There is a similar break in price trends. Between 1991 and 1996, prices increased by 5.1 per cent a year. After 1996, price increases slowed to less than 1.8 per cent a year. Overall, between 1991 and 1998, transit prices increased on average by 4.2 per cent a year, or 3.6 per cent a year in real terms. Cost Structure Labour costs, accounting for as much as 54 per cent, represent the largest component of total transit costs in 1998.
Transit systems are thus the most labour-intensive industry of the transport sector.
All other transport sectors have an average 38 per cent labour cost share. Urban transit is the second most capital intensive industry in the transport sector after rail freight. Capital costs account for more than one quarter of the total costs in 1998. In the early 1990s, up to 1996, the total factor productivity of transit systems declined by 1.1 per cent a year. In recent years, however, overall productivity has risen by 1.8 per cent a year.