Busing Pricing Strategies!!! :)
Commuting to UBC 5 days a week by bus, I started noticing the degree of price discrimination in bus fairs. Seniors, adults, kids and babies all had different fares and under these categories, we have student flex-pass deals, monthly and yearly passes at discount, etc. All of this got me thinking… does Translink have a profit maximizing strategy?
Information About Fares!
Translink is government owned, which means that its main goal shouldn’t be profit maximization but Cost recovery and Market Incentives strategy. In other words, even though its government owned, it still uses pricing to help achieve its goals!!!
Cost Recovery- Translink chooses prices strategically to cover costs! (Increase prices)
Market incentives- Attract as many riders as possible (decrease prices)
Both of these strategies work together to find a balance where the customers are satisfied with fair fares and translink can pay their employees enough to keep them happy.
But what about us! the taxpayers!
Would Translink be better off if it was privately owned? More competition? Higher priced passes? Nobody really knows if ultimately the privatization of Translink will benefit the consumer but one thing is for sure, improvement in service would be a given.
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