ofincome, on average, spent on bus and rail fares. Thispercentage, however, is not evenly distributed: it is muchhigher than 10 percent for households in which workers takethe bus or train to work, and lower for households in whichthe main earner walks to work.Even in these households,however, 12.5 percent of income is spent on transportation.Expenditure on public transport would be even higher if busfares in Mumbai were not subsidized.In 2005-2006,transport revenues of BEST fell below total costs by 30percent and below operating costs by 20 percent. Rail fares,which are much lower than bus fares per km traveled,officially covered operating costs and almost covereddepreciation expenses.