Competition in Public Transport
An Exploratory Research in Institutional Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector
Didier van de Velde (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
John Groenewegen – Promotor (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
Wijnand Veeneman – Copromotor (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
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Abstract
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?