CET Lunch: Governance Challenges in Public Transport Coordination

Governance Challenges in Public Transport Coordination: How does the Level of Government Subsidizing Service Affect Fragmentation and Coordination of Services?

Existing literature has identified public transport ridership increases associated with strong coordination through ticketing and scheduling, but hasnot fully examined what governance mechanisms create fragmentation or facilitate/hinder coordination of services. This study focuses on four regions in Europe and the US—Oslo, Frankfurt, Philadelphia and Dallas-Fort Worth—examining the impact of operational subsidies from national/state versus local governments on service coordination. While Multi-Level Governance Theory suggests transport agencies funded at state or national levels should have more resources and more ability to coordinate, this research identifies vulnerabilities to unpredictable support/funding from higher-level government subsidies in the US cases.  However this research also identifies more consistent service integration from services subsidized by higher-level governments compared to municipally-funded services, which vary depending on non-financial coordination assistance and due to uneven coordination across municipalities. This presentation describes how municipally-funded services face the challenge of coordinating with other partners funded by compatible financial resources.  

About the speaker

Dr Weinreich is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation at the University of Bergen, and received his doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan.  He was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow and an Eisenhower Transportation Fellow, and conducts research on the role of transport governance in affecting transport policies.