Codatu XI in 2004 - Bucarest (Romania)

Topic of the conference : Towards more attractive Urban Transport ?

The conference CODATU XII gathered nearly 75 communications coming from all the continents, great diversity of subjects varying approaches, views and positions on important matters.

Please find below the conclusions scientific of the conference :

Two striking cases :

Overall, CODATU XI presentations and discussions indicate :

A diversity of approaches to define and evaluate attractiveness of urban transport (focus of the conference). Most common approach focus on user preferences in modal choice (frequency, travel time, comfort) and measures of external impacts (environment).
Less common consideration of quality for pedestrians, non-motorized modes, passenger cars and freight vehicles Even less common : indicators of transport system success (access to opportunities, link to urban economy). Professionals are slow to link Public Transport attractiveness with ability to pay (wealth, poverty).

Slow emergence of a demand focused , service-delivery approach of which the concern for attractiveness and quality is a partial relection.

Need for an expanded, comprehensive diagnostic of urban transport problems as basis for action example of a subject missing in both diagnostics and actions plans :Lack of attention to urban freight and, more generally, absence of a system approach to urban road space management.

Session on Financing:

Proposal to transcend the negative concept of subsidy in favor of an approach to develop a financial plan for any investment, operation, or policy reform in project finance, importance of creating a revenue stream concept of risk management is essential, but not yet common among concerns of ut planners.
What is the more important barrier to improvements : shortage of funds or weak institutions ? Contrary to a common view, it may be the latter.

Session on modal integration (fares and schedules) :

Integration of public transport seen as an instrument to increase quality still a long way to implement integration in cities of the developing world trend focus on technological aspects of integration as opposed to underlying issues of devergent interest, and other policy and other policy and institutional issues condition for successfull integration : a strong public transport regularoty authority .

Session on Public Transport - Organization and Regulation :

Movements in several directions : some cities are re-regulating (Bogota), some are moving to deregulate (Indian cities), some are standing still..
re-regulation =return to accountability corollary to deregulation : a strong trend towards un-bundling of functions, I.E.the separation of Public Transport services from planning and regulatory functions need to build up regulatory capacity locally. Same capacity is needed for modal integration strength of the legal system and market characteristics are the most important local factors which point at the best-suited regulatory arrangement.
From the summary of presentations and discussions , re private sector involvement : the relationship between the state and the private sector is a delicate one that must be nurtured, especially where it is a condition for future investment in transport. All papers recognized the contributions of private sector operators in providing new, innovative services ; however, most emphasized the key role of government in clearly delineating policy objectives in response to user needs.

Session on Public Transport Systems

Innovative approach to designing bus-based rapid -transmilenio in Bogota) in east europe and elsewhere, great potential of traditional street car (tram) networks :
- to maximize the benefits of their exclusive location,
- to use physical/operational restructuring in tandem with regulatory innovation (e.g. introduce concessions).

Session on external impacts of transport :

Impressive array of techniques to evaluate external impacts, and design mitigation actions .
Measurement and discussio of social and developmental impacts still receives less attention than environmental impacts need to bring external impacts earlier into the design process (i.e. at the stage of option design and evaluation) .
Importance of the dialogue (link to the session on participation).

Session on participation of users in various planning and decision processes :

Participation essential for a demand-focused approach but still in infancy.

Session on urban roads and traffic western european approach

Restraining traffic may not be appropriate for cities where motorization and traffic are now growings as a higher standard of living produces demands for individual transport. In other words: Accomodation by increasing road capacity option but : how far to go to accommodate traffic needs to be considered with much greater attention than hitherto done.

Topics not addressed in this conference :
- Pricing issues and strategies for public transport services (as opposed to fare integration technology and benefits).
- Regulating the demand for road traffic through pricing (one paper did report on a survey of public acceptance).
- Even traffic restraint experiences were rarely reported environmental impacts of motorization aggregated well beyond city level (global warming) urban transport and land use.
- Transport in the context of other urban and country developments (population and economic growth, economic restructuring...).

A thought worth keeping :
"The urban public transport is very technical dynamic, complex and evolutionary ; it requires to be led by people who profit from a true education of transport ".