臺鐵座位票之旅客願付價格分析

PASSENGERS’WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR THE RESERVED SEAT OF TAIWAN RAILWAY

臺灣鐵路在城際及通勤運輸上皆扮演重要角色，但即便現行有座與無座之票價相同，66%持電子票證搭乘的旅客僅能無座搭乘。為提升電子票證的便利性及區隔座位服務定價，本文透過條件評估法調查旅客對一般車廂及商務車廂（EMU3000）對號座之願付價格，並考慮個體異質性的影響，應用潛在類別模式將旅客分群。結果顯示一般對號座願付價格為0.761元/公里，商務對號座則是1.835元/公里，而年齡及月收入為影響旅客支付意願之重要社經變數。此外，為便於實務上行銷策略擬定，本文還依旅客的旅次特性進行分群，發現一般對號座以短程—搭乘頻率低及同行人數少群的願付價格最高，商務對號座則是短程及同行人數少群最高，研究結果可供臺鐵推動站座分離時參考，設計符合旅客期望之行銷策略。

Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) does not differentiate between the ticket prices of two different services: non-reserved and reserved seats. Additionally, those who use e-tickets, approximately 66% of passengers, cannot currently purchase reserved seats. Considering these issues, this study aims to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for reserved economic- and business-class seats (on the EMU3000 train series) using contingent valuation surveys. Furthermore, to accommodate the potential heterogeneity of passengers’preferences, latent class analysis (LCA) is used to classify passengers into latent groups. Estimation results showed that the average WTPs for one reserved economic-class and business-class seat were NT$ 0.761/km and NT$ 1.835/km, respectively. However, the WTPs for different latent classes of passengers differed remarkably. For instance, in the model where class membership was a function of travel characteristics, passengers with higher travel frequency and larger accompanying groups had lower WTP, while long-distance travel class members had higher WTP. These results suggest that if the TRA decides to differentiate between prices of non-reserved and reserved seats, it may be necessary to provide a price discount for those who travel frequently and in groups.