Estimation of demand for and supply of transport in rural Tasmania

Rural public transport services cater to specific markets such as commuting and shopping trips, visiting friends and relatives, touring and so forth. Rural transportation generally provides services to people in rural areas as opposed to urban transportation systems that are primarily designed to shuttle people to and from work. Creating and running a rural transportation system can be a fairly simple operation but could be unprofitable. The needs of rural transportation research are many, and this study can make a significant contribution to all parties involved in the operation of rural transportation in Tasmania. The primary aim of this study is to estimate demand and supply functions for rural transportation in Tasmania. The secondary aim will be to compare the estimated elasticities with work already done in a similar field. Typical results of this study would include items such as (a) sensitivity of revenue to changes in fares, in-vehicle time, frequency and number of cars per household, (b) the sensitivity of frequency of service to changes in revenue, fare, cost per kilometre and size of the bus. No demand model or other methods of quantified demand predictions for small scale rural transportation system existed in Tasmania before this study. This study therefore aims at helping in understanding the patters of demand and supply of transport in Tasmania.