Sustainability Analysis of Competition in Public Transport Systems: A Comparative Case Study in Hungary and Finland

Abstract

Ongoing competition between bus and railway systems in European (especially in the middle, south and east part) regional passenger transport is a current problem. Long term sustainability and efficiency in passenger transport requires a balanced transport policy. These subsectors need to be complement each other, not compete. The parallel bus and railway links can result in a competition. This research explores solutions to this issue for long term environmental and economic sustainability optimization. Some of the important factors include the number of inhabitants to be served, public transport availability, and efficiency in time of travel for vehicles and passengers. To ensure long term sustainability of the presented methodology, the effect of interventions was analyzed. The study compares Finland and Hungary in terms of the competition regional railway and bus links.