EUROPEAN METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT AUTHORITIES

November 2005 - n° 22 Transport Policy and Urban Environment: News from Europe Europe at Crossroads One step forward for the third railway package During the past months, the EU Commission has adopted the third railway package on 3 March 2004. price of crude oil continued to It contains measures to revitalise the European railways. The package consists rise and all economic forecasts of a Communication, four legislative measures and a working document expect an increasing trend on an extended impact assessment for the gradual opening up of the due to the growing demand market for international passenger services. One of the legislative measures editorial and the necessarily limited is the amendment of Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the supply. The end of our era of Community's railways opening up by 2010 the market for international cheap fossil energy becomes passenger services by rail. more and more obvious for Georg Jarzembowski presented a report asking for more competition in the decision-makers and for all citizens. railways. On the basis of this report the MEPs Transport Committee proposed In the same time the dramatic climatic an amendment aiming at including national passenger services in the legislation events that occurred, particularly on the - and not just international ones as proposed in the package proposed by the Commission . It has been proposed to open up international passenger services American continent, reinforced the awareness to competition by 1 January 2008 and national passenger services by 1 January of climate change and the necessity to act 2012. The committee also demanded to let Member States opening up their urgently. The first meeting of the Parties to networks earlier if they so wish. This amendment has been adopted by the the Kyoto Protocol (MOP 1) that will take European Parliament. place in Montreal from 28 November to 9 December will have the difficult task to In this session, MEPs also voted in favour of the introduction of a compensation make proposals for further actions to be system for train travellers. This compensation should not only apply to undertaken after 2012. Europe has a key international rail passengers, as the Commission had proposed, but also to national ones. According to the amendment, the following minimum role to play as the major economic player compensation should be paid to passengers for delays no later than one month having ratified the Kyoto Protocol. after application has been made: An efficient transport policy is crucial to > 25% of the fare for a delay of one hour or more address these two challenges. Transport has actually a high dependence on fossil energy > 50% for a delay of 2 hours or more and contributes in a large scale to green- > 75% for a delay of 3 hours or more house effect gases emissions. In adopting a range of amendments, Parliament took the view that the right of This new framework has to be taken into persons with a reduced mobility should be fundamentally guaranteed. account in the mid-term review of the 2001 Therefore railway operators must guarantee accessibility of stations, platforms Transport Policy and the Thematic Strategy and means of transport by eliminating all obstacles to boarding, disembarkation on the Urban Environment, currently being and remaining on board. prepared by the EU Commission. Europe www.europarl.eu.int will then be able to promote and help the transformation of our cities into EU Parliament supports road safety targets energy-efficient and low emission areas. Ari Vatanen, member of the European Parliament presented a report on road Achieving this objective will require safety in Europe, which points out that improvements in road safety come from efficient and reliable a combination of safer drivers, safer cars and safer roads. According the networks, more co-ordination between European Commission's Community Road Accident Database (CARE) land-use and transport planning, higher 40,000 lives are lost and 1.7 million people are injured in road accidents incentives to use clean individual vehicles and every year across the EU. Direct and indirect costs are estimated € a promotion of smooth modes of transport. at 160 billion. A third of road fatalities occur in urban areas (33.8 % in 2002 for EU 15). Compliance with existing rules would have a tremendous effect on fatalities, Jonathan Goldberg Secretary General of EMTA reducing them by 60% but enforcement is an exclusive competency of Member States. At EU level, the report proposes to implement mutual recognition of financial penalties among Member States. It also calls for further progress in vehicle design, using technological developments as seat belt reminders, Don’t hesitate to contact electronic stability controls and speed limitation systems. Lastly, the document us if you want to receive this stresses the importance of safety improvements in the design, construction and operation of the road network. newsletter directly by e-mail: [email protected] The Parliament acknowledged the report largely adopted on 29 September a resolution targeting a reduction by 50% of road casualties by 2010. www.europarl.eu.int News from the cities

Rail services improvements Stockholm about to experiment Very short term rental of cycles foreseen in congestion charging available in Lyon Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) are The Municipality of Stockholm will experiment Greater Lyon launched in May VeloV, currently working on the strategic planning a trial period for congestion charging for all an innovative service of cycle rental for of rail services for 2030: the Zukünftige private vehicles crossing the city border on very short duration. Rental spots are Entwicklung der Bahnprojekte (ZEB). weekdays. Car users will have to pay for spread across the cities of Lyon and Concrete measures will be announced in each crossing with a maximal daily fee of Villeurbanne, where about 600,000 2006, as required by the Parliament. about €6 per day and per car. The trial will people live and work. The network consists However, general guidelines of service take place from 3 January to 31 July 2006 of almost 200 stations, situated in strategic improvements have been exposed in and a referendum will be held in September locations and no more than five minutes September. The scope covers all types of rail 2006. away from any place in the city. services: freight, long distance transport, Three kinds of subscription are proposed, and local public transport. The program The modal split of public transport is with different prices and different billing focuses on infrastructure where absolutely expected to increase due to the charge. At options (pre-paid or post-paid). In any case, necessary and mainly on services where the the moment 73% of peak hours trips to the it is necessary to get a VeloV Card for supply is not matching the demand city centre are made by public transport. insurance purposes in case of damages or enough. The ZEB will enhance the services This figure should reach 80% during the liability. It is then possible to take a bike will improve the interconnections of mains trial period. In order to anticipate this modal from a station and to let it in any station of stations, that will become real transport shift, the transport authority SL increased its the network. The first 30 minutes of use are nodes, allowing smooth connections on the services from last August with 14 new bus free of charge, which encourages strongly hour and in some cases on the half hour. lines representing 200 buses and a light increase of rail services due to the limited the use for short trips. The TECELY public Three infrastructure projects are in the capacity of the track, that could be extended transport smartcard also gives access to the scope of the ZEB: the crossing of Zürich, the but only in a long term project. service. People using this type of card benefit missing link Tessin- towards Milan and The project costs consist mainly of car from a 60 minutes period free of charge. the international express line CEVA between identification, fee collection system and On 1 September, 23,000 people have register Geneva and Annemasse (see below). additional public transport provision. The project and have access to the 2,000 cycles available. is 100% funded by the national government. ZEB funding from federal government has been The first inquiries showed that average trips Costs amount to €363 million, including €50 estimated about €4 billion (6-7 billion CHF). length was 2.8 kilometres for a duration of million for public transport provision. www.sbb.ch 20 minutes, with a massive use during peak www.stockholm.se www.sl.se hours and near main train and metro stations, showing the complementarily with public Works begin for the international London uses fare policy to transport. An extension of the service to 400 link Geneva-Annemasse influence behaviours of travellers stations and 4,000 cycles is forecast for 2006. The surroundings of Geneva where In order to encourage the use of public € 910.000 people live and work are straddling The annual cost of operation is about 1,000 transport by young people, the Mayor of two countries: Switzerland and . This per cycle including the rental electronic London - Ken Livingstone, through his agency € situation makes transport issues complex devices, i.e. 2 million for the whole fleet. Transport for London, has extended the age for public authorities in charge of it. The system is managed by JCDecaux and is limit for children eligible for free travel on Transport demand is expected to grow included in a global 13 years contract of bus and tram networks from those under significantly by 2020, due to the forecast street furniture funded by Greater Lyon. the age of 11 to those under 16. Children increase of the population, expected to aged less than 13 can benefit from this www.velov.grandlyon.com reach 1.100.000 at this moment. opportunity without any specific requirement. The cross border rail based project linking 14- and 15-year-olds have to register and to Torino prepares to host winter Cornavin Airport, the centre of Geneva apply for a Child Oyster photo-card in order Olympics (Eaux-Vives) and the French city of to prove their age. This measure has a In about 100 days, Torino will host the XX Annemasse has been expected for about a potential impact on half million young people. Olympic Winter Games that will take place century and is about to become reality. from 10 February 2006. Organisation of In order to discourage people paying public Works began last September and the world wide events welcoming thousands of transport tickets by cash, causing long infrastructure will be in service by 2010-2012. visitors put a strong pressure on transport queues, the Mayor of London is to increase systems a wide range of projects are the differential between cash fares and The project consists in drilling a 4.8 undertaken to face the expected demand, pre-paid Oyster smart card fares. The price kilometre-tunnel, linking existing rail lines even if for winter Games, sports venues are that will be upgraded. In France, 2 more of cash Tube tickets will increase whilst mainly located… in the mountains. kilometres will be created from the border some Oyster fares will be reduced or frozen to Annemasse. The travel time between the to encourage the continued switch to Oyster The main project of the city of Torino is the Airport and Eaux-vives will be 9 minutes and use in order to speed up ticket purchasing. construction of an automated line of metro 17 minutes from the Airport to Annemasse. For example, on the Tube, the Zone 1 single (VAL), based on the same technology as the cash fare will increase from £2 to £3 (from one in Lille or Toulouse. The first section is The Swiss part of the project will cost CHF € € € 3 to 4.50) but the Oyster fare will reduce expected to enter in service in December. It 900 million (~ 600 million) and will be from £1.70 to £1.50 (from €2.50 to will serve 11 stations and will measure 7.6 funded 42% by Geneva Canton and 58% by €2.20). The cash fare for a peak period kilometres. The cost of the project is the federal level and the Federal Railways (CFF). single bus journeys will rise from the present estimated €700 million, 60% funded by The project is managed by an ad-hoc £1.20 to £1.50 (from €1.80 to €2.20) the Italian State. 3 more stations and an structure, bringing together the Canton, whilst the Oyster price is frozen at £1 (€1.50). additional 1.6 kilometre of infrastructure are CFF, the Confederation, working with local already planned for 2007 and discussions are developers, municipalities and also with New fares structure would however raise an taking place for a further extension of 4 cross border institutions such as “Léman estimated £80m on bus fares and £50m on kilometres representing 6 more stations. The Council” and the French “Region Rhône Alpes”. the Tube. trains will be able to transport 440 passengers, www.ceva.ch www.london.gov.uk www.tfl.gov.uk offering a capacity of 13,200 passengers per hour with a minimum interval of 2 minutes. night, with enhanced services during wee- Another infrastructure is currently in kends, with for instance an interval of 10 development, but won’t be in service minutes in 2 circle lines of Paris. All buses Agenda for the Olympics: a North-South 4 tracks are equipped with CCTV, offering a high € Polis conference rail link, consisting in a 12 kilometres level of security to the passengers. 5 million 15 years of innovation in local underground tunnel serving the main train have been invested for this new service. The and regional transport: € stations. The Passante, as called, will be yearly operation costs amount to 16 million 9-10 November 2005 used to run high frequency rail services, for an expected patronage of about 8 million Paris, France linking the city with its suburbs and with passengers. www.polis-online.org the Airport and also long distance trains. www.stif-idf.fr www..fr € CEN Conference This 1.2 billion infrastructure could be The Future of Railway Standards entering in service in 2010. Towards a unique contactless card in Europe: 14-15 November 2005 www.torino2006.org www.comune.torino.it for Denmark Lille, France Denmark aims at implementing a nation-wide www.cenorm.be New night bus services in Paris ticketing scheme “Travel Card” based on Ile de France region contactless cards. As of 2008, inhabitants NICHES (New and Innovative In order to better match the growing of Copenhagen and the rest of Eastern Concepts for Helping European transport mobility needs in night time, the network of Denmark will benefit from this new scheme. € Sustainability) night buses in Paris and Ile de France region A 200 million contract has been awarded to the consortium “East West” led by Thales Validation Workshop: has been restructured and reinforced in 1-2 December 2005 September. Provision of services has been and Accenture, covering the implementation of the system on a user’s perspective and Stockholm, Sweden doubled compared to the before situation. www.niches-transport.org They are now run under the same name the operation of the system. Travellers will ‘Noctilien’ and are operated by RATP and have to validate each time they enter a train Transport, Telecommunications SNCF, companies in charge of rail and metro station, metro station or a bus and each time and Energy Council: 5 December 2005 services in Ile de France and co-ordinated by they leave. Fare will be automatically calculated and debited on the pre-paid card that will Brussels, STIF, the regional transport authority. The www.eu2005.gov.uk network consists of 35 lines serving 1,950 allow negative balance for registered users. stops, operating from 0h30 to 5h30, every www.hur.dk

News from companies Transdev Group pursues expansion RATP and ALSTOM sign a €474 optimisation of interval between trains in Italy million for the supply of metro (85 seconds vs. 105 currently), an increased The city of , Italy decided to entrust trainsets commercial speed (up to 30 km/h) and an the management of its transport network RATP, Paris’ metro operator, and ALSTOM increased capacity of 25,000 passengers (bus, Metro, etc.) to a private partner signed a contract on 20 October 2005 for per hour. for the first time via an open tendering the delivery of 49 rubber-tyred automatic www.alstom.com www.ratp.fr process. The network is Italy’s 5th largest metro trainsets with an option for 10 urban public transport network. additional metro trainsets. In Genoa, where 610,000 people live, New Bombardier tramways in The order was concluded in the context of more than 400,000 journeys are made the streets of Brussels the automatisation programme for , daily and every inhabitant makes in The first Flexity Outlook tramway, manufactured one of the most important line of Paris net- average 240 journeys per year by public by Bombardier, has been delivered to STIB work with 700.000 daily users, crossing the transport. The 6 years contract has been (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de city from west to east. Line 1 will be the awarded to AMT S.p.A. (Azienda Mobilità Bruxelles) on 14 September. STIB and second fully automated one in 2010, after e Transporti), in which Transdev has a line 14, that has entered in service in 1998. Bombardier concluded a contract in 2003 41% share. The turnover of the company for the acquisition of 46 trams and 15 years € It is therefore scheduled to be the first time is about 150 million. The 6 years contract maintenance for a total amount of €106 represents a total amount of €900 million. in France, and indeed one of the first time in the world that a regular subway line will million. The rolling stock is split among 27 AMT hires 2,200 employees, owns 860 be turned into an automatic line. €160 T3000 (32 metre-long vehicles) and 19 vehicles including 18 metro vehicles, 20 million infrastructure works will be necessary T4000 (44 metre-long vehicles). This and 2 . to adapt platforms in the 25 stations and to contract has been extended since, for an additional 22 T3000 representing €52 Transdev also pursued its expansion in upgrade the signalling system, that had to million. This tramway has a high proportion Italy by progressively acquiring the AGI be done regardless of the automatisation. The contract signed between Alstom and of seated capacity despite its 100% low Group, Italy’s third largest private inter-urban € and suburban transport group in terms of RATP for the rolling stock amounts to 474 floor structure: T4000 can carry 250 turnover (€30 million), operating in Lombardy million. The first metros will be delivered passengers among whose 74 can be through the activities of its subsidiaries, mid-June 2008, the last trains being seated. scheduled for the end of 2010, forecast as well as Venetia and Emilia Romagna www.stib.be www.bombardier.com through public-private partnerships. date for completion of the project. www.transdev.org www.amt.genova.it Expected benefits are a better reliability, an November 2005 - n° 22 Analysis New proposal for a regulation on public passenger transport services The EU Commission published on 20 July a strongly expected project of regulation setting a clear framework for local public transport. As the co-decision procedure requires, the text has been transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers of Transport is expected to reach a common (informal) position during its next meeting in Brussels on 5 December.

1. Background > Principle of subsidiarity: > simplification of the text The European legislative framework for the Article 5(2): Competent local authorities will be The number of articles is significantly lower (12 transport of passengers relies on the regulation able decide to provide public transport services articles Vs. 21 in the previous version), underli- 1191/69 adopted in 1969 and amended in by themselves or to award public services ning the objective of the Commission to have a 1991. This regulation allows Member States to contract to an internal operator. Article 2(j) more simple framework easier to understand. impose public service obligations on fares, gives a clear definition of an internal operator: continuity, regularity or capacity and defines the competent authority should exercise > higher level of subsidiarity procedures applicable to determine the level of complete control over it, similar to the control In the previous version of the proposal, 14 compensations and to ensure that the amount exercised over its own departments. Level of selection criteria for awarding public service paid is appropriate. Compensations granted in control can be assessed through effective contracts were precisely described such as quality accordance with these rules are not subject to influence, individual management decisions of service, fares, integration, use of energy etc. prior notification and authorisation obligation. and degree of representation of administrative, These requirements have been removed The evolution of public transport in the last management or supervisory bodies. > no more reference to metro or light rail decades, the development of tendering, the > Principle of reciprocity: In the previous versions, it was proposed to expansion of international market players has Article 5(2) adds a required condition for in allow competent authorities to award contracts led to an increase in disputes and a reluctance house provision of services: internal operators directly for metro or light-rail services, justified of operators to invest in a climate of legal and any entity over which they exert even a uncertainty. by the complexity of the network and by minimal influence have to perform all their efficient use of public funds. This exclusion has The commission presented in July 2000 a public passenger transport activity within the been removed. proposal for a new regulation on public territory of the competent authority. This is to services requirements and the award of public avoid situations where operators performing in > increasing of transition period for rail services service contracts in public transport. This a protected market can have access to compe- The transition period was initially 8 years and has regulation has to be adopted in the Codecision titive markets, with the risk of cross-subsidies been extended to 10 years for rail based services. procedure COD 2000/0212. that bias the rules of fair competition. 4. Questions raised The proposal was based on three principles: > Except in three situations, provision of > Contractual agreements between the services by third party should be done The definitions, which could be more explicit, competent authority and the operator(s) through an invitation to tender: and the analysis of the current situations in > Periodic review on contracts terms Article 5(3) describes the requirement of the European cities raised some questions about the text that will have to be answered, as for instance: > Generalisation of competitive tendering invitation to tender that has to be transparent with some possible exceptions and non-discriminatory. - The notion of internal operator has to be analysed having in mind the possible structure The text has been amended by the European Articles 5(4), 5(5) and 5(6) specify the case Parliament during its first reading in 2001 and where direct award to a third party is allowed: of public bodies in charge of organising the EU Commission proposed a second version - Contracts worth less than €1 million/year or public transport. They often bring together of the text in 2002, which is still blocked by the representing less than 300,000 kilometres/year several levels of local governments. Council, as no political agreement has been - In the event or risk of the disruption of If a local government has the majority of reached. services as an emergency measure votes in a transport authority can an operator In July 2003, a judgement of the Court in the fully owned by the local government be - For regional or long-distance transport by rail considered as an internal operator? Altmark case clarified how provisions of the The regional or long-distance transport is defined Treaty on State aids (Articles 73 and 87) apply What happens if the local government in article 2(m) as services which does not cater to doesn’t have, on a legal point of view, the to public transport services. The judgement the transport needs of an urban centre or a concluded that public service obligations could majority but take “de facto” the decisions of conurbation or connect a conurbation with its the transport authority? be compensated regarding the cost and a suburbs reasonable profit without being considered as - “Regional or long-distance transport means State aids on certain conditions. > Duration of contracts: a transport service which does not cater to Considering that legal uncertainty is still threa- Article 4(5) provides maximum duration for the transport needs of an urban centre or tening the well functioning of the public contracts depending on the mode of transport: conurbation or connect a conurbation with transport sector, the Commission proposed on - 8 years for bus and coach services its suburbs.” In metropolitan areas not 20 July 2005 a third version of its proposal in - 15 years for rail services developed around a large central city, which COM (2005) 319. This proposal acknowledges services can be considered as regional? the judgement of the Court, takes into account > Period of transition: the 2004 White Paper on services of general As a regulation enters into force immediately - The in-house provision of services gives the interest and aims at reconciling the various when adopted, the period of transition has competent authority more flexibility as it positions adopted. been precisely defined. fully controls the operator. Mandatory Article 8(2) grants the competent authority the contracts could have a negative impact on 2. Content of the proposal responsibility to ensure that this flexibility if the definition of the The new proposal consists of twelve articles - At least 50% of the bus and coach services service is too largely detailed. What level of and an Annex describing rules applicable to are awarded according to the regulation precision of contracts will be required/ compensation. Article 2 provides definitions of within 4 years and all services within 8 years thirteen terms used in the text. The main allowed in this case? elements of this new proposal are: - At least 50% of rail services are awarded EMTA will complete this list of questions in according to the regulation within 5 years order to enrich the debate on this proposal. > Generalisation of the Contracts between and all services within 10 years. authorities and operators: The principle of reciprocity during the transition www.europa.eu.int Article 3(1): Any public authority granting to period applies as described in Article 8(6): the any operator an exclusive right or any compen- competent authority may in the second half of sation in return for the discharge of public service the transition period exclude from invitation to obligation has to do it within a framework of tender operators that have less than 50% of a contract. Article 2(i) provides a definition of their services awarded in accordance with the EUROPEAN METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT AUTHORITIES a public service contract as a binding act confir- new regulation. ming the agreement between a competent authority and the operator. Depending on the 3. Evolutions from the previous versions 11, avenue de Villars F-75007 Paris Tél. + 33 1 53 59 21 15 - Fax + 33 1 53 59 21 29 law of the Member State, it can consist of a The new proposal is slightly different from the two www.emta.com [email protected] decision adopted by the competent authority. previous ones, particularly for the following points:

EMTA News is the quaterly letter of information of the association of European Metropolitan Transport Authorities, which brings together the public transport authorities responsible for improving the mobility conditions of more than 85 million people living in the main European cities. Editor: J. Goldberg. November 2005 - n° 22