The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Congestion and Road Pricing 89
using skip-stop service on both modes of transport? 63 Skip-stop
operation has its problems, too. It works by first assigning bus or
train stops as either A, B, or AB. Vehicles are then either assigned
an A route, a B route, or an express AB route. The A train, for
example, stops only at A or AB stops, skipping all intervening B
stations. Speed is increased, as fewer stops are made, but the
question is, does this advantage outweigh the inconvenience of a
person’s having to switch from the A line to the B line through
the intermediation of an AB stop—or having to go backwards if
the line is laid out as follows: A1, B1, AB1, A2, B2, AB2 . . . , and one
wants to travel from A1, to B1? (In this case, one would have to
proceed from A1, to AB1, and then back to B1.) The problems with increasing train length are: (1) it usually
entails a large capital investment in order to build up the train
station to a capacity sufficient to handle the larger sized train,
and (2) there will be a greater need for police manpower to cover
the extra cars, at least in the large urban centers where armed
robbery is a force to be reckoned with, even during the crowded,
rush-hour peaks.
Another solution to highway congestion proposes to aid
mass transit, not by speeding it up, but by enticing motorists out
of their cars. If enough people can be attracted into buses or
trains by quality improvements (more convenience, decor, luxury,
etc.) then, it is hoped, traffic tie-ups will be reduced. 64 But
this proposal has run into difficulties. As we have seen, automobiles
are very popular for a number of reasons, and it has always
63See Vukan Vuchic, “Skip-Stop Operation as a Method for Transit Speed
Increase,” Traffic Quarterly 27 (April 1973): 307; William Vickrey, “The Revision
of the Rapid Transit Fare Structure in the City of New York,” Technical
Monograph N3 (New York: Mayor’s Committee on Management Survey,
1952), concerning New York City; idem, “Improving New York’s Transit
Service—An Economist’s View,” City Almanac 8 (April 1974): 1–10; and
Olmsted, “Response to [William Vickrey’s] Improving New York’s Transit
Service.”
64Owen, The Accessible City, p. 24; and The Metropolitan Transportation
Problem, p. 122.