Integration of transport systems is a complex process that affects competitive conditions and the competitiveness of transport. Experiences in collective urban transport show that theoretical work can be the basis for effective recommendations for integration practice. This was one of the premises for undertaking a research project at the Department of Transport of the Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice regarding the integration of transport systems in a market economy.
The importance of transport system integration
In the literature on the subject, complementarity with the environment and internal (especially modal) substitutability are mentioned as one of the most important features of transport. Transport substitutability is a barrier to transport integration, defined as a process aimed at combining transport systems. The pursuit of integration is an action that means overcoming the barrier of substitution, which is a factor of competition in transport. This is one of the key, and often ignored, problems of designing integrated solutions. It should therefore be noted that integration usually influences the limitation of competitive effects. The motivation for integration is the benefits that market entities and transport policy entities can obtain as a result of this process. A. Piskozub mentions the shortening of transport (travel) time as the main premise for transport integration. Other transport postulates are also premises for integration, as it influences:
• an increase in the spatial and temporal accessibility of services
• convenience and safety of movement by limiting operations related to the organization of transport by various means of transport.
In a market economy, integration becomes an important tool for increasing competitiveness – both in terms of subjects (individual market entities) and systems (e.g., the public transport subsystem). Problems related to integration limitations in the European Union concern, in particular, railway transport infrastructure, air traffic management, and passenger transport in cities (especially in metropolitan areas). Integration is simultaneously a cause of structural changes in transport markets, which can lead to a deterioration in the efficiency of individual market entities. These include, among others, the following phenomena:
• monopolization
• an increase in entry barriers negatively affecting the strength of competitive effects
• an increase in the importance of the state in the functioning of transport markets (through increased regulation)
• the development of new, bureaucratic market structures (agencies, boards, etc.).
Despite the mentioned threats, subjects (as well as objects) of transport policy in Europe are undertaking numerous initiatives aimed at transport integration. Examples of such actions include projects concerning the interoperability of European railways and the creation of the Single European Sky. At the local and regional level of transport policy, projects concerning the integration of public transport are being implemented. An obstacle to the integration of transport systems in Europe is their structural differentiation, and in particular differences in:
• technical aspects – especially in terms of infrastructure, as well as the rolling stock used (this applies especially to railways)
• regulatory aspects – the differentiation of legal regulations still present in European transport is reflected in differences regarding state aid, rules of conducting business, rules of organizing the transport process, etc.).
Various instruments are used in integration activities. The basic tools of integration used by subjects and objects of transport policy include:
• investments in the transport network, transport hubs, and others
• changes in the organization of transport markets (creating structures integrating service sales)
• state aid serving the creation and maintenance of integrated solutions.