Development of the public transport network of rural areas in Hungary from the roots until the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

The study aims to present the provision of public transport in Hungarian rural areas in terms of road and rail passenger transport. This division practically means the services of Volán companies [National bus and coach operator] and MÁV [Hungarian State Railways], since the presence of other market participants is symbolic. What makes this study peculiar is that it does not focus exclusively on rail or road passenger transport, but deals with them together, showing the market role of the two sub-sectors and the changes that have taken place in this field. The complementary and/or substitute role of the two sub-sectors as well as their competition and cooperation are as old as their existence.

The idea that unprofitable extension lines would be used only for freight transport emerged at the beginning of the 19th century, while the road passenger transport service only began in an organized form in the late 1920s. Before World War II, bus transport developed step by step, but by this time railway developments had stagnated. After World War II, the development trajectories of the two passenger transport sectors diverged sharply: the volume of bus transport was growing, while the volume and scope of rail passenger transport declined more slowly for the Srstime. In the 1970s, the network was drastically curtailed within the framework of the Transport Policy Concept, but this did not yet have a significant impact on rail passenger traffic. The content of this concept resonated greatly in both public life and the literature, as the retention or termination of a given line was not necessarily decided by the size of the line’s passenger traffic, but by local power relations.

By the 1980s, the network structure of the two forms of passenger transport had stabilized, but in the case of rail, a steady decline was observed in the number of passengers, which took a drastic form after the change of regime. The volume of bus traffic only recorded a more significant decline in the years before and after the regime change, and in the last few years. In contrast, the development of the regional railway network dates back to the 20th century. The second half of the century brought about a decline in regional passenger transport in almost every part of the world, which also manifested itself in a reduction in the length of the railway network used for passenger transport. This process took place in Hungary mainly in the 1970s and between 2006 and 2009. Trains were typically replaced by buses, which had signiScantsocial eUectsin addition to cost savings (eg. there are no seats face to face in buses therefore the passengers are not able to chat
easily).