Dissatisfaction with public transport in capital cities was more pronounced in southern Europe and parts of the Balkans. How does your city compare?
ADVERTISEMENTPublic transport has a great influence on the general satisfaction of residents with the city they live in, according to the European Commission’s report on the quality of life in European cities.
The survey on quality of life in European cities, which collected responses from over 71,000 people from 83 cities in Europe, found that in 2023, approximately seven out of 10 residents were generally satisfied with public transport in their city.
However, there is a huge gap in the level of satisfaction with public transport in European capitals and cities.
Among the capitals, satisfaction ranges from 29 percent in Rome and Tirana to 91 percent in Vienna. This disparity is even greater between cities, with rates varying from 22 percent in Palermo, Italy to 95 percent in Zurich, Switzerland.
Looking at capital cities, there is a geographic trend where northern and western European cities report higher satisfaction with public transport, while southern and eastern European cities show lower satisfaction rates.
For example, satisfaction with public transport exceeded 85 percent in the three Nordic capitals – Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm – followed by Copenhagen, with 81 percent satisfaction.
The capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, is an exception with a lower satisfaction rate of 56 percent in this region.
More than half of the residents of the six capital cities are dissatisfied with public transport services. These cities include Rome, Tirana, Podgorica, Belgrade, Nicosia and Skopje.
Despite the geographic trend, some neighboring countries show significant contrasts. For example, the highest level of satisfaction (Vienna, 91 percent) and the lowest (Rome, 29 percent) were recorded in the capitals of Austria and Italy.
Are you satisfied with the power of public transport in your city? Several factors can influence satisfaction with public transportation.
The survey, therefore, asked residents about their perception of whether they agree or disagree that public transport is affordable, safe, easy to access, frequent (comes often) and reliable (comes on schedule).
The percentage of residents who agreed that public transport was accessible in their cities varied significantly between capitals, ranging from 48 percent in Riga to 93 percent in Tallinn.
Accessibility perception rates were relatively low in Nordic cities such as Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm, despite these capital cities having high levels of overall satisfaction with public transport.
The points are not based on actual price comparisons, but reflect the perception of residents in their cities.
Perceptions of affordability also vary among Europe’s five largest economies, ranging from 62 percent in London to 81 percent in Berlin. Almost two-thirds of Parisians (66 percent) think that public transport is affordable.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Romans recorded the least satisfaction
In general, residents of capital cities have a higher perception of safety in public transport.
However, in Rome, less than half of the population (45 percent) believes that public transport is safe. With the exception of Ankara, the capitals of EU candidate countries also reported lower perceptions of safety.
In Paris, only seven out of 10 residents (71 percent) believe that public transport is safe.
Rome scored the lowest in four key indicators: security, ease of access, frequency and reliability.
ADVERTISEMENTWith a few exceptions, the capitals of EU candidate countries also score lower on these indicators.
European capitals compared to other cities
Levels of satisfaction with public transport were slightly higher in non-capital cities (73 per cent) compared to European capitals (69 per cent).
According to the ‘Report on the quality of life in European cities, 2023’, nine of the 10 cities with the lowest satisfaction with public transport are located in the southern member states and the western Balkans, where the level of satisfaction was 59 percent and 39 percent. , that is.
Turkey also reported a similarly low score of 59 percent.
ADVERTISEMENTAre there differences within the same country?
The level of satisfaction also varies in different cities within the same country. For example, 67 percent of residents in Paris and Marseille were satisfied with public transport, while this rate was 84 percent in Lille and 87 percent in Strasbourg.
The difference is more striking in Romania’s Cluj-Napoca (83 percent) and Bucharest (54 percent).
Is there a correlation between satisfaction and affordability?
Euronews Next carried out basic Pearson correlation tests to examine possible links between the level of satisfaction with public transport and the other five main indicators in the survey.
We found a weak positive correlation between the overall level of satisfaction and the perception of public transport accessibility among residents.
ADVERTISEMENTThis suggests that accessibility is not a strong predictor of overall satisfaction with public transport.
On the contrary, we found strong correlations between satisfaction levels and each of the four variables – safety, accessibility, reliability and frequency – separately in 83 cities.
As the perception that public transport is “safe”, “easy to access”, “reliable” and “frequent” increases, overall satisfaction increases significantly. The correlation coefficient is 0.87 for both “easy to enter” and “frequent”, followed by 0.83 for “reliable” and 0.79 for “secure”.
The maximum possible coefficient can be 1 or -1, indicating a perfect correlation.
ADVERTISEMENTAt least 839 residents were interviewed in each city.
Changing behavior towards public transport
The European Commission encourages behavioral change in favor of active mobility, public transport and other clean, intelligent transport solutions. The goal is to make public transport more attractive and efficient in the EU.
According to Intelligenttransport, a coalition of 43 European transport organisations, including the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), is calling for increased EU funding for public transport.
