ALLOCATING MARKET SHARES BETWEEN 'JITNEY' AND FORMAL URBAN TRANSPORTATION (PARATRANSIT, DEREGULATION)

Ever since the introduction of private cars in the urban transportation scene, informal alternatives to transit services have been made available to the travelling public on an erratic and frequently unpredictable basis. More recently, impromptu operations have become widespread in many areas of the world, irrespective of institutional and economic backgrounds. This pervasiveness can be tracked down to a number of factors, of which a most important one is transit's inability to cater to the varied requirements of demand and its oscillating profile.;In view of the above, this dissertation suggests a procedure to identify urban transportation contexts likely to profit from the adoption of "jitney" services. In addition, several scenarios are tested to determine optimal application ranges of transportation alternatives operating under different regulatory and operating regimens. It also explores the measures that are deemed necessary to achieve stated goals, and evaluates the impacts commonly associated with the implementation of the "jitney" concept.;The procedure suggested here, will certainly contribute to enhance urban mobility, whenever the warranting conditions identified in the study prevail. The practical result of such achievement is the expansion of the population's social and economic opportunities and/or the reduction of transportation-related expenditures, both at personal and governmental levels. It will finally concur to reduce the waste that so frequently characterizes the consumption of resources in the urban transportation scene.;The institutional response to such state-of-affairs has been thoroughly inadequate largely because, (i) legislation often fails to acknowledge transportation alternatives other than transit, (ii) unsupported or inaccurate beliefs about the impacts of informal public transportation have generally stained their reputation, and, (iii) of the steadfast refusal of public and private operators alike (reinforced by labor union's protectionism), to consider cooperative forms of providing a differentiated array of transportation alternatives.