Subsiding subsidies and affordable fares : an international comparison of local transport subsidies [Published as: Local transport subsidies and affordable fares : international comparisons]

This chapter explores the relationship between institutional arrangements for financing buses and the policy goals that bus services are expected to address in France, The Netherlands, Canada and the United States. There is a particular focus on the aims behind public transport development, what this means for fare levels, and how any necessary subsidies are funded. There is a common theme that, to be effective, transport and environmental policies require affordable fares; yet this is in conflict with fiscal policies seeking to reduce public spending. International best practice shows that there are ways to reconcile this conflict, and these experiences need to be understood for affordable fares to become part transport policy in the UK.