Events and highlights

On 17 May, the “Urban Transport Financing White Book” study compiled by the Applied Economics and Public Finance Departments of Afi for the ATUC (acronym in Spanish for the association of collective urban transport management companies) was presented at Madrid’s Palacio de Congresos as part of the ATUC’s XIX National Urban and Metropolitan Transport Congress.  

In Spain, 52% of the total population lives in towns with over 50,000 inhabitants and this percentage is set to rise. It is widely accepted that public transport is an essential service in order to meet the growing mobility needs deriving from this urban expansion process, contributing to the three key attributes of sustainable mobility – the environmental, social and economic dimensions. Today’s challenge is to guarantee the economic viability and financial stability of this essential public service, especially in the current environment of sharp fiscal austerity.

Whereas most of our European neighbours (France, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands) have well-defined legislation governing how collective urban transportation is financed, Spain lacks financing legislation that guarantees a stable, adequate and predictable financial framework.

Against this backdrop, and building from an analysis of the current legal framework, diagnosis of the sector’s financial situation and international case studies, the goal of this study is to contribute to the debate, proposing the foundations for a financing law that would be articulated around three cornerstones: (1) a more equitable contribution by the various agents – users, central government and regional governments; (2) establishment of criteria for the allocation of funds in order to stimulate productivity and service quality; and (3) introduction of private vehicle usage related taxes and the earmarking of other public funds in order to make the system self-sufficient and stable by internalising external costs.