Keyword benefits; bus and rail; performance of services; urban planning; infrastructure; accessibility

In response to problems of congestion and over-reliance on private cars in urban areas, where most transport activities take place and where the exposure of the population to transport-related impacts is the highest, further impetus must be given to the development and promotion of public transport. While transport volumes and the number of motor vehicles in Europe have been growing steadily over the past 30 years, these trends are particularly alarming in a number of Central and Eastern European countries as a result of strong economic growth and the historical evidence of a strong correlation between economic growth and growth in transport. In addition, in many of these countries, individual passenger transport is widely seen as an expression of personal freedom and economic success.

While public transport used to play an important role in Central and Eastern Europe, it is quickly losing ground to private road transport, in part due to a lack of investment and maintenance of the relevant infrastructure and fleets. A study undertaken by the Central European Initiative entitled "Towards Sustainable Transport in the CEI Countries", examined 14 Central and Eastern European countries and predicted that, if current policies continue, by 2010 passenger car use will have doubled compared to 1994 levels; by 2030, it will have increased by a further 150%. Furthermore, the development of regional transport infrastructures, where not properly coordinated with land-use and environment policies, has led to urban sprawl and the functional segregation of peripheral areas. Public transport in these more sparsely populated areas is uneconomical, and measures to limit the use of private vehicles and to meet the mobility and accessibility demands of people without cars have often had limited impact.

The development of measures for promoting high quality and integrated public transport and reducing the need for and the volume of car traffic requires important investments in urban public transport. In case of privatization of public transport, special care is needed to avoid negative effects on regional and modal integration of transport. In particular, the same environmental standards should be met by all public transport providers alike.