A Comparative Analysis on Residents’ Paying Willingness for On-Road Public Transport Services Based on Option Price

Abstract

Population decline is a pressing issue facing Japan and other developed countries. Elderly’s daily travel demand should be meet in aging society. With more elderly people are willing to return their driving license, Japanese government is seeking solutions to ensure a durable transportation construct for elderly’s daily life. This paper discussed four on-road public transport services, and investigated the option price of these services. Option price is the willingness to pay of residents for maintaining the service. This study attempts to gain the insights on a reasonable level of subsidy from the government. A comparative analysis among age groups and different city size groups is made. The result shows that bus service has the highest and ride-sharing service has the lowest option price. In addition, elderly residents show a higher option price than younger and middle-age residents.