Ups and Downs of Transport Governance Reform: lessons from the 4-year review of the spanish national transport plan

Abstract

Governance reform is one of the key areas of activity identified in the National Transport Plan of Spain, approved by the Government in 2005. The reform aimed at: - increasing the relevance of policies based on management of transport services, compared to infrastructure expansion, and - better integrating the objectives of sustainable development within transport policy-making. To achieve an incremental, but continuous move in this direction, three combined instruments were identified: - Empowerment of a consensus-building framework, based on the one hand on public participation processes, by making it easier to the public to enter the debate on transport policy measures and transport infrastructure projects, and on the other hand on a better formalised framework for the institutional dialogue between the Ministry of Transport and its counterparts at regional and local administrations. - Streamlining the decision-making process, by establishing a new technical report regarding new initiatives and proposals by stakeholders on transport policy, which should assess its compatibility with current policies and with the strategic objectives of the National Plan. - Establishing a more objective-oriented management within the Ministry of Transport and its organisations, with a focus on the integration of the objectives of sustainable development, particularly through the implementation of environmental management systems