University of California Transportation Center

Urban transit has traditionally been conceived and governed within a paradigm of regulation and government ownership. This study explains how the alternative paradigm of property rights, which works so well in other sectors of the economy, can apply to urban transit. The key to a property rights framework is defining the building-block properties of the system. The study explains why the essential properties for the case of fixed-route urban transit are curbspaces, or bus stops, at which a scheduled service can secure for itself the passenger congregations generated by its investments. The study proposes a system of curb fights, including exclusive curb zones leased by auction and owned like property, and common curb zones where freewheeling jitney services can pick-up passengers. The study also offers property-rights interpretations of diverse transit experiences, and proposes privatization and deregulation for all forms of transit.