The developments in urban public transport in morocco in the 1980s, with focus on the two largest cities, casablanca and rabat, are traced. In view of the near collapse of transport services provided by minicipal enterprises in the early 1980s and their difficult financial situation, the underlying problems of infrequent fare adjustments, failure to compensate the enterprises for the low social fares of school children, and organizational rigidity inherent to the public sector, are identified. Several early propositions expected to resolve the urban transport crisis are discussed, including the marketsegmentation experiment introduced by the rabat municipal transportcompany (the provision of seat-only, double-fare services), and plans to construct new urban rail systems in the two cities. An approach that was implemented in 1985 has become a success story in north africa. It includes the deregulation of public transport services in casablanca and rabat, in which private operators are allowed to break the public enterprise monopoly, albeit only in the first-class (seat-only) market. The principal issues remaining 5 years into the experience with deregulation, notably what to do with insolvent public enterprises, how to help the private sector achieve its full potential, and how to protect the most vulnerable travelers--the urban poor--are reviewed. This paper appears in transportation research recordno. 1297, Public transit research: management and planning 1991 .
Abstract