What are your options when you really, really want rail service even though local ridership can't pay for its upkeep?
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One is to pay extra to maintain the rail line even when you aren't using it--through local taxes, etc. In Japan this usually = 3rd Sector
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A 3rd Sector railroad being a partly-state-owned corporation which pays for its operations through a mix of fare revenue and gov spending
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Another way is to get non-locals, who may never ride the service, to pay for it. Either state owned + funded, or cross-subsidized...
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...within a sufficiently large private company (eg. JR East or JR West cross-subsidizing unprofitable rural lines in their network)
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The last way to do this, and the least reliable, is to develop a rail service that specifically caters to non-locals; a tourist service
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This is unreliable because tourists can be a fickle bunch with varying attendance rates, but the bigger problem with this option...
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...is that you end up with a rail service that isn't much use for the daily needs of the people who live around it. It's largely decorative.
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All of these options have their drawbacks, and none of them can guarantee that an unprofitable rail service will continue.
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Normally, you see ridership not covering *capital* costs and debt service. Even in US ridership funds operations
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Not consistently; how many systems can claim a +100% farebox recovery rate?
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Fares aren't the only sources of revenue
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When I say ridership covering operations I mean through fares
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