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The Nature of Transport Policy (Policy and Planning)

Transport policy deals with developing constructs and propositions to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives for the transport system. The goal of transport policy is to make effective decisions around allocating transport resources and managing existing transportation activities. Governments are often most involved in the policy process since they own or manage many components of the transport system and have regulatory authority over all transport modes. Transport planning prepares and implements actions to address specific problems, and does not necessarily require legislative action, instead focusing on achieving goals within the existing regulatory framework.

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140 views2 pages

The Nature of Transport Policy (Policy and Planning)

Transport policy deals with developing constructs and propositions to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives for the transport system. The goal of transport policy is to make effective decisions around allocating transport resources and managing existing transportation activities. Governments are often most involved in the policy process since they own or manage many components of the transport system and have regulatory authority over all transport modes. Transport planning prepares and implements actions to address specific problems, and does not necessarily require legislative action, instead focusing on achieving goals within the existing regulatory framework.

Uploaded by

KrischanSayloGelasan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Nature of Transport Policy (Policy and Planning)

Planning and Policy represent separate parts of an overall process intervention. There are
circumstances where policy is developed without any planning implications, and planning is
frequently undertaken outside any direct policy context. Transport policy deals with the
developing of set constructs and propositions that are established to achieve specific objectives
relating to economic, social, and environmental conditions, and the functioning and performance
of the transport system. Transport Planning deals with the preparation and implementation of
actions designed to address specific problems.
The goal of transport policy is to make effective decisions concerning the allocation of
transport resources, including the management and regulation of existing transportation
activities. Thus, transport policy can be concomitantly a public and private endeavor. Still,
governments are often the most involved in the policy process since they either own or manage
many components of the transport system and have levels of jurisdiction on all existing
transportation modes. Governments also often perceive that it is their role to manage transport
systems due to the essential public service they provide in addition to impose a regulatory
framework.
A major distinction between 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, often within the existing regulatory framework.
Relevance
Transport policies arise because of the importance of transport in virtually every aspect of
economic, social, and political activities of nation-states. Transport is taken by governments of
all inclination, from those that are interventionalist 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. 
Transport frequently is an issue in national security. Policies are developed to establish
sovereignty or to ensure control over national space and borders. 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 working hours of
drivers, imposing equipment standards, establishing speed limits, mandating highway codes, seat
belts, and other accident controls. More recently, environmental standards and control measures
are being instituted, in response to the growing awareness of the environmental impacts of
transport.
Transport policy has been developed to prevent or control the inherent monopolistic
tendency of many transport modes. Unrestrained competition commonly leads to market
dominance by a company, thereby achieving (close to) monopoly power. Such dominance brings
into question many issues affecting the public interest such as access (smaller actors prevented to
access infrastructure), availability (smaller markets being less serviced, or services being
discontinued) and price (the monopolist being able to charge high prices).

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