Public transport of the future. Summary report of the Public Transport Research Programme JOTU 2004-2007

Public Transport Research Programme JOTU 2004-2007 had the following objectives: to analyse the impacts of public transport and develop methods for their systematic assessment, to study the rea-sons underlying choice of mobility, and to contribute to knowledge in the sector of public transport. programme furthermore sought to improve networking in the sector. 27 projects in the research pro-gramme have been reported in publications of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. A collec-tion of articles compiled on the basis of the findings has also been published in English as a CD-ROM entitled The Future of Public Transport. Seminars have been arranged on themes relating to the re-search and the programme has been subject to external evaluation. findings of these studies have been encapsulated into the ten theses appearing in this summary report and highlighting the role of pub-lic transport in controlling climate change. strategic significance of public transport must be ac-knowledged, sufficient resources allocated to the development of public transport and transport planned as a regional system across administrative sectors and municipal boundaries also in respect of statutory passenger transport. Land use and transport planning must be reconciled to ensure that public transport can meet the challenges facing it. Public transport of the future must serve not only regular passengers but also occasional passengers and discrete groups of passengers such as the ageing. Public transport must be developed into an alternative of high standard that is actively marketed by leveraging e.g. brand thinking. diversifying expectations of passengers and transport needs in rural areas must be met by developing public transport in respect of modes, approaches and fleet. good practices already exist-ing to accelerate public transport must be taken into wider use. A number of measures permitting parties ranging from individual passengers to businesses in the sector, local government and State administra-tion to impact on the future of public transport are presented for the achievement of these aims. This report may be found at http://www.mintc.fi/oliver/upl992-LVM64_2007.pdf