This is the first of two articles giving an overview of the main current policy developments relating to urban and regional public transport in the Netherlands. Public transport has been changed a lot in a relatively short time, particularly in the last decade with respect to its management and operations. Within the context of the decentralisation of public transport responsibilties, a relatively simple division of tasks has gradually given way to a structure in which provinces, municipalities and metropolitan areas have responsibilities. This structure is complex and can cause coordination problems. In parallel with this, cost covering systems have also had to undergo radical changes, because improved quality, transport growth and higher cost coverage have so far been underrated by these systems. In public transport operations, there has been an increase in scale in the business sector through mergers and take-overs. The boundaries between urban and regional transport are becoming blurred; they are merging into urbanised regional public transport. In spite of all the changes however, the share of public transport in total mobility has still to grow. To give urban and regional transport a forceful impulse, a plea is made for a management structure at the metropolitan regional level in which the central city is accorded a more prominent part in public transport management. For part 2 see C 18846 fo (ITRD E203873).
Samenvatting