Explanatory Factors for Public Transportation Financing Needs in Spain

Abstract

Public transport financing in Spain has generated interest due to the absence of a governing regulatory framework. There is a need for rules that help allocate public subsidies to guarantee the system’s financial sustainability. Without explicit regulation, the current system for assigning and distributing public funding among Spanish cities has become unbalanced. Our goal is to identify the principal factors that explain why urban transport services in different cities require varying levels of public financing. Our results show that variables such as the “passengers,” “number of vehicles,” “number of employees,” “autonomous community deficit”, and “population density” are influencing factors for the needs of public subsidies.