Price versus commitment : managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment

Thommen, Christoph; Hintermann, Beat

doi:10.5451/unibas-ep89789

Publication type:	Working paper – expertise – study
Title:	Price versus commitment : managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment
Authors:	Thommen, Christoph Hintermann, Beat
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.5451/unibas-ep89789
Extent:	42
Issue Date:	2022
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Universität Basel
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Basel
Language:	English
Subjects:	Field experiment; Public transport system; Train; Dynamic pricing
Subject (DDC):	380: Transportation
Abstract:	Using data from a field experiment, we provide estimates for the own-price elasticity of train travel in Switzerland. Our estimates are based on exogenous changes to the level of discounts for long-distance trains and thus avoid the usual endogeneity problem between demand-dependent discounts. Besides the price, we also vary the length of the pre-sale period during the experiment, which allows us to recover the relative effectiveness of pricing and timing measures. We compute own-price elasticities of around -0.7. Extending the pre-sale deadline by one hour leads to an increase in the pre-sale of discount tickets by 2.1%, which is equivalent to a price decrease by 3.1%. Reducing the price by 10% causes customers to purchase the discount ticket 7 hours earlier. Our results help design measures for peak-shifting in transport at least societal cost.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/28255
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	School of Management and Law
Organisational Unit:	Winterthur Institute of Health Economics (WIG)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen School of Management and Law

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Thommen, C., & Hintermann, B. (2022). Price versus commitment : managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment. Universität Basel. https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep89789

Thommen, C. and Hintermann, B. (2022) Price versus commitment : managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment. Basel: Universität Basel. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep89789.

C. Thommen and B. Hintermann, “Price versus commitment : managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment,” Universität Basel, Basel, 2022. doi: 10.5451/unibas-ep89789.

THOMMEN, Christoph und Beat HINTERMANN, 2022. Price versus commitment : managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment. Basel: Universität Basel

Thommen, Christoph, and Beat Hintermann. 2022. “Price versus Commitment : Managing the Demand for Off-Peak Train Tickets in a Field Experiment.” Basel: Universität Basel. https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep89789.

Thommen, Christoph, and Beat Hintermann. Price versus Commitment : Managing the Demand for Off-Peak Train Tickets in a Field Experiment. Universität Basel, 2022, https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep89789.