Competitive tendering in an entry regulated market—an accident waiting to happen?

Introduction Competitive tendering was introduced in the contract segment of the Norwegian taxi industry in 2005; a market characterised by entry regulation. Using this reform as a natural experiment this research looks into how competitive tendering has resulted in different outcomes in different segments of the taxi market and which explanations are best at describing the results. Methods The main sources of data are the taximeter data and case studies, conducted as part of a study of the rural taxi industry in Norway. This data have been supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders and data on prices and volumes from various purchasers of transport services, such as health corporations and county governments. Results The empirical data shows a lot of variation. There are very different outcomes in the different cases studied. However, the research shows that competitive tendering has mostly worked according to intention in the most central regions. These are characterised by many potential suppliers and that the tendered contracts are relative small compared with the total size of the market. I rural areas the results differ, with poor results from tendering in the intermediate areas and mostly satisfactory results in the most rural areas. Conclusions Experience from the Norwegian taxi industry shows that competitive tendering is possible within entry-regulated markets. Still, there are issues that remain to be solved, in particular in rural areas. This is due to both interdependency between the purchaser and the service provider, and the size of the markets. For other sectors, the main lessons are that competitive tendering can work, even with regulated entry, but that it needs to be adapted to suit the characteristics of each market. This research shows that there is significant variation within a sector. A tool such as competitive tendering can be well suited in one area, but inappropriate in another. This research suggests that the outcome is related to both hard factors such as market size and number of entrants, but also to factors like interdependency and negotiation climate.publishedVersio

Implications of ridesourcing and self-driving vehicles on the need for regulation in unscheduled passenger transport

One of the major recent developments in passenger transport is the arrival of large scale ridesourcing services, such as Uber and Lyft. These actors have challenged the definitions of what private and commercial transport is, by utilizing fleets of private cars and app-technology. Ridesourcing services pose several challenges to the existing transport framework. They exist in-between commercial and private activities, are partly outside the control of governments, and partly in direct contradiction with the current regulations. This paper also looks at how ridesourcing and autonomous vehicles may reshape the market for unscheduled passenger transport. This paper combines the use of literature on regulation and the economic properties of the markets for unscheduled passenger transport with scenario analyses to look into how ridesourcing and automated vehicles affect the markets in unscheduled passenger transport. The main findings are that as underlying economic mechanisms that points towards situations that calls for regulation are similar regardless of how the services are offered, the need for regulation will remain. However, as the market properties of the market segments are different, and a shift in the relative importance of the different market segments are likely, the possible and suitable points of regulation will change.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Competitive tendering in an entry regulated market—an accident waiting to happen?

Introduction Competitive tendering was introduced in the contract segment of the Norwegian taxi industry in 2005; a market characterised by entry regulation. Using this reform as a natural experiment this research looks into how competitive tendering has resulted in different outcomes in different segments of the taxi market and which explanations are best at describing the results. Methods The main sources of data are the taximeter data and case studies, conducted as part of a study of the rural taxi industry in Norway. This data have been supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders and data on prices and volumes from various purchasers of transport services, such as health corporations and county governments. Results The empirical data shows a lot of variation. There are very different outcomes in the different cases studied. However, the research shows that competitive tendering has mostly worked according to intention in the most central regions. These are characterised by many potential suppliers and that the tendered contracts are relative small compared with the total size of the market. I rural areas the results differ, with poor results from tendering in the intermediate areas and mostly satisfactory results in the most rural areas. Conclusions Experience from the Norwegian taxi industry shows that competitive tendering is possible within entry-regulated markets. Still, there are issues that remain to be solved, in particular in rural areas. This is due to both interdependency between the purchaser and the service provider, and the size of the markets. For other sectors, the main lessons are that competitive tendering can work, even with regulated entry, but that it needs to be adapted to suit the characteristics of each market. This research shows that there is significant variation within a sector. A tool such as competitive tendering can be well suited in one area, but inappropriate in another. This research suggests that the outcome is related to both hard factors such as market size and number of entrants, but also to factors like interdependency and negotiation climate. Document type: Articl

The geography of public transport competitiveness in thirteen medium sized cities

Thank you for publishing your article with SAGE Publishing and Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. Your article “The geography of public transport competitiveness in thirteen medium sized cities” is now published.Securing sufficient accessibility with public transport is essential for reducing private car commuting. While most studies of transport accessibility are based on travel times, other quality factors such as the perceived disadvantage of congestion and service frequency are also of importance for transport mode choice. In this study, we use generalized journey times to calculate accessibility and public transport competitiveness, allowing us to account for other characteristics of commute trips than just travel time. We use detailed trip data to calculate generalized journey times to typical employment areas in thirteen urban regions in Norway. The results show that public transport services compete better with the car in the largest cities. Specifically, public transport is competitive for access to central employment areas but less so for less central employment areas. In the smaller cities, the private car is the most competitive mode on most commute trips. With detailed travel data, the method developed in this study can be replicated in other contexts to provide a more holistic measure of accessibility than traditional methods.The geography of public transport competitiveness in thirteen medium sized citiesacceptedVersio

Looking back at 20 years of competitive tendering in the Norwegian bus industry – explaining cost increases and reduced competition

Our paper investigates the developments in the Norwegian bus industry following the ramp-up of competitive tendering since the early 2000s. We analyse a complete dataset of all 232 local bus contracts awarded through competitive tendering in Norway since 1995. We also utilize the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (CRE) for structural developments in the bus industry. We first present some overall tendencies, including developments in number of bids per tender, contract size and cost developments. The average cost per kilometre has increased substantially more than the general rate of inflation. At the same time, the average number of bidders per contract has fallen moderately but steadily. Second, we build regression models to identify key drivers of cost developments. Contract sizes, in terms of vehicle-kilometres are found on average to be on the low side and an increase would reduce unit prices. We find as expected a significant effect of the number of bidders on unit prices. This leads us to a further investigation of factors explaining the number of bids per tender. We find that larger contracts tend to attract more bids, as do repeated tenders in the same area.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Nytte av tiltak for universell utforming i kollektivtransporten

Universell utforming betyr at hovedløsningen skal kunne benyttes av alle – uansett forutsetninger. For kollektivtransport gjelder det at hvert ledd i en reisekjede skal være utformet slik at kollektivtransportsystemet er tilgjengelig for alle. Denne artikkelen dokumenterer at tiltak for universell utforming i stor grad oppfattes som generell kvalitetsheving av kollektivtilbudet og i mindre grad som spesialløsninger for funksjonshemmede. Dermed kan slike tiltak vurderes på linje med andre tiltak for bedre kollektivtransport i samfunnsøkonomisk nyttekostnadsanalyser, noe som hittil ikke har vært vanlig

Universal Design as a Way of Thinking About Mobility

The concept of universal design in reference to a strategy to counter social exclusion was first coined by the architect Ronald Mace. He defined Universal design (UD) as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”. This paper will look into the use of UD as a policy objective for transport policy, using Norwegian experience as an example. UD was adopted as one of the four major policy objectives in Norwegian transport policy in 2009. However, from 2018 onwards UD is no longer a main policy objective. This experience with UD as a policy objective is used as an empirical backdrop for a more principal discussion on the usefulness of UD in transport and mobility. I conclude by pointing at UD as a useful vision, but difficult policy objective.acceptedVersio

Implications of ride-sourcing and self-driving vehicles on the need for regulation in unscheduled passenger transport

The recent emergence of large-scale ride-sourcing services, such as Uber and Lyft, is a major development in passenger transport. By utilizing fleets of private cars and app technology, these services call into question the definitions of private and commercial transport and challenge the existing transport framework in multiple ways. By operating between commercial and private services, they are partly outside the control of governments and, to some extent, contravene current regulations. In this paper, we combine the literature on regulation and economic properties of the unscheduled passenger transport markets with scenario analyses for examining how ride-sourcing and automated vehicles affect these markets. Our main findings are that the underlying economic mechanisms faced in markets dominated by ride-sourcing and automated vehicles have similarities with traditional markets. Hence, regardless of how the services are offered, some need for regulation will remain. However, as the market segments are different and a shift in their relative importance is likely, the possible and suitable forms of regulation will change.acceptedVersio

Subsidising urban and sub-urban transport – distributional impacts

Background and methods This paper studies distributional effects of public transport (PT) subsidies focusing on the Greater Oslo region. We identify how different PT markets enjoy different levels of subsidies. We describe how subsidies are distributed along PT modes and their respective patronage. This is done by document studies and travel surveys, supplemented by expert inquiries. Results We find that high-income groups, served by regional trains and high-speed crafts, receive large per passenger and per passenger-kilometre subsidy, while lower-income areas, typically served by local and regional buses, metros and local trains, receive lower subsidies per passenger. Peak traffic receives higher subsidies than off-peak traffic. The overall distributional profile is, however, found to be moderately progressive, in particular because of the socio-economic profile of the average PT passenger relative to the population as a whole.publishedVersio

A transition to battery electric vehicles without V2G: an outcome explained by a strong electricity regime and a weak automobility regime?

Abstract Background A sustainability transition in mobility is dependent on a transition away from a fossil fuel-based automobility regime. Smart charging, in the form of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) has been presented as one—or even the—key technology in facilitating a sustainability transition in the automobility regime. With the large global increase in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) combined with a rapid increase in the production of wind and solar energy, V2G may indeed become a key technology to enable the balancing of electricity grids worldwide. Thus far, however, the large-scale introduction of BEVs in Norway has been implemented without the use of commercial V2G systems; indeed, it has only recently been implemented in commercial smart charging stations, and then only in the less-radical form of grid-to-vehicle (G2V) systems. The Norwegian experience is contrary to expectations in the sustainability transitions literature and, therefore, merits further investigation. This article details how and why this outcome unfolded and considers the relative strength of the automobility and electricity regimes as a possible explanation. Specifically, it asks: can the absence of commercial V2G charging in Norway be explained by the structure of the existing regimes? And, if so, is this generalisable? Results To answer the research question, the study employed an exploratory two-stage case study approach, drawing on 36 expert interviews. The first stage included 27 interviews with key actors, including stakeholder organisations. These were followed by nine in-depth interviews with key actors in smart charging. The interviews were analysed using a multi-level perspective (MLP) framework. The study finds that the relative strength of the involved regimes influences how the challenge is framed and which solutions are presented. Cases in point: regime actors use smart charging (G2V) as an add-on to their existing services, while start-ups without the same ties to the established regime present and promote solutions that conflict with the existing regime. Conclusions This article finds that the solutions presented by regime actors have thus far been more commercially successful, compared with solutions presented by start-ups. This finding is in line with previous research that suggests that actors with strong ties to the existing regime present less-radical solutions with lower transformational potential, while niche actors without these ties present more-radical solutions. Still, the absence of V2G and the relative low market penetration of other advanced smart charging solutions have not prevented the introduction of BEVs from reaching the acceleration phase. This means that V2G is not necessary for large-scale BEV introduction, in all cases. By extension, this suggests that V2G mainly addresses issues with the electrical grid, highlighted by BEVs. BEVs may be successfully introduced at scale, where the pre-existing grid is well-developed, with sufficient balancing capacity. If this precondition is not met, the transition to BEVs may be contingent on smart charging or costly grid extensions. This can be the case at specific locations in Norway, but it may be more prevalent in other locations