Delft University of Technology Competition in Public Transport An Exploratory Research in Institutional Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector van de Velde, Didier DOI 10.4233/uuid:dce92e5c-e2b1-43b0-80a4-7a0b6a4cd727 Publication date 2019 Document Version Final published version Citation (APA) van de Velde, D. (2019). Competition in Public Transport: An Exploratory Research in Institutional Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector. https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:dce92e5c-e2b1-43b0-80a4- 7a0b6a4cd727 Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons. Takedown policy Please contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights. We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. This work is downloaded from Delft University of Technology. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to a maximum of 10. Public Transport Public in Competition Uitnodiging Didier van de Velde is involved in teaching and research at Delft University of Technology. He Competition in voor het bijwonen van de is active as international expert and advisor on openbare verdediging van governance and institutional reforms in the public het proefschrift transport and railway sectors. The central research aim of this thesis is to gain a Public Transport Competition in deeper understanding of the variety of institutional frameworks that can exist in the public transport Public Transport sector and on how these develop. The main focus of this dissertation is located on the growing and An Exploratory Research evolving role of ‘competition’ as an institutional in institutional feature that can take many guises. Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector An Exploratory Research van in Institutional Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector Didier van de Velde op vrijdag 29 november 2019 om 12:00 in de Aula van de Technische Universiteit Delft, Mekelweg 5 in Delft Aansluitend is er een receptie Didier van de Velde de van Didier Didier van de Velde Competition in Public Transport An Exploratory Research in Institutional Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector Didier van de Velde Competition in Public Transport An Exploratory Research in Institutional Frameworks in the Public Transport Sector Dissertation for the purpose of obtaining the degree of doctor at Delft University of Technology by the authority of the Rector Magnificus, prof.dr.ir. T.H.J.J. van der Hagen chair of the Board for Doctorates to be defended publicly on Friday 29 November 2019 at 12:30 o’clock By Didier Maurice VAN DE VELDE Licencié en Sciences Economiques, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium born in Brussels, Belgium This dissertation has been approved by the promotors. Composition of the doctoral committee: Rector Magnificus, Chairman Prof.dr. J.P.M. Groenewegen Delft University of Technology, promotor Dr. W.W. Veeneman Delft University of Technology, copromotor Independent members: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wee Delft University of Technology Prof.dr. J.F.M. Koppenjan Erasmus University Rotterdam Em.Prof.dr. C. Mulley University of Sydney (Australia) Em.Prof.dr. B. Faivre d’Arcier Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (France) Dr. C.H. Sørensen Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute Prof.mr.dr. J.A. de Bruijn Delft University of Technology, reserve member Keywords Public transport, competition, regulation, deregulation, competitive tendering, institutions Printed by GildePrint - The Netherlands Cover D.M. van de Velde, icons via stock.adobe.com Copyright © D.M. van de Velde, 2019 ISBN 978-94-6384-084-2 An electronic copy of this dissertation is available at https://repository.tudelft.nl Acknowledgements This dissertation brings together research spanning a few decades. It started many years ago when I worked as a young researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Various events and changing priorities over the years led to interruptions and postponement, including private circumstances and new opportunities in particular in the consulting field. With time passing and my switch to TU Delft, this also led to a redefinition and refinement of the research towards what it has become today. Several professors had a determinant role in what this research has become. I would like to thank Prof. Henry Tulkens (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) who was the first to spark my interest for issues related to efficiency in the public sector when I was still a student in Lou- vain-la-Neuve. I thank in particular Prof. Ken Gwilliam (Erasmus University Rotterdam) with whom I had extensive discussions on competition in public transport, who helped me develop my international network and to whom I am deeply indebted for much of what I learned in the public transport field. I would also like to thank Prof. Leo Sleuwaegen (KU Leuven and Erasmus University Rotterdam) for the support and new perspectives he gave after Ken Gwilliam’s departure to the World Bank. My gratitude also goes to Prof. Ernst ten Heuvelhof for the trust he placed in me, welcoming me at TU Delft and making this dissertation possible. To Prof. John Groenewegen, my promotor at TU Delft, I express my deepest gratitude for helping me setting up this dissertation, and for his continuous and ever so kind and insightful theoretical and practical support all over these last years. It is thanks to him and his encouragements that I have been able bring together the various strands of my research and realise this dissertation. Many colleagues have, directly or indirectly, contributed through stimulating discussions and through a pleasant working environment to what this thesis has become. With the risk of forgetting someone, I would like to mention a number of persons with whom I have had more intensive discussions on topics related to this thesis. This includes in particular Wijnand Veeneman, my copromotor at TU Delft, my former colleagues Hans Verhoeff and Peran van Reeven at Erasmus University, and John Preston, Peter White, Chris Nash, Gunnar Alexandersson and Takahiko Saito for their help and for invaluable discussions on governance and competition in bus and rail. A special word of thanks goes to Prof. David Hensher for his support, stimulating comments and the opportunity given to organise the 11th Thredbo conference in Delft in 2009, and to the Thredbo research community that has been so important for the realisation of this dissertation. I wish to express my gratitude to my co-authors for the kind cooperation during the realisation of the various studies and papers that have contributed to this thesis. Finally, I also want to thank my earlier col- leagues at the Department of Regional, Port and Transport Economics of Erasmus Univer- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v sity Rotterdam, my current colleagues at the Section Organisation and Governance of TU Delft and my colleagues at inno-V for their continued support and everydaygezelligheid . I am also indebted to the numerous interviewees and to several colleagues in the consulting world for providing me with deeper practical insights in the functioning of competition in this sector, answering my numerous questions and spending time discussing with me. I would like to mention Olivier Domenach, Maryline Bessone, Thomas Avanzata, Bård Norheim, Jan Werner, Christoph Schaaffkamp, Andreas Wettig and of course all of my colleagues at inno-V who, with their wealth of practical experience, enriched my vision on competition in public transport. Many thanks too to Jan-Jaap de Vlieger and Marcel van Winsen for their help in finalising this book and organising the defence day. Finally, writing a thesis is a heavy burden for one’s family, especially when it takes so long. Thank you Ingrid, Martijn, Lise and Janwillem for your patience, support and loving care over all those years. Amsterdam, October 2019 Didier van de Velde vi COMpetiTiON iN pubLiC TrANSpOrT Contents Part I Introduction . 1 1 Introduction ...................................................... 3 1.1 Research context .....................................................3 1.2 Research aims and main research questions .............................4 1.3 Theoretical framework ................................................5 1.4 Scope of the research .................................................9 1.5 Research method .....................................................9 1.6 Overview of the thesis ................................................10 Part II The Path to Competition . 13 2 Introduction ......................................................15 3 Towards competition in the 1980s and 1990s ..........................17 3.1 Taking stock at the end of the 1980s ...................................17 3.2 The potential for regulatory change in 1990 .............................21 3.3 A burgeoning debate on competition and its options in the 1990s .........35 3.4 Observations ........................................................42 4 Typologies of institutions .......................................... 43 4.1 The right of initiative and decision layering in service supply .............44 4.2 Institutional layers ...................................................62 5 Competition in practice ..........................................