Evolving long-distance passenger services. Market concentration, fares and specialisation patterns in Italy

Despite its importance, the analysis of long-distance transport dynamics and policies has not reached the same understanding of local transport services. One reason is the market-driven nature with respect to the planning-driven one, which makes the most important planning decisions taken internally to the firms. The aim of this paper is to discuss quantitatively the main characteristics of long-distance transport in a liberalised environment (Italy) in terms of market concentration levels, fares and product specialisation. We will consider rail, coach and carpooling services, which are not fully separate markets and interact in terms of supply, prices and groups of customers. The paper also discusses one of the main remaining regulatory issue, in Italy but also in other deregulated markets, which is the potential distortions due to the overlap of subsidised and planned Public Service Obligations with market services.