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Market initiative regimes in public transport in Europe: Recent developments

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  • van de Velde, Didier

Abstract

The role played by market initiative regimes in public transport in Europe is growing. Initially limited to Great Britain outside London (1986), a watered down version was implemented in Sweden in 2012, while the 2013 German public transport law allows increasing the role of ‘commercial’ market initiative. Long-distance coach markets was already based on deregulated regimes in Britain, Norway, Sweden and various Central and Eastern European countries, while Germany deregulated this market in 2013 and Italy soon opens up its market as well. Finally, open access competition on the tracks exists in Germany, Sweden, Austria, Italy and the Czech republic, with spectacular results in at least Italy, while the European Commission is pushing for more. This paper reviews these developments, while comparing some of the regulatory features implemented. It confirms a movement away from dogmatism in some countries but it also finds that insufficient attention is being paid to developing adequate regulation for the functioning of market initiative regimes (the ‘rules of the game’), especially concerning the issue of fare integration, hampering the potential success of the reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • van de Velde, Didier, 2014. "Market initiative regimes in public transport in Europe: Recent developments," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 33-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:48:y:2014:i:c:p:33-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2014.09.029
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    2. Beria, Paolo & Bertolin, Alberto, 2019. "Evolving long-distance passenger services. Market concentration, fares and specialisation patterns in Italy," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 77-92.
    3. Fageda, Xavier & Sansano, Sergi, 2018. "Factors influencing prices and frequencies in the interurban bus market: Evidence from Europe," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 266-276.
    4. Hirschhorn, Fabio & van de Velde, Didier & Veeneman, Wijnand & ten Heuvelhof, Ernst, 2020. "The governance of attractive public transport: Informal institutions, institutional entrepreneurs, and problem-solving know-how in Oslo and Amsterdam," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Vigren, Andreas, 2017. "Competition in Swedish passenger railway: Entry in an open access market and its effect on prices," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 11, pages 49-59.
    6. Reynolds, Tim & White, Peter, 2022. "Forty years’ experience of deregulated express coach services in Britain," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Javier Asensio & Anna Matas, 2024. "Competition effects of intercity bus tendering reforms in Spain," Working Papers wpdea2406, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    8. Alexander Paulsson & Karolina Isaksson, 2019. "Networked authority and regionalised governance: Public transport, a hierarchy of documents and the anti-hierarchy of authorship," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(6), pages 985-1004, September.
    9. Paulsson, Alexander & Isaksson, Karolina & Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Hrelja, Robert & Rye, Tom & Scholten, Christina, 2018. "Collaboration in public transport planning – Why, how and what?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 377-385.
    10. Beria, Paolo & Nistri, Dario & Laurino, Antonio, 2018. "Intercity coach liberalisation in Italy: Fares determinants in an evolving market," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 260-269.
    11. Godfrey, John & Taylor, John, 2018. "The role of bus partnerships in Great Britain," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 310-318.
    12. Åse Jevinger & Jan A. Persson, 2019. "Exploring the potential of using real-time traveler data in public transport disturbance management," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 413-441, August.
    13. Hrelja, Robert & Rye, Tom & Mullen, Caroline, 2018. "Partnerships between operators and public transport authorities. Working practices in relational contracting and collaborative partnerships," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 327-338.
    14. Aldenius, Malin, 2018. "Influence of public bus transport organisation on the introduction of renewable fuel," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 106-115.
    15. Sofia Molander, 2018. "Changing roles and new perspectives: towards market orientation in public transport," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 1811-1825, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Deregulation; Market initiative; Europe; Public transport;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • L98 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Government Policy

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