A programme of action to provide for present and future demands for movement of people and goods. Such a programme is preceded by a transport study and necessarily includes consideration of the various modes of transport" [European Environment Information and Observation Network] In this chapter the following definitions are used: Transport policy: The development of a set of constructs and propositions that are established to achieve particular objectives relating to socio-economic development, and the functioning and performance of the transport system.Thus, transport policy can be concomitantly a public and private endeavor, but governments are often the most involved in the policy process since they either own or manage many components of the transport system.
Governments also often perceive that it is their role to manage transport systems due to the important public service they provide. Public policy is the means by which governments attempt to reconcile the social, political, economic and environmental goals and aspirations of society with reality. These goals and aspirations change as the society evolves, and thus a feature of policy is its changing form and character.Policy has to be dynamic and evolutionary.
Transport planning deals with the preparation and implementation of actions designed to address specific problems. A major distinction between the planning and policy is that the latter has a much stronger relation with legislation. Policies are frequently, though not exclusively, incorporated into laws and other legal instruments that serve as a framework for developing planning interventions. Planning does not necessarily involve legislative action, and is more focused on the means of achieving a particular goal. 2.
Why Transport Policy?Transport policies arise because of the extreme importance of transport in virtually every aspect of national life (Button 1993). Transport is taken by governments of all types, from those that are interventionalist by political credo to the most liberal, as a vital factor in economic development. Transport is seen as a key mechanism in promoting, developing and shaping the national economy. Many regional development programs, such as the Appalachia Project in the US and the 1960s and the contemporary Trans-European Networks (TENs) policy in the EU are transport-based.Governments also seek to promote transportation infrastructure and services where private capital investment or services may not be forthcoming. Paradoxically, academics question the directness of the links between transport and economic development.
Transport frequently is an issue in national security. Policies are developed to establish sovereignty or to ensure control over national space and borders. The Interstate Highway Act of 1956, that provided the United States with its network of expressways, was formulated by President Eisenhower on the grounds of national security.Security was at the heart of the recent imposition of requirements on document clearance prior to the departure of freight from foreign countries to the US. Transport raises many questions about public safety and the environment.
Issues of public safety have for a long time led to the development of policies requiring driving licenses, limiting the hours of work of drivers, imposing equipment standards, establishing speed limits, mandating highway codes, seat belts and other accident controls.
