臺中市高潛力公車關鍵政策變遷分析

KEY CHANGES OF HIGH-POTENTIAL BUS POLICY IN TAICHUNG CITY

成功的制度或是政策的改革並不容易，因其過程充滿困難與不確定性。因此，本文主要目的即是分析臺中市高潛力公車整體計畫成功的關鍵策略與因素，並作為其他面臨相同困境縣市之參考。本文採用新制度經濟學之觀點，分析與解讀臺中市公車改革政策的整體脈絡，以了解其關鍵成功因素的前因後果。研究發現原有臺中市公車市場的制度設計，演化成一個業者依靠補貼、缺乏競爭的惡性循環。臺中市政府透過開放營運路線、調整票價與建置電子票證與相關促銷方案等策略，突破原有制度均衡，並成功導引至新的制度框架。而其政策改革實施過程是一個漸進調整模式，政策走向是在相關利害關係人中，不斷的妥協與溝通，找尋可能的邊際政策改進空間而前進。因此，政府部門可利用其公權力引發制度改變，引導市場結構重新演化，進而取得一個新的制度均衡。此研究結果不但可作為臺灣各地區未來提升大眾運輸系統之依據，亦可提供政府與學界擬定相關公共政策實施策略之參考。

Successful institution or policy change is always hard to achieve because of many unexpected difficulties and uncertainties in the process of reform. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the crucial strategies and policies for successful institutional reform of a high-potential bus program in Taichung City. It discussed the cases and effects in terms of the new institutional economics. The results show that the original institution design of Taichung bus market had path dependence and were locked in the vicious cycle. However, the Taichung municipal government made market opening, fare adjustment, electric payment, and authoritative promotion efforts. They initiated the institutional change and completely turned it into a new market-oriented framework of the institution; it developed an outstanding outcome. The institutional changing process is a gradual development and it involved numerous interactions and was compromised of associated groups and interested parties. Any policy progress was not straightforwardly programmed by the government but was made from limited consensus from these interested groups. The results suggest that the government could be the pioneer of initiating a new institutional environment and conduct a new direction of institutional evolution. The case of the Taichung high-potential bus program provides a good reference for other cities in Taiwan where they plan to upgrade their transit system or to reform their transportation policy.