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To facilitate the choice of the winning bid in the public procurement of bus transports in Sweden and to make sure that the winning bid has the qualities that are requested, the placed demands are very detailed. On the other hand, the detailed demands will lead to limitations and could force the operator to use less environmentally friendly alternatives. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors regarding the buses and their properties that are commonly used in the public procurement process and analyze their level of details.

The method is to collect and study foundations from the process of public procurement of bus transport for three years in Sweden.

The result shows the most common and relevant aspects regarding the buses and their properties that have been requested and taken into consideration when creating the final contracts. Most of the demands regarding the factors were also described in very great detail.

The study is done with data from three years. The demands have only been classified on two levels: detailed and non‐detailed.

The results enlighten the amount of demands that are specified in the foundations for public procurement of bus transports. While these demands make the base for the contracts, they are important for the decision makers in public transports.

The paper shows a general overview of hard and soft demands regarding factors that have been expressed in the foundations for public procurement of bus transports for the previous three years.

The purpose of this paper is to present the condition of the bus fleet operated by the bus companies and its impact on the passengers’ decision about the choice of means of transport in the light of the strategy of sustainable development of a region and the European Union (EU) transport policy.

The paper reviews the legal documents of the EU relating to the implementation of the strategy of sustainable development of a region in a public transport. It shows the current condition of research on the shape of the bus fleet in bus companies in Poland, and on the basis of the analysis performed, it indicates the status of its operation and use. It also shows the results of a survey on factors which direct passengers when choosing a means of transport.

The paper shows that the condition of the bus fleet is of great importance to the quality of transport services provided by the bus company and, as a result, to the implementation of sustainable development policy in a region.

By pointing to the fact that the aim of the EU transport policy is to increase the role of public transport, strategic action should be taken to renew the bus fleet in the bus companies.

The paper presents the need to adapt the condition of the bus fleet to the requirements of its passengers, which in turn will improve the attractiveness of bus transport and will increase the role of public transport in passenger transportation.

To explore people’s attitudes towards bus service quality and bus use.

The study is a natural experiment that uses primary data collected from questionnaires, which were conducted to Maltese residents. The information was collected two months before the bus service reform and one year afterwards.

Results cast doubt on whether current policy measures regarding bus service quality are adequate to contribute to a modal shift from car to bus use.

Provides insight on whether current policy measures are sufficient in order to obtain an increase in bus patronage.

The case study of the Malta bus service reform provides an opportunity to study people’s attitudes in a quasi-experimental situation. Additionally, the research sheds light on the possible impact that bus service reforms have on people’s attitudes.

Bus use in later life tends to increase, especially in countries where there is cheaper or free travel on buses for older people. That said, there are still many barriers to bus use. The most major barrier for older people is feeling unsafe on the bus, especially at night. Accessibility issues are also important, with concerns for step-free access and getting a seat. A bus driver driving off before the older person has sat down is another major concern for older people. The presence of a friendly helpful, understanding bus driver is seen as a huge benefit for older people. Training to support bus drivers in providing an age friendly service are therefore highly recommended. In many countries, public transport is supplemented by community transport offering a door-to-door on demand facility to help older people stay mobile where there is a lack of accessible public buses. There are real advantages for older people using such buses, especially creating a safe environment taking older people to important places, such as hospitals or shops. Such services can be supplemented by journeys for days out and these are very popular with users. Older people aren’t large users of railway services. Barriers include concerns over getting a seat, worry about what happens if connections are missed and services are disrupted. Older people are more likely to want staff to help them complete their journey and emphasise the need for seats, cleanliness and facilities over journey length and cost.

The objective of this study is to understand the institutional dynamics of the public transport system in Jaipur. The institutional dynamics of the public transport system includes an understanding of the role of the formal and informal institutions (i.e. the actors) and the relationship between the public bus, external and private city bus operators.

The research methodology to achieve the objectives of the study included an institutional mapping method to develop an in-depth understanding of the existing institutional framework for the public transport, secondary data and primary survey processed through focused interviews of Jaipur City Transport Services Limited (JCTSL) and the Regional Transport Office (RTO) officials, representatives of the external operator, drivers and conductors’ union and private city bus service operators. The cooperation level between these organizations was measured on a five-point Likert scale.

The study indicated significant issues: poor cooperation levels between JCTSL and the RTO; the absence of a horizontal relationship between JCTSL and the RTO; conflict of powers, the competition of public and private minibus service; delays in smart city projects; absence of an integrated transport authority.

In the Indian context, this study can help other Indian cities which are facing similar problems due to the fragmented institutional framework for public transport services and financial losses to the public bus operators due to the direct competition from paratransit or private bus services.

Service industries, such as public bus transport, are time‐bound, which makes it impossible to inventory their service output. The potential revenue from an empty seat on a bus is lost for good once the service run is complete. Conversely, when demand for a seat on a service run exceeds supply, the revenue is also lost. As public bus transport has a high fixed to variable cost ratio, these demand and supply imbalances have a significant impact on cost recovery performance. Addresses a number of factors that influence the cost recovery performance of public bus transport using data from one of Australia’s largest operators. It considers the shortcomings of current fare price structures and how these may be changed to reflect operational cost drivers in a way that improves cost recovery performance. The various non‐monetary costs passengers incur when purchasing and using public transport are also considered along with methods of reducing these to increase the revenue‐generating performance of operators’ fixed capacity.

Towards the end of 90s, mounting losses forced Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (MPSRTC), the sole provider of public transport in Madhya Pradesh, to suspend their urban services. As a consequence, organized public transport services ceased to exist in Indore, the largest metropolitan city of the state of Madhya Pradesh. This void was filled by Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) consisting of minibuses, tempos and auto rickshaws. As of January 2004, 300 private minibuses, 150 tempos, and 10,000 auto rickshaws were plying as IPT, but with poor service levels. Lack of public transport was a catalyst for rapid increase in personalized vehicles, and high level of pollution and accidents. Worried over the rapid growth of personalized vehicles, and high levels of pollution and accidents in Indore, policy makers and administrators had made several attempts of reviving the public transport system in the city. In 2005, the Collector and District Magistrate of Indore decided to make another attempt of reviving the public transport. The two cases, Indore City Bus Transport Service (A) and Indore City Bus Transport Service (B) discuss the complexity involved in the planning, rolling out, and running of public transport services in Indore on a sustainable basis. Case (A) details the prevalent socio-economic condition, travel characteristics, and positions taken by various stakeholders on provisioning of public transport service in Indore as of November 2005. Case (B) discusses the challenges during the growth and operation of the services as of June 2008. Unprecedented rise in crude oil prices along with (i) increase in maintenance cost of buses, price of new buses, and bank interest and (ii) decrease/marginal increase in the fare box revenue (more people were shifting to passes) and advertisement revenue depleted the margin of the operators. The fares had not been increased since the launch of services in February 2006. It was clear that Indore City Transport Service Limited (ICTSL), the SPV created to run the transport system, would survive only if operators were able to survive. The readers have to take the position of the board of ICTSL and consider various options available to them for running the services on a sustainable basis.