Buses can be a serious source of city centre air pollution. Electric buses deliver zero emissions but, because of the time required to recharge, more buses are needed for a given timetable than diesel counterparts, so making mainstream electric bus operations prohibitively expensive.

This paper describes recent developments in the governance of public transport in the Netherlands, focusing on bus, tram, metro and regional train concessions. Most of these concessions are competitively tendered. Competitive tendering was introduced in 2001 and Dutch authorities have since...

The pure free market will theoretically result in economic efficiency being achieved. At the heart of this proposition is the idea of consumer sovereignty, where producers that best meet the material wants of consumers will be the most successful. With some notable exceptions however, few...

A large number of public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been awarded in the rail sector during recent decades. A review of rail PPPs over the last 30 years shows that some of them have failed, almost as though there was a curse on railway PPPs. Despite the evidence of risks associated with...

Urban public transport is currently facing increasing difficulties to obtain funding. While the priority is given to sustainable mobility in cities, the development of the supply leads to increasing operating costs, but the receipts from customers is insufficient to cover the expenses. Taking...

Dutch public transport provision has been competitively tendered out increasingly since 2001. Except for the Amsterdam city bus services, all bus transport in the country is carried out under a competitively tendered contact. Several evaluations have been carried out on the effects of...

This paper discusses some problems in determining the optimal use of road safety measures. The first of these problems is how best to define the baseline option, i.e. what will happen if no new safety measures are introduced. The second problem concerns choice of a method for selection of...

After a discussion of the meaning of ‘sustainable public transport’, this Workshop discussed issues of need, system design, institutional arrangements, environmental improvements and social aspects of service. Land use/transport integration was seen as critical for long term strategic...

The discussion and conclusions of Thredbo's Workshop 3 are summarized. History and the socio-economic environment is a condition that should be considered as a most important fact when moving into planning public transportation. Contradictory targets should be identified and avoided a priori....

With the aim to improve efficiency and value for money, in addition to tendered services the European Commission approach to rail organisation allows substantial open access rail services in both passenger and freight operations. This paper investigates, from a transaction cost perspective,...