Who pays for the benefits and externalities?
In the better endowed cities there has been a trend towards making public transport services less environmentally harmful and more accessible to disabled people. In Buenos Aires, for example, low-platform buses have been introduced with equipment enabling wheelchairs board and alight from them. Each route has had to incorporate at least one vehicle of this type. The authorities in Santiago, despite difficulties, have promoted the installation of automatic ticket machines on buses, so as to free the driver from having to emit tickets with corresponding benefits in tensions of traffic safety and the driver s own psychological well-being. However, technical innovations come at a cost: in Santiago an 11% fare hike has been authorized in return for introducing automatic ticket machines, which means that the benefits generated by their installation will be paid for by passengers themselves. The difficult regulatory role of the State. In many cities, such as Lima and Santiago, there are suspi
