Driving Forces
Road transport has increased dramatically. The rising level of car ownership and traffic congestion have exceeded all earlier forecasts. Although the level of car use and traffic congestion has not yet reached Western levels, the negative effects of increased car traffic on the quality of life through time losses, accidents and environmental damage, are already being realised. In cities, the growth of car traffic has been accelerated by the development of out of town retailers, such as hyper-markets (although this is not significant to the main congestion problems which are generally in city centers). More and more commerce and housing areas are located at the periphery of towns, which are not always easily accessible by public transport. Car ownership is increasingly seen as a status symbol. As a consequence of growing car ownership, the use of public transport services are expected to decline further. Additionally most of the large cities experience increasing freight transport, due to growing commercial activities. However rail still plays a far more important role in freight transport in Central and Eastern Europe than in the EU.
All CEE countries have supported the process of privatisation of transport
companies. Not only bus companies have been privatised, but new private
operators are to be found relying on the national railway networks. On
the national road networks the number of concession companies that are
operating toll highways is increasing.
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
