07-10-2018, 04:09 PM
Smaller vehicles are still less expensive to purchase, to refuel and to maintain; they could run some modern vans similar to what Airways Transit uses (Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit, RAM ProMaster) for much-reduced vehicle costs, but the driver costs would not vary much.
The simplest way to minimize the regulation would be a subsidy per passenger (or passenger-km) that declines as the number of passengers grows -- and that's predicated on some reasonable minimum level of service on the subsidized routes. If two companies choose to both run buses on the same route, they could do that, but they would end up sharing the passenger demand (and thus also sharing the subsidies). So define the eligible routes, set the minimum schedule (minimum 2 or 3 runs per day?), determine the subsidy for each route, and then open up the routes for private company traffic.
The simplest way to minimize the regulation would be a subsidy per passenger (or passenger-km) that declines as the number of passengers grows -- and that's predicated on some reasonable minimum level of service on the subsidized routes. If two companies choose to both run buses on the same route, they could do that, but they would end up sharing the passenger demand (and thus also sharing the subsidies). So define the eligible routes, set the minimum schedule (minimum 2 or 3 runs per day?), determine the subsidy for each route, and then open up the routes for private company traffic.