Cost benefit analysis of public procurement of rail services

The report gives an overwiev of public procurement of rail services and other transport services in Norway. Public procurement of rail services is also compared to other countries. By simple models we calculate the optimal frequency for regional trains in Norway. The calculation shows that the actual frequency for most lines is quite close to optimal. We also calculate the social benefit of changes in frequency and ticket prices for public transport in the Oslo and Akershus region. A conclusion is that it seems difficult for NSB BA to compensate for a loss of public procurement by changing frequencies and prices.