Youjin+Kwon+extra

= Topic: KIS Bus Transportation and Elasticity of it Costs =



One of things I found expensive in KIS besides tuition is bus transportation.

The reason I chose this subject and how it connects to economics was because I know some people who would not be taking the bus next year due to higher cost in 2009~2010 school year and I, too had long consideration of whether or not I should take the bus.

So, what percentage of KIS students actually take the bus transportation?



Some of reasons why people don't like/ don't take the school bus

Let's hear an interview with some of the KIS people why they don't like/ don't ride the school bus

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Others > Why don't the school bus stop in front of my house?"
 * "I do after school activities, but they do not offer one-way payments"
 * "Also, after school activities bus do not drop me by my home"
 * "It's just too expensive"
 * "The bus is way too crowded and noisy"
 * "I have to drive 20 minutes in the morning to get to the school bus stop.



Definition of elasticity is a measure of the responsiveness of quantity demanded or quantity supplied to one of its determinants

One of its determinants would be the price of bus transportation. Bus price is KRW 2,000,000, which means that we pay about KRW 200,000 per month. Wow...

If you are one of those people who play sports and NHS or other clubs for most of the year then it means that half of what you pay is wasted.

so some people's incentive to take bus is altered when price increases.

so, people choose not to take the bus. For those people benefits of not paying for the school bus exceeds the benefits of riding the bus. They probably have elastic demand for riding the school bus.

However, some of us //still// **//have// //to//** take the bus.

Because some of us live really far away from school and it would cost equal or more to pay for private transportation.

Also, if we take the public transportation like the red bus that stops in front of school, we would still have to walk up that DEADLY HILL to school... personally, I can't take that every morning.

Hence, I have very inelastic demand for bus transportation. Taking the bus to school is a necessity rather than a luxury for me

There are many people who live in Seoul even though the school is in Bundang in KIS For those people, elasticity of demand for school bus transportation is more inelastic than people who live in Bundang.

School probably knows that... THAT'S WHY THEY ARE RAISING THE PRICE....

It's similar to tax. People are taxed on necessities rather than luxury. If government tax people on inelastic goods, tax revenue would rise and deadweight loss would be small.

It's all part of economics and part of marketing.

Our life revolves around economics. That's why we gotta learn it even though it is pretty painful.

Works Cited http://www.schools.pinellas.k12.fl.us/gallery/variety/schoolbus2.gif http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Elasticity-inelastic.png/180px-Elasticity-inelastic.png