Conditions for the functioning of regulated competition on the public urban transport market in Poland

Abstract

The public urban transport market takes the form of a natural monopoly. In some cases, especially in the situation of supply of a relatively large volume of operation work, the implementation of competitive solutions may result in: improving the quality of services or reducing the cost of vehicle-kilometers. The purpose of the article is to present the determinants of functioning of regulated competition on the public urban transport market in Poland. The conducted analysis focuses on the issue of market openness and access to participation in competitive procedures of private operators. The research covered urban transport markets in cities over 200.000 inhabitants and their characteristics in the scope of: the model of public transport organization (with particular emphasis on the level of opening of markets), the level of competition on the operator market and the method of selecting operators. On the basis of the conducted research, the scope of applying pro-competitive solutions in the scope of contracting services by the largest organizers of public urban transport in Poland was characterized.