Local government and transit decision makers in a number of European cities, especially in the German-speaking regions, have created "passenger forums" that meet regularly to air citizen views, make suggestions, and provide input on service quality concerns. One of the most successful is the Fahrgastforum (passenger forum) of Bremen, Germany, created in 1993 as the result of a local media initiative that was taken up by the authorities.
The daily Weser Kurier recruited the members of the forum among its readers. Several hundred respondents were whittled down to 16 representing various ages, occupations, and transit user groups willing to devote one or two evenings a month to a meeting with representatives of the Bremen transit authority.
Spirited debates over the next two years, amply reported by the media, resulted in the adoption of numerous service improvements including the extension of a line to serve the university; the addition of several bus feeder routes; better evening services including new guidelines that require bus drivers to wait for the arrival of scheduled trams, even if a few minutes late; more space for bikes on buses; driver calls for radio taxi to await passengers in need at their bus stop; and improved passenger information at bus stops and terminals, etc.
Altogether, about two-thirds of the forum's requests were heeded by the authority or compromises were worked out. Budget constraints, explained to forum members, were the principal limiting factors in cases where the authority could not accept the recommendations of passenger representatives.
By the end of 1995, all the recommendations had been dealt with and the forum decided to suspend its meetings for a couple of years while remaining in informal contact with the authority and the Weser Kurier. It will reconvene when the need is felt.
A similar user group in Salzburg, Austria (pop. 140,000), works with authorities to improve the speed and comfort of the city's fleet of 81 trolleybuses--one of western Europe's largest. The city also operates 46 diesel buses, mainly on suburban lines, and the entire network carries about 50 million passengers annually.
The user group, which apparently is still meeting periodically, has persuaded management to adopt service improvements, and the city has made space for the group available in its monthly that is delivered to all households.
Return To International Focus
Some of these pages may include links to documents in the Adobe PDF format. Please download the Adobe PDF reader if you have not already done so.
