comment
a tram on Karl-marx-allee, Berlin.
Holders of a single ticket can move
seamlessly between modes of
public transport in German cities.
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hter iStoc
co Ric
© Mar
Continental European systems usually depend very heavily on bus-metro exchanges in favour of making their whole journey on the
subsidies – for up to 70 per cent of operating costs in Turin and same bus.
Rotterdam. Many British transport services receive no subsidy at It is also still noteworthy that Britain’s rail system over the last 15
all. While there is a strong case for extra subsidy in Britain, there years has seen faster passenger growth than any other European railway.
is little evidence British taxpayers are willing to fund anything like The most compelling explanation remains that, as the continent’s only
the subsidies common elsewhere in Europe. Nor is it obvious that a fully-privatised railway, it has responded better to customer demands
system where the beneficiaries of a transport system pay a minority than its state-run, more ‘integrated’ continental counterparts.
of its costs is socially just. None of this is to say that Oyster ticketing and similar initiatives
There are also questions about choice and flexibility with should not be extended to as many transport modes as possible. It
integrated, publicly-owned systems. Over the summer, Germany’s has to be hugely beneficial to rail and other public transport modes
Deutsche Bahn was forced to take nearly all the rolling stock of if travellers are sure they can pay easily and quickly for their whole
Berlin’s S-Bahn system out of service because it had failed to follow journey without stopping to buy different, mutually-incompatible
the proper procedures in maintaining failure-prone wheels. The tickets. Train operators’ growing willingness to offer Plusbus tickets
incident has, unsurprisingly, led to new calls for an alternative to DB, for onward bus journeys needs to be encouraged.
which currently runs every major German city’s S-Bahn on mostly There are powerful arguments for a wholesale revision of competition
long-term, high-cost contracts. Would the Berlin S-Bahn be running law surrounding public transport. It must surely be possible to find
as badly today if, say, its operation had been contracted out to two ways to let bus operators work with train operators and each other,
separate, closely-monitored private franchisees? to co-ordinate services yet maintain competition in price and service.
Monopoly provision of services also has real costs. When a Berlin Integrated Transport Authorities complain that it is hard to introduce
tram line is closed for repairs, for example, there is no private bus smartcards in their areas because not all bus operators will join in.
company that will ensure a replacement service is run. But a system that took in the main local rail franchises and big bus
Publicly-managed systems need not be more sensitive to operators would surely attract any initially reluctant operators to join.
passengers’ needs than privately-run ones. Roger French, managing Yet, while passengers should undoubtedly be able to use trains,
director of Go-Ahead’s Brighton & Hove bus company, recounts metros, trams and buses more easily and change easily between
how, before bus deregulation, the company used to serve the council different modes, integration is not always the most desirable goal for
leader’s leafy ward excellently. The council estates, whose residents its own sake. Systems that encourage operators to respond flexibly to
needed bus services far more, were neglected. A centrally-planned passengers’ choices may be better at meeting users’ needs.
transport system – particularly one that relies more on subsidy than
ticket revenue – is always likely to be prey to such distortions. Once Robert Wright is the transport correspondent for the Financial Times:
passengers had the choice, for example, many deserted the PTEs’ robert.wright@ft.com
January 2010 : rail professional 17
RPJan10 pp16-17 Wright Track.indd 17 11/12/09 13:08:04
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