For decades, public transport services in most French towns and cities have been provided on a delegated management basis, by subcontracting to private parties, using calls for tender as a selection mechanism. Recently, however, a number of cities, some of them large, have opted for direct management, moving away from the private, competitive model in favour of public management.

Our study answers two questions: What is the scale of this shift? And how can it be interpreted: what are the triggers and motivations behind it? The literature on these questions is sparse, partial and dated. Our database shows that remunicipalisation is no longer an anecdotal phenomenon in France. Our interviews reveal that the motivations are always composite and that political factors are predominant.@en

This chapter presents an overview of the main features of the organization and provision of land passenger public transport in light of the profound reforms witnessed in the sector in the last decades. These regulatory reforms, inspired by a wave of neoliberal thinking, include as a key element the introduction of competition as a means to improve the efficiency of the sector. The chapter classifies and summarizes key existing policy options and concludes with a brief reflection of the future of public transport regulation in view of emerging technologies and service models.@en

This workshop focussed on practical aspects of change across institutional regimes in the public transport sector, covering the experience from 11 countries in the rail, bus and coach sectors. Two key themes guided the workshop discussion: the introduction of competition (processes of implementation and shifting competition regimes) and the functioning of mature competitive tendering regimes (contract design, bid evaluation and results). The workshop outcomes are presented along the line of three main issues. The first one is regime shifts, looking at triggers that make regimes evolve, discussing whether change necessarily takes place for the better and whether a regulatory cycle can be observed. The second one is getting a closer look at what exactly is being subjected to competition, discussing contractual scope, unbundling options, the function of the authority, system management and risk allocation. The third one investigates the actual functioning of competitive tendering regimes, discussing the issue of contract standardisation, bidding procedures and the design of evaluation and awarding mechanisms. The main recommendation of the workshop is to increase the strength of the PTA and to choose for gross-cost contracts.

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Public authorities are under mounting pressure to promote more sustainable urban mobility, including a modal shift from cars. With an empirical focus on Oslo and Amsterdam metropolitan areas, this paper analyses how the interplay between formal frameworks, informal institutions, and individuals’ agency can contribute to making public transport more attractive in relation to other modes. Findings indicate that formal frameworks, informal institutions, and key actors co-exist and interact in complementary, substitutive, and accommodating manner; they work alongside each other to facilitate collective decision-making on issues ranging from integrating land use and transport to dealing with budget constraints. By identifying these types of interaction, this study shows that, to advance transport sustainability, authorities not only need insight on what policies to design, but can also benefit from understanding how policy-making and implementation unfold. A broader insight offered by the paper is that financial performance goals appear as a main policy driver in public transport, eclipsing sustainability concerns.@en

This thesis finds its origins in the debates that developed in the 1980s in Western Europe as to the role competition and private entrepreneurship should play in the provision of public transport services. At the time, observation of the debates showed there was widespread misunderstanding about the institutional changes put in place and the results obtained. Against that background, the research in this thesis centred around gaining a deeper understanding of the variety of institutional frameworks that can exist in the public transport sector and on how these develop, with as main focus the growing and evolving role of ‘competition’ as an institutional feature that can take many guises. The main research questions are:
(i) What are the main institutional frameworks that have arisen in the European public transport sector since the pressure for a wider usage of ‘competition’ appeared in the 1980s?
(ii) How have these institutional frameworks fared since? In particular, what developments can be observed and what can be said about them?
(iii) What are the main resulting policy challenges and options? @en

The paper investigates how the interplay between six organisational elements of public transport systems (conditions) – i.e. integration of planning responsibilities within an authority at the regional/metropolitan level; land-use and transport integration; long-term metropolitan public transport planning; agency over funding; fare integration, and allocation of risks between gov- ernment and operators - influence two key performance indicators (outcomes) – modal split and cost-recovery. The study focuses on selected metropolitan areas in Europe, Australia, and Canada, and employs Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). QCA can handle multiple explanatory conditions in combination, framing the relationship between conditions and studied outcomes in terms of necessity and sufficiency. The paper reveals three alternative combinations of organi- sational elements that are sufficient for achieving each outcome, underscoring that modal split and cost-recovery depend on the combined effects of multiple conditions (conjunctural caus- ality), and that different paths can lead to similar results (equifinality). Furthermore, even though both outcomes are linked to higher usage of public transport, findings suggest that each of them might require decision-makers to give attention to different elements. Higher modal split is closely linked to both integration between land-use and transport, and the integration of planning responsibilities within an authority at the regional/metropolitan level. Higher cost-recovery, in turn, requires focus on the way agency over funding and risk allocation strategies shape in- centives for savings and/or revenue generation.@en

Splitsing van het spoorbedrijf in een vervoers- en infrastructuurbedrijf wordt vaak als noodzakelijk voor eerlijke concurrentie op het spoor gezien. Aan zo’n splitsing kleven echter ook nadelen en er zijn andere concurrentiegerichte hervormingen. Een verkenning van de alternatieven.@en

De huidige NS-concessie geldt tot 2025. Vanuit de EU wordt er aangestuurd op meer concurrentie. Welke ruimte hebben de lidstaten voor marktordening op het spoor? Aan de hand van ervaringen in het buitenland wordt er geschetst welke keuzes en uitdagingen na 2025 voor Nederland verstandig zijn. IN HET KORT ● Europees spoorbeleid heeft geleid tot een veelheid aan hervor- mingen, met aanzienlijke verschillen tussen landen. ● Nederland kan voor de inrichting van het spoor na 2025 leren van de ervaringen in het buitenland. ● Kwesties als de mate van samenloop, keuzes in verticale split- sing, en de rol van open access verdienen meer aandacht.@en

This paper synthesizes evidence from Workshop 3 ‘Market initiative regimes: experience and measures to improve performance’ of the 15th International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport. This workshop discussed the growing importance of market initiative regimes in public transport focussing on the market and regulatory developments in three sectors: local and regional bus, long-distance coach and passenger train services. The comparison of these sectors illustrated impressive but also very substantial differences between countries in terms of market potentials, success of market initiative, regulatory paths taken and resulting performance. Various observations were made. The size and stratification of passenger transports markets in most countries or regions studied seemed to leave little room for direct intramodal competition, while there was more trust in the viability of intermodal competition. The lack of data was perceived to be a major issue, not only for research but also for market transparency and well-functioning. The development of new intermediaries for information and ticketing purposes seems to point at a possible gradual replacement of the ‘old’ public transport integration dogma with some new paradigm. There is still a lack of academic studies focussing on the process leading to demand and supply of regulation of market initiative regimes and of studies looking subsequently at the factors leading to the uptake of such regulatory tools or at the practical requirements for such specific regulations to function.

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This paper contributes to the discussion on the ways organisational form of public transport systems may influence its performance. A worldwide Delphi survey with experts in the field is presented. After a three-stage iterative process interspersing questionnaires and controlled feedback the survey produces authoritative inventories and ratings of performance indicators and organisational features in public transport. In relation to performance indicators, system-wide metrics such as user satisfaction, cost-recovery, and modal split are selected as preferred measures for a strategic assessment of public transport. Concerning features of organisational form driving performance outcomes, integration emerged as the central dimension: policy integration between public transport and other sectors, single integrated planning authority, as well as ticket and fare integration were highly rated by Delphi experts.

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Published in 1999. The book presents and compares the new relationships between transport authorities and railway companies in a number of countries (Great Britain, Sweden, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and France). It also presents a number of case studies focusing on the role of contracts, competition and tendering and presenting the achievements of the new regimes so far. This book is aimed at all transport professionals, authorities and academics interested in the increasing use of competition in the passenger railway sector.

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Het slaperige Duitse stadje Pforzheim, tussen Karlsruhe en Stuttgart, veroorzaakte de nodige opschudding in de Duitse ov-wereld toen een vervoerder bereid bleek het stadsnet commercieel te exploiteren, dus zonder subsidie. Is dit het begin van meer?@en

This workshop reviewed recent good and bad practice with respect to market initiatives in public transport, with consideration of express coach, rail, local bus and unconventional modes. The options for market-led initiatives, and the associated regulatory requirements, were re-assessed with a new model posited, inspired by the ski-lift industry. It is recommended that more pro-active development (by operators, authorities and third parties) of new measures is required, particularly to permit service coordination and fare, ticketing and information integration.@en

Various free market initiatives nibbling at public transport's traditional markets: mixed effects on "commercial" potential of public transport Technical developments have not yet come to a new equilibrium: more automated, decentralised, tailor-made systems to come, has the potential to solve some social issues Public transport governance (in several/many countries) is based on monopoly, authority control, centralised planning: diminishing congruence with the governance of a growing part of passenger transport systems Challenges: - Can contract be made not to hinder, and even to stimulate, (good) innovations? - Can the (free) market be adequately regulated within a congruent regulatory regime for all transport services? @en

The need for more sustainable and integrative planning processes as a way of dealing with the complexity of urban mobility has been widely recognized. Within the European Union (EU) there has been an enhanced focus on urban mobility solutions where local authorities move away from past ‘silo approaches’ and develop approaches that can stimulate a shift towards cleaner and more sustainable transport modes, in line with the EU’s 2013 Urban Mobility Package and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).As people choose to move away from cities to the periphery or to neighboring municipalities, it becomes critical that the organization of urban transport services, including commuter rail, is coordinated within functional urban areas based on travel-to-work patterns and not be limited to a city’s administrative area.International experience suggests that public transport planners must recognize two integration dimensions: (a) integration among all modes and routes comprising the multi-modal public transport network, (b) integration of the public transport offer within a functional urban area, such that the public transport offer matches the mobility requirements of passengers. Successful integration in both dimensions will provide a more customer-friendly experience and make public transport more efficient and cost-effective.The objective of this Report is to assess barriers to fare integration and impediments to integrated service planning. More specifically, it aims to: analyze the current legal framework, review current fare discount policy and public financing of such discounts, identify legal obstacles to fare integration; present examples of European best practice in the area of public transport integration; and provide recommendations to remove barriers to fare and ticketing integration.The World Bank identified six key recommendations aimed at incentivizing public transport integration: i) Introducing uniform statutory fare discount system. ii) Reforming the system for financing statutory fare discounts. iii) Removing barriers to cooperation among different levels of self-government. iv) Strengthening local authorities responsible for transport and creating open integration platforms. v) Protecting PSO Operators from creaming skimming. vi)Promote fare integration. Changing the status quo will require significant changes to the legal environment for public transport aimed at removing barriers to integration.@en

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.@en

This paper documents some thoughts on the reform agenda in public transit that is occurring throughout the world. The specific focus is on a growing commitment to competitive regulation through competitive tendering, and the efforts by a few governments (notably in Australia) to take control of the tangible assets used by private operators as a mechanism to exercise the opportunity, if so taken, to put services out to competitive tender. The paper reviews the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence on contracting regimes and asset ownership, and the role that government and the operator might play in a setting in which building trusting and collaborative partnerships has merit in delivering services that are in the main funded from the public purse.

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This paper develops two classification frameworks in order to clarify the discussion on regulatory reform in public transport and in order to compare the organisational forms which have appeared during the last 15 years. The concept of levels of planning and control is applied to the supply of public transport services and various forms of organisation are classified such as to allow a positioning of the various real-world organisational forms in relation to 'pure' organisational forms. Illustrations of a number of ideal-typical organisational forms are then provided. This also illustrates the various roles competition plays within those organisational forms.

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The aim of this introductory paper is provide the background to the Fifth International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, which was held in Leeds, UK, in May 1997 and was attended by around 120 delegates from 20 countries. This is done by reviewing past conferences in the series and summarizing the structure of the Leeds conference and the key emerging themes. Further details are given by the five workshop reports that accompany this introduction.@en