Partnering to improve public transport in developing countries

This paper demonstrates the importance of—and potential for—partnerships between the private and public sectors, and citizen groups, as a crucial means towards the improvement of public transport services in the developing world. It draws mainly upon the research findings of case studies in Karachi, Faisalabad, Dar es Salaam and Colombo between 1999 and 2003. The paper looks at some of the factors that need to be taken into consideration if a partnership is to be successful, before demonstrating the potential of existing links between users, operators and regulators. The potential for partnerships to improve upon the existing situation emerged on several occasions during the research, and these are summarised. Later sections look at the types of partnership that might be encouraged in the transport sector, as well as the importance of nurturing and supporting such partnerships. Finally, the paper highlights priorities for intervention—in the areas of infrastructure investment, land use and employment strategy, regulation and stakeholder collaboration—and the role partnerships could play in these interventions. The paper concludes with the importance of strengthening existing partnerships in public transport provision and creating and developing new ones. In this respect the authors consider it crucial that policymakers give due consideration to partnering approaches in the future.