Strategic governance and transition capacity in public transport

The aim of the project has been to analyse and evaluate informal and formal policy instruments to strengthen the role of public transport in the transport system and to contribute to a transition to a low carbon and efficient public transport. Two main aspects of the role of public transport have been studied. The first was about the transition from fossil to renewable fuels in the bus sector. The second was about the planning and development of public transport and which different planning ideals have been most visible.

In the first sub-project an analysis was made of the challenges and opportunities that regional actors face when they introduce renewable fuels in bus traffic. It was seen that there has been a transition in the bus traffic which today (2021) uses more than 90% renewable fuels. This transition has been done with the use of the tool green public procurement where the public transport authority puts requirements on the operators to use renewable fuels. Different types of requirements can be used in the procurement which gives different outcomes. Functional requirements on emission reductions or a certain share of renewables are more cost efficient and flexible but do not give control over which fuel is used. Specific requirements on a certain fuel comes with higher costs and is not recommended by the sector organisations, but has shown to be effective to introduce new fuels that lack existing infrastructure such as biogas and electric buses. Apart from green public procurement it is also necessary to use other measures such as infrastructure investments, test projects and cooperation between new actors, particularly when electric buses are introduced.

In the second sub-project the focus has been to in detial understand how planning of public transport has developed over time and what makes some planning rationalities dominant and what effects this has. The empirical focus has been public transport planning in Skåne between the year 1970 and 2020, and the specific question has been how and why transit corridors has developed to a dominating planning paradigm. In the beginning of the studied perios the role of public transport was seen as a complement to the car and much focus was on geographical and economic justice which motivated investments in the regional public transport systems. Gradually the focus shifted to that public transport should be more economically efficient, contribute to regional development and be an alternative to the car in relations with large travel basis. This shift has lead to investments in transit corridors while there have been cutbacks in weaker relations. The study shows that this development has not been evident but rather a result of conflicts between different actors where some municipalities have been against the cutbacks. During the studied period travels with public transport has increased a lot and public transport is today an important part of the transport system in Skåne. At the same time the underlying conflict between efficiency and accessibility has always been present and this is something future planning has to deal with, not least since increased climate policy ambitions most probably will make it more expensive to use the car meaning that people in small towns and rural areas will need good access to public transport.