Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe

Florent Laroche (1) , Ayana Lamatkhanova (1)

1 LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports

The paper explores the effect of competition on prices and frequencies for the Interurban rail market in Europe. Intramodal competition is assessed by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). Intermodal competition takes into account new types of service such as coach and carpooling services. The originality of the analysis stems from the method and database used. The results show that intra-modal competition has a significant impact on frequencies but not on economy class prices because of oligopolistic organizations (duopoly). In addition, the effects of intermodal competition are limited mainly because of considerable differences between services in terms of travel time, comfort and users' preferences.

Mots clés: Direct competition; Railway competition; Herfindhal-Hirschman index; Oligopolistic market; Regulation approach

Domaines: Economies et finances

Florent Laroche, Ayana Lamatkhanova. Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe. Research in Transportation Business and Management, 2021, 43, Paper No. - 100705. ⟨10.1016/j.rtbm.2021.100705⟩. ⟨halshs-02930864⟩