ABSTRACT
Taxi services are of considerable importance in connection with urban traffic planning. The principle of economic self-sufficiency may only be applied to urban transport enterprises to the extent to which they are offered an opportunity to economically operate their transport services. The demand for services of urban transport undertakings is comparatively elastic—at any rate wherever passengers are carried at normal fares—because it is comparatively easy for them to change over to individual means of transport or to refrain from using public transport. Within the framework of the overall urban economy remunerative management in many instances falls far short of optimization. The possibility has frequently been considered to levy a special tax on the increase in value of real estate in the urban areas produced by the existence of an efficient transport undertaking in order to cover the costs which are caused thereby. Urban transport is as much an essential public service as power supplies, police, or health services.
