Fifty Years Of Transport Policy: Successes, Failures And New Challenges

50Full GB 8/09/03 13:08 Page 1 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORT FIFTY YEARS OF TRANSPORT POLICY Transport policy may well have reached a turning point. It will not be possible to manage projected traffic growth using traditional methods that concentrate on increasing infrastructure capacity. New incentives, new pricing, and new instruments to better manage investment and demand are all required. In order to meet the emerging challenges, this publication outlines a number of strategic directions for transport policy in the coming years. In addition, the publication contains a summary paper presented to Ministers at the 87th ministerial session which also marked the ECMT 50th anniversary. FIFTY YEARS OF TRANSPORT POLICY Successes, Failures and New Challenges This publication contains the following papers: Rail Policy and Rail Subsidies - An Endless History with Weak Results. By Professor Gerd Aberle European Transport Policy and the Position of Inland Navigation. By Professor Gerd Aberle Assessing our Expertise. By Professor Alain Bonnafous Competition vs. Regulation in Transport - The Appraisal of Past Policies and Lessons for the Future. By Professor George A. Giannopoulos How easy is it to Change Behaviour? By Professor Phil Goodwin Trends in Transport Investment Funding: Past, Present and Future. By Mrs Eva Molnar Main Transport Policy Issues in Transitional Economies in Central and Eastern Europe. By Professor Wojciech Suchorzewski Transport Policy Development in Europe 1950-2020. By Professor José Manuel Viegas -:HSTCSC=VUXVXZ: (75 2003 09 1 P) ISBN 92-821-0313-7 2003 FIFTY YEARS OF TRANSPORT POLICY 1953 2003 p1 50GB 9/09/03 10:33 Page 1 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORT FIFTY YEARS OF TRANSPORT POLICY Successes, Failures and New Challenges CEMT ECMT 1953 2003 FOREWORD The Protocol establishing the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) was signed in Brussels on 17 October 1953. To mark the fiftieth anniversary we decided to take a broad look at transport policy in Europe over the past fifty years and to assess its strengths and weaknesses. A note entitled "Transport policy: successes, failures and new challenges" was drawn up by the Secretariat for discussion by the ECMT Council of Ministers at its session on 23 and 24 April 2003 in the Egmont Palace Brussels, the very location where ECMT first came into being. This report, which reviews transport policy over the past 50 years, first draws attention to the remarkable progress that the transport sector has made over the past half-century. Extraordinary productivity gains have been made and these gains have clearly helped to drive economic growth. Transport is now faster and cheaper than ever, and enhanced co-operation at the international level has allowed policies to be rationalised and harmonised. A number of inadequacies are also apparent, however, in that transport still suffers from congestion, pollution, accidents, inappropriate pricing, under investment and the continued lack of a genuinely comprehensive transport chain. The array of instruments used at the policy level remains limited, with too much emphasis on the supply side and assistance to suppliers; and at the same time, the institutional structures serving the sector remain too fragmented. Noting these shortcomings, the report for Ministers describes the challenges that transport policy will have to meet in the future. At the broadest level, transport policy may well have reached a turning point. It will not be possible to manage the forecast growth in traffic using traditional methods that concentrate on increasing infrastructure capacity. New incentives and new instruments for pricing, invest