The leadership of Sweden's Public Transit Association, headed by Chairman Ingemar Karlsson, recently visited APTA en route to the International Union of Public Transport's 53rd Congress in Toronto for an experience exchange on association activities.
The 15-member delegation also included the managing directors of several of the country's major public transit authorities and urban transit systems, among them Ronnie Kalen of Lund and Christer Hedefalk of Uppsala, who serve on the SPTA board of directors.
In the discussion session that followed APTA President William W. Millar's briefing on APTA goals and activities, including the advocacy efforts that led to passage of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, the Swedish guests unveiled some significant transit trends of their own.
Over the past 10 years, following the adoption of a law that mandates the tendering of bus operations by public transit authorities, private operators have been retained to run almost all of Sweden's municipal and regional fleets. The resulting cost savings have ranged up to 25 percent in the countryside and 45 percent in the nation's cities.
Stockholm Transport, one of the early "privatizers," has cut operating costs by about one billion Swedish crowns ($115 million) over the 10-year period while providing passengers with the latest state-of-the-art buses and higher frequencies, which has in turn resulted in substantial ridership increases. Public subsidies have decreased significantly.
Structural changes in the Swedish transit industry have reduced the number of public operators to a mere 14 out of the 330 that have contracts with PT authorities. Two thirds of the country's total bus fleet of about 7,300 vehicles is now controlled by three large privately-owned companies: Swebus, owned by Stagecoach in the United Kingdom; Linjebuss, owned by French CGEA; and Busslink, owned by Swedish investment companies with a minority held by the Stockholm system.
Total farebox receipts are in the range of $1.5 billion annually, with public subsidies down to 45 percent from 65 percent at the start of the decade.
The Stockholm PT authority is preparing to introduce a "travel guarantee" that will reimburse passengers the cost of a taxi ride, up to the equivalent of about $8, if the metro is delayed by 20 minutes or more for any reason. The guarantee is to be introduced by the end of August and is expected to be extended to cover the entire system--buses as well as the metro--within a year. A similar on-time guarantee system is operating in Oslo, the capital of neighboring Norway.
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