Inter-modal competition in an urbanised area: Heavy rail and busways

This paper investigates inter-modal competition in an urbanised area by modelling passengers' travel patterns through revealed preference data - the smart card transaction records extracted from the automated fare collection system. In South East Queensland, Australia, public transport is provided by both busways and heavy rail. In some places these two modes run parallel so that they are effectively in competition with each other. The results indicate that busways are more competitive than heavy rail due to their more frequent service and higher accessibility to stations. A simulation analysis investigates policy in terms of inter-modal competition between these two modes. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd