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Transferability of Best Practice in Transport Policy Delivery : Final Report

Introduction

Purpose of report

1.1.1 This report presents the findings from Colin Buchanan and Partners' (CBP's) study for the Scottish Executive into the Transferability of Best Practice in Transport Policy Delivery.

1.1.2 The objectives that were set for this research were to:

• understand the combination of factors that together combine to bring about best practice in the delivery of transport policy;
• consider those areas of Europe that have made exemplary progress in delivering transport policy and determine the underlying mechanisms - such as single bodies and regional/city-wide approaches to transport planning and delivery - contributing to this success;
• assess the delivery benefits that have been obtained through these mechanisms and whether their implementation can be seen as Best Practice; and
• assess how effective these mechanisms would be if transferred to Scotland and identify any barriers that would have to be overcome for their successful implementation.

1.1.3 In addition, several barriers to effective transport policy implementation, which may be perceived to exist in the Scottish context, were identified. These were:

• Decision making by consensus by many elected authorities with high numbers of members representing relatively small areas (wards) and with consequently, at times, what might be regarded as a "parochial" outlook, and "lowest common denominator" decision making.
• Few statutory regional land-use or transport organisations, and a consequent reliance on voluntary regional partnerships.
• Division of responsibility for implementation of transport between many different parties at the regional and local level; and even within the same organisation.
• Lack of revenue funding.
• For the one statutory regional transport body that exists in Scotland, SPT, a dependence on capital funding from its constituent authorities who may or may not wish to contribute this funding.
• Dependence on the private sector for the delivery of the majority of public transport services, on a commercial, or quasi-commercial basis.

1.1.4 A further objective of the research is therefore to understand whether these barriers exist in other parts of the world and how, if at all, they have been overcome.

1.2 Information used for this research

1.2.1 The report draws on various sources of information:

• A literature review of available journal articles, EU research project reports, reports from other government bodies (especially the Netherlands Ministry of Transport research arm, Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer), and publications of regional transport bodies themselves.
• A questionnaire survey of regional transport organisations throughout Europe.
• Interviews with employees of regional transport organisations, and certain others, such as the European Commission, and Dublin Bus.

1.2.2 Some of the information gathered is informal and anecdotal in nature, and incomplete - it is very difficult, for example, to gather fully comparable financial data. The report must be read with these caveats in mind.

1.3 Methodology

Questionnaire survey

1.3.1 A questionnaire survey of relevant regional transport organisations was considered a key part of this study, since it would gather more specific data about actual organisations than is necessarily available in the literature. In addition, it provided contacts for further follow-up interviews.

1.3.2 The questionnaire was designed to ascertain the way in which transport responsibilities are divided between different administrative organisations in the respondent region; how these organisations are funded; their objectives; whether those objectives had been achieved; and the main barriers to the more effective implementation of transport policy in the region. The questionnaire was, therefore, not specifically designed to find out from respondents the factors that, in their view, may combine in their region to aid the implementation of best practice in transport policy delivery.

Sample

1.3.3 Fifty-eight potential contacts were obtained from the following sources:

• The EU 5 ^th Framework project MARETOPE, on regulatory change in public transport.
• The EU 5 ^th Framework project PORTAL, on transport in higher education.
• Personal contacts of the project team.

1.3.4 These 58 contacts were asked to complete a questionnaire; and in the questionnaire, they were asked if they would be willing to be interviewed. The questionnaire is provided in Appendix 1. Some 21 organisations completed and returned questionnaires.

1.3.5 In general, this sampling approach resulted in a contacts situated in regional government or regional public transport organisations. The views of municipal authorities were not gathered directly but were discussed when interviewing regional organisations.

1.3.6 Generally, representatives of any organisation will tend to believe that their organisation does not have enough power relative to other levels of government, and that implementation would be more effective, were their organisation to have more power. This should be borne in mind in interpreting the responses to both questionnaires and interviews.

1.4 Interviews

1.4.1 As noted in §1.3.4 all questionnaire respondents were asked if they would be willing to be interviewed, to gather further qualitative information about their organisation, and about their questionnaire response. The following respondents were interviewed in this way.

• Storstockhomslandtrafik (SL), Stockholm.
• YTV, Helsinki.
• Greater London Authority (GLA).
• Transport for London (TFL).
• Translink (Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, GVTA), Vancouver.
• Consorcio de Transportes de Madrid (CTM), Madrid (by email only).
• Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer (AVV), Rotterdam, Netherlands (by email only).
• Societe Transports Ile de France (STIF), Paris.
• Knooppunt (regional public transport body) Arnhem-Nijmegen (KAN), Netherlands.
• Regional Orgaan Amsterdam, (regional transport body) Netherlands.
• Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB), Germany.
• Sundsvall County and Nor-Westland Region, Sweden.
• Dublin Bus (who work closely with the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO)).
• City of Copenhagen, Denmark.

1.4.2 In addition to the above a transport policy advisors of the European Union Directorate General Transport and Energy (DG TREN) was also interviewed by telephone for about 30 minutes, as it was felt that he would have a good overview of the different conditions under which transport policy is implemented in different member states, and which are achieving better practice.

1.5 Structure of the report

1.5.1 Briefly, the structure of the report is as follows:

• A review of literature and other information about transport policy delivery in a number of European cities and regions, identifying "success factors" in each case.
• Results from questionnaires that have been distributed to contacts around the EU and elsewhere.
• Interview results with representatives of regional transport organisations in different European and North American regions.
• Presentation of a set of "ideal pre-conditions" for the implementation of transport policy, developed from the previous stages of the study.
• Comparison of the existing Scottish situation with the "ideal pre-conditions", and some consideration of how this ideal might assist transport policy implementation in Scotland, with particular reference to regional-scale projects.
• Final conclusions, summarising the findings and comparing these to the objectives. Further, the conclusion provides some thoughts on the theoretical benefits and disbenefits of changing Scottish transport policy delivery to better meet the ideal identified in the review of European and North American practice.

1.5.2 From the literature review, it was possible to identify a number of cities and regions whose transport policy, system and governance structure combine in some way to move those areas towards what is definitely better practice, if not best practice. These cities and regions are, therefore, described in more detail in Chapter 3. The cities and regions are:

• Madrid, Spain.
• Barcelona, Spain.
• Jonkoping, and Sundsvall, both in Sweden (considered together).
• Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany.
• Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Helsinki, Finland.
• Stockholm, Sweden.
• London, UK.
• Munich, Germany.
• Zurich, Switzerland.
• Vancouver, Canada.

1.5.3 The review of each city or region was structured around the following factors, which relate to the overall objectives of the study:

• Their transport policy objectives.
• How they organise transport policy implementation.
• How they are governed.
• How they are funded.
• Whether there have been any major changes in their activities, or governance structure, in the recent past, that have either made it easier or more difficult to achieve their transport objectives.
• The actual measures that have been implemented.
• Levels and types of fare available for public transport services.
• Their costs, both for operations and investment.
• Measures of achievement - increases in public transport ridership, increases in quality of public transport, evidence of success in achieving land use policy goals and, most importantly, any changes in modal share for trips in their region.
• Whether the barriers to Scottish transport policy implementation identified in paragraph 1.1.3 have been overcome to any greater extent in these "good practice" examples than they have in Scotland and, if so, why.
• Success factors in each case.

1.5.4 It has not been possible in every case to gather information for every one of these criteria, but an attempt has been made to gather enough information in each case such that each example can be compared meaningfully with another.

1.5.5 From these preceding elements of the study, a set of "ideal pre-conditions" is derived. These are the conditions that should be in existence for a region to have the best possible chance of delivering its transport policy objectives. These pre-conditions include the existence of a certain type of transport governance structure, but they also include other factors - for example, supportive land-use and parking policies that are actually implemented, and sufficient levels of funding.

1.5.6 In the final section of the report, the "ideal pre-conditions" are compared to the prevailing Scottish situation. A review of Local Transport Strategies has identified projects where a regional approach to implementation is likely to be required. The report considers the degree to which these projects would be more likely to be implemented, were the "ideal pre-conditions" to be in place. Finally, the costs of changing Scottish transport delivery conditions to a situation closer to the "ideal pre-conditions" are considered.

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