This paper analyses the integration of social considerations into public transport planning. It addresses the challenge of balancing social benefits against objectives such as efficiency and cost minimization. Through a literature review, this paper examines methods for assessing public transport accessibility for potentially disadvantaged groups and identifies knowledge gaps in existing research. The analysis reveals a predominant focus on post-implementation (ex-post) accessibility assessments and a lack of research examining potential impacts (ex-ante) during planning stages. Furthermore, the paper identifies a lack of research on how to weigh social benefits against other more conventional objectives such as efficiency and cost minimization and also against environmental considerations. Research usually proposes changes ex-post based solely on a desire to improve accessibility for potentially disadvantaged groups. Therefore, there is a need for more research on how to manage conflicting interests in planning, for example through composite methods. The paper also highlights the tendency of research to overlook the practical usability of methods developed. The relevance of methods to policy makers and planners responsible for planning public transport systems remains largely unexplored. To develop practically useful methods, research needs a better understanding of the norms governing planning practices. It is common to discuss how the mobility needs of potentially disadvantaged passenger groups should be met in isolation from policy contexts. More research is needed about how the potential tensions between social, economic, and environmental considerations play out in public transport planning practices. All of this leads to a risk of a theory–practice gap, marked by a disconnect between research and the practical needs of the public transport providers. By proposing a more nuanced research approach that better reflects the complexity of real-world planning and the different needs of user groups, research can enable public transport planning for what we term ‘sustainable accessibility’. 

The creation of an efficient public transport system increasingly requires collaboration between independent organizations. Institutional reforms in Europe have created governance situations where collaboration between organizations is a critical issue, and examples include the integration of transport and land-use planning and the planning of large public transport projects. The organizational context of public transport, with several formal, discrete organizations that need to collaborate, raises questions about how functioning collaborations can be accomplished. This paper examines how to create functioning collaboration between organizations in the public transport sector. We depart from a theory of collaboration as a stepwise trust-building process, and we present results from a comparative case study of collaboration in two Swedish public transport projects. The results show some of the prerequisites that must be in place in order for the collaboration to work, but also the boundaries of what collaborative approaches can bring about. Conditions such as honest, open, and inclusive dialog between stakeholders and resources in the form of finance, knowledge, mandate, and leadership are important. While there is no guarantee that this will lead to differences in interests being resolved, the results indicate that it improves the chances of finding compromises that all of the involved stakeholders can accept, especially if favorable conditions for collaboration are established at an early stage of the planning process. Building on these findings, we suggest some practical recommendations for improving collaboration in future public transport projects. These practical recommendations are aimed at improving the handling of unavoidable conflicts in collaboration in a constructive way.

Goals concerning reduced car traffic are found in most European cities, indicating a potential change in local transport policy and land use planning, which have traditionally been very car-centric. This paper analyses goals and measures to reduce car traffic in Swedish municipalities’ long-term transport and land use plans. Theoretically, the paper is based on an understanding of policies as parts of ‘problem representations’ that create particular ways of understanding car traffic as a policy problem, which in turn influence the measures seen as appropriate or inappropriate. The results indicate that changes are underway. At the heart of these changes are narratives about city development in which municipalities understand the ‘attractive city’ as one where cars are defined as a problem to be addressed. However, the dominant policy problematisation produce several ‘blind spots’. Regional car trips, including travel to out-of-town shopping areas, are left unproblematised in this representation of the problem, meaning that measures addressing such trips are ignored in policy making. The paper builds our understanding of how policy practices influence the potential for change towards sustainability by discussing whether municipalities are doing enough to address the big problems with cars.

This paper is about collaboration in public transport governance. Drawing upon the emerging literature that views collaboration through the lens of networks, we explore why and how regional public transport authorities collaborate with both municipalities and public transport operators in the planning of public transport. We also explore the advantages and disadvantages of such collaborations. Based on interviews with civil servants (government officers) in the Swedish metropolitan regions of Stockholm, Västra Götaland and Scania, we conclude that collaboration is, firstly, a way for the regional public transport authorities (RPTA) to engage with the local municipalities and develop joint agreements on public transport priorities. It is also a way to build a common identity with the public transport operators, who operate services under tendered contracts. Secondly, we find that collaboration takes place during official meetings, as well as in informal conversations and face-to-face dialogues. Thirdly, the potential advantages and disadvantages of collaboration hinge on the ability of coordinating actors to put in place processes where the feasibility of plans can be established, and where a sense of common identity can be constructed.

Syftet med denna rapport är att ge en bild av hur Sveriges kommuner arbetar med att främja kollektivtrafiken. Trots att kommunerna i de flesta fall inte har direkt rådighet över kollektivtrafiken påverkar kommunal styrning områden såsom bebyggelseplanering och lokalisering, trafikplanering (ex omfördelning av befintlig vägkapacitet), reglering av biltrafik (ex. parkering, bilfria zoner, m.m.) mobility management och gröna resplaner. Rapporten baseras på en enkätstudie som har riktats till landets samtliga kommuner.

Resultaten visar både på likheter och skillnader mellan kommunerna avseende målsättningar, definitioner av begrepp och vilken typ av åtgärder och arbetssätt som förekommer. Ett generellt och förväntat mönster är att befolkningsmässigt större och täta kommuner jobbar mer med frågor kring kollektivtrafik, medan frågorna har mindre fokus i mindre och glesare kommuner. Samma, förväntade mönster gäller avseende målbilder och åtgärder för minskad biltrafik; det är vanligare att frågorna är i fokus i mer urbana områden.

Hur man definierar mål om att öka kollektivtrafiken varierar. Kommunerna jobbar med en bred palett av åtgärder för att främja kollektivtrafiken såsom uppgradering av bytespunkter, ny eller förbättrad infrastruktur för buss-och spårtrafik, reservation av mark för framtida behov och byte av bränsle. Analysen tyder på att det finns ett samband mellan att ha ett mål om ökad kollektivtrafik och att genomföra åtgärder, d.v.s. det är vanligare att kommuner som har ett mål om ökad kollektivtrafik genomför åtgärder för att främja kollektivtrafiken än de kommuner som inte har något mål.

Det finns inget tydligt samband mellan att ha ett mål om minskning av biltrafiken och att genomföra åtgärder för att minska biltrafiken. Det är vanligare att kommuner genomför åtgärder för att sänka hastigheten än åtgärder såsom att minska antalet parkeringsplatser, eller höjda parkeringsavgifter.

Förekomsten av tydliga definitioner av begrepp såsom kollektivtrafiknära läge och täthet i landets kommuner varierar. Många kommuner har en definition av kollektivtrafiknära läge (vars innebörd dock kan variera betydligt), medan definitioner av begreppet täthet är betydligt ovanligare. Resultaten från enkätstudien indikerar att här finns potential för vidareutveckling av metoder och arbetssätt kopplade till definitionerna av begreppen. Vissa kommuners arbetssätt borde också kunna ligga till grund för kunskapsöverföring mellan kommuner.

När det gäller attityd-och beteendepåverkan är det relativt vanligt med vissa typer av åtgärder, såsom kommuninterna resepolicies som prioriterar kollektivtrafik före bil, informationskampanjer och ”prova på” kampanjer. Det är mer ovanligt att man jobbar för att andra aktörer ska införa resepolicies. Även här finns det en potential för utveckling och kunskapsöverföring mellan kommuner.

I denna rapport studeras mål och åtgärder för minskad biltrafik i svenska kommuner. Resultaten visar att kommunernas arbete för minskad biltrafik mycket tydligt fokuserar på de centrala delarna av kommunernas centralorter. Det är tydligt att det är bilens negativa effekter på stadsutvecklingen som är det viktigaste skälet till att minska andelen biltrafik. Stadens ”attraktivitet” är ett återkommande nyckelbegrepp i beskrivningar av framtidens stad och biltrafikens roll. Kommunerna vill skapa en stad som är estetiskt tilltalande, attraktiv för boende, besökare och handel. I den attraktiva staden ska gång-, cykel- och kollektivtrafik spela en viktigare roll än förut, och i linje med det anser man att biltrafiken bör prioriteras lägre. Kommunerna vill ändra förhållningssätt i trafik- och stadsplanering och sluta planera för rörlighet, som man anser sig ha gjort tidigare, och istället planera för tillgänglighet.

De åtgärder som man vill genomföra kan sorteras i tre kategorier. I den första kategorin ingår åtgärder som går ut på att öka gång-, cykel- och kollektivtrafikens attraktivitet jämfört med bilen. En andra kategori av åtgärder är sådana som ger gång-, cykel- och kollektivtrafiken prioritet där de konkurrerar med biltrafiken om utrymme i stadsmiljön eller trafiksystemet. En tredje vanligt förekommande kategori av åtgärder, och den som kommer närmast direkta restriktioner, är parkeringsåtgärder. 

Kommunernas arbete med att minska biltrafiken kännetecknas av några mer eller mindre s.k. ”blinda fläckar”. Några av dessa är: a) Bilresor till och från externhandel, b) Biltrafiken i övriga tätorter och på landsbygden, c) Regionala resor med bil, d) Mål om minskat resande med bil, och samordningen med investeringar i väginfrastruktur och vägkapacitet, som ökar biltrafikens framkomlighet.

Recent research on public transport has seen increasing focus on issues like coordination, collaboration and steering in complex governance settings. One of the themes in this field of research is related to partnership approaches, as one way of stimulating functioning collaboration between formally independent private and public organisations. The aim of this paper is to explore the role and function of partnerships as a way of supporting well-functioning public transport networks and services in fragmented institutional settings. The empirical focus is on partnerships between operators and public (transport) authorities in two different legal settings: England and Sweden. The analysis is based on interviews with operators and public transport authorities in two metropolitan regions in each country where innovative partnership working has been developed to deal with various types of barriers to delivering better public transport. The results show the key qualities of these partnerships that are required for them to function. Although the regulatory contexts are very different, the partnership qualities are very similar in both cases.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between the formal (governance established in law) and informal institutions (governance not established in law) that underpin the planning, operation and improvement of local and regional public transport, by using case studies of four countries: Britain (more specifically England, outside London); the Netherlands; Germany; and Sweden. The paper uses a framework drawn from the literature on institutional change to analyse the interplay between the formal governance structures and the other actors and organisations that have an influence on public transport, the formal and informal relationships between them, and how informal institutions emerge to increase the effectiveness with which public transport is delivered. By selecting countries with some similarities in institutional structure, it is possible to explore how relationships can differ even within a relatively similar overall framework for public transport. Drawing on qualitative research with actors in the different countries, the research explores how informal institutions help actors negotiate the constraints of formal, statutory institutions. Findings reveal that informal institutions smooth the critical interfaces where formal institutions were producing sub-optimal public transport, thus providing evidence that the two modes of governance are, in fact, highly complementary.

Due to the fragmented organizational landscape characterizing public transport, it is important to study and explore how regional governance of public transport adapts to national institutional reforms. By employing the term ‘governance cultures’ to a comparative case study of regional public transport planning in Sweden, we contribute to theories of governance by cultural sensitization. Combining governance theory with cultural analysis, we apply a cultural perspective to understand the two cases. We conclude that public transport planning in the Stockholm region is defined by ‘negotiations’ between stakeholders, whereas in the Västra Götaland region it is characterized by a governance culture of ‘collaboration’. The evidence from our case studies emphasizes the importance of understanding local governance practices as situated in cultural contexts as well as of viewing governance cultures as an important factor affecting the purpose, degree and outcomes of collaboration in planning practices.