Analyzing Travel Costs to Basic Public Service Hubs Considering Cross-Border Cooperation

Abstract

The Japanese Government recently announced a new strategy for the creation of "self-reliant regions" based on aggregation of services and networking between regional cities and surrounding municipalities. This study analyzes the impacts of such scenarios based on the cost savings by residents. It is shown that integration of public facilities into service hubs can lead to substantial reduction in overall travel costs and that this can be enhanced through cross-border cooperation. It is expected that the information gained will provide local governments reference points as they deliberate on how best to proceed in forming local and regional alliances.