In Tokyo metropolitan area, the number of employee at CBD is expected to increase rapidly due to the redevelopment associated with the deregulations of floor-space ratio. The mismatch between the concentration of the railway passengers and the railway station facility capacity will cause the serious problem such as congestion, safety, delaying etc. The purpose of the study is to clarify the allowable capacity of station facilities such as platform, stairs, escalators, passage and ticket gate in order to suggest effective measures to improve railway stations. In conclusion, this study makes clear that there are several stations which need to improve based on the allowable capacity of the facilities.

This paper empirically examined inter-firm rivalry between U.S. LCCs and FSCs by using domestic cross-sectional data of 1998. The fashion of competition was measured by computing conjectural variation of each carrier. Our results are that (1) the competition was close to Cournot fashion, regardless of carriers’ market shares or characteristics, (2) carriers behaved more optimistically when LCCs entered remote airports than when they entered primary airports, and (3) FSCs sensitively responded to LCCs’ outputadjusting behaviors when LCCs operated nearby. Our policy implication is that direct competitions between LCCs and FSCs will more improve market welfare than indirect competitions.

As one of the key policy issues for the improvement of urban railways, it has been realized in recent years that “qualitative development (improvement of convenience)” should also be focused on in addition to “quantitative development (increase of transport capacity)”. This study focuses on the utilization of the subsidy scheme law “Act on Enhancement of Convenience of Urban Railways, etc.” in order to address these policy issues. This study conducted interviews with the stakeholders of currently being implemented projects under this law (local governments, railway infrastructure holders, and railway operators). Considering diverse opinions about desirable or undesirable aspects of the law as pointed out during the interviews, problems for the utilization of the law by each stakeholder’s point of view are listed, and the measures to solve these problems are suggested.

The infrastructure fee of New Shinkansen lines charged to JR companies is revenue for constructing new routes. However, since the fund is used for a long time in order to cover construction costs of about 3 trillion yen, the construction of new routes has to be delayed and there is growing criticism of this mechanism. Moreover, it is feared that the adjustment amount from freight may increases. This paper analyzes the circumstances where freight adjustment amount could be an option to generate funds to maintain parallel conventional railway lines. This paper also proposes new sources of funding, such as extension of the period of the infrastructure fee, practical use of the financial margin of Japan Railway Construction Agency and sale of the Shinkansen infrastructure after the end of a lease period.

The objective of this study is to estimate non-market goods benefit (such as enhancement of safety and passenger comfort) of railway station improvement project using Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Questionnaire survey of railway users to understand their perceptions and willingness to pay (WTP) for improvement project was conducted at three stations in Tokyo metropolitan area. The results of this study show that railway users recognize the various effects and their WTP is between 6.88yen and 8.13yen per one way trip, breakdown for enhancement of safety and comfort are between 35% and 56% of the total. Total non-market goods benefits for 30-year is estimated between 168 million yen and 365 million yen.