How is local transport organised in the different European countries?
Bulletin #13 of OPSTE was conceived in spring 2025 with a view to the upcoming municipal and inter-municipal elections to be held in France on 15 and 22 March 2026. On this occasion, the Scientific Council of TDIE is preparing the second edition of its study on the transport, mobility and logistics programmes of candidates, and wished to enrich its work with a number of European perspectives.
In France, local authorities at the municipal and inter-municipal level play an increasingly important role in setting objectives and financing everyday transport infrastructure and services, which this bulletin addresses under the broader notion of “local transport.” As a result of the French institutional system, the historical role of the municipal mandate, and the decentralisation of transport responsibilities from the State to the various levels of local government (regions, departments, municipal level), issues of local transport, mobility and logistics policy occupy a significant place in public debate. The political debate preceding the renewal of local assemblies and executives is marked by numerous proposals and discussions on the priorities and objectives of local public transport policies.
Is the situation similar in other European countries? What roles do local authorities comparable to French municipalities and inter-municipal bodies play there? What passenger flow dynamics do the various local transport networks have to contend with?
Even when using a national framework on the one hand and the European Union’s classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) on the other, it is not always easy to make sense of it all. As the OPSTE regularly points out, while the European Union’s policy framework helps to promote comparable and convergent objectives, levers and public policies, national institutional systems are very different, reflecting unique histories and practices, based on the principle of subsidiarity. Like France, many countries have adopted several pieces of legislation dedicated to transport issues in recent years. Europe remains rich in its diversity.
Beyond this institutional complexity, a few general trends should be highlighted. With something resembling a European model of the compact city, public transport plays an important role and represents a substantial share of public spending by urban authorities; nevertheless, the role of the car, and more broadly of road transport, remains—and is likely to remain—central. At the same time, there is a general trend towards reducing the amount of public space allocated to cars in cities and dense urban areas, along with the gradual greening of bus and coach fleets as well as private vehicles. Attention is increasingly being paid to active mobility, also known as soft mobility, walking and cycling.
It should be noted that public transport traffic has not everywhere returned to its pre-Covid crisis levels. This is the result of multiple and very different factors: the development of remote working, e-commerce, active mobility, and in some countries the consequence of a declining demographic trend combined with population ageing.
Drawing on the examples of Poland and Romania—two Eastern European Union countries that have experienced a dramatic catch-up in car use over the past twenty-five years—it is legitimate to question whether European policies will be able to support them in containing this dynamic and rebalancing it through policies aimed at developing public transport.
“Local transport”: a very broad set of issues and policy levers
This issue is particularly substantial. This reflects the mobilisation of OPSTE’s ten experts, whom we warmly thank, and the presentation of the many charts and illustrations drawn from national documents they provided, to highlight socio-economic trends and dynamics relating to local transport issues.
At this stage, we have two regrets: urban logistics issues did not emerge in a significant way; and policies relating to mobility in rural and low-density areas would deserve further in-depth analysis.
The next OPSTE Bulletin #14 will provide a complement to this edition, focusing on the financing of local transport in Europe. We hope to be able to present it to you before the summer break of 2026.
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Some resources (in French):
Read the study carried out by TDIE in 2020:
- Summary: Municipal Elections 2020: the mobility challenge
- Analytical framework: Municipal Elections 2020: TDIE’s analytical framework
- Thematic and territorial analyses
- The complete file
Upcoming TDIE publication on the same topic: TDIE will publish in February its analytical framework for the programmes of candidates in the 2026 municipal and inter-municipal elections; the study will be published before the end of spring.