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>> I am surprised that you would persist with
>> this. Your use of the Barton-Federal alternative as an
>> upper-bound is technically correct, but its a mighty
>> high upper bound. It would require that people drive an
>> extra 55-60 kilometres to travel a distance of 85
>> kilometres. Again you deliberately distort the focus to support
your conclusion. Most people who use the Hume between Goulburn and Yass are not travelling from Goulburn to Yass - they are passing through both of these places. The greater the distance between source and distination, the greater the choice, the greater the alternatives, and the greater the opportunity in creating other roads which satisfy motorists with different sources and destinations. In honesty, what do you think the monopoly value of the
Yass to Goulburn section of the Hume is? Do you agree that it is the difference between the normal-economic-profit amount and the point at which traffic diverts elsewhere? [Bear in mind that this is not a single point - it is a different point for all source-and-destination points.
Bear in mind too, that even a small 'leakage' creates extra
profit for alternate road owners - so setting up roads in competition is not a duplicate-or-don't choice.] In the long term, what do you think the effect of a private owner charging a monopoly fee would be?
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