THE GEOGRAPHY OF TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
Vehicle Operation Costs
All vehicle j costs consist of fixed expenses bi (mobilization, handling at terminals, insurance etc.) and variable ai ones (fuel, wages, maintenance, amortization etc.), growing with the distance d. Thus, j type vehicle operation costs could be expressed as Ci = ai d +bi. In this example we assume the values as shown on the table below. All distance and monetary units are arbitral, but they reflect the main differences between each transport mode.
| ai | bi |
| 2 | 100 |
| 50 | 25,000 |
| 250 | 500,000 |
| 750 | 8,00,000 |