Local Public Transport Research Articles

Preiselastizitäten der Nachfrage im ÖPNV unter spezieller Berücksichtigung ermäßigter Sozialtarife am Beispiel einer mittelgroßen Stadt

The aim of the study is to calculate the price elasticity of demand for several local public transport products of a mid-sized German city (Jena) to estimate the potential subsidy requirements of social tariff concessions. The results of the ten year time series AR-model estimation show an elasticity coefficient of − 0.63 for a single ticket which is slightly higher in absolute terms compared with past studies but can be explained with the geographical structure of the examined city. The price elasticity of social concession-tariffs is significantly higher. This means that the income effect will be outweighed by the effect of lower demand of welfare recipients for (relatively inelastic) intra-city commuting.

Passengers' valuations of universal design measures in public transport

The concept of Universal Design (UD) in local public transport planning refers to the requirements on facilities and vehicles in order to accommodate and increase the accessibility of as many passengers as possible. It is however often ignored that UD can provide benefits to not only special need groups but also to all passengers. UD measures can often be provided at relatively low costs. By enhancing public transport quality they can be justifiable based on a cost-benefit criterion. This article documents valuation of different UD measures, estimated based on a Stated Preference (SP) survey among public transport passengers in Norway. Our study suggests high valuations of UD measures among passengers. This potentially creates the case for setting priority on these measures when allocating funds for improving the quality of public transport based on a benefit-cost criterion.

The Quality of Public Services in Italy

This paper provides a survey of a number of studies conducted in recent years, above all at the Bank of Italy, aiming at assessing the quality and the efficiency of public services in Italy. We consider services provided by the central government (education and civil justice), regional governments (health) and municipalities (local public transportation, waste disposal, water and gas supply, and childcare). The analysis shows in general that Italy lags behind noticeably compared with other countries and there are large regional differences in terms of both quality and efficiency, regardless of the level of government providing the service. The lags seem to be attributable, depending on the case, to agents’ incentives, citizens’ behaviour and the regulation. Furthermore, the analysis emphasizes the need for more information to enhance our understanding of the problems and improve the effectiveness of action taken to counter them.

Efficiency analysis of Seoul’s urban bus agencies considering emissions

The Seoul Government reformed local public transport systems in 2004 to reduce vehicle emissions as well as get bus transit agencies to operate more efficiently and improve bus service levels. In this study, using the directional distance function, the efficiency of bus transit agencies was examined both with and without the consideration of emissions to show the importance of public transportation reforms. The analysis included 59 Seoul urban bus transit agencies in June 2005. The results showed that the number of efficient agencies and the efficiency score rankings differed depending on whether or not emissions were considered. Meanwhile, contracted bus agencies that operated on tendered routes were found to be more efficient than the remainder, regardless of the reduction in emissions.

Local Transportation Policy and the Environment

The paper introduces a simple framework for analyzing the environmental effects of local transportation policies, and it reviews some evidence. In several cases, subsidies for local public transportation have led to substantial reductions in road transportation and have thereby reduced externalities. Some but not all estimates suggest positive overall welfare effects of such policies. In the rare cases where road pricing has been applied, it has helped to reduce automobile transportation, and it has led to environmental improvements. The experience with specific driving restrictions like “days without cars” and “low emission zones” has been mixed. Local transportation policy can have a useful role to play as a complement to national policy instruments, but neither efficiency nor effectiveness can be taken for granted.

Beyond Participation: the Practical Application of an Empowerment Process to Bring about Environmental and Social Change

The ability to communicate empowers individuals, enabling them to share information, needs and experiences with others (Cockerill, 2002). For many, society’s general reliance upon verbal and written communication is taken for granted. However for the vulnerable minority, including people with learning disabilities (PWLD), this is a key issue. Physiological, psychological, environmental and social barriers make traditional methods of communication extremely frustrating or impossible, continuing their legacy of exclusion from decision-making society. Moreover, whilst the Habermas ideal of a society where “communication will no longer be distorted by the effects of power, self-interest or ignorance” (Tewdwr-Jones & Allmendinger, 1998 citing Norris, 1985, p. 149) propels the acceptance of communicative rationality in policy and practice (Healey, 1999), there is limited evidence regarding its practical employment to extend inclusion to underrepresented groups such as PWLD. In order to address this evident lack in employment of participatory processes that value difference, the Experiemic process was developed as part of a two year research program funded by the UK Leverhulme Trust. Through its employment, it is seen how we can facilitate more inclusive partnerships that have the capability to augment and challenge current consultation techniques. We illustrate this through a longitudinal qualitative fieldwork study into a United Kingdom (UK) city’s local public transport system. Here, the Experiemic process’s catalytic capability is revealed in its ability to empower and facilitate PWLD. As a consequence the learning disability participants evolve as key players in environmental decision-making, whilst partnerships developed across academia, the community, practice and policy result in positive environmental and social change.

Consumerss Satisfaction and Regulation of Local Public Transport: Evidence from European Cities

In the last three decades a wave of privatization and deregulation policies affected most European countries. This process involved many sectors, among which the provision of public transport. The research question addressed by this work is straightforward: is satisfaction correlated to the number of providers of local transport services? We use the results of a large survey conducted in 2009 in 33 European cities and analyse the probability of satisfaction with standard probit models. Results show that highest levels of satisfaction are correlated to the presence of one single provider, as opposed to an industry structure where more providers compete with one another or are not integrated.

THE ORGANIZING OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICEUNDER SERVICE CONTRACTS WITH PUBLIC PLANNING

Regulatory reform in public transport has become one of important issues in many countries, in order to improve efficiency and provide better services to users. Since regulatory reform will bring about institutional and structure changes of the organization, then it will imply the way of the public transport services regulated and managed. This paper highlights how public transport service is organized under service contracts system, as one of growing trends recently. That is to say a system of which the service delivery of public transport is conducted by business enterprise on specified target which is planned by authority, which works under contract agreement between them. The study focuses on the two cases namely both London’s and Seoul’s models. These will illustrate how they are put into practice in those cities. It could be significant as an alternative in undertaking local public transport reform efficiently.

Estimating Cost Savings of Coordinating Regional Non-Emergency Human Transport Services

Local public transportation agencies provide a nonemergency human transport service to nearby hospitals and doctors' offices. Some users require specialized medical services at a hospital located out of the normal service area. In the Piedmont/Triad region of North Carolina, the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) began PART Connections in April 2004, to provide two daily transportation services between the Piedmont/Triad area and the UNC/Duke medical areas. Using current operating cost data of participating transportation systems, round-trip costs to the UNC/Duke medical areas from each county and to the nearest PART Connections stop are estimated. Given the actual number of passengers served by PART Connections during the first nine-month period of the service, the net saving in the operating cost by participating PART Connections is estimated for each system. Then, the total service hours saved by using PART Connections are estimated for each system, and are used to estimate the number of additional passengers served within the system. It is estimated that PART Connections could provide a net saving of $38,000 on operation expenses annually to the participating four county transportation systems. More importantly, PART Connections would enable the four county systems to provide more than 10,000 additional passenger trips within each county annually, by using the saved resources. In addition, 12 local community transportation providers in 15 western counties of the Piedmont/Triad region, which currently do not participate in PART Connections, are estimated to save a modest $9,600 in total annually, by using PART Connections.

Socially acceptable annual holiday planning for the crew of a local public transport company in Germany

We consider the problem of socially acceptable annual holiday planning. A new model is developed taking into account legal, company and driver issues. Among others, it includes capacity constraints concerning different qualifications, holiday entitlements and connections between drivers. For each application for leave benefit values depending on family situations (e.g. driver has children of school age), other social criteria and priorities of applications are defined for each possible day of the application.

Do Competition and Ownership Matter? Evidence from Local Public Transport in Europe

This paper investigates how the ownership and the procedure for the selection of firms operating in the local public transport sector affect their productivity. In order to compare different institutional regimes, we carry out a comparative analysis of 72 companies operating in large European cities. This allows us to consider firms selected either through competitive tendering or negotiated procedures. The analysis of the data on 77 European firms over the period 1997-2006 indicates that firms operate under constant returns to scale. Retrieving the residuals we obtain a measure of total factor productivity, which we regress on firm and city characteristics. We find that when firms are totally or partially in public hands their productivity is lower. Moreover, firms selected through competitive tendering display higher total factor productivity.

What shapes local public transportation in Europe? Economics, mobility, institutions, and geography

This paper analyzes factors explaining supply and demand of local public transportation. Together with variables related to traditional economic factors and mobility, we consider variables reflecting institutional characteristics and geographical patterns. Being a political capital increases supply and demand of local public transportation, inequality is associated with higher supply, and contracting out reduces supply. Furthermore, our regional analysis allows us capturing the effect of geographical characteristics and different traditions of government intervention. In all, we provide first evidence on the role played by institutional and regional characteristics useful to achieve a better understanding of local public transportation supply and demand.

Local public transport on the basis of social economic criteria

Applying the welfare economic approach it is demonstrated what the effects of certain supply changes in the local public transport will be and the potential of innovative demand management measures are examined. Straighter bus routes would reduce the average travel time from door to door. The travel time on the buses decreases and the frequency increases, which reduces waiting times at bus stops. Using smaller buses and more of them would also increase the net benefit, but increase the need for subsidisation. The peak within the peak in the morning is hard to handle by price policy alone. Introducing a small variation of the start of the school-day for high-school pupils would make investment- and operation cost savings possible, and the inconvenience costs for the pupils could be limited. It is only during peak hours in the main direction of peak travel and in the critical section of the line that optimal price becomes high relative to the present level. Zero fares in off-peak will be social profitable, but an increase in subsidy is needed. An introduction of these policy changes would give rise to a net social benefit of 30 million SEK per year in Linköping.

Putting our money to good use: Can we attract more passengers without increasing subsidies?

This paper evaluates the policy of Swedish public transport authorities, determining whether the number of trips on local public transport could have been increased without increasing subsidies. Based on annual data from Swedish counties, the evaluation found that between 1986 and 2001 public transport fares exceeded the passenger-maximising fare most of the time in all but two counties, the average deviation being 1–215%. Evaluating the alternative, passenger-maximising policy, including both fare and service changes for 2001, demonstrated that demand for local public transport in Swedish counties could have been increased by 0–178% without increasing subsidies. Aggregated, this represents a 2.3% increase in the number of trips on local public transport in Sweden.

Regulating the regulator: The impact of professional procuring bodies on local public transport policy and its effectiveness

During the past 15 years competitive tenders have become a common procedure when procuring local bus services in Europe. In particular, tenders with gross cost contracts and the so-called Scandinavian model have gained popularity, resulting in a vast amount of research on optimal contractual relationships between government and operators. This paper pays attention to a rather neglected part of the Scandinavian model: the construction of professional procuring bodies and their relationship to the local public administration, focusing on its implications for policy steering and service performance. The paper outlines briefly two different perspectives of analyses of organisational models: one perspective is anchored in principal-agent theory and institutional economics; and the other perspective in political science. Empirically, the article is based on an evaluation of the relation between two Norwegian counties and the administrative company responsible for planning and procuring public transport services. This evaluation indicates, firstly, important common challenges for the county administration due to lack of regional administrative competencies in relation to the administrative company, which also hampers the county’s role as coordinator of policy areas of importance for public transport. Secondly, due to increased transaction costs, the establishment of administrative companies does not seem compatible with contracts relying on net cost solutions with huge scope for operator initiatives.

モビリティ水準評価指標ＱＯＭの合志市地域公共交通計画評価への適用

モビリティ水準評価指標ＱＯＭの合志市地域公共交通計画評価への適用

Workshop report – Beyond competitive tendering

Most countries contemplating the introduction of competition-based organizational forms did not perceive the British deregulated bus regime to be the way forward. A deeper analysis of facts and an international coverage of the local successes of that regime remained marginal and, as a result, the reputation of deregulated regimes remained bad or – at best – a contentious issue. The rush for competitive tendering was further stimulated by the European Commission’s endeavour to enact a Regulation that put forward competitive tendering of exclusive contracts as the preferred way to organise local public transport markets. Yet, as discussed in this workshop, deregulation in various guises may well play a growing role in local and regional transport. This is already visible in long-distance coach transport and in (international) European railway markets as from 2010. The workshop paper discusses whether such competition-based institutional alternatives to competitive tendering can provide efficiency and service improvements, how such competition-based alternatives should be ‘regulated’ and, alternatively, how a non-competitive direct award could perhaps still guarantee good performance.

Maintenance of Passenger Boat Services Accessing Islands during the Policy Transformation of Local Public Transportation : An Analysis of the Service in Deficit in the area of Seto Inland Sea

Maintenance of Passenger Boat Services Accessing Islands during the Policy Transformation of Local Public Transportation : An Analysis of the Service in Deficit in the area of Seto Inland Sea

Reviewing transport governance: the case of Leeds, UK

The UK Department for Transport recently announced a range of initiatives to support a more coherent approach to transport planning and delivery in the major urban areas of England. Specifically, the Local Transport Act, which received royal assent in late 2008, enables groups of local authorities and their partners to review their transport governance arrangements and, if appropriate, publish a programme of statutory and non-statutory reforms aimed at improving integration, efficiency and effectiveness of decision making. This paper considers the process of carrying out a governance review in the specific context of Leeds city region. This area comprises 11 local authorities centred on the West Yorkshire conurbation, but also includes parts of North and South Yorkshire, where responsibilities for transport planning, funding and delivery are split across a range of councils, national and regional agencies, as well as multiple public and private sector service providers. The governance review is designed to assess current arrangements, establish whether there is a case for reform and consider reform options to deliver more efficient and effective transport outcomes that support sustainable economic development and quality of life. Options considered include powers for local public transport, rail and highways, governance structures and administrative boundaries, including the transition from West Yorkshire passenger transport authority and executive to a new integrated transport authority. As well as the process of the review itself and some early findings, the paper describes a number of practical, operational and political challenges encountered by those undertaking the review.

Gli effetti della liberalizzazione del trasporto pubblico locale sulle relazioni industriali: Regno Unito e Italia a confronto

- This article examines the extent to which a number of hypothesised consequences for industrial relations in the context of liberalisation have been realised, such as a strengthening of managerial prerogatives and unilateral actions, the emergence of specific competitive pressures on labour costs, work flexibility and worker protections, the fragmentation of collective bargaining with an emphasis on company-level regulation. The sector selected is local public transport and in particular the bus industry. In the article the ownership structure of the bus industry, its regulatory and labour relations features are discussed in the context of governmentinitiated reforms in the UK and Italy. Evidence from empirical research conducted in both countries will then be presented and discussed in the conclusions.Key words: Liberalisation, Public services, Local public transport, Industrial relations, United Kingdom, Italy.Parole chiave: Liberalizzazione, Servizi pubblici, Trasporto pubblico locale, Relazioni industriali, Regno Unito, Italia.