This document discusses best practices in organizing public transport in European cities. It finds that the optimal model involves a mix of public and private operators overseen by a public transport authority (PTA). The PTA is responsible for integrated planning, contracting services, managing infrastructure, and developing new systems. Competitive tendering of contracts stimulates innovation and offers best value. Fare and ticket integration across modes, using smart cards, facilitates use of public transport. Case studies of Madrid and Oslo show how they have implemented this model.

1. TRELMANAGEMENT
European Practices
in Organising
Public Transport
Eric Trel
Tranzit, Cluj, Romania
21 April 2016

2. What do these cities have in common?
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Oslo Singapore
Portland Madrid
London
Sofia
and many more…
Dubai
Kuala Lumpur
Curitiba
These cities have excellent public transport
How do they do it?

3. 1980
• Most cities had one municipal operator. The operator had a
monopoly and no contract.
• In most countries, private operators did not receive subsidy.
• In metropolitan areas, no integration of network and fares.
• No customer-orientation and little innovation.
Developments in Europe
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Amsterdam
1990

4. Developments
• United Kingdom:
– Open market, any operator could operate public transport
– London: contracts
– Other cities: open market plus additional contracts
• France, Netherlands, Scandinavia:
– Introduction of subsidy for all public transport operators
– Market regulation and competitive tendering
– Public Transport Authority (PTA)
• Germany:
– Focus on Public Transport Authorities (“Verkehrsverbund”)
• Discussions in the EU:
– How to treat public and private operators in a fair way?
– How to deal with state subsidy?
Developments in Europe
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5. Conclusions
1. Mix of public and private operators gives the best result:
– public operators offer stability and manage state-owned assets,
– private operators offer efficiency and customer-orientation.
2. Competitive tendering of contracts
– stimulates innovation,
– offers best value for money.
3. Transport authorities are needed for:
– integrating networks, services and fares,
– managing subsidies,
– tendering, contracting and monitoring of transport services.
Developments in Europe
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6. Madrid (Spain)
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Population
• city 3.2 million
• metropolitan area 6.3 million
Network
• Local railways
• Light rail and metro
• Bus
Performance
• 5.7 million passenger trips/day
• PT share approx. 40%

7. Madrid - Fleet and infrastructure
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8. Madrid - Fare and ticket integration
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• Smart card
• Fare integration for all
modes of transport
• Tourist passes

9. Madrid - Organisation
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Transport service contracts
• Metro: public operator
• Light rail: 3 private operators
• Bus: one public operator and 33 private operators
Organisation
Public Transport
Authority CTM

10. Oslo (Norway)
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Population
• City 0.7 million
• County (Akershus) 1.1 million
Performance
• Public transport share 32.5%
• Fares cover 50% of expenses
Network
• Metro
• Tram
• Bus
• Ferry

11. Oslo – Fare and ticket integration
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• Fare integration: including
transfer
• Ticket integration: one ticket
for all transport modes

12. Oslo - Organisation
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Transport service contracts
• Urban transport: negotiation and
direct award to public operator
(Oslo Sporveier)
• Regional bus transport: managed
by public operator (Stor-Oslo
Lokaltrafikk) and subcontracted to
6 private operators, award by
competitive tender
Organisation
• Public Transport Authority:
Ruter As
• Owned by city 60% and
county 40%
• Established in 2007.

13. Oslo - Development
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Start PTA

14. Best practices in organising Public Transport
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Urban Transport
• Integrated network
• Reliable services
• Modern fleet
• Bus lanes and traffic
management
• Passenger Information
• Integrated fares
Organisation
• Public Transport Authority
• Subsidy for operation
• Mix of public and private
operators
• Multi-year service contracts,
subject to competitive
tendering
• Automated Fare Collection
Europe: London, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Madrid, Sofia, Warsaw, …
Africa: Johannesburg, Lagos. USA: Portland. Latin America: Curitiba, Bogotá, Mexico City.
Asia: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur. Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth.

15. 21-4-2016 European Practices in Organising Public Transport 15
OrganisationLegislation Financing
The house of public transport
Government policy and priorities

16. Scope
• Public transport services by rail and road, for which exclusive
rights and/or financial compensation is granted.
Objectives
• Regulated competition and level playing field for public and
private operators
• Transparency in granting subsidies and avoidance of over-
compensation.
EC Regulation 1370/2007
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17. Main principles
• Every operator shall have a Public Service Contract (PSC),
also ‘internal’ operators.
• Contract duration: max. 10 years for bus and 15 years for rail,
metro, tram.
• Contracts shall be tendered.
• Rule: competitive tender.
• Exception: in case of an ‘internal’ operator, direct award is
possible. Then, the internal operator is not allowed to
participate in tenders elsewhere.
• Subcontracting is possible.
EU Regulation 1370/2007
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18. Tasks PTA
1. Integrated planning of
network, services, fares and
subsidies
2. Contracting transport services
and monitoring performance
3. Managing infrastructure
4. Developing new services and
new systems
Public Transport Authority (PTA)
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Operator
Operator
Public Transport Authority
National, regional and local
governments
Operators

19. 1. In any city or region, the best results are achieved by a
competent Public Transport Authority (PTA) and two or more
operators.
2. Metro, light rail, tram, trolley: best served by a municipal or
state-owned operator (direct award).
3. All bus transport: best served by private operators
(competitive tendering).
4. Bus fleet: leave it to the operator to provide the fleet
(fares + subsidies should cover all costs including fleet).
5. Smart card: facilitates fare integration and allows the PTA to
optimise fare revenues and subsidies.
Conclusions (for discussion)
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