According to the economic theory, if all the first-best conditions are met, social optimality involves the prices to be set equal to social marginal costs. When it is not possible to set prices equal to social marginal costs, due to the presence of constraints within the transport sector or...

Successful public transport service contracts can be judged against procedural and outcome criteria, located within an integrated strategic, tactical and operational level framework for planning and delivery. Clear goal setting at the strategic level sets the basis for supportive tactical system...

One of the most striking problems societies currently deal with is to assure adequate quality standards while improving accessibility within and between cities. In addition there is also a growing awareness that, to achieve a sustainable balance between private and public means of mobility,...

This paper evaluates the policy of Swedish public transport authorities, determining whether the number of trips on local public transport could have been increased without increasing subsidies. Based on annual data from Swedish counties, the evaluation found that between 1986 and 2001 public...

Recent Thredbo Conferences have begun to explore the importance of the relationship between public transport service purchaser and provider in the development of successful public transport services. However, practical examples to test the trusting partnership model are rare. Bus service...

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 lack of proper policies for the rural environment, in contrast to the situation in the urban environment in Brazil, has prevented the rural population from benefiting from basic infrastructure and access to their rights as citizens. The poor school transportation conditions are large...

In the transport sector, many types of contracts exist. Some are very precise, and strive for completeness; others are very [`]light-weight' and are incomplete. Bus and coach contracts, won through competitive tendering or negotiation, are typically incomplete in the sense of an inability to...

Despite the many socio-economic similarities between Sweden and Norway, differences in jurisdiction, organisation, cooperation, and financing of long-distance passenger train and coach services have led to the development of four distinctively different ways of serving the markets. This paper...