The role that competition plays in the provision of public transport services varies widely in Europe. Different countries have introduced mechanisms of competition both in rail and bus services, with their performance depending on a combination of institutional and market-level variables. Other countries, however, have taken a much slower path in opening their services to competition, either for or in the market. One of the critical issues seems to depend on the way in which tendering public transport services is applied in practice.

The discussions that will take place in this workshop will address several of the aforementioned issues. The programme includes three presentations by prestigious academics within this area. Professor John Preston (University of Southampton) will review the experience of passenger rail franchising in the UK, while professor Didier van de Velde (Delft University of Technology) will examine the different alternatives when contracting in urban public transport. Finally, Christoph Wolf (University of Mannheim) will present empirical work regarding evidence from regional passenger railway services in Germany. The papers will be discussed by José Manuel Vasallo, Jordi Rosell and Brindusa Anghel, respectively. The workshop will end with a round table that will compare the experience in the provision of public transport services in the UK and Spain, with representatives from the private and public sector.