Administration of Urban Public Transport in the Largest Polish Cities

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we compare the solutions which the largest Polish cities apply to effectively manage and administer public urban transport. We pay attention to the legal, administrative, and political limitations of current activities; we also analyse public transport strategies in terms of plans for the future. We state that large Polish cities prefer to entrust public transport services to fully dependent companies, do not seek to diversify service providers and do not allow the coexistence of public and private operators. Our research is the first comparative study which has used the eleven largest Polish cities as a research sample. Its results are important not only for decision-makers, but also for entrepreneurs in the transport industry. Not only does our analysis prove that, currently, urban transport in the largest Polish cities is carried out mostly by companies which fully belong to cities, but also that the future strategies of the target state will not be determined by political decision makers at all, or no significant changes are foreseen. In the largest Polish cities in the future, the tramway sector will be fully controlled by municipal companies; in the bus transport sector, private carriers will be able to count on a maximum of 20–30% share of transport work while the railway sector will remain under the control of regional administration, not local urban administration.