Practical aspects of theoretical transport economics

A good theory is not bad, and these relationships certainly exist. However, it is interesting that they are sometimes difficult to observe in our reality. The dynamic development of road transport, serving various types of routes (including long distances) and various types of cargo (including bulk), does not seem to confirm the advantage of rail transport in the case of large-scale transport service production. Quite often, as a solution to the problem of the slow pace of development of road-rail intermodal transport, support from the state for these types of transport is proposed on the one hand, and on the other –

imposing increasing burdens and difficulties on heavy road transport so that, if not to limit its share, then at least to reduce the pace of its development. At this point, I must clarify something. I am not a supporter of road transport, neither in passenger nor freight transport. I prefer rail for longer distances and bicycles for shorter ones. I am tired of the sight (not to mention other senses) of high-tonnage trucks driving through the center of my city. However, one must face the facts: road transport is more efficient than rail, which everyone must agree with, even its opponents. Why? I will try to explain this in the further parts of this article.

Let us imagine the following company: Mr. Adam Mickiewicz provides transport services using a typical set –

a tractor with a semi-trailer (tarpaulin) with a total length of 13.6 m (33 pallets), used because he cannot afford a new one. The tractor meets the emission standard –

EURO 0. The costs he incurs in connection with running his business, assuming he travels 450 km per day (103,500 km per year) in 230 working days during the year, are (tab.):

450 km (225 km one way + return loaded or empty) is actually, taking into account working time limitations, the limit distance that can be traveled in a given day at an average speed of 50 km/h. Using this data, let us check the profitability of this business. Determining the level of efficiency at a given level of transport work is not a simple matter. An interesting and typically transport-related problem is the choice of the toll for driving on national roads (vignette). This choice depends, of course, on the frequency of using these roads. It is therefore debatable whether the vignette should be classified as a fixed or variable cost. In the calculations below, it is assumed to be fixed. However, besides classifying it into a specific category, there is another problem. Assuming that Mr. Adam is lucky enough to have some order every day, it pays for him to buy an annual vignette. He would therefore have to possess one of these three things: guaranteed orders, a phenomenal ability to predict the future, or a propensity for risk. Taking into account the way any business functions in Poland and our national aversion to working together, which results in a high degree of temporariness in business cooperation, finding a partner who will provide us with constant orders for a long time is very difficult, and therefore buying an annual vignette is quite risky.

Before we move on to more detailed analyses, I would like to draw attention to the cost structure (tab. next to it): So far everything is correct –

the share of fixed costs is small and changes significantly depending on the amount of transport work performed. One can conclude from this that in the case of road transport, the scale effect does not play a significant role, and therefore the pressure to perform a large amount of transport work is not very strong. At least compared to “mass” modes of transport. In the further part of the article, we will verify the truth of this statement.