Transport

Urban Transport

The provision of urban transport services raises a number of key economic challenges, including the management of limited capacity, improving the affordability and accessibility of public transport, obtaining value from money from infrastructure investment projects, congestion and travel reliability, and environmental impacts. NERA has extensive experience in addressing these issues, advising operators, government, and others in the areas of public transport organization and regulation, and road transport policy and pricing.
 
NERA advises across a wide range of urban transport issues including:

• Franchising and contracting. NERA is ideally placed to support governments, regulators, and regulated firms in relation to contracting and franchise design. We provide advice on franchising issues such as the overall structure of franchises, revenue risk-sharing, performance incentives and compensation, and franchise length.
• Profitability and support mechanisms. We advise franchising bodies and operators on the complex issues associated with measuring profitability and considering appropriate rates of return. We also design payment mechanisms that provide effective incentives and result in an efficient and sustainable allocation of key risks.
• Competition. NERA provides world-class economic expertise and professional support in all areas of competition work, including expert testimony and litigation support for transport operators during competition investigations.
• Road pricing.  We advise on the design, implementation, and monitoring of road pricing schemes. This covers both the principles of road pricing and detailed modeling of the likely impact of different schemes.
• Public policy and appraisal. NERA has extensive experience advising policymakers. We have an in-depth knowledge of appraisal techniques and have contributed significantly to the development of central government appraisal and evaluation guidelines. We have also advised on aspects of transport appraisal guidance, including preparation of a guide on the evaluation of major local transport projects.
• Modeling and forecasting. NERA is renowned for its expertise in the application of econometric and quantitative techniques to real-world problems. Our experts have designed complex economic models with user-friendly interfaces to allow analysis of issues such as bus service profitability and congestion charging policies.