Urban public transport services generally run at a large deficit. This has led public authorities to seek efficiencies, notably through private sector involvement. Support for the sector traditionally seeks to provide basic mobility services to all segments of society, including low-income users. Intervention is also required to manage the natural tendency towards concentration and market power in the provision of these transport services. Policy towards urban public transport is increasingly aimed at managing congestion on the roads and mitigating CO2 emissions by substituting for travel by car.
Achieving coherent transport networks that are efficient and financially sustainable is a challenge for any public authority. This Round Table examines experience in integrating private management and capital with public transport policy objectives in a number of developed economies. For network operators, the Round Table concludes that innovation is the key to surviving the rapidly changing policy and regulatory environment.
Table of contents:
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS INTRODUCTORY REPORTS The Political Economy of Urban Transit by Rainald Borck, Germany 1. Introduction 2. Normative Theory of Regulation 3. Political Economy of Public Transport: General Models 4. Urban Models: Background 5. Transport Subsidies 6. System Choice 7. Combining Subsidies and System Choice 8. Conclusions: Political Economy of Urban Transit Reform Contracting for Public Transit Services in the US: Evaluating the Tradeoffs by Martin Wachs, Karen Trappenberg Frick and Brian Taylor, USA 1. Introduction 2. Transit History in Brief: An Evolving Tale of Public and Private Services 3. What Motivates Transit Service Contracting Today? 4. Understanding the Goals of and Motivations for Contracting 5. Reasons for Contracting in Practice and its Effects 6. Guidelines for Transit Service Contracting 7. Recommendations Privatisation, Regulation and Competition: A Thirty-year Retrospective on Transit Efficiency by Matthew G. Karlaftis, Greece 1. Introduction 2. Privatising Transit 3. Organisational Regimes in Transit 4. Transit Performance 5. Transit Privatisation in Practice 6. Implications of Transit Privatisation 7. Conclusions Towards a Reform of Urban Transit Systems: Topics for Action by Rosario Macario, Portugal 1. Introduction 2. Policy and Management Problems: Historical Background 3. The Complex Structure of Urban Mobility Systems 4. Understanding Systemic Interactions 5. Conclusions LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
