Slobodan Mitric

1. Slobodan Mitric Strategic Urban Transport Issues in Belgrade Presentation on July 21, 2003

2. Generic structure of an urban transport strategy • What is to be done? • “Routine” matters • Policies (regulations) • investments • How will it be paid for? (funding) • Who is going to do it? (institutions)

3. What is to be done? (1) • “Routine” matters • Road maintenance • Traffic management • Parking management • Traffic law enforcement • Public transport operations

4. What is to be done? (2) • Public transport policies • Network/service design • Fare policy • Operating arrangements (public, private) • Regulatory instruments (contracts, concessions, ..) • Road use policies • Restraint, pricing • Parking policies • Supply policy • Restraint, time control, pricing • Operating arrangement

5. What is to be done (3) • Investments (links, interchanges, bridges) • Road investments • Terminals and parking structures • Public transport fleet & equipment • Public transport infrastructure

6. Financing • User fees (transfers, locally-generated) • Public budgets (transfers, locally-generated) • Private investments • Borrowing

7. Institutions • Organizations (local, regional, national) • Jurisdiction (systemic laws, regulations, local ordinances, …) • Staffing • Funding • Processes • Instruments (budgets, studies, plans, ..)

8. Belgrade (1) • 1.3m population, 1.8m region • low natural growth, but in-migration due to wars, much illegal construction • 225 people/ha density in central core, but “socialist” density pattern • located on a t-intersection of two major rivers (dependence on bridges)

9. Belgrade (2) • High unemployment • Average monthly wage $175 • Poverty (Serbia): 11% under EU 2.4 expenditure per HH/day • Another 22% close to the threshold • Huge rise in inequality due to war, unruly transition

10. Belgrade (#) • Motorization rate: 180 cars per 1,000 population in the region, 200-250 in the inner city • Modal split: • 40% public transport • 35% walk • 19% cars

11. Belgrade (4) • Road network: • low-capacity • TM effort in disarray • little parking control • little law enforcement • Parking: • little-off street capacity • chaotic on-street, on-pavement parking

12. Belgrade (4) • Public transport system: • Municipal Transport Company (1,100 street-based buses and trolley-buses, and trams on mainly protected track; 870 in peak service) • 350 buses privately owned and operated under contract to the City Gov’t (fixed fare, no subsidy) • Beovoz: low-frequency regional rail service on a 100-km network, underground inside city

13. Belgrade: diagnostic • Fierce competition for scarce street space • “Routine” institutions in disarray • Presence of low-income and poor people constrains fare policy (30-35% cost recovery) • Large size “choice” market calls for high-quality PT services • Weakness of regional road network implies much through traffic, but collapse of road funding on national level, and transfer mechanisms, means little action

14. Belgrade: strategic issues • Management of street space not effective • Municipal company – an outdated organizational form • Regulation of private operators – incomplete • Inadequate pricing policies • Investment decisions: weak processes, out-of-date instruments, absence of economic and financial criteria

15. Belgrade: metro vs. light-rail controversy • Long history of debate, interrupted by decade of wars • Update of Urban General Plan: leans towards light-rail in 2-3 major corridors • SYSTRA Study: leans towards near-classical metro in 3 corridors; price tag EU2,800m (2003-2021) for a 42-km system, but …..

16. Belgrade: metro vs. light rail • … but: • No recent demand surveys, models • No thorough comparison of options: SYSTRA used a multi-criteria approach to eliminate all but do-nothing and metro options • Pressure to take a “build” decision without further planning studies

17. Belgrade paradox • Bus and tram vehicles received as gifts from governments of Japan, Switzerland,.. • City Government is starting to lean towards starting the first metro line