Autonomie e diritto ai trasporti pubblici locali

In the last 25 years, the law of public transport has been subject to important changes, necessary to open this market to competition. However, the lack of resources and structural measures has left Italy well behind other comparable European countries. This study investigates how local governments – despite the lack of economic resources – have tried, and still try, to ensure the right to local public transport, about which the increase in prices has not always been matched by improvements in services. In the absence of an urgent and complete reform, which should restore productivity and strengthen controls on the companies active in this market, public transport standards in Italy will remain greatly inferior to those in other European countries: services supply is too fragmented; relevant imbalances exists between supply and demand; operating costs are higher.