Competition in the public transport market in Germany
Document Type
Conference Paper
Publication Date
1-1998
Subject Area
organisation - competition
Abstract
Since 1994 several measures towards competition in public passenger transport in Germany have been initiated. Within the Railways Act from 1994 short-distance passenger rail services were regionalized and the responsible institutions can now tender these services. As far as the remaining urban passenger transport (bus, tram, underground) is concerned the German Public Transport Law was amended in 1996 and requires competitive tendering for subsidized transport services (social service obligations). These legal amendments, however, bear considerable scope for interpretation and realisation and lead to different styles of a reacting both of responsible authorities (l~nder, municipalities) and transport companies. This paper wiI1 start with an overview on the complicated regulatory framework for punic transport services in Germany. It will then present the findings of a project on the experiences with the amended regulatory framework. 1 The project was carried out from September 1997 to December 1997 with an update in April/May 1998. It was aimed at * identifying the uncertainties of the regulatory framework, * compiling information on the extent of competitive tendering and other forms of competition in the public transport sector, * evaluating the available experience with competition. In this paper we use the term regional rail passenger transport synonymeously with short-distance rail passenger transport which includes rail services with less than 50 kilometers distance or a travel time of less than one hour. Urban public passenger transport comprises transport services with buses, trams and underground excinding rail services.
Recommended Citation
Link, H. (1998). Competition in the public transport market in Germany. Paper from The Association for European Transport Conference held on 1 January 1998.
Comments
Permission to publish abstract given by AET.