Lessons learned from combined public transport experiments in Norway

This report summarizes the main findings from 11 areas with an extended effort to improve the public transport service. There are great variations in the outcomes of these strategies. In the short run, the effect has been 9 per cent more passengers and a socioeconomic benefit between 4 and 20 per cent. Increased frequency accounts for the most important benefit. A deeper analysis reveals a clear asymmetric effect; in that there is a much stronger effect on patronage from deteriorated services than from service improvements. We also find an underlying negative trend for public transport, meaning that the public transport service need continuous service improvements just to keep up the market share. The areas with an extensive combined effort, with targeted marketing and information, have achieved the best effect of the strategy.