Historical transport policy developments : technical report for Stage 3 city, Berlin

This document, D4.2 Berlin report, is part of the second series of technical reports produced as part of WP4 during Task 3, “Qualitative analysis of transport policy development cycle processes in the five Stage 3 cities during the Shift from Stage 1 to Stage 3”. It seeks to develop a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the historical development of policies relating to traffic congestion and car use over the past four decades. It investigates the ways in which transport policies are designed and implemented in the five Stage 3 cities, how they have evolved over time, which policy mix has been favoured at different times, their intended/unexpected effects, and how coordination has been ensured. Published as part of D4.2 report The D4.2 Berlin report examines the evolution of Berlin’s transport policy in order to understand the shiftaway from car-oriented policies towards alternative transport policies. The main objective of the case study reportis to identify those factors – or combinations of factors – that explain transport policy change over time. Whichpolicy objectives, instruments and measures were introduced? How were they elaborated? By whom? Were theysuccessfully implemented?It shows that despite major dramatic political changes, there is a certain level of continuity in Berlin’stransport policy development. The pivotal role of public transport and more specifically, of rail-based networks, isensured through long term and robust forms of governance combined with within-policy dynamics in the transportsector. The integrated approach to transport, that emerged in West-Berlin in the late 1980s and which hasbecome the core of the city’s policy since the early 2000s, accounts for such continuity insofar as itseeks to make public transport as attractive as possible in order to provide a strong alternative to car use, while atthe same time favouring incentives rather than constraining approaches to car use. In addition, the status of othermodes of transport remained ambiguous until the recent period, thus leading to recent controversies. Theseresults confirm the originality of the analysis carried out in WP4 for the understanding of transport policydevelopments in Berlin