Transit Federation -- A Solution for Service Integration

Inadequate organization of public transport services in urban areas, particularly in the large ones, is one of the major reasons for the unsatisfactory level of service and economic problems of the operating companies. Despite the current trend toward mergers of transit operators into large public agencies, the services in most cities remain fragmented in various degrees; integration is often not in sight due to organizational problems which appear insurmountable. Losses to the users, the operators, and the city from this situation are often very significant. This article briefly analyzes the reasons for this situation, explores its consequences and their impor­tance. A number of solutions for the problem are possible, but none of them is simple and easy to achieve. The federation of transit organizations intro­duced recently in Hamburg, Germ any, has proved to be so successful that it has received wide attention in international professional circles. This solution therefore deserves a careful study by transit operators as well as government officials of metropolitan areas in the United States and other countries