This study was prompted by the proposal to merge a number of municipal transport undertakings into Passenger transport Authorities. The authors analyse figures showing various working expenses per bus-mile, and find no evidence of scale economies. They point out, however, that the P.T.A.s will be larger than any undertaking in their sample, and that a different conclusion might conceivably be reached if data were available on costs per passenger-mile. Extension of one-man operation appears to offer greater scope for economies than amalgamation.
N. Lee I. Steedman (Thu,) studied this question.