Unconventional funding of urban public transport

In the past decade public authorities have developed a wealth of creative funding mechanisms to support transit systems. This paper offers a taxonomy of various unconventional funding mechanisms (i.e. outside the domain of charges for transit passengers or general taxation schemes), based on a review of financial arrangements for public transport. The paper identifies which classes of funding are particularly successful for the financing of transit systems. This cross-sectional analysis uses a type of artificial intelligence method, viz. rough set analysis. It appears that the nature of the funding scheme and the degree of public acceptability are mainly responsible for the success of unconventional funding mechanisms. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.