Il trasporto pubblico locale e la concorrenza. Cambiare paradigma per salvare il servizio: il caso ligure[Local Public Transportation and Competition. Changing Paradigm to Save the Service: The Case of Liguria]

Local Public Transportation (LPT) in Italy is usually managed through inhouse companies owned by local governments. In the past few years a wave of reforms has invested the sector, with some regions trying to increase the companies' size. This paper provides an extensive review of the literature, showing that there is little evidence of scale and scope economies beyond a relatively small size. Moreover, there is some evidence that competition in the market, as well as competition for the market, is possible, if the service is fragmented by distinguishing between the "public" service and the potentially profitable part of the service. The paper examines the situation of the Liguria region in Italy, where the regional government is pushing for an integration of the 5 existing companies. The paper argues that an integration is likely to push costs upwards and suggests to privatize the companies, while liberalizing the service, in order to increase the efficiency.