Local Transport Exclusion – a Social or Infrastructure Problem?
Local transport exclusion is an issue that affects not only residents of villages and small towns, but also older people, individuals with disabilities, and families without access to private transport. The lack of adequate transport connections limits access to education, work, medical services, and social life, deepening inequalities in local communities
The panel discussion focused on the problem of transport exclusion in Poland and planned legislative changes. During the debate, Marek Mosio – advisor at the Ministry of Infrastructure – emphasized that the draft law aims to organize the fragmented system, in which as many as 2,500 public transport organizers operate. A key element of the reform is to strengthen the role of regional governors as integrators and creators of regional transport plans. They are to indicate lines requiring support and manage funds from a transformed fund, which will be named the Transport Exclusion Prevention Fund. A novelty will be minimum standards, including at least three pairs of daily services and the obligation to operate also on holidays.
The representative of the Ministry of Infrastructure also announced monitoring through geolocators and the introduction of uniform transport data standards (GTFS/METEX), which is intended to enable full integration in journey planners. According to the panelist, this is the first step towards addressing structural neglect that has accumulated since the 1990s, when transport was decentralized without proper preparation of municipalities.
Dr. Łukasz Fiedień from Jagiellonian University noted that the current crisis does not result from individual political mistakes, but from long-term deregulation and lack of systemic thinking. He pointed out that public transport worldwide requires subsidies, as ticket revenues usually cover about 30% of costs. In Poland, however, many municipalities do not perceive transport as a public service and do not provide it beyond the statutory minimum. As a positive example, he cited more than 20 county-municipal unions that, unlike “firefighting” approaches, are building permanent local transport systems. In his view, eventually there should be around 50 such entities.
Aleksandra Auleytner, Partner at Domański Zakrzewski Palinka, focused on the relationship between transport exclusion and digital exclusion. She emphasized that they affect the same groups: the elderly, less-educated people, residents of rural areas, and people with disabilities. She noted that around 15% of Poles cannot use the Internet, and many key services (doctor visits, administrative matters, ordering transport) have moved to the digital world. Therefore, tools such as “on-demand” transport, primarily available via apps, may paradoxically deepen exclusion. She cited Welsh research in which the use of Uber app data for route planning led to the needs of people outside the digital sphere being ignored.
Mateusz Szpórnóg, Board Member of VIA VISTULA Sp. z o.o., emphasized that the passenger should always be at the center of the system, not the regulations. He noted that various urban, regional, and national mobility strategies are often inconsistent with each other, and new subsidized lines conflict with local carriers (as in Nowy Targ). He pointed to the need for standardization of concessions, timetables, and uniform rules for organizing transport. In his opinion, long contracts, ideally ten-year ones, are crucial; short contracts do not allow for amortization, fleet modernization, or meeting strategic indicators to which municipalities are obliged.
