Market mechanisms are increasingly introduced in passenger transport markets, including those of infrastructure provision and maintenance. This has led to, e.g., tendering of local public transport and taxi services, as well as in building, operation and maintenance of road and rail infrastructure. The institutional setting is also changed.

New Passenger Transport Authorities are established and organize local public transport tenders. Express coaches are deregulated. The taxi market is increasingly governed by contracts. The railway reform emphasizes new agencies, competition, and business models.

The sharing economy enters the markets for transport services and challenges the legal framework, the market structure and its service providers. These new services call for new approaches to regulation, which again requires in-depth understanding of their nature.

The project Competition in passenger transport – governance, regulation and efficiency is a strategic, five-year project at the Institute of transport economics. The purpose is to build and maintain expertise in the areas of competition, governance, regulation and efficiency in passenger transport. We combine theoretic and scientific approaches to regulation and governance with rigorous empirical analysis based on evidence from the passenger transport sector. The project runs 2016-2020.