Operating Costs for Trucks
26 Pages Posted: 9 Jan 2011 Last revised: 20 Jan 2011
Date Written: 2005
Abstract
This study estimates the operating costs for commercial vehicle operators in Minnesota. A survey of firms that undertake commercial truck road movements was performed. The average operating cost per kilometer for commercial vehicle operators was calculated from the survey responses. Results show that the translog and Cobb-Douglas models have approximately equal explanatory power in estimating the total cost from the data. The models also revealed the presence of nearly constant returns to scale, a finding consistent with earlier studies; an increase in output (total truckloads) of 1% increases total costs by 1.04%.
Keywords: operating cost, commercial vehicle operators, Cobb-Douglas, transportation, trucking
JEL Classification: R40, L92
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation