<p> 2 – Urban Transport Institutions and Planning</p><p>2-1 Transport Planning Needs There are several planning initiatives under way in Mediterranean cities, for example, the master plan in Tunis or the urban transport plan in Casablanca, but they were often developed without taking into consideration financial constraints and are therefore looking to distant horizons. Today, however, the emphasis is on urban transport plans (UTP) with much closer perspectives within the next 5 to 10 years. Urban Transport Plans provide general guidelines that must be developed into specific objectives and implemented. UTPs concern all transport modes and their interfaces and they also contribute to wider scope issues, such as the quality of life and the environment. An Urban Transport Plan is not limited to the production of documents. It is a long-term working process that involves collaborative work with local actors and particularly those concerned with urban development. Finally, the UTP must succeed in the elaboration of a realistic and detailed action plan providing facts and figures.</p><p>2-2 The Public Transport Planning or Regulating Authority and Operators Public transport planning in urban areas requires local management institutions to remain in close contact with the urban population needs. Even if a decentralization process is being implemented gradually in Mediterranean cities, there is still strong intervention by the State (central or decentralized) and responsibilities actually devolved to local authorities are still limited. At present, it would be important to establish one public authority for public transport management in charge of all transport operators, bus companies, metros, and other transit systems—public or private—but also of paratransit operators who are currently the only ones capable of meeting a certain demand. The action perimeter of the authority should truly reflect population movement and will therefore require agreements between several communes, and even between municipalities. At a minimum, the authority should aim at the organization, management, control, and planning of all public transport, including paratransit. It would be better to have only one organism in charge of all of them for increased coherence, but they may also be distributed among several organisms, for example, within a gradual decentralization approach. The planning authority may adopt different legal forms and should work jointly with other partners concerned with urban transport issues. It should have adequate financial means and quality human resources.</p><p>2-3 How to promote citizen involvement? There is limited citizen participation in Mediterranean cities; however, it is an interesting tool to determine which projects will be better adapted to existing needs and to build consensus for the project’s acceptance by the population. In view of the different local situations, it is not possible to apply a standard process to encourage citizen participation. Innovative solutions must be identified in each case bearing in mind that these are long-term initiatives that go beyond transport issues and have direct social impact. It is a gradual participatory process that will be all the more useful when the citizens are knowledgeable in transport issues. To this end, technical services and local authorities should develop jointly a shared vision that will meet the citizens’ needs. </p><p>2-4 Public Transport Management and Traffic Management Following on from urban transport plans that showed the importance of a multimodal approach, it is advisable to engage in a more operational scheme in which urban transport planning should be linked to traffic management and parking measures. This will naturally require the creation (or reinforcement) of structures for urban traffic and parking management and of a public transport authority. These structures should have effective mechanisms to manage their networks, for example, adequate traffic plans with a network hierarchy, modern systems for traffic signals control, network plans indicating passage priorities at intersections, mass rapid transit systems, and connections facilities for pedestrians.</p><p>1 2-5 Monitoring Mechanisms (Statistical Observation)</p><p>Implementing monitoring tools is a delicate matter even in European cities, but it is well known that the production of data and, above all, their availability to professionals is essential for the elaboration of urban transport studies and plans. With an observatory, regular updates of the transport data used for planning could be envisaged, along with monitoring procedures on the impact of projects or policies and the identification of remedial adjustments. Considering the difficulties currently encountered in public transport and traffic management in Mediterranean cities, the creation of an observatory may not seem a primary issue compared to other actions. During an initial stage, Mediterranean cities could create a data center where transport surveys and studies on a given territory could be made available to local actors.</p><p>At present, Mediterranean cities need more human resources adequately trained in urban transport to carry out all the actions previously mentioned. </p><p>2</p>