Workshop 6 report: delivering sustainable public transport

After a discussion of the meaning of ‘sustainable public transport’, this Workshop discussed issues of need, system design, institutional arrangements, environmental improvements and social aspects of service. Land use/transport integration was seen as critical for long term strategic direction setting for public transport, backed by sustainable financing/funding arrangements. These need to encompass such revenue sources as externality pricing, user pays, beneficiary pays, wider value capture, asset sales and other opportunities. Such matters are just some of the important examples of governance/institutional design considerations that underpin sustainable public transport, an area the workshop recognised as needing much greater future focus. Ways to grow public transport use, and improve service delivery efficiencies and performance, in both trunk and local markets were discussed, with a particular focus on flexible transport systems. Whether these services should target specific niche markets or pursue a wider customer base was an area of some disagreement requiring further research, in a low density developed country setting. The different roles played by flexible transport systems between developed and emerging countries were notable. The workshop developed a set of general principles intended to further promote sustainable public transport.