The governance of urban public transport systems: the case of Zurich (ZVV)

The complexity of urban systems is reflected in all network industries and in the urban transport systems in general. Our research focuses on the modelling of the governance of the public transport system as well as on the exploration of the role of intelligent systems as a means of improving their performance. The types of governance of public transport vary from city to city worldwide and are linked to institutional legacies, ownership and others more. In the urban context, public transport services need to be integrated in order to best serve the needs of users and to provide a reliable service. Such integration can be achieved by means of a regional transport authority coordinating and contracting transport operators and which is furthermore responsible for planning, operations and financing. This is for example the model of the transport authority of the canton of Zurich in Switzerland, i.e. the ZVV (Zürcher Verkehrsverbund), which serves as the case study of this research. In the case of Zurich, operations are mainly coordinated by the transport companies, whereas ZVV is responsible for the strategic planning, as well as for the financing and marketing of the transport system.