People are beginning to realise that the cost of using a car is between 1.5 and 40 times the cost of public transport. It is also possible to provide excellent public transport networks in historic cites. The dense U-Bahn and tram network, coupled with the introduction of ultra low floor LRVs, provides frequent and extensive mobility for everyone. But, developing efficient public transport networks requires money and commitment. New methods of financing have to be found as the constraints on the public purse increase.
Private investment needs to be encouraged and can be organised in many different ways.
Britain is leading the way in innovative and new methods of finance, although splitting infrastructure and operations has led to some problems and it appears that safety has been compromised due to the new organisation and management of contracts. This lesson has now been learnt and hopefully the new public-private partnership deals for financing London Underground will be able to profit from them. However, to change from a public monopoly to a private monopoly should not be seen necessarily as a step in the right direction. The management of infrastructure is a delicate balance between many elements, and none is as important as safety. The recent experience of Railtrack and the complexity of managing different players might appear to work in theory, but reality has shown that there are logistical problems to this approach that need to be solved.