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En Route to Better Performance: Tackling the Complexities of Public Transport Governance
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Travelling in most cities today is time consuming, uncomfortable, and unsafe. Excessive traffic congestion significantly restricts people’s access to basic services and opportunities, and ultimately impacts individuals’ fundamental right to freedom of movement. Moreover, increased emissions from vehicles are at the root of the global climate emergency, affecting not only the entire urban population, but also jeopardising future generations. It is imperative to change this trajectory and drive cities towards more sustainable mobility with increased use of collective public transport. Whilst it is recognised that the governance of public transport systems plays a central enabling role in improving public transport to make it more attractive to users and financially sustainable, little is know about how to do this, i.e. about the complex causal relation between governance and performance. Drawing on a mixed-method research design, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of multiple cities worldwide, this thesis analyses how the governance of public transport (including the introduction of innovation such as mobility as a service) influences the performance of these systems, eventually contributing to the achievement of broader goals such as sustainability, efficiency, and accessibility.
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... It indicates not only the degree to which tasks have been accomplished to achieve desired outcomes but also it assesses the quality of activities performed and the overall strength of the company by quantifying its relationship with the broader macro environment. A few studies suggest some profitability metrics to measure the financial stability of firmslike the revenue per kilometre [7] and the cost-recovery ratio [8]. These studies emphasize the importance of these firms maintaining a high level of profitability to ensure their sustainability and contribute to the country's GDP [9]. ...
... It is important to note that the processes of decision-making, policy design, and of measurement metrics selection require active and productive interactions among diverse stakeholders in the transport sector [8]. The soundness of an assessment system does not depend only on the choice of criteria but also on the aggregation method to be used to combine all indicators in one global value to facilitate the process for decision-makers. ...
This paper suggests a 29-indicator based transport sustainability governance index to shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of eight regional transit operators in Tunisia using the absolute measurement approaches of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and analytical network process (ANP). Despite the difference in the overall sustainability scores, four companies have obtained the same ranking orders under both methods. The rest of the firms were ranked differently. Although both models generated interesting insights, ANP outperformed AHP in terms of priority distribution and significance of findings due to its capability of incorporating and quantifying criteria interdependencies. This research is the first in the literature that combines the three sustainability pillars with the governance principles using the direct rating approach of AHP and ANP to evaluate public transport firms.
... Consistency indicates the proportion of the outcome included in the set of each condition. To claim that a condition is necessary, it must exhibit a consistency of at least 0.9 (Schneider and Wagemann, 2012;Hirschhorn, 2020). Coverage captures the degree to which a necessary condition is empirically relevant (i.e., observed in the data). ...
... Tables 7 and 8: the ~ denotes a logical negation, and the * denotes logical "AND." Solution consistency indicates how consistent each configuration is with the assertion that the combination of conditions is sufficient for the outcome, and solution coverage expresses the extent to which the outcome is covered by the model (Ragin, 2008;Hirschhorn, 2020). Raw coverage indicates the portion of cases in the outcome set in the solution term set. ...
This article analyzes the political‐institutional determinants of bureaucracy quality among a group of newly industrialized countries in Latin America and East Asia democratized in the Third Wave. Four causal conditions are examined for the occurrence of higher levels of bureaucratic “weberianess” in the selected cases: historical sequence, political parties' institutionalization, electoral competition, and ethnic politics. The study employs the fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis to explore the expectation that each of these conditions' implications depends on other conditions' presence or absence. The findings disconfirm claims about the critical role of party system institutionalization for Weberian bureaucracies in new democracies. Besides, the analysis did not declare a professional public administration's prior existence before democratization as a necessary or sufficient condition for the outcome of interest. Finally, although the electoral competition was declared necessary for the outcome occurrence, it does not imply the same result if combined with ethnic politics.
... There is a somewhat problematic tension between the vast majority of the scientific literature on governance and the practice of designing governance (see Hirschhorn, 2020), as sampled above. Researchers generally focus on a specific relation between a governance element (a regulatory framework, a contracting form, a contract type, an actor involvement and role) and a specific performance metric of the system (costs, production, use, and effect as intended by policies, such as congestion reduction). ...
Public transport is the product of a whole history of decisions. From the initial decision to built roads or rails to the latest tweaking of the services. A large part of the literature on public transport is trying to support that decision-making by understanding the characteristics of specific infrastructure, vehicles, and services. However also, the way in which those decisions are made influences which of those options are regarded the most attractive. Governance can be seen as the conditioning of the decision-making, the rule sets used to make decisions, also on public transport. This chapter illustrates how governance can be designed in different ways to drive public transport into different directions.
... There is a somewhat problematic tension between the vast majority of the scientific literature on governance and the practice of designing governance (see Hirschhorn, 2020), as sampled above. Researchers generally focus on a specific relation between a governance element (a regulatory framework, a contracting form, a contract type, an actor involvement and role) and a specific performance metric of the system (costs, production, use, and effect as intended by policies, such as congestion reduction). ...
In recent years, governance has been getting a great deal of attention. This is also true in the field of public transport. Governance is often seen as the role that government plays in a sector. From that perspective, governance is framed largely as the interaction between private and public parties, which in public transport is important. The attention given to governance has developed from a first perspective of a changing balance between those two, with a primary focus on the introduction of more competition. Still, governments play an important role in public transport.
Here, this chapter will discuss governance in a slightly wider perspective. The chapter focuses on those interactions between public and private parties, or more specifically authorities and operators, but will look at them from a wider governance perspective. Governance here is defined as the rule sets that condition the interactions between actors with diverging interests, focusing on public transport for this chapter.
The chapter therefore starts with the role of government in public transport. Subsequently, this chapter will introduce two seminal publications on governance, look- ing at levels of governance (Williamson, 1998) and mechanisms of governance (Powell,
1990). That literature is the basis for the structure of the following discussion of research on governance of public transport and will help understand the key design challenges of governance in the field of public transport.
... Context awareness recognises that policy planning and decisionmaking processes always take place in a specific context, and context matters, because it turns (or fails to turn) causal potential into causal outcome (Pawson & Tilley, 1997). PT governance involves designing and implementing rules and processes that do not land on a clean slate; path dependencies, interests of incumbent actors, existing logics of action, and shared understandings play a role in determining the solutions proposed for and the eventual functioning of PT systems (Hirschhorn, 2020). Likewise, broader and much more complex socioeconomic trends or shocks in which the governing policy regime operatesincluding demographic events, pandemics, economic cyclesmake a difference as well (as dramatically shown by the case of . ...
Public transport is an essential service to both users and non-users. It provides an option for people driving on congested roads, for people who cannot – or prefer not to – drive a car, for people who need a means to access educational and leisure opportunities. It is thus also important for the overall population for ensuring that workers and providers of services of varied nature can reach their employment sites, for people who would prefer to see more street space available for other uses than parking, and for those – now and in the future – who can benefit from an alternative that is more sustainable than private cars. In sum, public transport is a vehicle for the delivery of a multitude of public values. Making public transport work in real life is challenging. Developing public transport systems that constitute an effective transportation alternative for people involves dealing with significant financial, technological, and infrastructure constraints (UN-Habitat, 2013). Nonetheless, it is the governance and policymaking of public transport that constitute the most complex challenge (Marsden & Reardon, 2017; Stough & Rietveld, 1997). It requires linking the diverse perspectives and interests that actors hold in relation to the way in which public transport should work and the outcomes it should deliver – that is, governance needs to ensure collective
(PDF) Public Transport Governance. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350403387_Public_Transport_Governance [accessed May 27 2021].
... Context awareness recognises that policy planning and decisionmaking processes always take place in a specific context, and context matters, because it turns (or fails to turn) causal potential into causal outcome (Pawson & Tilley, 1997). PT governance involves designing and implementing rules and processes that do not land on a clean slate; path dependencies, interests of incumbent actors, existing logics of action, and shared understandings play a role in determining the solutions proposed for and the eventual functioning of PT systems (Hirschhorn, 2020). Likewise, broader and much more complex socioeconomic trends or shocks in which the governing policy regime operatesincluding demographic events, pandemics, economic cyclesmake a difference as well (as dramatically shown by the case of . ...
Mobilities studies discuss the future in numerous ways, but many times only implicitly. The aim of this chapter is to further explicitly link mobilities studies and future studies, which is achieved by introducing the Delphi method and two cases applying the method and discussing potential use, advantages and disadvantages. The Delphi method was developed in the 1950s and is characterized by asking experts through controlled iteration processes. In conclusion, we suggest that, owing to changed mobility trends, it is probably more important than ever for mobility studies to increasingly learn from methods of future studies both from experts and overall citizens. The Delphi method represents one possibility.
This paper aims at creating a sustainability governance framework to assess the public transport companies in developing countries. In contrast to previous research studies, governance criteria, namely transparency and accountability, are involved in the sustainability assessment. Eventually, four dimensions of key performance indicators are suggested: economic, environmental, institutional and social. Each of them describes a completely different perspective of sustainable development. A numerical illustration is provided at the end to evaluate three public transport companies from a developed country to give an overview of the framework implementation using simple additive weighting method.
Shared modes can provide both a synergetic and a competitive relation with the existing public transport system. The competitive relation only is realistic when the shared modes have a positive business case. However, both with a positive and a negative business case, shared modes will operate in a mobility context with public authorities playing a major role in regulation and financing of services and infrastructure.
This chapter argues that this governmental role is key, and the challenge will be to strike a balance between allowing for innovation with shared modes and driving integration between all modes. That integration should put all modes in their strength and provide efficient integration between the different modes. Mobility as a service could to be an excellent tool for providing the integration, but public authorities could act on a wide set of policy fields, like infrastructure, spatial planning, public transport procurement, traffic regulation and more to tie shared services and public transport together. The outcome of the implementation of shared services for the larger mobility context relies highly on that successful integration.
Polycentricity has become a principle of strategic regional planning in order to con- centrate land use and optimise infrastructure. This paper discusses the possibilities and challenges for a polycentric strategy in relation to Norwegian regional planning. The focus is on the spatial strategy in The regional plan for land use and transport for Oslo and Akershus, and its reception among local authorities, upon which the plan’s implemen- tation depends. We have studied the plan’s aims and principles in relation to the interests of municipal and district councils as these are communicated in consultative statements in the planning process. The plan aims to increase competitiveness, sustainability, efficient land-use and transport in the region. Polycentric principles are favoured in order to ensure territorial cohesion based on the aims. Even though the plan is generally supported, local authorities point to the risk of intra-regional competition, unequal resource distribution, and unsustainable densification in regional centres. These are challenges that may hamper the sustainable development of the Oslo metropolitan area.
Public authorities are under mounting pressure to promote more sustainable urban mobility, including a modal shift from cars. With an empirical focus on Oslo and Amsterdam metropolitan areas, this paper analyses how the interplay between formal frameworks, informal institutions, and individuals’ agency can contribute to making public transport more attractive in relation to other modes. Findings indicate that formal frameworks, informal institutions, and key actors co-exist and interact in complementary, substitutive, and accommodating manner; they work alongside each other to facilitate collective decision-making on issues ranging from integrating land use and transport to dealing with budget constraints. By identifying these types of interaction, this study shows that, to advance transport sustainability, authorities not only need insight on what policies to design, but can also benefit from understanding how policy-making and implementation unfold. A broader insight offered by the paper is that financial performance goals appear as a main policy driver in public transport, eclipsing sustainability concerns.
The growth of ridesharing and other “new mobility services (NMS)” poses challenges for traditional public transport operators because they create an environment where consumers can demand an “integrated mobility” from different transport modes and improved accessibility (information, booking, payment systems etc). More recently the discussion about how to deliver “integrated mobility” has led to the emerging “Mobility as a Service (MaaS)” concept. MaaS is variously defined but the essential idea is to see transport or mobility not as a physical asset to purchase (e.g. a car) but as a single service available on demand and incorporating all transport services from cars to buses to rail and on-demand services.
The paper’s principal consideration is on how MaaS is relevant to public transport. The idea of how MaaS might be used in the Community Transport (CT) sector provides a case-study. The CT sector is unusual in providing mobility for a user group which typically does not see mobility as a physical asset to purchase. Following a review of relevant literature, the paper describes the outcome of a study with five Australian CT operators. A semi-structured conversation followed by a discussion type meeting brought CEOs together to explore the concept of mobility as a service and the types of package that might be offered. Findings indicate a strong enthusiasm amongst CT operators for offering packages of mobility services to their current users and to investigate delivery of packages to non-users/new users.
This paper responds to calls for greater empirical investigation of the interrelationships between depoliticisation and repoliticisation processes. It does so by applying the ‘three faces’ (governmental, societal and discursive) organising perspective to a longitudinal analysis of transport policy in the UK. This case is important because acceptance of the current dominant policy solution – infrastructure spending – appears to have come full circle over a 30-year period. The research finds that today’s focus on infrastructure is enabled through intersecting and reinforcing depoliticisation processes, supporting the ‘three faces’ perspective. However, the paper also highlights the need for greater recognition of the state as a meta-governor of depoliticisation and the need for clarity on which aspect of a policy solution or problem (or the connections between them) is being depoliticised and repoliticised to better elucidate politicisation processes.
This paper examines governance responses to Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The analysis focuses on the interactions between public transport systems and MaaS developments in Amsterdam, Birmingham, and Helsinki. Case comparison is informed by the multilevel perspective on socio-technical transitions and literature on meta-governance of networks. Drawing on these frameworks and empirical findings, the paper identifies six governance approaches to MaaS across cases: analyser, architect, convener, experimenter, lawmaker, and provider. These basic models encompass strategies ranging from hands-on strong intervention to information collection efforts. Consistent with the transitions literature, these six approaches indicate that public transport regimes seek to control the apparent disruptive potential of MaaS by incrementally absorbing innovations; to this end, regime actors adopt governance responses that tend to reproduce existing institutionalised ways of doing and prevailing logics. Furthermore, the six approaches reveal intense interaction between regime and niche, suggesting that a niche-regime space might have emerged in the cases; actors travel and operate across niche, regime, and niche-regimes, mainly driven by concerns with market share and revenue streams in the mobility system.
The paper is part of what we can call “post New Public Management (NPM) studies” which denounce that the policies of austerity and competition have made local public transport fragmented and less attractive for customers. These studies that indicate the need for greater coordination within this sector as a condition of social and environmental, and not only financial, sustainability are increasingly numerous. We show how the public transport legislative evolution in UK (more strictly Great Britain) has aimed towards the assurance of more coordination into a fragmented sector. However in its last stage, the Bus Services Act 2017, we find not only more incentives to increase coordination but the ‘rehabilitation’ of a contested concept such as the integrated transport planning. Specifically, we show that the ‘rehabilitation’ of the integrated transport planning did not happen immediately but gradually over the years through several reforms. During this transition, both negative and positive aspects, and the tensions between competitive mechanisms and coordination mechanisms have lived together. This tension demonstrates the challenge of finding an appropriate role for public and private actors to make public transport fully sustainable. The case of Great Britain shows that transport sustainability must be found in a mix of mechanisms: not only market and partnership but also hierarchical mechanisms, such as an integrated and coordinated planning.
Research has shown, that the replacement of conventional vehicles (CVs) by electric vehicles (EVs) can reduce urban heat island intensity (UHII). This leads not only to a more comfortable climate during summer but also to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the vehicles themselves and to a reduction in the need for air conditioning (AC) and associated emissions. The current study examines to what extent a range of different mobility concepts, can lead to a reduction in urban heat island intensity and carbon dioxide emissions in the city of Beijing, China. For this purpose, the impact that electric vehicles fuelled with the average energy mix, hydrogen vehicles (HyVs) fuelled with hydrogen from electrolysis from the regular energy mix, HyVs fuelled with hydrogen produced through wind power, energy efficient CVs, EVs fuelled with wind power and energy efficient metro light railway (metro) travel have on summer heat island intensity (SHII) and CO2-emissions is analysed. The lowest SHII mitigation effect was found for a replacement of CVs with fuel efficient diesel cars while hydrogen cars that are fuelled with hydrogen generated from the average electricity mix even leads to higher SHII and higher CO2 emissions. The largest SHII mitigation effect was found for a scenario where conventional vehicles are replaced with energy efficient metro travel. The CO2 saving potential is highest for EVs which are powered with electricity generated from wind turbines, closely followed by HyVs that are fuelled with hydrogen generated from electrolysis of water using wind electricity.
The paper helps policymakers and consumers to make the right choices when it comes to environmentally friendly mobility options.