Public transport can deliver multiple public values, including sustainability, accessibility, and safety. This is a challenging task because actors hold different views in relation to the way in which public transport should work and the outcomes it should produce. The role of governance is to link and coordinate these fragmented views in collective decision-making processes; governance identifies goals and establishes the allocation, amongst diverse actors, of the roles and responsibilities – along with the needed resources and discretionary ability (agency) – for the design and implementation of public transport policies and services. To effectively conduct this task, decision-makers need to embrace, rather than rebuff, the complex interdependencies and conflicts between public values and adopt a whole-of-values, adaptive, and context-aware approach to governance design. Scholars can support in this task, tackling the study of public transport governance through a more comprehensive lens, moving beyond studies with a partial focus on changes in formal institutions only. ... Read more

This paper examines the Dutch policy reaction to the financial crisis in the public transport sector caused by Covid-19. Using the multi-level governance theory complemented with the notion of informal governance, the analysis explains the decision-making that defined a State-aid scheme to public transport operators following a process of consultation and concertation between state and non-state actors across governance tiers. To agree on a financial rescue package, these actors engage in front-stage and back-stage political interactions, constrained and enabled by formal and informal governance structures and practices. By analyzing how the interplay between the political mobilization of actors, policy-making arrangements, and existing polity structures shapes political alignment around the financial support scheme, the paper concludes that the crisis did not change customary governance and policy-making practices. Stakeholders sought their usual partners and followed existing routines in path-dependent ways to address the policy challenge brought by Covid-19. Despite being triggered by a major exogenous shock, the policy response to the crisis was driven mainly by endogenous forces; the decision-making mechanism remained the same and the network of actors did not shrink or expand. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

Travelling in most cities today is time consuming, uncomfortable, and unsafe. Excessive traffic congestion significantly restricts people’s access to basic services and opportunities, and ultimately impacts individuals’ fundamental right to freedom of movement. Moreover, increased emissions from vehicles are at the root of the global climate emergency, affecting not only the entire urban population, but also jeopardising future generations. It is imperative to change this trajectory and drive cities towards more sustainable mobility with increased use of collective public transport. Whilst it is recognised that the governance of public transport systems plays a central enabling role in improving public transport to make it more attractive to users and financially sustainable, little is know about how to do this, i.e. about the complex causal relation between governance and performance. Drawing on a mixed-method research design, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of multiple cities worldwide, this thesis analyses how the governance of public transport (including the introduction of innovation such as mobility as a service) influences the performance of these systems, eventually contributing to the achievement of broader goals such as sustainability, efficiency, and accessibility. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

Mobilities studies discuss the future in numerous ways, but many times only implicitly. The aim of this chapter is to further explicitly link mobilities studies and future studies, which is achieved by introducing the Delphi method and two cases applying the method and discussing potential use, advantages and disadvantages. The Delphi method was developed in the 1950s and is characterized by asking experts through controlled iteration processes. In conclusion, we suggest that, owing to changed mobility trends, it is probably more important than ever for mobility studies to increasingly learn from methods of future studies both from experts and overall citizens. The Delphi method represents one possibility. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

This paper examines governance responses to Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The analysis focuses on the interactions between public transport systems and MaaS developments in Amsterdam, Birmingham, and Helsinki. Case comparison is informed by the multilevel perspective on socio-technical transitions and literature on meta-governance of networks. Drawing on these frameworks and empirical findings, the paper identifies six governance approaches to MaaS across cases: analyser, architect, convener, experimenter, lawmaker, and provider. These basic models encompass strategies ranging from hands-on strong intervention to information collection efforts. Consistent with the transitions literature, these six approaches indicate that public transport regimes seek to control the apparent disruptive potential of MaaS by incrementally absorbing innovations; to this end, regime actors adopt governance responses that tend to reproduce existing institutionalised ways of doing and prevailing logics. Furthermore, the six approaches reveal intense interaction between regime and niche, suggesting that a niche-regime space might have emerged in the cases; actors travel and operate across niche, regime, and niche-regimes, mainly driven by concerns with market share and revenue streams in the mobility system. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

The paper outlines the author’s experience employing the Delphi method, using as an example a particular application of the Delphi in the field of public transport research. Attention is given to aspects such as the choice of method, selection of experts, design of questionnaires, interaction between survey coordinator and participants, and also the analysis of experts’ responses. Some of the challenges encountered during the survey, the way they were dealt with, and risk mitigation strategies used by the Delphi coordinator are highlighted too. The primary objective of this paper is to offer insights that can support other researchers or practitioners preparing to apply the Delphi methodology. Furthermore, the article contributes to the methodological debate by reflecting on the introduction of novel practices that can help overcome some typical pitfalls of the Delphi: a dedicated blog supporting the survey, safety-net questions, and a constant-sum type question. ... Read more

The promise of big data in the field of mobility is great, for example for mobility-as-a-service solutions. Having a better sense of the existing flows over the network would allow for much improved modelling of future flows and nudging users into behaviours targeting collectively better outcomes. Because of this promise the interest that cities have in big data for mobility is high. They are looking for ways in which a mobility data platform gathers the relevant data, allow for advanced modelling of current and future network states, and ways to drive travel behaviour. We participated in the EU funded PETRA project that built such a platform for the cities of Haifa, Rome and Venice. In this paper, we are looking for key governance mechanisms that affect the success of mobility data platforms, and how they are related to technical features. The project and an additional study into 10 cases revealed that the more ambitious a platform is on a technical level, the more governance challenges they will encounter, thus the more advanced governance arrangements are necessary. However, many governance arrangements are a given rather than a subject to design. This implies that for success, the technical ambition of the platform should be aligned with the institutions of the city in which the platforms will be implemented. ... Read more

This document represents business model overview for PETRA. The business model is an integral part of the governance handbook, (D7.3), but is also listed as a separate deliverable. For all details, please refer to deliverable 7.3. Here an abbreviated version is presented.
The model uses a business model canvas to look at the main revenue and costs streams, risks and assumptions.
The business model is based on information that was gathered from the demonstrators and literature.
On the revenue side of the business model, the context and policies in place very much drive the expected revenues. Rather than providing an expected outcome, the model proposed existing and well developed approaches to estimate possible revenues, given a specific context. ... Read more

This document represents the governance handbook on mobility data platforms for the PETRA project. The governance handbook provides metropolitan authorities contemplating the implementation of a mobility data platform in line with the PETRA project about governance issues and design.
The analysis has shown mobility data platforms with the reach of PETRA are not available, however a variety of solutions of both the platform and the app exist in various situations. Of those, 13 were analyses to understand how governance shapes the solutions implemented and what the solutions implemented need from governance. The results do not provide a single best solution of governance for three reasons. First, mobility data platforms will land in a variety of (governance) contexts. Assuming that authorities would be willing to fully adjust their governance for the implementation of a mobility data platform is naïve. Second, mobility data platforms can come in a variety of forms. The governance has to align with the particular implementation. Third, governance solutions consist of a great deal of element that not necessarily always act uniformly, and as such, not always act predictably in various contexts. Because of that variability the handbook highlights key mechanisms that authorities working on the governance of a mobility data platform should take in to account, rather than provide a theoretical and unrealistic single optimal governance design. The report adapts a column structure to align with this focus on specific mechanisms to take into account. It also provides specific readers with a planned route through the different columns.
The governance handbook was developed based on the analysis of 13 case studies and the three demonstrators. The provided the input to understand the relation between the specific implementation of a mobility data platform and a governance context. Desk research and interviews provided the understanding of those cases, the types of data input, the function of the platform in terms of data linking, capture, retention, storage, aggregation, and modelling, the data output and a possible mobile application. The key question in the cases was to understand organisational links of the stakeholders providing the data and using the data, and the links to the stakeholders with an interest in the various functionalities of the platform in terms of data handling. From these links we could further understand how decision-making on the platform was structured and what outcomes of that decision-making could be expected.
The report starts with an instruction on the overall project, followed by a prologue, that sets the scene. This is followed by a number of theoretical columns, highlighting understood mechanisms from organisational science and public administration that showed to be relevant in the cases and demonstrators. After these, empirical columns highlight mechanisms that were recognised in the cases studied, and that illustrate the complex and varied contexts of mobility data platforms and how to align the governance to specific goals. Finally, five syntheses are given, including a business case, a set of models, and different governance design routes. ... Read more